novelraw Chapter 179: Escaping The Hotel (2)
Chapter 179: Escaping The Hotel (2)
<🎧 Song Recommendation: Beat It by Michael Jackson>
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"Take the blue ones out first, the truck should be here in five," a gruff voice said.
Von immediately held his breath as heavy footsteps approached his exact dumpster.
Suddenly, the entire bin jolted.
The wheels squeaked loudly as the workers grabbed the sides and pushed the heavy metal container across the floor.
They lined it up right near the open garage doors, perfectly positioning it for the pickup.
A few minutes later, the ground beneath the bin began to vibrate. The loud roar of a garbage truck echoed loudly into the loading dock.
Von tensed himself. He quickly went over his plan thoroughly in his mind, preparing his muscles for what was about to happen.
Clang!
Two mechanical arms slammed into the sides of the dumpster, locking it tightly into place. Before Von could even brace himself against the walls, it engaged.
The entire bin was hoisted high into the air and suddenly inverted upside down.
"Fuck!" Von yelled out loud, though the sound of the engine drowned him out.
He tumbled backward in a waterfall of cardboard, trash bags, and debris, dropping straight down into the truck’s open metal hopper. He landed directly in a sea of actual garbage.
Before Von could even process the horrid stench of rotting food and sour liquids soaking right into his janitor uniform, the truck’s mechanics whirred to life.
The compactor blade began moving as a steel wall started sweeping down from the top of the hopper, designed to forcefully crush all the new garbage deep into the belly of the truck.
Von knew this was going to happen already. He didn’t spare any of his time to sit there and think. He immediately started scrambling wildly over the shifting piles of wet trash.
As the metal blade scraped down toward him, threatening to crush him flat, he lunged upward. He reached out and grabbed the slick, greasy top edge of the truck’s exterior wall.
Relying entirely on his strength, he hoisted his body up, pulling his legs right out of the hopper just as the compactor violently crushed the cardboard boxes he had been hiding in seconds ago.
"Phew, I can’t believe I’m risking my life all because of some stupid quests," Von sighed, wiping a streak of grease off his forehead.
He adjusted himself and swung his legs over, managing to sit firmly on the edge of the truck’s open roof. He leaned back, finally receiving the cool night breeze against his face.
The fresh air felt amazing, but it didn’t change the fact that he was still smelling like actual garbage.
The sour liquids had seeped right into the blue fabric of his pants. But Von could only manage it as the garbage truck roared back to life and began traversing the main roads.
He sat there under the streetlights, quietly cursing the System for making him go through this.
He made sure to remain completely natural while sitting on the top edge of the truck. He let his legs dangle over the side, looking exactly like a tired sanitation worker just catching a ride on the back, just in case someone in a passing car noticed him in the dark night.
Because the streets of Los Angeles were locked down, the truck began speeding soon enough.
After almost twenty minutes of driving, the truck finally slowed down to take a sharp turn near the Westwood district.
Von peered over the side of the metal wall. He saw the tall, wrought-iron gates of the college campus standing quietly in the distance.
He didn’t wait for the truck to stop fully.
As the exact moment its speed was reduced a bit for the turn, he jumped down from the roof.
He hit the road and allowed himself to roll perfectly with the momentum, absorbing the shock without snapping his ankles.
Standing up and dusting off his hands, Von could already imagine how this night would have gone if he didn’t have his [Golden Vessel] skill.
He would have broken a bone jumping onto the balcony, gotten crushed in the compactor, or shattered his legs jumping off the moving truck.
"How hilarious. All this moments of mine would make a neat movie," Von laughed into the quiet, empty road.
He quickly got to his feet and started sprinting directly to the campus perimeter.
He grabbed the iron bars, scaled the ten-foot fence in seconds, and dropped silently onto the grass inside the dark, empty college grounds.
"Finally," Von muttered to himself. The campus was completely silent so he reached up and ripped the fake mustache off his lip to feel more comfortable and breathe easier.
He began navigating the dark paved pathways, heading straight toward the main hallway building where some of Aiden’s most important scenes were supposed to take place.
When he finally reached the sheltered, open-air corridor of the building, Von stopped in his tracks.
The wind had died down, and the smell hitting his nose was suddenly unbearable.
He started furiously dusting off his janitor uniform. He was picking off wet pieces of trash, a piece of squashed fruit, and unidentifiable sticky grime that had stuck to his sleeves and chest during the ride.
"Fuck, I smell so bad," Von complained, pinching the bridge of his nose.
As he was busy brushing the refuse off his chest, a faint sound drifted down the corridor.
It was the sound of a melodic rap beat leaking out of a pair of headphones, mixed with a soft, sweet voice singing along to the melody.
Von stopped moving entirely. He slowly looked up and peered down the dark, locker-lined hallway.
A few yards away, a girl was twirling around in the middle of the corridor.
She was wearing baggy sweatpants, an oversized hoodie, and a large pair of cat-ear headphones over her ears.
She was completely lost in her own world, dancing and humming under her breath with a beautiful smile on her face.
Von took a single step back, trying to hide in the shadows, but it was only then that the girl had turned to his direction in her dancing, and she paused when she spotted him too.
Her eyes went wide as she stared through the dim light, locking eyes directly with trash-covered guy in a janitor’s outfit.
Von froze, and the girl froze as well.