The Lies He Spoke

SEVENTEEN

He'd just turned to glance up at the signs hung above the aisles to try to figure out where the bathroom cleaning sprays would be when out of the corner of his eye, he saw the men in the black jackets again.

Only this time, they were much closer. And this time, he could see the tattoos on the sides of their necks.

Curling green snake tattoos with purple forked tongues.

For a moment, he couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't even rotate his eyes away from the men and look at something - anything - else. His heart beat madly, erratically, uncomfortably in his chest and a lump began to grow in his throat so huge that he was sure he would suffocate.

This too shall pass.

Maybe they weren't after them. Maybe they were just buying groceries. Maybe they were also out of bread and peanut butter.

And maybe Elijah is just in jail by accident and this is all just a bad dream, Logan thought sarcastically to himself.

He jerked back around and clenched his fists tight a few times to move the blood back into his numb fingers. How had they gotten here? They'd practically moved across the country and they were still after them?

His eyes landed on his sister, who was completely oblivious to the chaos that was about to unfold. She was standing next to the cookies, her lips pursed, her fist under her chin, deep in thought. For a brief moment, he considered not telling her anything.

But he knew there was no other way out of this.

"Olivia," he hissed.

She looked guiltily at the package of Oreos she'd just tried to surreptitiously put into the cart. "I know, yes, the budget," she sighed. "I'll put it back." She took it out and put it back on a random shelf but Logan stopped her.

"No, I didn't mean the - just - fuck." He dumped the Oreos back in the cart, grasped her by the sleeve, and began trying to casually walk the cart fast in the other direction.

Olivia struggled to free her arm from his grip. "What? Did we forget something?"

As soon as they turned the corner, Logan glanced over his shoulder. There were no more of the tattooed men down the main aisle, but the exit was pretty far. His breathing became slightly uncomfortable and he had to force the air to go in and out of his lungs.

"Is there -" He took a steadying breath. "Is there something you haven't told me?"

"Well..." She looked uncertain. "I do need tampons. But they're not this way. They're by the shampoos and stuff -"

"No, it's not -" Crap, this really wasn't something he wanted to do. She was having nightmares and not sleeping well and he wished more than anything to hide it from her. He would give anything not to tell her.

But when he looked back, the men were there again, and this time, one of them was looking at him.

Their eyes met.

Shit.

Logan turned sharply left into the aisle closest to them and let go of the cart. He grasped Olivia tight by the arm and pulled her along, walking as fast as she could go without having to run.

Olivia squirmed "Logan, what the hell-"

"Did you manage to piss off some more cops and drug dealers since we've got here?"

Immediately, she stopped fighting him. Instead, she all but attached herself to his sides, fingers twisting into the back of his shirt. "W-what?"

"Have you or have you not?"