Look Alive, Sunshine

>sixteen<

"Aw, shit. We're almost out of gas." Kobra aggressively tapped at the fuel gauge as if he could make the dial go up. "That doesn't make any sense. We were full, like, a day ago. We haven't—" A look of realization dawned on his face and he clenched his jaw. "That fucking arsonist..."

"What?"

Kobra slowly pulled over and shifted to park. "I'm pretty sure," he took a deep breath and chewed his lip, "Ghoul siphoned it to use with the explosives." He rest his forehead on the steering wheel and let out a muffled groan. "God, I hate him right now. For once in his life, could he just—" Sunny didn't catch the rest, as Kobra's shoulders had hunched and his arms now covered his face.

Ghoul, why?

He was basically that one kid who always misbehaved, but somehow always managed to get away with it because everyone loved him so much. It was almost infuriating, and Sunny would have hated him had they not been so similar. Both pissy adrenaline junkies looking for the next thrill.

But he could have at least waited one more day to steal the gas. For fuck's sake, he knew they would need to drive soon anyway and he surely had some spare money to get his own considering all the soda he could afford.

Where did he get that many carbons anyway? Exchanging goods and/or services?

"So, uh..." Sunny started. Kobra was still hiding in his jacket. It would be cute if she didn't know he was so stressed out. Kid needed a break. "Where might the nearest gas station be? Or..." Oh god this was stupid, but she'd say it anyway. "We could eat a few cans of Power Pup... ya know... to get gas."

Kobra slowly lifted his head and looked out the windshield. He breathed in and closed his eyes. "I—" He gave his head a slight shake and a corner of his mouth tugged up. "You're worse than Ghoul, you know that?"

"I take that as a compliment." She realized that she truly did. And besides, she'd almost made him laugh, which was a feat in itself. If she was honest, any sort of acknowledgment that she existed gave her a kind of confidence she'd never thought could exist in herself.

Then again, she couldn't have ended up with a better group of people to be herself around.

Swearing? Go ahead.

Crude humor? Sure thing.

Being a literal pain in the ass? Well, so is everyone else. You're not special, sweetheart.

It was a breath of fresh air. Well, not literally of course. Better Life made sure of that thanks to the constant pollution gushing out from Battery City 24/7. Couldn't they invest in fucking solar power or something?

But the marginally better air quality within the city walls was far from worth the price of living there. Fuck, it was awful. If only more people knew how much better it was in the Zones, how much freedom they could have, how much happier the could be...

"Well," Kobra sniffed, interrupting her thoughts, "I guess we better go to Kum and Go. I mean, we don't have a choice. It's not gonna be cheap..." Kobra felt his pockets and his face fell. "You wouldn't happen to have any carbons on you, would you?"

Well, shit. "Nope. I got nothin'."

"Damn. The Kraken isn't gonna be too happy with us." He was talking more to himself at this point. "Maybe I can pull the brother card or something. I mean, he'd never admit that."

What the hell was he talking about?

"Who's The Kraken?"

"Mmm? Oh yeah, sorry." Kobra rubbed the back of his neck. "He's an old friend. Owns one of the gas stations out here. Does tattoos as well," he added. "We try not to go if we can, but it's a much closer walk than Gas for Snacks."