Keep Running (Killjoy)

01

D.A.'s POV:
The sound of a coughing fit woke me up from my uncomfortable sleep on my jacket over the cracked leather seats of a junked-out car. It had given out fairly recently- some issue with the transmission we couldn't fix since no one around Section 3 had spare parts. We'd have to move fast to avoid an attack on us, but there was no other shelter that we could go to within walking distance along with the fact that our supplies were inside of our vehicle.

The Sun had barely risen over the vast, flat landscape; it was about 5:30 in the morning. The sky was its usual array of light blues, pinks, and yellows- the one colorful thing that BL/Ind could never change no matter how hard they tried. I turned my sore body around to check who had woken me up, and also to make sure our surroundings were all clear of attackers. It was just one of our small group's members who'd gotten out of the car and breathed in some of the sand blowing around in the air.

"You've run away to join a rebellion, but you almost choke because you forgot to tie a bandana over your mouth. I swear if you die, it'll be from something ridiculous, Grenade." I joked.

"Oh shut up, Ambrosia. You know you'd die from keeping in the fact that you were actually hurt and it'd be your fault for not saying a word." She retorted with a friendly smile.

"Well, thanks for waking me up so early anyways," I said with sarcasm. "We've got to think of some plans today, so let's get everyone else up."

And by "everyone else", I meant two more girls- Celestial Wyvern and Lithium Illusion. The two of them had habits of sleeping in late and taking forever to be awake. Before the mess with BL/Ind, the three girls were my closest friends and the aforementioned pair were the heavy coffee drinkers. They wouldn't deal with any positivity until that second or third cup of coffee had kicked in. The few days when such a luxury wasn't available, those two girls would need to be avoided at all costs if you wanted to keep all your arms and legs.

At this point, the espresso-loving pair had to overcome their addictions to the drink since we couldn't get any out here and there was no way for us to prepare it. Our days consist of wandering around, freely stealing supplies from abandonned shops, and moving throughout our section before the Dracs could try to ghost us. Now that the old 1997 Dodge Viper GTS had run dry, we were stuck in our current spot with it. No one was about to haul pounds of food, water, weapons, portable hygiene products, hair dye, and clothes for ten miles just to have nowhere to rest it in an unfamiliar location.

I shook Wyvern's upper arm,"Hey, we've got to get up!"

Grenade wasn't so subtle with Lithium: "Rise and shine, you sleepy-äss princess."

"Fück off." Was Lithium's muffled response.

In the meantime, Wyvern sat up and brushed her long, silvery-lilac strands of hair out of her lightly freckled face. She groaned while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and stretching her previously contorted body. Lucky for me, Wyvern appeared to be more mellow at that point so I didn't have to fear for keeping my limbs the way Grenade might have. The lilac-haired girl reached for my arm, using it as a support to pull herself out of the backseat.

"I'm suffering from withdrawal and it's been going on for about 2 years now." Lithium whined.

"From what? You were never a junkie...?" Grenade questioned cluelessly.

"Eyeliner." She replied solemnly.

"That would be great- my eyes have looked horrific and it would help block the Sun." I added.

"Oh, of course. Anyways, why did you wake us up?" Wyvern asked.

I sighed, "The Viper's broken down and we've gotta move soon. Plans of action?"

"Grab backpacks and stuff whatever we can in them." Lithium suggested.

"Then run across to Four, I think there's a group of killjoys who can help us near the border." Grenade continued.

"How long do you think it'd take us?" Wyvern piped up.

"All day if we get going in the next hour." I replied.

"Uggghhh..." The three of them whined in agony.

I chuckled at their reactions, "You'll be walking, calm down."

They all exhaled in relief and started digging through the supplies in the car. Lithium grabbed a hair brush, running it through her patchy black and blue hair numerous times until it was hanging perfectly untangled. On the other side, there were Wyvern and Grenade who eagerly grabbed at some food we'd stashed away from a grocery store yesterday; both of them reached for their favorites of the collection.

"By the way," Grenade mumbled through a mouthful of bagel, "The Viper should get a paint job if we ever manage to get back to it."

I glanced back at my beautiful vehicle, "Yeah, I feel horrible about just leaving it here."

"We won't be able to listen to Dr. D's reports without that radio in there." Lithium added.

The exterior was chipped and the black viper symbol on the hood was faded. A coat of dust dulled the vivid dark blue paint job and white racing stripes of the car. I could even remember when I'd gotten it: it was a gift from my Dad after I'd graduated and he had gathered enough money to finally buy my dream car for me. The feeling of tears gathering in my eyes brought me back to the present, causing me to blink a bunch of times so nothing would show. Grenade had been right earlier; it was an instinct of mine to never show weakness to people. Which was dumb, since that quality was a weakness in itself.

"You gonna eat? We should leave soon." Wyvern reminded.

"Uh, no. I'll eat on the way, let's go." I replied nonchalantly.

···

We had been walking for five hours and still had about an hour left over. The hot Sun was beating on our backs and sweat had been running down our bodies for eternity. Lithium finally crashed on the ground, claiming that she needed to take a 5-minute break, and the other two girls joined her. I allowed for it without question since I felt deathly tired as well.

Against our luck, there were dark outlines of figures quickly approaching us. The clothes they were wearing made it clear who they were- Draculoids. I smacked the rest of the girls, getting all of us back on our feet and starting to run towards the border of Section Four. We had to out-run the horrible workers which could easily kill us. I was mentally praying that we'd make it out alive because there was so much against us- the heat, the pain in our legs, our disarmed hands, and our deteriorating endurance.

It must've been my ragingly hopeful imagination, but I thought I heard the sound of a roaring engine approaching us. But the sensible side of my mind sent my body one message- Keep Running.