The Bond

Ch 15

"Bold."/"Bold italic" : animatronic is talking/animatronic is talking in mind

"Normal."/"Normal italic." : human is talking/human is talking in mind

=o^o=

"I want to quit working from this place."

"You will be poor."

"No problem, I can find another job." Michael replied, his brow furrowed as he placed the perfume from the same brand on one shelf. He glanced doubtfully at Alice who was two shelves behind him. "Alice looks suspicious."

"Pft, you only realized that now?"

"Yes." Michael scowled, he exhaled tiredly and pressed his thumb against his temples. "If this place is actually a trap or something ..."

"Bet."

Michael puffed one cheek at Ennard's reply, then chose not to reply anymore. Michael had a small 'huft', he switched from the fragrance section to the accessories section to check again. Michael's eyes noticed the many hairpins there, his hand moving to grab the moon-shaped clip that caught his attention.

For a few moments staring at the hairpin in his hand, Michael finally intended to return it to its original place if no one tapped him on the shoulder.

"Ah—" Michael accidentally dropped the pin in surprise, then looked back and found Alice smiling at him. Michael pursed his lips, he took the clip back while Alice hadn't made a sound. "What is it?" asked Michael in surprise, his tone low.

Alice looked at him straight. "You want to tell me where you live now?"

Michael's brow furrowed. "Why do you keep asking where I live?" Michael was a little irritated, he thought all his refusal to answer the question made it clear enough that he didn't want to tell the girl.

"For my mother's needs." Alice was still smiling, and her reply completely confused Michael.

"Your mother ...?" Michael said quietly, vaguely catching a shadow moving in the dark alley behind Alice that connected the vestibule to the warehouse.

The girl nodded. "You know what my mother worked for, Afton?"

Michael widened his eyes—how did Alice know his last name? This doesn't make sense. He felt his throat suddenly dry up, frozen in place while Alice's smile turned into a faint grin. A fear struck as soon as he realized that this minimarket had been surrounded by several people who came out of the alley. Then Alice continued her sentence;

"She works as a scientist."

"Uh-oh."

Michael stifled a shriek of surprise as Alice took a stun gun from her pocket and quickly charged at him—but Michael dodged first and quickly ran towards the exit. However, someone had already blocked his path there, forcing Michael to stop running there and go in a different direction.

Another person suddenly jumped in front of him and Michael stumbled on his feet in surprise, tumbling backwards. Michael grimaced in pain, his brows furrowed as he watched the man walk up to him and Michael hissed, immediately stood up then pulled the shelf closest to him to the man to take his time.

It worked, indeed. Michael ran back to the other exit—the back door of the convenience store. Michael pushed a woman who almost caught him until she fell, as he was about to pass the woman his ankle was grabbed and Michael fell. Michael looked back and found that the woman was the culprit, immediately Michael kicked the woman hard in the face—the grip was released.