02

Stone street was definitely the worst place to place a grocery store but still the easiest place to reach in the whole of Hailway city.

Aelia commented on this fact as they left the subway station. I smiled and hurried her along. Something in my gut told me something bad was going to happen and I definitely didn't want the unidentified disaster to happen on Aelia's first day in the city.

I pulled Aelia to walk faster with the excuse of the place being busy.

Despite the quickened pace in my footsteps, Aelia was still ahead of them as I walked.

Annoying.

"Are I'm leading or are you?" Aelia teased, unintentionally adding to my frustrations.

"Do you want me to leave you here?" I snapped then stopped to examine my self.

It was like someone had flicked on a switch in me and was messing with my emotions, dancing about a particular one named Rage.

"What's got you so hot headed today Rio? Your brother told me how nicely you conversed today. " Aelia soothingly asked when she noticed that I was confused.

" I don't know." I threw out and pulled Aelia." Let's go! I wasn't joking about that place being busy. "

Aelia squealed at the sudden force that I used to drag her.

She gaped at the size of the store. It almost resembled a mall.

This definitely wasn't what she'd had in mind when I had told her they were going to the grocery store.

Scrolling through the stalls and picking out what she thought was needed, she turned to find me picking out things completely different from what she'd picked.

When she'd turned back, I turned my head to look at Aelia and made a tsk sound.

If she's buying all those, she's paying for it.

Luckily, Aelia changed her mind and placed everything back.

" What'd you get? "Aelia turned to ask me. She really placed it all back.

" Just necessities, I don't like buying in bulk." Pretending I didn't see her little act.

I decided on Aelia to wait for me by the entrance as I paid for the things we'd bought.

While waiting in the frustratingly long line, I felt my heart sink in dread.

Now's not a good time.

I groaned internally.

I couldn't just leave the line, it'd be too suspicious, especially when the danger seemed to be nearby.

There was a loud gunshot and everyone gasped. Someone screamed, then the cashier went to take a look.

Everything seemed to blur by around me. The anger slowly bubbling up until the cashier returned and informed everyone that the gunshot wasn't from within the store.

I heard everyone let out exhales of relief but the telltale signs of danger were worsening and I felt completely suffocated.

My chest tightened and with each step taken closer to the cashier, the feeling became stronger.

By the time it was my turn, I couldn't take it anymore and wanted nothing more except to run.

"Are you okay?" The cashier asked, noticing how I was jittery and restless. My eyes searching for possible ways to slip away without causing a scene.

The next second however, before I could reply, the cashier froze. His doe like eyes dilating with fear.

I heard the unmistakeably faint cock of a gun but couldn't seem to see anyone.

A muffled voice began to speak, slowly, calmly but intimidatingly.

"I want you to calmly walk to the front of this building, lock the door and everyone in it. Now!"

Something came over the cashier and his eyes glazed over, like he was lost.

He relaxed and began walking, not caring whether there were people in his way.

I felt frustrated that I couldn't do anything in this present situation.

" Everyone on the ground now!"the muffled voice of the invisible person barked and released a gunshot.

I didn't know how it happened but Aelia came out of nowhere and pulled me out of the way just as the bullet lodged itself into the wall where I was standing next to.

" Are you fucking dumb? "Aelia asked. She crouched behind a shelf and pulled me to did the same. I instead, sat on the floor without a care. My mind was on how to stop this predicament from escalating.

"Yo! Rio! Are you even listening to me?" Aelia asked, snapping her fingers in front of me which brought my present thoughts that were flying all around back together.

"If I'm to be honest. I didn't hear a single thing." I answered with my mind still roaming about.

Aelia sighed.

"I said, we need to get out of here."

I nodded and we began to crawl in opposite directions.

"Hey! Where the fuck are you going? The exit's that way!" Aelia whispered when she noticed I was crawling in an opposite direction.

I unfortunately, didn't hear her until Aelia was suddenly pulled up by something.

"Aelia!" I exclaimed and quickly jumped to my feet.

"Trying to escape are we?" The person chuckled.

Aelia pulled her elbow back and gave them a hard hit, forcing the person to release her and howl in pain.

I found that as my distraction and quickly left the place.

I found a way to slip away and melt through the walls, giving me enough chance to slip on the mask only. Somehow I'd gotten the feeling that I was going to need it and I brought it along.

•••

As the person became visible, Aelia realized that she had hit him in the crotch.

"Fucking bitch!" The man cursed. "You'll pay for this" he hissed and then suddenly stood straight.

His face had turned red but apart from the redness, he seemed fine.

Aelia decided on running but the man raised his gun

"You move and I shoot" he warned.

Aelia froze for a second and then started to walk towards him but stopped when he faced his gun to another person.

"Move and I shoot her!" He yelled, suddenly grabbing Aelia and pointing the gun to her forehead.

It was Vero.

"Why not shoot me instead?" Vero asked, the anger that had been bubbling inside of them had doubled on the sight of Aelia in danger.

Vero slowly approached the man but he tightened his grip on Aelia, angering them even further.

"Let her go or you'd be sorry. I'm not a nice vigilante." Vero warned, the anger within them threatening to expose itself in a nasty way.

The man noticed this and chose to rile up Vero.

He raised his filthy hand to harshly cover Aelia's mouth.

"How'd you like her brains? Completely exploded or just damaged?"

Aelia didn't know whether the man was stupid, dumb or both.

An angry vigilante was never good news, especially when they'd been turning rogue these days and she could see signs of that same insanity in Vero too.

Aelia took the man's distraction as an opportunity to attack.

She bit down hard on his finger near her mouth until she tasted blood.

The man screeched and pulled the trigger.

As soon as the gunshot was heard, Vero pounced.