Hey. I know this is a short chapter but it's better than nothing. Keep those reviews coming PLEASE!

Chapter 5: The Beginning of the Quest

"Well, what do we need a pistol for, anyway?" Vern said. We were now all together and had officially started our quest.

"It's spooky sleeping out at night in the woods. We might see a bear," Chris explained. He turned to Gordie and and quipped, "Or a garbage can."

I laughed, and Gordie eyed me knowingly. We were locked in a gaze. I smiled. He returned it with his beautiful teeth. I got lost until I saw Chris. He seemed uncomfortable for some reason so I cleared my throat and turned away to Vern. I noticed something coming out of his pocket.

"Hey, Verno, what's that in your pocket?" I asked.

Vern smiled triumphantly. "I brought a comb!" he said, bringing the comb out of his pocket.

Chris looked at Vern as if he was the weirdest person in the world. "What the hell are we gonna need a comb for?"

Vern looked a little sad. "Well, if we get on TV, we wanna look good, don't we?"

Gordie rolled his eyes. "That's a lot of thinking, Vern."

Vern grinned, "Thanks!"

I rolled my eyes. Vern just didn't understand the sarcasm of the statement. In fact, he couldn't understand any sarcastic statement.

Finally, we arrived at the train tracks. "How far do you think it's gonna be?" I asked.

Chris moved his head to the side and studied the tracks long and hard. "If we take the tracks all the way into Harlow… it'd be about 20 miles. That sound right to you, Gordo?"

Gordie nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it might even be 30."

Vern sighed. "Jeez, maybe we should just hitchhike."

Teddy scoffed, "No way."

"Why not?" Vern asked as we started walking, "We could hitch to that street by the Shiloh church, then down the Back Harlow Road; we'll be there by sundown!"

"That's pussy," Teddy explained, finalizing the issue.

"Hey, it's a long way," Vern grumbled as we walked along.

"Did your mother ever have any kids that lived?" Teddy asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I sighed and turned back. "Shut up and leave each other alone."

Teddy laughed. "I don't think I could leave Vern alone…but I sure as hell can't shut up!"

I rolled my eyes and laughed as we walked on. We walked for a couple hours, singing the theme from "Palladin" all the way. Then, Vern asked the million dollar question: "Hey, I'm hungry, who's got the food?"

Teddy stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh, shit! Did anybody bring anything?"

Chris shrugged. "Not me. Gordie?"

Gordie shook his head. "How about you, Sam?"

I put my hands on my hips. "What the hell am I, your slave?"

"Oh, great. That's just great," Teddy sighed. "What are we supposed to do? Eat our feet?"

Chris looked shocked. "You mean you didn't bring anything either?"

"Well shit, this wasn't my idea! This was Vern's idea!" Teddy then advanced on Vern. "Why didn't you bring something?"

"What am I supposed to do, think of everything? I brought the comb!" Vern defended himself, holding the comb for all to see.

"Oh, great, what did you bring a comb for? You don't even have any hair!"

"I brought it for you guys!"

"HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY!" Gordie yelled, breaking the scuffle between Vern and Teddy. "Let's see how much money we got," he suggested, and we all sat down and emptied our pockets. "I got $1.02," he said. "$0.68 from Chris… $0.60 from Teddy… $0.69 from Sam…" We all looked at Vern. Vern dejectedly put his money in Gordie's hand. Gordie counted it all up. "…. $0.07, Vern?"

Vern shrugged. "I haven't found my pennies yet."

Gordie shook his head. "Well, $3.69's not bad-" Teddy interrupted with a laugh. "Yeah, we all know .69 isn't bad!" He cracked up laughing as I scoffed.

Gordie continued. "Quidicello's is just down the road, past the junkyard. We can get some stuff there while we're refilling our canteens at the junkyard."

"Train coming," Chris warned. We all leapt off the train tracks as fast as we could, even though the train was miles away. All of us jumped off the tracks…except for Teddy.