I tapped my fingers impatiently on the bar table. "What is taking him so long?" I huffed. "It seems like forever since our last challenge."

"Maybe he's busy," offered Buddy.

"Doing what?"

"He is in charge of a near infinite amount of teams each with their own challenges that all take place over multiple realms."

"I see your point."

Suddenly Gamemaster appeared in a poof and a clap of thunder. "Nice to see someone has some intelligence." Sally, Ace, and the others slowly joined us as Gamemaster announced the next round with the flair of a prophet speaking on high. "Today, you must bring me a kitchen scrub brush, a box of Ramen Noodles, a Star Wars lightsaber toy, a gallon of milk, and a dozen eggs."

"This is sounding less like a challenge and more like us doing your shopping," I said. "Why do we need these items?"

Gamemaster grew about five inches and took on a godly voice of thunder. "Because I am the Lord and Master of Games! Because I control the fate of all sports, video games, and competitions! Because if you fail, I will not hesitate to erase your measly universe from existence! Is that a good enough of a reason?!"

I gave a shy thumbs-up. "Pretty good." I cleared my throat. "Does it have to be a toy lightsaber?" I reached for the bone blaster on my belt and changed it to blade mode. A small beam of plasma slid out from the base.

"That doesn't count!" shouted Gamemaster. "You must gather the items in Allaston."

"Why there?" I asked.

"Because other teams are going to Lydney and Cinderford, and I don't want you helping each other."

I snapped my fingers. "Drat, I wanted to go to Lydney. It at least had a semi-famous murder. All Allaston is known for is being part of the Domesday Book."

"Doomsday Book?" said Buddy. "That sounds interesting."

"Not Doom...Dome. It's a book about tax and land surveys."

Gamemaster folded his arms and glared at us with the annoyance of an older sibling regarding a tagalong younger sibling. "You done with your history lesson? Good. To further punish you for that little stunt you pulled in the last round, only three of you can go. You can only take what you have on you." Gamemaster turned to Ryan with a stern stare. "And Ryan's not allowed. He technically won the last round, so he can't go."

"What?" I said. "That's not fair!"

"My game. My rules. And Max can't go because he's a wizard. So there." Gamemaster stuck his tongue out. "Finally, one has to be Joe because this is his team. So choose, Joe, who goes with you."

"Fine," I exhaled in frustration. "Obviously, Sally is my first pick."

"Why her?" asked Ace.

"Because she brought the car with her."

Sally presented a miniature version of the Dogcar. With a single command, it'd grow to its normal size. "And in the trunk I keep spare Dog Toy gadgets."

Ace's chest dropped. "Oh. That...makes pretty good sense."

Gamemaster slapped his forehead and grumbled something I'm sure wasn't nice. "And your second choice?" I could hear his teeth grinding.

"Buddy." I put my hands on my hips and shot Gamemaster a defiant leer. "Because he can copy everyone else's powers."

Gamemaster stepped three inches in front of my face; he snarled. "I'm really beginning to hate you."

"You and half the Omniverse." I flipped to Sally and Buddy. "Let's roll."

***

I sat behind the wheel, driving in a relaxed-one-handed way. Sally sat shotgun...with a plasma shotgun, her Doggy Bag resting between her feet. Turned out she was on her way to the Mirror Gate to join me (whether THEY liked it or not) when she'd been pulled here. So she had her Doggy Bag—an invention of Brain's that can store a near infinite amount of items by accessing a pocket dimension—packed.

Buddy, who'd been less prepared, sat in the back listening to music via his Omni-Cuff.

If it hadn't been for the fact that we were driving through a post-apocalyptic landscape filled with dangerous uber-zombies (and I don't mean zombies that drive people around for a fee—though that'd be kind of awesome), the drive might have been soothing.

Sally glanced back at the 16-year-old Buddy, who now was listening to music and writing a PostBook thwip. (Since our tech is quantum entangled--what one molecule does, the other copies virtually instantaneously no matter where or when you are--we get excellent service even in another realm.) She turned slightly to me. "Joe, have you ever thought of having kids?"

The question didn't surprise me as much as you'd think it would, but I still said, "Huh?"

"We've been dating for awhile. I just...wondered what you thought about it."

"I'd like to, but...you know."

Sally faced the dashboard. "I know."

Marriage and kids was kind of an awkward topic. My dog-human DNA makes it so I age roughly seven years slower than normal humans (odd, I know), so I'll be 21 for seven more years. When I'm 22, Sally will be 28, which isn't too bad; but when I'm 23, she'll be 35 and the awkwardness begins.

And it's the same with having children. If they age normally, they'd pass me by...my kids would be older than I am. If they age like me, they'll be stuck as kids for around 126 years. Imagine being in school for 84 years. Then there's the possibility they'll age seven years faster. In three years, they'd be my age now.

Suddenly, Buddy leaned his head between the seats. "Are we there yet? I'm hungry." Sally and I burst into a fit of laughter. "What? What's so funny?"

Vrrrr-whoosh!!

A car shot by us out of nowhere. A second later, another followed. Then a school bus passed us.

"What's going on?" Buddy checked the side and back windows as more vehicles passed.

The Dogcar's radio crackled for a moment before Ace said, "Joe, the Gamemaster returned after you left. He made a deal with some of the other players: whoever beats you to the Allaston items gains immunity; they win and don't have to play anymore."

"Then problem solved."

"Yeah, for them...but it means you lose. If they beat you there, our team loses."

I gripped the wheel tighter. "Then we won't lose."

"Joe..." Ace paused for a long moment. "If you win, they all automatically lose. It's our universe...or theirs."

A few more vehicles rocketed by while the three of us tried to process Ace's message. A loud HONK snapped us out of it. A black car with red flaming racing stripes and afterburners impatiently passed us.

"Jerk," said Sally.

"That's Chase Demon," I said. "He's from a realm where all disputes are solved by races."

Chase honked again and began passing others. He then cut off the school bus. The driver slammed on the brakes causing the bus to skid and fishtail into another vehicle. The resulting collusion caused a chain reaction ending in about ten more vehicles smashing into each other. Vehicles caught fire and people screamed. I immediately pulled over. Some of the other players rushed passed as I ran for one of the vehicles. Sally took another and Buddy headed for a third.

Energy arms appeared from Sally's Doggy Bag backpack and began scooping people up from the flaming wreckage. The hands covered the people just as the vehicle exploded. Sally then commanded the arms to gently set the people down. She pulled a med spray from the bag. The spray can released a mist containing thousands of medical nanobots that immediately began treating the injured.

Buddy ripped open a car door and began pulling people to safety. I lifted a car while another player pulled the trapped victims clear.

"Joe!" cried Sally while helping one of the Ranger Detectives out of their vehicle. "We got this!"

"We'll catch up," said Buddy. Spikes then grew along Buddy's arms. With a smooth, quick motion, he sliced open a car's roof

I raced towards the Dogcar and slid into the driver seat. The gull-wing doors barely had time to close as I floored it. A moment later, I deactivated the car's plasma wheels and the vehicle began to hover. It shot down the road.

In a matter of moments, I'd caught up to Chase Demon. I pulled up next to him and rolled down the passenger window.

"Hey! You caused a pile up back there!"

Chase slowly turned and guess what? He was a zombie! Half his face was bone and half was rotting flesh. Little bits of electricity jumped from the spikes in his black helmet. He grumbled a moan than flipped a switch. Metal saw blades extended from his car. The blades slashed into the side of my car.

"Watch the paint!" I pushed a button on my wheel. When the saw blades tried to slice again, mechanical arms came out of the Dogcar and blocked the blade by holding a straight sideways hand in its path like some scene from The Three Stooges. The other hand proceeded to rip the blades from Chase's vehicle.

Chase was far from done. He jerked his car towards mine. Our vehicles met in an explosion of sparks and metal-on-metal grinding. I groaned while holding the wheel, trying to keep control. My teeth grind as I pushed against his vehicle. Chase removed his arm and lobbed it through the still open passenger window. It landed with a thud in the seat then came to life. It crawled, Thing style, towards me.

I fought off the intruder while it tried to cover my eyes or pull my nose upwards. I tried to shake it off even as I rolled down my window and drive...all while Zombie Chase bashed his vehicle into mine. With the widow down, I was finally able to pull the offending nose-picker from my face and throw it out the window.

"OK. So the idea of zombie drivers isn't as awesome as I thought."

A sudden rumble drew my attention. The school bus from before appeared beside me. I clicked on the radio's microphone. "How'd you get the vehicles repaired so fast?"

"We didn't," said Buddy.

The bus moaned. That's when I noticed the peeling paint and rotting seats. Not to mention the lack of a driver.

"A zombie school bus?! Come on!!"

And it got worse as my rearview mirror showed me more zombie vehicles coming from behind. Some were pretty damaged, one was still on fire.

The bus and Chase decided to sandwich me. Sparks and grinding were now on both sides of me.

"That's it! No more Mr. Nice Dog!"

I pushed the button to shrink the car to "travel-size." With the Dogcar no longer there, the two vehicles collided and spun out of control. I returned to normal size with a smug chuckle.

I then got sideswiped by a zombie bulldozer.

"Who brings a bulldozer?!"

I activated the car's spring jacks to free myself from the plow-blade. As the car flipped over the dozer, I active the car's ion canon.

FOOM! Kzzzt... Ka-THOOM!

The bulldozer exploded. Debris, sparks, and the blade fell everywhere. The blade managed to smash into the vehicle of the Gilber Brothers; it was now nothing more than a smear on the road.

It looked like I was in the clear; until Chase stepped into the middle of the road. I screeched to a halt. He stood there with a cocky grin on his face; I stepped out of the vehicle. He slowly raised his arms (when did he get his arm back). Magnetic lightning shot from his fingers. Suddenly, a whirlwind of vehicle parts began to surround him. He was summoning the zombie vehicles to him!

I watched in shock as the pieces began to assemble into a 20-foot tall death vehicle with blades, missiles, and what looked like a giant spiked thresher. Chase laughed from a platform at the top of the undead monster machine. It began rolling towards me. I hopped back into the car.

"Back up, back up, back up!" I chanted while reversing the car. "I'm beginning to regret Brain not adding that grow feature."

But that did give me an idea.

I put the car in drive and headed straight for the menacing machine. I dodged missiles and flying rotating blades. Chase fired a wall of flames. I punched it.

The car shot through the flames, like a boss. The thresher blade extended and rose into the air to smash me flat. It started down. I put the car into warp speed. At the last second, I shrunk the car. The thresher missed.

Now small, I drove inside the beast vehicle. I soon found an especially vulnerable section of the engine and expanded the car. The sudden loss of space caused the engine to seize and die as the Dogcar crunched through it. Finally, the mega machine was finished. I could hear Chase banging on the platform—either out of anger or trying to restart the vehicle. I then added offense to harm by using the Dogcar's claws to plow through the vehicle.

Once out of the doom tank, I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, it was over.

Just then, Chase dropped down on my hood. "Holy Christmas!" I shouted. He roared then smashed his hand through my windshield. He plucked me out and threw me onto the street. He whistled and his racecar pulled up next to him. He slid in like a snake and revved the engine.

"So, you want to play chicken." My nails grew into claws. "Bring it."

Chase peeled out. I ran towards the vehicle. All that mattered was the ton (or more) mass of metal flying towards me at high speed. The only sounds were the tires. The only smell was burning rubber. The racecar got closer and closer...

CRASH!!

The Dogcar came out of nowhere to t-bone Chase.

"You're not the only one with a remote control car." I turned, dusting my fingers off. The sounds of metal bending made me turn back. Chase punched through the roof of his vehicle and was climbing through. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

He stood and began groaning and muttering. Luckily, my friend Agent Zee—a Russian KBG agent who'd been turned into a zombie during a Cold War experiment to create the ultimate intelligence agent—taught me some Zombin...ese? Or is it Zom-lish? Anyhoo, I could understand enough to paraphrase. <Foolish mortal, all will fall to HZV [Human Zombie Virus]. Everything dies. Everything will be born again. Chase Demon died in a crash.> He charged at me gurgling the whole way. It would have been comical...if it was happening in a movie.

I needed to keep him away from me. I huffed and I puffed and I used Wolf Lung. Chase pressed on, pushing through the near hurricane winds of my big bad breath blast. Finally, he couldn't fight anymore and was blown back against his car. The wind blew off what remained of his skin. Soon all that was left was a skeleton. I ran out of breath and began coughing and wheezing. The skeleton collapsed to the ground.

It had to be over.

Nope.

The skeleton began to move. It began to pull itself up. The click-clack of the skeleton approached. I tried to push him away with telekinesis, but I was spent. He picked me up by the neck. He seemed to be saying something with the clacking of his jaw, but I didn't know Skeleton. I did the only thing I could think of; I slashed at him.

It actually seemed to hurt him as he cried out and dropped me. The spot where I'd scratched him glowed for a moment and it looked like flesh started to grow over the spot. The skeleton turned to me with death in its eye sockets.

I was outmatched. I did what dog instinct told me to do in a situation like this. I howled out a cry for help. The skeleton seemed to enjoy that and made a soundless laugh. Suddenly, an arrow pierced its skull. Both the skeleton and I turned to a figure in a purple cloak. He removed his hood. It was me. The skeleton managed to tilt its head in confusion before my double produced a detonator.

Click.

The skeleton exploded into bits.

"For the strength of the Pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the Pack," my double quoted from The Jungle Book series before I blacked out.

When I finally came around, he was gone. All that was left was the Dogcar, which had fully repaired itself thanks to the nanotech.

***

I finally arrived at Allaston. Believe it or not, the items were just sitting there in the middle of the town on a pedestal. As I stepped out of the vehicle, a clown car pulled up—it being the only one to survive the crash and Chase. The door opened and all the players piled out followed by Sally and Buddy.

I raised my hands to get the crowd's attention. "Listen, we can save everyone's home. Gamemaster said if you beat me, you'd win. If I won, you lost. But if we all go together, we tie. No one wins and no one loses."

The crowd muttered in discussion for a few minutes. Finally, they agreed to "do it together."

The sounds of applause suddenly filled the air. Gamemaster appeared in a ripple of air. "Finally, one of you gets it. It's all about harmony; working together to make a powerful synergy." He nodded towards the items. "Go on, Rover. Take the prize. Those items together are the only thing that can stop these super-zombies."

I approached the pile of seemingly useless items. I reached towards the box of Ramen Noodles. Suddenly, someone dropped out of the sky on a rope. She snapped cables to the platform. "Yoink!" she said with a finger-point and a wink. She and the platform were then yanked up to a hovering helicopter.

"Well..." said Gamemaster, "that was unexpected."