Upon hearing Alex's request, Jack visibly relaxes, sighing in relief. He wasn't entirely sure if Alex would agree, so he's greatly relieved to hear that his friend will take the safer path.
"Alright," he responds with a relieved expression, "There should be some money in the safe in the manager's office, more than enough for gas." He gets up and makes his move to leave, but stops after only a few steps, turning his head to Alex with an awkward smile. "Um, could you help me pry it open?"
Raising his eyebrows slightly, Alex jokingly asks, "You're asking an injured man to help you wrench open the safe you're planning to steal from?"
Jack rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, only the manager knows the passcode, and he had to leave early. I'm the only employee here. Plus, you're stronger than I am."
Alex chuckles lightly. "At least you're humble." Ignoring the aches in his legs, he shakily stands up and gestures for Jack to lead the way. Then they walk into the manager's office and locate the sturdy black safe with a keypad above the latch. "Well," Alex's voice takes on an unserious tone, "shall we get started?"
As it turns out, safes are hard to open, very, very hard to open. For an unknown amount of time, Jack and Alex strain both their minds and muscles to find any way of opening the safe. The safe is large, heavy, and sturdy, so it's nearly impossible to open it by force.
Of course, that doesn't stop Alex from trying.
He tries prying it open with his knife, kicking the latch off, breaking the keypad, and knocking it over with his fists. All the while swearing and cursing in frustration. Meanwhile, Jack watches from the side.
It doesn't help that Alex is under pressure from the creature and the fact that it could attack at any minute, making every wasted second add to his stress and frustration.
After an indeterminate amount of time, which feels like hours to him, Alex finally gives the safe a hard kick and loudly swears one last time. "Damnit!" He breathes heavily for a few moments and then turns his gaze to Jack.
Seeing Alex's look, Jack hastily asks, "Would you like me to try?"
Alex takes a few more deep breaths and hastily puts his relaxed smile back on. There's no point getting mad. That'll just waste time. If the creature hasn't attacked yet, it has probably set up a trap somewhere else. I'll only have to worry about that after leaving HMS.
Feeling a bit more reassured, Alex responds with a laid-back voice, "Well, if you insist."
Jack nods and kneels in front of the safe, staring at the keypad. He raises his hand and slowly types out a four-digit code, the keypad beeping every time he presses a button. "0-0-0-0" Once he finishes, a red light flashes on the keypad and a short, angry buzz rings out.
Alex's smile wavers a little. Is he… trying to guess the code? Surely he doesn't think that'll actually work.
Jack ignores the strange look Alex gives him and continues to type the codes. "1-1-1-1," "2-2-2-2," and so on give the same results, so he changes his plan of assault. He quickly presses "1-2-3-4," and after a moment of waiting, a green light flashes, and the safe unlocks with a delightful chime.
Jack looks over his shoulder back at Alex with a cheery, slightly smug smile. Alex returns it with an irritated look and a solitary emotionless word. "Goddamnit."
Before Jack can respond, Alex squats down in front of the safe, opening it to look at the contents. There are several hundred dollars worth of bills arranged in stacks of ones, fives, tens, and twenties. Besides that, there are also an assortment of other miscellaneous items that are likely important for the gas station.
Alex's eyes shimmer with greed, their emerald hue resembling the green of dollars more than gemstones at the moment. He reaches his calloused hand into the safe and quickly grasps a stack of twenties. But before he can pull it out, Jack lightly slaps his wrist.
"Just enough to leave Rifield." He explains. "This is different from stealing from the register. If I get caught, I'll definitely be fired!"
Alex hesitates for a moment before reluctantly putting the stack back and only skimming a few bills from the top. Although he's planning to leave, Alex is confident he'll return to Rifield someday. He's lived his entire life here and has no intention of staying away for long. Once he gets back and kills the creature, he'll probably start robbing HMS again, and it's a lot easier when the cashier is on your side.
Counting out enough money for gas and anything unexpected that might occur, Alex lets out a dramatic sigh as he closes the safe. "So much money is just rotting in there. What a shame it is that I can't liberate it!"
Jack chuckles at his performance, then he and Alex leave the office and walk to the exit of the HMS gas station.
They stand on the black floormat before the automatic sliding doors, waiting for them to slide open. The electronics and motors whir to life upon detecting them, but the doors remain firmly closed. The motors strain to open the door, but no matter how much noise they make, the doors stay closed.
Jack looks at the doors, raising his eyebrows, confused as to why they won't function, but Alex feels a chill run down his spine instead. Normally, he would've reacted similarly to Jack, but with the creature hunting him, it's inevitable that he'd be wary of any abnormal occurrences around him.
With wide eyes, he quickly looks the doors up and down, trying to find the source of the problem. And it doesn't take him long.
At the foot of where the doors converge, their metal frames have warped and melted together. It's as though they've been melted, mixed in their molten state, and then left to cool, resulting in a blob of twisted metal conjoining the doors.
At the sight, Alex reflexively takes a step back and draws his knife out in front of him. He tenses his body in both preparation to act and nervousness of attack. It's taken action! This is the next test!
He'd become complacent. By talking with Jack and taking time to open the safe, he had subconsciously let himself relax in this familiar environment. He had even tricked himself into believing that the creature wouldn't attack him here, foolishly believing that its inaction was a sign that it was setting up a trap elsewhere. No! It wasn't waiting for him outside, or preparing a trap somewhere else; it was sealing him in!
Like a rat in a cage.
Seeing Alex's reaction, Jack follows his gaze and similarly retreats, although he does it with an exaggerated jump back. He hurriedly looks around, searching the room for any anomalies, and then shoots a frightened glance at Alex. "W-what do we do?"
Although he believes Alex's story, he can't stop himself from being frightened. Unlike Alex, he's never encountered something truly life-threatening, and although it's not the best, his life has been far more comfortable than Alex's. It's only reasonable that, despite being a year and a half older, Jack will turn to the more experienced Alex for guidance.
Alex opens his mouth to tell Jack to get a weapon, but before he can, the lights in the entire building suddenly flicker and go out, enveloping the space in shadows. Distant streetlight is the only thing illuminating the ambient darkness.
Alex's eyes go wide as his view of Jack turns into an indistinct silhouette. Frantically, he swivels his head to search for any hint of light within the store. The creature might attack from the darkness!
The power has gone out. There are no lights, and the machines are off. Did the creature do this? Why would it?
He only looks around for a few more seconds, but as he does, a faint scent wafts into the air. It's not burning flesh, and it's not smoke either. Besides, if it were a fire, I would've noticed the light. Alex takes a deeper breath through his nostrils. It's really familiar, but it's too faint for me to tell what it is.
While thinking and doing his best to stay calm, the scent rapidly becomes more pungent and easier to detect. Thanks to this, Alex is able to better identify the smell. And it fills him with horror. Wait thi- oof! On the verge of realization, Alex's thoughts are abruptly cut off as Jack roughly slams his body into Alex's.
The force knocks Alex back, and he roughly falls to the tiled floor several feet from the doors. Jack also falls off balance and thumps onto the floor beside him.
An instant after they fall, a resplendent crimson flame bursts into being, rising up in a several-foot radius in front of the glass sliding doors and threatening to sear anything that comes close. Its heat stings Alex's exposed skin, and imperceptible phantom pains fill his legs at the sight.
If he had stood there for even a moment longer, he would've been caught in the fire!
At the same time, a single thought fills his mind. Gas! It was gasoline!