Restless

Shopping With Ben

A few minutes later...

"Hey, sleepy head. We're at the store." Ben said poking my cheek. I opened my eyes and looked out the window, at the store. The parking lot was fairly empty and was dark, just like the inside of Walmart.

"I'll need the flashlight from your backpack in the trunk." I said rubbing my eyes. Ben jumped out of the car and walked around to the trunk. While he did that, I unbuckled and looked down at my watch. It read 2:02. Ben opened my door and handed me the flashlight.

"I think I'll go in with you. The power box shouldn't be too, hard to find." Ben said handing me my revolver. I stuck it in my pocket and got out of the car.

"What about, sleeping beauty?" I asked, pointing over my shoulder, at Zach.

"He'll be okay, maybe we should tie him down, in case he wakes up." Ben said, handing me two t shirts. I tied one around his feet and the other around his wrists. I stepped back and looked at my work. Now, he really looked like we kidnapped him. I returned to Ben and we approached the entrance. This was the place the girls had gotten us guns and paint from before. Ben was holding his assault rifle, that he brought. We entered at the same time and I flicked on the flashlight. Instantly, I saw the bodies of some dead soldiers. Ben dry heaved when I shined the light over a soldier that had a large Hunting Knife sticking out the back of his head. We moved past the bodies and towards the customers service. I made sure neither of us stepped on any of the people that covered the ground.

"Where would we find the powerbox in this place?" I asked Ben.

"Wait here I know where it is. Give me the light." He said holding out his hand.

"You just want me to stand here in the dark?" I asked, placing the flashlight in his hand.

"Yep, the lights will be on in about a minute. Be right back. He said leaving me, standing in the darkness. I could see the light quickly move across the room, as Ben moved away from me. Then the light showed a doorway that was for employees only. I lost sight of Ben when he entered. All that I could hear was the sound of my heartbeat. At each beat, I became more paranoid. I didn't like the dark. In my head, I would start to imagine things. Horrid things. Ever since I was small, the darkness had been my enemy. I felt like as every second passed, things that hid in the dark, would creep closer to where I stood. My heart started to beat harder when I realized that Ben had been gone for over a minute. Starting to panic, I pulled my revolver from my pocket. They were coming for me. Slowly coming from all directions. I was surrounded. I raised my gun and started to spin around, searching for the creatures that lurked in the darkness. Then it happened. The lights came on. I was blinded for a few seconds, but slowly opened my eyes. About a foot from where I stood, was a large, purple dinosaur. I jumped back and dropped my revolver. Then I felt like an Idiot when I realized what it was. The creature was a cardboard cutout of Barney the dinosaur. Letting my heartbeat return to normal, a bent over and retrieved my gun. Ben walked back through the doorway from which he had left, smiling.

"Goodjob. Let's grab the stuff and get out of here." I said, breathing heavily. Ben returned to me and we made our way to the food aisles.

"What do we need?" Ben asked grabbing an empty cart that was in the middle of the aisle.

"You know, camping stuff. Hot dogs and burgers and stuff like that." I answered. Those foods sounded great, right about now. I was very hungry. We came across a shelf full of chips and I grabbed four of the biggest bags of potato chips I could find. I dropped them into the cart and we continued to search for food.

"We should grab some paper plates and bowls, too." Ben stated, as he pointed at a shelf of packs of plates. I browsed through the shelf and grabbed the 30 pack of plates. I set it into the cart, next to the chips.

"How much room do we have left in the trunk?" I asked Ben.

"Quite a lot. We only brought a what we needed. We only filled half the trunk." He replied grabbing six boxes of graham crackers off the shelf.

"Should we find some pillows and blankets? We only brought little sleeping bags. We're going to be there a week, right? Why don't we make it count?" I requested. Ben agreed and left me to gather the rest of the food. He went in the opposite direction of me and I searched for the food. By the time I was finished, I had gotten three bags of hot dog buns, four packs of hot dogs, six bags of marshmallows, five cans of beans, an 18-pack of bottled waters, several bars of chocolate, a box of crackers, and a lighter.

"Yo Dray, you ready to go?!" Ben yelled from further away.

"Yeah, did you get the pillows and blankets?!" I yelled back.

"Everything's here!! And I grabbed Zach's present!!" Ben replied.

"Should we shut the lights back off?!" I asked, making my way towards the exit.

"Yeah, I'll put my cart next to the entrance and I'll go shut them off!! You just get everything into the trunk!!" Ben yelled from a few aisles over.

"You got it, boss!!" I called back. Ben got to the door first and left his cart in front of it. Inside the cart, lied six pillows and three fluffy blankets. I went out the door and pushed my cart out to the car. Zach was still sleeping when I went back for Ben's cart. The lights went out, soon as I started to walk away from the entrance with his cart. I opened the trunk and put the food in first.

"Hey look what I found." Ben said, holding a coffee mug, as I packed the pillows and blankets in the remaining space of the trunk. On the side of the mug, small words read "World's Greatest Dad".

"He'll love it." I said, placing the last items into the back of the car. He set it in the trunk and went forced it shut. Climbing back into my side of the car, I looked at Zach. He was still asleep, under the blindfold. Ben started the engine and applied pressure to the gas pedal.

"Get some rest, Drayton. I'll wake you up when we get there." Ben said as we got back onto the road. He didn't have to tell me twice. I fell asleep in a matter of seconds.