Party Poison rolled down the windows, letting the wind blow his fiery red hair back. Next to him sat his brother, loudly singing along to the blaring radio. Cherri and Ghoul sat in back, Ghoul singing along with Kobra. Cherri watched it all with an amused expression.
Up ahead, Party could make out a gas station and the white BLI vending machine right next to it, a striking contrast to the dust-covered surroundings. Party sped up, kicking up even more dust as he braked hard in front of the building.
The Killjoys stepped out of the car. Party adjusted his mask as Ghoul slid his bandana and sunglasses on. Cherri went back to the trunk of the car with Kobra, who handed her the Vena-A-Hack before putting his bright "Good Luck" helmet on. He took the Vend-A-Hack back from Cherri and made his way over to the vending machine, eager to get to work.
Party and Ghoul made their way to the store with Cherri behind them. She kept watch at the door, ray gun in hand, as they searched for any useable supplies left in the building.
It was a Killjoy custom to give and take. If you took some supplies from a building, you had to leave some for future Killjoys. Not everyone honored this, but it was sort of expected to just be kind to your fellow rebels like that. Party had brought along a small bag of old clothing and supplies they no longer needed or just were going unused. He hung up a few spare bandanas on the empty merchandise racks and set spare ammo cartridges on shelves as Ghoul poked around the store.
The selection of really useable stuff was pretty limited. Few people had found this before, and even fewer seemed to stick around for very long. There were, however some fairly recent magazines on the racks, along with some that dated as far back as 2014.
Occasionally, some of the more technologically advanced Killjoys could find ways to publish newspapers or magazines to help get news or even just entertainment out to help the Killjoys feel a bit more connected. Ghoul grabbed a few of the more interesting-looking ones, a few were only a week or two old, and decided to grab the one meant for female Killjoys. Diamond would like that, or maybe even Missile.
Party had moved to rummage through the desk that the cash register sat on. He was looking through drawers when he found two packs of cigarettes and a lighter. Doing a tiny jump for joy he pocketed them, surprised that anyone would give up something so valuable. There were a couple BLI propaganda posters rolled up under the desk too, along with a sharpie. He would have fun with those.
After looting the place (unfortunately, there was a lack of water or food) they returned outside, happy with what they'd found. Kobra was loading some guns and ammo in the car, a satisfied expression on his face, visible from the open visor of his helmet. He slid that off his head and returned it to the trunk.
"Good haul," Ghoul commented as Kobra shut the trunk triumphantly.
"I guess only a few others have found this place," Party said, shrugging, "There wasn't much in there."
The wind kicked up then, and dust began to fly around. Covering their faces, the Killjoys hurried into the car. Once inside, they all sat in silence for a little while. Kobra ran a hand through his blonde hair, looking over at Party and smiling. Party returned the smile, pulling his mask up past his forehead to rest on top of his head.
"Guess what I got," he said in a sing-song voice, waving the boxes of cigarettes in the air.
"No way!" Ghoul said, looking up from a magazine, "You gotta be shitting me!"
"I shit you not," Party said, smirking, as he handed a box to Ghoul.
"Oh my god..." Ghoul took the box, holding it how a priest would hold a holy artifact, "I love you, man."
Party laughed, lighting up a cigarette before handing the lighter back to Ghoul.
"Ghoul," Cherri piped up, taking one of the magazines from his lap, "care to explain?"
She held up the girl's magazine. Kobra and Party looked back, both bursting out in laughter.
"It's not what you think!" Ghoul argued, his face flushing bright red as he tried to grab the magazine back. Cherri held it out of his reach as she laughed. Kobra took the magazine from her, beginning to flip through it as he giggled.
"Pretty interested in the latest in Killjoy fashion, eh, Ghoul?" he teased, "Oh! There's a list of the ten cutest Killjoys! And Party's number three!"
If possible, Party and Cherri laughed harder. Ghoul just groaned.
"I knew you always had a thing for me!" Party managed through his laughter.
"You wish," Ghoul shrugged, "And at least I beat Kobra."
Kobra immediately stopped laughing and sat up. "What?" he flipped through the article, "Bullshit!"
"Hardly," Ghoul retorted smugly, taking a pleasant drag of his cigarette.
Sure enough, at number four there was a picture of Ghoul, along with a small paragraph about him. Looking down, Kobra saw his own picture at number six.
"Six? Six? How the hell did I only get six?" He said, mostly to himself.
"And I don't have a thing for you," Ghoul continued to Party, smiling, "I was married to a woman, after all."
"Ah, but 'was' is the key word there, Frankie!" Party said with humor in his eyes. He had taken to calling his friends and brother by their real names when he was joking around.
"In your dreams, sass queen," Ghoul said, blowing a smoke ring in Party's direction. Party broke the ring with a wave of his hand and smiled.
Kobra continued muttering about Ghoul beating him while Party started the car.
"Just keep dreaming, little bro," Party patted Kobra's shoulder gently, "Maybe one day you'll reach the high level of sexy that I'm currently at."
Kobra scowled, "I hate you."
"No you don't," Party smiled, leaning his head on Kobra's shoulder, "You love me, and you know it." He almost sang the word "love", dragging out the "o".
Kobra smiled, "Yeah, I do."
A chorus of "Aww"s came from the back seat.
"Brotherly love," Cherri remarked.
"It's so precious," Ghoul agreed.
"So who was this for, anyway?" Kobra handed the magazine back to Ghoul as Party pulled away from the gas station, turning around to head back to the diner.
"Diamond," Ghoul said, leaning forward and taking the magazine back, adding it to the pile in his lap. He flipped through the pile, finding an old guitarist magazine, "I figured you'd like this. It's an old one, a special bassist's issue. Pretty sure you're in it."
"Awesome!" Kobra took the magazine happily, beginning to flip through it.
They continued on to the diner, pulling in after about twenty minutes of driving. Party stopped the car and the Killjoys got out, gathering anything they'd brought along or found at the gas station. They left the guns and ammo in the trunk, however. Walking into the Diner, they set everything down, Party going off to tell Dr. Death that they were back and to see if he had any jobs for them to do. Kobra, Ghoul and Cherri chatted lightly until Jet burst in.
"Hey man!" Ghoul greeted him with a smile before seeing his panicked expression, "What's wrong?"
"Just come here," Jet said quickly, "and bring a first aid kit."
Diamond was the first thought that hit Ghoul's mind. He immediately followed Jet along with Cherri while Kobra rushed to find a first aid kit and Party.
They hurried to Diamond's room. The first thing Ghoul saw was blood staining the sheets and Diamond standing over the bed, her arms and torso covered in blood and dirt. She looked at Ghoul, a terrified look in her eyes, though relief tore through her face as she saw Ghoul and Cherri.
Ghoul however, wasn't prepared for who lay on the bed.
