Free Minds

Chapter 45.

"Dios Mio, Rav! Remove that from your head right now!" Camila shrieked.

   I knew I should've come alone.

   The minutes we had been in the junkyard hadn't even summed up to thirty.

   It was already sufficient, however, for Dorian (location currently unknown) to get into a tug of war with a wild bird wearing a weird costume that made its appearance stand between the hawk and cockatoo species hell intent on having and eating the machine part they were fighting over, Camila to get hit on and have her sniffed by one of the perpetual scavengers in the junkyard and Rav to currently have on his head... seriously, what was that?

"Are you sure?" Rav's question came out muffled from the helmet-like metal that swallowed his head whole.

   The strange material had the appearance of a badly-designed robot villain in one of my comic books. It might as well have been a rip off whatever the hell the actual creators were going for.

"Oh, Camila," Rav continued on, shaking his metal-clad head with clanking sounds. "You fail to realise with great power comes great responsibility."

"All I need to realise," Camila mocked as she tapped the machine on his head, "is that it's probably infected and smells in there."

"I'm going to name her Meta." He let out a wistful sigh, his hand reaching for the metal headgear on his head to give it a soft pat.

   I frowned at the fact that I recognised that name. It was one of the villains from my Seekers comics. But how did Rav of all people know that? I had to recheck the stacks I had kept in me and Camila's closet.

"That's right." His giggly tone directed toward me revealed he was more than loving the confusion etched on my face. "This is a preview of your amazing night with me that I know you can't stop thinking about."

   Rav's attempt to break into a predictably terrible seductive dance was short-lived as he tripped over a stray metal part hiding in the sandy ground. The next few seconds constituted him staggering around to regain his footing before eventually falling and landing on his butt for effect.

   I exploded into heaps of laughter.

   But to some extent—some—I had to admit that the thought of Rav being my roommate for tonight crossed my mind a few times. It should have been some consolation that I'd managed to survive last night with Camila, but it didn't change the fact that I was nervous as hell.

   I had never had a guy as a roomie before and I was highly doubtful anything would have prepared me from this moment. There were so many questions entrenched in my mind right now.

   But this was Rav. Sure, he was creepy, but with reasonable limits I knew he would never overstep. At least I could count on him to be respectful in the right areas.

   Unless, of course, you counted the time he molested my cheek while high on God knows what.

"Come on." Dorian, whom I presumed returned from his battle with the bird-ish creature victorious, said as he helped Rav up. "You should seriously consider getting that thing off your head, buddy. It could be radioactive for all we know."

   Camila scoffed when Rav complied with Dorian's request by taking Meta off his head. She was obviously offended that he hadn't listened when she first screeched at him.

   I couldn't say Dorian won though. Rav still cradled the machine in his arms with a defiant look seeming to dare anyone to try and pry it from his hold.

"Has anyone found anything useful yet?" I asked, wiping the beads of sweat that had sprouted from my heated forehead.

"I've got this curved plastic dashboard thingy," Cami replied, lifting the material in her hand higher. "The plastic is very soft and seems like it'll be comfortable for the brace's footing area."