“Basil!”

No response. I strained my ears, but it was impossible to hear anything over the din of the gaming floor. I shouted again. “Basil!”

I walked deeper into the casino. The flashing, glaring screens and lights made it impossible to see distinct shapes. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my eyes, but the visual chaos remained. “Basil?”

Near the center of the slots room, I found a massive machine. It had a large screen like the last one, including the wing screens, but above that was a gargantuan tv showing the results on the machine in real time. I was tempted, but the anxiety of my missing friend was more important. I passed it, looking for… well, anyone. The lack of other patrons was really standing out.

“Hello? Anybody?”

I didn’t even see any casino staff as I wandered. The stress was starting to get to me. I didn’t know what time it was, but I was really starting to want a drink. Something stiff. Just to take the edge off. Just one–

“What the hell am I thinking,” I asked out loud. I shook my head. I wanted a drink, sure, but I’m not an alcoholic. Why was I suddenly sounding like one?

“Basil!”

Still nothing. Now I was starting to get concerned. I broke into a light jog, heading ever deeper. I get the whole ‘no clocks’ thing in a casino, because they want patrons to stay as long as possible. I’ve heard horror stories about people wearing diapers while sitting at their favorite slot machine, gambling away life savings as they shit themselves. And the occasional old bird who had a heart attack and died right on the gaming floor, shitting herself in her death throes as she watched yet another losing game on the machine. That actually happened to a friend of mine. She sat with the lady until she had grown cold and the EMTs finally showed up.

“Grah!” I growled, trying to get my adrenaline to spike. Something was messing with my head, clouding my thoughts. The empty room was getting to me too. This place was creepy.

“Basil!”

I finally spotted another of those golem bouncer guys. He was at the very back of the room, next to a roped off doorway. I made my way over to him. He was as stoic as the other one, hardly even noticing me. I reached for the rope blocking the door, and as I expected, he held a hand out. It was non-threatening, but clear. His size certainly helped reinforce the idea that he shouldn’t be fucked with.

“Hey, I need help, I need to find my friend.”

“High rollers only,” the golem replied. His voice was rich and smooth, like a jazz singer, rather than the gravelly tones I was expecting.

“Yeah, okay, I’m just looking for my friend.”

Without moving or even looking at me, he repeated “high rollers only.”

“Fine!” I turned around and stalked back to the big machine I had seen in the center. The screens were all identical, showing a glittering sunset on a beach. I could hear seagulls calling, and the lapping of waves. The closer I got, the more the machine was all I could hear. Everything else just sort of… fell away. I had no idea what the machine would do when I put money in. It showed no creatures. No apocalyptic scenes. There wasn’t even any action music. It was just the soothing ambiance of a beach somewhere, maybe in the Caribbean.

The machine welcomed me in. I took a seat on the plush stool. It was backless, yet so very comfortable. Practically the second I was situated, I heard a cheerful voice to my right. It should have startled me, but I felt so… at peace. I looked over with a dreamy smile on my face.

“Drink, sir?”

My eyes were slow to track, jerking from spot-to-spot as my head spun. I felt drunk. No, I felt hammered.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

The woman sounded pleasant enough. But I couldn’t quite make out her face. She was in uniform, of that I was certain. Well, pretty sure. Surely she was in uniform. The same I had seen… I hadn’t seen any other personnel. Still, she clearly worked for the casino. She held out a silver tray with a single drink on it. I could tell, just from a glance, it was my favorite: a dark-and-stormy. Black rum mixed with either root beer or ginger beer. Heavily spiced, sweet without being overwhelming, it was the perfect drink year round. I took it and tried to thank her.

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“Fang… tank. Tank you.”

She nodded and sped off, leaving me to the game. I smiled again, putting the drink to my lips. It was perfect. Just a hint of alcohol, which in my experience, meant it was strong as hell. I turned back, over correcting and nearly losing my drink. I put my second hand to it to steady the glass, then guided it down to the drink holder on top of the machine. Something buzzed near my eye, but I flicked it away. It was insistent, but the third time I swatted at it, it flew away.

“Let’s do this,” I slurred out. Something deep in me was concerned, but I took another sip of the excellent drink, and sighed out in pleasure. “So good.”

I dug in my pocket, pulling out a chip. Somewhere on the screen I saw numbers blinking. It looked like a hundred. Or a thousand. Maybe ten-thousand, but I couldn’t be certain. I put another chip in, and bells started jingling. Lights went off all round the casino floor. There was one large button in the center of the console. I put both hands on it and pushed.

I moved my eyes, refusing to open them. The sun was so nice. Warm, but not too hot. The perfect temperature. I reached out my hand, feeling for my beer. Yeah, it was dumb to keep it in the sand, but it was so convenient. I kept searching, not finding the beer. The dream had been so real, so bizarre. Me? A zombie? Pfft.

“Hey, am I out of beer?”

No answer. I finally opened my eyes. I was alone on the beach. I turned in place, looking up and down the beach. Nobody. Nothing but the gentle rush of the waves, the brushing of wind through the trees some fifty yards away. I sat up, feeling the sand fall out of my hair. It clung to my back.

“Something, something, gets everywhere,” I said distractedly. I slowly stood. Something was not right. I remembered this beach being full of people just a few minutes before. And smaller. The beach extended at least a hundred feet further than I remembered. Less water. No stands. A lot less water. I turned around, looking at the small patch of forest. Nobody laying in the hammocks. The umbrellas hosted empty picnic baskets and sandy blankets. Food and drink lay everywhere. Yet there was not a single footprint in the sand. Something nagged at the back of my mind.

“Where is everyone?”

I turned back, looking for any evidence of people. I took a few steps from where I’d been laying. Those were the only footprints. I spotted an ice cream cone melting on the sand. It can’t have been laying there for long, not with how hot the sand and air were. Something was insistent at the back of my mind. Something was not right.

I snapped my fingers. “That’s what it is!”

I bent down and opened the cooler. My beers were there, nestled into the glittering, half-melted ice. I pulled one out and popped the top using the bottle-opener built into the side and took a swig. It was perfectly cool in the summer heat.

“WATER!”

I spun, forgetting my beer as I realized what had been bothering me. The water was hundreds of feet out. I knew what that meant.

“Tsunami,” I whispered. I couldn’t see the water anymore. It was too late for me to get away. This part of California was too flat.

“Wait, why am I in California? Why am I at the beach?”

With one eye on the horizon, watching for the inevitable wave that would crush everything, I walked up the beach to the parking lot. It was full of… not quite cars. It was odd. They were the right shape, generally. Correctly colored, with most tending toward white or black, as seemed normal. But as I got closer, I realized none of the cars had an interior. Instead, it was like a picture was painted on the windows of a car interior.

I was looking closer at a jeep, which even weirder had no top or doors, but I couldn’t get it. My hands stopped against an invisible wall. I kicked at it, and was sent reeling backward when it failed to budge. I hopped on my good foot for a moment, swearing at myself and whatever had created that horrible mockery. My cursing was brought short when I was knocked to my ass.

“Wha–”

The ground bucked. A strange wailing filled the air. It felt like my hair was standing on end. Then I was sent flying as the earthquake intensified. I cried out, suddenly terrified.

“What the hell?” I couldn’t even get full words out, the ground shook so fiercely.

Finally, I saw what was causing the ruckus. Far out on the horizon, the water rushed back in. It had to be thirty or more feet tall, to be visible from a mile out. But that wasn’t what left me breathless. No, instead, it was the creature rising from the midst of the wave.

“No… way.”

I had no idea what to do. But I had a feeling I was going to have to fight it. The earthquake finally stopped, and I rose shakily to my feet. The cars weren’t an option. It looked like I could either run away, or run toward the monster, which was clearly a boss.

My memories finally returned.

“Shit. Shit, shit…. SHIT!”

I remembered now. I was in the casino. I had somehow ended up drunk. That was before I had the drink I was offered by the lady I couldn’t recognize. Then I started the slot machine and woke up here. I had skipped a few steps. This was obviously the floor boss.

“Not good.”

It moved closer, and I nearly lost my footing again. It was way too big to be feasible in Earth gravity, yet there it was. And so heavy, it caused strong earthquakes from a mile away. It must have caused the tsunami just by walking. I looked around, wondering if there was a handy tactical nuke laying around that I could use against the thing.

“What do I do? What do I do?”