Sebastian walked to the front of the store and stood like a soldier getting ready for battle. On top of the store read a sign 'Pharoah's Pharmaceuticals'.
"What an ominous name" Sebastian was quite perplexed.
"Hey! Stop standing there and get on with it"
"Yeah, yeah, be patient Alex, I got to think of the excuse"
"We don't have enough time!"
"Fine"
Sebastian took a deep breath and, under the constant urging of Alex stepped into the shop. The drugstore was clean and smelled of sanitizer. A young lady stood at the door. She seemed to be the greeter.
She made to welcome the next customer, but when she saw the grime caked and muddy kid standing at the entrance, she hesitated and her smile fell.
"I'm sorry, but did you walk into the wrong store? If you came here to beg for medicine or food you have come to wrong place. We have a strict no begging policy, it's even written on the wall."
Sebastian was speechless. 'They made a rule against begging?'
"Oh no, that's not it, I just came here to buy some medicine for my sick mother. Look, I have the money right here."
Saying so he reached into his pocket and brought out a torn and dirty wallet. But before he could open it, he suddenly started to twitch and spasm. He fell to the floor and started squirming and bouncing on the floor.
"AAAHHHHAGHHHAABAAGHHH"
He started wailing and crying and shouting. The entire store was disrupted. The stunned lady did not react for a moment, before panicking and dropping to her knees to check the boy's condition.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
Sebastian did not answer. 'This is all because you didn't let me think of an excuse Alex! It's your fault that I have nothing to say now! I swear to god if I bust my throat screaming I will annoy you to high heaven!'
All the people in the store rushed to the boy. He was making such a loud commotion that even the manager could not help but walk towards the entrance.
"Hahaha, see Trevor? I knew that just sending him in there was the right plan! That's why I didn't give him any time to think!"
"I'm pretty sure you didn't think of this previously..."
"What was that?"
"Ohhh...nothing..."
"That's what I thought. Let's go now that he made a distraction for us."
"Yeah"
Trevor and Alex made their way to the back of the store. Trevor sat down in front of the back door and started fiddling with the lock. After exactly 1 minute, the door swung open.
"I'll go in, you stay here and escape if something goes wrong. Just tell Brandon, that our sacrifice had nothing to do with him, and that it was our own pride as men that lead us to our demise."
"But we aren't men yet..."
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
"I didn't say anything..."
"Good"
Trevor looked down at his old, grubby shoes, then looked at Alex's back as he walked into the store.
'We aren't men but you sure do talk like a man.'
Alex looked so confident and determined from behind. Trevor knew that he would only be a burden, but he did not want to be left behind while his friends risked their lives.
'I have my own pride too!'
Alex turned and looked back. Trevor shuddered but held Alex's gaze. Alex looked at Trevor's steady eyes and chuckled.
"Hahaha, I can see it in your eyes. You're just going to follow me. Come along then, it's not like I can stop you."
"Hehe~ yay"
"Yuck..."
"Why??"
*********
Sebastian was scared. He was usually the calm and collected one, but when a doctor is holding a needle to your arm to knock you out and slice you open to check what's wrong with you as you gyrate like a worm on steroids on the floor, when you know full well it's an act...fear is more of a reflex than anything else.
So many things could go wrong, and the main one was his friends being caught while he peacefully naps. He could never forgive himself if he let that happen.
Sebastian inched away from the needle while acting as if he was just flopping like a fish out of water. He stared at the needle and always kept a 2 feet distance from the doctor. Pandemics, am I right? Right??
'Both of you, would you hurry up and get the medicine already! I'll distract them, but I'm not sure how long I can keep up this game of worm tag!'
**************
"The boss sure is taking a long time to come back, is the problem really that serious? What could be going on there? I'm so curious."
"That kid is definitely brain dead. Causing a rukus in our store. Who does he think he is? I'm sure the boss will straighten him out in no time."
Two employees were left behind to supervise the store while the boss was gone. One employee was a lanky dark skinned man while the other was a fairly average man with piercings through his nose and ears.
Alex and Trevor observed the two employees from behind a few storage crates in the closet in the area behind the counter. They sat opposite each other and started to think of a plan to take down the two men.
They were fully grown adults while they were two boys. Even though one of them was...*ahem ahem* special...they would not be able to take on both men easily.
"Trevor, you take Lanky man and I will take Needles"
"Huh?"
"I mean the lanky dude and the one with piercings! Keep up!"
"Oh, okay..."
"Okay, that's the plan! Let's go!!"
Alex almost jumped out of the closet instantly. Trevor grabbed his collar and pulled him back.
"Wait, wait , wait!"
"What, what, what?!"
"Umm...I'm not confident in winning against the...lanky...dude."
"Seriously? You are so useless!"
"...sorry..."
"Haaa....forget it! Back me up however you want! I'll take them both on!"
His hands sparked with electricity while a grin stretched across his face as looked towards both of the men casually leaning on the counter while talking to each other.
This was going to be fun.