Taking a deep breath to try and prevent the shudder of tears that nearly broke through at the sight of the most familiar thing she'd seen so far, she whipped at her eyes. While this journey seemed both short and long, Rita would be lying if she said it was just a dream. She'd had many of those in her lifetime, some she actually remembered, but none had been this intense and... draining.

There was "the" nightmare she had after she managed to sneak out of her bedroom when she was only eight years old, her parents were watching a zombie movie where no one survived in the end. She didn't see the beginning nor the end but she saw the middle parts, enough to fill her dreams with hopeless struggles and poor decisions over mysterious noises in the next room.

She was caught after one of the trope-y jump scares. When they'd ran through the sewer system, which of course had it's own thin spread horde of zombies, they lost their way and bunched up the horde from what she later learned to be called "kiting" by gamers. As they neared the exit, one of their number tripped and was slowly dragged into the mass of limbs within the horde . If you had a better attention span than an 8-year old you'd realize they just stopped in place while holding their hands out as they slowly dragged him into the pile, a lot of the noises and squeltching was added in post.

After leaving the tunnels they stopped at a warehouse where the wife went into a monologue about how awful life was now, and how much she hated those "damn" monsters. Her parents made an effort not to swear while the kids were young so it was surprising to a child to hear a stranger yell it so loudly, but the real surprise came when she slammed her fists on a partially broken crate.

The slam was apparently a cue for the zombie actor in the crate to wait 2 seconds and then jump out and grab her after she turned to continue her monologue. He dragged her into the crate and made a show of tossing his head around to eat her chest area as she kicked and screamed... It flopped as a horror movie. It became known more as a comedic horror film but it was terrifying enough for a little girl who screamed as her dad jumped off the couch to turn and see his little girl full of fright past her bedtime.

Her father having seen her face felt a bit more lenient, but mom was insistent she face consequences for staying up late to sneak around the house and watch movies she wasn't supposed to. She was grounded for a week but they cut it short after the third night in a row she woke up screaming and wet the bed. In her defense, the brain can do a lot of amazing things, with what it has on hand and a flash of inspiration it can create some gruesome things into your subconscious.

For example, your olfactory senses can fabricate the convincing stench of a decaying undead grabbing both of your arms as it reaches in to bite your face off. It's breath being worse with the blood and meat of former victims rotting away in it's own rotting mouth hole.

But all in all, that didn't compare to nearly becoming the Wendigo's Bride, she was still on the fence whether it was worse or better, even this was all still just a dream... a very gruesome, very weird dream.

Focusing on the present she looked around for anything else of note, only to find it seemed like a dark and moonlit night in the woods she might experience anywhere else.

The light of the moon cast everything into a mix of a pale blue glow and black shadows, and unlike before, little more than the faint sound of the rustling the leaves and the wind above could be heard.

That, and now the soft crunch of leaves as she set out continuing to follow the radio. Having grown used to this by now she simply set off without the usual preamble. It took a few steps before she realized that the glowing tendril of light was gone, she continued walking with a frown and gave it a shake. "What, no light show, I haven't finally broke you have I?"

Taking a moment to hold out the object for a game of hot/cold still seemed to still produce an inkling of intent in a specific and far off direction. "Well, as long as you're doing something to tell me where I'm going."

Enjoying the crunch under her feet, she breathed in the air of the apparent night as she watched where she was walking to avoid roots and loose rocks under boot.

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For what felt like hours, she slowly meandered her way through the woods until she finally began to see a different light in the distance.

As she walked, she realized there was firelight in ahead, and that there was where she was being led to.

And it was a sight that stopped Rita in her tracks. The last time she saw firelight, she was running from an elk skulled monster who tried to kidnap her. The memory of which was still fresh on her mind, as was the stench of meat in that strange space in the tent.

Could she run and escape again if it was something like before, what if it was faster than the last source of her peril.

Where would she go this time, where would she run.

This question weighed on her for a time as she stared at the dancing orange beacon in the dark.

Looking down at the radio, she took a moment to ponder the facts, for a start, she was lost.

Not only was she lost, she was lost in some alternate dimension, a dimension with a lot of local life.

Could she turn around and find means of survival... not likely, it's possible she could live out here, wherever here is, if she had all her camping gear she bought from Wild Mike's. But that was 3 or so shifts in reality and a monster abduction ago, and she seriously doubted she could find her way back.

How do you find your way around a place where you get randomly teleported elsewhere if you lose concentration anyway? Assuming it IS random, there's been little to no landmarks she could reliable say she could keep in mind of for later.

And as for food... She wasn't a girl scout growing up and besides, if this is an alternate dimension then what really ARE the odds an edible blackberry here is even a blackberry. Then again, if this is an alternate dimension, then maybe birds and stuff from one or the other have indeed traveled to propagate the spread of edible flora from her world.

Stuff like that would somewhat easily explain where some plants were so familiar, and animals besides. It would be because they WERE lions, tiger, and bears from her world, that they looked like animals from Earth.

Speaking of which, she wasn't hunter... she was a college Parapsychology student.

With a burdened sigh escaping her lips, her head lowered, and her arms drooped.

"The director's giving me a bonus for not calling the cops over this, or humans resources anyway... This DEFINITELY has to be breaking a health and safety code somewhere. At the very least it'll be the cause of a few, and maybe I can get the reporters to pay me a lot to talk about it for TV."

She began to perk up a bit with a chuckle as she thought about it. What would some of her former classmates say when they saw her on TV talking about her experiences in another world? She still remembers in highschool when that one group of girls called her "Doctor Whacko", after she said how she wanted to be a psychiatrist on the 1st day introductions in 10th grade. She stopped caring as much after finding out how their lives went, especially the blonde one, but no one can account for marrying a serial killer.

With a grunt, she shook her head violently, "I need to get out of this place, I keep... Contemplating? Whatever this is it has to be involved with... Wherever the hell this place is..." Taking a moment to recheck her surroundings, she still only saw the trees, the leaves, the moon, and the light in the distance.

"Well for now let's rule out this place being hell, I know I wasn't a great Christian, and as far as I know I haven't died yet."

Taking a minute to gather herself, she let out one last tired sigh before she stared into the distance of the orange glow.

Sucking in a deep breath, she squared her shoulders, leaned her chin up, and began walking towards the light.

"Alright... Let's get this over with!"

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In a forest acting as a periphery where the trees sleep and the only ones besides are those making their way elsewhere, sits an old woman on a camping chair with a banjo on her knee.

She looks to be an elderly woman, underneath her ushanka her hair is fully grayed in a simple twin braid. She's wearing a plaid sleeved dress with a black coat and patterned shawl as well as a pair of fingerless wool gloves and knee-high boots.

Staring off into the middle distance, her fingers gently strum the banjo strings, producing a pleasant cadence to the pleasant warmth of a nearby fire.

To the side of her is a radio transmitter on an oak table that looks like a bunch of boards sanded down and nailed together. There's also a few supplies like water, jerky, some nuts and fruits, and a jug, that despite the cork being on still smells of homemade booze.

She doesn't sit alone though, nearby, a raven is sitting quietly on the top of the radio transmitter antannae. Looking closer, a wavey trail can be seen glinting on the jug as a snail continues to do laps along its surface. Also on the table sits a prairie dog, occupying it's time by munching on some of the nuts with it's back to the transmitter. And by itself on a log next to the fire, a fence lizard can be seen facing the fire with it's eyes closed as it enjoys the warmth it provides.