The Gift of Loot Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Crystal Flea Market

Read chapter 10 of The Gift of Loot by Jack_Golightly on NovelPedia.

The world was on the edge of a societal apocalypse, and yet the slot machines were still doing robust business. Unbelievable. As Thomas walked through an endless maze of slots, he had to resist the urge to shake his head. It was ten o'clock on a weekday, and almost every single slot had a customer. Then again... he might be being a little harsh. What if this was their only way of coping with the stress? They weren't hurting him. He only hoped they weren't hurting themselves. He just tried not to look too closely as he took the winding pathway around the machines to the back of the building. Why was it that casinos never had a straight line anywhere? Finally reaching the back wall, he saw a large hand-painted sign on a standing board: Tahoe Crystal Flea Market. It seemed quaint, but local flea markets usually weren't in casinos... or guarded. Two tall men in dark suits stood on either side of the closed double doorway. They wore dark glasses, like they were FBI or something. This was serious security and not the usual rent-a-cops. One stopped Thomas before he reached the door. "You are here for the flea market, sir?" Isn't that obvious? Thomas carefully did not say. "Yes." The man eyed his backpack. "We'll just have to do a quick search for weapons. It's non-invasive." That last point was totally not necessary, as Thomas never expected a search by a casino guard to be invasive. Before he could say anything, the guard produced a wand like the ones Thomas had seen at concerts. He ran it over him front and back. When it didn't squeal, Thomas was allowed through the door. On the other side was a hallway, and just to the right was a casino cash-out cage. A woman sat behind the bars, looking expectant. Another handwritten sign displayed the day's date and a current price list for mana crystals. Thomas glanced it over: Whites: F grade — $5 E grade — $20 D grade — $30 C grade — $40 B grade — $100 A grade — $200 The blues, browns, and reds had their own lists with similar pricing. Those prices were better than he'd gotten with Zach, but on closer look, they were for casino credit only. "So if I exchange crystals for casino chips, can I just cash them out for money?" he asked. "Of course, sir." She smiled. "But there is a ten percent surcharge. Just present your ID and casino club membership, and we can get the process started." Another way to track him. "I'll think about it. Which way is the flea market?" She pointed him down the hall. "Flea market and jobs board are that way." Jobs board? He kept his opinion to himself and headed in the indicated direction. The hallway opened into a sad little conference center with old, wildly patterned carpet and maybe five booths clustered in the back corner. Not much of a flea market, but... System Announcement Day had only been a week ago. He was a little impressed that anything had been set up at all. There were perhaps twenty people milling around. Considering how hard this information had been to find, that was actually a lot. Thomas walked up to the tables. The first one he saw was a bookseller. They were cheap, homemade books, about the size of coloring books, with construction paper covers. The vendor was busy with someone else, so Thomas took a moment to examine them more closely. They were dungeon guides, all printed out. Printed copies would be more useful than a phone that could easily break... or get sprayed with water, he remembered. He found one labeled Octopus's Garden with blue-green construction paper and flipped through it. To his surprise, this walkthrough was far more detailed than the official guide. "Hey, buddy. This isn't a library. No researching for free." Thomas looked up. The vendor had finished with his customer and was now watching him. Thomas set the guide down. "Just comparing notes. Do you have one on the chicken dungeon?" "The level one by the Desolate Wilderness trailhead?" the man asked, already pointing to a gray construction paper booklet. Thomas flipped th