𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘋𝘰𝘭𝘭

Chapter Four

Gordie's POV

As we started on the tracks (after fixing Adelaide's foot to the best of our abilities, though she still needed support to walk for extended periods of time), Vern asked us,

"What do we need a pistol for anyway?"

Chris (who was still partially supporting Adelaide) answered,

"It's spooky sleeping out at night in the woods. We might see a bear."

Adelaide scoffed with a smile and said,

"Or a garbage can."

We all laughed and walked until Vern whipped out a comb from his pocket and said,

"I brought a comb"

We all looked really confused until Chris said,

"What do we need a comb for"

Vern replied with,

"Well, if we get on TV we wanna look good, don't we?"

Adelaide looked at Vern and said,

"Verno, I always look good."

Chris replied, under his breath,

"I know."

Teddy swung his fist towards Vern's face, and when he flinched he said,

"Two for flinching,"

And slugged him twice.

We all stopped at the bridge, contemplating whether or not to walk it, until Teddy said

"How far d'you think it's gonna be?"

After a split second, Adelaide replied with,

"If we follow the tracks all the way into Harlow it might be about 20 miles. Sound about right here, Chris?"

Chris replied with a smirk,

"Yeah Doll. Might even be thirty."

Vern, being concerned, said,

"Gee. Maybe we should just hitchhike."

We all turned towards him, looked at him like he was crazy, shook our heads, and as we started walking away, Teddy mumbled,

"No way, that sucks"

As we all started walking, he started defending his claim, and explained,

"Why not? We cold go down Route Seven to the Shiloh church. Then down the Back Harlow road. We'd be there by sundown."

Teddy responded with,

"That's pussy!"

Vern, continued defending his case,

"Hey, it's a long ways."

Teddy stopped walking, stopped Vern, and said,

"Did your mother ever have any kids that lived?"

Vern being clueless, asked,

"What d'you mean?"

As we kept on walking, we started singing,

"'Have Gun, Will Travel' reads the card of a man! A knight without armour in a savage land! His fast gun-for-hire heeds the calling wind. A soldier of fortune he's a man called Paladin"

Chris grabbed my canteen, passed it to Adelaide, who took a swig, and handed it back to him, who polished it off. Noticing that it was empty, I said,

"We could fill up at the junkyard. My dad said it's a safe well."

Vern started,

"Not if Chopper's there-"

Chris cut him off by saying,

"If Chopper's there we'll send you in."

We all laughed while Vern said,

"Haha, very funny."

After a few minutes, Vern said,

"Hey, I'm kind of hungry, who's got the food?"

We all stopped as it dawned on us, Teddy saying,

"Oh shit! Did anybody bring anything?"

All of us responded respectively, each with a resounding,

"No,"

and a,

"Only scotch,"

From Adelaide. Suddenly the boys started arguing about the food and the comb, until I said,

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Let's see how much money we've got. Yeah. I got a dollar two. Sixty-eight cents from Chris.Sixty-six cents from Adelaide. Sixty cents from Teddy. Seven cents, Vern?"

We turned to Vern, who was blushing and responded with,

"Haven't found my pennies yet."

We all turned to Adelaide, who we knew would do the math, right as she said,

" Well, three-oh-three's not bad. Quidachioluo's is at the end of the little road that goes by the junkyard. I think we can get some stuff there."

Chris looked down the tracks and said,

"Train coming."

We all grabbed our stuff and made our way off the tracks, Chris offering his hand to Adelaide, helping her up, as Vern jumped off the tracks, yelling,

"Geronimo!"

We turned back, and Teddy wasn't coming off the tracks. Chris turned back and yelled,

"Come on, Teddy!"

Teddy, zoned in on the train, responded with,

"No."

He threw his stuff off the tracks and continued on,

"I'm gonna dodge it."

The train became closer as Adelaide said,

"Come on, Teddy-man."

And Chris continued,

"Get off the tracks you're crazy."

Teddy, still ignoring the gang, Teddy stared down the train and said,

"Train-dodge. Dig it."

As the train sped closer, Chris started yelling,

"Get the hell off the tracks, Teddy!"

And Adelaide continued hollering with,

"You wanna get yourself killed?'

Further blocking out what we were saying, Teddy gazed at the train and said,

"Just like the beach in Normandy,"

and started doing gun sound effects. Chris threw Adelaide to me, and I held her back from running after him, as Chris ran toward the tracks, and fought Teddy off the tracks. They argued for a minute, and a pissed off Teddy said,

"I Don't need no babysitter."

Chris responded with,

"You do, too,"

and after a second stuck out his hand and said,

"Skin it."

Teddy pushed past him, ignoring his hand and saying,

"Could have dodged it."

Chris chased past him and begged,

"Listen, Teddy, you can dodge it on the way back, man. Peace. Skin it."

Teddy reluctantly skinned it, and Chris slapped him on the shoulder. He turned back around and came and got Adelaide from me, and his stuff, and then all of us followed suit and continued on.

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A/N Shorter Chapter For Y'all.