Chapter 4: 4. Crippling Hunger

The rain outside hammered away against the pavement, lightning cracking overhead and bathing the entire valley in momentary light. It had been hours since the rain had started, yet it still showed no signs of letting up.

Desmond sat silently in a destroyed cafe, knees pulled to his chest and arms wrapped around his shins. He couldn’t remember what it was called, but he knew that his mother enjoyed the coffee brewed here. He also remembered that she often brought home muffins from this same cafe on good days. He’d already looked around, though, and there was nothing left.

With hindsight, he thought that it was pretty likely that the demons had eaten everything. After seeing that gluttony demon eating even the metal of the fountain, he wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d gorged on everything edible in town before moving on. The one left behind had no sources of food left to recover after the battle, so it resorted to eating less nutritious material so that it could heal up and follow the rest of the pack.

It also explained why Desmond hadn’t found any bodies left behind, alive or otherwise. If his mother hadn’t hidden him in the crawlspace, then...

Desmond shivered, shaking the thought away. It was getting late, and he’d gotten soaked in the rain earlier before he managed to find solace in the cafe. He was cold, tired, and could really use a change of clothes. But for as long as it continued to rain, it wasn’t safe to go back out. If he got sick, there was no one around who could take care of him. He had to depend on himself, and that meant he had to be careful when it came to his already poor health.

His stomach grumbled and he was painfully reminded of the fact that he hadn’t eaten now in days. He had drained his Father’s watering can of its leftover water after he’d killed the demon. It was now sitting outside in the rain, collecting rainwater. Desmond hoped he would be able to find his Father’s water filter back home, but he didn’t get his hopes up.

To distract himself from his sorrow and his hunger, he thought about his stats again, and the visual of the interface returned to the forefront of his mind.

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