Grocery Store Adventure, Part II

Mom had made a long list filled with just about everything you could imagine. I felt like she was preparing for the apocalypse with everything she had put down. Even Will groaned when he saw how much was on the list.

“This is not going to be a short trip, Sarah,” he muttered, grabbing us a cart.

The first thirty minutes or so went without incident. We were just getting some canned food when they showed up. Will saw them before I did. “Sarah,” he warned.

There were two of them – one blocking one exit to the aisle, the other one approaching us from the other side. They weren’t dressed in cult clothing like I thought they would be; instead, they wore what people normally wore out in public. Jeans, t-shirt, that kind of thing. I only recognized one of them, though, and that was the one approaching us.

“Sarah! William! Oh, I’m so happy to see you!” Daniel said, his fake smile reminiscent of the thing that has been outside my house. He had on a dark blue and green flannel shirt and some torn up jeans, and his hair had been shaved off since the last time I had seen him.

“We really thought you weren’t going to make it,” he said, stopping a few feet from us.

“Are you really going to make a scene out in public?” I asked him, trying to stand up to him. Really, though, I was terrified. If Daniel had no qualms with kidnapping an infant, I didn’t want to find out what his limit was.

He didn’t seem angry, though; just shrugged his shoulders, looking over at his partner. “Ty, what do you think? Should we leave the poor gal alone?”

Will and I looked back at Ty, who eyed me up and down and gave me a half-smile. “I don’t know about that.”

Creep.

“Well, you heard the man,” Daniel said. He took out a pocket knife and twirled it around in his fingers. He looked like he was about to say something but looked down at his knife. “… Huh. Never managed to do that before.”

I took a step forward, crossing my arms in front of me. “Where’s Sarah?”

I would have found Daniel’s confused reaction funny in any other scenario. “Uh, what?”

“Will’s daughter. She was… she named her after me.”

“Oh.” Daniel frowned and tapped the bottom part of his lip. “Interesting. I’ll have to pass that on to Viv when I get back. In the meantime, though, you should know that the child is safe and sound, awaiting her mother and father.” He looked directly at Will, lowering his voice. “Assuming he wants to see her, that is.”

Will’s hands started to shake and he took a step backward. “I…”

“She misses you, William,” Ty murmured, taking a step forward.

I stepped in front of Will, taking out my own knife.

“Will, stay behind me.”

Ty laughed and Daniel even seemed amused. He opened his arms wide again, putting on a fake smile. “Sarah, put down the knife. I really don’t want to have to hurt you.”

We must have looked ridiculous to anyone who turned down that aisle in those few moments.

Blocked in, two dangers… what would you do?

I was going to panic, like I did at the house…

But…

Clapping, coming from behind us. All of our attention focused towards the end of the aisle. A man in a slim suit and a red tie was standing there, giving a slow clap before he started towards us. I thought there was something odd about his head, and it was only until he got closer that I figured out that he was wearing some sort of realistic-looking mask that covered every inch of his head. It was a bit too pale, and as I soon found out, whenever there was a facial expression the mask just moved… wrong. Exaggerated.

“So, the party’s here,” the man said. Ty went to meet him with his fist, but the man caught it and twisted – hard. Ty ended up clutching his hand and shrieking. Will and I took a step to the side so that the man could pass. He turned to acknowledge us with a shake of his head before he stood in front of Daniel, who seemed just as confused as we were.

“And who are you?”

The man laughed for a few seconds before he came to an abrupt silence. “Call me SID.” The masked man punched Daniel hard in the gut with his right hand while reaching down with his left, pulling him up by the back of his neck.

“Now. This is what’s going to happen,” SID whispered, his eyes locked with Daniel’s. “You are going to allow Sarah and William to return home. You are also going to act as an escort for the rest of their trip. Should I find out that Sarah and William did not make it back to the house, or that they were to disappear because of a certain grinning being, I will make sure that the torture it inflicts on them is miniscule in comparison to what I’ll do to you.” Daniel stared at SID in horror, mouth moving but no words coming out. SID gripped his neck harder. “Do you understand?” Daniel nodded.

“Good! That was easy.” The man let Daniel drop to the ground. Ty had taken a step backwards, looking at SID like he was some sort of animal. SID smiled at him and turned to us.

“Well, I think you just cut your shopping time in half!” he said in this weird, overly happy tone. “A pleasure to finally meet all of you, as well. Give Vincent my regards, Daniel.” SID started to walk back down the aisle. He stopped and turned towards a shelf selling cooking utensils. He took a large cleaving knife off and stared down at it, then back at us. He gave another short smile and then walked off.

The rest of the shopping trip was as… awkward as you might think. Daniel said nothing more to us, and Ty seemed more focused on his arm than helping us. No one really said anything to each other until we got back to the car.

“We’ll follow you,” Daniel told us, his eyes looking at the ground. He looked over at Will. “My offer still stands, though. To you and Lois.” And then he walked away, leaving Will and I staring after him.

“Come on,” I told Will, “Let’s go home.”