𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄 & 𝐂𝐋𝐘𝐃𝐄. ˡᵘᵐᵃˣ

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐈𝐈

He gave her a quick look from top to bottom behind his glasses and politely told her to just keep walking. The redhead walked towards the toilets, still feeling the boy's gaze on her back.

Looking at herself in the mirror for the first time in two days, she wondered if the shopkeeper liked what he saw or if he thought she was homeless. Which was no lie.

She hadn't had her own bathroom in a while, so she took the opportunity to run some water through her hair, face, and arms.

Since she hadn't had a full shower in two days either, she changed her clothes as well, pulling some light jeans and a brown t-shirt out of the backpack. Lucas would probably have filled the tank by now, but no matter, he would have to wait, and in fact, he needed a shower as well.

Before she left, she tucked the Sigma 40 into her pants and covered it with the t-shirt, just in case.

When hse came out of the bathroom, the dude was still in the same place, and Lucas was looking into the shop, waiting for her. But now there were two more people in the store. Fuck. More witnesses.

Without a second thought, Max went to the back of the store, opened her backpack, and discreetly began to fill it with bottles of water, cans, pieces of fruit, packets of potato chips, and whatever else she could find that would fit in. However, the two new people turned into the hallway where she was and saw her. And being the good citizens that they were, one of them yelled, "Hey!" and started running after her.

Instinctively, Mayfield ran for the door to get away, but the shopkeeper was already standing outside the door, trying to figure out what was going on. She was cornered. 

So she decided to push the boy, who seemed to have less strength than the 50-year-old man running after her. But he grabbed her and pushed her to the ground. Offended by this aggression, she kicked him in the groin, causing him to fall to his knees.

The other citizen had his fist clenched at her side, ready to punch her in the face, but she drew her gun faster and fired at him.

The bullet burst and a woman screamed. Max only had time to see a red stain on the man's pants as he lay on the ground, and quickly got up. She ran to the car like there was no tomorrow where Lucas was already standing, ready to hit the gas and get away at high speed. 

The tires squealed at such a maneuver and he could have sworn they left their mark on the tarmac. Max hadn't even had time to put on her seatbelt, just holding it over her head.

The adrenaline in their bodies was so high that they were screaming and squealing with delight.

"That was awesome! I knew I could count on you. Even though you have small legs, you run a lot!" He tried to compliment her with a big euphoric smile on his face. "I'm sorry I didn't go in and help you, but if I had gotten out, it would have taken us longer to get away. But you did good. Why did you use the gun, was it to scare them?"

Max was still shaking, trying to process what had just happened. "N-No, I..." But the euphoria soon faded when Max said she had shot someone. Lucas' ear-to-ear grin was replaced by a frown.

"Did you shoot someone? Max, no! I told you not to do that! The gun was just to scare them! They'd just walk away! We don't do that, we're not killers!"

Even though there was nothing in her stomach, Max felt like she was going to throw up. Then she burst out screaming.

"What did you want me to do? To hold me down while they called the police? I shot him in the leg! That's not going to kill him... is it?" His chest rose and fell frantically, and you could hear her panting.