FNF: The Corruption Crisis

Chapter Eight: Stubborness

"Whitty—"

Garcello reached a hand out toward the bomb head. He couldn't shake off this sinking feeling in his chest. A feeling that just screamed that if he let Whitty go now he wouldn't see him again. Usually, these little haunches of his are right too.

"Don't get in my way!"

The bomb head cut him off, making Garcello put his hand back down. All he could do was watch as Whitty disappeared into the apartment complex – never coming out again.

"Mister? Are you okay?"

Skid's voice cut Garcello from his thoughts as he looked back over at the child. Full of the same determination – the same stubbornness. He wasn't going to just let him do anything reckless. If Skid was so set on finding Pump then he was going to stick with him whether Skid wanted the help or not.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

He gave a nod. Best not let the kid know the truth. He might jump headfirst into trouble if he knew about Whitty. It was bad enough he was so set on finding someone who was most definitely corrupted.

"If you say so."

God, Garcello hated lying to the kid. He could see the concern written on Skid's face despite the costume he wore. That thing allowed for a lot of expression to come through, didn't it? Nonetheless, the child didn't push him and dropped the subject, focusing his attention ahead once more. Garcello kept close behind the kid with one hand in his jacket pocket.

Geez, this city really has gone downhill. Now that he had paused enough to look at it, the past two weeks have already taken a huge toll on Newgrounds. Many businesses had opted to stay closed until the pandemic was under control. However, the pandemic has only worsened – businesses being closed didn't stop people from going out. People had to go to the store, were bored enough go to what few entertainment businesses did stay open, some just wanted to get out of their stuffy homes or worse, some no longer even had a home to go to. Garcello was one of those people – his apartment was burned down a week ago. He had been out getting McDeedle's for himself and Annie. Annie had planned to stream a movie on Funkflix and they'd planned to just have a chill night together. Instead, Garcello came back to a burning apartment and no sign of Annie. In an instant a chill afternoon was turned to staring down his corrupted best friend. Accepting that she was part of the lost was still hard for him even now.

"You look sad. Let's get some candy!"

Garcello looked ahead of them, seeing that they were right around the corner from the Candy Shoppe. The lights were on and a big flashing open sign could be seen in the window. One of the few businesses that stayed open despite the pandemic. Garcello honestly wondered if the business was just that desperate for money or just simply didn't care about their employees' safety. He didn't have much time to think, for Skid was soon grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him toward the shop.

"Hey, are you sure you have the money to be spending on candy?" the ex-smoker couldn't help but yelp.

"Who cares? The cashier never cares if you pay!"

Huh. Well, Garcello was pretty sure that this business fell on the doesn't care about its employees end of the spectrum. Nonetheless, he nodded. He didn't care about the idea of stealing from a shop either. It wasn't like it was his first time being a thief. Probably wasn't going to be his last either.

As Skid had warned, the clerk at the counter didn't seem to care what they did. He was just watching them with the most unamused expression ever. One that clearly said he would rather be anywhere, including being corrupted, than sitting here at this counter. Honestly, it reminded Garcello of how he felt when he worked as a clerk at a gas station. Simple go by the grind work like that was never for him. Was probably why jobs never lasted too long for him.