Interstice 2

Lily enters the electronics store holding the gun in one hand. She regards it as one would an infant; with a mixture of fear and wonder. Mostly fear. The man in front of her pulls another gun from his coat and holds it at his side in a casual but practiced manner. He's clearly no stranger to using weapons.

They enter the store and he immediately points to a door near the back. “The manager’s office is back there.” He says. “With the way we fried the power in this place, his safe should be open. Go empty it.”

Lily hesitates. “But why do I need a gun,” she asks.

“Stop wasting time!” The man snarls. “We’re down to six minutes, just go!”

Lily rushes to the back of the room and through the door. She quickly finds the office safe in a corner next to a large managerial desk and squats down on the floor next to it. She sets the gun down on the floor, eager to be rid of it, and starts pushing large paperbound wads of cash into the pillow case.

The case is about half full when Lily realizes how strange this situation is. Why would the manager of an electronics store would have so much cash on hand? She looks down at the stack of bills in her hand. Where did this come from? Hardly anyone uses cash anymore, even though it’s still perfectly legal currency. She runs her fingers along the stiff paper, ruffling the stack. She could do a lot with this money, and the others wouldn’t need to know. She starts to move the bills down into her coat pocket, but as she’s about to pull the zipper open a loud braying sound barks out from overhead. The noise startles her and she drops the stack onto the floor.

Lily looks up as the lights overhead change to a deep red. A whirring sound draws her gaze back to the office door and she spots a small security drone floating in the air in the doorway. It clicks and whirrs and a single bright glass lens on the front twitches into focus, directly on her startled face.

“Oh. This is not good.”