The Kids From Yesterday (A Party Poison Story)

Chapter 11 - The Triffid

About an hour after the encounter with Dr. Death Defying, Fun Ghoul finally came to pick Party and I up. Party and I talked aimlessly with out clawing at each other for once, which can definitely be seen as an improvement.

I think we were both still in shock that I had officially accepted to join their group, I was shocked in myself. I knew this was the right choice however; I came to the realisation that these other four men have been the most open, caring, protective and comforting people I've ever met. With a sprinkle of sass provided by none other then Party Poison. And of course there was the odd play tackle or childish sibling like teasing with Fun Ghoul, or the deep and meaningful conversations with Kobra Kid, or Jet Star dishing out a helping hand and advice when needed. The four guys all had their unique qualities, which I've grown to love in the past few days. How could I leave that behind? It's the closest to family I've come to out here in the desert since Atomic's capture.

Ghoul screamed in shock when he found out I accepted to joining their group, he then proceeded to climb into the back and tackle hug me, despite the car still being in gear, causing the vehicle to stall in the middle of the desert.

The ride back to the diner was uneventful besides that; the two males who sat in the front were conversing about plans for tonight and tomorrow. I sat peacefully in the back, my legs outstretched on the seats.

When we got back to the diner, we were all soon enough back in the trans am, speeding down route guano to the good ol' Triffid.

Party broke the news to Kobra and Jet that I was now a part of the fabulous four, well five now. Their reactions were just as positive as Fun Ghoul and Party Poison, it fuelled me with hope, it's like I have some sort of purpose, some sort of fight placed within me again. Here I was not one week ago not wanting anything to do with a group and not wanting to get close to anyone, now I was part of the most well known groups in the zones. What are the odds?

It was a good hour or so when we finally showed up to the dingey old bar. There were various different cars and motorbikes parked up around the venue, must be a busy night in the bar.

The Triffid was hidden quite well so no dracs ever found the place, it was located behind sand dunes in zone 2, and the actual bar was underground.

I followed Jet Star out of the car, going to walk beside Kobra Kid. The poor guy was voted to be the designated driver, meaning he had to stay sober the whole night and basically watch us all get fucked and make fools of ourselves.

I knew that to be the case when I was drunk, actually, it usually went two ways. I'd either be the life of the party, playing alcohol games and dancing like a maniac, or it was the complete opposite. I would sit in a corner and drink away my fears and disturbing thoughts, to the point I would make myself physically sick. It'd be interesting to see how tonight went, because I was planning on getting absolutely mortal.

We walked in through the door and down the familiar flight of stairs, leading into like a secret underground club. The lights were dim and shone colours of purple and dark blues. The loud music instantly drowning out the small conversations the killjoy's and I shared.

I made a B-line for the bar, seeing the familiar blob of striking white hair.

"Crash!" I yelled sitting up on one of the stools around the bar. The guy with white hair turned around, almost dropping one of the cups he was polishing in shock.

"What the fuck is that you Spark? Come here." The guy said in shock, leaning over the bar to engulf me in a hug, which I returned.

Crash Cola worked as a bartender in The Triffid. He was known for his bright white hair and ability to cause havoc when him and his group raid Battery City. He was about the same age as Atomic Bomb, him and Atomic were real good mates before everything turned to shit.

By now the four were sitting down beside me. "Oh, Crash this is Kobra Kid, jet Star, Fun Ghoul and Party Poison." I introduced Crash Cola to the killjoy's.

"Fabulous four right?" Crash asked looking impressed.

"Fabulous five now." Party replied sending a wink in my direction.

"Spark... you're in a group now!?" Crash asked shocked at Party Poison's comment. I rolled my eyes and put my hands out in defence.

"Why is it so hard to believe I'm in a group? I'm human too ya 'know." I said defeated, resting my head on my hand.

"Whatever. Consider this round free, we gotta' celebrate misses anti social over here finally finding a group." Crash joked nudging me from across the bar, causing the other killjoy's to chuckle and let out a few quiet 'thank yous'.

Later into the night the group was spread out amongst the bar. Jet Star was flirting with one of the bartenders working alongside Crash Cola at the bar. Fun Ghoul somehow found himself on stage with the band performing, two full jugs of alcohol in his hands. Kobra Kid was talking to a few other killjoys' in a booth while Party Poison and I continued to sit in the bar, trying to outdrink each other, laughing ridiculously.

"Okay, okay okay." Party laughed.

"Odds on you sculling that." He pointed to this straight vodka flavoured jug in front of us. Christ.

'Odds on' is a game we sometime play out here in the zones. Basically, it's a dare game wherein a person issues an outrageous dare to another person, the recipient of the dare must say 1 out of a certain number, demonstrating the likelihood that they will perform the dare. A third party counts the other two people down from 3: i.e. 1,2,3. After the countdown, the darer and the daree must say a number through 1 and the certain number (if they said 1-15, it would have to be a number between that). If both participants say the same number, then the daree must perform the dare.

"10 straight up." I spoke confidently after thinking about having to drink the whole jug for a while.

"You're sporting tonight, Sparks." Party grinned.

"You ready?" I nodded while cringing, afraid of the outcome about occur.

"3...2...1..."

"5" We both said in time.

"Fucking hell." I groaned rubbing my temples.

"You gotta do it! It's odds on. That shit's legit."

Sighing with out thinking too much about it, I grabbed the jug and tipped the whole thing back. By the time I finished I felt absolutely awful- but buzzed. Within the minute I was helplessly drunk. My vision was shaky and I could barely walk in a straight line. The alcohol I consumed before the jug not helping my case either.

"Let's go dance." Party Poison said grabbing my arm and leading me to the mosh formed by all killjoys in the club. Due to Party's tipsy state, he barely realised how fucked off my face I was at the moment.

Party let go of my hand and went off somewhere in the mosh, which is when I decided how badly I needed to get some air. I was at the stage where the drunkenness was annoying now; I always got to a certain stage of drunkenness where I kind of wished I wasn't. Walking away from the hot mosh, I began to make my way to the staircase leading out of the bar.