Danger Days

Chapter Twenty One

"So what is the design anyway?" Plastic Parade asked Snow Bird, passing him the helmet.

"It's supposed to be Pepe the frog," he chuckled. "But it's not the greatest paint job."

"I think it's pretty good," she smiled. "Did you do it?"

"A friend did." He slipped the helmet over his head.

The two continued to chat for a while, eventually moving into the courtyard to do so, where it didn't smell so strongly like herbs. But finally they said goodbye to each other, promising to talk again.

"See ya!" Plastic waved, grinning. Bird waved back, and the two parted ways.

Plastic yawned, realizing she was pretty tired, despite it being daytime still. Nevertheless, she headed into her room, and lay down on the bed, the song she had heard playing in Bird's room stuck in her head.

Plastic dreamed of the past.

A specific day, to be exact. If you were to ask her what would happen on this day, she would answer immediately. But things were different in this dream world. She was simply who she was then; a naive six year old.

She sat in a car—an old white van—with her green and yellow plastic mask over her eyes and a childish grin on her face. Her blonde hair was in two braids, with a green and a yellow pony tail. Even back then, she enjoyed co-ordination.

Nicotine sat next to her, wearing a red mask with a black star on it. Her hair was long and blonde, and maturity shone in her green eyes. Quite a lot of it for a nine year old.

And in the front seat, with her hands on the wheel, was her mother.

She had green eyes like her daughters, but hers were framed with oval glasses. Brown, slightly wavy hair fell over her shoulders, framing her soft face. She had no killjoy name, but that was fine with her. She usually only interacted with her kids, and to them she was known only as mom.

Plastic stared out the window, chewing on her lip. It was sunny out, and even though that meant it was hot, Plastic liked it. Mostly because she despised the rain. It reminded her of all the sad times, even though she had very few.

"Mom there's a car!" Nicotine suddenly gasped, peering out the window. Plastic tried to lean over her to see, but Nicotine simply elbowed her.

Their mother gasped, seeing the BL/ind logo on the side. Fear was obvious on her face. "We're low on gas," she murmured. "Kids, if the car stops, I want you to get out and run."

Plastic felt fear settling in her. "But-"

"No buts," her mom interjected. "You will run and you won't stop. Got it? If that happens I'll find you after. Stay off the roads until I do."

Nicotine's face shone with terror. "Okay."

Suddenly the van's engine spluttered. "Get ready to open the door Nicotine," she said to her eldest. The two unbuckled their seatbelts and braced themselves.

The BL/ind car was drawing closer.

"Oh my god it's a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W," their mom mumbled, her face whitening. She knew there was a very small chance of them surviving.

"Go!" She screamed, slamming the breaks. The two children slammed into the seats for a second, then scrambled out the door.

"Stay with me!" Nicotine yelled at her sister, but Plastic didn't hear. She ran in the direction of a large bunch of desert cacti, and slipped into them, the needles scratching her skin.

As she ran, she could hear the sounds of blasters behind her. A large explosion rose up. Plastic let out a harsh sob, but didn't stop running. She burst out of the cacti and raced through the desert, her sneakers digging into the sand. She ran and ran until her lungs felt like they were going to burst, then finally collapsed, sinking onto the hot sand.