AUTHOR'S NOTE

This is painful.
I'm not sure if I can keep it going

I guess stopping now would be even worse.

My head hurts.

Joyful Tree Friends

Flippy slept. His friends had gone. They had wandered off, like they did, singing or just staring off into this distance. They be back when he needed them, like they always did, but that just meant he'd be sleeping alone. With Buddy. He'd tied a little rope around her neck, tied it to his wrist. She wouldn't be going anywhere.

Buddy couldn't sleep. The rope was tied too tightly and dug deep into the meat of her neck, but that was the last thing on her mind. She wanted to see Lumpy again, but at the same time she wanted to be as far away from him as possible. She wanted to see Uncle Cuddles again, but she felt like if she did, she'd die.

She needed something. Something to dull this feeling. This sickness. She saw the pouch hanging from his hip. She remember how Lumpy looked when he swallowed it. It was the first time he'd seen him smile since all this started.

She crawled on her hands and knees toward him, moving as slow as she could stand. Flippy didn't stir. She leaned down and tugged on the pouch, but it wouldn't come off. She bit at the rope tied around his side and gnawed on it until it finally fell loose, right into her waiting hand. There was at least a dozen or so of the little round marbles in there. Maybe more.

She picked one up, swallowed it.

Buddy felt it immediately. She felt euphoria wash over her.

But there was something gnawing at her neck. Not the rope, something else. The little twinge of anger in her was electrifying her mind now. She gritted her teeth. She grabbed the rope that held her to Flippy and gnawed on it until it snapped.

Flippy stirred. He opened his eyes and saw Buddy was now loose, holding his joy.

"What the, what are you doing?"

Buddy turned and tried to run, but Flippy caught her by the spare length of rope that still dangled from her neck

"You need to sit down little girl. You need to be quiet or I'll have to-"

Buddy, choking now, was groping blindly at Flippy. Her hands found his machete. She pulled it loose and drew it across his chest. Flippy didn't react, but his muscles twitched. His grip on the rope loosened and Buddy ran. She cut the rope from her neck with the blade, turned and tossed it at Flippy in the hopes that it would deter him from following, but Flippy hadn't taken a step towards her.

The machete clattered at his feet. He bent down to pick it up.

Flippy grunted, almost amused by her. He dipped his fingers in the thin blood dripping down his abdomen. The smell of it surprised him. He put his helmet back on and started in the opposite direction.

Back towards Lumpy.

…

Lumpy and Buckets hadn't made it too far, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. It was good that it had, because without the light they wouldn't have seen Flippy waiting for them.

"Lumpy!" Flippy called out.

Lumpy called back, "Where the fuck is she?"

"She's gone. She's got all my Joy too. You really are a bad influence, you know that?"

Lumpy's anger clenched in his throat, "You gave her Joy?"

"She stole it from me, right before she sliced me up." Flippy jumped down from the rock he was standing on. He tapped his machete on Lumpy's cheek, "But that doesn't matter. We're gonna play another game."

Lumpy didn't flinch. "Why are you doing this, Flippy? What's your problem with-"

Flippy slammed the blade of the machete into the meat of Lumpy's side, right between his ribs. Lumpy gasped. He wanted to fall over, but Flippy held him upright with the machete

"You… you really want to ask me that? You really want to fucking ask me that?" He rocked the blade back and forth in Lumpy's side. "You don't realize, do you? You don't know what happened. You don't think about anything but yourself, do you, Lumpy? Do you think that… that I'm just some kid? Some nameless Joy pusher? I guess… I guess it's all my fault, really." He sawed the blade in, more slowly now. There was blood in Lumpy's mouth.

"If I hadn't sold you the Joy, you wouldn't have… no. No you would have. You're a monster. You would've done it to her 're a sick fuck like that. I bet you're still glad you did it." Flippy pulled the blade out. The thin blood oozed.

"Do you know what she meant to me? I didn't have enough money for her. When the guy offered me the drugs, paid me more than you could imagine, just to sell them. I couldn't refuse. I'd be able to take care of her. And you did it. And she's dead now." Flippy looked like he was going to cry.

Flippy composed himself. He smiled. "Now… now we're going to play this game. Because of what you did to me. And what you did to her. Only one of you is walking past me. You get to choose Lumpy. You. Or your friend."

"No."

Buckets drew his revolver. The glint of gold flashed in the peeking sunlight. The crash rolled out over the dust and Flippy chest exploded into a gout of red.

But he was still standing.

Flippy slowly drew his head back up

"Never do that again." He said. The blood was pooling at his feet now. He didn't care. He brandished his machete "Now Lumpy. You choose. You. Or-"

Something clattered at his feet. A revolver. Buckets was holding one to his head.

Buckets spoke.

"We'll play. My game. Lumpy goes. We stay."

Flippy picked up the revolver. He stared at Lumpy, then looked to Buckets.

"You're going to defend this piece of shit? Do you know what he-"

Buckets cut him off, "I don't care. I've watched him risk his life over and over again. If there's such thing as penance, he's made it."

Flippy looked to Lumpy. He pressed the revolver to his own head.

"Leave. Now." Flippy said. Lumpy staggered away from them, clutching his poncho into his side to try and stem the blood loss. Flippy turned his attention back to Buckets.

"You know," Flippy said, "I think you're trying to cheat me."

"How so?" Buckets asked.

"That helmet of yours. It'll stop the bullet, won't it? Take it off."

Buckets lowered his pistol. He pulled the bucket off of his head with one hand. Let it clatter to his side. Her red hair spilled out over her shoulders. Her eyes were just as intense as they were behind the mask. Her lips, though once beautiful, were frozen ina scowl.

"Do you think," She placed the revolver back to her head, "I'm a coward? Because I wore it? I felt like one. But now? Now I feel brave. Brave enough to die, but not as Buckets. I want to die as Flaky."

Flippy was trembling. He pulled the trigger. He pulled it again. He didn't wait for Flaky to pull her trigger. He pulled again. Again.

Lumpy heard the crash over his shoulder. He didn't flinch. He didn't look up. He kept walking.

...

Buddy hadn't stopped running. Not once. Her body was stronger than it was before. The pills she now had tucked into her poncho were stronger than she could've imagined. She felt all at once, furious and joyous, she felt like killing and singing, she felt like skipping and stomping. She needed to see him. She needed to see Uncle Cuddles. She felt it in her heart. She felt clarity.

Cuddles didn't even know that, on the road he'd stumbled down, he'd been waiting for her. Cuddles had resigned in his mind to just follow Buddy's trail until he collapsed and then let himself die in the dirt. Imagine his surprise when she ran into him

"Uncle Cuddles!" She buried her face in his chest, "Uncle, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run. I was just scared… but I understand now! I understand that I can help everyone! I want to go back."

Cuddles didn't know what to say. Something about her didn't seem right. He didn't recognize the smell on her breath.

"What do you-" He caught himself. Was he really going to question something like this? This was what they needed. What they all needed. He hugged her tight, "Y-yeah Buddy. We're gonna go back. And I'm gonna make them treat you better. You're special… you deserve something special."

"Hey."

Cuddles froze. That voice.

"Hey asshole…"

It was Lumpy. He let go of Buddy. Buddy ducked behind him.

Lumpy was there. His arm was gone, he was cut badly, and he was covered in blood. But it was him, that was for sure. He started walking towards them. Cuddles pulled his rifle off of his back.

"Buddy…" Cuddles whispered.

She clung to him, "Don't let him take me. I don't want to go back to hiding."

Cuddles swallowed hard and said, "Buddy. Run. I want you to run back to Giggles. Just run away from here as far as you can go. D-do you think you'll make it?"

Buddy nodded. She didn't wait for another cue to sprint away from Lumpy with all her heart. Lumpy reached out to her and lunged forward, but Cuddles raised his rifle.

"Lumpy… Just, just let her go man." He clicked the safety off.

Lumpy kept walking towards them.

Cuddles turned the switch to automatic, "Lumpy please. She's safer there. She'll be okay. I promise. I'll stay with her. I'll watch over her."

Lumpy didn't stop. Cuddles squeezed the trigger and fired. A hail of bullets sputtered out in threes. Several of the shots caught Lumpy. None of them seemed to slow him. Lumpy kept walking, the bullets kept coming. He grabbed the barrel of the gun, pulled it to the side and slammed Cuddles' chest with it. Cuddles collapsed in a heap, he felt several of his ribs broken. He reached out to Lumpy. Lumpy swung the gun down on him again, like a club. He slammed it again and stopped moving. His belly had split open. Blood and pulp spewed out with each hit. Lumpy kept hitting him.

Lumpy dropped the gun. He was covered in blood, not all of it his. Cuddles was long dead.

Instinctively, he fished in his poncho pocket.

Someone had put Joy there.