Teds vision slowly returned, and he stood up, breathing in slowly. Right, everythings achey and pain flavored, but I'm alive. He looked around, noting to his dismay that he was still in the store. Standing up on shakey legs, he wobbled over to the exit, which looked like it had been...torn open. Next to it was the Rot-Mound, which had been turned into a perfect, gross looking statue.

Ted frowned. There was only one creature on the block that had the capacity to do this that he knew of. It must have heard the gunshots.

The question Ted had was WHY it had saved him from getting...whatever it was a rot-mound did to its prey. Ted puzzled over it a moment before the stench of the store once more tickled Teds nose.

Ew. Ewwww. Struggling to hold his lunch in, Ted surmised that was why he didn't wind up in the belly of the gorgon: the ambient stink likely made anything found in the store...unpalatable.

Right. Time to leave. I need a shower. Checking his pack to make sure he still had everything, he walked into the street, looked around, taking a few breathes of nice, clean, non-gross air...

Only to get bowled over, his pack ripped off his back violently. Somewhat dazed, Ted looked up to see a green, serpent like tail dissapear down the street. Did...Did I just get mugged?

Ted cursed, and jumped back onto his feet. Son of a-

He was about to chase down the gorgon who had stolen from him, only to pause upon remembering that chasing down a large monster capable of turning something like the Rot Mound into modern art was...probably a bad idea.

Ted breathed in and out. Right. Had to be tactical about this: sneak in, grab his backpack, sneak out. Ted sighed. This day just refused to end.

----------------------------------------

The former officeworker stepped into the home improvement store, and breathed in. Right. Time to do a sneak.

Creeping forward, Ted searched out the gorgon, racalling he had saw it in about aisle three. Sneaking there, he saw his quarry. Pointedly avoiding its face so as to avoid being calcified, he watched what it was doing...

Which amounted to it trying to open a can of spam unsuccessfully. The gorgon, seated in a nest composed of several blankets and cushions, seemed to not understand the concept of pull top cans, instead trying to just...yank the can open. The gorgon let out a cry of frustration, and Ted heard what could only be described as a grumbling stomach.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Ted began to feel an emotion he wasn't familiar with as a 9 to 7 officeworker: the sort of sinking, cringy sort of sadness one felt on behalf of another person. He briefly struggled to put a name to the feeling, before coming up with the correct one:

Pity.

He felt pity. For a monster who had, judging by the statues by the front of the store, killed several people. Ted continued watching the gorgon fumble with the can, and let out a soft sigh. Right. I have food back at the school: enough to last a bit. I don't...NEED all of what I gathered.

He needed his bag, of course. It had all his weapons and tools. But he could leave some food.

The question was, how to get it...

He considered waiting until the gorgon eventually slept, but discarded the idea. He had no idea when snake monsters slept and he REALLY didn't feel like getting back home during nightfall.

He thought about it a bit more, and came up with a plan. If he tipped over one of the isles, it might scare the gorgon off long enough for him to grab his stuff and go. Creeping to the next isle, Ted rubbed his hands together, placed his hand on the side of the large metal shelf, and began to push. Strength, don't fail me now.

Straining hard, slowly, the the aisle began to shift, one edge rising off the ground, and, with a great clattering, it fell over.

+2 STR! +1 LUK!

Ted breathed in and out, exhausted, but satisfied. Clearly, the luck increase meant his plan had worked!

A pained shrieking noise could be heard from under the knocked over shelf.

Or it could mean I toppled an aisle ontop of the Gorgon instead. It could also mean that. Ted facepalmed. Things were REALLY going his way today, weren't they?

He considered leaving the gorgon there, trapped, and simply getting his things and leaving, but once more, he felt something akin to pity.

'Don't rescue the horrible snake monster! Thats a terrible idea! Just grab the bag and shove off! It'll get out eventually, probably!' screamed his common sense. Unfortunately for Ted, his sense of empathy won out.

With a sigh, he walked to the edge of the fallen shelf. "Um. Hold on a moment, I'll...I'll help you out of there!" He said, hesistantly, over the shrieking of the gorgon, before lifting.

Oh dear lord this is even worse than knocking it over.

Gritting his teeth, Ted focused on lifting the shelf up, his muscles again straining, his teeth gritting. Breathing in and out, he cursed internally at the strain. Gonna be sore tommorow. Well, more sore. "H-hurry. C-can't...lift it long..." Ted ground out as sweat began to drip down his face.

Ted heard a slithering noise, spotting something emerging from under the aisle from the corner of his eye, and began to feel his muscles give out. "Alright! Gonna...gonna drop it...Can't...hold it any longer."

With that, he let go, and the heavy metal shelf fell to the ground. Sighing, Ted turned around...

And immeditely his vision was confronted with a pair of yellow, reptillian eyes.