Beyond What's Known

Chapter 16

Still, she tried her best to act as normal as possible. She waved to wild slugs they passed, and said hi to the few people they saw. Out here, towns were few and far between, and Slugterra's citizens appeared to be staying close to home so soon after evading another life-threatening enemy by a hair. She hadn't checked the SlugNet at all since leaving Gateway either, but she was sure there were plenty of discussions and debates going on that were leaving Slugterrans questioning how they felt about the Shane Gang.

The small town housing Ricochet Pizza was almost always quiet, so things didn't feel much different than usual once the gang rode their mechas down the cracked roads to the restaurant. They only saw a single elderly woman out walking a slug hound, who either didn't notice the gang ride by her or pretended not to.

Once they were outside Ricochet's, Alana hopped down from her mecha. She shot a worried glance at Eli and Junjie, who were both looking around warily, as if the Goon was ready to jump out from behind one of the buildings.

"How about Trixie and I go grab the pizzas?" Alana suggested. "That way we don't crowd in there too much."

The pizzeria was never full enough for six more people to put it past capacity, and there wasn't a single mecha parked out front to suggest anyone but Mario was inside, but nobody voiced those observations out loud. Trixie nodded and quickly dismounted, following Alana inside.

Once the door shut, Alana sighed and ran her hands down her face.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she groaned. "Eli's never been like this."

"None of us have," Trixie noted quietly.

Alana immediately felt a pang of guilt. It wasn't just Eli who had suffered from the Goon's actions, even though he was the one most visibly affected. The rest of the gang was also grappling with the new knowledge of other caverns and enemies as deadly as the Goon. For Alana, it was terrifying, but at least nothing new.

Before she could figure out a response, Mario's voice sounded from across the empty restaurant.

"Hey ladies! Knew this was you guys ordering before I even saw the name."

Mario was setting a sixth pizza box on top of a stack at the front counter. He looked almost like normal, with pizza sauce stains on his apron and a bit of flour in his brown hair, but his smile looked just a little too forced.

"Hey, Mario!" Alana said, her demeanor shifting entirely from somberness to warmth. She and Trixie walked up to the counter. "I figured. I can't believe you already have all of them done."

Mario's Speedstinger hopped up on the cash register and chirped indignantly, flexing his small arms.

"Sorry, I'm not doubting you, bud," Alana insisted, gently petting the slug. He seemed to accept the attention as a valid apology.

"Oh, please, six pizzas is nothing," Mario said breezily. "Sounds like you guys have had quite a time, though. Are you guys okay? Where's everyone else?"

"Waiting outside," Alana said. Trixie stepped forward and grabbed two pizza boxes.

"I'll make a trip out," she suggested. Alana had seen Trixie easily carry five pizza boxes in one trip before, so she had a feeling the redhead just didn't feel like carrying a conversation.

"Right, thanks," Alana said, giving a halfhearted thumbs-up. "Um, everyone else is waiting outside. I don't think everyone's up for more talking. We're all a little shaken up. And we feel bad about the ghouls. It's been months and everyone's gotten so used to not having them, and now some escaped back into the caverns, and we don't even know where the Goon Doc ended up-"