The shadows cast by the essence lamps danced around Nox as he walked into the store. His parents told him to buy something. Technically, he was.
He had 100 credits in his hand. Not a lot, but enough to buy food for 2 people. His family had 4, including him.
Nox picked up 4 soup cans and placed them on the counter. “25C for one, right?” He asked the clerk.
“Yeah. Is that all?”
“Can I get a discount? I’ve seen other shops that charge 20.”
The clerk smirked. “If you’ve seen them, then go shop there.” He gave Nox a ‘I’m not an idiot’ look.
“Alright, alright.” He placed the credits on the table as he placed the cans inside his bag. If everything went well, the clerk would be an idiot.
Just as he was walking out the door, the clerk stopped him. “Hey… Was your bag that bulky earlier?”
[Crap. Well, no point stopping now.] “It definitely was!” He shouted as he bolted out the door.
“Hey! Kid! Stop!” The bulky clerk quickly gave chase.
Hearing the shopkeeper behind him, Nox threw the bag over his back and leapt off the porch onto the muddy ground. The dark-red sky seemed to twist and turn above him. He slid sideways before pushing himself off the ground and through towards the open street. The clerk had a big club on him, and Nox didn’t have a weapon. The best thing to do was to get away from the guy that did.
His lungs burned as he ran down the street. The yelling and cursing; Nox couldn’t hear any of it. Only the sound of the clerk’s footsteps. He tried guessing how far ahead he was - 10 feet? 15? He couldn’t tell. Nox took a fleeting, blurred glimpse behind him. [8 feet?] Running down the main street was unsustainable. He had to take a different route.
Nox skidded to a halt as he dug his shoes into the ground and launched himself down the alleyway. He had lots of experience running. An unusually large amount for someone his age.
“You little brat!” The clerk cursed behind him.
[He’s still chasing me, huh? Oh well, he’ll get tired soon-]
[Crap.]
There was a big wagon ahead of him. About 30 feet-ish? It was much too big for him to jump over, and there were no side-alleys he could run down. Climbing the walls would take too long, too.
“It’s over, kid! If you hand over your bag now, then I might just…”
Nox didn’t bother listening to the rest. Handing over the bag meant his family would go hungry. And he was hardly sure he could ‘buy’ more food from a different store. Not after running for so long.
There were two possible options. The first was to stop and face the clerk. Seeing His size, he didn’t have a very good chance. His body took up the whole alley. The second option, on the other hand…
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Nox pushed on his mental acceleration pedal. Luckily, the floor around the wagon was wet, which made the whole manoeuvre a lot easier.
“Yo, stop! Are you crazy?”
Nox hugged the bag as he slid under the wagon. Just barely. He almost clipped the bottom of the cart as he quickly got up again and jogged off.
The clerk paused, for a moment. Then, he simply shook his head. “Damned kids. I swear, they’re worse than the demons we’re at war with…” He grumbled as he walked back to the store.
----------------------------------------
“I’m home!”
“Nox!” His mum walked out of their house. Well, it was more of a pseudo-house. The brickwork wasn’t great, and the roof was pretty leaky, but it worked.
“I got the groceries.” He pulled out the 15 soup cans he ‘bought’ from his bag.
“...How could you get so many?”
“There was a big clearance sale. The owner couldn’t pay rent. I’ll have to go to a different shop next time.”
She looked at him wearily, before motioning for him to put them in the kitchen. How many shop owners had ‘closed’ in the past month? But she wasn’t going to complain.
“Hey! He’s back already?” His dad walked out.
“Yup.” His mum sighed. “Another store ‘closed’.”
“Ah… Well, I have some good news to tell you!”
“Really? What is it?”
“Nox!!” Nox’s younger brother cut in between them. “Ergh! Why do you have so much mud on you?”
He turned away from his parent’s eye-daggers. “Well… I slipped.”
“Huh? But I’ve seen you run! You never slip!”
Their dad coughed. “Anyway, as I’ve said, I have some news to tell you.” He said as they sat down. “We’re moving out!”
Mum looked astonished, then concerned, before returning back to astonished. “What? How?”
“Well, I’ve got a raise. We’re going to be moving to Sector 3!””
Their city was split up into four rings, or ‘Sectors’ - 1, 2, 3 and 4. Sector 4 was where the poorest people lived, and where most of the factories were. It was also the sector attacked most by the demons.
Nox’s dad worked in Sector 2 - not exactly the main city, but close enough for him to get a job in accounting. Moving to 3 meant a massive improvement in security.
“Really?” Nox’s brother chimed in. What’s it like there?”
“Much better than here.” Nox had been to Sector 3 once. It was when he had gotten his blood tests.
Every citizen of the city they lived in had to get a blood test to determine whether or not they would get chosen to go to a Vamp academy.
Pleasant chatter filled the air as they spoke about their new house. Not often was there something good to talk about - most of the time the talk was about accidents where mum worked.
Just then, a loud knock was heard on the door.
“I’ll get it!” Dad got up from his chair. His footsteps creaked against the wooden floorboards.
The three remaining family members heard the door open, some yelling, before the door slammed. Hard.
“Goddammit!” His father walked back into the room.
His mother’s face scrunched up. “Who was it?”
“It was them. Again.”
“What? We told them we didn’t want to.”
“Ah well. Doesn’t matter anymore. I waved them away once and for all!”
“Who was it?”
Dad waved his hand dismissively. “Some nobodies. Anyway, we should-”
Nox didn’t know what happened next. A deafening blast sent shockwaves through his ears, and he was thrown several metres backwards as a fireball erupted from the side of the house. When the rumbling was finally over, he could see nothing but flames. The wreckage of his small house was strewn around him, and the only thing he saw was the red sky above him. What looked like demons were running toward him.
Then everything turned black.