Powered: Volume One - Apocalypse

Chapter 3: Finally

Chapter 3: Finally

*CANDACE PARKER

*Location: Ohio

"This is pointless. There's nothing here. I say we just go downtown and party over at the local bar. I heard there's a band playing tonight."

"Stop distracting me, Jace. I'm trying to find something.", Candace replied to her earpiece.

"Find what, exactly?"

There was a beat of silence before Candace replied again.

"Something."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Candace, this lead has gone stale. Face it. Beam is just really paranoid.", Jace said.

"Ursula is not paranoid. Plus, we've seen the news. We know it's real. You're the one who's in denial. Face it, Jace. We're being hunted."

"Not now we're not. Please, there's a million other things we could be doing right now! We could be partying downtown in that bar where I saw a poster of....

Candace wasn't listening. Not really. She was sure Jace was still saying some other stuff but her attention was now on a shiny black limousine that just parked outside a dusty old convenience store.

Hmmm, Candace thought. That's peculiar.

A man in a suit came out of the car, talking on his phone. Two big men carried his things behind him as he entered the store.

Okay, that really is weird.

"So, in conclusion, the most logical thing to do right now is --"

"Jace, I'm going in."

"Wait, what?"

"There's a rich man that just entered that dusty little store. I'm pretty sure that's our guy."

"Wait, Candace, no. How sure even are we that we have a guy?"

"I don't know, Jace. But this is the closest thing we have to a real clue and I'm not just about to let that go. Okay, I'm going in."

With that, Candace sipped the last of her coffee, paid for it, then jogged to the other side of the street to the convenience store in question.

Taking a deep breath, she entered the store.

The interior looked just about like any other rural convenience store you can find. Shelves supplied with basics, canned foods and noodles on the counter, drinks in the refrigerators. The cashier was chewing a bubblegum and texting on her phone, practically ignoring everyone (i.e. Candace and the men who came in before her).

"Candace, I think there's something wrong., Jace said.

"Relax. It's just a store." Candace replied, seemingly confident.

She noticed there was a room at the back with the words 'EMPLOYEES ONLY'. The men then proceeded to enter the room. Candace looked back at the cashier, who was still blank as a sloth.

She edged closer to the door, pretending to be interested in the items on the shelf closest to it. She found herself staring at pregnancy kits, at which point she immediately turned to the next item on the shelf.

Finally reaching the door, she grabbed the doorknob only to find that it was locked.

"It's locked.", the cashier said.

Candace was surprised when she looked back at the cashier.

"Oh. Um, I was looking for the toilet." Candace replied, sheepishly.