Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter Seven: Mayhem
"I've never given much thought to how I'd die," I mumble to Bella. "But even if I had, I would not have imagined it'd be in the Walmart parking lot."
"You're being so dramatic," she tells me, rolling her eyes. "We're not going to die."
Okay, so maybe I am being a bit dramatic. But I'm also joking. Kind of.
We tease one another a little longer to pass the time. We've been standing outside for just over an hour, and everyone seems to be growing restless.
Ten minute or so minutes later, a couple of employees come outside and everyone goes silent, waiting for them to speak.
"What's going on?" Bella asks, placing her hand on my forearm to keep her balance as she stands on her toes, straining to see.
I grin down at her. "You're so short."
"Let me get on your shoulders," she suggests, laughing.
"Ridiculous. No."
"Welcome, Walmart shoppers!" a sales clerk yells, using a megaphone.
I jump, slightly startled by the loudness of his voice.
Bella snorts. "You're legitimately scared, aren't you?"
"No. I just wasn't expecting him to use a megaphone..." My argument trails off, and she doesn't look too convinced. "Pay attention," I scold with a smirk, nodding forward.
"We need everyone to form an orderly line!" the sales clerk instructs.
I glance around and watch as no one does what he says. At this point, what he's asking isn't even feasible. There are so many people here, and we're all packed together—I'm not even sure how an orderly line would be achieved.
He tries again. "Once you're all cooperate, the first fifty people will be escorted to the back of the store. The limit is one doll per person. Afterward, you can proceed with any other shopping you have to do. We have a great sale on fire pits—"
"The first fifty people? What about the raffle?" someone in the crowd—who obviously didn't get the memo about there no longer being raffle—yells out.
The sales clerk covers the megaphone and turns to the other employee, who's standing to his right and looks to be about sixty years old. They exchange a few words before he nods once, twice, then brings the megaphone back to his mouth. "We're no longer conducting a raffle. This will be first come, first serve. So, if you could just please—"
"This is bullshit!" someone else screams. "We were told there was going to be a raffle!"
The older employee grabs the megaphone and tries to appease the situation by merely saying, "No raffle."
Bella slightly turns toward me, reaching up with one arm and gently pulling on my neck. She draws my face closer to hers, and she looks like she's about to say something, but she doesn't. My pulse quickens when her expression changes. I don't know what she's doing, but we're staring at one another. Her eyes flicker from mine to my mouth. I want to press my lips to hers. I could so fucking kiss her right now. I won't, but I want to. I could, but I shouldn't.
The sales clerk's voice pulls me out of my daze.
"No raffle! No raffle! No raffle!" he screams over and over again.
"Shit's about to go down," Bella whispers.
I keep my head near hers and laugh.
"Fuck this shit!" a man close to us yells, and I swear I hear the cocking of a gun.
I'm no longer laughing.
"What was the point of handing out tickets—" someone adds, but whatever else they say goes unheard because everyone seems to start yelling over one another.
I pull away from Bella and strain my neck to see what's going on, but all I can see is that the employees are practically sprinting inside. Not a good sign.
A second passes and this is it. This is when all hell breaks loose. I can feel the pure frenzy radiating off of everyone as people begin pushing and shoving their way toward the entrance of the store.
I suddenly fear for mine and Bella's lives.
I've seen YouTube videos. I can figure out what happens next. We'll probably get trampled to death, and that's not okay. I don't want to die. Not in Walmart. No one deserves that; not even Backflip Garrett.
Panic begins to build in my chest, mostly because we can't really move. We're packed in like fucking sardines and now's the time I suddenly decide that I've been a claustrophobic all of my life. It's not true, but I'm convincing myself it is.
"Fuck," I gasp, needing space and air and to not be trapped by all of these people. "Fuck."
Bella manages to turn and catch a glimpse of my face.
And then she slaps it.
"Thanks," I breathe out, and she nods in acknowledgment.
I don't have time to think about what just happened as I get pushed along with the fast-moving swarm of people.
An elbow gets shoved into my side.
Someone behind me steps on my heel.
"Shit," Bella curses, looking behind her. "Dude, lay off!"
I look over and see a man's hands between her shoulders, trying to push her forward.
"Move, bitch!" the guy yells at Bella.
"Hey, Ludacris!" I bark, suddenly feeling protective of her. "Get your fucking hands off her."
The dude flips me off, but backs away.
I glare at him as I usher Bella in front of me, keeping a hand on her waist so we don't get separated.
A couple of minutes pass as people shove and scream obscenities at one another. We finally get to the point where we're able to make our way inside. The crowd breaks away, people running in different directions.
I pull Bella off to the side, near the in-store McDonald's, and I take in everything that's happening around us. The only thing that comes to mind is complete and utter chaos. And maybe death. Death also comes to mind.
"What are you doing?" Bella asks in confusion while tugging on my hand. "We need to go."
"Oh, thank god." I sigh in relief. "I thought you actually wanted to go through with this and—"
"No," she cuts me off. "Not leave. We need to go toward the back of the store and see if there are any dolls left."
That was the last thing I wanted to hear. I glance toward the exit, thinking maybe we should just quit while we're still ahead. And by 'ahead', I mean 'alive.'
My jaw clenches as I stare over Bella's shoulder, my eyes widening at what I see occurring a mere twenty feet away.
"A teenage girl just throat-punched someone over a DVD, Bella. I mean, if it were a Blu-ray, that'd make sense, but over a fucking DVD?"
Bella tips her head back and laughs. I'm being a pussy. I know I am.
Somehow sensing my doubt, she places her hands on my forearms, and locks her eyes with mine as she says, "Edward? Man the fuck up."
"Wha—"
"We can't leave. We have to get the doll, okay? If someone throat-punches you, you throat-punch them back."
I nod, feeling a little breathless. "Okay. Okay. Right. Of course."
She grabs my hand and we begin running. I'm not sure exactly where we're going, but she seems to know where the dolls might be, so I try not to worry. My focus is more on not running into people and not getting stabbed. I really don't want to get stabbed.
The closer we get to the back of the store, the more crowded and chaotic things become. There's no orderly line and no employee in sight. People seem to be surrounding some display, and my guess is that that's where the dolls are.
Everyone is screaming and shoving and otherwise acting like fucking animals. Two ladies a few feet away from us are pulling each other's hair. A teenage boy kicks some man in the kneecaps. A man elbows another man in the face.
I realize none of these people are even fighting over anything. They're being violent just because, which is the scariest fucking thing ever.
"We have to split up," Bella tells me, attempting to release my hand.
"No," I say automatically, my fingers tightening around hers.
This isn't even about me being a pussy. This is about me being worried because she's short and a lot smaller than me, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she got punched in the throat.
Bella points toward the people swarming the front of the display. "You need to push your way in, and I'll go around to the other side. At least one of us should be able to make it through, grab a box, then get out of there."
She doesn't even look scared. I'm standing here, chest feeling as though I'm about to have a heart attack, and she's spitting out game plans like it's nothing.
We haven't agreed on anything yet, but she nods and goes to leave. I grab her waist and pull her against me.
"Bella. This is a bad idea," I insist, shaking my head.
"You're wasting time," she mumbles, half-heartedly pushing against my chest.
She's right.
I let go.
"You'll be fine," she assures me.
"I'm not worried about me."
Her expression softens. "I'll be fine," she mumbles, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before darting in the opposite direction.
When Bella finally disappears from my sight, I stand there, stunned at what's happening around me.
A woman races past me, one arm clutching a colorful box to her chest, and the other flailing around. Her free hand smacks me in the face, but I can't even be mad. She seems to have snapped me out of whatever daze I was in.
My eyes follow the lady and I wince as someone comes out of nowhere and takes her out. As they fight over the box, I catch a glimpse of the what's hidden behind the clear plastic: the Sparkle Whatever doll. It's the creepiest and ugliest thing I've ever seen, but Emily wants it, and Bella is off being a badass, so I have to at least try.
I need to man the fuck up.
I have to start somewhere, so I step toward the back of the crowd and wedge myself between two women. Their screams are loud in my ears. I duck my head and pull my elbows against my sides and continue pushing through the wall of psychos.
I'm able to move inch by inch, but then I hit a point where I can't go any further. I realize I'm surrounded in a sea of people, and my breath becomes shallow.
Man the fuck up. Man the fuck up.
An old man next to me grabs the collar of my coat and tries yanking me back. I have no idea why. I did nothing to him. I pull out of his grip and use my shoulder to body-check him. I feel bad, and I'm not proud of it, but I do it. Manning the fuck up means you body-check people, even if they've had a hip replacement in their lifetime.
Seconds pass. Someone elbows me in the eye, and I fucking hate my life. Rubbing my eye with the heel of my hand, I blink a few times. My cheekbone throbs, but I haven't been rendered blind, which is cool. It's then that I realize I'm only a few feet away from the display shelves.
I see two people holding boxes above their head, trying to find a way out. I wouldn't dare try to take the dolls away from them, but seeing that they have one in their possession gives me hope.
Adrenaline courses through my veins and gives me the strength to squeeze myself to the front of the crowd.
I scan the shelves. The sound around me seems to fade away. Any excitement I felt suddenly deflates, because there's not a single box in sight.
Nothing.
It's over.
It's done.
I can't believe I risked my life for nothing. I can't believe I wasted my time. I can't believe I body-checked an old man.
In the midst of my pity party, I catch sight of Bella about twenty feet away, fighting with a woman with wild red hair. Bella shoves the woman away from her, and attempts to get away. But the woman doesn't give up and yanks a fistful of Bella's hair.
Anger flares inside of me.
I'm wondering how safe it is to climb the shelves and trying to figure out the best way to get to Bella, when someone jumps on my back. They wrap their arms around my neck, and I lose it. I'm fucking livid.
"Get the fuck off me," I spit, pulling at their hands and shaking from side to side until they fall off.
When I catch sight of Bella again, I try calling out her name. It's no use. She can't hear me. I can't even hear myself.
The people who had the last of the boxes acted as bait, and lured the majority of the people away, making it easier for me to get to Bella.
I'm not sure what I can do to stop this, so I watch in confusion for a second. I don't even know why this woman wants to fight Bella. She doesn't have a box in her hand, and she doesn't have a doll, but from the way this woman is targeting her, you'd think she did.
"Two people with dolls just ran toward Electronics," I tell the red-headed woman. "You could probably catch them."
She ignores me, and pushes Bella, who shoves her back. The woman retaliates by using flailing hands to slap at Bella's face.
"OKay, okay. Chill the fuck out," I command loudly, stepping between them.
Bella gets in one last throat-punch before tugging on my hand and running toward the front of the store.
We only make it halfway before we have to stop and catch our breath. We hide out in the Bedding section. We're not completely alone, but I don't feel unsafe, which is a nice change.
"Holy shit," I breathe out, leaning over and placing my hands on my knees.
"Is my lip bleeding?" she asks, pressing her fingers to puckered lips.
I stare at her mouth. "No."
Bella examines my face, then brings a hand up to touch just above my cheekbone. "It looks like you're going to have a black eye. Did you get hit?"
"Elbow to the eye," I kind of brag.
She cracks a smile. "See. And you were worried that things were going to get out of control."
"Seriously, though. We need to get out of here."
"Yeah," she agrees. "But first, we need to go wait in line to check out."
"What? Why?"
I watch in confusion as Bella unbuttons her coat, showing me a glimpse of the doll she's been hiding.
"How the fuck did you get that?" I hiss lowly.
"Getting it was the easy part, but taking it out of the box and hiding it in my coat without anyone seeing me was harder. That's more or less why that lady was trying to murder me," she explains.
"I'm kind of impressed with you right now," I admit, swallowing.
"You should be."
She smiles triumphantly. She's slightly sweaty, and her hair is a mess all around her face, and she's so fucking pretty. Her eyes are dark and wide, and her lips are full and this isn't the ideal place, but I want to kiss her.
So I do.
I step forward and cup her face with my hands. She grins, because she knows. I dip my head just a little lower and slightly tilt it to the side. And then I let my mouth press against hers, gently at first. I feel her hands move inside my jacket, clutching at my shirt. Her lips move against my lips, and my mind wanders when I feel her tongue on mine.
She makes this quiet whimper when I pull her bottom lip between my teeth. Her arms move from my chest to my waist, and I fucking love feeling her hands on me. A few seconds later, I have to pull away because my dick is getting hard and we're still in Walmart.
We're still standing so close, with her arms around my waist, that she has to tilt her head back and look up when she speaks.
"So. You like to kiss girls who you aren't into?" she asks teasingly.
"Come on." I give her a little shake. "I said you were my type."
"You said you were into my type, but not me," she reminds me, but her smile let's me know she knew it was her all along.
With a shake of my head, I press a quick kiss to her lips. "It's definitely you."
And that's how, five seconds later, I'm resisting the urge to have sex with my niece's babysitter in the middle of Walmart.
One more chapter, guys! And maybe an epilogue. Probably. Maybe.
Thank YOU for reading, and thanks to those who voted for this in the Fic of the Week poll on TLS!
Major love & thanks to FictionFreak95, as well as the ladies of Rob Attack, for rec'ing this story on their blog!
Kim and Vic read over this and assured me it wasn't crackfic. I think they lied, but whatev.
OH! Speaking of crackfic (terrible segue) VampiresHaveLaws and Capricorn75 are hosting a HO HEY Contest, based on The Lumineers song of the same title. I'm one the the judges, along with spanglemaker9, jarkin33, and LyricalKris. For more info, check out the contest page, which is under my favorite authors list!
Longest AN ever. I'm shutting up now.