Krystallos Chaos

T's POV:

So, with Vincente gone, we waited. And we waited. And we waited some more. We realized that whatever he was doing was going to take more than I thought, so we decided to make ourselves useful. We agreed that we should get some supplies for the long road trip ahead of us. We already had the essentials packed, so this was mainly extra materials just in case. We wanted some canned food and camping materials in case we had to stay away from civilization, so we went to the store that has everything with somewhat decent quality: Walmart. 

The car-ride on the way to Walmart was filled with silence. This struck me as odd, because we're usually pretty talkative around each other.

"So uhm. . . how's the weather?" Jefferson said awkwardly. I could tell that this was intentional because of the look on his face. It's rather hard to describe the face he makes when he says something like that, almost like he's constantly trying not to laugh but also like he wants to tell you a secret of some sort. 

After the deafening silence, the way he said the most surface level icebreaker made me burst out in laughter. I think the stress and lack of sleep I've been getting these past few days caught up to me, because something as minute as that shouldn't have elicited such a raucous reaction from me. I think I genuinely started to tear up for a moment.

We finally made our way into the Walmart, and we began to grab and wipe off our shopping cart. I couldn't help but feel a sense of calm looking at the crowd of people. I felt strangely insignificant. But that feeling of insignificance gave me a sense of peace, like we didn't really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Maybe we'd be able to start a new life somewhere and just be normal people again. Maybe. 

I couldn't think those thoughts right now. Right now, I need to focus on the road ahead of me. We need to get the supplies without getting noticed and get out of here. Then we need to find Vincente and leave this town. This stupid town. This amazing, terrible, nostalgic, home-like town. Thoughts began to flood my mind again. My family. The school I graduated from. My friends. My first job was in this town. My first kiss was in this town. Those troublesome, annoying things called thoughts. I don't have time to let my mind wander. I can't let myself get distracted. 

We made our way to the camping aisle and grabbed some basic necessities. A large tent, some sleeping bags, a fire starting kit, and some cooking tools. After that, we headed to the canned food section. A few cans of beans, and some canned fruit (which I later realized Jefferson had swapped out for more beans.)

Next, we made our way to the checkout. "That'll be $125.00 Will you be playing with cash or card?" The cashier said, a dead expression plastered onto her face. 

"With cash." I said.

"Here's a tip for you." Jefferson said, handing her the change he had stolen earlier. Was he trying to get rid of the evidence? I have to give it to him, I wouldn't have thought of doing that.

"Thanks? We normally aren't allowed to take tips, but I just put in my two weeks notice a week ago so I don't really care anymore." The cashier replied dryly.

So, we grabbed our bags and headed back to our car. On the way out the door, there was a morbidly obese person who I think was riding a mobility scooter. The reason I say that I think she was riding it is because I couldn't see the seat. Her mere mass had engulfed the scooter, but I don't think she would be hovering so a scooter seemed logical. She was trying to get a free sample of one of the cookie boxes (Yes, she was trying to get the entire box for free) when we passed her. She kind of did a double take at Jefferson, and then it seemed like a lightbulb went off in her head. 

The woman started to scream "Hey! That man is the one who *huff huff* stole my *huff huff* change the other day! *long wheeze* Someone stop them!" She began to chase us on her invisible scooter, maxing out at probably around 3 miles per hour. "Someone help a poor lady out *huff huff loud incorrect buzzer* and get these two thieves!" The entire time, we were still casually strolling away from her. We walked out the door, I apologized to the greeter for the commotion, and we started to walk back to the car. I looked back at the woman on the invisible scooter, and as I turned around, a wheel flew off her scooter, finally making an escape like Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. Sadly, the scooter wheel hit someone in the leg, causing them to fall over and yelp. It just so happened that there was a police car parked not too far away from us, and the officers saw the commotion. We realized that we could be in trouble, so I went up to the officers before anyone could say anything and tried to capitalize on the confusion.

"Officers, can you please help us? There's a crazy lady saying my friend here tried to steal. We have our receipts right here, but she won't listen to reason. She tried to chase us on her mobility scooter, and then one of the wheels flew off. Can you please get her away from us?" I said, putting on my most convincing worried face.

"Oh, that's just Tammy. Don't mind her, most of the time she's harmless. It's kind of like the immortal snail thing. Y'all just have a good day, and try not to excite her too much again, alright?" One of the officers said.

"Absolutely officer, thank you so much!" I exclaimed, knowing my plan had worked flawlessly.

"No, officers, you have to *huff* Listen to me! They're not normal people! They're those filthy Illigas I heard about from Washington!" The scooter woman, apparently named Tammy said.

"Tammy, let's just get you calmed down. You want a cookie on me?" The second officer said, clearly tired of this somewhat normal occurrence for them. 

"Alright fine, but that doesn't change the fact that them's people are thieves!" Tammy replied, finally somewhat placated by the officer's attempts. 

The first officer turned to me and Jefferson and sort of whispered "I think this is yall's chance to leave." We took that as our opportunity to escape. At first we slowly shuffled back to the car, and then we started sprinting. We weren't really focused on Tammy anymore, we were more scared of the police connecting the dots and realizing they just let a wanted man go. 

Finally, we were back in the car. As we were cruising on our way back to the house, I noticed a black car behind us. After a few turns, it was still right on our tail. Maybe it was my nerves stressing me out and causing me to overthink, or maybe I was just particularly observant, but I noticed a small black strip on the back of the car. "Jefferson, this is really horrible. I'm pretty sure an undercover police car is following us." I stated anxiously, trying to catch him up to speed as fast as possible, as if a single breath would make the difference between freedom and incarceration.

"Ok, and?" Jefferson replied, not really caring. Evidently, he was so accustomed to me worrying and overthinking random things that he didn't really see the issue.

"Do you not understand the gravity of the situation? We were nearly caught in Walmart by the police, and now there's a police car following us? That can't be a coincidence."

"We can take them." Jefferson replied nonchalantly. It was almost immediate that he replied, like he almost had the answer ready before the neurons in his brain could fire.

"I mean, it's possible, but I still have no idea what the exact uses or limits of my powers are. Besides, I really don't want to kill anyone if I don't have to. On top of that, what if they have some sort of countermeasure for Illigas, like special bullets or something like that, and what if–" my downward spiral was cut short by Jefferson flicking me in the arm to get me back on track.

"Sorry, I lost track again. Anyways, I think the best course of action is not fighting unless we have to. Here's the plan."