[color=00aeef]Walmart Customer Service -- March 15, 2018 - Framingham, Massachusetts[/color]

As the crouching man turned around, having picked up... (batteries?) Ryan swung the tool (Edger, $24.99, aisle 17 -- 'garden implements') - swung it overhand, aiming for the base of the man's skull. Swung it hard -- but not too hard, y'know? Hard enough to put him down, give him a headache... but not hard enough to... He concentrated to make sure he connected with the flat of the tool, not the edge... that'd be bad. Ryan agonized all thee way through children's clothing (3T Onesie, Osh Kosh, $13, aisle 2) and seasonal (American flag, $9.99, aisle 40) about how he should hit the man. How hard, where, when. He worried about whether he'd succeed. He'd lost weight, that was for sure, but he was still a tall dude, and the heft of the tool in his hands was enough. 

"Enough." Jesus, enough for what? Enough to end this man's life? Enough to hurt him, but not turn him into one of those things? Enough to make him stumble? Fall? Ryan was worried. He wasn't exactly an expert on this shit. If only he had a tazer. That would have been easier. Except he'd miss. He'd fucking miss, and then this guy would fucking kill him. Ryan had followed the guy awhile. Long enough to spot other tools (Conduit Bender, $61.98, aisle 14, 'Tools and Job-site Safety Apparel') or potential weapons (Canoe Paddle, Grey Owl brand, $85, aisle 35, 'sporting goods') and discard them for fear of picking something that would most certainly have killed the man (conduit bender) or not hurt him badly enough (paddle.) He also discarded the notion of his trusty aluminum bat. He knew enough to know the bat was too light, too perfectly balanced, too small a surface for the force that could be exerted. (Thanks, Miss Higgins' Physics class...) Using the bat would have been a killing blow. There was no two ways about it. So the edger would have to do. 

He had followed the man at a medium distance since electronics (Far Cry 4, $9.99, End Cap 2 -- 'clearance') and through the Men's Clothing section (Punisher Tee, $4.99, floating rack three, 'Assorted Pop Culture graphic Tees.') Ryan didn't know why the man and his friend were here, but if there was one, there'd be another, and then there would be more. More meant noise. Noise meant Stinkers. Stinkers meant he'd have to move on. And right now, Ryan didn't want to go anywhere. He couldn't. There were still three hundred forty-four pairs to check. 

He'd been eating out of a container of potato salad (St. Clair, $6.99, Deli counter 'Xpress.') for the past few days (Coleman camp cooler, $36.99, Aisle 34, 'camping and sporting goods') and sleeping in the security office. It was as good a place as any, and given his particular circumstances, maybe his only option. He'd lost track of the number of days he'd been here. A month? More?

...It wasn't a swing intended to kill -- no, merely incapacitate, or more accurately -- render non-hostile. 

[@Lady of Lore] [@The DudeMan]