OCTONAUTS ~ THE APOCALYPSE

This Muesli bar is rock hard!

"So THAT'S where my duffle bag went! I never lost it!" Paani laughed in relief as he washed up Tominnow with some water from Inkling's barrel. She giggled as he dried her with a towel.

"You mateys don't happen to have my spy glass do you?!" Kwazii smiled eagerly. The vegimals shook their heads. Kwazii's ears drooped in sadness.

Codish rushed up to Tunip and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so glad you're okay." He squeaked in his twangy accent.

"Oh, Codish, I'm so sorry we left you. It was so sudden and hard to process. . . .I'm a terrible brother."

"No you're not! You managed to keep everyone safe. I couldn't have asked for anyone better."

Tunip shook his head.

"It wasn't all me. Everyone helped everyone keep each other safe. That's what makes us such a great family." He smiled warmly.

"You poor things must be starving! Let's eat before leaving" Min exclaimed while pulling out a box of leftover soup.

~~~~

They followed their tracks through the night back to their residence. The Vegimals marvelled at the setup of the tent then went straight to sleep along with the others.

Barnacles was up all night, thinking and scrapping plan ideas. He had a throbbing headache and his eyes felt heavy. Dashi massaged his shoulder gently and sat on the sand next to him.

"Travelling to America might be a little hard considering our fuel problem." She whispered, mindful not to wake anyone. Barnacles sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, if we don't find a way to get fuel, we'll probably have to trek on foot. I'm not sure if we'll be able to manage that. Oh, And Inkling! It's not like we can carry his barrel." Barnacles tapped his pencil on his notebook.

"What if there's nothing left of Nasa, Dashi? What if Paani's wrong?"

"Well then I apologise in advance!" Paani huffed sarcastically. Barnacles and Dashi turned towards him wide eyed.

Paani sat down.

"Sorry . . . I can't sleep." He paused, then admitted sheepishly.

An awkward silence followed

"Hey, you know, when I was younger, I could only sleep when it's bright and sunny. For some reason I couldn't sleep when it was dark." He tried to create a conversation. Dashi tilted her head in amusement.

"Oh wow, that's hilarious! Were you afraid of the dark?"

"Oh no! I loved the dark. But at night I always feel so hyped and just can't fall asleep haha."

"That's funny. You know the worldwide debate on whether sleeping in the summer or winter is better? I prefer summer." Dashi giggled. "In fact, I love the hot weather! Must be because I grew up in Queensland."

Paani's jaw dropped.

"SAME! And people think it's weird! They used to blame my extra energy on the sun! They called me the living solar panel"

Barnacles face lit up.

"That's it! Paani you're a genius!" He stood up in excitement. The dachshund and monkey looked at each other.

"What, what did I miss?" Paani looked at Dashi who shrugged.

"Tweak can build solar panels onto the gup! That will fix our fuel problem! We won't even need fuel!!"

They both smiled.

/////////////////

They woke up really early in the morning. Tweak was stunned herself at how fast she had made solar panels. Thank the heavens that it worked! She was very proud of herself and just as tired. They were all in a rush to pack all of the essentials and with the help of the vegimals, they got there in the end. To fit it all in, Tweak had built a wagon in the back so they could travel with enough space.

"Stay humble Tweak, stay humble." She squealed with a big grin.

Eva tagged along for her own sake and also because she had made new friends. She would've felt guilty leaving them, they also gave her a sense of protection in a way.

The sound of the engine starting was so satisfying. The sun was like a bright, warm tennis ball slowly spreading its light along the desert as it rose above the horizon. The cracks along the ground were wide and distinct. The loss of water was becoming unbearable for the environment.

Paani sighed as he leaned back into the seats. The cold air of the cooling system and comfy chairs were just the thing he needed after a poor night's sleep on the bumpy ground. He peered towards Inkling's barrel. He noticed that he only had half of the water from when they opened it up.

Odd.

He decided not to dig deeper into the query and let himself earn the rest he deserved.

After grinding dirt for most of the morning, the noon sun shone its scorching yellow rays from the highest point in the sky. The heat around the vehicle sizzled and so did the ground.

Tweak breathed deeply. There was something more satisfying about breathing clean, cool air. Not only did it clear her lungs, but also her mind. She felt like nothing in the world was going to stop them in their tracks.

"Hey Tweak, the kids are getting hungry, maybe we should take a snack break?"

"You got it Cap!"

Well except maybe that. She smiled.

She stopped the terra gup near a small country town on the side of the dirt road.

"Civilians." Kwazii chuckled, pushing his face against the window.

The sounds of chatter filled the gup. The amount of mouths to feed was almost overwhelming. They all gathered around in a circle in front of the captain and the food.

"Alright, Octonauts. We have ten kelp-muesli bars, two medium packets of freeze dried chocolate cake. . . and that's about it. There's twenty of us so maybe we should halve the bars and ten of us share one cake." Barnacles started whilst pulling them out from the wagon.

Shellington and pearl looked at each in apprehension as they were given their share of the muesli bar. They brought it to their mouths.

"Well I'll be- this muesli bar is rock hard!" Ranger Marsh exclaimed as he rubbed his cheek.

"Oww! I think I broke my tooth!" Ursa whined

"Mum I don't like this, it tastes stale!" Orson tugged on his mum's cardigan

"Stop complaining, this is all we have."

"Here Eva, you can have a bit of my cake." Pinto smiled while chucking a bit of cake towards the snake. She gave it a concerning sniff then a tiny bite followed.

The cake tasted slightly old and not as fluffy as she hoped it would be. It was more of an off-tasting brownie.

"Uhh. no thanks. I'll manage." She said with slight disgust in her voice.

"Come on love, I don't think it's half bad! If you really don't want it, I can have that piece. . ." She laughed, picking up the clump of cake from the floor.

"Ew Ryla!" Everyone started in unison followed by a laugh.

"Hey everyone, I'm just gonna grab us some water from the back." Min opened the hatch and hopped out into the scorching sun. It almost felt as though she were in an actual oven.

Luckily, the trailer managed to keep all their belongings from falling during the ride.

"Alright. Dragging a barrel inside the gup. Shouldn't be too hard."

She opened the lid. . .

Her jaw dropped.

She opened another.

This can't be happening.

She opened the last two barrels and nearly fainted from shock.

"Guys. We have a problem."