Immortals (Completed and Unedited)

18

 I cranked the heater and drove off towards the lights of the city now that the fact that'd I'd actually been killed was registered I was angry. No scratch that, I was livid, I was enraged, I was completely pissed off. I wasn’t ungrateful that I was alive, but I was probably looking like a total wimp in the eyes of my dad and of the rest of my asshole family. And I was not okay with that in any way, shape or form. On the  rather short list of things I hated looking weak was on there. 

For the first time in a very long time, I was completely enraged just like I was when I met my dad. I was going to prove every single one of those assholes wrong. I might not have been a god, but I was mortal and I was proud of that. Those gods might have had more brute force when it came to attacks, but I had a reason to fight. They couldn’t die by conventional means; I could so I’d fight twice as hard to live because I knew how easy my life was to lose. If I was going to live a short life I was going to go out like a firework. It'd be short, but they'd never forget it. Off to my right I saw a bright white sign that read "WalMart" and made a reckles swerve into the turn lane, not even bothering to check my mirrors.

“Xander stop death gripping the wheel,” commented Chance as we cruised into the parking lot of a WalMart “Getting angry about what happened is okay," she said slowly liek she was scared I'd blow up. "But save that feeling, right now is not the time or place for it. Save it for later 'kay?" 

I took a deep breath willing myself to take a chill pill as I pulled into a parking space right by a lamp. She was right, now wasn’t the right time for me to get angry. Not yet. “Distract me,” I told her as I unbuckled. “Just talk about something incredibly random.”

“Um, I have  a splitting headache right now,” she said fast which was pretty helpful, it was totally random.

“Really?”

“Sadly yes,” she said rubbing her temples. “ I get them all the time; they start in the morning and get steadily worse when nighttime hits. Doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.” she said opening her door and letting cool night air into the baking cab. 

“So what is wrong with you?” I asked as I stepped out and slammed my door shut which made her wince.

“Still have no idea, just that it’s a real pain in the ass,” she answered and I saw her slip her knife up her sleeve as we prepared to go shopping.

"You brought our money didn't you?" I asked as I stepped near the doors which opened as I neared and I felt the urge to mutter "open sesame" as they did.

"Of course I did," she said as we were greeted by someone in a dark bluoe shirt working the graveyard shift. "I'm not an idiot."

"No need to be so cranky," I commented at her biting tone which made me hear her implied. "I mean I guess I would be took if I had headaches all the time but still I'm just-."

“Shut up you idiot," she said shoving my shoulder in a way I knew was playful. I'd done it time and again with my friends. I grinned and shoved her back which brought a snort/laugh and I grabbed a cart. The blue plastic handle sticky and I was willing to bet that the last person using this had kids.

"Let's split up for now," I said, as I scanned the massive store pleased there weren't very many people. "You go and get some clothes for yourself and whatever else you think we need.' and in an undertone I added, "by the way I think we're running low on bullets for the gun. Meet back here when you're done?"

"We are," she agreed, "I think you've got the right idea, we don't want to stay here too long."  I nodded and veered off to the clothes section thrilled it was in the front of the store and quickly grabbed some t-shirts  off the hanger glancing briefly at the size, I wasn't going to buy the wrong size no matter the hurry we were in. If it was too small it'd wear down easier, if it was too big it'd give monsters something to grab onto. I grabbed  two identical Go Army shirts in a medium size and tossed them into my cart along with a pair of jeans, a pack of new socks and a winter jacket. December was coming fast and I had no plans to freeze my ass off. I also tossed in another one for Chance and then hurried back towards checkout where Chance was waiting for me, arms full of some clothes and a box of bullets.

She dumped the contents into the cart and I stared at the heap, "How weird is this going to look at checkout?" I asked and she shrugged at me, taking her hair down and then putting it back up. "Come on," I said turning the chart, wincing as the wheel squeaked. "We ought to get some food while we're here too. We won't have much time after." Chance didn't respond past a nod at me and I grinned. "Surprised I'm not as stupid as you thought?" I asked elbowing her.

"A bit," she said with a grin, "come on this way," but I'd already stopped as I past the pharmacy section remembering what I'd wanted to grab since we had the chance.

"Hang on," I said parking the cart and slipping into the over the counter stuff and grabbing some Advil for Chance's headaches and some Tums for my heartburn. I tossed them into the cart and I saw Chance's eyes go wide. "'Nice thinking Xander," I said in a mock impression of her voice and she laughed at me.

"Oh fine, that was smart," and I grinned in triumph as I walked past the shelves of pills and towards the food.

"How painful was that for you to say?" I asked as I followed her down the canned food aisle.

"Very," she said seriously as she scanned the labels and tossed things into the cart, I didn't bother to look at what it was, I trusted her, she'd been doing this longer than me. While Chance shopped I took watch and scanned our surroundings for anything funny. A person who looked like they were staring at us, maybe a scary looking lady that looked like she couldn't wait to cause us pain. I didn't see anything, but that didn't make me relax. I wanted to get out of here, we couldn't stay in one place this long, especially after we ran into a goddess. We were still too close to where the encounter happened and needed to put more distance between us and there.

"We almost done?" I asked Chance nervously as she stood up from where she'd been kneeling on the floor.

"Yeah, we are," she said but her voice trailed off and her eyes got bright. "Hang on!" And she took off down the walkways leaving me in the dust.

"Hey slow down!" I called hurying after here which was kind of hard to do while trying to steer a shopping cart. When I finally had backed out of the aisle she was gone and out of sight and I exhaled a frusterated puff of air. Hurry up, I thought as I scanned the area around me, just waiting for something terrible to happen.

Chance came back a few minutes later, red in the face, huffing and puffing with a dark blue backpack over her shouder and a case of bottled water both of which she tossed into our cart. "Figured it'd be easier to divide the load in the backpacks," she explained, "now we are done."

"Great," I said even as I steered the chart towards checkout fully ready to watch as the cashier freaked out as I pulled up to an open lane. Chance and I started unloading the cart and I trained my eyes on the cashier, and old man with white hair and glasses as I waited for his reaction.

The cashier didn't freak out when he saw what we we were buying, maybe he was too tired to care just like I was, but anyways we tossed our bags into the cart as fast as we could without looking like we were gulity of something and hurried out to the truck, flashlight drawn in case Nyx wanted to show her face. Nothing; so far so good, I thought as I opened the backseat of the truck and tossed the bags in and hussled into the front seat.  "Buckle up," I warned Chance as she scrambled inside and I hit the gass and headed towards the main highway.

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A bit of a slower chapter this time around but I still hope you guys enjoyed it! So any thoughts on the change we got to see in Xander? I'd love to hear them so please don't forget to COMMENT and VOTE if you liked this chapter!

Dedicated to simranm17, another favorite writer of mine who sent me into fangirl mode when I saw she was reading my story!

Write on! =)