Dark Forest Family Roadtrip

Chapter Four

Tigerstar slamed on the brakes. Everybody sat in awkward silence. Finally, Hawkfrost broke the silence, "We can't just leave him at the gas station, guys,".
"If we go back to the gas station right now, we'll just run into those bikers again. They already took out Ashfur, we can't risk losing someone more important," Tigerstar grumbled, though he made no move to restart the car.
"And what if something bad happens to Darkstripe? We can't just leave him!"
"Why not?" Mapleshade said, having returned to her phone, "Besides, you should be happy, the middle row is way less cramped now,"
"I'm covered in blood because I'm crammed in here with a knock out victim,"
"And if we pick up Darkstripe, you'll be sitting in between a knock out victim and a bitch,"
Hawkfrost considered Mapleshade's point for far longer than he was comfortable with. "Dad, Darkstripe trusts you! You can't just leave him behind!"
Tigerstar's shrugged, "Mapleshade makes a good point. Darkstripe's a punk ass bitch,"
"Yeah, but we can't just leave him stranded in the desert,"
"I mean. Yeah. We can. And that's what we're doing," Mapleshade said.
Thistleclaw crossed his arms, "I mean, let's be real, what was Darkstripe offering to the team anyways,"
"Team?" Hawkfrost was bewildered, "We are on a roadtrip! Please, divulge in me what we each offer to this team,"
"Well, Tigerstar is the only one who still has his drivers license-"
"I never said that I had a license,"
"Tigerstar's the only one who's willing to drive, Mapleshade's the only one who can read a map, Ashfur makes for a good distraction, I have muscles, you have brains, and Brokenstar-"
"I have a gun!"
"Brokenstar has a gun. Darkstripe's only talent is making us look cool in comparison, and now that we have Ashfur, we don't need him anymore,"
Hawkfrost looked at Thistleclaw for a long time. A very long time. Hawkfrost could physically feel himself getting older.
Clearly this approach wasn't working. "Fine. If you're all too cowardly to go back and face the scary bikers that's fine by me. We'll just leave Darkstripe to rot in his new snack filled home,"
Brokenstar gasped from the back seat. Hawkfrost instinctively jerked away, having forgotten that Brokenstar was behind him. "We forgot the snacks!"
Tigerstar's face fell. "Shit. I gave Darkstripe my wallet to pay for the snacks,"
Hawkfrost shrugged, I was planning on insulting their bravery, but sure, that works too.
—
Lucky for everyone, the bikers had long since left the gas station by the time they returned. Sitting on the curb, looking utterly dejected, was Darkstripe.
The van slowed to a stop in front of him, nearly running over his foot.
Tigerstar rolled down the window. "You have the snacks?"
"O-Of course sir!" Darkstripe gestured to three bags, each of them filled to the brim with chocolate protein bars.
Tigerstar nodded. "Get in the van,"
Darkstripe smiled, clambering into the van. Hawkfrost scooted over. "I-I thought you guys weren't gonna come back for me!"
"We would've sooner, but Hawkfrost didn't want the middle row to be too cramped," Mapleshade deadpanned, not even giving Hawkfrost a glance as she smirked.
Darkstripe shot Hawkfrost a nasty look. He placed the three bags full of protein bars between the two, deliberately shoving them closer to Hawkfrost. "Hope it's not intruding on your personal space,".
Hawkfrost deeply regretted coming along on this roadtrip.
—
It was getting dark by the time Ashfur finally woke up. Hawkfrost had almost fallen asleep himself, but each time he dozed off, a sharply timed nudge from Darkstripe woke him up.
Ashfur brought his hands to his jaw, moaning in pain, "Whehhe amh I?"
"Still in the van, sadly,"
"Wah theesh nah a deamh?"
"Nope. Not a dream. More of a nightmare, actually,"
"I cannoh fee mah facsh,"
"It's probably fine. Just missing a few teeth is all. Nothing a little bit of Ibuprofen can't handle!"
"We don't have Ibuprofen," Tigerstar growled, "Only protein bars,"