"I didn't expect you guys to be smart enough to come up with this plan." Jay mused, taking a drink from his beer. "I mean, Penny I get, but CeeCee? I figured you'd go in guns blazing."
"Yea… But penny was against it." Cee shrugged. "Had to come up with a new plan."
"The things you guys do." Penny sighed.
"What do you mean the things we do?" CeeCee asked, turning her attention to the pink haired friend. "It was a successful mission."
"Did we really need to steal the beer and fruits?" Penny asked. "It's bad enough we already stole Jay from his trophy shelf."
"But… Fruits!" Jay whined. Popping some grapes into his mouth.
"I'm sure we won't see him or anyone else from there anyways." Cee responded, stealing a mango from the bag.
"Karma's a bitch." Penny mused, taking their own fruit from the bag.
"Well, I have a lot of karma to answer to if that's a thing." CeeCee shrugged. "It wouldn't matter."
"Same." Jay mumbled around a mouthful of strawberries.
"Yea, of course. With all the things you put me through." CeeCee shook her head. "Hence all the karma." A pause followed, before the siblings bursted into laughter. Penny sighed, face palming at the two's antics.
"I can't wait until they get drunk." Penny mumbled and shook his head. "A new challenge for the night." Penny's eyes scanned the area of the top floor of the school. Any possible entrance of the floor was sealed and barricaded. All windows were closed and locked tight to keep any drunken friends from jumping. With a nod before they reached for their own beer, deeming the surrounding area safe.
Already a small mountain of ten cans forming in the middle of the triangle, a small contained fire flickered near the cans keeping the area lit. The bag of stolen fruits sat between Jay and CeeCee, while a warm cooked meal was seated near the fire. The choice of dinner for the day was baked beans, canned chicken, and instant mashed potatoes.
Jay and CeeCee continued talking, words soft and out of Penny's hearing range. Penny's eyes scanned the area, taking in the desks pushed against the walls and doors. Their eyes taking in the various paperwork littering the walls before grey eyes landed on a specific piece. Pulling himself into a stand, their made his way towards the bulletin. Eyes trained on the 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' paper stapled to red wall.
Penny's eyes scanned two specific papers, names glaring back at them. Storm grey eyes swiping back and forth along old, worn paper as tears welled and blurred their vision slightly.
"Should we, uh…" CeeCee trailed, eyes shifting to her friend. Jay paused, turning his head to look at Penny, before turning to Cee.
"Ye, we probably should." Jay nodded, turning his full attention to the pink haired friend. "Hey Pen… You good?" Jay asked.
"Yea." Penny responded, taking the paper and folding it before placing them in their pockets. Penny wiped their eyes, before making their way and settling by the fire.
"We need new clothes." Jay whined, stopping his pace. Penny and Cee stopped, turning to the youngest member. CeeCee groaned, shaking her head.
"You always want clothes." Cee sighed. Jay shook his head, glaring at her.
"But they're dirty."
"We can just wash them in a river." Cee paused, before continuing. "Or with the collected water."
"Okay, but shopping is free now!"
"We don't even know where the nearest town is." Cee refuted.
"About forty minutes, walking, due east." Penny finally chimed in, raising their arm to point in the direction.
"Shut up Penny." Cee deadpanned. "Stop spoiling Jay."
"Hey! New clothes are always good!"
"And then we trash them again." Cee glared. "Because marshmallows are everywhere." As if on cue, rustling sounded a few distances away. The three of them quieted, heads snapping west. Penny tensed, picking up their axed. The other two followed, pulling their own respective weapons out.
"You can get it." Cee spoked as the rustling got louder. "Give yourself a reason to get new clothes."
"The apocalypse is no excuse to have no style." Jay retorted, sinking his knife into the corpse the moment it broke the treeline. The body fell to the floor with a thump. "So, we're going shopping right?"
"Well?" Cee turned to Penny, leaving the decision to them.
"I'll take you…" Penny paused, having already picked up the pace towards the town. The other two falling into step as well. They continued.. "Only if, you wear something bright for once."
"I expect this from Cee, but you too?" Jay sighed, shaking his head. "But deal."
"Marshmallows might not care, but he'll be a target to others." CeeCee pointed out.
"Well, dark clothing stand out during the day." Penny refuted.
"Sides, my hairs a target anyways." Jay laughed, shaking his green hair for emphasis. Hopping over a falling tree branch.
"That's normal to us." Cee spoke. "Besides, you blend into the trees and grass."
"True, true." Jay mused, thinking ahead on how to honor this deal.
The trio quieted, walking in tune through the woods. Jay's head was fulling broken song lyrics from before the dead overtook. He's mostly focused on trying to remember the full lyrics for any of the multitude of songs rolling through his head. Along with ignoring his invisible friends.
Cee's head was racked with combing through their ingredients, trying to piece together a well balanced dinner. She also couldn't help but be annoyed with this sidetrack. It would be smarter and more time efficient if they had just gone to find a safe place to settle for the night.
All the while, Penny's head was locked somewhere in the past. Their hand resting above the drawings stolen from the school. The drawings were created on a more happy day, one of the few days Penny had gone to pick up their kids. The smiles that littered the two faces was something they wouldn't forget. The two kids were overly joyed with the assignment of that day. The drawings.
"Wait… Is that a smile!" Jay broke through Penny's thought, the other having not noticed they were smiling. "Ow!" Jay cried, gripping his shoulder at the impact.
"You just interrupted his thought process." Cee scolded. "You don't just announce those outloud."
"What? I was just surprised they smiled while sober." Jay pouted.
"You know I'm not miserable twenty-four seven, right?" Penny responded.
"I mean… yeaaaaa." Jay droned.
That was the end of the conversation, the trio falling back into a comfortable silence. The journey to the town only continued for a few minutes before another noise broke their thoughts.
"You hear that?" Penny questioned, causing everyone to stop. The siblings paused, straining to pick up the sounds the other had. It took a moment before the other two did. "Sounds like something eating." Penny continued, nodding their head towards some trees.
"Yea, I hear it." Cee confirmed, following her statement a loud growl pierced through.
"We gotta check that out." Jay chimed, waving a hand towards the noise.
"No we don't." Cee shook her head. "We don't have to check it out."
"But it's something!" Jay said, waving more frantically towards the noise. "We gotta know what."
"You don't know what it is." Cee sighed. "It could be a bear, or some kind of big cat."
"Exactly!" He confirmed. 'We gotta know what it is."
"We don't need another mouth to feed." Cee refuted, another growl followed her statement.
"Could just be someone who needs help." Penny spoke up, looking over to their friends. "Some Marshmallows sounds like that."
"So, we're going." Jay nodded.
"I guess." Cee sighed. "But if it's a creature, you're not keeping it."
"No fun." Jay groaned, before making his way towards the noise with a knife in hand.
"Or you're completely responsible with keeping it alive." Penny responded, following the other. "You have to deal with feeding it."
"Penny, stop spoiling Jay." CeeCee complained, following the others. It did take long before the trio stumbled upon the source of the noise.
'It's a dog!" Jay laughed. The small dog was nose deep into the belly of a marshmallow, chewing away at the insides. White fur was speckled with brown blood.
"You're not keeping that thing." Cee sighed, waving towards the creature. "It's gonna turn and eat you or us."
"Have you ever seen marshmallow animals?' Jay pointed out.
"No, but you haven't seen any living ones until now." Cee refuted.
"Exactly!" Jay exclaimed, gaining the attention of the dog. The small dog turned, staring curiously at the trio, but protectively over her meal.
"Maybe it's alive because it doesn't have any brains." CeeCee insulted.
"Hey!" Jay gasped, offended. "She's adorable, and clearly smart."
"If you say so." Cee answered. Jay cautiously walked toward the dog, not receiving any negative response. Slowly he rested a hand on blood matted hair, laughing softly when the dog nuzzled into the pet.
"If we want to make it to the town before dark, we have to move." Penny pointed out, glancing up at the sky.
"Fine." Cee agreed. "At least we'll find a mall or something. So you can groom it."
"Awesome." Jay grinned, turning to the small dog. "How's that sound girl?" In response, the dog's tail wagged softly.
It didn't take long for the trio and their new addition to make it to the town. Only another short walk before finding the mall. It took about six stray marshmallows before deeming the mall as clear. The trio quickly set out a plan of where to meet at what time, before heading off their separate ways.
Jay smiled down at his new friend, wandering through the mall for a place for the two to clean up. The dog smiled happily, trotting along side the boy. Jay whistled softly to himself, glancing through the various stores. Jay had always wanted a pet, preferably a dog. The complicated childhood his sister and him shared kept it hard to really hold onto any pets. Of course, an apocalypse isn't the best time to have a pet, doesn't mean he wasn't going to try.
"We'll get you cleaned up first girl, then we'll worry about clothes." Jay mused, looking over at a small store. 'Paws & Pampers'. First glance it looked too much like a dog clothes boutique, but the further they went in the luckier they got. The back was decked out with small baths, and tables. "A groomer's paradise." Jay laughed, glancing at the small mop of fur.
"Okay, how about a shave?" Jay patted one of the tables, watching the dog shrink back a bit. "Aw don't be like that, I'm good at this." Jay lied, patting the table again. The small dog whined, before slowly walking over. Jay smiled, picking her up and placing her on the tabler.
He gathered a razor, and some conditioner. Figuring that was a quicker way to handle it versus the scissors. It took a moment for the small dog to calm at the sound of the razor, and a longer moment for her to calm enough for him to be able to shave her. When he thought she was a mess, he underestimated her. It took him a lot longer before she was shaved down, and clean enough to actually look white as she's meant to be.
"How's Roxy feel?" Jay asked, running a hand through short, clean hair. The small dog, Roxy, softly huffed and leaned into the touch. "I'll take that as a yes." Jay laughed, rustling her face between his hands.
"My turn to get cleaned up." He smiled, leading her out of the small store and into another. He did remember to grab a small studded collar for her.