𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒂 | 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞 (𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙢)

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮

"I'm still hungry." Macky groaned. "Are you sure that's all you could get? This is barely a single meal!"

Eularia flicked him on the forehead. "Yes, I'm sure. You should thank me that you got any at all! 'Lina was all too happy to keep it all to ourselves. Though if you insist..." She pulled out a small plastic knife laying by a rickety old canvas chair they'd found by the bottom of a bridge a few days prior, cutting at the apple she was holding. She sliced off roughly a third, handing it to Macky.

"You can have this. I'm not that hungry anyways." Lies, lies, lies. She was starving.

"Really? Thanks!"

"Taking food from a child? Seriously? Have you no shame?" Selina frowned. "She needs her nutritions. You're already old and wrinkly, they'll do you no good but make you fat."

"'Linaaaaaa!" He whined, pouting. "Pleaaaaase? She said that she wasn't hungry, but I am."

"Don't call me 'Lina," Selina flicked him in the same spot Eularia did. "Only Lara gets to do that. It's 'Cat' to you. And she's obviously not telling the truth. Look at how thin she is." Selina pushed Eularia's cheeks together. "Maybe more eggs... or bread. Which one do you want more?"

"We could steal you some butter." Zeb piped up, grinning.

Eularia giggled. "It's no big deal. I'm fine with what I have."

"But it's not enough for–"

A truck was fast approaching. It stopped right in front of the small group.

"Hi, I'm Patti. This is Doug." A woman with glasses introduced as she stepped out, waving a hard toward her partner. "We're with the mayor's homeless outreach project." Homeless outreach project? Eularia hadn't ever heard of that. People always assumed that street kids knew nothing, but they were actually the ones that heard anything and everything. If this "homeless outreach project" was real, then why wasn't this told of before? Perhaps it was new...

"We have some sandwiches and soup." Patti said, bringing out a basket. It looked enticing, the smell reaching their noses. None of them had had a proper meal in such a long time, they'd nearly forgotten what it was like. Everyone except Selina eagerly walked towards the truck, Eularia too distracted to be cautious.

"We got cookies, candy." Doug added.

Cookies...

Candy...

"Who here likes chocolate?"

Chocolate!

However...

Those were only luxurious for the rich and well off. Maybe this truly was funded by the mayor. The question was: why? Since when did the mayor care about the trash of Gotham? What could he possibly gain from that? Eularia blinked a few times, regaining some sense. Yes, that was quite suspicious.

"You aren't hungry, 'Lina?" Eularia turned back to face her friend, a partially eaten bar of chocolate in hand. "With this, we could be full for weeks!"

"Yeah, dig in. Take a sandwich. Sure, go ahead. Plenty for everyone." Doug sounded much closer this time, like he was right behind her.

"Haven't had a sandwich in forever." Zeb said, Smoke nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, sure. Take two." Doug replied. He was getting into her personal space, his arm brushing her shoulder.

One second.

One second was all it took.

Eularia felt a prick in her neck. Darkness started creeping into her vision, like spiders on a web.