Craig of the Dead

13. Kenneth the Conformist Goth

"We don't talk to poser conformists like you."

"I'm not in the mood. Have you seen Karen McCormick?" The boy scoffed and rolled his eye-lined eyes at me, flipping his greasy long hair out of his face.

"No. Go away."

"Look, Paulie—"

"Pete."

"I don't give a fuck about what your name is. All I know is that my sister would hang out with you guys sometimes, so have you seen her?"

Against my better judgment, Karen would occasionally "go goth" whenever she was lonely. She would dye her hair purple and black and start cursing and smoking, spending every moment of her free time with the stupid goth kids. However, it never lasted more than a couple of days. After a while, she would wash out the dye (I mean, my family's not exactly rolling in the dough, so the dye cost like a buck. It washed out with soap.) and go back to her usual self. Although I didn't love the Goth Karen, it was still nice to know that, whenever she feels alone, whenever I fail to be there for her, there will be some kids to take her in.

"Hey, don't talk to us like that you—"

"Stop." Henrietta put her hand up, taking a long drag on her cigarette. "He's cool."

"Thank you." I said, getting fed up with how long this was taking. I ran into this alley hoping to find Karen, or Stan, or Kyle, or something helpful. Instead, I got some Goth Kids.

"What do you mean? He's obviously not goth, look at how orange his parka is? And if he was, he would have either dyed or shaved his happy-go-lucky conformist hair. It's blonde." Pete pointed to my hair with disgust.

"Oh no, but if I shaved my hair, then it wouldn't be long enough for me to flip it out of my face every five seconds?" Pete scowled and flipped his red-black bangs out of his eyes, thus proving my point.

"No, he's not goth, but he is pretty dark. I've hung out with him before."

"On two occasions and the first one was a mission to save Karen, I didn't hang out with you freely."

"Say something dark, Kenneth." She said, twisting one of her silver rings around her finger. Must be a habit or something.

"Don't call me Kenneth, it feels weird." I said. "And something dark? Like Uggggg alll the pooossserrrr cooonnfforrmmiisstsss aaarreeee laaammmeee. Like that?" I said with a sneer.

"Now he's just mocking us." Pete grumbled. "Just like some conformist bitch."

"No, like something really dark." Henrietta said. "I've heard him say goth stuff before."

"Yeah, I was probably high or something. It sounds like you guys don't know where K—"

"Be goth!" Henrietta insisted.

"How about this?" I growled. I was just about done with this bullshit. "Yesterday I shot myself in the back of the head. My mouth was getting sore from having the nozzle of a gun shoved down my throat, so I thought blowing my head off from the back would be a better solution." It wasn't a lie. Well, not completely. My mouth wasn't sore or anything, it was a new body each time. Still, judging by the looks on the goth kids' faces, that comment had seemed to do the trick.

"Whoa." Pete breathed. "That was pretty dark. I guess you're goth enough to hang out with us."

"I don't want to hang out with you fucks. I want to know where my sister is." I had the urge to throw on my Mysterion costume. I always seemed more intimidating with that on. Now, I just had to rely on my words to threaten these dumb time-wasters.

"Well, we haven't seen her." Pete shot back.

"Thanks for the help." I grumbled, regretting even coming to check out the alley in the first place.

"Wait, yes we did." Henrietta corrected.

"What?" I asked, a new fire being started within me. An actual lead? From the goth kids?

"Yeah, she was hiding behind the other boy. You know, when they came to try to recruit us, or something."

"Kevin? Was she with Kevin?" I asked intently.

"No, Kevin was off to the side, looking retarded. The one with the huge red hair and a chainsaw."

Huge red hair....

"Kyle? Wait, I'm sorry, Karen's with Kyle?" I could barely believe it.

"Yeah, and Raven's big sister was with them."

"I don't care about Raven and his sister. They're probably just more dumb goths. But, you said that Karen is with Kyle?"

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Well, where were they headed?"

"That house that the new guys just moved into. They said that Craig was in charge and that he would take us in, but they seemed like conformist bitches, so we told them to--"

"Craig is in charge?"

"Yes."

"Craig Tucker."

"Yes. Damn, do you need to have your ears checked or something?"

"Okay, thanks for all the help." I took a second look at the goth kids. "Wait, what happened to Michael and the small goth?" I asked just out of sheer curiosity. Their group never split apart, so it was a rare occurrence to see two of them without the other two.

"Michael's parents picked him up from school early that day, and we haven't seen him since."

"Do you guys even go to school? I though you just hung out behind the school and smoked."

"And," Henrietta finished, glaring at me for the interruption, "Firkle's parents smuggled him out. He's long gone, waiting with the other adults until they deem South Park stable again."

"How did his parents manage to do that?"

"I dunno, but a lot of parents went that route. Most just followed their orders, said their goodbyes, and left, but some just couldn't part with their precious kids."

"Huh. My parents just left. They didn't even say anything or give us any warning. I guess they didn't care that much..." It hurt, hearing that other parents had risked everything to save their children, or at least given them a goodbye. Mom and Dad should have taken Karen. Kevin and I should be fine, but it was a mistake on their part to leave my little sister behind.

"Henrietta was right." Pete said nodding. "You would make a great goth kid. If you ever feel like leaving the stupid conformist posers, go dye your hair and buy a black parka. Hell, you could even bring your sister too."

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the offer, but I would never go goth. Not in a million years." I said, marching out of the dark alley.

I had a lead. An actual lead with a house and faces put to it. All I had to do was stay alive long enough to make it to their hideout. Then, not only would I find Karen, but I would find some of my friends as well.

"Let's do this." I told myself as I headed across the street, shooting any zombies that came into sight. For the first time in a while, I was feeling oddly... hopeful.