"Damn it," muttered Cade, "That's the second time... You. Get the fuck out
of here. Now."
The guy seemed about to faint as his gaze fell to his crushed forearm. Cade
raised his voice a bit. "Now!"
Without a word, the guy slowly backed away, then slipped into the hedges
between the restaurants, disappearing into the darkness beyond.
Mandi walked up as Cade picked up the knife.
"It happened again," he said. "I mashed the holy shit out of his arm."
"So I noticed. Look on the bright side; at least you didn't kill him,
right?"
Glancing at her, Cade said, "I didn't arrest him, either. What does a double
negative do to my ratio?"
Giving him a droll look, Mandi said, "Very funny. Ha, ha."
Cade stopped at the restaurant's dumpster and snapped the knife's blade in a
lid hinge, then tossed the broken parts in the dumpster as he said, "About a
week, right? Then I'll be as strong as I'm going to be and I can start learning
how to handle things so they don't break?"
"You could start now," said Mandi. "It's just a matter of conditioning and a
little thought before action." She thumbed at the restaurant they'd just left
and said, "For instance, you didn't squash your cheeseburger. Nor your drink
cup."
As Cade opened and held the restaurant door for her, he said, "Hm. Good
points. Guess I just need a little practice."
The paper-hatted clerk manning the counter seemed kind of nervous as Mandi
and Cade approached.
"Uh... was that guy trying to rob you?"
Looking above the guy at the menu on the wall, Mandi said, "We'll have six
number fours with everything. Fries with each."
She then looked at the clerk, who took the hint, nodded, and asked what they
wanted to drink with their meals.
They again took their food outside to a patio table, and as they sat down,
Mandi asked, "Aren't you curious about why the conversion makes you so hungry?"
Chuckling, Cade said, "Sure, but I'm more curious about how long I'll be
this hungry. This could get expensive."
Smiling around some french fries, Mandi said, "The first few days are the
worst, and by the end of the week you'll have other options. For example, you'll
be able to draw power from heat, light, and electricity as well as food."
Nodding, Cade said, "Cool. I never did like cooking."
Mandi laughed. "John said you live on canned soup, coffee, and microwave
meals."
"Yup. That and raw veggies as s