The Kids From Yesterday

The next seven hours were full of screams, blood, and tears. Everyone was in there. Audrey seemed like she was about to pass out and was screaming insults at Mark. Mark felt horrible and kept apologizing to her. Another hour went by and finally it was born. She was born.

“It’s a girl Sparrow…” Mark whispered. Audrey’s eyes filled with fresh tears and she started smiling. Mark didn’t take his eyes off his new baby girl.

“Pay up everybody…” I heard Night Hawk murmur to Killer Lithium.

“Great…now I’m out twenty credits…” Lithium sighed. Not only did Night Hawk win the pool, but she also called that she was going to be a girl.

I still couldn’t believe that my friends had a baby…it was crazy. She was the perfect combination of them. She had Mark’s mouth and dark hair, but she had Audrey’s dainty nose, and tan complexion. Audrey was laughing and crying and immediately started bawling when Mark handed her her baby.

“So what are you going to name her?” Skizzy asked while stroking the baby’s head.

“Ava.”Audrey said without even a moment’s hesitation. Mark grinned from ear to ear and nodded his
head in approval.

“She’s going to need a killjoy name…until she can come up with her own. The Industry doesn’t know she exists yet, we should keep it that way…” Daydream reminded them. Mark and Audrey looked at each other and Audrey nodded to Mark.

“You choose.” she said. Marks face lit up as he gathered little Ava up in his arms.

“Well…she’s a tiny little peanut…and it should be something kid friendly because she’ll have this name for a while…what about Squirt Gun? And we could call her Squirt for short?” Mark offered. Everyone thought it was perfect.

Mark looked down at Squirt and his eyes grew wide. I looked at the baby and saw her tiny hand squeezing Mark’s index finger. Mark looked like a little kid on Christmas and Audrey had passed out.

“Hey Auntie Python you want to hold her?” Mark asked I nodded my head vigorously and scooped up tiny Squirt. I looked down at her and saw her eye lids start to flutter open. I almost jumped when I saw Audrey’s piercing golden eyes staring at me.

“…Whoa….” I breathed. Mark’s eyes grew wide again when he saw them too. Mark yawned and so I told him to go get some rest and that id take care of her. She was only a few hours old, but I swear to the great killjoy gods, that she was the happiest baby alive. I swear I already saw her smile twice.

I was walking around the warehouse for about fifteen minutes when I bumped into Zombie and Freedom. I almost jumped when I saw him. I knew he was just joking earlier, because that was just our thing… but this time it was weird…

“Hey is that the baby?!” Zombie exclaimed motioning towards the bundle in my arms.

“Nope, it’s my new pet blender…I’m calling him Blendy…” I replied in the most innocent tone possible. Zombie gave me the weirdest look. I rolled my eyes. “OF COURSE IT’S THE BABY!” I continued. Zombie and Freedom let out a sigh of relief…I think they thought I was losing it…

“So what’s it’s name?” Zombie asked.

“Her name is Squirt Gun” I replied.

“OMIGAWD THAT’S SO CUTE!” Freedom squealed. Squirt’s eyes grew two sizes. Zombie and I jumped; because Freedom was usually more mature than both of us, and was almost always serious…I guess the sight of an adorable baby made her have a moment. Freedoms face fell.

“Wow I’m so sorry you two had to hear that…” She said quietly. Zombie and I laughed. Zombie asked to hold Squirt so I let him.

“So wait...Why did you two runaway?” I asked them. I never got the whole story out of them. Zombie shrugged.

“Just your typical hating the system shit...” Zombie replied. I slumped against the wall. I was expecting some bad ass story about how Zombie was this rebel hero, or how Freedom hacked into a computer system because she was a kid genius, but I guess they were just like us.

“What about you?” Freedom asked while sliding down the wall to sit next to me.

“Wrong place wrong time…” I replied with a smirk. Freedom nodded.

“Python…I think you better take the baby…” Zombie muttered.

Freedom’s eyes grew wide and she jumped up, took the baby and practically threw her at me. Zombie then collapsed to the ground. His neck twisted in an unnatural way, and his shoulders and limbs started shaking and thrashing uncontrollably. His eyes were wide and dilated.

“What’s happening to him?!” I asked Freedom, my voice panicked. Freedom had his head in her lap and was holding it, trying to keep it still.

“This is why we left…Zombie’s epileptic…The Industry wants perfection remember? They were going to kill him…it was my idea to leave…” Freedom explained in a whisper. It was one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. I could hear Squirt getting fussy.
“Here, you take her, I’ll take him…” I started while handing Squirt to Freedom. “Take her back to Phantom and Sparrow’s room” I continued. Freedom nodded.

“Hold his head so he doesn’t bite his tongue…and Python…Don’t tell anyone…he doesn’t want people to know…” Freedom said quietly as she took Squirt in her arms. I nodded and grabbed Zombie’s head. Freedom walked away trying to comfort Squirt.

Zombie continued to thrash for what seemed like hours, but what I assumed were only minutes. Then his shaking seemed to calm down a bit, and his eyes went back to normal. He stopped moving, and then his eyes grew wide again. I thought he was having another fit, but then he grabbed my arm in a death grip, looked up, and then relaxed a little.

He sat there for a minute, just looking around trying to figure out where he was and what had happened before he had his seizure. He still looked terrified. It was weird, I was so used to his cocky confidence. I’ve never seen him look so vulnerable. After about ten minutes of silence, he spoke.

“Did I piss my pants?” He asked. I smirked and we both looked to check.

“Nope you’re good” I assured him. He nodded his head and released my arms.

“Sorry you had to see that…” Zombie mumbled.

“Well I was bound to find out sooner or later” I said with a forced smile. Zombie looked at his feet.

“Hey can you not-” he started

“Freedom already told me not to tell anyone, you’re good.” I reassured him. A wave of relief washed over his face.

“Thanks Python…you’re a good friend” Zombie said with a grin as he patted my arm. I smiled back.

Hi, I’m Python Princess, and I’m officially friend zoned…