Page 20 of Kings & Carnage

I set the bulging bags on the floor near his feet. "Wait here.”

I walked quickly through the mini-mart and spotted Neo grabbing stuff off one of the shelves. Oscar was nowhere in sight, but I eventually found a section of camping supplies and grabbed a large cooler with wheels and a handy towing handle.

I dragged it over to Rock. "Is this big enough?”

"It'll do for now," Rock said.

We piled bags of ice inside the cooler and Rock dragged it with his good arm to the cash register while I threaded the tote bags onto both my arms.

They were heavy and by the time we reached the front of the store my arms ached from the effort. I wasn't as injured as the Kings, but my body still felt battered. I was ready to be back in the car where I could stretch out and maybe even catch a nap.

"Where's Drago?" Neo asked, joining us by the cash register.

"Not here yet." I eyed the supplies in his arms. "Please tell me you have some Tylenol or something in there.”

His eyes darkened. "Are you okay?”

It was as close as Neo would come to showing concern for me unless he was beating the shit out of someone for looking at me the wrong way or pulling me away from a team of killers as he tried to save my life.

"I'm fine," I said. "Just achy.”

Oscar joined us a minute later, dragging another cooler behind him.

He looked at the one next to Rock. "Great minds think alike.”

"It was Willa's idea," Rock said. "We got ice too.”

"Good," Oscar said, "because mine’s filled with toilet paper and shampoo and shit. Plus burner phones and gift cards to pay for time.”

Neo glanced at a young bearded guy wearing aTruckers Do It on the Roadcap. He was staring at us as he got in line for the cashier and I shifted on my feet and moved closer to Oscar.

"Let's get out of here," Neo said.

We nudged our stuff forward a little at a time until it was our turn to pay and I grabbed handfuls of chocolate bars and bags of candy and tossed them on the pile of stuff being rung up by a tired-looking girl with pink hair.

"I'm not even going to bother telling you how bad that shit is for you," Rock said with a sigh.

"Good," I said, "because I'm crashing hard and need something I can shove in my mouth fast.”

Neo smirked. "I'm sure any one of us would be more than happy to help you with that, Jezebel.”

"Haha, you’re hilarious," I said with a straight face.

I wasn't at all offended. Nothing said normalcy like Neo giving me shit.

Oscar inserted the credit card into the reader and a couple minutes later we were on our way back to the car, Oscar and Rock pulling the coolers behind them while Neo insisted on taking most of the tote bags filled with food in addition to the first aid supplies.

We stowed everything but the phones and a bag full of snacks and drinks — plus the Tylenol — in the Impala's trunk and piled back into the car.

This time Neo took the wheel and Oscar took shotgun. I was more than happy to be in the back with Rock where I could stretch out, and I opened the bottle of Tylenol and shook two into my hand, then passed the bottle to Rock.

I washed the pills down with a swig of Gatorade and tore off the wrapper on a Snickers bar.

"Now what?" I asked around my first bite.

"Now we find a less crowded place to switch cars," Oscar said. “Then we find a place to lay low.” He looked at Neo and Rock. “Thoughts?"

"Someplace close to campus," Rock said.

---