RISK & REWARD ✔️

46 | 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭

WE head down the street for breakfast. There's a little McDonalds, which is perhaps the most familiar thing I've seen thus far; everything else seems little and idyllic and rather detached from the rest of the world.

I order a pocket of hash browns. Slade orders a "sausage'n'egg muff", as she calls it, and a small thing of water. She seems very content with the little paper bag and little plastic cup; as promised, I stuck by her side and remain there silently, save for my order and a little smile and a thank-you.

Outside, Slade almost bites my head off for apparently getting too brash with the food; I'm starved, and apparently the way I grab at the bag and try to grab my stuff is enough to make her whip it away from me and use her body as a barricade.

"Careful!" she snaps, voice hushed and tone sharp like she'd scolding me. "Don't rip the bag."

I blink. "What?"

"This," and she taps the paper, "is important."

"It's a McDonalds bag."

"We need it," Slade shoots back, walking on ahead of me and quietly withdrawing my sack of hashbrowns before offering it back to me without so much as a glance. She's walking with purpose, strides long and smooth as she reaches the curb, looks both ways, and then steps out into the empty road. "Eat slow. We're not done."

"Not done?" I have to jog to catch up, looking around in confusion. "Are we going somewhere else?"

Slade just hums, bag swinging in her hand. "Just a little."

Wordlessly, Slade guides me into the gas station. There's a little ting over the door as we enter, and for a brief, brief moment, I'm walking into the Doghouse, grabbing food from whoever was working the noon shift before I get in.

But then I blink, and I'm back in the strange gas station, a melody I can't quite name humming disconnectedly overhead. There's a guy at the counter who doesn't even glance our way; he's busy with the computer, doing who-knows-what even as Slade looks over at him. The short hum she makes is something I think is her quiet equivalent to a satisfied yes.

"Find what you're gonna want for the road," she says, voice low. "We don't have a lot of space, so keep it small."

There's a flash in her eyes as she says that last bit; keep it small. There's more meaning to that. For the road; we aren't leaving yet, I don't think. Covering up for something? I don't know; Slade's world is a lot different than mine, and I don't know my way around yet. So, I just nod, eyes widening briefly to confirm my understanding.

Keep it small. Okay. I can do that.

Slade and I have split up. I'm in the back corner, browsing the little toiletries; Slade is, and I glance up to check her location, across the store, scanning slowly over the shelves.

Again, no idea what's on her mind; she's clearly got a plan, I just don't know what. She's being quiet and polite and normal, I guess; when I turn back around to mind my own business, I hear a crinkle, and though I expect to whip around and find her committing some heinous crime I instead just find her browsing, now with her sandwich in hand.

Suspicious. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious; she certainly doesn't seem to be doing anything, but the way she'd told me to take the small stuff was anything but normal.

In any case, I listen; I gather a handful of things, and when I finally finish up I bring them up to the counter. I don't have much: a few cans of veggies, a carton of ramen that I'm expecting to eat cold, a box of crackers. Nothing major.

"You done?" The voice comes from behind me; Slade's tone is perfectly normal as she looks over at me, body facing the shelves. Her eyes widen by a fraction of an inch; confused, I nod, brow wrinkling when she, animatedly, turns and pulls something off the shelf.