Chapter 3: The Triactic Trio

Upon arriving at the store, Estos, a cluster of people are gathered by the entrance seeming to be pushing and shoving one another.

"Is there a sale going on?" Aalet asks.

The aggressive crowd would get louder and louder, the pushing and shoving would escalate into punching and the contact would evolve into...

BANG

"Gunshots?" Etta said shocked.

"Man, the deal must be to kill for." he states laughing lightly at his own joke.

"That's not the point!" Etta said, "How are we gonna get the chicken?"

Aalet's face turned straight as the realisation hit him: Rummy was hungry and there'd be no food tonight?

"Etta, get your gun out." he wore a serious expression, "Rummy's hungry."

Rumble~

Etta takes out her firearm but hesitates as he points it towards the crowd.

"Um..." Etta struggled as she put her finger under the trigger.

"Etta." Aalet grabbed her by the shoulder, "What are you doing?"

"I can't do it..." she said with fear in her hands.

"They're just rubber bullets!" Aalet yelled.

Etta looks at Aalet then Rumire and slowly withdraws her weapon.

Aalet brings Etta close to his face and they press foreheads.

"Etta, what are you doing?" Aalet asked.

"I'm not going to shoot them is what!" Etta responded putting on a straight face with confidence.

The two continue looking each other in the eyes but Aalet is the first one to back off.

"You're right, I did promise to not hurt humans, but my condition still stands." he grabs Rumire's hand again "We'll just have to walk by them." his grip on Rumire strengthens, "Sorry, Etta."

"It's alright, you didn't force me to!" Etta puts back on a smile being as optimistic as ever.

"That hurts..." Rumire looks up at Aalet with a face indicating discomfort.

"S-sorry Rummy." he softens his grip.

They walk over to the store and surprisingly manage to get past the conflict going on outside.

"Woah!" Rumire observes the scenery of the store, to a child it'd be another day but for her it was like a total dream, there was food everywhere - however, one thing caught her attention the most, the toy section, "What that?" she tugged at Aalet's trousers to get his attention but he seemed to be busy.

"Oh, toys?" Etta said noticing Rumire's spark in curiosity.

"Toys!" Rumire exclaimed with a smile which put a smile on Etta's face as well.

"Do you want one?" asked Etta.

"Yes!" She replied.

"Then come with me quietly and you show me what you want!"

Not knowing what Etta meant by quiet she still managed to follow her orders and walked off quietly with her.

—WITH AALET—

"Why are they selling carrots that expire tomorrow?" he looks to his side, "Tomatoes too, this is absurd, Etta?" He looks to his other side, "Wait, where's her and Rummy?"

—WITH ETTA AND RUMIRE—

Rumire marvels her eyes across the aisle of toys, the variety of choices only confused her though.

"What's wrong, Rummy?" Etta asked crouching down to Rumire's height.

"Too many."

"Too many?" Etta looked around the aisle herself but did not see the problem, "Do you not like the toys?"

"Can't think."

"Is that so?" Etta stands back up straight and scratches her chin.

Rumire continues to gaze around with boredom before something catches her interest, a teddy bear.

"Oh, I like that!" her enthusiasm was restored, "I want that one!" she said pointing at it putting on another innocent smile.

"Okay, we'll get this one, now let's head back to Aalet." she gives the teddy bear to Rumire and grabs her other hand.

They leave the aisle and return to the same place Aalet was previously but did not see any sign of him.

—WITH AALET—

A group of three young men stood before Aalet, the same ones from 6/12, one with a baseball bat, another with a baseball and the last one with bags of groceries.

"What do you kids want?" Aalet stood his ground with a tray of fresh chicken in his hands.

"'Kids'?" they yelled in sync.

"You're the same age as us 'kid', who are you to call us that?" the one with the bat in hand said.

"Well what do you want from me?" Aalet asked in a solemn tone.

"That chicken is the one on sale, give it here and we won't make that head of yours any redder." said the one with a ball in hand.

Aalet stares at the trio and without hesitation walks away with the tray of chicken and bag of vegetables - this angers the three boys.

"Hey fucktard, where do you think you're going?" the boy with the bat shouts gaining the attention of Aalet again.

"Can we not use those words? My kid might hear you." he continues walking off.

"Oh, you got a child huh? Where the fuck are they? Some father you are!" said the same boy as the others laughed.

"I bet he's a single father! And even his kid doesn't want to be around him!" the boy holding groceries stated laughing and getting the others to laugh.

The words deeply hurt Aalet, but he did not allow them to dig in and so he smiled and laughed.

"Did the absence of your father make you jealous that I actually care about my child?"

The aisle goes silent as all that could be heard was the buzzing of the freezers.

"What did you say?" the boy dropped the bag and brought out the metal pipe which was strapped onto his back, "You crazy?"

For some reason the pipe had started to emit electricity, it was then clear that the boy was capable of manipulating energy, but Aalet stood without moving.

"You scared?" he walks up to him, spinning the pipe around, "Or even better, SHOCKED?" the young man lunges the metal pipe into Aalet's stomach resulting in him to stay paralysed in place but standing, "You're just a bitch, my bitch!" he continues to shock Aalet more.

"Serves that self-entitled son of a bitch right." stated the boy with the baseball bat.

"Fuck you, and your kid!" the boy hooks Aalet in the face while digging the pipe into his stomach and flowing even more electricity into his system.

To the surprise of everybody, Aalet grabs a hold of the metal pipe and throws it to the ground.

"'Entitled'? Don't make me laugh." Aalet grabs a hold of the arm of his aggressor and presses into the elbow creating an antagonistic movement between it and the hand, a loud scream escaped the mouth of the boy, "You want chicken? Get yourself another!" he takes out a tray of frozen chicken and smashes it on the head of the young man, who just a moment ago was talking down on him, shutting him down.

A ball would be thrown at Aalet with incredible speed and precision aiming at his head only to be caught and returned to the sender with even more energy proving fatal as the young man was shut off just like the other.

Aalet stared into the eyes of the last man standing with their bat, he quivered at the sight of what just occurred in a few seconds and he wore an expression similar to what one would wear in the face of a merciless monster, true terror.

"Take this one and get out of here." Aalet hands over the tray of frozen chicken, which was drenched in the blood of its victim, to the boy with the bat, "And take your useless friends with you."

"Y-yes sir!" the boy complied grabbing both his friends and fled the scene in a hurry leaving the bag of groceries behind.

Blood dragged across the floor as the two unconscious boys were as well and the ambience of the freezers set a chilling atmosphere.

"Pests..." Aalet muttered to himself before walking out the aisle.

"CLEAN UP ON AISLE 7, THANK YOU!" the speakers projected.

—WITH ETTA AND RUMIRE—

"CLEAN UP ON AISLE 7, THANK YOU!" the speakers projected.

"Ah, that doesn't good..." Etta put her hand to her head seeming worried.

"What wrong?" Rumire asked.

"Nothing Rummy, just a bad thought." she replied trying to comfort Rumire, "He couldn't have possibly just-"

Steps-

Sounds of footsteps carried a chilling cold tone with every step getting more loud and gelid, the steps soon become deafening bringing a sense of unease to both Etta and Rumire, then what was revealed was a man with bloodied hands.