Joe couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it sooner. It was unmistakably his hometown, every corner was now mutilated into this scorched, hollow version of itself.

But if the remains of the town were here, did that mean it had actually been destroyed above? He remembered the voice by the Inferno gates, warning him that everything would soon be consumed.

But he hadn’t quite believed it—not until now.

The thought dawned on him: Was everything swallowed by the Inferno ending up down here? It made a strange kind of sense. He’d assumed it would all just be levelled, erased from existence.

But if entire pieces of the town were showing up here, then maybe everything was being pulled down into this wasteland below.

That was it then. His apartment, gone. His comfortable life uprooted and broken into something unrecognisable. Thank God he’d brought Betty along when he did—at least he still had her.

Judging by the absence of familiar faces, he figured most people from town hadn’t been so lucky. He still had time before the Inferno swallowed his parents and little brother…though he wasn’t entirely sure, given how warped time felt down here.

“Do you have any weapons?” Levi's question snapped Joe out of his thoughts.

“Weapons? Oh yeah, I’ve got the scythe you saw me with earlier and a trident…but I’m not sure if I can actually use it.”

“That’s it?” Levi asked, sounding surprised by Joe’s limited arsenal.

“Y-yeah? I thought that was a lot. I have some scrolls and stuff too but…You have no idea what I went through to get those.”

Levi only nodded, pressing his lips together. He blinked, and in a smooth motion, pulled out a small pistol. But it was far from ordinary; the gun looked warped by the Inferno’s influence.

The grip was wrapped in cracked, weathered leather, and strange symbols were etched along the barrel, reminiscent of the runes Joe had seen on the demon’s hammer earlier.

“This was my old ranch gun,” Levi explained. “But when I came down here, it…changed. Still works like my gun, but it’s…different….”

Joe tried blinking on the gun to analyse it, hoping to see its level or characteristics, but nothing came up. Maybe he couldn’t assess other people’s items—something to remember for later.

“It fires differently too,” Levi added. “It’s got some odd abilities now, but it’s definitely come in handy. Have you unlocked any other abilities yet?”

“Of course not! I’m only Level 2, whatever that means.”

“That means you’ve gotta level up,” Levi said, almost in disbelief. “How have you made it this far?”

“Barely,” Joe admitted. “Betty’s done a lot of the heavy lifting.”

“The car, huh? So, what exactly can it do?” Levi asked, glancing around the corner toward Betty. Joe could hear her and Pete chatting, though he couldn’t make out the details.

“Still figuring that out,” Joe replied. “But she can drive herself, assess situations, spot enemies…apparently, she can bake a mean cake, too.”

He grinned, hoping to coax a smile out of Levi. But Levi’s face remained serious.

“Well, you’re lucky to have wheels. The kid tried riding his electric scooter down here, but it died as soon as we crossed over.”

“That’s strange. Betty had no issues when we entered,” Joe said.

Levi glanced over at Betty again, his gaze lingering. Joe couldn’t tell if Levi was suspicious of her or just mesmerised. Betty was, admittedly, a strange sight, but down here in the Inferno, where logic had gone up in smoke, nothing seemed too outrageous.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Joe wasn’t sure what Levi had already seen, though Pete’s stories of legged bats and snake swarms hinted that Levi might already be used to the madness.

Joe was about to ask if everything was okay when a foul, sinister stench hit him, strong enough to make him gag.

“What is that smell?” Joe gasped, bending over and dry-heaving. Levi turned to him, apparently unfazed.

“Yeah, that’s bad,” Levi said, pulling his checked shirt up over his nose. “Wind’s picking up too.”

Levi tossed a handful of dirt into the air to check the wind. It blew steadily from east to west. He started back toward Betty and Pete, with Joe following close behind, focusing on not vomiting on the back of Levi’s boots.

“What is that smell?” Pete said as he climbed out of Betty, covering his nose.

“I don’t smell anything,” said Betty.

“Lucky you,” Pete replied.

“It’s the wind,” Levi said, “coming from over there.” He pointed across town, straight into the distance. Joe checked his map; that was the exact direction of the yellow star.

“Do you think that’s what our quest thing meant?” Pete asked.

“Quest thing?” Levi looked at him, curious.

“Yeah, in the quest description, it says something about covering your nose.”

“Wait, you’ve got the same quests as me?” Joe asked, raising an eyebrow.

Pete paused, looking off into the distance with a glazed expression. Joe realised this was probably how he looked when he checked his inventory and stats.

“Yeah, we’ve got three active quests: Find the Sullen Abyss, Defeat the Harbinger, and Rescue the Waitress.”

“Rescue the Waitress?” Joe echoed.

“Yeah, that’s all it says. No extra details, just the title,” Pete replied.

“Well, at least we’re aligned on two of them,” Joe said, glancing at Levi for his take on the situation.

"Either way, it looks like we all have similar goals here," Levi said, nodding. "Makes sense, considering what the text at the gates told us."

A spark of hope flickered in Joe’s chest. Joining forces with Levi and Pete could give him a real shot at surviving in this place. He just had to be subtle, and bring it up in a casual way.

“So… did you want to team up?” Joe asked in a not-so-casual way, eyeing up Levi with an expression that could rival a puppy begging for one more treat.

Levi glanced over at Pete, who was giving him the exact same look. He must be attached to Betty already.

“Fine,” Levi sighed. “We’ll go find this place together. A bigger group might give us a better shot. But there’s one problem.”

“What’s that?” Joe asked, his heart sinking.

Levi looked over at Betty.

“What?” she said. “Do I have something in my grill?”

“Two seats,” Levi replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah…”

They both glanced from Betty to Pete, and then back to Betty.

***

Betty cruised along the decayed streets of their old hometown, heading towards the source of the stench. Joe relaxed in the driver’s seat, letting Betty handle the road.

Levi sat beside him, window down despite the god-awful smell, his pistol resting on his lap.

He was constantly scanning the surroundings, as though expecting an ambush or a fight at any moment. Not exactly the chatty type, which made the last five-minute drive feel a little more intense than it needed to be.

“This is way comfier than I thought!” came Pete’s muffled voice from the trunk.

“Just don’t pee back there!” Betty called through her stereo.

“No promises!” Pete shouted back.

“I like him,” Betty said as she rounded the last corner and rolled out of town.

Joe chuckled and turned to Levi. “Hey, now that I think about it, have you needed to… you know, pee? Or eat? I mean, have you felt hungry at all since we got here?”

Levi paused, considering it as if the question hadn’t even crossed his mind until now. “No, actually. Haven’t needed to.”

“Me neither,” Joe replied. “It’s like things work differently down here. I still feel tired—exhausted even—but none of the other stuff seems to matter as much.”

Levi shrugged, uninterested. Clearly, he didn’t dwell on these details. He guessed everyone had their way of coping. For Joe, trying to piece together the mechanics of the Inferno helped keep him grounded. He still struggled with understanding just how much of a difference he could make down here, even with Levi and Pete.

He’d surely be consumed by this place one way or another, it was only a matter of time.

“There. Stop here,” Levi suddenly ordered, pointing out the window.

Betty came to an abrupt halt, and they felt Pete thud against the seats.

“Ow!” he complained.

“Sorry! Move it or lose it, kid,” Betty said as she popped the trunk open.

“What is it?” Joe leaned over Levi, trying to see what he’d spotted.

“You said you needed to level up, right?”

“Yeah…” Joe replied, now a little wary.

Levi pointed ahead to a dark pit.

“That looks like one of the pits Pete fell into earlier. Where we came across the snakes.”

Joe’s stomach dropped. “And?”

Levi gave him a deadpan look. “Well, take that scythe and go level up. We can’t have you being dead weight.”