Caramel cappuccino.

The taste was still fresh in Hector Chandler's mouth as he looked around him, still trying to process the current situation.  One minute he was enjoying an early morning coffee with his wife in a local cafe, the next he was standing with her in the middle of a bustling neighborhood with everyone else just as confused as he was.

Bustling was really an understatement, as the neighborhood was crowded with people and creatures of all kinds.  Anthropomorphic foxes, vampires, and even monsters only seen in horror movies.  What was more strange than their existence, however, was their behavior.  Instead of slaughtering everyone and everything around them, they were just standing there engaged in casual conversation.

Hector was convinced beyond a doubt that he was in a dream.  Yes, just one weird, fucked up dream, he thought to himself.  I'm gonna wake up any minute now.  I probably slept through the alarm again.  I'm gonna hurry up, get ready, and get a quick coffee with Josie before heading over to the station.

Speaking of Josie, he looked over at her, and she was frightened to say the least.  She was in a state of shock, frozen in place and unable to comprehend the situation right in front of them.  But at the same time, what sane person would? Monsters are all works of fiction.  The short chubby man with tentacles for arms was all part of a dream.  The vampire was just a man wearing an abnormal amount of makeup.  The monsters were all wearing costumes.  Hector put his arm around Josie as he thought of more possible explanations instead of facing the reality before him.  It didn't help when "Tentacle Arms," as Hector called him, started walking towards the couple.

Hector and Josie did everything in their power to avoid panicking as the mutant approached.  Was he gonna kill them? Eat them? Hector's relief was impossible to describe in words as the creature held out his right tentacle.  Nervously, Hector held out his right hand and shook the tentacle, the squishy texture almost forcing Hector to instinctively move his hand away.

"Thompson," he spoke softly.  Hector didn't know what to do other than say his own name in reply, assuming that was the monster's name.

"I apologize if you're scared or uh, weirded out.  Most people tend to look away."

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"You don't have to be sorry.  I've just never seen something like... that."

"Try telling that to everyone behind me." Thompson pointed back at the other creatures Hector was examining earlier.  "Some of them have never seen a human before."

"Except in books and movies?"

Thompson nodded his head.  Hector could tell he wasn't the best at conversation.  A shy tentacle monster.  Who would've thought? He looked over at Josie, who's still trying to collect her thoughts.  The young woman of 27 was trying to look away, but she and Hector were surrounded by creatures of all kinds.  Hector looked into her eyes and gave her a reassuring smile, trying to convince her that it would all be okay despite not being fully convinced himself.

"So what's going on? What do we do?" Hector hoped that Thompson had some answers.  The man seemed to be in the know, but he may have also just appeared in the city like him and Josie.

"As far as I know it, we seem to all be from different worlds, universes, something like that.  Barely anyone here seems to know what's going on.  This may also just be a fever dream.  I did come down with something a few days ago."

Hector looked back over at Josie, who was doing her best not to faint in the midst of the crowd.  Josie was never really able to handle being in large groups of people, and Hector remembered skipping senior prom knowing there was a good chance Josie would faint.  Despite that, he didn't really feel like he missed out on anything at all.  The two had just spent the rest of the night cuddling on the couch and watching bad movies, falling asleep while watching some old horror movie they forgot the name of.

"We need to get her out of here.  Get inside a building or find somewhere quiet."  Thompson pointed to a nearby alleyway across the street that wasn't nearly as packed.  A wolf in knight's armor was holding a helmet by his side, grinning confidently as he looked around at his "competition."  A younger hyena in a black hoodie was sitting against the wall, smoking a cigarette and looking down, trying to avoid the gaze of any onlookers.  A little girl with long dark hair turned around and revealed the half of her face covered in light green scales.  A man was sitting slumped across from the hyena, wearing a striped t-shirt and drinking from a flask.  Another human.  Someone else in the exact same situation.

Hector took Josie's hand and started to guide the nearly unconscious woman across the street. He looked back to see Thompson following him and luckily not too many others, everyone still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.  The little girl made direct eye contact, watching the group as they started to approach her.  She stood there silently and watched as the wolf stood beside her almost protectively.  The other two just kept to themselves, hoping to avoid getting involved in the potential conflict.

Keeping Josie close to him, all Hector could think to do was hold his left hand up and hope they understood his intentions.