Frank Iero and the Meaning of Life

Chapter Seven - High Noon

After spending a sleepless night in the trans-am, we arose to the sound of buzzing Wattpad Bands; the sun hadn't even risen yet, and darkness still covered the camp. Poison, upon hearing the buzzing, immediately jumped out of the driver's seat and went to inspect the trunk of the car. I desperately wanted to go back to sleep; my legs ached and my whole body felt sore from all of the other night's fighting. However, I got myself on my feet and followed him out.

"We're going to need more guns," he said. "One's not enough. Especially if we have to go hunting. We should probably go talk to Lucky Day and get our guns back."

We walked up to Lucky Day's truck, and Poison banged on the door. A few rustling noises came from the inside, and Lucky Day popped out of the service window.

"Morning, Poison!" he said with a grin. "What can I do ya for? Heard that you all are headed out for Battery City. You might wanna stock up on water!"

God, I just hated the way he talked.

"Hmm, I dunno," said Poison. "These prices are just too unreasonable."

Lucky Day went pale and chuckled. "Hey, don't blame me," he said. "Blame the economy. You wanna buy a water or not?"

"Look, pal," I said, "if you wanna talk to the Fab Four like that, you can take my ray gun and shove it up your ass."

Poison held me back and put some carbons on the table. "Look," he said. "We'll have two waters and three guns. Take it or leave it."

Lucky Day inspected the money and thought for a moment. "You've got yourself a deal," he said as he swiped the money away and slid us a few waters. Kobra scooped up the extra guns and offered one of them to me.

Some more kids came up to him and offered him their money; one of them donned a stylish mohawk and approached me alongside a few of his buddies.

"Hey, Ghoul," he said. "If you die, can I have your stuff?"

The girl next to him scoffed. "He's not going to die," she said.

"You wanna bet?" he snapped back.

"None of you are even going to get a single pair of socks out of me," I said. "Have a nice day."

The Girl, full of excitement, skipped up to Poison and tugged on his pants. "Are we going on an adventure?" she asked.

Poison coaxed her away from the trans-am. "This mission is going to be very dangerous," he said. "I don't think you should come with us."

The girl frowned and crossed her arms. "Danger is my first name!" she said. "I'm ready for anything."

"Technically, your first name is 'The'," I said. "Sorry, kid. This is for grown-ups only."

"But what if you get hurt?" she said.

Poison knelt down and hugged her tightly. "Don't worry about us," he said. "We'll be okay."

We climbed into the trans-am, and much to my surprise, we received a rather large going away party. Crowds of kids lined up and cheered just to wave goodbye.

"Have fun dying!" shouted one of them.

Poison put the radio on and cranked up the volume until the windows began to vibrate from the bass; he then revved the engine a couple of times in place and then put the pedal to the medal. A blast of wind soared through the open windows and hit me in the face the second we took off; for a moment, I didn't feel entirely miserable. I closed my eyes and took a moment to soak up this one moment of triumph, because I knew that there wasn't going to be another one for a long time.