Virga City

Season Two; page 208

As Clem traveled slowly towards the pet shop she marveled at the fact that she had never been on the premises of that particular establishment. Actually, it made sense considering she had never had a pet because of Nelson’s unfortunate allergy to fur. But that wasn’t true, she remembered when she was little that they had a huge fish tank full of fish. Clem used to press her face up to the glass and giggle as they swam past, their tails swishing through the water, propelling them forward. They had lived at the Whitefield household for approximately three weeks, that is until her abnormally bored brothers decided it’d be a good idea to go fishing in the fish tank. Consequentially they caught every single one of them, it seemed the six and seven year olds didn’t understand that taking them out of their tank was killing them. After that her mother deemed it unnecessary to have any more pets, or perhaps she was just afraid they’d drown the cat if she ever was convinced to get them one.

Clem glanced at the window display before she entered, there was a large display of collars and other such articles for pets accompanied by a big sign that read ‘SALE’. Clem supposed this was the reason the crime was taking place on this particular day, perhaps all pet owners were in need of collars, or something. When she got inside she found that the store was not that crowded, it was simply a bit busy, not nearly as public of a setting as the parade had been, but she didn’t press.

Quickly she looked around to see if Niko had arrived, he had. He was standing in the back, staring blankly at a display of pet beds to his right. Clem walked up to him and gave him a small smile, he didn’t smile back, which bothered Clem, however slightly. So instead of producing some sort of greeting she simply leaned back on a display and waited for something to happen.

Many people passed by them, carrying in their arms a multitude of items that Clem could not think of a use for. There were a few dogs that accompanied their owners, one even managed to walk over Clem’s feet as it passed. Were pets usually allowed in stores? Clem didn’t know, but this was a pet store so she supposed seeing pets was expected. The little puppies in the back that were for sale were yapping like crazy, Clem wondered if they ever stopped, or maybe they just really enjoyed giving her a headache.

She was just about to go and complain to someone about the noise when another noise erupted from the entrance of the store. Clem completely forgot about the yapping puppies when she saw the animal clad vandals rushing through the front door.