V.I.R.A.L

Chapter 10: A Plea For Help

Alton grumbled to himself comparing prices on two different bottles of orange juice. He would usually find himself going for the cheaper option to save even if it was just a few pennies. Still, given the situation, he was in, he would find himself struggling more when it came to his weekly food shop. So much so he had now changed to the cheaper store twenty minutes further away from his apartment. This meant choosing the most affordable item possible even if it didn't taste nearly as good as his regular shop list. He fumbled his list biting his lip. The first orange juice was fresh his favourite; meanwhile, there was a concreted carton for half the price. "What to pick, what to pick…"

"There you are Alton; you weren't at the meeting spot so I thought I'd come looking for you." Alton turned, seeing Zinnia in her school uniform. This apprised of a black skirt which was just above her knees, a white polo shirt with a red tie alongside a red blazer which was buttoned up. She also had her pink hair down into short pigtails.

"Sorry, must have lost track of time, had time to kill so I thought I could do my shopping…" He admitted. "Umm, how was school?"

"Boring! I thought it would never end. Miss Trunchbull made us stay an extra twenty minutes for no reason just because her boyfriend broke up with her. All I could think about was our next mission! When are we streaming next?"

"Easy girl, we still need to come up with some structure for what our streams consist of. The other night's stream was more or less a disaster."

"We got a follower, did we not? I see that as an absolute win."

"If we just run around town like headless chickens we aren't going to grow. That follower was luck nothing more. Keep up at this rate, and we will be able to pay back Monty in like 300 years."

"Alright, I guess you have a point. But I'm glad you brought that up. I was brainstorming ideas in history on what sort of streamers we could be. I was thinking of speed runs. How fast can we save people and how many can we save in one stream. I saw this one stream where this guy saved 30 people in ten minutes it was awesome!" Zinnia buzzed, she leaned over Alton's shoulder, wanting to see what he was troubled by. She snatched the fresh orange juice and placed in his small trolley. "Only fresh orange juice is allowed. Concentred is an inside job in which the government uses concentred juice to brainwash us with propaganda."

"Huh?"

"Oh, I heard someone in my class say it. Are we done yet? Gale is waiting outside."

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"Almost, just need to buy toilet roll, and I'll be done."

Zinnia groaned, pressing herself onto the trolley in annoyance. "I hate food shopping! I have to go food shopping once a month with Rebecca, and it's the worst! So boring…"

"Pipe down will ya! Unlike you, I need to shop for my survival. Just because your mummy and daddy buy you food doesn't mean mine does!"

"Alright, sorry… tch, what toilet roll do you want?"

"The cheapest one possible."

"Why did I bother asking… give it a few months, and you won't have to worry about prices. When we become the number one streamer, you will be flooding in money."

"Your way too awfully optimistic girl… if only it was that easy. Just because we're streamers doesn't mean we are just going to have people begging for help." Alton pestered, dropping a cheap packet of toilet roll into his small trolley. "But I guess I'll keep optimistic as well. We'll discuss with Gale our approach. The whole speedrunning idea. It's a little farfetched. But it could work."

Zinnia nodded running around the trolley, placing the items on the belt to be scanned. "You won't regret this, trust me. It's all going to work out."

"That has yet to be seen, so is Rebecca, your sister or something?"

"Huh?"

"You mentioned you go shopping with her once a month. Is she your sister?"

"oh, umm, yeah. She's my sister. Bingo."

"Ok? Don't have to act so strange about it," Alton spoke glancing at the price. 17.50. "Not bad, I like this store." He took his card out, scanning the card machine, he waited only for a daunting means to overcome him. Denied. "Pfft, what? I defiantly have at least 100 bucks on me. The machine is ugh, hang on." Alton turned away embarrassed as he checked his bank balance. He froze at sight. Two dollars. That's all he had to his name. Two single dollars. He gulped, moving away from more. He knew it couldn't be true he wouldn't spend that much without realising. He checked his payments only to stop looking dead—150 bucks to Pokiero. The same streamer he watched but a few days ago. He began to go pale not remember donating this stupid amount. He gulped, placing his phone away. "I'm broke…"

"Seriously… how? Thought you said you had at least 100 bucks…"

Alton gulped, shaking his head. "There has been, a slight miscalculation."

"100 Bucks sounds like a large miscalculation. Well, I don't have any money either so don't look at me."

Alton couldn't bare to look at the counter, knowing he had to admit he couldn't afford a mere 17.50. He was readying his walk of shame only to hear the payment go through. He turned around to see a businessman with a smart black suit and tie, he wore glasses halfway down his face placing his card away. The two streamers gave him a strange look as he looked around. "Can I talk to you two privately?"

Alton continued to watch the man as he walked out of the store. Zinnia helped pack the bags as each of them took a bag heading outside. The businessman was waiting by the small pond, feeding ducks as he turned around. Alton raised his bag of food. "Ugh, thanks for paying for my shopping?"

"You two are streamers, yes?"

"Maybe," Alton stated. "Why do you ask?"

"And I take it you can fight?" He bestowed. "I need your help."

"We ac- I mean, we'll hear you out." Zinnia corrected giving Alton a wink not wanting to make the same mistake as last time.

"Thank you, you see. I want you to take down a streamer!"

"Takedown a streamer? Like, expose them? We don't…"

"Please just hear me out! The streamer. Her name. Her name is Pokiero." Alton froze hearing that name again. His palms became sweaty as he kept listening, not saying a word. "Her fans donate a tedious amount of money to her for doing nothing. Many fans like myself are going bankrupt donating to her."

"I hardly see that as an issue to take her down. You should just stop donating."

"No, but that's the thing. I don't know how she does it. Nor do I get why but every time I watch that damn streamer, I can't help but donate. It's like she has me under her spell. I can't control myself as money just leaves me. I think she has some sort of mind control ability to steal money from her male viewers."

"Male?"

"Yes. It seems her powers only affect the opposite gender."

Zinnia taps her foot, messing with her tie, unsure. "If this is the case, why not just stop watching the streams?"

"I've tried. I've deleted my account, took off my credit card details and moved all my money to my wife's account but no matter what I always somehow donate to her without me knowing. It's like I'm a zombie under her control, always donating even when I don't know I am."

"This sounds stupid. I don't buy this whatsoever. Alton?"

Alton turned to Zinnia shaken as he nodded. "We should deal with her."

"You'll do it?! Thank you, thank you so much."

"Whoa, hold on. Alton…" Zinnia pulled him away, confused. "What the hell was that?"

"We need to help him Zinnia."

"Weren't you all about choosing the right gigs? You moaned at me for taking any task, and now you're doing such things?"

Alton gritted his teeth, shaking his head. "This is different we need to take this girl down, now."

"We will discuss this with Gale and get his thoughts on this."

Zinnia bowed to the man walking off. Alton turned to him as the two stared at each other uneasily. "You too, huh? May God have mercy on us both."

*****

"Yeah, this does sound stupid." Gale throws away lying on a park bench watching the clouds. "Sounds like a guy who can't handle money very well. I should be more worried about his wife. Probably cheats on her too."

"No, this is the real deal. We should take down Pokiero before she ruins any more lives."

Gale laughs to himself, shaking his head. "Give me a break. Give me your phone. I'll watch this girl myself. All just a bunch of Simps throwing money at some thot."

"I'll watch it too." Zinnia says.

"What's the point? The crazy man said it only affects men." Gale teased in a baby tone he opened up V.I.R.A.L scrolling through the big streamers. Vanguard was at the top soon followed by Ruby and other people. He scrolled down, stopping feeling off. He found her stream but just stared at the thumbnail. He snapped out of it laughing. "Haha, whatever, she's streaming now. What sort of title is to let me listen to your problems. How is she going to get any sort of viewers with that?"

Gale clicked on the video sighing watching her stream. Zinnia swayed left and right whistling waiting for a response. "So? Feel like dropping fat Gs on her?"

"Don't ever say that again…" Alton begged.

"Hey Gale, update, please? Is he ignoring me? Just how good could that stream be anyway?"

Zinnia squeezing up with Gale watching the stream. She bit her lip confused. "Is she just clothes shopping? Why would that many people be watching?"

Alton watched the two watching the stream. He poured a small bottle of water on his hand before throwing the liquid at the two. Both of them jumped back in shock, looking annoyed. "What was that for?"

"You were both glued to the stream!"

Gale stood up sweating. "The stream was boring, but I couldn't look away. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. It made me feel wanted. Happy…" Gale looked down seeing his credit card in his hand. "When did I take that out…"

"Holy crap, you were entranced."

"So were you little miss perfect. The man said it only worked on men, why were you trapped watching the stream?"

Zinnia stood up all flustered patting herself down. "Jeez, I don't know… maybe he was wrong after all! Tch, leave me alone, alright! But I guess he wasn't lying about said claims. How many people has she taken advantage of?"

"See why we should take her down?"

"Yeah, but why were you so fixated with… unless."

"Remember when I said I had over 100 bucks. Well, I did, but now this crooked streamer does."

"Damn, she stole your money…"

"I cannot forgive such crude methods. Taking advantage of people because of their powers! It's unforgivable. She must be brought to justice!" Gale screamed.

"I think he's more pissed he fell for a low life streamer." Zinnia stuttered. "How are we going to do this then? Expose her with a video? Call the police? Report her to V.I.R.A.L?"

"No," Alton ordered. He rubbed his chin slouched over leaning on his knees. "That wouldn't work. We have no evidence. It would never slide. V.I.R.A.L won't step in without evidence."

"What do we do then? We can't let her keep doing this."

"No, we can't. I have an idea. The simplest way to make this all work. We make her confess. Live on stream for the world to see."