Safe Haven

Zerual

Justice reached Zerual within a span of three hours. As she got off the bus, she noticed that the town of Zerual only has a population of six-hundred people.

The town was very small, despite her hometown already being small enough as it is, this place made her town look massive. She could only see a handful of people walking around, most of them were homeless people.

Walking around, Justice spotted a convenience store or what may be left of it. It looked completely deserted, hesitantly walking to it, she opened the door and was not surprised to hear a squeaking sound emit from the hinges.

As she entered, she started to looked around and analyzed the inside, she saw a bored cashier and two homeless man sharing food. She looked around and tried to find food she can eat. Fortunately, Justice saw bananas and soy milk.

Picking up five bananas, four soy milk and three 1 liter water bottles, she walked over to the counter and paid for her food.

Justice sat four chairs away from the homeless men as she ate her bananas and drank the soy milk. She watched the two interact, they were fighting over who gets to eat the brownie, feeling pity for them she hurriedly finished her food and walked away. Justice had already left the convenience store but she can't help feeling guilty.

She went back inside to buy the two men various food that can last them for a week, it didn't necessarily bother Justice to pay for something other than herself.

Justice has enough money on her and the amount she spent didn't even leave a dent on the money she held with her.

Walking over the two men, she handed them the plastic bag. They looked at her in surprise when they saw what was inside the bag, to thank her for her kindness, they gave her something in return.

They just handed it to her and went back to their own world. Justice inspected the item in her hand, it was a small purple skull, it was smaller than her thumb. It looks like it used to be a part of a bracelet but the rest went missing.

She decided to keep it, out of respect. It may have been small but it could've been everything they had.

After leaving the convenience store, she decided to walk around town and tried to see what she can find that can help in this town. Sitting on a park bench, she took a break, taking a closer look at the secluded town, she noticed that everything was gray.

Everything was gloomy and sullen, I can feel them, they feel so... lifeless. It's making me depressed. Once she felt her energy come back to her, Justice stood up walked to the crowded part of town and started asking around. Even the most crowded part of this place only has twelve people hanging around.
"Excuse me?" Justice tried asking man standing in the middle of the town's plaza. The man looked at her before walking away.

Rude! She next walked to a teen her age holding a cigarette.

"Umm.. Hello? Can you help me?" Justice asked in her nicest monotone voice, the girl flipped her off before walking away. Justice could already feel her eyes glow red, it was painful trying to contain her anger, despite this town being nearly empty she held it back to spare the lives of those who did nothing to contribute to her rage.

The lightbulb on top of her exploded all of a sudden, already knowing the reason, she sighed and walked away to ask someone else instead.

"Excuse me. Can you please help me?" She asked a woman next, refusing to give up. And as expected, they proceeded to ignore her.

"Ugh! This is making me want to pull my hair out!" Justice growled, feeling the ground shake a little bit. She walked away stomping, trying to relieve the smallest bit of anger somewhere.