The Delta Disaster

Part two

*third person POV*

     Jack and Parker wave as Cardinal leaves the Square. They start to walk around and see what has changed since they left. Jack takes his phone out and looks up which shops are close to them. "Hey there's a boba shop at the top of the street. You wanna check it out?"

     "Yeah sure why not." The two walk up to the row of shops north of the square. When they get to the traffic light they take a left and cross the road to the shop. It's dark and gloomy compared to the normal cheerfulness and relaxed vibe. None of the lights are on and the screens where one would see the drink options were dark. The floor is surprisingly clean and it sure seems like someone was keeping it that way. Parker opens the door and a bucket full of tapioca balls falls from the top. "What the hell?" Parker walks into the shop avoiding the bubbles and sees a few clear, thin strings running from one side of the room to the other. "Be careful Jack." The two tiptoe around the strings and look overhead to see if there are any more traps. "See why I was so skeptical when we went to that toy store Cardinal asked us to go to a while back? Kids are fucking crazy."

     "What kind of elementary schooler would have done this? It looks like the work of someone older." Jack walks up to the counter where someone would normally order a drink. He looks over the counter and the screens flicker to life. They all show a glitched up drink menu occasionally flicking to static. "Uh, could I get an uuhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Jack squints to see the options on the menu. The screens turn to static and sparks burst at the edges of them. Bits of lightning flies and then the screens burst. "Maybe let's get out of here. Parker? Where did you go?"

     "Back here." Parker is behind the counter and rummaging through ingredients and the storage. "I think I found why someone booby-trapped this place."

     Jack carefully walks over to Parker. He pulls out a box full of stickers and a note along with them. "What's this?"

     "It was for a limited time collaborative event related thing but because of the virus it never happened. And it seems like someone was trying to protect them..." Parker stands up with the box in hand and turns toward the back of the shop where he hears a scraping metal sound echoing. "Please leave the shop now, we are closing. Please leave the shop now, we are closing." The screens were sparking again, probably since the person controlling them didn't know they were dead. "Jack run!" The two trip over all the clear strings triggering traps; who knows what they were supposed to do amidst the overall chaos. Jack makes it through the door but it automatically locks right before Parker could catch its handle. "SHIT!"

     "Please leave the shop now and drop the object that is in your hands. It is property belonging to this establishment. Please leave the shop now and drop the object that is in your hands. It is property belonging to this establishment." Parker slowly releases the box and puts his hands up.

     "May I leave now?" he says with sarcasm. The boba shop goes quiet and the lock clicks. Parker grabs the handle and slams the door shut to join back up with Jack.

     "Are you ok?" Jack asks.

     "Yeah but we better hurry out of here." Parker says. The two start to run across the street and start to hear noises from the shop.

     Jack looks at Parker. "What did you do?" Parker pulls out one of the stickers that was in the box.

     "Dunno who this character is but we better get out of here." They run back to the West Furniture Store and catch their breath. "Any other shops we should go to and almost die at?"

     "You're overreacting!" Jack states. "Besides that person on the speaker never even showed herself. I was thinking we could go to the farmer's market down the street and grab some snacks since we never got anything at the boba shop. We should stock up on some for the stakeout anyways!"

     "Fine but you're going into the store first this time."

     Jack and Parker get to the market and step through the sliding doors. The place itself is really big and roomy. They see a few kids chilling at the stands where normal workers would be selling anything from homegrown produce to handcrafted sweets. The place is pretty clean to both of their surprises and no one is acting hostile. The two walk around and see all of the 6 kids who are there on their phones not talking to each other. "Hey, can we get anything to eat?" Jack asks.

     The kid looks up from her phone. "What are you looking for?"

     "Just snacks."

     She puts away her phone. "My stand doesn't sell snacks but the one down and to the right does." Jack runs the way she said. "But, my stand sells information."

     Parker stops going after Jack. "Well what can you tell me that I don't already know?"

     She flips open the cash register. "Information comes at a-"

     Parker gives her a small stack of ten dollar bills. "This good?"

     "What do you want to know?" She says while putting the money away.

     "What happened after the Tech Store incident?"

     The girl sighs. "After The Tech Treaty got put into place, all battles that took place after that were fairly low stakes or one-on-one battles since people didn't want their opponents to see their bases. And when it was a base or turf war and opponents could see the inside of other's bases, they would always steal something of great value whether it was to the group or just one person from it. Most of the time whoever stole the object of their choosing would auction it off at the restaurant to the left of the Tech Store where people from out of town could bid on it. If someone decided to not auction it off they would keep it for whatever reason they wanted it in the first place. When school started up kids would give back the objects to whoever owned it either because their parents somehow found out about it or because the kid felt bad. Who knows?"

     "So when does this auction begin?"

     "Hell if I know. My parents want me back home by 8:00 every night so I suspect that it happens way later after that. Kids want to ride on the road when there aren't many cars so their new treasures won't get messed up."

     "You said that this is in the building down to the left of the Tech Store?"

     She opens her phone again. "Yeah. If you want any more information then give me more money."

     Parker thanks her and sees Jack coming to give him a bag stuffed with various snacks. The two walk out of the farmers market and head back to the West Furniture Store where Cardinal is back from her errands.

     "You guys ready for a stakeout?" she says.

     "HELL YES!" Jack and Parker say in unison. Cardinal shoves the snack into the trunk. Everyone then piles into Parker's car. Parker at the wheel, Jack in the passenger seat, and Cardinal in the back.

     "Wait, why are we even doing this? What are we supposed to be looking for?" she asks, realizing her rashness and stupidity.

     "Because," Parker says, "there's an auction going on at the restaurant right there and we need to see what's happening." He fills both Jack and Cardinal on the details and the sunset fades and shimmers for the night.