Sing It for the World, the True Lives of the Wannabe Killjoys

Thunk!

Thunk!

"Ow."

Thunk!

"Ow! Trey get off me!"

Kori looked up from her spot in the sand to see her brother laying on top of Calvin.

"Sorry!" He lifted himself up and pulled Calvin to a standing position next to him.

She raised her eyebrows at them.

"I'm straight," Calvin defended himself.

"Good for you."

Thunk!

Calvin fell back down, the comic book having landed on his head.

Kori grabbed it, opening up to the page that had ripped. The rip was no longer there, instead it showed a picture of the three of them standing where they were.

"Trey, I think we're in the book!"

"What?!"

"Come look," She pointed at the page.

"Oh my god."

"Calvin!"

"Mph?"

"We're in the book."

"Stupid book."

"Shush. Now book, would you please point us in the direction of other humans?"

"You need to say that differently! It might point us to Battery City!"

"Why don't we just pick a direction and maybe the book will show us if it's the right way or not?" Calvin suggested.

"East!" Trey shouted.

"Why east?"

"Because, east is up!" Trey exclaimed.

"Fine, we'll go east. Kori, can you watch the book to see if it says anything?"

"Yep," her gaze still focused on the book.

"Okay, it's still morning so let's follow the sun!"

After an hour of walking the book did give them a sign but at that point it really wasn't useful, because they could see the building in front of them. It was rundown, but two cars were parked in front with killjoys hanging around them.

Kori slung her backpack off and put the book in, slipping a pen up the sleeve of her jacket. It would be helpful in a pinch.

Inside was set up like a store. Aisles of items all either scavenged or stolen.

"Priority one is food. Then guns if you guys can find them." Kori told the guys, "Keep your voices low and keep a low profile. Check your backpacks, need something to trade for."

They did. Calvin comes up with a ten dollar bill.

"Will this do anything?"

"It might, let's just hang around and see. Don't steal anything."

The food selection was not preferable. Cans of what looked like dog food was pretty much the only thing there. Edible, yes, but nothing any of them wanted to eat. The actual food was too expensive.

"I got guns," Trey whispered, him and Calvin coming up behind her.

"Three?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. I've got food," She showed them the two cans.

"Will that be enough for all three of us?" Calvin asked, seeming skeptical.

"Dude, it's basically dog food. I'll be surprised if any of us can even keep it down."

Calvin made a face at the cans, "Ew."

They made their way up to the counter, and set their stuff up on it.

"Two cans, three guns. Anything else?" The man asked.

"No."

"What do you have for payment? We take carbons, scavenged finds, and old American dollars, but the last one's rare."

"I have a dollar," Calvin told him.

"Where'd ya find that?"

"Old building, someone must've forgotten to check a couple places."

They probably had twenty between them in their backpacks.

"Well if ya got two ya can have all that."

Kori was examining a bandana folded up on the counter. It was black with pink, purple, and teal skull printing.

"This for sale?" She held it up.

"It is if ya got the money."

She leaned to Trey, "Go find masks or something for you two."

He came back a couple minutes later with a bright green and orange skull mask and a plain black one.

"Here," Calvin put three dollars on the counter, "Come on guys."