"Didn't have a choice?! You shouldn't have left in the first place!" Sama spat.

She didn't shout, but I shrank back, reminded of how Nox would throw a fit whenever a theft went wrong. He'd catch the guy who messed up, beat him, then kick him out to show what he was capable of. I hadn't known what I'd get myself into, but as long as I stuck to Nox's good side and did my part, I got food and a roof to sleep under. Sama wouldn't understand that.

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, expecting an apology. She only continued to wrap the bandage around my torso, her expression stoic, even as my recoiled posture made it more difficult for her to patch up the wound.

"Not one, but two stabs," Sama muttered. "Like he wanted to kill you slowly."

I shivered. "Probably." Nox probably guessed I was planning to ditch them. Then I blinked. "You saw him? And how did you find me?"

"I heard about a gang of teenage shoplifters stirring up trouble in the city," she said drily. "You only stole from businesses around the area, so you didn't have access to transportation. Either that, or it was too dangerous for you to move." She shrugged. "I put two and two together and figured you'd take another stab at the grocery."

"So you followed me." I tried to remember exactly what happened after Nox stabbed me. There had been a lot of thrashing around and trading blows. I must have blacked out when Sama found me. No doubt they had left me to rot in some alleyway.

"It's a good thing I did, little brother," she said with a small smirk. Just like that, my gratitude melted away, replaced with annoyance.

Sama grunted and eased herself back. "It's not a great job, but that'll have to do for now." I gingerly touched my side. It still hurt, though the pain had lessened to a throb. Sama handed me back a wad of clean clothes. I frowned, but upon closer inspection I recognized my old shirt and hoodie. I must have left them back at home.

"Your old clothes were soaked in blood," Sama said.

Usually I cursed my permanent tiny size, but I was glad I hadn't grown out of my old clothes.

With her help, I slowly shrugged my clothes down, trying not to disturb my injured torso.

This odd sensation of comfort washed over me, and I swallowed. The last time I felt like this, Mom and Dad were healthy, Sama was selling her homemade jewelry and I didn't have to worry about the fact that there were too many people for the world to feed.

You would think the concept was straightforward: take what you need, and no more. But no one had understood the value of rationing. Instead, the rich had taken more than they needed and thrown the rest into landfills for the poor to pick up. Finally, at some point someone realized that food was not infinite.

I had known the world wasn't in a good place, but back then things were still okay. Mom and Dad had well-paying jobs. They promised that they'd save up so we could move out of the city to a safer place, maybe all the way to the remote countryside where we could grow our own little farm.

But there was no use in dreaming about the past. My stomach growled. I wish I had taken a bite of the freshly baked bread I had stolen before Nox turned on me. I wish I had been the one to turn on them.

Sama scooted to sit beside me against the desk wall. An ambulance wailed in the distance, and its flashing lights illuminated the store for a brief moment. I crane my neck around the cashier desk to get a glimpse of the store's front windows, hoping to get a glimpse of the city. The windows were blocked by diamond-patterned fencing. For protection against thieves like me, I thought grimly.

Asides from our quiet breathing, the shop was eerily silent. Shadows flitted in and out along the walls, moving behind the racks of bottled spirits as cars drove past outside. The shop felt too small and too big at the same time.

"Does it surprise you?" Her words were so faint I nearly missed them in the roar of the city night life. "That I'm selling the same thing that killed Dad?"

I shrugged uncomfortably. I actually hadn't thought of that. "I thought you would open a jewelry shop."

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. "Mm, but alcohol sells well at this time. Doesn't take a lot to make spoiled grapes, and you can literally charge anything."

"You have suppliers?" I asked incredulously. Barely anyone could find goods to ship, much less sell while resources were dwindling by the day. Either you were rich and influential, or you did business in the city's underworld. Nox and the rest of the gang had tried the latter, though we only proved to be a laughingstock. No one took a rowdy group of teenagers seriously, and for good reason.

"No one trustworthy," she murmured. "But they need someone with a creative spark for their schemes, so I'm in the clear for now."

She glanced at me. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

Part 3/5 will be posted on January 20th at 3PM PST.

You're probably starting to get the hang of my update schedule. If it's a long short story, I start posting on Monday and post daily til it's finished. If I have a standalone, I'll post it 2-3 days later after my post recent post.