Chapter 4 Gone

It had been a week since she had started working at the convenience store, so it was pay time and now Sarah needed to put in action the next part of their plan: shopping.

Maybe she was exaggerating but she was nervous. What if someone recognized her? What if the neighbors were assassins in disguise? She shook her head and relaxed, it was unlikely that they would recognize her. Valentina's words came back to her: it was dark, and they didn't get a good look at her. She was safe.

Sarah continued walking until she finally found the garage sales. She stopped, took a deep breath and remembered all the things she needed to buy. Clothing for her and James, backpacks, ropes, blankets, Tupperware, soap and food for Dog. If she saw a sweater for him, she would also buy it. She chose baggy, comfy clothes, a pair of jeans and a T-Shirt. Two cloth changes for each one they didn't need anything else.

The woman at the garage sales was looking curiously at her but Sarah paid her no mind. It was natural to ogle a stranger. Just when she was about to pay for the stuff, she noticed a very nice pair of mountain boots out of the corner of her eye. She looked at the money she had left, it was just enough to buy her bus ticket and the provisions form the store.

One more time, her gaze wandered towards the boots they were snow proof and probably had cushion and goose feathers or something like that. They would come in hand, she counted the money she had and came to a decision, she would steal later.

After she paid the woman, Sarah left happily to buy the bus ticket. It didn't matter to which city or town, after all, she wasn't going to board it. James insisted to continue by foot and buying the ticket was just a diversion in case someone got curious and tried to follow her. Sarah admitted that it was a smart move although she lamented that they would go WALKING to the next emergency cabin.

However, she didn't have another choice, James was the one who could help her to survive long enough until they reached the cabin. AND he promised to give her money so she could buy herself a new identity to start over.

She kept thinking in all that, and how long it would take them to get there, after all, James didn't specify where the cabin was. Sarah just hoped that he wouldn't kill her the moment he recovered.

John woke up, waited a moment to take in his surroundings, focused in his body and made a mental estimation of his physical state. He was ready to continue by foot to Canada. However, he needed to think through it, now he had company, how long were they going to stay together? How long he would be a liability and how long until she, inexperienced as she was, would become a burden?

He stood up and started to stretch and to start his routine of exercises, there wasn't anything else to do more than that. Dog was resting placidly in the sun, suddenly he stood up and ran, and moments later the Girl appeared, a huge smile on her face as she petted Dog.

"Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" She kept asking while she rubbed Dog's tummy. "You are! You are!"

She continued for a while until John cleared his throat and she remembered that she needed to report her experience.

"I got everything that we needed," she started showing him what she got. "Well, not everything I still need to go to the store, it wasn't enough money."

"Why? It should have been enough." He asked.

The girl produced beaming proudly a pair of snow boots and gave them to him.

"One of your shoes is missing," the girl said shrugging her shoulders.

John stared at the pair of boots, then back at the girl and discovered pity, no, compassion in her eyes. When was the last time that someone had seen him like that? It didn't matter, not really, that didn't help him in any way. He gazed out the corner of his eyes at the Girl, she was playing with Dog. She was smiling peacefully, she felt his stare and looked back. He wasn't going to thank her, and she didn't expect him to, so she continued.

"I need to go to the store, I didn't get the food. You can catch me up down the road if you don't want to go in." She turned to Dog. "Stay!"

And with that she left them, John was still surprised by her actions, how different someone with innocence could be.

Sarah was nervous, she didn't want to steal the store, especially after they were so kind to her, but it needed to be done. She had no money left and she couldn't stay another day, James was very adamant on that from the beginning. Sighing, she opened the door to be greeted by Glenn with a smile.

"Hey Jude," he called her by her fake given name. "You came just in time, I need to step out for a minute, could you check out the store?"

"No problem." She nodded enthusiastically, the luck was on her side.

He went out and Sarah waited a few minutes before she grabbed her backpack and started taking provisions. Junk food was a majority although she took cheese and apples; James needed quality food to recover. Once she was done guilt started building up inside her, she went to the counter and left a note.

"I'm sorry, I can't pay for this. Thank you for helping me."

After that she closed the doors with the key, she didn't want anyone else stealing and went to the back door. She was about to leave when she heard that Glenn had returned, he was calling out for her and then, a loud noise, Glenn screamed, and Sarah ran to help him without thinking.

When she arrived at the storefront she reprimanded herself, she should have run away. Glenn was lying on the floor, eyes wide open with lingering desperation at the cord around his neck. An unknown man was standing over him, looking directly at her.

"Fuck."

She closed and tried to lock the door to protect herself but the man was fast, he managed to put his forearm in the way and now Sarah couldn't lock it. Frantically, she looked around for something that could help her, she knew the man was going to overpower if she didn't think fast enough. Using God-knows-what she smashed the man's hand, causing him to jerk away slightly. It was enough for Sarah to gain a momentarily upper hand and close the door.

Now, she searched for a weapon in the backpack, she was sure she had a knife or something there. The man was pushing the door, and she knew she didn't have enough time to rum between her backpack, he was going to get in there. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bleach container, threw her backpack on the floor, spilling the contents and reaching for the bleach.

The man took down the door just like in the movies and was greeted by an avalanche of bleach to his face. He screamed, covered his eyes and winced in pain, Sarah took advantage and ran past the door to the front exit, Glenn's body was in her way, but she paid him no mind. The sheer desperation fueled her to the exit, she was going to make it. She could do it, she could run to James and he could take care of it.

A sharp pain came from her skull and with a horrible realization, she knew the man had grabbed her hair. She was pulled back with force and before she knew it, her back impacted with the counter, she gasped for air and looked up. The assassin was a tall Asian looking man, with the blackest eyes she had ever seen. His face was impassive, and she shuddered because she knew that all of this meant nothing to him. It probably was just an ordinary day, not even the bleach that she had thrown at him was enough to cause any other kind of reaction.

Sarah recoil with her hands and felt something on the floor. It was the man's "tool bag". It had a knife in it, she grabbed it with all her being and dashed into the candies section. He followed her closely and put her down without any effort. He tried to choke her, but Sarah had the knife and didn't want to die. She stabbed him in the neck, it was harder than she thought, and still, she managed to pull it out.

Blood started to blurt out of his body, and it splashed Sarah's face. The man tried to contain the bleeding with one hand, although both knew it was fruitless. He surprised her, with the strength he had left he tried to choke her with one hand. Sarah stabbed him again and again until he fell limp over her.

She couldn't move, she just stayed there for a while, looking at the white tiles on the ceiling. Wondering if she would ever be alright ever again, or if this new hollowness would haunt her forever.

It had been a while since the Girl had gone to get the last provisions, and it was going to break down soon, so John put on the boots, stood up and prepared to walk towards the agreed meeting point. He felt better, although he knew he was far from perfect he felt optimistic about his recovery, the pain was bearable now and they still had painkillers left. Although it really was a shame that they should leave most of the things the girl rescued from the cabin and form Clayton's car, it couldn't be helped. It would only slow them down. He stashed as many weapons and ammunition in his clothes as he could and then took the bag with the clothing, water, pain killers, bandages and knives. He also took the rifle and with that, he started moving.

Dog followed him obediently and from time to time ran off to pursue a rabbit or something. John let him be, after all, if he came back it would be fine, if he didn't it would also be fine. He arrived at the spot, the Girl had left more things hidden there, and those she would carry. He had enough with the bags he had. After a while, he knew she was not coming soon so he left the bag and the rifle on the floor, closed his eyes and settled for a long wait.

It was dark and she still hadn't come. John started to get suspicious, right now he needed her to go on. In any other circumstance, he would already be gone, but something made him stood up and walk to the convenience store even though he was risking exposure.

The store looked calm from afar, he waited five minutes and when he was sure no one was going to come he entered. There was a dead man lying on the ground, and around there were signs of struggle. A door in the back was ajar, and John walked towards it. Splattered across the floor were the contains of the Girl's bag. The room stench with bleach but that wasn't important, he picked up everything from the floor and then, searched for her.

John found another body, a man with stab wounds and a pool of blood around him. John followed a trailed of blood made up by small hands and footprints at the end of the trail the Girl was hunched, hugging herself in a corner near the refrigerators. She was covered in blood, her eyes wide in disbelief, fear, and horror for what she had done. John didn't feel sorry for her, it was good for them. Now, he knew she could do anything to survive but more important was that she knew.

He kneeled and approached her as slowly and calmly as he could.

"We must go." From his experience the first words directed to someone in shock hardly matter, they only served to grab attention.

The Girl tore her eyes from the ether and looked at him. John, unconsciously, inhaled sharply. He had never seen the eyes of someone who had killed for the first time. Her honey eyes were dull and unfocused, she feared herself. He cupped her hands, sticky with blood, squeezed them a bit and spoke with a voice that he hadn't used with anyone else but Helen.

"You did nothing wrong." The Girl stared at him some more and her eyes started to fill with tears, he could have none of that. "We must go." Down the road, they could clean her up.

Tears started spilling but she nodded, he helped her up and together they left the convenience store with the darkness of the midnight, they were gone.

Hello everybody! I know, I know, I put "May 2019" for the next actualization BUT it's early June so I count this as a win haha. I hope you liked this chapter even though it's a small one.

Thank you for your support! Adding to favorites or following the story makes me very happy to see the notification.

A huuuuuuge thank you and a cyber-hug to the people that reviewed the last chapter: FairyMaster23, Ephemeralstylee, fandomhaha and FairyMaster23 (thank you for pushing me to finish this chapter :D).

I see you in the next chapter! Kudos to you :)

Chapter 5 Symbiosis