Stupid shouts excitedly, “It’s a nudie magazine!”

I then hear the magazine rack tip over and crash to the floor.

“Sshhh! For god’s sake Pac, would you keep it down? Do you want to bring the entire neighbourhood in here?” Mace’s voice moves over to Stupid’s direction.

“But…it’s a nudie magazine.”

“Put it down. Now.”

“No.”

I can’t believe I’m trapped in here by these two…

“Fine. Keep it,” Mace did not sound amused. “Let’s get out of here. Don’t want anyone seeing us here.”

“Why?”

I could hear the exacerbated sigh from here, “Come on, Pac.”

“Do you think Mica will make us food tonight?”

“It’s not her shift today.”

“But I like it when she cooks!”

Good. It sounds like they’re leaving. I get ready to move from my spot, my heart finally deciding to slide down my throat. As I hear their footsteps almost exit the building, one of them suddenly stops.

“…What it is, Mace?” Stupid’s voice came from outside.

“Footprints…There are footprints in the bicarb soda…Stay there.”

“Huh?”

Oh fuck. I look down at my feet and realised that I had to walk through the powder to get into the other aisle. I could hear Mace quickly walking up the aisles. Panic resurges through my system rapidly. My fingers shaking as a fumble in my bag, trying desperately to reach for that knife again.

He was now heading directly for the service desk. There was nowhere for me to hide. Nowhere for me to go. I could only attack and run. If only I could grab the knife!

Just as his steps lead to the desk, his feet directly behind me and thin wood the only thing separating us, I could feel his gaze on me. All he has to do is look around and I’m dead.

As Mace rounds the corner, he’s almost within sight. My fingers just found the knife’s blade and I grab onto it with enough force that the sharp edge bites through my fingers. I pull it close to me, ready to fight and run. I bite my lip, ready to leap out-

A large crash sounds out from the street, jolting all of us into stunned surprise.

“What the fuck was that?” Mace growls, his voice pointed out over to Stupid.

“I-i-i-it’s Pyros!” Stupid shout’s rather shaken.

Mace quickly charges back towards the front of the shop. “What are they doing here?” His voice was now far away, but I could still make out his barking orders, “Quickly, we need to move! Go find Skull! I’ll warn Bass!”

And just like that, I was left abandoned.

I think I just has a stroke. I slam a hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping for air too loudly. Shakily standing up, I hold onto the knife at my side, ready to make a break for it. Whatever that was, it was enough to shake Mace to the core. I don’t want to meet this ‘Pyros’.

Getting outside, I look around and see that the street was totally abandoned.

I frown as I scan the street. What was it that made that noise?

I then hear chuckling from my side, “Funny what happens when you copy a tribe’s calling card. They all get confused and jumpy. Takes’em long enough to figure it out. Or not. Well either way, I get the spoils.”

I quickly turn to the direction the voice came from and there was a boy who could have only been about seventeen walking towards me at a leisurely pace like he was out for a stroll. Behind him, I saw a ball of fire that had fallen down onto a car just around behind the building. He looked too calm, too comfortable, like this life suited him. Thick golden curls messily fell about his face and as he got closer, I could see thick eyelashes framing his dark grey eyes.

He walk passed me like I don’t exist, heading for the entrance.

“You could thank me.”

I blink, realising he was referring to me. “What?”

“You were in a tight spot, right?”

I watch him, unable to reply. He was watching the entire time and only decided to help because I just so happened to be at his target. Not out of the goodness of his heart.

“You’re not from here, are you?”

I frown, I’m not one to engage in any sort of conversation with anyone. Force of habit what with everyone trying to kill everyone, usually. Not to mention alarm bells rang in my head near this guy. “No.” I was to the point.

“I can tell. Got lost on a guided tour of our fair city?” He smirks sarcastically.

“…Something like that,” I mutter, putting my knife away and putting the bag back over my shoulders. I should have been at the harbour by now, if not for the side-tracking. For some reason, I’m finding myself following this guy back into the store.

“I see…” He hums to himself as he gets to the locked door and simply kneels down, taking something out his pocket and fiddles with the lock. I’m hit with surprise as I hear the lock click and the door opens smoothly. “Don’t want to make it too obvious for em,” he slides his tools back into his pocket before opening the door.

I’m more surprised by the fact that someone could actually pick a lock so successfully. It’s a skill that I wouldn’t mind having, but I digress.

Something aims at my face that I quickly catch. Looking at it, I see it’s a packet of quality chocolate.

“Consider it a freebie,” Blondie winks at me. “A reward for the little cat that almost got caught.”

I grimace at the thought. Not even five minutes ago, I was about to be discovered. I couldn’t help myself from looking inside the storeroom. It was a dreary little grey box that looked like it was once an office, but now had a number of shelves lined up side by side with a selection of food lining them.

“Skull really loves storing. Smart guy, that one. His real stores are actually in hidden rooms like this one,” he taps the floor with a foot and I notice a trapdoor under a shelf. “He likes putting up ‘fake treasure’ in obvious places to lure away prying eyes should anyone get into his storerooms.” He then goes back to putting random packets into hidden pockets all over his cargo pants.

Who exactly is this ‘Skull’?

He must have seen the look on my face as he opens his mouth to keep talking, “Skull leads the group that’s taken to calling themselves ‘Necrosis’…The three eyed skull mark that’s all over the place is his mark.”

I almost roll my eyes at the notion.

“His group is rather big. That being said, we should move on. Bass will be here any second. That’s Skull’s right-hand and he’s the closest to here right now.” He turns, locking and shutting the door behind him.

Who’s this ‘we’? I want nothing to do with this guy.

Sirens from a police car sound out down the street, heading straight for us. I can also hear the engine.

“Aaah see, there he is right on cue. Come, little kitty-cat,” he taps me on the back as he passes me, “You’ll get caught in a second if I left you alone.”

Why do I feel like this is going to bite me in the ass later on? But it’s not like I have much of a choice right at this moment when the Calvary is marching up the street.

“Over there!” Someone must have spotted us leaving the gas station. There was at least seven people, including Mace coming up fast. I didn’t want to stick around.

Blondie chuckles as he notices that I’ve fallen in-step behind him, “Try to keep up, Kitty.”

I’m not enjoying the pet-name his has decided to label me.

Heading out towards the back of the building, he leads me directly into a massive warehouse that help huge empty pallets all stacked up on top of one another. Just we neared the other side with the huge doors wide open, someone calls out behind us, “This way!”

“Oh they’re angry today,” Blondie seems to be enjoying this game of cat and mouse as he strides behind me with ease. “Come on,” he taps me again, this time on the left shoulder, indicating he wanted to turn down in that direction as he overtakes me and turns down the street.

So I headed in the same direction.

“Oh, you are a quick one. I don’t need to hold back now then? Good thing. Bass is on our heels”

With that he increases his speed, I look over my shoulder to see this ‘Bass’ was catching up, the car not far behind him. I wonder why he got out of the car…

Blondie turns into a chemist next, shooting down the aisle right through to the other end in seconds and kicked down the backdoor onto a service street without losing stride. He then gracefully twisted himself to turn up the street to a fence, jumping up onto a dumpster to clear it.

I follow him through to the next lot of streets right through a number of other shops until we got to a basketball court between two buildings and I notice his stride and body language had gotten…rigid. I frown, but keep following him through to another building that looked like a shopping complex and art gallery. We cut through the gardens that were heavy with the scent of roses and gardenias. A fountain was the centrepiece of the gardens with a jumping fish statue in the middle that wasn’t working but it looked like it was set up so that the water would come from the fish’s mouth.

We then hear another car coming from the street I imagine Blondie was heading to as he skids to a stop and turns up, pulling me by the wrist to follow him. We then go through the art gallery to the front entrance and head straight for a flight of stairs that lead underground.

We run through creepy dark hallways that he seemed to know like the back of his hand until we got to another set of stairs that lead us out again. The brightness stinging my eyes as I was temporarily blinded but soon realise that it was about to rain any minute…again.

The fall of rain came quickly as we ran up a mostly covered open mall area until we got to a bus station just outside a theatre. I was thinking he was going to head into the big modern glass and stone building but he instead jogs straight down the street, ignoring it. I look curiously at the symbol painted on the glass; a black sun.

The pause made me feel something watching us. Turning my head back up the street, I see a new group of people looking at us…

“Oooh Dark Sol are out to play as well!” Blondie chuckles.

“Horror!” Bass screams down from the top of the street.

Blondie clicks his tongue, “Bass really wants me today. Come on! We’ll lose them in here!” he drags me into a huge multi-storey fancy-smancy hotel. I notice that the ‘Dark Sol’ group were now joining them in the chase.

“It’s a wonderful feeling being popular isn’t it?” Blondie calls over his shoulder at me.

No.

Not it is not.