Chapter 23: Trash City
Didi hovers for a long time at the mouth of the alley, frozen in indecision. Her heart has gone to ice in her chest, no matter the growing heat of the day, her mind turning in circles, faster and faster until she can't think straight and feels like she's going to throw up. Forget eating or drinking anything out of her bag, though she knows she should at least find somewhere to hide and close her eyes so she can sort out what she's going to do. But every time she tries to force her feet to move, to carry her away from the spot where the gunslinger had been, she finds she's frozen and immobilized by her loss.
No Pip. No gunslinger. No Dad. No home. No hope. Those four truths circle and circle like a cawing pack of unhappy crows. No Pip. No gunslinger. No Dad. No hope.
Just Didi, alone in Trash City with a chip an Underlord is looking for.