To say that the party of Aisle Wanderers was eager to find the supposed 'customer' would be to misunderstand the very concept of eagerness. It would be more accurate to say they were anxious to meet the customer, in much the same way an essential worker is anxious for their next check, or a squirrel is anxious for winter, and not at all in the way kids are anxious for the day's last bell, except perhaps for Angie, who had discovered several new skills.

"Woof, we must have done this a lot," Angie whispered to her party in the stillness of the produce section. "I have three knife skills, and my knife mastery is a level eight!"

"Is that good?" Leo asked, his voice similarly hushed. "Eight doesn't sound like much."

"Well, my claw machine skill is still my highest at 10, except for improvised weapons, which is out of 100 instead of 10, so it doesn't count," Angie answered.

Leo snorted, "Why am I not surprised that your highest skill is in a game?"

"You won't be laughing after I win all the best prizes. Maybe I'll give you a stuffed Minion if you're nice." Angie joked, her eyes scanning the aisle shelves as she crept along with her coworkers.

The break room was next to a janitorial closet that they'd raided for improvised weapons, Phoebe and Igor had each claimed a wooden broom handle. Igor held his like a baseball bat, though since he hadn't played the sport since he was twelve, his form wasn't the best.

Angie had seen Phoebe copying Igor, and her instincts led her to step in. "You two will have an easier time if you use those more like staves. There's not much space to swing those long handles in the shelves."

Leo had claimed a large metal ice breaker that had been buried away at the back of the janitorial closet, awaiting the return of winter weather. None of the essential workers were large or strong enough to wield such a weapon easily, but neither was Leo willing to leave it behind.

Angie and Leo had opted to take the front positions, Leo with his ice pick and Angie with two steak knives she'd found in the break room drawers. Strictly speaking, she'd found more than two and more than just knives. More than anyone else in the party, she was trying to find the limit of her Shadow Bag's extra-dimensional space.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Every now and then, Angie would pull an item off the shelves and shove it into her Shadow Bag. The first time, Igor sighed and opened his mouth to remind her she couldn't just take things, but before he could, she turned her head to look at him with a sly grin and winked. In the corner of his vision, his heart rate increased slightly, which in turn reminded him that there were probably more important things to worry about.

Despite the fact that the group was cautiously searching the store expecting to find another gigantic rat, Igor couldn't help but notice that even Angie's wink hadn't sent his heart rate much higher than 100bpm. It seemed to him that he should be afraid, and certainly he was worried, but his fear was general. Even the fact that he could be distracted by Angie's casual theft or teasing wink was surprising. Anxious or not, Igor wasn't on edge, and that had him wondering what he was missing.

"Something's wrong." He finally said as the group approached the end of the aisle.

"Shh, I think I heard something," Leo interrupted.

"There's something around the corner to the right," Phoebe said, not knowing how she knew. Her MadLib skill was still on cool down, or she could have tried to find out more.

The small pronouncement only confused Igor more as a feeling of relief washed over him.

Leo gave Angie a questioning look, and she nodded back.

With a roar, Leo charged out of the aisle, Ice Breaker raised above his head and mid-swing in a downward chop.

A giant four-fingered hand that would have no trouble palming a Shaq's head, stopped the steel bar dead.

"Wait!" Igor shouted, his eye widening at a sudden popup.

Angie was already charging. Crouched low with her knives held down at her side, ready to spring forward.

A long, inhuman leg came sweeping out at the girl, but with unexpected skill, she rolled over it, spinning her knives and body simultaneously, so she held the blades in a reversed grip as she used her crouching pirouette to slash at the intruder's hamstring.

Her attack was stopped cold by the giant's other black, almost human hand, as the creature began a low rumbling chuckle. Angie's second knife came at the creature at an awkward angle, but still, the giant was forced to shove away Leo's weapon so he could grab this wrist as well.

Leo growled as he tried to turn a clumsy stumble into a renewed attack, but Igor slipped up beside him and grabbed the heavy metal shaft before he could raise it for another attack.

"I said wait!" Igor said.

[??? Reputation: [5/10][7/10]]

"They're not an enemy. They're a customer."

"Little fire hair always faster." the large creature said, looking somewhere between a naked mole rat and a Minotaur.

To Igor's surprise, Phoebe had also stepped up and was putting a calming hand on Angie's shoulder. "His name is Sonson."