Silhouette of a Wilted Flower

Your Last Resort

Arriving closer to the abandoned vehicle, its miserable state became evident. The car's windows were smashed in, jagged fragments of glass still clinging to the frame. The front seats were completely torn up, leaving only the shredded backs, jagged metal, and glass. Once bright yellow paint had peeled away to reveal layers of rusty black.

"There's no taxi driver inside...." Aubrey peered in through the car windows. "Who's going to-"

"I call dibs!" Kel hopped to the other side of the taxi and began tugging on the driver's door. "I'll get us there! Don't worry, guys. I got this-"

"Absolutely not," Omori said, deadpanning.

He summoned two pairs of red hands. They flew through the broken windows and settled at the steering wheel, pedal, and brakes.

"Aw, man..." Kel whined.

"It's probably for the best, Kel," Hero said, flashing a smile. "Look at the seat...it's all mangled up. That wouldn't be safe to sit on. And you don't exactly know how to drive anyway."

"You'd have driven us off a cliff," Aubrey stated. "Or into a wall. Or into-"

"I wouldn't! Berly taught me how to drive that one time at the playground! I know all the basic stuff."

At the playground with Berly? The hell...that happened in a different reset. Why is he remembering it now?

It... has to be because of...all the shadows. Yes, since the shadows are so concentrated here, it's messing up their heads. Once the shadows are gone, it'll be okay. They'll go back to normal.

Aubrey angrily pulled open the passenger seat door. "That was a game, Kel. Make believe! Berly doesn't know the first thing about driving, and neither do you."

"Well, it can't be too hard. I would have figured out the rest on the way."

"You would have figured out the rest while we were already on the road driving? Like I said, you'd have crashed into a house or something-" Kel tried shoving past Aubrey to climb into the cab first but stopped when Hero put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hold on, guys," Hero said. "There's glass on the seats. Let me dust it off. I don't want anybody getting hurt."

Aubrey wrinkled her nose as she looked at the interior of the cab. "Gross...do we have to sit in there? It stinks!"

Omori glared in through the windows, scanning over the seats. Aubrey was right. Something like that didn't belong within a mile of a king as grand as Omori. Nor did it belong in a place like Headspace outside of the junkyard.

The seats were stained and tattered with stuffing coming out. Glass shards were embedded in them, and despite Hero's attempts to pick them out, they might as well be sitting on a cactus if they took this car.

"We're in the middle of like, an apocalyptic war, and you're worried about cabs being clean?" Kel said.

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just...ugh...is that mold?"

Omori sighed, getting tired of their incessant yapping in his ears. "It'll only be for a minute. Just bear with it for now."

Sweeping out the last shards, Hero leaned back to examine his work. "Okay, guys...I did my best, but still be careful, alright?"

Omori climbed into the taxi, doing his best to avoid touching questionable stains and sharp glass. He yanked the chain in his hand, forcing Stranger in after him. Then Aubrey. Then Kel. Then....

"...Were the cabs always so small?" Aubrey said, squeezing herself as close as possible to Stranger. There still wasn't enough space for Hero.

Omori pressed himself more firmly against the car door, not exactly trying to make further room, but...what was that delightful scent? The scent of sunflowers, so close by. Even with all the windows broken open, the scent flooded the small space. It filled him with a weird feeling, especially when he realized that the scent seemed to be coming from a particular monocolor individual in the taxi, and no, he was absolutely not going to acknowledge the individual in question.