ᴡᴏʀꜱʜɪᴘ ᴍᴇ (ᴇᴊ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ)

14: Renewal

This was more than breaking into a home and getting some vigilante justice, now there were people roped in. More followers, people who were blindly following whatever bullshit Krul was spewing. People who were thinking the same way you used to. They were filled with false hope and being led around by lies disguised as genuine promises. You could only hope his influence hadn't spread very far.

After nearly twenty minutes of driving farther and farther away from the next target, the silence became unbearable. You could still feel the rage coursing through Jack's veins, but he still hadn't spoken. You didn't know what the plan was now. This wasn't so simple anymore.

"...Jack?" Your voice came out a lot shakier than you had intended. Jack only grunted in reply but you felt him turn towards you. "What now?"

Another tense silence fell over the two of you before Jack finally spoke. "...I don't know. I need to think."

"Where should we go for now then?" You asked.

"Another gas station. We need more supplies."

✦★✦

The canopy lights of the gas station welcomed you as you drove into one of its few parking spaces. It was already well after noon, and the clouds above still snuffed out almost all of the light the sun offered, leaving the landscape a cold, dead gray. You'd seen few cars on the drive over, and even fewer had actually stopped at the little middle-of-nowhere gas station. You could guess that the only other parked car likely belonged to the employee inside.

You didn't need gas for once, so when you stopped the car you looked at Jack. "Wanna come in this time?" Had you been able to see his face you were sure his facial expression would be one of confusion, but surprisingly he unbuckled his seatbelt and grumbled a "sure".

After locking the car, the two of you headed inside. The employee behind the counter seemed to open their mouth to greet you, but once their gaze landed on Jack they froze and opted for a shy nod instead. You couldn't say you blamed them, Jack was extremely intimidating even when he wasn't actively trying to break into your house. He was well over six feet tall, and with the hood pulled over his head he looked at least mildly suspicious.

Sighing, you led Jack around the store to pick up some more food as well as a few other necessities. Since there weren't any other customers the store was fairly quiet apart from the music playing in the background. You could also see that Jack wasn't as uncomfortable as he usually seemed when forced to be in public. As you walked you didn't notice the small smile that had formed on your lips.

The light mood was quickly destroyed when you glanced out at the parking lot. You hadn't parked particularly close to the store, but your car was still within view. And standing right beside it was a cop. His car was parked only a few spaces away, and as he inspected your car you couldn't help but assume the worst.

Had they picked up on your car? It wasn't out of the question, not when it had been present at two different crime scenes. You had been hoping that you'd been overlooked as just someone's guest, especially when the deaths had occurred states apart. But maybe you'd gotten unlucky. Maybe someone's neighbor had seen your car sitting outside of a soon-to-be victim's house for hours and reported it as suspicious. It was entirely possible.

You shuddered as suddenly the interior of the store felt just as cold as it did outside. The cop went from peering inside your car from the windows to circling it and then finally turning his focus towards the store. Shit.

Doing your best to not seem panicked, you grabbed Jack's sleeve and dragged him to the back of the store with you. So far the worker hadn't caught onto anything going on, and you hoped it'd stay that way.