"It's not so easy as going to the grocery store," Tom said, looking worried and wondering how long they could get by in here, safe with the door locked and nothing to eat. If they could just block out the Realm for a few days, it might be enough...

But they couldn't do that. It always crept in around the edges.

"We could do the Night Market," Tom said, thinking of the complexes of old warehouses just north of the mucky, putrid bed of the Chicago River. Under a few of the huge roofs, everything was on sale - food and booze and sex and skin. A shit hole, slimy little festival of corrupted morals, but more safe than any of their other options, and cheap enough, too.

"We're gonna have to stay close to one another."