Chapter 22: The Den.
"I saved him yet he didn't say a single word of gratitude? What's wrong with him!?"
Liliana walked in quick steps, paying no attention to her surroundings. She was fuming, literally. Though she didn't intend for her abilities to activate, Anger was far too powerful of a fuel. The air around her quickly heated up leading to a layer of haze spreading to her surroundings.
"I can't believe it!" She yelled at the clouded sky. "How can someone be this ungrateful!!?"
A few strands of her crimson hair came within view. They floated weightlessly, carried by the gentle upward current generated by her power. Coming back to her senses, she noticed that she had stopped walking at some point. People were looking at her as well, which made her realize she hadn't been as quiet as she thought.
Embarrassment overwhelmed her in an instant causing her surroundings to heat up even more. Desperate, she looked around for a place to hide so she could regain her composure. That was when it hit her, driving her temperature below the average.
She had walked for who knows how long without keeping track of where she was going, and because of that, the location she ended up in looked nothing like where she had started.
"Where... Where am I?"
~[ ]~
"Here is your double wcdouble triple cheeseburger with extra mustard and no pickles."
A potbellied man placed a tray on the counter of a food truck. On it was a greasy-looking four-inch monstrosity made of two thick patties and six slices of cheese and onion. Dante scanned the QR on the tablet next to it and watched 04G disappear from his account. Once the transaction was done, he grabbed the burger and bit into it without hesitation.
He had approached the truck intending to ask for information, but when the scent from the grill reached his nose he knew he had to try something from the menu. The cricket meat and the synthetic cheese would have discouraged him back in the day, but after three years of living in Hollowgrid, he learned to ignore the questionable source of the ingredients and just enjoy the taste.