Author's Notes: Hi everyone! It's time for another neglected fic update! Yay! This time I chose Abdoption, because I received a lovely review on it as well as on a few of my PPG fics. Well, that and this chapter was the closest to being finished anyway. While I enjoy most of the fandoms I work with, I think what I like about PPG and the Gangreen Gang specifically is that the plot can be nonsensical and funny, but can also go to some real and dark places. Thank you to everyone reading this story, and I hope you all stay safe out there :)

Chapter 4

The Food Run

"But boss, Billy can't go!" Billy insisted as Ace scowled back at him.

They had been hashing out this argument for nearly ten minutes. The gang had to go to Malph's to steal from the delivery trucks, and Billy was their muscle in case they got caught by any of the drivers or staff. Billy didn't want to go with them tonight however, much to the chagrin of the other gang members.

"She'll be fine, Billy!" Ace said for probably the fifth time, "The kid ain't goin' nowhere, so just relax and come with us to get our supplies. There's snacks in it for ya..."

Normally this was all it took to entice Big Billy, but tonight he wasn't budging. He looked over sadly at Marny, who Ace had tied up and stuck in her bassinet. She was struggling in her rope cocoon and glaring daggers at the gang, especially Ace. Ace just smirked back at the kid knowing she was helpless and couldn't do anything to hurt him.

"Billy has to stay here! Fluffy might get scared or hungry!" Billy argued.

"If she gets hungry too bad, 'cause we're outta food!" Ace snapped, "Come on, you big oaf! We need to hurry up and go! We're down to our last roll of toilet paper and we ran outta beer yesterday. Either you come with us to steal supplies, or nobody eats. Kapish?"

"Only if Fluffy can come too," Billy negotiated.

"What? No way!" Ace shouted irately, "The kid would just blow our cover!"

"How? She can't talk," Arturo pointed out.

"Oh brother..." Ace grumbled and he rubbed a hand down his face, "Fine, Billy. We can take the kid, but she better stay out of our way!"

"Okay, boss," Billy nodded agreeably.

Billy then went over and untied Marny, and she scooted to the farthest corner of her bed and looked up at Billy with wary eyes. Billy in his ignorance missed this sign of distrust and fear, and picked the girl up to set her down on the floor. She looked up at him and pouted angrily, but Billy just smiled like butter wouldn't melt.

"Hey, chica!" Arturo called out to her as he walked over with a red hoodie, "Wear this. It'll hide your face in case we get caught."

Marny did as she was told and put on Arturo's hoodie, and then fell in line with the gang behind Ace. She rubbed her own arms to comfort herself as they left, since she hadn't been allowed outside the dump in days. She was still technically a prisoner, even if it was her own fault for not accepting help when offered. Therefore she wasn't sure how much freedom she actually had with the gang. The uncertainty put her on edge, and Billy's habit of randomly grabbing her whenever he felt like it only made her frayed nerves worse.

It took fifteen minutes of walking to make it to Malph's Market, and sure enough, the truck was there and the door was open. If the gang could just be sneaky enough, they could stock up on food for the week.

"Okay guys, wait for someone to unload some of those boxes, and then move in," Ace whispered, "Be quick, and grab stuff that looks useful. I don't want anyone bringin' back a box of tampons, Grubber."

"Pfft..." Grubber said apologetically as he ducked his head and simpered.

They ducked behind a dumpster and waited for someone to come out of the store, and a few minutes later a burly man in a Malph's uniform stepped out and entered the truck. He got out of the truck pushing a dolly full of boxes of fruit, and once he was inside Ace hissed "Go go go!", and the countdown was on.

Marny stayed behind with Billy, who didn't go as far as the inside of the truck. Instead Billy stayed on the side of the truck and watched for the stock boy to come back. If an employee saw them then Billy would have to knock him out, so it was important for him to keep watch. Marny didn't know any of this, but she knew she had to stay close to Billy since for whatever reason the gang had decided she was his responsibility.

Inside the truck, Ace, Snake, Arturo, and Grubber searched for boxes they could bring back to the shack. Toilet paper was a desperately needed item, so they hoped they would find a shipment of that somewhere. Ace found a box of frozen sausage, which was of no use to them since they didn't have a means of cooking food. He moved on to the next stack of boxes, which had cans of beans. It wasn't great, but beans could be eaten straight from the can so Ace ran outside with his haul.

Snake found packs of gum, which he wanted despite their lack of edibility, so he opened the box and shoved a few packs into his pockets. He found chocolate bars and fruit snacks in the next box, so he took that with him also.

Grubber wasn't nearly as careful, which was frankly a pattern with him. He just grabbed the first box he could find and booked it outside where Billy was. Grubber ran past Billy and raced to the city dump. Only once he was halfway home did he notice that he grabbed an entire box of fly paper. Oh well, at least they wouldn't have as many flies around the dump for a while. Ace would probably yell at him of course, but Grubber hated how confined the space in the truck felt so he never stayed longer than necessary.

Arturo was very careful about opening and reclosing the boxes so they didn't look tampered with. He was searching for the paper products, knowing the others would probably grab food and snacks. He found lots of neat looking things, but not the toilet paper or even paper towels. It was difficult searching for all these things in the dark, and the others were already heading back with their hauls by now. He had to hurry.

Just as Arturo was waist deep in cans of beans, he heard someone coming out of Malph's. He gasped and hid under the cans, hoping he wouldn't be spotted. The rest of the gang was already running home, so he would have to trust that Billy was still there to protect him should something go wrong.

Billy meanwhile was hiding behind the dumpster again, watching to see what would happen with the stock boy. He tried to think if everybody was out of there or not. He saw Grubber leave, and then Ace, and then Snake... Oh yeah, Arturo. He was still in the truck. Billy figured he should probably get that guy away from the truck and away from Arturo, but Billy knew from routine not to attack unless Arturo was specifically discovered and in danger.

Arturo meanwhile held his breath and peeked through a hole in the pile of cans at the man walking into the truck. His throat felt tight and he tried his best not to make a sound.

"Man, I'm doing better than I thought," The stock boy said to himself, "This truck'll be empty in no time."

The man got close to where Arturo was, and then noticed the cans.

"Aw man! How did that spill?" The stock boy asked himself, "Hope we don't have rats or something. My manager went ballistic last time..."

The man was about to pick up a can from the pile, and Arturo was nervous at the potential of being discovered, when suddenly there was a knock on the ramp of the truck.

The man looked over to see what the noise was, and he saw a little kid in a red hoodie standing there.

"Hey there kiddo, it's almost midnight," The stock boy chided the kid, "What are you doing out so late?"

The little kid held up a piece of paper for him, and the stock boy went over to see what it said. While he was distracted, Arturo quietly removed himself from under the pile of cans and snuck away from the scene of the crime. When the stock boy unfolded the piece of paper, it read: Do zombee vanpirs mak peepul into pets?

"What?" The stock boy asked in bewilderment, "Kid, is this some kind of game or something? You should go home. It's late, and your parents are probably worried sick about you."

Marny gasped, and then ran away from the stock boy as quickly as she could. The man looked at where she was going, and saw a very large green teenager standing by the dumpster. The stock boy, being a citizen of Townsville, recognized the young man immediately as a member of the notorious Gangreen Gang.

"Oh man! Is this a robbery?" The stock boy asked in fright, "Listen, take whatever you want, okay? Just don't kill me."

"Dah, okay," Billy replied calmly.

Billy walked past the petrified stock boy, and Marny walked behind Billy. Billy could barely read the boxes due to darkness and his lack of education, so he didn't really know what he grabbed. He just stacked several boxes on top of each other and carried them away. Marny figured she'd better take something too since she didn't want to get in trouble with the gang, so she grabbed a loose can of beans and ran after Billy as quickly as she could.

Fifteen minutes later Billy and Marny were back at the shack with their haul, along with the rest of the gang.

"I can't believe you idiots!" Ace berated the others, "Snake is the only one that grabbed any decent snacks! Grubber, what are we supposed to do with fly paper?!"

"Pfft," Grubber told him exactly what he could do with it.

"Okay, for the sake of avoidin' twenty five to life, I'm gonna pretend you didn't say dat," Ace growled, "And Arturo! Comin' back with nothin'! I expect more from you."

"I was almost caught!" Arturo shouted defensively, "I had to get out of there or I'd be a dead man!"

"So Billy, what did you bring back?" Ace asked when he saw Billy was home, "Lemme guess, more useless crap?"

"Uh, maybe," Billy replied uncertainly, "I brought this."

Billy then set down the boxes, and Ace inspected them to see if anything was useful.

"Let's see here, a box full of bags of sugar, a box of saltine crackers, a box of trail mix, a box of chicken flavored Rice-A-Roni, and a box of Airheads candy. Not bad, Billy. We still need booze, water, and toilet paper though, so we're goin' back."

This declaration was met with groans from the rest of the gang. Nobody felt like going on another run after already doing it once.

"I'd say it's Arturo's turn since he didn't actually come back with anything," Ace said, and Arturo sighed.

"Really Ace, I gotta go back again?" Arturo asked wearily, "Pero soy muerto en mi pies!"

"No excuses!" Ace snapped, "Either you come back with somethin' worthwhile or you sleep outside tonight! Got it?"

"Si," Arturo sighed, "Can Billy at least go with me? In case I need help?"

"Of course. Someone's gotta carry the stuff, right?" Ace reasoned with a cold grin, "Billy, you know the drill. Get goin'."

"Can Fluffy come with me?" Billy asked hopefully.

"Not dis time," Ace replied, "We're here, so she'll be fine. Just make sure Arturo comes back in one piece, okay?"

"Uh, okay boss," Billy replied dutifully before following a grumbling Arturo out of the clubhouse.

Marny gulped silently as she looked back at the remaining members of the gang. Without Billy around to protect her she feared what Ace, Snake, and Grubber might do to her. Ace still didn't seem to like her at all, and Snake and Grubber were both still unpredictable elements to the silent child.

The gang started digging into the snacks with relish. Ace opened a can of beans and scooped out the contents with a plastic spoon from one of those fast food places. Snake and Grubber meanwhile were eating Airheads candy. Marny didn't like Airheads and wanted one of the chocolate bars Snake brought back, but there weren't very many and she wasn't sure if she was allowed to have one. She was afraid to risk it, given how much bigger these boys were than her.

As Marny sat there on the floor looking longingly at the food, Snake was the first one to notice that Marny wasn't eating. He knew asking her why was foolish since she probably couldn't answer him anyway, so he just found a package of trail mix and handed it to the little girl. Marny took it gratefully and started eating. She had wanted chocolate, but since she hadn't really eaten all day this was probably healthier for her anyway.

"Pfft pft!" Grubber suddenly said to the others.

"Oh yeah," Ace realized, "Hey kid, did you pick anythin' up from the heist?"

Marny reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a can of beans. It was the exact same brand and variety that Ace brought back, but at least it was something to add to the pile. Ace grabbed the can with neither praise nor scolding, and Marny accepted that. She wasn't exactly comfortable with the gang yet, but she got the feeling that maybe if she worked hard enough that they would accept her, and by being accepted she would never have to return to her grandfather's house again.