The Kids From Yesterday

It’s been about a month since Freddie's death and it was getting even colder. We didn't stay at the farm house because I didn't want to be there any longer than we had to. I couldn't even go in the house because I didn't want to see who killed him. Mark and Audrey told me it was a group of dracs that had taken over the house. Audrey realized that if she hadn't ducked that Freddie would still be alive and she would still be apologizing every minute of every day until I told her to shut up last week.... Audrey and Mark were getting more serious and were spending even more time together. It was a little awkward because I was starting to feel like their third wheel or something.

We were walking around Zone 5 for a couple hours after having packed up our camp from the night before when we came across an abandoned strip mall.

“Should we check it out?” Audrey asked nodding her head towards the building.

“Yeah...Yeah I think we should. But stay close we don’t want to have another incident...” Mark warned as he pulled out his gun.

The strip mall was worn down and made up of only about five shops; a drug store, record store, Laundromat, hair salon, and a sandwich shop. We went in the drug store first.

“Hello?...Anyone here?” I asked. There was no answer. The three of us checked the entire store. I saw Audrey grab a box off a small looking shelf out of the corner of my eye.

“What’s that you’ve got there?” I asked her. I guess I spooked her because she jumped almost three feet in the air. I looked down at the box but she had pocketed it before I could see it.

“Nothing …just girl stuff” Audrey mumbled.

“Well last time I checked, I was a girl too so you don’t have to hide whatever it is” I laughed. The side of her mouth twitched into a forced smile.
“Yeah well you would think you were a guy by the way you smell…” She replied. I playfully punched her in the shoulder.

“Hey at least I don’t smell like a dead goat!” I protested.

“Oh but you do!” She giggled. It was nice to have my friend back.

“Ladies, we have to check four other stores so I’d appreciate it if you’d help out a little…” Mark interrupted. We nodded and trotted off to join him.

We searched the Laundromat last. When we went in there, we found a girl with big crazy colored hair doing her laundry like it was part of her daily routine.

“Um..hi?” I said quietly while placing my gun back in my holster. She turned to us and grinned. Her hair completely covered her eyes.

“Oh hi! I’m Schizophrenic Unicorn” The girl said. She continued to talk to herself “…but that’s kinda a mouthful so you can call me Skizzy I guess! I mean everyone else does…hmm…where is everyone?...”

“I’m sorry, did you say there were more of you?” Mark asked. Skizzy nodded.

“Yeah the voices…They call me Skizzy too…But there kinda mean…I used to be able to shut them up with the pills, but then BLI started telling everyone they thought people like me were defective and wanted to ‘put us down’” she started while making air quotes, “So then I came out here! I run into people from time to time but never stick with them for long…sorry I’m rambling again, I tend to forget who I’m talking to!” She said with a nervous giggle.

“Well Skizzy we’re pleased to meet you, I’m Phantom, this is Sparrow” Mark started, motioning towards Audrey, “And this is Python”. I gave a small wave. Skizzy grinned.

“Well I saw hair dye in that salon thingy…so I’m going to see if I can dye my hair blue!” I said as I headed towards the door.

“Wait…I’ll come too…” Audrey said scampering after me. The two of us were sitting in silence in the store for about ten minutes when Audrey finally spoke.

“…Jen I think I might be pregnant…”Audrey whispered. My face went pail.

“No… no you can’t be…I mean…Are you positive?!” I asked. Audrey shook her head.

“No…that’s why I nabbed this…” She said taking the small box out of her pocket. On it was the BLI logo and in big bold letters ‘PREGNANCY TEST 98% ACCURATE’.

“Awe shit Audrey…What if you are? There’s no way any of us can take care of this kid out here…”
I moaned while shaking my head.

“I know…I know…” Audrey muttered.

“How long have you known?” I asked.

“Bout a month? I’m late…it could be nothing…but you know…I get worried and jump to conclusions…” Audrey said with a nervous laugh.

“Shit Audrey! …Ok go in the back and take the test…” I sighed while running my hands through my hair. Audrey nodded and went to the back while I continued to look at the dyes. About a minute later she came back out.
“Well?” I asked. She shrugged.

“I don’t know…I still have to wait two minutes…” Audrey sighed. Those were the longest two minutes of my life. But sure enough two minutes later the damn white stick formed a shape. Our eyes grew wide.

“Well? What’s it mean?!” I demanded throwing the box at her. Audrey stared at it for a minute, my heart fell to my toes.

“…Negative! It was just me being worried!” Audrey exclaimed while bouncing up and down. We both sighed with relief.

“Now, we have to do something with your hair, its fucking terrible!” She laughed. I laughed with her and sat as patiently as I could as we bleached my whole head and dyed it blue.

“Bye bye brown.” I sighed watching the blue dye swirl down the drain. When we went back, Skizzy and Mark were pretty damned surprised with my new look.

“I said I was going blue!” I said defensively before Mark could open his mouth.

“And so you did!” Mark laughed while messing up my newly blue hair.

“That’s gonna be a bitch to keep up with…” Skizzy sighed. Then she shook her head and looked like someone screamed the worst insult at her imaginable. “No… NO I’M NOT DOING THAT!” Skizzy shrieked as she slammed her head against the wall.

“HOLY SHIT! Skizzy are you ok?!” I asked rushing over to her. She looked up at me and grinned with a mouth full of blood.

“I’m fine…I made them stop!” She said cheerfully with a grin that looked like a little kid’s when they lost a tooth. Ironically enough she spat out a piece of her tooth and held it to the light to examine it. She grinned again. She might just be the single strangest person I’ve ever met…