The Parallax Effect

Chapter One: Prologue

October 20th; 3:44 pm
Wendell Kinghorn

The ground shook for the third time in ten minutes and Wendell sighed. Looking at the clock—3:44 pm—and back down to the book in his hands, he tried to focus on the words in front of him, but they all blurred together, making the whole situation even more frustrating than it already was.

Another tremor rattled the shelves of the convenience store where he worked, but this one was strong enough to shake a few bags of chips and bars of candy from the shelves.

He glanced outside, checking to see if any building around his workplace had been set ablaze or decimated yet.

Nothing

Wendell set his chin on his arms that were resting on the counter in front of him and started to zone out when a small jingle alerted him that someone had entered the store.

"Welcome," he said, without looking up.

When he received no reply, he peered up to see who had entered. He saw a teenage boy, probably only three or four years younger than him, maybe fifteen at most. He plastered a smile on his face as the kid glanced over and they briefly made eye contact. The boy's eyes quickly darted away from Wendell's and moved to stare at his feet. Warning bells started ringing in his mind. Shoplifter.

Wendell's eyes were drawn to the boy's feet, and consequently, his shoes. They were ragged. Almost shredded at this point. The kid turned and started browsing the isles, he picked up a few bags of chips, looking briefly at the labels before shoving them back onto the shelves where they belonged. As he browsed, rumbles continued to make the store shake; these ones being closer than before.

With the kid's back turned, Wendell could see the rest of his clothes were in a similar state as his shoes. Junky, patched, dirty, and he could almost smell the stench from here. The kid wore a puffy, bomber-style jacket that looked to be a few sizes too big for him and rustled when he moved. The boy turned back to look at him and Wendell saw his face flush slightly when he saw him staring. Wendell looked away, moving his gaze again, to the clock above the door.

3:50

He internally groaned as he thought about the next, undoubtedly boring, 4 hours until his shift ended. Movement caught his eye and he looked down to see the boy moving out of his line of sight, back to the drink fridges. More booms from distant explosions sounded.

A few minutes later, the kid walked to the counter. His jacket was slightly puffier and noisier than before. He took something. He placed a few bags of chips and other snacks, as well as a bottle of water on the counter.

"Will this be all?"

The teen nodded once and placed a few crumpled bills next to his food.

"You sure?"

More quaking from outside. It was getting worryingly close.

He nodded again, a look of worry briefly crossing his face before he forced it to look blank again.

"All right. But I won't lie to you, I know you stole something." The teen looked up, surprised, but the look soon morphed into one of fear.

Wendell raised his hands in a placating gesture, "I'm not going to force you to give it back, I have no desire to make you starve, just tell me what it is so I can pay for it."

The teen hesitated for a minute before starting to unzip his jacket. Before he could finish, though, a particularly loud explosion happened, followed by a shockwave large enough to make them both stumble.

They both glanced out of the front windows of the store and saw a few of the buildings around the store on fire. It didn't look too bad, but if the fight kept on going like this, then they might both be in trouble. Wendell looked back to the kid, who had looked away from the carnage outside to finish opening his jacket and had take out the two water bottles and other bags of snacks he had been hiding.