Chef in the Apocalypse

Six months passed by in the blink of an eye. The change of seasons ushering in a cold wind from the east. Bastions position at the foot of a mountain did a great job of keeping the town free form the bite of the winter chill.

As the sun lazily poked its head over the horizon, the streets were busy with people from all different backgrounds. Hoards of people were congregating in an orderly fashion, as if they were waiting for someone, or something.

Hundreds of people waited patiently, chatting with each other with an air of excitement. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A short man and buxom woman walked out of their residence seeing the peculiar sight, and couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.

"Excuse me, what is this line for?" The short man probed a young man who was busy chatting with his friend.

The young man gave a weird look in return, not understanding how these people were so clueless. "We’re lining up for Hell’s Kitchen." He responded eventually.

"Hell’s Kitchen?" The short man looked even more confused, looking at his counterpart for confirmation.

The buxom woman was silent for a moment, before a hint of realization popped into her head. "Ah! Like the TV show? Wow! Is Gordon Ramsay alive?" She bounced around in excitement, causing her assets to jiggle around.

The lacing of her dress seemed to be holding on for dear life as they tried their best to contain the mammoth mammories.

The young man was originally stupefied at the dumb remark, yet all of his thoughts were knocked cleanly out of his mind. The only ones remaining were silently cursing the strength of her dress to withstand such punishment.

"Ahem. Miss, are you perhaps a foreigner?" An older man who was also in the line got her attention, his eyes widening as she turned in his direction.

"Mhmm! We just came through the array last night." She responded cheerfully.

The older man nodded, he managed to compose himself rather quickly. Perhaps it was because he was more mature and had great willpower, or it could be a result of the eyes of his wife that he could feel burning into his back. Either way, he was able to give a concise response.

"Hell’s Kitchen is Bastion’s pride and joy. It’s the only restaurant in the world, run by the strongest people in the world. The food is affordable and the highest of quality."

Hearing these words, the pair felt a little odd. ’Strongest people in the world?’ Who dared to make such a claim?

Their Leader was the strongest person they knew, who could take out a horde of higher leveled monsters by himself. However, seeing the earnest eyes of the old man in front of him, he decided not to challenge such a claim, merely disregarding it.

"What payment do they take?" the short man asked after a while, considering whether or not they should line up.

"Mana stones." The old man said, producing one out of his inventory.

The short man’s face fell. He had heard of mana stones before, their leader had forced them to look for these for the past 6 months. If he had known that they would turn into currency, he would have taken more than a few on this trip to Bastion.

His leader had brought himself and his direct party to attend the "World Summit" in Bastion, something that he had never heard of. However when asked, his leader did not elaborate further, only saying that they must attend.

So he did not know what to expect when coming to this town somewhere in Asia. However, he was pleasantly surprised with the town’s setup, now even more so after hearing that there was an actual restaurant.

"Sophie, let’s go find leader. The Summit doesn’t start until tomorrow so we’ve got some free time." The short man said, heading in the opposite direction.

"Yes brother!" the woman named Sophie waved emphatically at the two who had answered their questions, causing her breasts to rattle in their cage once again.

The old man almost spat a mouthful of blood at the sight, barely managing to contain his emotions. However, in the next moment he was struck in the back of his head, causing a few lumps to form on his bald head.

"Welcome!" A booming voice rang out, directing everyone’s attention to the front of the line where a large bulky man wearing a tight apron called out.

A few of the women in the crowd suddenly felt a little flushed, seeing the defined muscles which were easily visible through the soft fabric of his clothes.

"3 low tier mana stones per person. Please pay before you enter." He continued, ushering in around 50 people with a large grin on his face.

"Oh, please remember that Hell’s Kitchen will be closed down during the Summit. So please enjoy your meals."

The bulky man was of course Colin, who had originally been relegated to door duties as a two-pronged attack. Eye candy to flag down the women, and security to keep anyone who wanted to cause trouble to think twice.

While he had initially been against the idea, he quickly began to like the job. After all, he was a personal trainer before the Calamity, meaning he was a real people person.

As the customers walked into the building, there was a woman who was also wearing the same apron. It was none other than Jackie who was in charge of retrieving all of the mana stones from the customers and explaining the menu.

There was a blackboard with today’s current menu written down neatly upon it.

Entree - Traditional Bruschetta

Main - Chef’s Spaghetti

Desert - Crème Brûlée

Hell’s Kitchen always had a set menu each day, based on the ingredients available at the time. It wasn’t like they had access to groceries like before the Apocalypse, so this was the only viable business model that they could pull off in the current climate.