Southern Gothic // Joshler

14. Bullets

Homophobia / Homophobic slurs

Josh was so anxious to leave the house the next day that he cried for an hour before they were deciding to leave. Tyler finally managed to pull him out of the house, and they walked in silence for nearly half an hour to the square together. They didn't dare speak, or hold hands, or even look at each other.

Tyler had given Josh fifty dollars for groceries. He knew he wouldn't be bringing home any meat, or eggs, or dairy. Just canned foods again. They had two days left until Sunday, when they'd enter the church and kill the ring leader of this damned town.

Two days.

Tyler bid Josh a silent farewell as the other boy entered the grocery store, only a few stores down from where Tyler was headed to go buy bullets. He entered the shop after another minute of walking, the doorbell dinging as he opened the door.

"Good morning, Tyler!" The shopkeeper smiled warmly. It was one of his old neighbors, Mr. Barker. He hadn't seen him in a few weeks.

"Good morning, sir," Tyler smiled warmly back over at the man behind the counter. "I'm here to get-"

"More bullets for yer shotgun, I know," Mr. Barker sighed as he turned around and pulled a case of shells out of the case behind him on the wall. "I heard about yer family- 'm sorry it happened to ya,"

Tyler nodded solemnly as he approached the counter. "I'sokay, I guess. Word got around the town fast, didn't it?"

The man behind the counter nodded. "It did. Yer mom was such a lovely lady, too, shame."

Tyler eyed the bullets. "That's buckshot, right?"

Mr. Barker nodded. "Triple O buckshot, yep. It'll do ya good for yer animals and such,"

"Can I get a box of slugs?" Tyler asked innocently. "After what happened, I'm pretty shaken up-"

He nodded and reached underneath of the counter out of sight, his hand reappearing with a black box. "This one's on me, Tyler."

Tyler smiled warmly at the old man across the counter. He had always loved Mr. Barker like his own family, and was so sad that he'd have to be watching him murder some of the church in just two short days.

"Also, a box of .243 caliber rifle bullets, please." Tyler added on, pulling his wad of cash out of his pocket. "I'm getting for my friend Josh, too,"

"Ya mean that new kid that killed 'is family?"

Tyler froze up a bit, clenching his jaw and nodding. "Yeah. We're good friends, I thought I'd grab some for him-"

"Sure." Mr. Barker tossed a case of rifle bullets onto the case along with the others. "It'll be thirty. Don't worry about tax, ya got enough on yer minds right now."

Tyler smiled again at the man across from him, picking up the boxes and dropping cash onto the counter. "Keep the change. Treat Margie to something nice for dinner." He said softly, shoving the shells into his pockets. He hoped Mr. Barkers wife, Margie, was still okay. He didn't know whether she was even alive anymore.

"Many thanks, Tyler." Mr. Barker smiled and gave Tyler a wave as he turned and left the store.

Anxiously, Tyler looked around for Josh. He was supposed to have met him outside of the ammo store, but he had only been in there for a few minutes. He must've still been in the grocery store, Tyler thought to himself as he headed inside. He tried to ignore the stares that he was getting from the townsfolk.

Absentmindedly scratching at the healing cuts on his arm, Tyler paced through the store and finally found Josh in the canned goods section, staring blankly at a row of canned corn.