You turn your back to the giant at the bus stop, even if you could manage to climb him, there was no telling how he might react. The gleaming, golden sun of Walmart, however, was a symbol you could trust. Your exodus from the trash can begins with the wild jungle of grass just behind the bus stop. If you could get through that, climb over the curb, and across the endless desert of the parking lot, you'd reach salvation. Luckily, it was almost midnight by the time you stepped off of the sidewalk, little to no cars were parked in the parking lot and human activity would be at minimum for the time being.
You trudge through wet soil, under arborescent grass shoots, and over boulder-sized pebbles until you reach the near-mile-tall wall of concrete. The scampering of insects in the overgrowth behind you haunts your ears, if you weren't out of her soon, you'd surely become dinner. The rocky cliff face was well-textured and resembled a rock wall more than a street curb. The individual grains support your weight with ease and you quickly make your way up the surface. As you climb, you start to notice the grains getting bigger, once easy handholds now require your full body to vault over them. You were shrinking again, and if you weren't inside soon, you'd be too small to get there.
Bzzzzzz*
You think it's a bee at first but the heaviness of the sound alluded to something far scarier. The buzzing gets lower as a dark shadow leads over you in a blur. The creature lands with a crash on the top of the curb just inches from where you were hanging. Your eyes slowly migrate from its uncomfortably long legs to the massive transparent wings settling over its elongated body. And finally, its hideous face, mandibles large enough to split you in two, and a mouth more than capable of swallowing you whole. Though unaware of your presence, you were staring down the strange-looking face of a grasshopper...
You don't dare move, even though you're fairly certain this thing is herbivorous, you don't want to take any chances. The vile beast's head twitches this way and that looking around for food or predators. Just then, a horrible scraping noise bursts from its hind legs. The jagged texture of its legs rubs back and forth against its equally textured wings as the grasshopper searches for a mate.
You can't stand the noise, it feels as if your eardrums will burst at any minute! Just when the pain becomes too unbearable, the grasshopper stops abruptly. Its head cocks right at an odd angle before its legs rear back to lead. Just as it's about to take off, a massive pink mass comes flying out of nowhere and smashes into the insect's back. You watch, scared shitless, as the grasshopper is reeled into the mouth of a frog waiting in the darkness below you. The frog's mouth clamps around the hard exoskeleton and with a sickening crunch, begins to chew the grasshopper alive.
Fuck this! You want no part in whatever twisted world this was! Scrambling to the top of the curb, you make a break for it across the cement until you reach the other side and begin your descent down to the asphalt. In contrast to the bumpy cement, the asphalt is coated in a strange rubbery substance that makes your movement feel smooth as you walk across it. These backlots are filled to the brim with random potholes the size of volcanoes, broken beer bottles, and no end of plastic wrappers strewn about, some with old food remnants still inside them.
After 2 hours of wandering, you feel no closer to Walmart than when you started. This lot stretched on forever, by the time you did make it, you'd probably get run over by a car during the morning rush. Then, an idea tickles your brain. Not far from you was a cart return station that had been neglected by the night staff, only 5 carts had been lazily rolled into it, but if you hitched a ride on one of them, you'd eventually get rolled right inside!
You approach the nearest cart with caution. the metal framework had trace amounts of rust speckled about and the nearest wheel was coated in a thick layer of grime and what looked like old bug guts. Eventually, you manage to scale the treads of the wheel and set up camp on the lower rack of the cart. By morning, a man wearing a Walmart uniform comes over and pushes you hundreds of miles across the parking lot into the warm confines of the store.
Now safely inside, you have but a few moments of peace before the store officially opens. You consider staying on the cart and seeing who uses it, but your grumbling stomach is leaning more towards the endless isles of trashy junk food for you to feast on...
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
