Snippet #2434377

5 months prior

Just outside a nearby convenience store a beverage truck came to a halt; the air lock brakes screeched and gave the bustling scene of stores and restaurants a faint hiss of escaping air that was quickly drowned out by the ambient noise. On the sides of the trucks was a large name fashioned in bold red and black colored letters and a wolfish evil looking creature in the background, the name printed on the side was HellHound. A popular energy drink that was selling off the shelves in countless gas stations, stores, and bars all over the nation and in many other parts of the world.

Inside the truck sat a very odd and scrawny man with a crooked nose that caused his glasses to sit very precariously on his face, wire thin frames that he paid cheap for and were made even cheaper. His facial hair was wiry and sat awkwardly on his gaunt chin at best with it growing in patches. And he wore his company appointed black HellHound Energy Drink polo that was neatly tucked into his cheap pair of faded jeans with a thin five dollar belt. This man pulled on a few levers to brake the truck into place and locked the air brake pulley into position.

The scraggly young man pushed up on his glasses and unbuckled himself from his chair. He leaned over and opened his glove compartment; what he pulled out was a clipboard and a bluetooth headset. He placed the bluetooth in his ear and the clipboard on his lap while his now free hand reached for one of his pens in his shirt pocket. There was a click from the pen and suddenly he began writing down everything he had too, and when he was done he placed the clipboard down in the passenger seat.

The truck door opened and the young man’s long lanky legs caught the rest of his light little body as he threw himself out of the door. He pulled on his large set of workkeys attached to a thin black elastic wire, which stretched out from a small plastic spool attached to belt. He walked over to one of the many side doors on the beverage truck and unlocked it with one of the many keys in hand. He pushed up on the door and found inside both his dolly and several blue crates of HellHound energy drink.

He went straight to work with a blank expression on his face that only showed signs of distress when he picked up a crate and placed it on his dolley. Once the dolley was full he kicked it onto its wheels and pulled it backwards into the store. The door being held open by a chubby friendly faced store clerk wearing the same looking faded jeans and five dollar belt that the delivery driver was wearing, but with a red colored polo tucked in and with the white colored letters GT on his right breast.

“Hey Skylar!” The store clerk said.

“H-hey Roy.” Skylar said as he struggled to pull the dolley over the door bump.

“Got some more of that gold in a can for me, huh?” Roy said following Skylar over to the section of refrigerators containing a large assortment of drinks.

“This stuff really is pretty popular.” Skylar said stopping the dolley by the section of energy drinks. “I’m having to make all kinds of delivers lately to all kinds of stores today. Places that didn’t even use to sell energy drinks are requesting this stuff.”

“Stuff is crack in a can, dude.” Roy said. “I drink perhaps 3 cans a day myself.”

Skylar was already loading in the HellHound drink into its appropriate slots of the refrigerator and just letting his friend Roy talk for the most part about his favorite flavors of the drink, how the 32 oz cans sell faster than the smaller sizes, and which flavors the company should come out with next.

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t drink the stuff I just deliver it and keep it at that, and speaking of which maybe you should stick to selling it rather than drinking so much of it yourself.” Skylar patted Roy’s belly and had his hand slapped away rather quickly.
Roy glared at Skylar for a hot second and then gave a quick smirk back in his direction after he finished the delivery. “So you coming over thursday for the game of Dungeons and Dragons? Robert’s story is getting pretty tense and we could use some help slaying this frost giant we’ve been running into a lot.”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on, Skylar, you’ve been cooped up in your apartment ever since Megan dumped you. Come hang out with the gang and drink a few beers and partake in the Dungeons and Drrraagons!”

Skylar’s upper lip bulged as his tongue rubbed his upper row of front teeth while he gave his friend’s offer some thought; each wiry whisker accentuated without his knowledge of how much more awkward it made his facial hair look. He was on the verge of giving his friend a smile and quick nod that would confirm his acceptance of the invitation, but it was quickly forgotten as he saw just beyond his friend that outside the glass doors his work truck was making a beeline away from the store with someone else in the driver seat.

“No! Nonononono!” Skylar said pushing his friend down as he ran past him and out the doors. “Fuck no!” Skylar said. He watched as his beverage truck drove off down the road until it was no longer visible. His hands clenching his hair and nearly tearing it out strand by strand.

Roy came jogging out of the store and to Skylar’s side and saw only a glimpse of the back end of the HellHound truck driving away like a bad dog running away and out of sight of his master after being let off the leash. “Oh, Skylar, buddy you have to be shitting me. Are you ok?”

“Am I ok? My fucking work truck was just stolen, Roy! That is two stolen trucks in one month both under my clock and your asking if I’m fucking ok? No, Roy, I’m not fucking ok in fact I’m the opposite of ok!” Skylar pushed Roy away from him and would have knocked him down if it wasn’t for the fact that Roy was three times the weight of Skylar.

“Whoa, Skylar!” Roy said pushing Skylar back and successfully knocked him on his ass. Skylar hit his ass hard against the sidewalk and only managed to alleviate what could have been worse when he caught some of the fall with the palm of his hands, but that did scrap them up good and made them turn red fast. “I’m not the one that stole the truck, Skylar, so don’t take this out on your best friend.”

Skylar only glared up at Roy as he picked himself off the ground, and of course Roy tried to help his friend back up but Skylar jerked his body and hit Roy’s hands away. After picking himself up he looked at the palms of his hands and noticed the little loose flaps of peeled skin and the stinging hot red of the patches and began rubbing his hands on his jeans.

Roy shook his head and gave a loud sigh at Skylar. “Come on, buddy, let me get you a ride back to the plant.” he said walking over to the store and popping in quickly to tell his work partner that he was going to be gone for a bit and be right back. When he got back he got into his car while Skylar followed suit and sat shotgun beside his friend.

“Sorry, Roy.”

“Nah, nothing to be sorry about.”