Dead!

It sure would have been nice if Darling had given me her coordinates. It occurred to me that I had no idea where her base was, as I was packing up my car.
The old convertible had been gathering dust in the shed next to the diner for the past two-ish months.
Anyway, I had no idea what to do or where to go. I couldn’t just go around stopping at every shack I came across to see if she was in there. That would get me killed. After the argument between me and D, I wasn’t all that eager to go asking him for help either.
Luckily, Pony had taken pity on my and was helping me with my things, so I asked them for advice. Pony told me to go see a Killjoy named Cherri Cola. He was another DJ who had taken up residence in a gas station on at the edge of Zone Three. He apparently had knowledge on where every Killjoy in the Zones was taking up residence, which was pretty creepy, but also extremely helpful.
So, a few hours later, I was driving down Route Guano in the falling sun. Cola’s base was only a few minutes by then and I was starting to get anxious.
What if Cola didn’t actually know where Darling’s base was? What if she’d been ghosted already and no one knew? She had told me before that she was pretty isolated where she was and that the dracs never really bothered her. That led me to my last what if.
What if Darling was working for BLI? What if she was a spy? What if she was going to take me back to that horrid city and that corporation that wants me dead?
The thought almost made me stop, turn back to the diner and accept my fate at The Nest. However, in the back of my mind I knew that couldn’t be true. Darling had been to the diner plenty of times. If she were working for BLI, that draculoid attack would have happened a lot sooner.
I parked my car about half a mile away from the gas station and got out, threw an old gray tarp over it, and walked the rest of the way. This would help eliminate suspicion, in case someone was to see the car.
I walked up to the door and gently knocked on it. Not even a minute later, the door swung open, revealing a taller man with light brown hair. “Killer Kittie” The man said “Long time, no see.” I gave him a small smile. “Hey Cola”
I had first met Cola back when I was staying with the Fab Four. Over the past few years, my group had run into him a few times, but it’s still been at least six months since we’ve seen each other.
Cola moved enough for me to get through the door. “Pony told me you were coming.” He explained as he closed the door. “Said you needed help with something.” I nodded. “D kicked me out of the diner” I explained. “I have a friend who said I could stay with her but I don’t know where she’s staying at.”
Cola nodded and walked over to a desk in the far corner of the room, half hidden behind a curtain. He had a lot of his recording equipment store on it along with a shelf next to it, holding several records. It wasn’t as big of a collection as D’s but it was still impressive.
He opened the bottom drawer of his desk, while asking for my friend’s name. Once I tell him, he started pawing through the folders and papers in the drawer and after a few minutes he pulled out a loose sheet of paper. “Don’t have exact coordinates but I can give you directions.” I nodded and he opened another drawer, pulling out a piece of paper and pen to copy the directions.
That’s when I saw it.
“Where did you get this?” I exclaimed reaching for the dagger. Cola looked up confused. “That? I found it in the warehouse a few days ago. Why?” I flipped the blade over in my hand, examining the handle, taking in the orange finger print shaped paint spots on the leather grip confirming my suspicions.
“This was Rose’s” I said, my voice hardly above a whisper. Cola’s eyebrows rose for a second before he turned back to the paper. “I’m sorry about what happened to your friends.” He muttered. “Can’t say I know exactly how it feels but I know you gotta be sufferin’” My eyes fell to the floor as I sat the dagger back on the table. Since Cola found it, it’s officially his now, and I wasn’t sure I wanted it anyway.
Finally, Cola finished copying the directions and handed me the paper. He walked me to the door. Before I could thank him however, he held out the dagger to me like an offering.
“I don’t want it” I said, much to quickly to be convincing. “Bull.” Cola claimed. “You do. You want something to remember them by. It’ll help with the grief. Besides, I’ve got another one, I don’t need this.” He held it out towards me again. Reluctantly, I grabbed the hilt. Cola smiled.
“Good. Now go find your friend and stay safe.”

Notes