The Bitten.

Liar. Liar.

"You can't just flop food into the cart."

"You said food and medicine. Here is food." He stated the obvious.

"Yes, but how expensive will it be? I need to try to figure this up. What if this takes everything we have? How will we pack this all home?" I groaned. I saved the food section for last. I knew it was going to be a fight, and I had wanted to get his clothes and some extra Tylenol and first aid things.

Clothes shopping was intense. Aamon had not wanted to try anything on at first, despite my pleading for him to. I needed to know what size of pants he needed. I couldn't just tell by holding them up. After we found his jean size, was the task of getting him undergarments and shirts. He wasn't as reluctant to try on a pair of shoes, which helped me find the correct size sock. He liked a clearance pair of sneakers, and put them in the cart. Boxers, briefs and the like, he left on me to choose. He found it all stupid, and was vocal about it. Tee-shirts, he just pointed at colors he liked and we found his size. He hated every pattern or anything loud. Everything was brown, dark green, burgundy, black, grey and navy. I felt relieved that he could blend in better now, should we have to get out again. It was also a huge comfort to know that nobody had died in the clothes he would wear from now on.

"I'll get more." I narrowed my eyes.

"No. You can't just keep doing that."

"I can do what I wish."

I had to try to figure up our total, and I set back into the cooler the meat products I felt were unnecessary. We had a decent selection, enough for several meals and snack if he could show restraint. Several items left were things Aamon just wouldn't part with, so I put back my wants in place of them.

We stood on the curb with our cart, and I frantically flagged for a taxi. We would need one for the ride home, and I had tried to be certain we kept enough back for the fare. Aamon despised the idea, but we had little choice. We'd drop our damage half of everything if we tried to hoof it. Not to mention the attention it'd attract.

Aamon is less hesitant this time, handling the ride much better than the first time. The driver was polite, and paid no mind to us as they did their thing. They pulled into my typical parking spot and we quickly packed our bags up to the apartment. I walked back down while Aamon remained inside and paid our fare. I was sure to tip well for the trouble of waiting on us to load and unload our things.

"Fawn!" I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Della?" It was half a question. All tenants in our complex know one another for the most part, in spite of our scarce interactions. Ryan had set up a community text group, and had pressured us all into joining so that we could pass on information or he and his mother could aor their grievances indirectly if they desired. My hair stood on end as I tried to seem composed.

"How have you been? I've been meaning to check on you, but I didn't want to seem nosey after everything." Right, the 'bear' attack. I released my breath.

"I've been doing some better. Just trying to stay busy and get back in routine. I feel much better now."

"You do look better! I couldn't imagine. There were so many rumors, I was half afraid to see you. I hadn't seen you in the library in a while." She looked both ways as if she were nervous of someone eavesdropping. "Dennis has been looking for you. I believe he has in mind to fire you. He hounded me the entire time I was looking for a book, trying to get answers. Have you not been at work?" Damn it. I hated trying to lie on the fly, and I was leery Aamon would be looking for me anytime if I didn't get up to our room soon.

"He's wanted rid of me from the moment I was hired." I forced a laugh. "But no, I haven't been there. I've had a lot of...mental and emotional issues since everything happened. I haven't felt like going back yet. I've had so many therapies-"