Aaaaand about half an hour after that, they hit the city limits and the peculiarly Texan variant of suburban sprawl, which ... on the face of things looks identical to suburban sprawl everywhere else, until you realize that most images of suburbia don't include mesquite trees or random country clubs in the middle of housing complexes.

Or Whataburgers in close proximity.





One of said Whataburgers is apparently attempting some sad approximation of life, which is where the working freezers are coming from. Chrome doesn't understand English very well - about as well as she understands Italian - but she can read the name okay.










Chrome keeps forgetting she can get hungry. "There might be a phone in that building," she ventures, hesitantly.

Her stomach gurgles with impatience, and her cheeks pinken a little.