I seriously have such a hard time with Shawn's accent. Be forewarned there's some sexual jokes in this bit. The spell checker doesn't like him either.

"I'm freaking telling you there's was a god dam skeleton. Just like in a horror movie." You muttered to Shawn.

He didn't believe you.

Shawn cut the grocery trip short and turned it into a snack pickup instead. Shawn after catching his breath from chasing you earlier had become upset with you for chasing the thief down. He didn't even care that you only broke a few small hand bones at best, instead of completely throttling the guy. You should have aimed for his ribs instead...

He had decided to end the trip to the city quickly after that. If you weren't known to become hostile if touched your sure he would have dragged you back down the ally way. Instead he just huffed and waited for you to join him in the car. After a hour of quite driving Shawn had calmed down enough to swing by a gas station and allowed you to get a few things instead of doing a full blown grocery trip. You would have to find a way to do it later, or try to scavenge your untamed garden that was hiding somewhere past the equally untamed tall grass in the forest that you called a backyard. You probably wouldn't even find the garden.

You grabbed the cheapest but most filling things you could at the gas station. Some packs of ramen and some dollar muffins were the best you could currently get. You would have gotten all your groceries there since it was so empty but the prices were near tripled to what you would have gotten at the super market. Plus they didn't exactly have a large selection. The cashier finished packing your snacks and you left Shawn to pay for gas.

You opened the store door to hear the familiar ring of it opening and went to settle in front of Shawn's car and wait. Something white caught your eye at the corner of your eye. Your head snapped in it's direction and your heart pace quickened.

Someones discarded plastic bag was stuck on a bush. A breeze would catch it momentarily and look like a skull.

Dammit.

The skeleton...Sans?

Wasn't it?

He...it?

Why were you thinking about this so much? Did he really scare you?

His earlier comment left you feeling nervous but it wasn't like you were gonna meet him again. If you did it would be by coincidence at the grocery store.

Or the pharmacy.

Did skeletons need medicine?

You scowled at your self and shook your head as if it would shake him out of your own skull.

...skull?

You kicked the sidewalk, hard.

Your big tow stung a bit from the impact. Luckily Shawn was still in the store and didn't see that. You would never hear the end of it then. Hell, he probably wouldn't let you leave the house anymore, or he would get a hold of the sanatorium.

Seriously? Taking you anger out on a sidewalk now. You sighed in frustration. The only reason your thinking about him is cause he's the first monster you had met and he subtly threatened you.

"Guess I'll have to keep my hands to myself, for now."

His voice echoed in your head. What an asshole. As if you'd let him get his hands, er, bones anywhere near you. Without all the squishy fleshy bits you wondered if that meant his bones would be harder to break or easier...

DAMMIT!

You smacked yourself in the face. You need a distraction from the bone guy. It seemed when you were alone and not focused on something productive your mind kept wandering back to him.

Just as you were thinking this you hear the click of the car door unlocking in front of you. Shawn stared at you a mocking smile on his face made the stubble on his face stand out more. He had been standing there just watching you smack your self and making crazy expressions on your face without you even noticing him there. When the hell did he even get there? You hoped he didn't in fact see you kick the sidewalk.

At least him being there made it partly distracting. You glared at him again and his grin grew wider as if he was teasing you. You flipped him the bird as you opened the car door and took a seat. His teasing look gone once he saw the finger and a look of mild annoyance crossed his face. He never did like it when you flipped him off.

You felt guilty about it. You know he didn't like it and for a moment, even at the cost of making you look like a lunatic, he had gone back to being happy. You didn't have to flip him off. You could have ignored him and let him have the moment but your pride seemed to always take over. You were too stubborn to apologize to a guy who helped take you into the city for your medication and food. How did you manage to thank the skeleton, who's an asshole, but not the guy who's literal job is to be your caretaker?

Dammit

"Sorry." You muttered it and kept your head down low. You couldn't look him in the face as you said it but he must have heard you cause he suddenly stopped what ever he was doing. You glanced over your shoulder at him. He glanced at you a look of confusion and surprise. You rarely apologized so it wasn't a surprise for you to see him react like that. Until, a cocky expression suddenly plastered itself on his face.

Shouldn't have fucking said anything.

"Fors whats?"Clearly he was pushing his luck. You crossed your arms and just glared harder at him. You couldn't hit him, but you did wish you had laser vision now. He only chuckled and started the car backing out of the gas station and heading out to the highway.

On your way back you got a closer to where the monsters were camping. You had to look past where Shawn was sitting but it was still closer than before and there were no trucks able to block your view this time. You couldn't see where the rabbit man from before had gone. Instead you could see some of the more colorful monsters that stood out harshly against the dirty white of the refugee tents. There seemed to be a man,who you may have thought fairly normal if he hadn't been on fire, a large feral looking dog wearing a suit of armor and some strange looking moldy plant thing that seemed to be bending in a back and forth motion covered with strange black spots.

Weird. This wasn't what you were expecting monsters to look like. At least ones that weren't disguised as humans. You had originally pictured way more sharp teeth and claws. While some seem to have that others looked more like something out of a fantasy novel. The fire man for example didn't look like he was about to jump and eat someone. Then again he'd most likely just burn them into a crisp.

"Theys can do's magics you knows." You pulled your eyes away from the fading refugee camps through the back window and stared at Shawn. He kept his eyes on the road like a good driver but leaned his head towards you letting you know he was listening.

"What do you mean? Pulling flowers out of there sleeves and what not.?"

"No's. I mean likes reals magics. Learned's its about it froms co-workers ats da office. They's can do's some's scaries stuffs. There's Queen's cans make sharp spears ands stuffs I hears."

"So you just heard it from people gossiping at the water cooler and assume it true? In that case, I have a jar of expired peas in my basement that grants eternal life. I'll sell them to you for a discount and throw in a free slice of moldy bread."

There's a twitch in his face as he tries to either stop himself from smiling or try's not to frown. You really couldn't tell which direction his feeling were on this. Barley even noticeable a small smile forms in the corner of his mouth.

"So's what's the moldy's breads do?"

"Cures erectile dysfunction." And as soon as the words are out of your mouth his small smile went limp, and gone. You knew you shouldn't have said it since he was having a bad day and all, but you couldn't help your self. His smile may be gone but yours was plastered on your face.

"I got's no's problem's in beds. Thanks."

"Eh, eat a slice of bread you'll feel better." You really couldn't help your self.

"Fucks Annette! I-" A loud clacking noise sounds from the front of Shawn's car and you both notice that you have slowed down considerable from the seventy miles per hour he was going. He turns his wheel over to the right and the car comes to a slow stop on the side of the road.

"Shawn? Didn't you fill the gas tank?" You looked at him worry plastered on your face. Being stranded on a highway surrounded by jerky people in cars was way out of your comfort zone and even Shawn knew it.

"I dids." He stated and parked the car near a grassy patch used for broken down cars. He got out of the car and flipped open the hood. There was still plenty of light out so you didn't have to worry about bad night time drivers accidentally hitting Shawn. You just had to worry about peevish Sunday drivers and dumbass's who couldn't drive hitting Shawn. You didn't want to be left alone on the side of the road with a corpse.

You could just imagine Shawn on the other side of the hood examining his engine scratching his head and not getting any closer to working. You may not want a corpse on the road but you didn't want to be stuck here with Shawn either.

You unlocked your car door and carefully stepped out of the car. You turned the corner to see the car hood wide open but no Shawn. Where the hell did he go? You moved quickly to the front of the car and checked the street. He wasn't actually hit was he?

Something touched your leg. You couldn't stop yourself and you reacted in the same manner as you did the thief. You brought your shoe down hard on a leg sticking out from under the car. You didn't hear a crack at least but you did move hastily away, almost tripping over backwards. You heard Shawn mutter something incoherent under the car before he wiggled his way out. He sent you the nastiest glare he had mustered all day.

"Whats was thats for?"

He caught you by surprise and you couldn't think of anything, well except-

"Why the hell are you under the car?"

"I was tryings to finds the problems."

"Under the car?"

"Ye's" He looked at you confused as if he thought it was strange that you thought it was strange. You had worked on your metal scrap car project before to know the problem wasn't under the car. Shawn seemed to know less about this than you.

"Move." You let out what felt like the hundredth sigh today and watched as Shawn stood up to move away from the engine. You ran your hands over the top of the hood and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. It couldn't be the battery that was used to start the car but not so much used to keep it going and most certainly not for it to die like it had. The engine seemed to be fine as well. Everything about the car was better than what you had sitting in the driveway at home.

Something smells funny. It smelled like gasoline. With you and Shawn surrounded by cars on a highway this shoudn't be too much of a surprise for you, but normally something like burning rubber would over power the smell of gasoline.

Unless there was a lot of gasoline. You bent over to look at where the gas line connected to the engine and sure enough you found your leak. You felt like someone had shoved a rock down your throat and it was now sitting in the pit of your stomach. Everything felt heavy and it was hard to breath.

"Annette's?" Shawn must have noticed your reaction and came over to investigate. Delicately you ran your hand on the cord and pulled it out just enough for Shawn to see. The cord had been cut hacked, roughly. There was no way this just happened. Someone had intentionally cut the line like this so they could move but not get far.

"Shits who's the hells woulds cuts my' lines?"

"I think a better question was when they did."

"Whats yous means?"

"Think about it. The car was fine when we were in the city. Drove fine all the way to the gas station. We both went into the gas station. That was the only other time when we weren't with the car."

"Theys cuts its ats the stations. Why?" He sounded, troubled. You felt bothered by it as well, but more importantly...

"Your asking the wrong the question again. Try your first question again."

"Who's?"

"...yeah, there was no body there at the gas station besides you, me, and the cashier guy right?" Shawn's troubled looked turned more grim as he caught on to what you were trying to get at. This was setup, and more importantly planned if they never even saw who had done it. You looked at the line in your hand again. You brushed your fingers over the harsh cuts on the line and it sent shivers up your spine. The cuts were done a bit harshly but they were precise, just enough to let them leave the gas station and get some distance. Not far enough to reach there destination and yet far enough they would have trouble going back and getting help.

"Whats we dos?"

"Hope one of these people passing on the road stops to help us." Like that was gonna happen. You didn't know what to do but wait.

"Likes a hitchhikers?" Actually maybe not a bad idea. You pulled your self up to sit on the edge of his car gripping the side as not to fall back on the hot engine.

"No, like a sexy seductress. Roll up your pant leg and show some skin." Shawn irked at the idea of even attempting to try it.

"Whats bouts yous? I is males. You females. Yous shoulds try's to shows off legs."

Idiot, did he not know you?

You gripped your pants legs, careful not to fall off the car, and pulled them firmly pulled on up. You showed Shawn the old wounds that marked your skin against the pale flesh. Small scraps and scratches that paled next to the ugly scars left by your father. There was also hair since you didn't bother to shave. Shawn held his breath and stared at pale leg. It must have been quite the site for him as he couldn't seem to look away. A blush tinged his cheeks before he sharply looked away and you pulled your pant leg back down.

"Pretty sure your legs look better than mine."

Shawn grumbled and held his head a sign of an on coming head ache. He just shook his head and began to try and wave people down. Even if he succeeded once they start talking to you they'll leave you on the side of the road anyway. Your hand absent-mindlessly went back to the gas line running your fingers over the cuts.

At least you weren't thinking about the skeleton anymore.

...God Dammit.