Titan Fall - Book 18 of the Damned of the 2/19th

Or something...

"Well if it ain't Little Orphan Annie," A voice interrupted me looking at the Poptarts on the bottom shelf. I glanced at my daughter, who was staring with wide eyes behind and to my left.

"Where's yer buddies now, Annie?" Someone else said.

The lizard ran threat ID.

Julian Harper, two grades above me. Three siblings, two sisters and a little brother. Survived German Measles. Tough guy. Bully. Pot smoker in High School, tweaker afterwards. Five foot eleven, one hundred sixty pounds last time I saw him at the Red Barn two weeks ago.

Red Horse Cunningham, Chehalis Indian, six siblings, four sisters and two brothers. Tough guy. Alcoholic by high school. Liked to pick on white kids, especially those younger than him like me. Five foot eight, one hundred eighty pounds when I spotted him in the store the week after I got here.

I stood up slowly, checking my zones.

The grocery store was mostly empty, just a girl at the checkout and two guys buying beers at the register, flirting with her in the attempt to pick up some teenage ass.

There would be cameras if I killed them.

"Imagine finding you here, Annie," Red Horse grinned. He looked like hell. Booze and worse taking its toll on him. He was only three years older than me, but looked much older. Harper looked worse, his face having that slightly yellowish cast that someone with the Hep got after a few years.

The Hep was chewing his liver up.

"Out to the car, Annie," Red Horse said.

"Leave my kid here," I said. Raw red rage pounded in my chest and the lizard bared fangs at the two men.

He also had the abort button firmly pressed down.

"Naw, having her with us will make that big bitch of yours think twice before fucking with us," Harper snickered.

"You don't want this," I said, setting the little apple pie down on the shelf and holding out my hand to my daughter. The urge to just kill them right in the store, to the frozen slopes of Alfenwehr with the consequences, reared up and the lizard had to squash it.

Red Horse smiled at me, showing me a mouth full of gray and rotted teeth. "I think we do, Annie," he said. His breath was rancid, and I had the urge to see just how many of his teeth I could knock out of his mouth.

Instead I turned to my daughter. "Come on, honey, we're going to go for a ride," I said gently, looking her in the face.

My little girl took my hand, smiling at me.

The two men snickered, and we left the store while one of the guys buying beer was asking the 16 year old girl at the register what time she got off. The lizard reached out with one clawed foot and stomped on the steel floorplate that had come loose, a snarling black mass of eyes, rage, and fang filled mouths trying to ooze its way free. It took a couple of stomps, but the lizard managed to push it down, push it away.

The day was bright, the sun setting in the West, dipping below the hills. The sky was patchy off to the west, full of heavy dark clouds above us. Wind speed at 15mph with gusts up to 20 mph.

Rain started pattering down from the gray clouds above us.

I squeezed my daughter's hand and she looked at me. "Put your hood up, sweety," I said softly. She nodded, smiling.

They both snickered.

"The blue sedan," Red Horse told me.

Yeah, no shit. Aside from a jacked up Ford pickup truck, my own little old truck, and a small Chevelle beater, the blue sedan was the only vehicle in the store's parking lot.