35 ValueMart Rescue

Zoe passed under State Route 82, her eyes widening as she caught her first glimpse of ValueMart.

Or what used to be ValueMart.

The parking lot had transformed into something straight out of a fantasy gone wrong. 

Chunks of asphalt hovered in the air, floating alongside rogue shopping carts, and distant islands bobbed like a broken chain of stepping stones.

She barely made out flickering remnants of ValueMart's iconic insignia, three Vs circling like some twisted version of a corporate beacon, now as warped as the rest of the scene. 

Water orbs drifted between the islands, shimmering with magic that definitely didn't belong in her world.

"You've got to be kidding me," Zoe muttered.

Further up the road, she found herself stuck at a red light behind a line of cars. 

She peered over, trying to confirm that her eyes weren't deceiving her. 

Sure enough, there were some shopping carts drifting around like lost satellites.