They started the next day early with Jet driving this time. Kobra had offered Poison a seat in the back, smiling knowingly as he accepted and climbed in next to Sky. Last night she had fallen asleep in his arms again, both of them too tired to give a shit about what the others would think in the morning. And even now, when Poison grabbed her hand, they didn't really care.

'So how far are we gonna go? Before we give up and turn around?' Jet asked after a couple of hours.

Sky knew that this was the one thing about the plan they had disagreed on and Poison sighed, looking out of the window while mindlessly rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand.

'Until we run out of gas?' Kobra suggested and Jet laughed. They had brought enough gas pluses to last them for weeks.

'How far can we go?' Sky asked and Kobra turned in the passenger seat to face her.

'No one really knows. But the closer we get to the border, the more dangerous it gets. It's heavily patrolled. Rumor has it they even have a station out there. And we can't take them on, no matter how powerful your necklaces are.' Kobra answered and Poison looked over at Sky.

'There's no point in getting ourselves killed. So I'd say we go as far as it's safe.' they all nodded in agreement and Sky squeezed Poison's hand tightly.

They spent another night out in the open. This time Jet and Sky had gone hunting and successfully returned with a large rabbit which everyone was excited about. She felt a little bad killing the animal, especially since they had enough food with them. But they all needed the protein from the meat. Kobra had almost gotten stung by a scorpion that had made itself at home in his sleeping bag but, feeling guilty for already having killed the rabbit, they let it live.

Poison had fallen asleep early so Sky ended up sitting by the fire with Jet and Kobra and she was actually glad she could spend some time with just them again, just like when they had trained with her while Poison had been on patrol. Only this time it felt less awkward. She found out Jet had met Kobra and Poison after the raid when they had found shelter together. And then they had picked up Ghoul who almost got himself in trouble trying to savage what was left of a neighboring village which also had been raided and burned down.

'And Cherri Cola joined us about a year later when we jacked our first BLI supply truck. He watched us and was impressed, I guess. He was alone too so we made him one of us.' Kobra said, his voice turning into a whisper. Sky remembered when Poison had tried to avoid the topic and she hadn't dared to ask him about this Cherri Cola person again after it.

'Who is he? And what happened to him? Why is he not with you anymore?' she wanted to know, assuming Poison was fast asleep and she could get answers from Jet and Kobra. But when she saw them looking at her, hesitating, she turned and saw Poison standing behind her.

*

'It was my fault.' he said, staring into the fire. Poison could tell they all felt bad for talking about it, more or less behind his back but he didn't blame them. Sky just wanted to know and Jet and Kobra had every right to talk about Cherri, it was just him who decided not to talk about him. Because he felt guilty.

'He was a Killjoy too?' Sky asked and he nodded, sitting down next to her, still not looking at any of them.

'Thanks to him we found the diner. Made it our home. He had been staying with Dr D up until then.' Jet explained.

'What happened to him?' Sky asked again, carefully and they all seemed to wait for Poison to tell the story, so he did.

'We were on a mission. Had gotten word that BLI were holding people from our villages in this underground facility and we decided to attack. It was stupid but...we thought there could be a chance that our parents were still alive after all. That they were holding them there. Cherri went in first and we realized too late that it was a trap. So they took him. We actually thought he was dead but a few weeks later we picked up this broadcast. It was one of theirs. And they were bragging about how they had tortured 'one of the Killjoys', trying to get information out of him. On us, obviously. Our whereabouts, our plans, where and how we got our supplies.' his voice was getting croaky and he wished he knew how to cry. 'He never talked. Didn't tell them anything. So they killed him.'

Sky had put her arm around him and although it didn't exactly give him any comfort, he let her.

'But how is that your fault?' she wanted to know.

'It's not.' Kobra replied, looking at Poison who looked back at him. 'He just thinks if he takes responsibility for it, we won't have to live with the guilt. But it's not our fault. It's not your fault. It was them.'

Poison knew his brother was right. But still, he couldn't help but feel the way he did. He had called the shots that day, the way he always had, the way he still did. Yes, the dracs had killed Cherri but he had sent him to certain death.

'You always say, Killjoys die for one another. That none of it has a purpose if we're not willing to do that. That it's just what we do because we do it for the greater good. So Cherri died a Killjoy. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. For you. For us.' Sky said and everyone was left speechless with astonishment, impressed by her words.

'Spoken like a true Killjoy.' Jet said and raised his water bottle.

'Hear hear.' Kobra agreed and smiled at them.

Poison felt better. Obviously a piece of him would never stop blaming himself for what had happened to Cherri. But Sky was right and so were Kobra and Jet. He had to accept that Cherri's death had more or less saved them and their mission. Without him and his bravery, they'd all be dead. But they were here, still able to make a change, still able to go against the evil that had taken their friend and countless others. They would get their revenge, he was sure of it and it was thanks to Cherri.

'You're the best.' he whispered and kissed her cheek, proud of how she had found her place among them.

*

They didn't get very far the next day. Around noon, the sky began to darken. It was the strangest color Sky had ever seen, a greyish yellow, heavy with pressure. A storm was coming and they had two choices: stay in the car or find a proper shelter, something that couldn't flood or get hit by lightning, something solid enough to not get blown away. And it had already started raining when they got lucky. An abandoned gas station.

Poison checked to see if it was safe inside while Jet made sure the gas tanks were empty and there was no risk of an explosion or a leak. Kobra and Sky checked the surrounding area for BLI cameras. They often installed them in places like this, knowing that rebels would occasionally come here, to then kill or turn them in their sleep. Everything seemed safe though so they decided to stay. By the time they got inside, Sky was soaked. Actually, everyone but Poison was.

'There are two rooms back here!' he yelled from the back and Sky found him sitting on a queen bed. There were no sheets but it was still pure luxury.

Jet and Kobra followed and Poison showed them the other room he had found, it also had a bed and a desk with an old computer that probably wasn't working anymore.

'Sweet. Let's stay here and wait out the storm?' Jet said and everyone was happy with that idea. They then left to get their stuff from the car, giving Sky her privacy so she could get changed out of her wet clothes.

She sat on the bed and looked around. It was weird being in someone else's bedroom, especially since she knew nothing about the people who had lived here before. At one point, they had lived a normal life, worried about normal things. Whether or not they would make enough money to keep the place. Whether they could close early because it had been three hours since anyone had been on the road. Whether or not to call the ranger about that coyote that raided their trashcan every night. A simple, normal life where boredom was the biggest danger. Now whoever had lived here was probably dead. Or on the run. Or a zombie. Sky couldn't help but send a silent prayer, thanking them for the roof above her head and wishing them well wherever they were right now.

The thunder came rolling closer and Sky got up, walking over to the closet. She opened it and gasped. It was mostly filled with women's clothes. She couldn't even remember the last time she had worn a dress, probably back when she had been at the pound and they had visitor's day. They had always put the children in nicer outfits in hopes of getting rid of them easier if they looked more presentable. On a few occasions that had worked.
Sky looked through the dresses, most of them with flower patterns, most of them slightly worn out and too big for her skinny self. But one of them caught her eye. It was white with big pink flowers printed all over and strapless. She just had to try it on.

*

'Can we come in?' Jet yelled through the door, knocking.

'YEAH!' Sky yelled back and they opened the door, Jet and Kobra rushed past them, into the other room to get changed into dry clothes but Poison, who was now just as wet as everyone else, just stood there, staring at her.

'Do you like it?' Sky asked and did a little twirl.

She looked beautiful. But that didn't even matter, she always did. Even when she was a dirty, bloody, sweaty mess. There was something about her in that dress though. She looked like a normal girl. Like a normal, happy girl who was living a normal, happy life, just like it was supposed to be. In that moment he realized that that's all he wanted for her. Even though he had made sure she had become a Killjoy, it was because he wanted her to survive and have a chance at a normal, happy life. Far, far away from all this. Maybe on a beach, beyond the border. He had seen places like that in a book once and knew they must exist somewhere still. He wanted to find it for her. He wanted to find it with her.

'You look very pretty.' he finally answered, trying to snap out of it.

'Tha-' she was interrupted by a flash of lightning, followed by the loudest thunder Poison had ever heard. She jumped, running over to the window and he joined her. The storm was coming closer and the sky had turned into an even scarier color.

'It looks like it's about to fall.' Poison mumbled and he could feel the chills running up and down his spine.

'You should get changed. You're gonna catch a cold or worse.' Sky said and walked over to his backpack, pulling out some dry clothes for him but he didn't move, the water dripping off of him creating a small puddle on the floor.

'Poison?' she called out to him, just when lightning struck again. Finally, he walked over to her and she handed him his stuff. 'Are you okay?'

This thunderstorm made him feel uneasy. Although it wasn't an unusual thing to happen, especially around this time of the year but he had never seen anything like this before. There was something out there. He nodded anyway and even though it was obvious she didn't believe him, she didn't question him about it and instead left the room to let him change. But he had just pulled up his dry pair of jeans when he heard Sky scream. He ran out, Jet and Kobra following him from the other room.

They found her standing in the middle of the shop, shaking and Poison immediately ran over to her, putting his arms around her to calm her down. And that's when he saw her. A tiny, wrinkly old woman, hooded in a cloak, pointing a skinny finger at them.

'The fallen children.' the woman whispered and Sky hid her face in Poison's chest, a small whimper escaping from her lips.