Young and Young at Heart (The Rewrite of The Walking Dead Game: S2) [TWDG/TWD]

45. Mileage May Vary

"Now what you have here is gasoline." Clem watched as Ed, Shaffer's resident mechanic, gestured to a small tub full of a yellowish liquid sitting on a bench. "I'm guessing you've both seen gas before. Which is good, because you don't want to confuse it with this." Ed gestured to another small tub with a brown oily liquid in it. "That's diesel. And you don't want to mix it up with gas. Or mix it with gas."

"Why, what happens?" asked Sarah.

"You put diesel in a gas engine, nothing. Damn thing won't start. You put gas in a diesel engine though, it'll start, but it won't run well, and then it probably won't run at all because the gas will tear up the engine. So it's real important to know the difference between the two. Smell the gas."

"Um, why?" asked Clem.

"So you know what it smells like." Sarah and Clem reluctantly leaned over the first tub and sniffed it. "What's it smell like?"

"Like, gas," answered Clementine as she wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah," concurred Sarah.

"Good, now smell the diesel." Clem leaned over the diesel tub. She didn't detect an immediate odor but sniffed anyway, and immediately regretted it.

"Uh, that's awful," complained Sarah.

"Yeah, it is," said Clem as she covered her nose.

"Doesn't smell like gas, does it?" asked Ed.

"No," said Clem, still recoiling from the stench in her nostrils.

"That's one way you can tell," said Ed. "Another is the color. Gas is usually yellow or green, diesel tends to be light brown or dyed red. Diesel is thicker than gas, little more like oil. Also, you notice the fumes coming off the gas?" Clem looked closely at the first tub again and noticed the odd vapor just above the liquid.

"Diesel doesn't have that," realized Sarah.

"Nope. That's another way to tell. It's also why we keep gas in these." Ed picked up a gas can. "You want to keep those vapors from escaping. That's why gas cans and gas tanks have air tight lids. You also should keep your diesel the same way. And if you're not going to be using it anytime soon you want this." Ed placed a container of red liquid on the table.

"This here is fuel stabilizer. They have different ones for gas and diesel, so pay attention to the labels, especially since they also tell you how much to use."

"Use for what?" asked Clementine.

"Used for keeping the gas from going bad," explained Ed.

"Gas can go bad?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah. Over time it oxidizes and goes sour," explained Ed. "That's why you need to keep it stored right. If you got some gasoline whose color is off or smells wrong, you probably got bad gas. Bad gas doesn't burn well, if at all."

"But the stabilizer fixes that?" asked Sarah.

"It can prevent that from happening, but it won't fix bad gas."

"But it'll keep good gas from going bad," assumed Clem.

"It'll slow things down, yeah."

"Slow down? So, the gas will go bad eventually anyways?" asked Sarah.

"Well, yeah, gas is pretty complicated stuff. Even if you take care of it, eventually it just goes south. Kinda like food really."

"So, how long until all the gas goes bad for good?" Ed took a breath and scratched his head before turning back to Sarah.