a losing battle - the last of us

[005] the death of the millers.

CHAPTER FIVE

the death of the millers.

LUCIA'S SOFT SNIFFLES FILLED THE CAR, AND THE WOMAN'S ATTEMPTS TO STOP THE SEEMINGLY NEVERENDING FLOW OF TEARS FROM FALLING ENDING FUTILE. Reluctantly, she found herself pulling over at a gas station that sat in the open land between her suburb and the main town. Her breaths were shaky, her hands tightly gripping the steering wheel as her knuckles turned white, her heart beating wildly in her chest. 

She'd sat in the car for at least thirty minutes - though it could have easily been an hour - before scanning the gas station. Slowly, she stepped out, the lack of people inside the only reason she'd opted towards getting some fresh air to help calm her nerves. The little bell hanging above the door rang as she stepped inside, the retail clerk paying little to no attention, likely too tired to care considering the clock had read just past 2 am the last time Lucia had checked. The lights were a cold white, hanging above her as though she were in a crime show, sitting in the middle of the interrogation room with a bright lamp shined right in here eyes. She could hear the sound of bugs flying towards the bar lights, the soft humming of electricity as it shot through the building.

Her shoes squeaked against the laminate floor, taking slow strides through the aisles as she grabbed a few essentials, water, snacks; Lucia had already figured the night coming would be a long one, one likely filled with no sleep, just overthinking over a five-minute 'argument'. The ailsed were cold, shooting straight to her bones, the air conditioning above her blowing cold air right onto her.

The beeping rang in her ears as the clerk scanned her items, the two not bothering to share conversation, both finding no need to. Soon enough, the almost awkward silence was cut off by the bell above the door ringing yet again, slight groaning escaping the lips of the individual who had just walked inside.

Lucia avoided eye contact, assuming it was some druggie wandering in trying to get a hit or swipe some things off the shelves. The woman wasn't all that bothered, the population of addicts in the area high enough for it to not to be all that of a new encounter; though, when she sneaked a quick look, she found her brows furrowing, her feet absentmindedly inching away from the new arrival.

Her body jolted when the moaning man stumbled towards her, his back slumped forward, his feet dragging along the floor. "Come on, man." The clerk murmured, not wanting to deal with a sleazy man trying to push himself onto a paying customer at 2 am. "Hey! Whoa!" Suddenly, the man's head snapped to the clerk, his eyes bloodshot, his teeth grinding and chattering rather loudly, though neither one of the two staring at him could tell if he was trying to speak.