From Yesterday

The afternoon sun was high in the sky when our five misfits reached an abandoned gas station where they could stop and rest for a while.

“Hey, grab me some smokes while your in there,” Fun Ghoul called out as Danny opened the door to the small convenience like interior of the gas station.

“Get your own damn smokes!” she snapped back. She’d only known the four men for a couple of hours, and she already knew she strongly disliked Fun Ghoul. The rest of them were alright though, Jet Star was really smart and Party Poison was interesting to say the least. Then there was Kobra Kid who hadn’t said much since she’d arrived, but she had caught him glancing in her direction a few times. She browsed through the shelves searching for some snacks that weren’t out of date; she heard the jingle of the door opening behind her. She figured it was Fun Ghoul searching for cigarettes, so she ignored it.

“Found anything?” she heard a soft voice from beside her. She jumped when she saw the lanky blonde looking at the magazine rack next to her.

“No, not yet,” she replied once she got over the shock.

“Well we should be ready to go in a few minutes so…” he trailed off, and looked at her directly for the first time.

“Yeah, thanks,” she said as he smiled, and turned away. She gaped at his retreating form, what was that about? After finding a bag of chips that was still good she exited the place, and found the boys waiting for her in the car.

“Finally!” Fun Ghoul called out, exasperated. She rolled her eyes as she stepped into the back seat again, simply choosing to ignore his comment. Party Poison started up the engine, and began driving down the road once again.

“So, Danny, tell us about yourself,” Party Poison said, glancing at her from the drivers seat.

“What do you want to know?” she asked.

“How’d you end up here? Why aren’t you just in Battery city like most people?” Jet Star questioned.

“First of all, I’m not most people. And second, my parents were part of the rebellion.” She replied.

“Where are they now?” Jet Star continued to pose questions.

“They’re… not around,” she said after a pause, wincing visibly. The boys realized that must have been a touchy subject, so Party Poison spoke up again.

“What about you? Give us a quick bio,”

“Well, I grew up in Surveillance City, but you all know what happened there,” she said, and the others nodded sympathetically. You see, many years ago there was another great city not at all unlike Battery, but this one was a place of freedom. The people of Battery City envied it greatly, but their leader did not. He hated Surveillance City, and everything it stood for. He scoffed in the face of equal rights, and spit on the shoes of freedom. He wanted Surveillance gone, and when he wants something, god help us all, he gets it. So one afternoon when the sky was a bright cloudless blue, and everyone rejoiced for the lovely weather, a bomb dropped. No one saw it coming, not many escaped, and Surveillance City was gone.

“That’s when I joined the rebellion, my parents were against it but I had to fight back against the man who destroyed my home. So I went over to Headquarters, but when I got there I was shocked to find it vacant. It was only after that I realized we had all been outcast to life in the Zones. Now for the past few years I’ve been surviving out here on my own, but those mother fuckers from Better Living keep coming after me. Nearly got me earlier too.” She finished bitterly.

“Yeah, those guys are rough, but you got us now,” Party Poison said.

“What so are we a team now?” she laughed out.

“You could call it that,” he replied.

“Just so you guys know, I don’t do teams,” she said as she stretched her arms over her head.

“Yeah well neither do we, but it is the best way to stay alive out here,” Fun Ghoul answered back.

“We’re all headed for the same place anyway,” Party Poison said darkly, glaring out at the long stretch of road ahead of them.

“What’s that?” Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Hell,” he stated simply, and the car fell into silence.

“I’d rather go to hell then be in purgatory,” Danny whispered loud enough for all of them to hear.