A dozen men walked into the store and scattered around. They had weapons in their hands, but they were busy inspecting the area first. Once they made sure everything was clear and no one was hiding behind the shelves, the leader ordered their men to grab whatever they wanted while he stayed at the cashier, who was Rebecca.
The leader pointed his gun at Rebecca and shouted, “Hey you! Empty the register if you don’t want to die!”
Rebecca opened the cash drawer and started taking out the money.
“Do you want me to deal with them? They can’t see me, but I can beat them,” Angelica said to Rebecca.
The leader threw a bag at Rebecca and said, “Toss all the cash in there!”
Rebecca shook her head and continued placing the money in the bag.
“Hey! What are you shaking your head for?! Don’t try to act smart or be a hero, or I will shoot all the bullets in your skull!”
Rebecca didn’t show any change in her reaction and stayed composed. But Angelica was furious. She wanted to kill the thugs but couldn’t risk doing anything as they could shoot Rebecca whenever they wanted.
The thugs packed whatever they could from the store and started leaving one by one.
“We are done!” One group said and got into their cars.
“So are we!” Another group said.
“Pack fast! We got other shops to loot on the way,” another said.
“Don’t get useless things. Focus on the expensive ones!”
Once Rebecca had emptied the drawer, the leader grabbed the bag and left. On his way, his gaze fell on the cameras all over the store and outside surrounding it.
“Hey, hey! What the fuck?! Why does a store in a no-name village have cameras?! We need to get rid of the data, or we will be in deep shit! Get back to the store and grab that cashier!”
The thugs entered the shop again, but Rebecca had closed the sensors and locked the doors. The leader banged on the door and yelled:
“Hey! Open up, or I will kill you!”
Still, Rebecca didn’t flinch.
“Shoot the glasses and kill that bitch!”
The thugs shot the glasses and entered the store. While the leader grabbed a shotgun and placed it at Rebecca’s forehead.
“What will you do now, huh?!”
Even though Rebecca was an inch away from death, her gaze and expression stayed composed.
She looked at the broken glass of the door and let out a soft sigh.
“You should have just left with the money and items,” she sighed.
“Shut up! You are so dead—”
QUAKE~!
Suddenly the ground started shaking, and the rumbling vibrations sent everything quacking.
“What’s happening!” The leader yelled.
“An earthquake?!” the thugs shouted.
“Sis! Get out of there and run outside! If the building collapses, you will—!”
Before Angelica could finish warning Rebecca, the ground cracked and began to split.
“What the—!”
The thugs and the leaders ran outside the store, jumping from one spot to another to avoid falling into the crack. The crack seemed so deep that even the street lights couldn’t illuminate the abyss inside.
It engulfed its surroundings like a black hole and began sucking everything inside— the cars, trees, other vehicles, street lights, and even the street itself.
It seemed as though the earth had become alive and started to eat everything on its way.
“Boss!” The thugs yelled for help as they, one by one, fell into the crack.
The leader had gotten on his bike and made a run, hoping he would be able to escape, but he was ultimately sucked into the abyss. The cars and bikes’ headlights illuminated the abyss as they fell to the depths of the abyss.
Once all the thugs had fallen, the earth stopped shaking, and the crack began to fix itself. Soon, street lights appeared from the ground, and the street was once again paved.
The vehicles that didn’t belong to the thugs emerged from the ground without a dust of sand. And the trees grew just as they were before.
Everything was fixed, and no one could tell that a catastrophe had occurred near the store.
“….” Angelica was left speechless after witnessing, and she couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
Her body had frozen, which rendered her unable to speak but tremble in fear.
SIGH!
Rebecca jumped to the other side of the counter and went outside the store to pick up the cash and the items the thugs had stolen.
After picking up the bags, she entered the store and placed everything on the counter. One by one, she began to place the items on the shelves they belonged to. Once she was done with that, she got to the other side of the counter and started putting the money back into the cash drawer.
“All done~” she said with a contented sigh.
Angelica still hadn’t moved from her position and avoided eye contact with Rebecca. She was too scared to move or say anything.
“So, what were we talking about again?” Rebecca asked Angelica.
“I…” Angelica gulped down in fear and asked, “Would I have ended up the same way if I had angered you?”
“Hmm?” Rebecca raised a brow with a curious look on her face.
Angelica pointed her finger outside and at the ground before saying, “You did all that… right?”
“Oh, no. ” She shrugged her shoulders and showed her hands to Angelica after saying, “I am just a human.”
“Then what was all that?!” She glanced at the sky outside and muttered, “Was it Rudy?”
“No. It was the town.”
“Huh?”
“The town’s spirit.”
“…I don’t understand. The town spirit? Like… this town is alive or something? What are you trying to say? Can you be more clear? Or better yet, explain it in simple words with some details.”
“I am not sure if I should say the town is alive. That would be creepy. But think of it as a guardian angel watching over the town.”
“…”
Rebecca smiled at Angelica and said, “Welcome to Hel.”
