We're All In This Together - Chris Chambers Fan Fiction

six

"Have gun will travel reads the card of a man! A knight without armor in a savage land! His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind, A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin!"   

The five sang cheerfully as they made their way down the tracks. They maybe had been walking for about an hour or so, and they had already ran out of water from the weather being too hot.

"We can fill up at the junkyard, my dad said it's a safe well," Gordie explained, as Chris took the last sip out of Gordie's canteen. 

"Not if Chopper's there," Vern said from behind Chris, Max, and Gordie.

"If Chopper's there we'll send you in," Chris replied to Vern, earning a sarcastic laugh.

"Who's Chopper?" Max asked Chris.

"Chopper's the most feared and least seen dog in Castle Rock," Chris began, "He and his owner, Milo Pressman, run the junkyard."

"It's rumored that Milo taught Chopper to sick certain parts of the male human body," Gordie added.

"Then why are we going?" Max asked. 

"The junkyard doesn't open until three, we'll be outta there by then," Gordie said. Max made an 'oh' expression and nodded.

"Hey I'm kinda hungry, who's got the food?" Vern asked. Everyone stopped abruptly and stared around at each other. 

"Shit, did anybody bring anything?" Teddy asked with a worried tone. 

"Not me, Gordie? Max?" Chris asked. The two shook their heads. 

"Oh this is great. What are we supposed to do? Eat our feet?" Teddy shouted. 

"You mean you didn't bring anything either?!" Chris shouted back. 

"Well shit, this wasn't my idea, this was Vern's idea! Why didn't you bring something?!" Teddy exclaimed at Vern. 

"What was I supposed to do, think of everything? I brought the comb!" Vern shouted, grabbing the comb out of his shirt pocket. 

"Oh great, you brought the comb! What do you need a comb for, you don't even have any hair!" Teddy screamed, fuming with anger.

"I brought it for you and Max goddammit!" Vern yelled looking at both Teddy and Max.

"Hey hey hey!" Gordie interrupted, "Let's see how much money we've got." The five of them all sat in a circle on the tracks, and took out however much money they had in their pockets.

"Okay, I've got a dollar two," Gordie said, "A dollar from Max, sixty-eight cents from Chris, sixty cents from Teddy... seven cents Vern?" The four of them looked over at Vern, disappointed. 

"I haven't found my pennies yet.." Vern muttered. Gordie counted all the change and said,

"Well three thirty-seven's not too bad, Quidaciolo's is at the end of that little road that goes by the junkyard, I think we could get some stuff there." 

"Train coming," Chris said, grabbing his things and getting off the tracks. The rest followed, except Teddy. 

"Come on Teddy," Gordie said. 

"No, nuh uh. I'm gonna dodge it," Teddy replied, throwing his sleeping bag off to the side.

"Come on Teddy man, get off the tracks, you're crazy!" Chris yelled. Suddenly, flashbacks starting coming to Max. Her older brother and his friends were playing train dodge back in California about a year ago, they were doing a competition to see who could stand on the tracks the longest without getting hit. Her brother won. Max had started to feel dizzy and sat down on a near rock. 

"Tran dodge, dig it," Teddy said to himself.

"Get the hell off the tracks, Teddy! You trying to get yourself killed?!" Chris screamed, angry now.

"Just like the beach in Normandy," Teddy mumbled, then started to pretend to shoot the train with a gun. Chris had finally had enough. He threw his sleeping bag on the ground and ran up to the tracks, grabbing Teddy by the waist. After some resistance, Chris had managed to pull Teddy off the tracks just in time. Vern ran behind Teddy and held him back from Chris, and Gordie held back Chris.

Max was crying hysterically. From all the trauma that was happening reminded her of when the hospital called her family, telling them about what had happened to her brother.  

"I'm just trying to save your life man!" Chris shouted as the train whizzed by, "You want to kill yourself?! Is that what you wanted goddammit?! You're trying to kill yourself!" the train had finally ended, and the two stopped trying to hit each other. 

"I don't need no babysitter," Teddy snapped. 

"You do too... Skin it," Chris said, holding out a hand. 

"Could've dodged it," Teddy mumbled and started to walk away. Chris ran after him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Listen Teddy, you can dodge it on the way back man. Peace, skin it," Chris again held out his hand, and Teddy finally 'skinned it,' the same thing Chris and Gordie did back at the tree house. 

"Hey, is Max okay?" Vern said, pointing over at her, still sitting with her face in her hands. Chris quickly ran over, and crouched in front of Max. The others quickly followed, standing behind Chris.

"Hey, Max, are you okay?" Chris asked with a soothing tone. Max quickly took her head out of her hands and wiped her eyes. 

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," Max stuttered, looking at her lap. Chris grabbed her hands gently, which caused her to look at Chris, meeting his blue eyes.

"Are you sure?" He asked even softer than before. Max sighed and said,

"It's just, about a year ago, my brother and his friends were playing train dodge late at night. They were trying to see who could stand on the tracks the longest without getting hit. My brother ended up winning. It's one of the big reasons why my parents split up and my mom and I moved here, my dad and my brother were very close. It pushed my dad off the edge." 

"Max, I'm so sorry," Chris said, rubbing her hands with his thumb.

"Yeah Max, I'm sorry I scared ya back there," Teddy said, with sorrow in his voice.

"It's okay, but I'd rather not talk about it anymore. We should get going too," Max said , getting up from the rock and back on the tracks. the four sped up with her, and Chris stayed by her side the entire way to the junkyard.