Chapter 4 - The Samaritan's Debt
Maya instinctively shielded her grandfather with her body, gripping the half-empty water bottle like a weapon. ""Who are you? Stay away from him!""
The man didn't move forward; he merely crouched down, keeping his center of gravity low. He reached into his vest pocket, pulled out a small foil packet containing an electrolyte gel, and held it out with an open palm. ""Name's Jonas. I was three cars down at the charging station watching the broadcast on the public board. That clerk broadcast your faces to twenty-five thousand people. The private security contractor for this zone pays bounties on petty theft to keep their metrics clean.""
Arthur let out a shuddering groan, his hand feebly gripping Maya’s forearm. ""Maya... listen to him...""
Jonas didn't wait for permission. He moved with swift, clinical efficiency, sliding the gel beneath Arthur’s tongue before scooping the elderly man up into his arms as though he weighed nothing more than a bundle of dry twigs. Arthur cried out softly at the sudden shift in posture, his head lolling against Jonas’s canvas shoulder.
""Hey! Drop him! That man is harboring a thief!"" Derrick screamed from the entrance of the store. He stood on the sidewalk now, brandishing a heavy metal barcode scanner connected to an external battery pack, holding his phone high to record everything. ""I have your vehicle on camera, Jonas! You're an accomplice to grand larceny and property destruction!""
Jonas turned his head slowly toward Derrick. Through the dark sunglasses, his gaze must have felt lethal, because Derrick immediately took a half-step backward toward the shattered glass doors. ""You charged sixty dollars for municipal tap water in a designated drought zone, Derrick,"" Jonas said quietly. ""Under the fair-access charter of '24, that makes you a war profiteer. Let's see how your livestream reacts when I upload the pricing registry from your basement server.""
Derrick lowered the phone slightly, his throat working swallows of nervous air. ""You... you don't have access to that.""
May you like
""I do now,"" Jonas replied. He nodded toward a battered, dust-coated pickup truck parked in the far corner of the lot. ""Maya, get in the passenger side. Move.""
Maya didn't look back at the mini-mart. She sprinted toward the vehicle, her heart hammering against her ribs. But as Jonas reached the truck bed, two black SUVs with tinted windows and flashing amber roof lights turned sharply into the shopping plaza entrance, tires screaming against the burning asphalt.
