Afterlife the series

Schoolhouse blues

It was pouring down rain and the streets were darkened under the night sky as Lucky Domingo was fumbling with a jar and tire iron on the sidewalk. Working on a bust with only Podcast as her back-up the duo had been summoned to an old abandoned schoolhouse  on the outskirts of the city. The bust itself was simple enough, only two class-3 free roaming vapors, but the drive back to the city was proving itself to be far more difficult and time consuming for the otherwise two efficient scientists.

"Hurry it up, Luck!" Podcastrolled down the passenger's side window and yelled at his friend over the thundering rain. "It's getting late!"

The tire iron slipped out of Lucky's hands and 'clanged' noisily on the concrete surface beneath her feet. "You know, you could get out and HELP with this..."

"Hey, I'm not the one who hit that pothole!"

"Yeah," Lucky picked up the tire iron again and returned her attention to the flat rear passenger side tire still attached to Ecto-1. "but you're the one who insisted on this 'short cut'."

"You're the one who accepted the case!" Podcast grumbled as he kicked his feet up on the dashboard and slunk down in his seat. "By the time we factor in time, gas consumption, power charges and entrapment we'll be lucky if we break even on this case!"

Lucky grunted as she finally loosened the last bolt on the tire and rolled the damaged wheel away from the vehicle. "I thought we were doing this for the sake of science."

"And I thought we went into business for ourselves." Podcast refuted bitterly. "Can't run a business without profit!"

"You wouldn't even HAVE a business to run if it wasn't for Phoebe and Trevor's father and his friends!" Lucky snapped back angrily as she set the replacement tire on the wheel well and crouched down in the pouring rain to secure it in place. "I'm the one who put up the money with Callie, Phoebe  the one who keeps the equipment in check, hell, even without Trevor keeping Ecto-1 running you'd have nothing!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Podcast was getting increasingly annoyed and defensive about Lucky's remarks.

"It means," Lucky grunted again as she tightened the last bolt and lowered the jack under the rear of the hearse. "that without the three of us the Ghostbusters wouldn't exist. All you do is run your mouth and piss of city hall! We'd be better off without you! Sometimes I swear you're absolutely useless to the team!"

At those words Podcast himself was at a rare loss. He'd never heard Lucky speak so harshly about anyone, let alone a friend. Podcast looked at Lucky in the side mirror attached to his door as the engineer picked up her tools and threw them in the back of Ecto-1 before reclaiming her seat behind the steering wheel.

"Ouch." Podcast  finally replied as Lucky sat down and put on her seatbelt.

Lucky  was soaked to the bone! Her gray jumpsuit was at least five shades darker thanks to all of the rain that saturated the fabric. Lucky's hair was damp and dark, loose strands clinging annoyingly to her forehead and near her eyes. 

As Lucky turned the key in the ignition Podcast could see her arms trembling from the cold and physical exertion of having changed the tire all by herself.

"Let's go." Lucky snipped rudely as she pulled the hearse away from the side of the street and resumed the drive back to the Farmhouse. "I need to get out of these wet clothes."

Podcast wanted to reach over and turn on the heater for Lucky's sake but he was still stunned by Lucky's comment and a little angry.

The rest of the drive was blanketed in a heavy, awkward silence as the two Ghostbusters refused to speak to one another. The rain created a thick ambience that was disrupted rhythmically by the windshield wipers moving back and forth in a futile bid to clear the glass of the perpetual rain.