The team and I made our way through the bar (or pub), still wearing our tin foil armor. We got a few glances but everyone seemed more interested in their food or drink. One couple drew my interest, a young male and female. At least, I think they were young—I'm terrible at guessing ages. This one co-worker I had...I thought he was 35, but it turned out he was 21. So to me they looked like teenagers, but they could have been older...or younger.

The male kept his head down, looking at a photo of a female. This female looked similar to him and I figured they were related somehow, maybe siblings. He also had some ugly looking gloves sticking out his pockets and a hunting knife. The female read a psychology book and occasionally muttered something about "a murder of crows."

"Let them be," said a voice. I turned to face a white-haired teen (with some streaks of purple-pink mixed in) wearing an aviator jacket and goggles. "They've got their own problems. They're from another Multiverse."

"Multiverse?" I asked.

The teen waved his hand while closing his eyes. "Not important right now." He extended his hand. "Name's Zak."

I reached for his hand, but we never shook because a giant spark appeared between us. We both jumped back, but I looked more surprised than he.

"Fascinating," he said. His eyes met mine. "That means we're Reflections."

"Wha-aaat?" my group said.

Zak tired his best to explain things, and I'll try my best to explain it to you. Zak works for a group called the ZAP Guild. He is basically a temp for story Protagonists. When a Protagonist is sick, injured, or otherwise unable to perform their role as a Protagonist, the ZAP Guild is called in to fill in.

Zak also tried to explain the Multiverse and Omniverse. The Multiverse, or Multiverses, is the collection of universes that are similar (usually a Multiverse is given to an Agent, more on this later because it just gets more confusing from here). The Omniverse is a collection of all the Multiverses.

Yeah, we didn't get it at first either.

The male from before is from one Multiverse watched over by an Agent. He'll go on some adventure and his story will be reported to the Agent who then tells the story in some way, such as writing or some other medium. This is then given to the masses where it'll supply, let's call it entertainment because not all stories are happy or terrifying.

The "fans" of this man's adventure then feed that man's reality. That realm becomes stronger and is able to resist falling into the Void for a longer period of time. Thus, the balance between Order and Chaos is restored.

We just stared at Zak blankly.

"I believe the Agent for the young man is named @KurokageJS and the one for the female is @KoltinKScott. You should totally check out their stories." Zak pointed a finger and winked.

"Who's he winking at?" Glen whispered.

I shrugged. "We probably should back away slowly."

Zak stuck his hands to his hips. "Is that any way to talk to a fellow Reflection?"

"There's that word again," Ace sighed. "What does that mean?"

"It means," Zak then pointed at me, "that he and I are parallel versions of each other. If he'd made different choices, he could have been me...or I could have been him. Kind of freaky, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "We don't look anything alike."

Zak glanced around the pub as if he was about to tell us some classified secret. He whispered, "That's so if this story ever gets made into a movie or TV show, we don't confuse the Audience."

"This guy's nuts," said Ace.

Zak puffed up his chest. "This coming from a guy who's in a cosmic contest in order to preserve his universe."

"Got a point," said Glen. "I think the 'normal ship' for us left a long time ago."

Zak slowly shook his head, his long-over-the-eyes hair swaying. "It's a lot to take in. Believe me. Why don't I 'buy' you a drink at the pub?"

We agreed, but soon found that the menu included orange juice, milk, water, and root beer.

"Kind of odd drinks for a bar," Max stated.

Zak waved at the menu with a pfft. "That's because the Powers That Be want this story to remain as PG as possible, so all the alcoholic drinks are removed. Think of it as parental controls."

I stroked my chin. "Come to think of it all the bars in my hometown sell soda and gum. And any time someone exclaims something it comes out as a comical statement, like 'holy cow.' Never really noticed that until now."

Glen picked at his jacket. "And have you ever noticed that we always seem to be wearing the same clothes?"

We all glanced at one another then shuddered.

"Told you you'd need a drink," said Zak.

"Can we pull out of this rabbit hole before we get too far down?" asked Max.

"You can thank our Agent for falling down this particular rabbit hole," said Zak. "If he hadn't watched The Truman Show back when he was a kid, you'd probably still be back in your worlds. He started to wonder what if everything was just a TV show. What if all of reality was just a story and we were all just fictional characters. The Inception movie didn't help matters." Zak shook slightly before hopping onto a bar stool. "Man, I hate psychological horror; it's the dark side of wondering, bro."

I stumbled a bit trying to get on those tall bar stools. "How could him watching a movie affect us?"

Zak motioned for the bartender. "The stuff that happens in the...um, Real World can bleed into our world and vice a versa."

"What can I do for you?" said the bartender.

I nearly fell off the stool when I saw him. "Aren't you the Gamemaster?"

He continued to dry the mug he held. "That I am."

"But...you're the bartender," said Max.

"Just because I'm the all-powerful cosmic overlord of all games across the Omniverse, it doesn't mean I get paid well for playing games."

Ryan finished his sip of root beer (when did he order that?). "It did for me. Though I was still one subscriber away from one million when this whole mess started."

Max patted Ryan on the back. "You've really got to let that go."

The Gamemaster sat the mug down and touched the side of his mouth while giving our tin foil clothes a once-over. "Love the outfits. Tin foil is the new black." He followed up with a slow clap. "Very clever figuring out how the zombies hunt. But no more freebies." He snapped his fingers and our coverings vanished.

"Except for this one. I happened to notice that everyone on the team has a friend from their realm: Ace has Glen and Max has Ryan, but poor Joe has no one." The Gamemaster leaned very close to my face. Uncomfortably close, I could tell he had fish for lunch—and I didn't even need my super-sense of smell to tell me. "Stinks to be the fifth wheel. Well, no more. I've decided, in my divine benevolence, to let Joe 'call a friend.' That's right, you can bring someone from your home realm." He then pointed towards the stage. A spotlight turned on and we could see various instruments waiting. "You just got to sing for it."

"What?" I said while some of the others did a spit take.

Gamemaster put his hands to his chest in fake innocence. "Not my doing. Everything vibrates in the Omniverse, thus producing a sound or song. This song is like directions to where you're going. And since none of you are true speedsters that can vibrate at the frequency of another realm," he did give Ace a quick glance, "you'll have to play." The Gamemaster waved his hand and a menu appeared out of smoke. He held the menu out to me. "I was even so nice as to provide the necessary quantum songs for your friends." That creepy smile of his didn't ease the tension any.

"Good luck." Ace tried not to laugh, but it looked like he was about to lose it any second.

"Not so fast," said the Gamemaster. "You're a team. All must play." He knitted his fingers. "I look forward to your selection."

***

"I can't believe I'm doing this," sighed Max before he tapped out the opening notes to "Hold the Line" by Toto on his keyboard. Though a few seconds into it, he seemed to get into the mood. Maybe it had something to do with Ace, who looked right at home at the drums.

Glen then brought us in with a guitar...uh, whatever those are called. Is it a riff? I really should have paid more attention when my mom talked about the music appreciation class she took.

It then came time for me to sing. Fun fact: dogs are actually pretty good singers. Sure to most humans it just sounds like howling, but it's not. So in order to boost my singing, I changed into my Dogboy form. It probably looked a little silly—a six-foot humanoid golden retriever wearing a purple vest, white shirt, blue jeans, black boots, and a cape singing a rock and roll song from 1978. But probably not as weird as tin foil armor.

"It's not in the way that you hold me.

It's not in the way you say you care.

It's not in the way you've been treating my friends.

It's not in the way that you stayed till the end..."

The crowd started to tap their toes as the music began to grow. Then they seemed to really get into it; pretty soon they were dancing almost as much as we were. Glen got into the guitar solo, as did Ace for the drum solo.

The more we got into the music and let it carry us away, the larger a mist bank grew around us. The crowd began to let loose as the pub flooded with the sounds of rock and roll. Max and Ryan started banging on their keyboards and swinging with the music.

Forms began to take shape in the mist.

"Hold the line. Love isn't always on time.

Hold the line. Love isn't always on time..."

Max, Ryan, and Ace finished off with the last notes as everyone was practically jumping in time to the music.

Once we finished, the mist faded but two people stood near the door.

"Sally!" I shouted, dropping the microphone.

"Joe!" she said.

Ace sighed. "Figures he'd bring his girlfriend."

We ran to embrace each other. We babbled over each other with "I missed you" and "Where were you?"

And then a voice said, "Hey, Joe."

I turned to the sound just as Ryan managed to accidently hit a pre-set button on the keyboard that made a record screeching noise. "Buddy?" I said.

"Huh," grunted Gamemaster, seeming to come out of nowhere. "That's interesting. Two people." He shrugged it off with an, "Oh well. Seven is a more divine number than six."

"Who's that?" Sally whispered to me.

"I'll tell you later," I said.

She leaned on one foot and put a hand on her hip. "I hate it when you do that."

"Now that's settled," said Gamemaster with a snap of his fingers. His bartender attire transformed into a robe, cloak, and headband which gave him a kingly appearance. "Down to business. You're next task is to win the upcoming battle. You see for some totally unknown reason.." He then whispered to Sally, "It was me," before turning back to us. "...the giant monsters of Japan have left their boundaries and will soon be attacking this pub."

"Kaiju!" I shouted.

"Bless you," said Buddy.

Ace beat out a punchline rimshot.

"The only way to stop these kaiju," said Gamemaster, with too much glee, "is for one of you to die."

A dramatic sting played over Zak's cell phone. We turned to look at him. He waved, "Just wanted the Audience to know that I was still here." We continued to glare at him. "I'll, uh, just be...over there." He slid off the bar stool and headed for a table in the corner.

Gamemaster clenched his fist. "That's right. In order to save this pub, and in extension your universe, one of you must die. Now which one will it be?"

Ace stood from behind the drums. "I will."

"No, I will," said Ryan. He then glanced down at Max and smacked his shoulder.

"Oh, right." Max stood. "I will."

"No, me," said Glen.

"No," said Buddy. "I'll go. I'm the new guy. It's last hired, first fired. Right?"

Gamemaster pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is what I get for having a team of heroes. Next time I'm throwing in some villains. Or at least some selfish people." Gamemaster inhaled a couple deep breaths and moved his arms like he was trying to do Tai chi. Once he was calm, he smiled that serial killer smile. "Tell you what, Joe gets to decide. He's the leader. He's the first Character the Agent discovered. Though it was one from another reality." He gave me a harsh glare. "We'll discuss why you got rid of Ducky as your sidekick later."

"Who?" I said.

Gamemaster zipped, unnaturally fast, to the center of the room. He pointed to me before waving his arm across the crowd. "So, who are you going to kill?"

I was about to speak when a roar that sounded much like a hurricane fighting with a tornado shook the pub.

Gamemaster twiddled his fingers in enjoyment near his face. "I believe that'll be Megafly, Ramtam, and Rex."

We all, including the other contestants and the inn "owners," rushed outside. Three enormous beasts headed straight for us. One, Megafly, looked just like you'd think—a giant fly (some things should never be magnified). The second, Ramtam, looked like a six-headed hydra but with ram heads and horns. Rex, the King of the Kaiju, looked like a giant lizard mixed with a gorilla. And to make matters worse, they brought a swarm of smaller, human-sized monsters. Oddly enough, there were no zombies in sight.

Suddenly, someone cried out, "Protect the Inn!" and the contestants rushed out into the field with whatever weapons they had or could find. It took me a moment to remember that these people were heroes from across the Omniverse.

"There's no room at this inn!" cried a female before blasting a group of kaiju teenagers with a rocket launcher.

Another contestant smacked one kaiju critter with a frying pan.

I turned to Sally. "Stay here where it's safe."

She brushed her hand through my fur. "That's so sweet..." she said before reaching into my vest and grabbing two bone blasters and shoving me back. "So sweet that you think that's happening. You brought me here. Besides," she tossed me a small sphere, "Brain figured you'd need this."

I inspected the sphere. "How did Brain know I'd need help?"

"He's Brain. He knows everything. He said to just jam that thing into your chest symbol." She then rushed off into the battlefield, duel-wield-blasting teen kaiju as she went. At one point, she did a sort of scissor kick-spin thing while bone blasting another group. She landed with the grace that'd make an Olympic athlete jealous. With a flick of her wrist she changed one from a blaster to a sword and changed back into the fray.

"I'm sorry I teased you about bringing her," said Ace. He and Glen headed back into the pub so that Ace could fall asleep and astral project himself.

I jammed the sphere into my symbol. A light covered me. A second later, I was piloting a giant robot. It looked like a purple, black, and white human dog but more robotic.

"I shall call him Kyle," I said.

"Kyle?" said Max via the radio.

I shrugged, "Eh."

I went after the adult kaiju, but soon found that three versus one doesn't work well, especially in an untested prototype. After a few rough blows, the robot lost power and collapsed back into the sphere. It also looked like the others were not faring much better. That's when Ryan helped me up.

"Joe," he said softly. "I'm the one that has to sacrifice himself. I'm the only one that can do it. Trust me," he winked.

Ohhh... I nodded.

Ryan took a couple steps backwards then turned and ran towards the nearest kaiju adult screaming. The kaiju...stepped on him.

That stopped the fighting. A second later, the beasts vanished as if they'd never been there.

Gamemaster reappeared, still smiling. "Looks like Ryan is the first to fall."

"Not exactly," said a voice from behind us. We turned; Ryan approached us, sun at his back. He looked a little pixilated but soon became more solid.

"Wha-aaat?" everyone (except me), including the Gamemaster, said.

Gamemaster clearned his throat. "No one died; the game is forfeit. You all lose."

"No," said Ryan. "I did die. But I'm also a Gamer who found himself in a magical yet deadly world; the first thing I bought was a Talisman of Life." He held up a small disc which proceeded to crumble. "It gave me an extra life." He pointed at Gamemaster. "You said someone had to die. You never said they had to stay dead. Chew on that!"

Gamemaster turned red. He took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll give you that one." He, once again, stepped into my personal space. "You think you and your team are so clever. Heh-heh-heh, wait for the next round." He vanished, angrily, in a flash of light and smoke.

____________

Here are the links to KurokageJS and KoltinKScott's stories.

Impossible by KurokageJS https://www.wattpad.com/story/141192801-impossible-a-zombie-story

There's Only Us by KoltinKScott https://www.wattpad.com/story/138201718-there%27s-only-us

(Sorry KurokageJS, I tried to dedicate the chapter to both of you but could only do one)