Daniel stretched his body as he left work. He had managed to smooth his sudden exit from work yesterday without too much bother. They were being surprisingly understanding about all this - his excuse of a family emergency seemed to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but he also had a bunch of vacation days he never used, so it was high time he took some kind of break. All in all, things were peaceful. But he knew that wouldn’t be the case soon. The young man sighed tiredly, and instead of heading to the bus stop like he usually did, he headed for the supermarket instead.

  The end of the month was coming, so he had to be prepared.

  In his near future he saw an endless parade of reports, meetings, and overtime. Daniel shuddered and moved into the supermarket. As he entered, the rush of cool air that brushed his side made him feel uncomfortable, rather than refreshed. The air outside was getting colder at this time of the year. The young man first made a beeline for the energy pouches. He was running out, and he’d need a quick pick me up, whether that be for breakfast or for lunch. Conveniently close to that aisle were the energy drinks, which would help take the edge off of late office hours. He usually made do with coffee, but it just wouldn’t cut it for what was coming. With the essentials covered, Daniel headed towards the front of the supermarket with his heavy-laden basket to pay.

  As he exited the aisle, however, he suddenly saw someone he never expected to see. It was the strange man who accompanied the girl in the park. He was prowling the meat section of the supermarket, looking thoughtfully at the more expensive cuts of meat. As he paced around, he occasionally winced and rubbed the back of his thigh, where the creature had jabbed him with its paralytic stinger yesterday.

  That made Daniel feel a little bad – he hadn’t really wanted to do that to a stranger, but the circumstances had forced his hand. Well, maybe the creature did want to do it. He still didn’t really know how it thought. Nonetheless, he decided to avoid unnecessary contact for now. Unfortunately, the strange man suddenly turned and spotted him, his expression turning into an angry scowl.

  The tattooed man stormed over to Daniel confrontationally, taking care to put less weight on his bad leg as he ambled over.

  “YOU. King of the rats, master of vermin...” The strange man exclaimed.

  A few fellow shoppers glanced in their direction, but then promptly turned around and went on their way. Daniel could sympathize, because he too wished he wasn’t involved. The mess of curly brown hair on his head and the dark bags under his gray eyes lent him a chaotic energy.

  “So, where is that repulsive creature?”

  “What?”

  “That THING!” He said, snarling.

  “Oh, Tabitha? It's at home.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Probably. It got out of the house sometimes, and usually via the window that had yet to be fixed.

  “What a shame, then.” The strange man said, sneering. “If it weren’t for this wound, I would have gutted you where you stand.”

  “Why would you do that?” Daniel said, blinking.

  “Because we are enemies.” The strange man said, brow furrowing. “Whoever is not with us is against us.”

  “...But I'm not against you?”

  The strange man gave him a strange look.

  “Only one may sit on the throne. There are no bystanders in this conflict, and I will do anything for her victory. Do you understand?”

  “Well alright, just leave me out of it.” Daniel retorted

  Disbelief was written plainly on the strange man’s face, as if he couldn’t comprehend Daniel’s apathy.

  “Are you hard of hearing?” He said, frustrated. “Never mind. Let us part ways and hope we never see each other again-”

  “Wait a second, why are you buying all that meat?”

  It was something he’d wanted to point out ever since he saw it – the tattooed man’s basket was not very full, but that meagre selection was entirely made of meat products, raw and preserved.

  “Is it not obvious? These are tributes for the future empress.”

  “You didn’t-” Daniel started. “You didn’t ask her what she wanted herself, did you?”

  “Of course I did!” The strange man replied, sticking his chest out with pride. “She only has eyes for the best products, after all.”

  “Oh god...” Daniel said, shaking his head. “You need to come with me, right now.”

  His tone brokered no arguments, and the strange man followed him, bewildered. Daniel led him to a place he could never expect – the vegetables section. Once they arrived, he analyzed the selection with a critical eye.

  “First thing’s first, some of these...”

  He grabbed a bag of carrots and put them in the tattooed man’s basket. As he reached out to grab some broccoli, the tattooed man decided to interject.

  “I’m not playing your games, rat. My dear Ana doesn’t need any-”

  “Shut up.” Daniel snapped.

  The tattooed man froze. Daniel analyzed the head of broccoli in his hand. It was fairly fresh, so should keep for some time. He dropped it into the basket and moved on, picking up a pack of bean sprouts.

  “You can stir fry these with soy sauce or just boil them.” He said, throwing them to the tattooed man. “Broccoli, you boil and serve with salt and butter. You can grate carrot into a pasta sauce, she won’t even notice.”

  “...No, it won’t work. She will sense it. Her palette is rather discerning.”

  “Just tell her that all her teeth will fall out if she doesn’t eat it.”

  The tattooed man gave him a strange look.

  “It’s the truth.” Daniel said, shrugging.

  Scurvy still affected people every year, to varying degrees. Severe cases were extremely rare, but they didn’t need to know that.

  “Don’t you dare.” He said suddenly, stopping the tattooed man in his tracks as he tried to return the head of broccoli to the shelf. “This is for your sake as well. A growing body needs more nutrients, but even adults are in danger if they don’t watch their nutritional intake.”

  The tattooed man shot a pointed look at Daniel’s own basket of energy drinks and nutrient gel.

  “I know what I’m doing,” Daniel said, rolling his eyes. “You should worry about yourself.”

  The tattooed man thankfully didn’t have any more objections. Or if he did, he didn’t voice them. Daniel paid for his groceries and exited the convenience store with a long sigh. He knew he had been uncharacteristically passionate during their conversation, but everyone had a line that couldn’t be crossed. If he didn’t stand up for this, then what would he stand up for? At any rate, what’s done is done, so Daniel ignored the little voice in his head that said he should’ve let matters be.

  And so, the young man began trudging his way back home.