Chapter 104: Normal Teenagers... and Riley
"They... legit took us to a hotel?"
"They told us it was to show us how the world works, Gray."
"We’re literally like minors. And you’re literally twelve, dude!"
Not all of Ohio was destroyed. There were parts that were left relatively untouched, and by untouched meant they were just outside the heatwave that was the aftermath of the Phoenix Wrath.
And right now, Riley and the others were stepping off the bus and heading to what seemed to be some sort of luxurious hotel. Gracey stared in awe at the scale and the design of the hotel—it was brutalist, almost as if imitating the flat land of what was left of most of Ohio.
The windows, if there actually were, were just holes far and few in between. Everything else, however, screamed of luxury.
"...And this is how the world works." Tomoe let out a tiny sigh beneath her robotic tone, "When the Phoenix Wrath happened, the zonal value of what’s left of Ohio plummeted to almost zero. Even then, people didn’t buy them as the memory and the tragedy the land held was too much—but of course, with the way the world works, tragedy turns into profit. Phoenix Wrath became a tourist destination."
"...Who would want to visit a cemetery?" Gracey raised an eyebrow, pulling back her blonde hair and checking her reflection in the metal of one of the bellman’s carts to make sure her disguise was still intact.
"We are here. Are we not, Gracey?" Riley tilted his head before looking around, "Now, where is Sister?"
"Riley!"
And as soon as he mentioned her name, a loud scream came from above them. They looked up, only to see Hannah dropping from all the way to one of the highest floors of the hotel—her speed didn’t stop at all, only until she landed on the ground with a small thud and steam seeping out from the edges of her clothes.
"Sister."