Silence // Danger Days (Book 1)

09.

"Look alive, sunshine."

Storm shifted in his sleeping bag as he woke. He became suddenly aware of the bright sunlight and the radio blasting, and he jolted upright. He questioned where he was for a moment, then the memories of the previous day flooded back to him.

"We happened to find a calendar hidden in a junkyard somewhere, courtesy of our own Cherri Cola, and it turns out that today is March the Seventh of Two Thousand and Nineteen!"

The first thing he did was look at Poison.

The Killjoy was turned on his side in his sleeping bag, the covers lumped up near his face, which couldn't be seen.

"You got almost unbearable rad levels out beyond Zone Six today, but anywhere closer than that, y'all should be able to stay kickin'!"

Storm observed the rest of the room. Each of the Killjoys was still in their bag. Alien and Vendetta were curled up together, Ghoul's limbs were sprawled everywhere, Jet looked like he had slept like a rock, and Kobra was completely still as if he was playing dead. His sister's, however, was empty.

"I know a lot of you crash queens are still asleep, so here's something to wake you up: The Carpal Tunnel of Love by the Suitehearts."

He stood up, attempting not to wake any of the others, maneuvered his way through the maze of sleeping Killjoys, and exited the room.

He found Sunset sitting in one of the booths reading a book.

When she heard her brother come in, she looked up and smiled. "Hey, you're finally awake!" He sat down across from her, and she held up the book she was reading for him to see. "Have you heard of this book? I found it in that closet over there on top of a pile of depressing t-shirts. It's really good!"

The cover said Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Storm smiled. He remembered when he was eleven years old, and his parents got him that series for Christmas. He tried for ages to convince his parents to let Hailey read it, but they never did, because there was "too much death".

Look where that got us.

"Did we make a mistake?" he blurted suddenly.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a confused look.

"Do you think it was right to come out here?" he clarified, feeling a pit open in his stomach. He took her hands in his. "Hails, we're never going to get to see Mom again. Or Dad," his voice quivered. "This changed everything. We're not ourselves anymore, we're these brand new people who never even existed until yesterday." And then, Lucas Castellan was there. He was once again the quiet kid in Battery City, hiding from his parentage, taking refuge only in his sister.

Hailey looked into her brother's eyes. She squeezed his hands. "Luca. I know you hate change, and I know you're scared. But honestly, the change didn't happen when we left the city, it happened when the Scarecrows found us out. I'm not going to sugarcoat this. Mom was already gone, you know that. And Dad... his reputation was bound to catch up with him eventually. Don't give me that look," she noticed his pained expression. "I told you I wouldn't sugarcoat it. I'm not trying to say there was a good reason for what happened, but the moment's gone now. And Luca, look where we are! We're going to actually make a difference in this fight, and maybe get revenge while we're at it!" She gave him an empathetic smile. "We can't change the past, but we sure as hell can change the future."

Lucas stood, pulled Hailey to her feet as well, and embraced her. She gladly reciprocated. They held on to each other, because they knew there was nothing else for them to cling to.