Diamond and Jet ran through the desert, past the diner, to the side of the road where the figure had fallen. They slowed to a jog before reaching it, stopping to inspect it.

Diamond could see it was a boy dressed in a plain shirt and jeans, face down in the dusty ground. There was a wound in his back, but it didn't look deadly. Gently she bent down and turned him over, her mouth dropping open in shock.

Bright red blood bloomed from a wound in the boy's chest, staining his white t-shirt. His dusty face, or what was visible of it through his long black hair, was contorted in agony, his eyes closed. He only looked about sixteen. His arm had its own wound, and that too was leaking blood onto the dry ground.

Jet stepped around her, placing his jacket over the boy's chest and gathering him into his arms.

"Go," he said quickly, "We'll take him to your room. Just get the bed ready or tell Dr. D or…something." His voice shook slightly.

She nodded silently and got up, ignoring the dusty blood coating the knees of her jeans, turning around to run to the diner. Missle was sitting at a table, her radio and a can of Power Pup in front of her. She looked up as Diamond entered, smiling wide until she saw the blood.

"What-"

"No time," Diamond said frantically, "Where's Dr D?"

"Broadcasting." Missle answered quickly, "He only lets himself be bothered if someone's dying."

"Well that might happen soon. Come on, we need to get all the sheets off this bed." Missle followed Diamond to the room they shared, hurriedly stripping the mattress bare. The last thing they wanted to do was ruin sheets. Blankets of any kind were pretty rare, unless you went into Battery City and stole them from someone's closet. In other words, if you could avoid staining them, you did.

"Where's Show Pony?" Diamond asked as Jet came in, laying the boy on the mattress.

"God only knows," Missle said, "He's always running somewhere or other on those roller skates."

Diamond pulled off her trench coat, hurriedly throwing it into a corner of the room, glad she'd worn a black t shirt underneath it instead of her favorite purple one.

"Shit!" Diamond yelled as she pulled the boy's shirt up, exposing the bright red and very ugly wound just under his ribcage. Blood bubbled out of it and she frantically covered it with her hands, soaking her arms and torso in the process.

There was a bang as the main door was flung open. Jet hurried out to alert the others of what was going on. Diamond continued to work on covering the wound, eventually ending up using the boy's t shirt and pressing down hard. Missle tended to the wound on his arm, covering it with a pillowcase that they figured they could sacrifice.

Ghoul and Kobra hurried in with Jet. Diamond met Ghoul's eyes, relieved more people had shown up. Kobra and Jet left to find a first aid kit.

"Who the hell is that?" Ghoul managed to say through his shock.

"I have no clue," Diamond raised a hand to brush hair away from her forehead with her arm, and that ended up smearing blood on her face. Ghoul stepped forward to the side of the bed.

"What can I do to help?"

Kobra and Jet came back, Party trailing behind, all bearing different bandages, bandage tape, or anti-bacterial products. Diamond stepped back and let them get to work.

"Nothing," she sighed as Missle joined her at Ghoul's other side. The three stepped back to the corner of the room.

"You're a mess," Ghoul commented. Both girls examined themselves. Their hands, arms, and faces were streaked and spotted with blood.

"Yeah, well, stopping someone from dying of blood loss isn't exactly the cleanest task." Diamond smiled weakly at him, though her eyes were still worried.

"Come on. There's an old hose in back. The water's still hooked up to it; though it isn't drinkable at all it sure makes cleaning the Trans Am easier. Let's get both of you cleaned up."

He led Missle and Diamond out; making sure the others had the situation under control before leaving. They did, the bleeding was nearly stopped and the boy was almost all bandaged up. Party stepped back out with them. His hands were bloody, his job stopping the bleeding was done.

The Killjoys walked outside, Ghoul grabbing the hose and turning the rusted knob to start it. Slightly brown water spurted out of the hose. Ghoul looked up and laughed at Diamond's disgusted face.

"It'll clear in a second, just wait." He smiled at her. She shook her head and went to stand by Party, who was talking quite animatedly to Missle. She seemed very interested in what he'd been up to while Vend-A-Hacking and he promised her next time she could come along.

"It's as clear as it'll get!" Ghoul called to them. The three Killjoys hurried to the hose where Ghoul washed off their hands and faces, Party helping to gingerly wipe Missle's face clean. Having clean hands revealed just how dirty and dusty every other part of Diamond was and she looked down at her clothes almost forlornly. What she wouldn't give for a shower.

As if he'd been reading her mind, Ghoul put his thumb over the hose nozzle and pointed the hose at Diamond, spraying her right in the face. She blinked and looked at him as he, Party, and Missle burst out laughing. Her face said rage but her eyes were laughing too. Quickly she snatched the hose from Ghoul and sprayed him too.

"What's so funny?" she said as she turned to soak Party, who was still laughing until being hit with a blast of cold water.

Missle laughed as Party managed to wrestle the hose out of Diamond's grip, spraying her back. Laughing she ran behind Ghoul, pushing him in front of her as he too was sprayed. Ghoul and Diamond fought to push one in front of the other as Party continued spraying them. Ghoul ducked out of the water, running over and picking up Missle. Party looked over as he sprayed Diamond.

"Don't spray!" Ghoul commanded, holding a laughing Missle Kid up in front of himself, "I have a child!"

"Spray!" Missle laughed. Party obliged as Ghoul shrieked, putting Missle down and running back behind Diamond.

"Not again!" she yelled as she ran away. He chased after her, Party following them with the hose, Missle bringing up the rear, laughing the whole way. They continued this for awhile longer until Kobra stepped out and stood to the side.

"Not to be a buzz kill or anything," he said, smiling wide and holding up his hands in surrender when he saw Party with the hose, a devious grin on his face when he saw his brother, "but everything's okay in there again. He's sleeping, I think. Or Jet got him on some really good meds." Kobra shrugged as Ghoul ran to shut the hose off and wind it back up.

"Did anyone talk to him?" Diamond asked.

Kobra shook his head, "No, and even then, he probably wouldn't have much to say."

"What makes you say that?"

Kobra pulled a card out of his pocket, handing it to Diamond, "We found this on him."

It was a white plastic identification card, the BLI logo in the corner with the classic The Aftermath is Secondary slogan under it. It read:

Number 157902

Hair: Blk Eyes: Grn

Age: 16 Height: 5'11"

ID: 103-538230-87

Diamond studied the card, wondering what the ID number could mean, and why there was no name, only a number. It didn't give any information other than that. It didn't look like an employment card; there was no picture, just the Better Living logo on the back above a barcode. A citizenship card? Possibly. She had never gotten one, but in the last month and a half since her citizenship in Battery City, things could have changed. But no longer giving people names? That was a little drastic. Shrugging, she pocketed the card.

"He's only sixteen," Party piped up from behind her. She realized he'd been reading the card from over her shoulder, along with Ghoul.

"If he was running away he's probably aiming to be a Killjoy." Ghoul added.

"Another Diamond? I don't think we can handle that." Kobra chuckled. Diamond shot him a look but he just gave her a "you know I don't mean it" look back.

"If he's a runaway I want to talk to him first." Diamond said, "I can explain how this whole Killjoy thing works to him."

"Fine," Party said, "I'll go see how he's doing. When he wakes up, I'll tell you." He headed back to the diner, Kobra and Missle in tow.

"Come on," ghoul wrapped a soaking arm around Diamond's shoulders, "let's go try and find something to dry us off."

"Can't we just sit in the sun?"

Ghoul considered it.

"Yeah, I guess we can."

So they did, sitting in front of the diner, both deep in thought as the sun in front of them set over a dusty horizon.