Warning: Some might see this chapter as a little more intense compared to my other chapters.

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The dirt and gravel crunched beneath my feet. The base seemed empty. The wind blew passed the buildings making a sound similar to when you blow over a bottle. Wind chimes made soft music. Suddenly, a shot rang out!

I let out a cry as the bullet went through my arm. Blood flowed into my jacket making a red mark. Smoke drifted from the wound as if I'd been doused with acid. In a way...I had.

"Xeno-silver," I groaned.

Another shot rang out, but I dodged this one. Dirt kicked up from where the bullet hit.

"Why are you doing this?" I screamed while I held my arm.

"Because you and your kind are a plague upon every world," said a voice. "We must eliminate all like you."

Another shot was fired. I jumped to the side as the bullet shot by.

Finally, three of the attackers stepped out of the shadows and onto the "street." Their guns were aimed and ready.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Time seemed to move slower. The bullets slowly zipped by as I dodged, twisted, and spun to avoid them.

"Look," I said. "I don't want to hur—"

A sharp pain exploded across my chest. I looked down. Blood seeped out of the hole in my shirt and the acid-smoke drifted away like a spirit leaving a body.

What THEY say is true: you never hear the one that gets you.

I fell to my knees as the attackers, still raising their weapons, approached. Darkness crept into my vision.

***

One hour earlier...

I'd finally tracked down the base of those people who snatched our super-weapon from us. It wasn't easy; they were good at covering their tracks, but not good enough. As it turned out, Gamemaster had no clue who they were. They were not part of the game.

"How can you not know?" I asked.

"I'm the Lord of Games," he said. "I know everything about contests, sports, and competing." He folded his arms like a little kid. "I'm not a god."

According to Gamemaster, this weapon would kill the Immortui zombies, so we needed it. And I needed answers.

I was a couple inches from the base's perimeter when the hairs on the back of my neck went up. I stopped and sniffed the air.

"Xenomorphic mountain ash," I said. "Clever."

A circle of alien-altered mountain ash surrounded the base. I also picked up the smell of tin. These people somehow crushed up tin into a powder and coated the buildings. Further investigation showed trip-wire dispensers filled with xeno-wolfsbane and holy water. The tin, along with keeping the zombies away also was making it hard for me to pick up the scent of the people. According to my senses, the place was empty.

"Somebody came to play," I mumbled.

I edged my way around the perimeter, carefully avoiding the mountain ash. For transbeings, like me, the ash is like a force field mixed with a TASER. The circle of ash makes a nice bubble around the place; and if I get too close, I get a nasty shock.

Now how do I get in?

I rubbed my chin in thought. My neck hairs suddenly rose. Danger.

"Oi!" shouted a guard coming out of tin-dusted tower. "Who are you?" He pointed a rifle at me.

"Take it easy, Roger," said another voice, a female one. It was coming from the ground. "He was in Allaston." She looked through the chain fence at me. "I was expecting you sooner." She turned and twirled her finger at some unseen guard. The gate lowered and covered a section of the mountain ash creating a path for me, much like a drawbridge making a path over a moat.

A few steps later and I was inside the base. The gate closed behind me, effectively trapping me inside with them.

"Name's Claire," she said. "Sorry about that whole stealing the super-weapon out from under your nose thing."

"Joe," I said.

"Oh, I know. Joe Rover, aka Dogboy. The infamous and famous Dogboy. You've made quite the buzz after saving the phantasmic energy."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Why did you take the weapon?"

She brushed back her light chestnut hair and batted her dark green, and slightly menacing, eyes. "Same as you...survival. Come. Let's eat while I tell you our tale."

***

She took me to their cafeteria. I have to say the food smelled delicious. She told me that the food was farmed and prepared here. Most people never leave the camp because pretty much everything was provided for them. Those few times that they had to leave were to gather resources or to combat the zombies.

She loaded up my plate with a hamburger, a hot dog, a piece of pie, apples, and broccoli. Everyone seemed to be loading up their plates. "There's plenty for everyone," she said.

Once we were ready, we sat at a nearby table. Soon a group of children gathered around Claire; their eyes wide with excitement for "story time."

"Like you," began Claire, "I am not from this realm." She waved over the cafeteria. "Many of us here aren't. Some come from my world; some from others taken over by the zombies; others are from here, rescued and trained by us."

"Wait," I said, holding up a hand. "The Immortui aren't from here?"

She chuckled a bit. "Is that what they've been calling them? I suppose that makes sense...they do seem immortal. But, no, I, and many others, know them by another name...their true name." The children leaned in closer as if they'd never heard this part of the story before. "Wyrm," Claire whispered with dramatics. The children gasped and leaned back in fright.

"Worm?"

"No. Wyrm. The spelling matters so that the reader doesn't get confused." She flicked open a lighter and lit a cigarette. The smoke wafted towards the ceiling; she sat the lighter on the table.

I leaned forward in interest, resting my hands on the table. She took another long puff of her cigarette. The lighter rode the waves of my telekinetic reach into my hand.

Claire let out a long sigh, the smoke escaping from her mouth like a dragon's flames. "It began on my world..."

***

It was an average realm. There were no superheroes, no fairy tale beings, and no super-technology. We had music radio, mopeds, and the Internet. Life was fairly peaceful, except for the occasional terrorist attack in distant areas. There was crime but nothing that required an army of super soldiers.

I worked an average job at the mall, in the sports store. Every day was pretty much the same thing.

And then it wasn't.

A meteor was heading for Earth, but nothing fancy. It was in no way a planet killer...just your average-everyday meteor, so we paid it no attention. The meteor hit the atmosphere and began burning up. Suddenly, for some reason, it exploded midair. It was exciting and the news covered stories about the fireball in the night sky for a few days; but eventually, the news of that faded.

About a month after the meteor, I headed to work at the sports shop—like always. And as always, I waited patiently as indecisive customers weighed their choices. Then, I noticed a man being a bit aggressive with the clothes' rack.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

The man turned. His face...oh, his face. It looked rotted and slimy. His eyes looked sunken and hallow. He stood at unnatural angles. Then, he reached for me. I screamed. Soon, I wasn't the only one screaming.

More people screamed as those around them began to mutate into horrible, dead-like creatures. Within moments, the mall was overrun by these rotting corpses; they only seemed to have one thing on their minds. (At this point, the listening children began to cower and cover their eyes.) Brains. And if they bit you...you joined their decomposing ranks. (This lady should have been a writer. I suspected that she was ramping up the drama for the benefit of the kids.)

I fled the mall while avoiding the beasts. People all around me fell to their slime-filled mouths.

Eventually, after days of surviving on my own, I found other survivors. This is when I learned that the meteor, when it exploded, released a virus into the water supply. Those that hadn't immediately turned were those that drank bottled water, like me. Working together we survived and killed many of the creatures. Back in those days, killing the brain would kill the zombie. Back before they...evolved.

After months of surviving and battle, we learned of a surviving government organization. They were gathering survivors and taking them to a safe haven. Our group traveled for weeks. In time, we made it. But, we were soon to learn that all was not as it seemed.

The group hadn't actually survived. The virus, or as they informed us—the parasitic worms, affected them differently. While many others became the mindless zombies that we'd battled, they retained their intelligence, but not their humanity. They were savage monsters but with human intelligence. The safe haven was a trap to lure in the remaining humans.

We escaped, but they sent their hunters after us. Four to be exact...on horseback. We managed to avoid them for months. Then one day, they retreated back to the base. Curious, we investigated. Only to find that the leaders had met another like them. But this time, a stranger from another realm. Up to this point, the idea of parallel worlds was the stuff of fiction; but this young man, he offered not only proof but a way to travel to other realms.

While we were running for our lives, they'd been working on this machine capable of traveling to other worlds. The four horsemen returned because they were finished. They planned to invade other realms and turn them all into zombies. (She took a long, drawn out puff of her cigarette.) That's why there's so many zombie stories now. (She cleared her throat.)

By now, their madness had reached new heights. They realized they were no longer human and began calling themselves Wyrms. They also renamed their hunters. Since they would be invading other realities, they decided to call their riders Victory, War, Death, and Famine.

Finally, they unveiled their masterpiece: a flying ship capable of traversing the realms without number. And they named it Wormwood.

***

Claire doused her cigarette.

"Who was the stranger?" asked a child. "What happened to him?"

"He became a fifth horseman, kind of. He gave the Wyrm all he knew in exchange for help finding his 'old friend.'" She raised an eyebrow at me. "Have you ever woken in the middle of the night to see spiders crawling along your pillow only to have them disappear a second later?"

"Sure. It's remnants of your sleeping mind mixing with your waking mind," I said.

"No. It's him. He created spider-like machines to slowly drain the life-force, the phantasmic energy, of people. When the person wakes, they cloak themselves. These spiders from the pit serve two purposes. One, to harvest phantasmic energy in order to power the Wormwood's inter-realm engines. Two, to search out his lost friend. That's how he got his new name." She leaned in close to my face and whispered, "Spyder."

Claire leaned back with a smart-aleck smirk on her face. "Judging by the 'bite marks' on you, they've been feeding off you for awhile."

"So what you're saying is that my irrational fear of spiders is totally rational."

"Totally." She suddenly brought her closed hand to her face. "But, you don't have to worry about them for long." She then opened her hand and blew dust into my face.

I started coughing. The room started to spin. I could see red pulses beating at the corner of my eyes. The world changed to twisted colors.

"Wolfsbane still makes you hallucinate, doesn't it?" she said in an innocent, mocking voice. Suddenly, I was surrounded. "It's freaks like you that are destroying our worlds. The Wyrm became super-powerful because they infected Supers from all over the Omniverse. They fed off monsters, heroes, and gods alike. Once corrupted, they became part of the Wyrm hive. Now, they've become Immortui. The only way to destroy them is to destroy the monsters." She cocked a gun. I spotted soldiers with silver laced axes. "We're the monster hunters."

Suddenly, they grew taller and thinner. Their faces became faceless masks except for glowing yellow eyes. Their fingers became long and spindly. They looked to be covered in some kind of thin, highly flexible armor, which made them look like they had no clothes.

The wolfsbane was taking its full effect. Some part of me wondered how. I was in my human form; it shouldn't have affected me. Maybe...it wasn't.

"Back off!" I shouted at the approaching creatures. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"Funny. We want to hurt you."

"Get back! Or...I'll huff and puff and blow down your camp!"

The creatures laughed in some kind of electronic voice.

I flipped open the borrowed lighter.

"And what are you going to do with that?" the electronic hum of the creatures said.

I lit the lighter and sucked in a big wad of air. I then blew on the small flame.

Fff-OOMM!!

Enormous flames erupted from the lighter. My big, bad wolf breath and the lighter's flame made an impromptu flamethrower. The monster hunters screamed and leapt back.

Finally, the lighter's fuel ran out and the flame died. I also ran out...of the building.

Claire yelled out orders as I rounded the corner towards the main gate. My plan was to ram the gate and hope the broken bits would cover the mountain ash enough for me to make my escape. But when the gate was in view, a swarm of spiders came out of nowhere. They poured over the camp like flood water.

I screamed as they began crawling all over me. I was blanketed in a crawling mass of darkness.

I knew it was the wolfsbane, but that didn't make the biting any less painful.

Finally, the spiders seemed to retreat. They flowed into a single mass then slowly took a humanoid shape.

"Hello, Old Friend," said a distorted voice. "It is nice to see you after all these years. You think me the villain, but I hope you now see...it is humans that are the real enemy. They hunt us, torture us, and kill us. Just because we are different."

The shape started to look slightly more human. Four red eyes shifted into being, but they looked like lenses.

"Four eyes," I whispered. "You used to call me Four-Eyes."

"Yesss..." it hissed.

"But how is that possible? I didn't have glasses until I was 16, and I've never met you."

"Confusing, isn't it, when memories don't match reality."

"Who are you?"

"I'm like you. One who sees the game; see's the simulation. I'm a Real Boy. I got no code to hold me down." A hand began to form out of the swarming mass of spiders. "Come with me and you'll Be. Together, we can punish THEM for what THEY did to us."

"No," I said and ran from him.

The dirt and gravel crunched beneath my feet. The base seemed empty. The wind blew passed the buildings making a sound similar to when you blow over a bottle. Wind chimes made soft music. Suddenly, a shot rang out!

I let out a cry as the bullet went through my arm. Blood flowed into my jacket making a red mark. Smoke drifted from the wound as if I'd been doused with acid. In a way...I had.

"Xeno-silver," I groaned.

Another shot rang out, but I dodged this one. Dirt kicked up from where the bullet hit.

"Why are you doing this?" I screamed while I held my arm.

"Because you and your kind are a plague upon every world," said a voice. "We must eliminate all like you."

Another shot was fired. I jumped to the side as the bullet shot by.

Finally, three of the attackers stepped out of the shadows and onto the "street." Their guns were aimed and ready.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Time seemed to move slower. The bullets slowly zipped by as I dodged, twisted, and spun to avoid them.

"Look," I said. "I don't want to hur—"

A sharp pain exploded across my chest. I looked down. Blood seeped out of the hole in my shirt and the acid-smoke drifted away like a spirit leaving a body.

What THEY say is true: you never hear the one that gets you.

I fell to my knees as the attackers, still raising their weapons, approached. Darkness crept into my vision.

"Good night, Sweet Pup," said Claire.

BANG!

***

Elsewhere...

Gamemaster closed the viewing window with a wave of his hand. "Pity," he said. "I really thought he was the one." He turned to face an endless sea of stasis pods. He causally walked down the stairs. He passed by some pods, labels read, "JoeRover16," "JoeRover65," and "JoeRover3@."

He stopped by an empty pod that read, "JoeRover2." A wicked smile grew across the Gamemaster's face. "Soon." He then turned to his nearest underling. "Prepare JoeRover54 for the contest."

The underling vanished into the sea of pods, passing by ones that read, "SallyPine&3," "BuddyRiggs23," and many other Champions from many other realms.

***

GASP!

I sat upright, panting and sweating heavily.

Where was I?

__________

Kktt!

So, Old Friend, you elude me yet. Then, the search must continue on.

Kktt!