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~~Holiday Special (Day 2/7, Page 5/6)~~
She supposed hitching a ride with someone was too much to ask. Cars were rare out here, and none of the drivers seemed especially interested in picking up a cloaked stranger. She tried pulling down her hood the next few times but still found no luck. Maybe the eye patch was off-putting. Or maybe it was the sword.

Thus far, she’d still not encountered even so much as a village. She knew Lorent was a big country, but this was getting ridiculous. All she wanted was a working phone, but she would have settled for just a bit of food that she didn’t have to kill first. Her sword wasn’t meant for hunting.

Gradually, the landscape on the left side of the road changed into wooded greenery. It would likely prove a better hunting ground, she decided, so she ventured into it. Before she found anything to eat, however, she spotted a house. It was hidden among a group of trees and would have been entirely concealed if she’d stayed closer to the road.

She approached eagerly, getting a better look at the building. One modest story, it had, along with perhaps a small attic, if the oval window beneath the roof’s apex was any indication. A cobblestone chimney sat toward the back, and much of the house’s white wood was overgrown with verdant moss.

She knocked on the front door, as it had no bell to ring. “Hello?!” she called, removing her hood again.

The door did not open, but someone shouted back, “Whaddya want?!” A man’s voice. Elderly, too.

“Sorry to bother you,” she said loudly, “but I was hoping I’d be able to use your phone!”

“Phone don’t work!”

She frowned. “Then could I trouble you for a ride to the nearest town?!”

“Car don’t work!”

“A place to rest, then?!”

“Bed don’t work!”

She pursed her lips.

“Ain’t got no food, neither, so don’t ask!”

“Sir, please! My name is Lynnette, and I’ve been traveling for several days on foot!”