Act to Survive

They walked away, ignoring Seth's group. No sign of animosity showed in their demeanour, as if they were analyzing each group they met.

The supermarket had three floors: the first floor was filled with food, the second floor was filled with clothes, and the third floor was used as a playground for children.

"We'll check if there's any food we can take, then we'll go to the second floor to change our clothes," Seth said.

Laura nodded. She started to pick up the grocery trolley, Alfred walked around to other places, and Seth did the same. Their eyes kept wandering to the right and left, watching the shelves that seemed to be empty because they were already taken by other groups.

The woman could see more clearly. She managed to gather food ingredients that could be cooked into perfect meals. Feeding the three for a few days to weeks was plenty and sufficient.

"I didn't find any suitable food other than this," said Alfred, coming out of the maze of shelves inside the supermarket and walking up to Seth, who stood staring at the tightly closed metal door.

"What's wrong?" asked Alfred, curious.

"Nothing, just my curiosity," Seth said, shaking his head to break his reverie of the inside of the sealed room.

"Did you try to break it?" asked Alfred.

Seth looked at Alfred with a tilted head, raising the left hand, still injured from the impact of jumping from the house's second floor. Alfred smiled lightly, asking Seth to hold the basket with the food he had collected while Alfred looked ready with his body to push the metal door.

"Alright. Here we go!" said Alfred.

He sprinted towards the iron door using the support of his right hand. However, the first attempt failed. He tried a second time with the other hand, but it failed, too.

This was the last attempt for Alfred. He prepared to kick the door with his right foot, his dominant foot. Seth was still watching what Alfred was doing. If the attempt failed again, Seth would open it with his handgun.

Alfred kicked it hard, causing the man to fall as he couldn't balance his body. The man grew more annoyed, trying to find something to open the metal door.

"I'm sure those men tried to open this door, but they failed," Alfred said.

"If six of them failed, how about two of us?" asked Seth.

Seth turned his head slowly towards Alfred, handing him a shopping basket filled with food that Alfred had collected earlier. As far as the eye could see, Seth couldn't find Laura.

"I'm quite worried about Laura. Can you go see her?" asked Seth, asking Alfred for help.

Unsuspecting, Alfred did as Seth asked. After all, he was also about to give the food he had collected to Laura's shopping cart.

Seeing Alfred disappear after he stepped into a food shelf was immediately used by Seth to destroy the metal door before him. He reached into his back pants pocket, took out a pistol with his right hand and shot at the doorknob.

The blue laser shot didn't make as much noise as a regular handgun. However, the laser shot could shatter the iron doorknob until the door opened freely.

Seth re-holstered his pistol, bravely walking towards the iron door that had been perforated. Seth's right hand pushed to open the door. To his surprise, he found a spacious place, with boxes stored on 23ft high iron shelves.

Seth continued walking in, picking up the flashlight on the table to illuminate the place. His heart seemed to stop beating, both eyes never blinking when he saw the thousands of food boxes presented before his eyes.

"With this, we don't have to worry about food supplies anymore!" said Seth.

"Seth!" called Alfred, his eyes widening in surprise.

"How did you open it?" asked Alfred, walking up to Seth.

The man reached into his pants pocket again, pulling out a blue plasma bottle before Alfred. The man already knew that Seth had gotten the plasma bottle from the mystery box.

"This liquid contains a high element of hydrochloric acid, capable of melting iron," Seth said.

"Woah, I never thought of that," said Alfred, gasping.

"Then what's all this?" asked Alfred, staring at the shelves of unopened boxes.

"My initial guess. These are boxes of food," Seth replied.

"Food? This much?!" Laura was shocked. If this was true, then it was a waste for the woman to search every corner of the city for food.

Laura and Alfred walked closer to the shelf, trying to see what was inside the boxes. Seth's guess was correct; they were food boxes with different expiration dates.

"You were right. These are all—"

"I don't know how you were able to open that damn iron door, but I'm so grateful to you guys!" groaned the blond-haired man, returning with the same number of people.

Seth sighed softly. He hadn't expected that. His guard was down because of the kind gesture shown by their leader, the blonde man. Seth continued to walk backwards, as did Laura and Alfred, who couldn't do much because they were threatened by one of the blonde man's group members.

"I don't care about those two men. Kill them and bring that beautiful woman to me!" said the blonde man, ordering all five members to run to attack Seth.

The situation around him was completely unfavourable: Alfred was unarmed, Laura was scared, and Seth had a left fracture. If Seth didn't have a laser gun, maybe he would have let them kill him so that he could turn back time.

But another bad effect would have sprung up. The more times Seth did the time loop, the worse the dizziness in his head would become, making it difficult to heal. It would severely affect his mobility.

"Sorry. I'll explain later," Seth said.

His right hand took the pistol safely holstered in his pants' back pocket. He held it firmly and pointed it at the five people who ran over.

Laura and Alfred widened in shock, eyes unblinking with mouths gaping, never expecting Seth to have a handgun in his back pocket.

Seth pulled the gun's trigger, a blue laser shot rapidly through everything in its path, including the bodies of the five people. One by one, the five fell helplessly with holes in their bodies. The heavy bleeding was inevitable, leaving the blonde-haired man who led the group speechless and stunned.

"H-How do you have that handgun?!" gasped the blond man, his face turning pale like the color of milk, his hands and feet shaking endlessly in fear with cold sweat pouring down his head and body.

"Are you a cheater?!" he moaned.

"That's right! You must be—"

Just before the man completed his words, Seth pulled the trigger for the dozenth time, leaving his head with a hole right at the crown, which looked like a round cake that had been eaten on the other side.

"I'm not a cheater," Seth said.

He raised his pistol, seeing that the blue plasma bottle attached to his pistol was starting to decrease by a quarter. From Seth's previous experience, one bottle of blue plasma can only fire a laser 75 times, unlike red and black plasma, which can last longer with the same damage.

"Explain to us, Seth. If you're not a cheater, how did you get that gun?" asked Alfred, visibly annoyed at feeling like he was being tricked by Seth.

"Mystery box. Everyone gets different mystery boxes. I got this handgun," replied Seth.

"Why do I only get junk like this?! Why are they being unfair to me?!" moaned Alfred.

Alfred looked furious at Seth's brief explanation. The man took off the hat he was wearing, walking up to Seth to intimidate the man.

"Huft ... you shouldn't have to get angry like that," Seth said.

The man raised his pistol, pointed it at Alfred and began to pull the trigger. A blue laser shot out, startling Laura and killing Alfred in the centre of his chest, making a perfect hole that caused the man to vomit blood.

Laura gasped in shock, walking over to Alfred with a frightened look on her face, her heart pounding wildly as she realized Seth could be this ruthlessly inhumane.

"Don't move, dear. Take out everything in your bag," Seth said.

"But there's nothing in-"

"You think I'm stupid?! Take it out quickly, or I'll put a big hole in your lovely face!" threatened Seth.

A terrified Laura was forced to take out everything in her bag. Seth's food and medicine bottles fell on the floor, along with three hand bombs.

Seth remembered the hand bombs well; one was a shock bomb, and the other two were explosive bombs. Laura lied just as much as Seth, thinking that by hiding the bombs, Seth and Alfred wouldn't suspect her.

In Alfred's bag was also a crossbow-type weapon, with fifteen arrows, five of which were arrows with explosive effects. Compared to Seth, Alfred's crossbow was more deadly.

Seth smiled with his gun pointed at Laura. He could see the look of fear on her face as tears fell down her cheeks. Laura's hands and feet trembled, scared of the death that could befall her.

"You can't kill me. You love me," Laura said softly.

"I didn't love you since a long ago, right when you dumped me," Seth insisted.

"Then why were you so worried when...."

Seth kept silent with a stern face, trying to intimidate Laura into believing that she was also being used by Seth.

"I see, huh? You let me alive so that I can get the mystery box, then when the time is right, you'll kill me and take my stuff," Laura said, trying to analyze Seth's actions.

"I never doubted your intelligence, Laura," Seth praised.

"Send my regards to your future husband in the afterlife," Seth said.

DOR!