Day six
Uptown- Seven Shells Gas Station
"Designed to Keep Your Engine Running Like New "
Designed to meet or exceed the latest industry requirements Seven Shells motor oil is perfectly tuned to keep your engine running like new through outstanding wear protection, engine cleanliness, and high- and low-temperature protection. Unlike many synthetic oil competitors that claim to offer outstanding performance, Seven Shells has the proof to back it up. Seven Shells synthetic motor oil outperforms the latest industry requirements in:
- Wear protection
- Sludge and deposit protection
- High- and low-temperature protection
A smirk.
David tossed the grey plastic container back onto one of the bare shelves. There wasn't much left in the ransacked gas station, although a hand full of dried jerky snacks was potentially a good find, David hadn't really stumbled upon a hidden treasure here. Thankfully enough, the windows had been boarded up, and the vending machines were useful for barricading the front entrance. While most of the food had been nowhere in sight, David was glad to see there were a few random snacks that littered the floor, and the simple selection of clothes was a welcome sight, at least he wouldn't have to wear the same thing forever.
A low moan was heard outside and David spun around. Hands tightened their grip on the long metal crowbar, four feet in length, now caked in a dry maroon. Tired, dark brown eyes darted sharply as he peered outside through a small space in the plywood. It was only one, and it was far down the road already, thankfully he was upwind of it. There was no immediate danger.
The last six days had been a complete and utter nightmare. What the Hell was going on? Was it some sick prank being played? Candy could imagine someone like Johnny Cavhill organising something like this. He was into all that sort of blood and gore stuff. "He's gunna have me to deal with when I find him." She mumbled to herself as she pushed a few clothes on a rail aside. She was sick of this.
"How am I expected to get new clothes here, Sugarmuffin? I mean, have you seen the stuff on these rails. They should be on some sort of charity rail for the homeless or something." Candy, real name Brittany called out to David. She preferred to be called Candy though, it sounded so much more exotic than plain old borning Brit, or Brittany.
Sighing, she looked around the store. She didn't even get why they were even hiding in this place. It was dirty and messy, and it looked like others had already been here. "Really, Pumpkin, can't we find the mall or something?" She moved over to him, in her favourite pair of heels - a black, four inch heel shiny pair that cost her a fortune. "Come on, Davvy. Let's get out of here." She whined, her blue eyes staring up at his in a puppy dog look as she clung onto one of his arms, acting like some damsel in distress.
A sigh.
"Brit. First, you left me for Johnson months ago, stop calling me your little pet names. Secondly, I told you, from what I've heard the mall has been taken over by some group of lunatics. Seems like they kill anyone who comes near em, Shambler or survivor." David yawned as he pulled her back to the modest clothing section. He hadn't been sleeping much lately, amongst pulling guard duty while Brit slept or the nightmares jolting him awake, he also had to deal with Brittany's clingy behavior while she was asleep.
"Lastly I want you out of those heels right now. They've almost got you killed four times now, put on some sneakers for christ's sake." Honestly, it was if God was playing some kind of sick joke on him, it was enough that hell seemed to crawl up and walk the Earth...but now he had to deal with Brit and her driving him insane.
She let out a long exaggerated sigh. Obviously things David was saying were going in one ear and out of the other. Well, almost everything. "It's Candy. How many times have I got to tell you that?" She whined. "And I'll call you what I want, sugarplum. I know you like it." She smiled, sweetly, as if she was completely innocent with everything, as if she unknowingly was driving him towards insanity. She knew he hated pet names. It drove her to do it more.
"And just so you know, I'm not getting out of these heels. These cost me nearly 600 bucks. Anyone could take them. They haven't nearly gotten me killed. I don't know why you're taking everything so seriously. I bet Johnny Cavhill is behind this. He's always into this sort of thing. Remember that time in Math class when he..." And Candy droned on with the story, refusing to take the shoes off of her feet and at the same time refusing to take any clothes from the rail. She prefered her fashionable, slightly too revealing skirt and top, rather than some granny-knitted jumper and a tshirt that were both about 3 sizes too big for her, as well as some jogging pants that looked like they could fit the whole store into them.
Another Sigh.
A hand plastered onto his face, David tried to remind himself he was doing the responsible thing by protecting this whiny, annoying, unbelievable mess that was the ditzy, big chested blonde cheerleader infront of him recalling some ancient story about a math class prank. Fed up with her resistence he picked the girl up and threw her over his shoulder, an easy feat for the College's star fullback considering she weighed no more then ninety pounds. He pulled the heels off her feet and sat her down on one of the steel fold out chairs.
"Enough Brittany. Just do as I say. I'm responsible for making sure you don't become some random creep's mid afternoon snack, although I'm unsure how full he's going to get when your head is full of nothing but air." David sighed again as he tossed a box of plain sneakers and a pair of jeans at Brittany. "And for the last time, I will never call you Candy, ever."
As David picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, she screamed, especially as he took off her heels. "David!" She screamed, only ever calling him by that when she was mad at him. "Put me down right now, or else!" She threatened. When he put her down she tried to make a grab for her heels, but he was in the way.
"I was just telling ya, it's all some stupid joke that Cavhill is doing. I bet he's got the whole town in on it. I mean, it's near April Fools right? Or is it Halloween? We're in December, right?" Candy had never really taken note of these kinds of things. "And why won't you call me Candy, snugglebunny? I call you all sorts of cute names, the least you could do is respect my wishes and call me Candy. Maybe we should start with C. Just call me C. Then we can move to the other letters."
She was an idiot.
"Brittany Murphy." David snapped. Honestly why'd he have to possess a conscience at a time like this? He could solve his problems easily and just leave her here, he stood a much better chance if he did so. She only knew how to annoy him, and the fact she seemed to be in shock about the whole situation made matters alot worse.
"What is happening is not a joke, people are dead and dying. If we stand any chance to survive this we have to use our heads, well, my head." Jeez it was like a bad joke, of all the people he could've found....it had to be Brittany.
"Now get changed, those clothes are way to skimpy, you're going to freeze in this weather. It's winter you know." He didn't bother staying to listen to her protest, and instead turned his back to her and walked off, heels in hand.
Candy just sat there speechless and watching David walk away from her. Who dared walk away from her. It was only when she went to pick her heels up that she realised he was walking off with them.
"Don't you dare get rid of them! They cost me like 600 bucks! Look after them or put them somewhere safe!" She snapped at him before carefully, with her thumb and forefinger, picking through the clothes on the rails. "I don't even know what the last person wearing these had." She grumbled, despite them been new clothes, they just weren't to her standards.
"Davvy..." She whined. "Seriously, is there nowhere else we can go with designer stuff?"
He didn't answer. Sighing, Candy finally resigned herself to having to wear these... she wouldn't even dare call them clothes... rags. Rags, definitely a better choice of wording for what was offered to her. Taking the clothes, she sighed and moved to the changing room to change.
David sighed....something he had done more in the last six days then compared to his last six years. Honestly, she made everything twice as difficult as it needed to be, he'd have to talk to her about staying quiet....something she had never really been good at. As he waited for her to change he packed the snacks into his bag along with the annoying heels, if he tossed them she'd never shut up, and he'd be damned if he got killed over a pair of heels.
Looking around he wondered how long they could stay here, supplies were running low so he'd have to go back out there...he looked at the crowbar in his hand. The front end was dyed in a dull crimson and looking closely, he picked off a fragment of what appeared to be a piece of human skull.
He remembered the three of them whose head he bashed in with the blunt tool. There was the guy who lived two doors down, he was an aspiring musician, although the term could be used very loosely. Still David hadn't disliked hearing him play his guitar, any he threw cool parties once in a while and always invited David over. His name was Roger, he wore a brown shirt and black jeans, his skull caved in with a wet crack when the Crowbar collided with the side of his face.
Then there was the girl who ran the cashier at the grocery store with her family on the corner of Johnson Ave and 3rd. She had red hair that met her shoulders, and a face spotted with freckles under her hazel eyes. He didn't know her that well, they talked once at a party, she started slipping him a pack of gum whenever he bought anything at her store. It was good gum. The back of her head split open when he shoved her to the ground.
And lastly there was that scrawny guy that used to stalk Brit. David noticed him when he went out with her, the guy seemed to always be around. Brittany was naturally oblivious to this, but David was not one to let constant sightings go unnoticed. Even whe he and Brit were not dating he noticed the guy sneaking around the bleachers during practice, and unnervingly close to the field during games. He didn't remeber the guy's face or anything about him, just how little force he needed to bash his head open.
These were the three lives David had taken so far, they would not be the last.
Candy stayed in the changing rooms longer than necessary. She had put on the clothes which were too big for her, and she could have sworn that they smelt like old people. It made her want to strip off into a shower and scrub her skin until it was red raw. She wanted to gag and vomit because of what she was wearing.
How could one girl kick up such a fuss over some clothing? Easily, she was Brit-- Candy Murphy... She knew how and when to kick up a fuss and how to do it in style!
Finally, she appeared out of the changing room in the sweatpants and sweater. "I'm going to be sick in these. I'm probably catching all manner of diseases. These clothes could have one of those bugs, you know, HUG or is it AEF? It's something like that, you know the stuff they tell us about in health class. I need to find a shower and a good shop." She complained as she approached David.
Deep down, acting like she normally did was what was keeping Candy from freaking out. She'd have gone hysterical by now if she hadn't ignored the reality of things. She just had to keep ignoring reality and all would be fine, she kept telling herself as she found David and started to cling onto him again, ignoring the bloody weapon he was holding.
David smirked a bit as Brittany clung to him. "Hey....enough of that we aren't dating anymore remember." He struggled out of her grasp and pulled on the collar of the black t-shirt he wore. "Anyway now isn't the time for such things. I'm going out there to see if I can't find anything useful or anyone still alive, I won't take long, I'm just going to peek around a bit before I come back here. You stay here and stay quiet, this place may not have alot of stuff but it's pretty good at keeping them out. There are a couple of small snack lying around if you get hungry, and even some magazines for you to read so you don't get bored."
David walked to the counter where his black motorcycle helmet sat. He picked it up and put it on, quickly sliding the transparent hard plastic visor down over his eyes. turning to Brit, he laughed, he must look pretty weird in his armored jacket and helmet.
"I won't be long, promise." He assured her as he made his way to the back door.
"You can't go out there!" Candy snapped. "Actually, you can but I'm not staying in here! Not alone. What if they get in? Or what if you don't come back? I'm coming with you." She was in a full blown panic at the thought of been left alone. She had no faith - or little faith - in the fact that he'd come back if he went out there without her.
As David made his way to the back door, so did Candy. She was pressed against his back once more, as if she was his shadow. She refused to be alone again though. She'd been alone until David had found her, and she knew that he didn't want her around, but she didn't plan on leaving his side any time soon.
Not now, not ever. "I'm not staying here." She told him, grabbing the back of his clothes as if that would stop him from leaving without her.
"Brit it's dangerous out there, I really want you to stay here where it's safe." David said trying to sound stern. The only problem was he could understand her not wanting to be alone, hell, he was afraid of being alone in this screwed up world too.
"No. I'm going with you. I can be like... a watch girl or something... whatever those people do, like in the movies. I'll watch your back, yeah, that's what I'll do." She told him. "I'm not staying here." She told him. "And stop calling me Brit, it's annoying. My name is Candy now, you know that."
"Your name is Brittany Murphy, Brit for short. And that's all I'm going to call you. I absolutely refuse to call you Candy. You know that." David sighed once more. "Fine you can come but you better be quiet and stay on top of me." Honestly, he respected her for wanting to help...but did she always have to bring up that annoying name?
"Candy Murphy." She corrected and grabbed a hold of his arm as they made to exit. She did just as he said, stayed on top of him. So much so that she was practically treading on him.
Another sigh. He didn't bother trying to respond. Instead he just opened the door quietly and poked his head outside, when he saw the coast was clear he walked out, pulling Brittany along as they went.
-Collab'd by smrtazz13 and CriminalMinds-