Wolf hurries after, his claws clicking on the asphalt as the distance between them evaporates. Jack looks back as he joins them, giving a nod. The road they’re traveling on looks like a long hall with dense woodlands enclosing them on each side.

  “What’s the plan, Sarah?” Jack asks.

  Red is walking with her hands curled into white-knuckled fists. “We’ve got to end this,” she replies.

  “Yeah, I get that. I mean, what’s our next move? Where are we going?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “You two really expect me to help with this?” Wolf asks. “How am I supposed to help with anything if I don’t even know what’s going on?”

  Jack looks back to Red, and she gives him a nod. Jack sighs, then turns back to Wolf. “This isn’t actually our world; it’s hers. You and I are from a storybook, and she brought us over to her world.”

  “Jack! That’s not relevant. I meant, tell him about the hag!”

  “Oh.”

  “Wait,” Wolf replies. “Our world’s a story book? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Jack shakes his head. “Forget I said that. What you need to know is that Sarah and her grandmother can open doorways into other worlds. Sarah’s isn’t as powerful, but it’s mobile while her grandmother’s—”

  “It is not hers,” Red corrects.

  “Right, well, the one that she has, I mean. Sarah can open interdimensional-portals or local-portals with an exit nearby, while the other device can open portals long distance and track Sarah’s device. This is how her grandmo—”

  “Hag,” Red interjects.

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  “—how the hag is able to open them near us, and she tends to open them near us anytime we’re in this world.”

  Wolf drops his head, then shakes it. “So you’re saying one of them used this device to get me into a world that’s not my own? That I’m some kind of fictional character and not real?”

  “At least the sly bit checks out,” Red says, not looking back.

  “That’s not helping, Sarah,” Jack replies, shaking his head. “But, Wolf, I never said you weren’t real, just that you’re not native to this world.”

  “Ok,” Wolf replies. “So we’re from a storybook. Is that book fiction or non-fiction?”

  Jack looks back over to Red for help, but she just shakes her head. “You really painted yourself into a corner with that one, Jack. I told you he was sly.”

  “Well, you can’t expect me to just accept the belief that I’m fake. I mean, how else would I be here right now? Talking to you? And feeling this asphalt that’s too damn hot to be walking on. What if you two are the ones that aren’t real? How do you feel about that?”

  “Alright, enough,” Red barks. “Listen pup, we can’t afford to waste time on your existential crisis. Jack just told you we’re being tracked, and it’s only a matter of time before something else is sent after us. If you really want to test your existence, then go play with whatever comes crawling out of the next portal.”

  Wolf slouches and looks away from her. “I’m not a pup,” he grumbles over his shoulder.

  “Well, you’re acting like one, so start giving me reasons to believe otherwise.”

  Reality tears, a portal opening to the side of the road. Red sees it happen, pausing to peer at it through the trees. It’s as if their reality was being projected onto a screen and someone had just torn away an oval-shaped chunk of that screen. Another screen is behind the first but is playing an entirely different movie.

  Another portal opens, then another. Otherworldly apes with helmets and spears begin looking towards the portal as they witness a tear in their own reality’s screen.

  “Oh, hell no,” Red says, reaching back to draw the katana from her back. “I’m not fighting a bunch of intelligent, militarized apes.” As her blade leaves the scabbard, a trail of light-blue follows the blade. She slices through the air, causing a new tear to emerge.

  She passes into a new world.

  Jack and Wolf see her step through and onto a moving train. “Quickly,” Jack yells back to Wolf. The portal is stationary on a moving train, so a roar of screeching metal and whipping wind rushes out of the tear. “She’ll need to close it soon.” Jack shields his eyes and steps through onto the train.

  Wolf looks over to the other portals that are now being crowded by apes. They test the passageways, sticking spears through, then hands, then heads. Wolf looks back to the train and sprints through, the portal closing behind him.