We'll Meet Again (Frerard)

Hang 'Em High

I woke up before Frank and the little girl. His mouth was open and slightly pouting, and his head was resting on his arms. The rise and fall of his chest reassured me that he was sleeping well, so I started preparing a makeshift breakfast. There were plenty of dusty cans in the back of the restaurant. I found matches under the counter which made lighting the stove a lot easier. I cleared what I could off a space of the counter and opened a few cans with a knife I found and wipe off on my shirt. There were no labels on them anymore, so I ended up opening two cans of peas and one of corn. I set all three of them on the burner and went to wake Frank and the girl.

"Frank," I poked his face, "Frankie, baby. Wake up, I'm making breakfast and then we need to get a plan together."

His reply was muffled but then he sat up and rubbed his eyes. I looked over at the little girl curled up on the other side of Frank. We both knew she looked very similar to the little girl we saw. 

"Alright, I'll wake up Mariah and we can talk over breakfast."

"If you call peas brea-" I paused, "Mariah?"

"Yeah, the little girl. Her name is Mariah."

"How do you know that, Frank? Even she didn't."

He looked up at me, confused, "I saw it before bed. You mean you didn't dream it last night?"

"No, I didn't," I got up from the floor, "I guess we get stuff at different times. Wake her up, I'm going back to the cans."

The can were hot, so I put out the flame and used two old rags to pour them into separate bowls. I sat down at the table with Frank and Mariah, and gave her the only spoon I could find. Frank and I drank the food from the bowl.

"So," I set down the bowl and wiped my face, "we need to figure out why we're here, and I feel that the best way to do that is to go wherever Mariah came from."

She looked up from her peas and corn, "Who's Mariah?"

I looked at Frank, urging him to explain.

"Gerard and I can see things that we shouldn't be able to as normal people, and last night before I fell asleep I had a vision of you that was a lot more intense than normal. I was able to read your name. It's Mariah."

She stayed very quiet and still, and seemed to be mulling over the new information about herself thoughtfully. She whispered, "I really have a name?"

"Would I lie to you?" Frank gave her a childish, toothy grin.

I smiled, she was truly an adorable little girl. I felt bad for her. She had only known this place, and didn't seem to have any family.

"The place I came from isn't too far from here, a day's worth of sun drive or so," she placed a piece of corn and a pea on the table to represent us and where we wanted to go. She added another pea on the route, "there are lots of stations between here and the facility, and most of them are still occupied, either by tumbleweeds or minions."

"Minions?" Frank and I shared a worried glance.

"Yeah, they're called draculoids or something like that. They're nasty, and always hurt me when they were moving me around."

"What's the best way to avoid them? Or fight them, if we have to?" Frank turned to Mariah.

"Well in my dreams, you all had guns that could kill them."

I reached to the holster on the back of belt, and wrapped my fingers around the handle of the yellow blaster that came with my costume. It was still a little dusty, so I wiped it off. There were red and black designs along the gun.

"Grab the gun from your back," I told Frank, and he set his green blaster next to mine on the table.

Mariah jumped up in the booth, "Yes just like these! Except, except there was a red and blue too," she looked at me with curious doe-eyes, which surprised because she had seemed so hardened at first meeting, "Are there more of you?"

"Here? With us? Hell no." Frank shook his head.

"There would have been if Ray and Mikey had come home, Frank. Oh my god. Mikey and Ray," I grabbed his arm, "They stayed out later than they had said, at least, I never saw them come home..."

You can't possibly believe that they got kidnapped too, Gerard. They aren't the ones with the weird powers. Why would they be a part of this?

I glanced sideways at Mariah while she sat thinking, the girl has been right about everything else, Frank. What two other people could it be?

Frank swallowed hard and tapped Mariah, "Did one of the other two people have insanely curly hair?"

She didn't have to think about it, "Yep! Just like mine!" She shook her head happily and her hair bounced around her face.

My body was stiff. Mikey is here somewhere.

Gerard...

"We have to find them. They have to be where we were. We have to go back for them Frank."

He took my hand, "Okay, we will."

I stood up, "We have to get ready to go. I'll grab some cans. Mariah can you help me with that?"

"Sure!" She jumped down, "I don't think I like the name Mariah much. I like Grace more."

"Well, okay then. Grace it is." Frank looked at me and I shrugged, "Frank if you could make sure the car has gas, and then get your gun and meet me at the door?"

"I can handle that." He strolled out of the diner door.

Grace and I used old potato sacks to carry cans of food and a couple pieces of silverware we found to the car. Frank was carrying gas cans out from the back. I went inside to get water while Grace helped Frank. Watching him work with her warmed my heart. If we got out of this alive he'd be a good father.

Everyone finished what they had been assigned to and we all ended up in the doorframe, standing like a family getting a last look at the house before leaving for a vacation, but we wouldn't be back, not to this place anyways.

Frank sat in the driver's seat, is at next to him, and Grace sat behind us in the middle.

Frank took my hand, "Let's go."

"Gun it, we're all holding on."

He sped across the desert road, radio signals going in and out on the radio.

"How long will this take, kid?"

"Ride into the horizon. We should be there by sunset, if we don't run into trouble."

I cringed at the thought of running into any of the things Grace had talked about, especially if there could be worse. My heartbeat quickened with worry for Mikey and Ray. Frank had sensed my worry and squeezed my hand. Grace started falling asleep in the backseat. We were a family on vacation; a broken, afraid family running away from more than just home, but nonetheless.

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wow lookie I finally updated yes

Here you are my loves pls enjoy <3