BITE ME ➼ C. G. 〖 #wattys2016 〗

Chapter 14

I got tickets to a FOB concert for Xmas!!!!! 😱😭😍😆
Along with a nerf gun *evil laugh*
Pic of Rusty on top ^^^^^

SOTC: Renegades by X Ambassadors
• All hail the underdogs •

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Thick, sweet corn kernels slid around the bottom of the can as I chased them with my plastic spoon. I gritted my teeth, finally declaring it a lost cause as I cast it into the trash bin.

"Marshal, we need to go on a supply run," I called up the aisles to my brother, who was sprawled out on a mess of sheets.

He slowly raised his head, blinking bleary eyes shadowed by his long hair, and nodded. "Take Rusty."

I walked over to the cash register and scooped up the pistol that we shared between us. Then I whistled, and Rusty came bounding out of the janitor's closet. He shook, muscles rippling underneath his reddish coat. He skittered up towards me, and I scratched his forehead, smiling.

"I'll be back in a few." The door made a faint whirring noise as I opened it, a reminder of when Marshal had climbed up on the ladder and carved out the bell part of the door. I didn't bother to lock because it was going to be only a few minutes.

Rusty finally came out of the gas station with a tennis ball in his mouth. He gnawed it before spitting it out in my direction. I laughed, catching it, then throwing it back inside. "Not now, bud. We're just going in and out."

He ran out in front of me, then started galloping around and barking. I shushed him and clamped a hand onto his mouth.

I didn't let my hand go until we were almost at the warehouse, a tiny, white house with had broken slats in the roof. It was really just a storage shed, stacked full with cans and boxes. A wagon leaned against the wall, and it was rusted over from years of being left without work. Until we came. I used it to bring food to our camp at the gas station, after we had finished all the food stockpiled in there already.

I tied up Rusty on a loose rope, looping it without a knot around his neck. It was a trick Marshal and I had used, which told him to stay in the boundaries of the rope but also gave him a chance to run away if worst came to worst.

My hands shone with sticky sap that had come up from the door handle. I rubbed my fingers onto my shirt and it came off just barely, and my hands burned from it. They prickled as I began loading the wagon, but by the time I was finished, the feeling was gone.

There was a howling from outside. "Stop it, Rusty." But it continued. I finally looked up from the wagon and picked up the handle as I realized...

It wasn't Rusty.

It was coming from the gas station.

"Shit," I said quickly before scampering towards home, with the wagon in tow. It bucked over the tree roots and I'm pretty sure a million cans spilled out but all I could think of was Marshal. Was he okay? Was he bit? Was he dead?

I shivered as I came upon the gas station. Cursing myself when I realized that I kept the door open. I looped the rope messily around Rusty's neck.