Trix flipped a quarter up into the air and caught it on the back of his hand, then flipped it again. He was waiting for Zero, Sy and the other three new guys to come out of the building they spent all night in. Zero was explaining that Fares and Björne were to stay between the three of them in case something happened and Sy was bandaging Alex's wound as tight as she could. Trix had already radioed Link and the others a few hours before dawn, telling them that they were on the way and had some presents for them when they got there. Dropping the quarter, Trix bent over and picked it up, standing straight again, jingling the radio pack on his back to shift it back into the right spot, Trix turned and looked inside the door of the building.

"Come on already." he called, his voice echoing slightly in the empty streets.

"Yeah, yeah." Zero barked coming out. Fares and Björne filing in behind him. "Keep your training wheels on."

"God, please keep those fuckers on," Sy chimed in coming out with Alex. "I'm not holding your ass up all the time."

"Alright, everyone ready?" Zero asked, looking around at the group, who looked at each other and nodded. "Good, let's rock 'n' roll."

The group headed out, down the street and back to the school bus and to their next destination, where ever that might be, none of them knew. The day seemed hotter than usual, Sy gave Alex, Björne and Fares some chapstick she had stashed in her back and Trix gave them water to drink. They stopped just outside the city limit, Trix pulled out a pair of binoculars and scanned the desert out in front of them. He spotted nothing, but a circling bird. He gave the group the okay signal and they continued in the direction of the bus. Not a mile and half from the city limit, Björne decided it was a good time to throw a temper tantrum.

"I'm tried of fucking walking, why can't they come and pick us up!" he bitched.

"It waste gas, dumb ass." Zero snapped, stopping and turning back to look at him. "Let's go. We only have another 5 and half miles until we get there. Then you can throw a tantrum on the bus as we move out. So, get your ass up and let's go."

Björne dropped to the hot ground, cross armed and legged, a smart ass look on his face as he challenged Zero's patience. Sy and Trix exchanged looks with each other, knowing that Björne was going to either get up and walk or Zero was going to shoot him dead. One way or another, Björne was going to lose. Fares rubbed his face, exhausted and hot and Alex stumbled over to Björne, grabbing him behind one elbow and pulled him up.

"Dude, we're all sick of walking. But we have too, alright. This is our only chance to survive in this shit hole and we need all the chances we can get. So, put on your big boy underwear, tie on the cape and get to steppin' or I'm going to kill you myself." he threatened his long time friend. Björne looked up at Alex with a slack jaw. Alex pressed his lips together, patting Björne on the back and giving him a shove forward. "You can do it." he encouraged. They didn't have another issue with Björne the rest of the time.

"You okay, Alex?" Sy asked, slowing down to walk with him.

Alex had taken his shirt off and tucked it in the back pocket of his dirty and faded jeans. He was slightly slouched and holding his hand over his wound, breathing sorta heavy. Sy looked him over, his skin was red from the sun, lips were dry, dripping with sweat and barely walking.

"Ye-yeah." he panted.

"No, you're not." she said, pulling him to a stop. "Hold!" she called to the rest of the group.

"What's up?" Zero asked coming up between Trix and Fares. "His wound?"

"I don't think it is, maybe though." Sy answered, pulling her sleeve over her palm and wiping Alex's flushed face. "I think its the sun and that. He might have had a fever from the wound being untended for so long, the sun his cooking him. I need to get some sunblock on him, get him hydrated and cooled off before we continue on."

"Alright, we need a water break anyway." Zero agreed, looking Alex over himself.

"Here, Alex." Sy said, getting him to sit down. She unscrewed the lid of her water bottle and handed it to him to drink. "Drink all of it." she told him, dropping her pack and bow on the ground and pulling out the SPF 20 from the bottom of her pack.

"What about you?" Alex panted between gulps.

"I'll be fine. Trix has more water if I need it." she replied squeezed some of the sunblock into her hand. "Can I put this on you?" she asked, rubbing the sunblock into both hands. Alex nodded and Sy stepped behind him to rubbed the sunblock good and well onto his shoulders, neck and back. He hissed lightly over the sensitive spots on his shoulders.

"Arms." Sy said, putting more sunblock in her hands and rubbing it into his impressive arms. "Okay, stand up and let me see that chest." she teased him. Alex chuckled, standing up and taking the last gulp of water from Sy's water bottle.

She finished off his chest and looked up at him, he was so much taller than her. "My height, please." she requested, with her index finger. Alex bent slightly at the waist and brought his face close to hers, making Sy gulp nervously. She shyly put what the sunblock that was left on her hands on his face and ears, then stepped back. "You got sunglasses? You're blue eyed, blue eyes don't absorb sun light."

"No, I don't." Alex shook his head.

Sy nodded and when back to her pack, putting the sunblock away and pulling out a second pair of sun goggles that looked like hers but were black, not tan. She stood up, next to him, showed him the three lenses that came with the goggles, yellow, clear and black ones and showed him how to pop them in and out, then popped in the black ones and handed him the goggles and lenses. "You can keep them. I only need one pair. I was being a little greedy when we went on to a military base a few weeks back." she explained, pulling her goggles off her head, switching the clear lenses for the black ones, then put them on to shield her eyes from the rising sun.

"Thanks." Alex nodded, pulling on his new goggles.

"No problem." Sy smiled, pulling her back back on. "Trix, can we get two refreshments over here?" she called to Trix like he was a bartender.

"Of course, my lady." Trix played along, pulling out for fresh water bottles and tossing them to Sy and Alex. "That'll be $11.50."

"$11.50!" Sy ranted. "Yesterday they were $13.29. $11.50 is way too rich for my blood." Everyone laughed as she took a good drink of the water.

"Why you dropping in price, Trix?" Zero asked, getting up from where he was sitting.

"I'm not. Its a business deal. $11.50 per bottle and there's 9 of us. So 9 times 11.50 is..what?" Trix stopped to figure the math in his head.

"$103.50." Fares told him, pouring some water on his face.

"Yeah and when it was just 6 of us at 13.29 pre bottle that was what, Fares?"

"Something like $79 and change." Fares answered.

"Yeah, but if you kept it at $13.29 with 9 people you'd be getting $119.61." Sy explained. "So, in reality you're losing money." Trix's shoulders slumped and he looked like someone just stole his lollipop from him.

"It's okay, Trix. Just put it on our tab." Zero chuckled, patting the kid on the shoulder. "Let's get going again. I wanna try and be on the road before night fall."

"You good?" Sy asked looking up at Alex.

"Yeah." she smiled big at her.

"Okay, if you need to stop, let us know okay?" she told him as they started walking again. "We don't need you dropping on us."

Alex smiled wider at her and patting her on the back with a light laugh, "I won't do that, I swear to it."