Flotsam scratches his head. He did not expect to be woken up so rudely by Ryan’s abysmal driving. “Hey, Flotsam,” Riley greeted.
“Hey, Riley,” he replied.
“Yo.”
Flotsam looks outside a window. “Where are w-… Why is the sky orange?” Flotsam reacts. He then realizes something else.” “Why are we in the sky?!”
“Calm your shit, Flotsam,” Tristan orders.
“Shut up,” Flotsam growls.
“Who names their kid Flotsam, anyway?” Tristan mocks.
“Listen, they named me that way because their marriage was compared to a shipwreck,” Flotsam responded. This just made Tristan laugh. “Yes, my life is a joke. Leave me alone,” Flotsam insisted.
Ray has already taken back control of the driver’s seat. Ryan is now sitting somewhere different in the van.
“There better not be any phoenixes nearby,” Flotsam stated.
“Gah! Shut up about the phoenixes!” Tristan complains.
“Well, can we get out of this dimension?” Flotsam asked.
“About that… It isn’t starting,” Ray answers, referring to the van.
“… Damn you, plot,” Flotsam grumbles.
“The fuck is that?” Tori watches as something blue flies past her view. “Fucking hell, that’s peculiar.”
“What are you talking-. Oh.” Flotsam stops as he spots the flying thing as well.
“Alright. So, there are blue flying things. Don’t make a fuss over it. Besides, it’s far away from us.” Tristan remarks.
“We can’t just be floating,” Misty comments.
“Remember when the van became a submarine?” Flotsam questioned.
“Yeah,” Misty responded.
“Yeah… I don’t want to remember.” Flotsam lets out a nervous chuckle.
“Ryan, what are you doing?!” Svetlana yells. Ryan opened the back door and looked under the van to see a mechanism pushing them around. He almost falls out, so Svetlana pulls him back in. “Jesus Christ! Check yourself, man!”
“We’re on a track. Something’s pushing us forward,” Ryan announces.
“Interesting,” Ray replies.
The van suddenly goes to a -45-degree angle. Ryan goes flying backward. The back doors are flailing around. Ryan catches hold of the doors. Svetlana grabs said door and pulls in Ryan. Tori grabs Svetlana to help her. Ray, Tristan, Brandon, and Misty are pushed back into car seats by the sudden change of force. Riley holds onto the back of a chair. Flotsam is blown back into a chair.
The van eventually slows down and is no longer at an angle. Svetlana, Tori, Ryan, and Flotsam fall to the floor of the van. Riley lands on his feet. Ray, Tristan, Brandon, and Misty are no longer being pushed back in their seats.
“Holy shit!” Svetlana exclaims as she takes in some heavy breaths.
“Well, that was fucked!” Ryan states.
“I don’t get paid enough to deal with all this shit,” Tori complains.
“The crazy ride wasn’t my fault this time! Ahaha!” Ryan states.
“What the fuck just happened?” Ray questioned.
“Why can’t we get a break? I’m in fucking pain,” Flotsam protested.
“Get up,” Tristan uttered as he pulled Flotsam back onto his footing.
One of the flying blue entities goes right past the van. “Holy fuck, that thing was big,” Riley commented.
“Nope!” Flotsam exclaimed, before getting away from the window. “Fuck that.”
“Well then,” Misty reacted.
“Is everyone alright from that?” Tori asked.
“I am in pain,” Flotsam replied.
“I know, Flotsam,” Tori stated.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” Brandon answered.
“I’m fine,” Misty responded.
“I was not expecting that,” Ray noted.
“Why can’t we get a break?” Flotsam complained.
“Hey, look! An island in the sky!” Misty exclaimed as she pointed at something in front of the van.
“Yes! Finally! Land!” Flotsam yelled. The track pushes the van onto the floating island. Eventually, the van stops. Whatever was flying above lands down on the island.
“Well, who’s going to be the guinea pig? Who’s going out first?” Brandon inquired.
“No thank you. I will not,” Flotsam remarked.
“A’ight, I’ll do it,” Svetlana announced. She put on her hat and proceeded to exit the van.
When Svetlana steps out of the van, she sees a giant blue creature. There doesn’t seem to be any wings, so she wonders how it can even fly in the first place. She approaches the being, and it stares down at her, perplexed about what she even is. Suddenly, they speak. “Hello,” it greets her.
Svetlana gets startled by this a little bit. “Oh, you can speak,” she reacts.
The creature looks over to the van. “That is a weird carrier,” they comment. “Are they making something new?”
“What? Oh, that? It’s a van,” Svetlana replies.
“A van?” the creature questioned.
“Yeah,” Svetlana replied.
“I’ve never heard of that type of carrier,” the creature stated.
“So, are you like a type of bird?” Svetlana asked.
“What’s a bird?” the creature responds.
“Nice, it’s not a phoenix,” Flotsam reacts. With that, everyone exits the van.
“Hello,” Ray greets the creature.
“I am a ball of energy!” Ryan screams.
“Not now, Ryan! We’re on a floating island!” Ray exclaims. Ryan starts to run around the island anyway. “Tori, help me over here to stop Ryan from soaring off the fucking island,” he ordered.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” Tori called back. They chased Ryan around the island.
“Why must I be surrounded by morons?” Tristan complained.
“Shush,” Misty muttered.
“How fast can this kid run, Ray?!” Tori questioned.
“Fast,” Ray replied.
“I’m twenty-two,” Ryan stated.
“Ryan, why are you like this?” Ray asked.
“Ray, we’ve been cooped up for a while, okay?” Ryan noted.
“Just don’t run off the edge, please,” Ray responded. “You and your ADHD.”
“You wish you had my energy,’’ Ryan teased.
“I wish for you to not run off the island,” Ray begged.
“Alright, I’ll stop,” Ryan replied as he slowed down.
“Thank you,” Tori spoke, out of breath. She turned over to Ray. “Thanks, Ray.”
“Yeah, no problem,” Ray answered. He looked over to the creature. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” the creature responded.
Tori falls to the ground and takes in some deep breaths. “Fuck, he runs fast,” she mutters.
“What are you doing on the ground?” Ryan asked.
Tori looks at Ryan. “I wonder that myself” she replied, cynically.
“With only nine people we get into so much mischief. It's amazing,” Misty commented.
“Hey, warning. There’s a windstorm coming,” the creature announced.
“A windstorm? This is going to be fuckin’ great,” Tristan groaned.
“And we’re on a floating island,” Tori added.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Svetlana comments.
“Is there even a surface on this… planet?” Ray asked.
“It’s almost entirely covered in water,” the creature answered.
“Oh,” Ray reacted.
Flotsam had a vision of the gameshow. “Oh god no,” he keeps repeating.
“There’s a place you can stay for the night,” the creature declared. They then point to a navy green shack. “It’ll be protection from the storm. The wind is stronger up here.”
“Alright, thank you,” Ray responded. He leads everyone to the shack before the windstorm reached the island.
A few minutes have passed. The wind had picked up. The van outside shakes around a bit, but not enough to topple over.
“Oh, my!” Svetlana exclaimed.
“They weren’t lying,” Riley stated.
“Hey, is that creature alright?” Ryan asked. He looked out the window to see if the creature is alright. It's lying on the ground. Its fur is blowing around in the wind. Outside, the sky has changed to a color representing a deep shade of mauve. “Are we going to have to wait this storm out?”
“Yes,” Ray answered.
“We have no other choice,” added Tristan.
Images of the gameshow are still flashing in Flotsam’s head.
“Flotsam, are you alright?” Riley requested.
“No,” he replies.
“What are you thinking about right now?”
“When we were forced on that game show.”
“Oh… Okay.”
“It's just- How the fuck did the van become a submarine?! How the fuck did that phoenix get on?! And all those damn things those fucking commentators forced us to do. That's one of the worse things that happened in my life, under Lloyd getting murdered. Nothing beats watching Tracy die, though,” Flotsam ranted.
“I- I… I know,” Riley replies.
“I know I sound like a dick, but that was in the past. We're in the present. We got to keep moving forward,” Tristan explained.
The group members fall asleep one by one. Riley and Tristan are still awake. Flotsam is speaking in his sleep. “Stuxnet? Stuxnet, things will get better, man. Don't beat yourself up, please. I know, stuff like this happens, and they hurt.”
Tristan stares at Flotsam, quizzical at what he’s saying. He turns over to Riley. “You know him personally. What the hell is he talking about?” he asked. Riley covers his face and shakes Flotsam awake.
“Flotsam!” Riley tried to get his attention.
“Wh-what?!” Flotsam looked a bit annoyed.
“You’re talking in your sleep again.”
“About what?”
“Stuxnet.”
“Oh,” Flotsam reacted, sullenly. “I can’t escape my past, can I?”
“Your past? What?” Tristan asked.
“I don’t know how I’ve never talked about him. I bet I have, but I doubt you remember,” Flotsam responded.
“I’ve only known you for half a decade, man. I don’t really tend to pay attention,” Tristan noted.
“Anyway, before this whole apocalypse shit, I was an avid adventurer. In fact, Riley and I have gone on adventures together. Well, there was a friend I had, named Stuxnet. He was my best friend. We went to so many places. We made it our job to explore the world. We were really close…” Flotsam paused, not prepared to continue. He took in a deep breath.
“I had a girlfriend at one point. He had a wife. I was in a relationship with someone named Tracy Stewerine. He was married to Ronda. They had a kid, a daughter. Tracy and Ronda also liked to explore as well. We had a coordinator. His name was Lloyd…”
“One day, we got home from a journey we had in Europe, like the Slavic area. I think, was it Slovakia? I don’t remember anymore. It was well over a decade ago. Something was wrong, but we didn’t know it. Tracy contracted a disease. A fast-acting one, too. She had to go to the hospital. She died there, and it wasn’t by the disease. It was by an allergic reaction to an anesthetic. I watched her die. I’ll always remember her last words. ‘How the hell did this happen?’” Flotsam covered his face.
“It just got worse. Lloyd said some dumb things and got death threats. Ronda and Stuxnet’s child was four at this time. I was struggling with Tracy’s death; everyone was. Then Lloyd got murdered. Ronda saw it all. He died in her arms.”
“Jesus,” Tristan reacted.
“Stuxnet fell into a deep depression. We tried to get him out of it. Nothing worked. He was found dead from suicide back in 2014.” Flotsam continued.
“I was the one that found him,” Riley added. “There had been a blizzard. Flotsam, Ronda, Kat, and I sanctioned in my house. We didn’t hear from Stuxnet for days. He went somewhere before the blizzard hit. I went to his house when the blizzard started to die down. I saw his car was just haphazardly parked in his driveway. The front door was oddly unlocked. I looked around the house, and I heard this crackling noise. It was coming from the bathroom, and I knew instantly that he did something rash. I had to break down the door. I saw him in the bathtub. He electrocuted himself, on top of cutting himself, I think,” Riley added.
“Holy fuck. Okay, yeah, that’s fucked up.” Tristan reacted. “Are you guys alright?”
“We've had a lot of close friends die, even before the apocalypse. Things at one point went downhill. We and Ronda drifted apart at one point,” Riley replied. “Jackson, Conner, Zachary, Hudson, Kimberly, Royland, Ethan, probably more that I’m forgetting.”
“And who are they?” Tristan asked.
“I will talk about them some other time,” Riley answers.
“Okay then,” Tristan replied.
Ray wakes up. “Are y’all okay?’ He asked the awake trio.
“Yeah,” Riley responds
Ryan wakes up, quoting a movie. “Good morning, Vietnam!”
“We’re not in Viet-,“ Ray stops himself. “Did you sleep well, Ryan?”
“Yeah, I’m alright,” Ryan answers.
“Okay, that’s good,” Ray comments.
“Has the windstorm stopped?” Ryan asked.
Ray looks out a window in the shack. “No.”
The sky is still a deep shade of mauve. It is still nighttime. Alas, the day and night cycle is longer in the dimension they're in right now. The blue creature is still sleeping outside. The windstorm is still going at it strong. It's amazing that the creature hasn't blown away in the windstorm, but it seems they can manage it well. Ray and the group wonder how long the day and night cycle is in this dimension.
Svetlana wakes up. She sits up, puts an arm across her legs, and stares at the four that are awake. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Just waking up, y’know?” Ryan replies.
“What universe is this even? Is it still nighttime?” Tristan asked. Brandon stirs awake as Tristan was speaking.
“Well, when we arrived on the island, the sky was orange. When we entered the shack, the sky turned a deep shade of mauve; basically, a dark, pale shade of purple. Also, the windstorm is still going on. It must still be night,” Ray deduced.
“Well, I’m not going back to sleep,” Tristan replied.
“You don’t have to,” Ray responded.
“I’m surprised the van hasn’t toppled over,” Svetlana commented.
“Since when have you been awake?” Tristan questioned.
“The van is heavy, to be fair,” Ray noted.
“You can only imagine how heavy that creature is out there,” Tristan remarked.
“Don't we still have that dimension identifier?” Brandon asked.
“Yeah, it’s in the van,” Ray answered.
“Hm… That isn’t a good thing,” Brandon reacted.
Misty suddenly speaks. “Hey, is, uh… Are we going to wait the storm out, er... is someone going to go out there to retrieve it?”
“When the hell did you wake up?” Ryan asks.
“Long enough to hear about the storm,” Misty answered.
“Anyway, with what you said about going out in that storm. That seems stupid, even for me, to do,” Svetlana states.
“I’ll do it,” Flotsam announces.
“What?” Svetlana reacts.
“Look, I know that I am terrified of birds. That game show fucked me up. There's nothing I can do about that now. It doesn't mean I'm not going to be a coward all the time. That doesn't define me. I used to be a worldwide explorer. I traveled across almost all the continents. I've been through natural disasters. I've been through storms. This apocalypse is not the only apocalypse I've had to go through. Do you honestly think some wind is going to stop me?’
“I highly doubt you'll be able to withstand that fast of wind,” Svetlana interjected.
“You're likely correct, but it's not going to stop me,” Flotsam replied.
“This is fucking stupid, but I can’t stop you,” Tristan comments.
Flotsam opens the front door to the shack. A bit of wind comes in the shack. He struggles to close the door but manages to do so.
He holds onto the doorknob. He looks at the van. He thinks to himself: "all I got to do is get to the van."
He takes a deep breath. The air is cold, but not frigid. He lets go of the doorknob and makes a break for the van.
He's almost instantaneously fighting the current of the wind-flow. He goes to the ground a few times, but he manages to always regain his footing. That is until a stronger gust of wind picks him up, sending him slamming into a tree.
He lets out a pained shout. He slides down the tree. The tree is actually in a position where it's stopping him from continuing to be blown backwards. Flotsam, however, is hellbent getting to the van, so he regains his senses, and returns to making a break for the van.
His yelp of pain alerted the blue creature. They looked around until they saw Flotsam running through the windstorm, struggling to keep his footing.
Another strong gust of wind comes, sending Flotsam backwards. The creature runs for Flotsam. Flotsam grabs onto a bush, but it's not enough to keep him stationary, for the wind gust is strong, and he's blown backwards again. The creature manages to grab Flotsam before he soars off the island.
“What are you doing out here?!” the creature demanded.
“I just wanted to get the dimension identifier!” Flotsam replied.
“The what?” the creature asked.
“It’s in the van,” Flotsam answered.
“You ran out in a windstorm. That’s not a smart thing to do,” the creature stated.
“I’m sorry!” Flotsam reacts.
“He went far, didn’t he, Ray,” Ryan commented from inside the shack.
“Yeah. Still a stupid move, Ray responded.
“You should really go back to the shack,” the creature tells Flotsam.
“How though?” Flotsam asks.
“Fair point. I guess I could bring you back to the sh-.” The wind gets strong enough to move the creature. “Oh no.” They run to the tree that Flotsam collided with. They laid down in front of it and held onto Flotsam to protect him from being blown off the island.
“Hey, that creature is holding Flotsam,” Brandon pointed out.
“They, a… They look scared,” Svetlana comments.
“The storm has become more violent. Look, the van is shaking more,” Ray states.
“God, I hope it doesn’t topple over,” Tori mutters.
“We all do,” Ray adds.
Meanwhile, back outside the shed, Flotsam and the creature are still against a tree. “Are you okay?,” Flotsam asked the creature.
“The wind was able to even move me around. It's not safe for me to even get to the shack, and I still need to sleep,” the creature replies.
“O-Oh,” Flotsam reacts.
“I can protect you from the storm like this,” the creature states.
“Alright,” Flotsam answers.
“It's still nighttime. Windstorms tends to happen more at nights.”
“So, you're just going to sleep again?”
“I have to.”
“Okay.”
“I'll keep you safe. I'm sorry this is really awkward.”
“It's fine. Sleep if you need to.”
The blue creature falls back asleep. Riley stares out a window, wondering what the hell is going on. He starts sending Flotsam messages.
Riley (at 8:32 A.M.): What are you still doing out there?
Flotsam (at 8:36 A.M): The storm picked up. It's not safe for the two out here to be walking around. We can't get to the shack at the moment.
Riley (at 8:37 A.M.): Did the creature fall asleep again?
Flotsam (at 8:37 A.M): Yes.
Riley (at 8:38 A.M): How long will you be out there?
Flotsam (at 8:40 A.M) I don't know! Don't come out trying to get me back in the shack. It's dangerous out here. You probably saw how I was almost blown off the island.
Riley (at 8:41 A.M.): Yeah, alright. That was a stupid thing to do, by the way, going out in a windstorm.
Flotsam (at 8:41 A.M): I know. I'm still in pain from colliding with the tree.
“Well, he's going to be there for a while, until that creature wakes up, and the storm subsides,” Riley tells everyone in the cabin.
“How long are the days and nights in this dimension?! Gee!” Tristan complains.
“It's very interesting. We're not really used to this stuff,” Brandon comments. He jots down notes in a notebook he's been writing in detailing all the dimensions the group has been to. "This dimension has an abnormally long day and night cycle than we are used to," he writes in the notebook.
“Even that creature struggled to get to the tree,” Tori pointed out.
“Yeah, it’s worrying,” Ray replied.
“The creature was fast enough to catch Flotsam before he sailed off the island. He was nearly off the island when the creature caught him,” Brandon stated.
“Hopefully the creature isn't evil,” Ryan prayed.
“Hope so too. I think they are benevolent. I think it's safe. I mean, it didn't let Flotsam fall of the island, and they warned us about the windstorm,” Svetlana explains.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Ryan answers.
Some hours have passed. It's almost two in the afternoon, in the time that the group is used to. The sky outside is slowly starting to change back to orange. The day is finally arriving in that dimension.
The blue creature is still sleeping. Flotsam eventually passed out as well. The windstorm is still going on but has become weaker. Soon, it'll be safe to walk around out the shack again, but it's still not safe yet.
The sky is now orange. It is morning in the dimension. The creature finally stirs awake. They notice they are still holding a now sleeping Flotsam. The windstorm has more or less subsided. They get up carefully, in order to not wake Flotsam up, and make their way to the shack. Svetlana opens the front door of the shack, and her and Brandon help bring Flotsam inside the shack.
“Hi, uh, here's your guy,” the creature greets the crew.
“Yeah, thanks. His name is Flotsam. He was trying to get an item from the van. We wanted to know what dimension this is. We have a dimension identifier,” Ray explained.
“Ah, okay” the creature responds.
“He couldn't wait, apparently, for the storm to dissipate,” Ray mutters.
The creature looks over to the van, and then back at Ray. “He did get far, I'll give him that, but he was not going to get to that carrier,” the creature states.
“Well, either way, thank you for protecting him there,” Ray replies.
“You’re welcome,” the creature answers back. “It’s safe to go out now, by the way,” the point out.
“Alright,” Tori replies.
“Hey, Flotsam!” Ryan calls out.
Tristan gets annoyed by this. “Dude, he’s slee-“
Flotsam wakes up. “What?”
“How did the tree feel?” Ryan asks.
“Ryan…” Flotsam sighs. “Don’t. I’m still in pain.”
“Oh, the windstorm’s over now, Flotsam,” Misty announces.
It takes a bit for what Misty said to register in Flotsam’s brain. “Nice,” he eventually replies.
Everyone proceeds to walk out of the shack. “Why are the nights so long?” Misty comments.
“What?” the creature reacts.
“We're used to a shorter day and night cycle than in this dimension,” Brandon explains to the creature.
“Oh, I see,” the creature replies. “So, what brought you here to this dimension?”
“I'm not exactly sure how we got here in this dimension, but we've been dimension hopping for years. I and Ryan have been dimension hopping for eight years together. We've been trying to find the source of what's causing an inter-dimensional apocalypse so we can stop it. Yes, we are slow, but we don't know where to look,” Ray answered.
“What’s the apocalypse?”
“It mostly seems to be the ol' classic zombie apocalypse, in the more human-like dimensions, but we've seen it happening in more non-human dimensions,” Ryan tells the creature.
“I've been thinking that phoenixes, which have been appearing randomly in dimensions for some years now, have something to do with it,” Misty theorizes.
“That’s worrying,” the creature responds.
“Yeah,” Tristan agrees.
“I'm going to try to start the van,” Svetlana announces. She runs to the van. She enters it, and she tries to start up the engine. Because of the power of the plot, it... works? Okay then.
Another blue flying thing lands on the island. It's a darker shade than the one the group has been talking to. They are in an aggressive position. Their eyes, which are purple, seemed to have become pale. Ryan turns to see the new creature. “That’s not good,” Ryan comments. He staggers on his feet as he’s being stared down by this new creature. Quickly regaining his senses, however, Ryan books it, and the creature gives chase. It quickly catches up to Ryan and tackles him. Svetlana pulls out a semi-automatic, leans out the window, and fires multiple times at the attacking creature. The creatures falls down on top of Ryan, pinning him. “Help, please. This thing is heavy. Very... very... heavy,” Ryan calls out. His voice is muffled from being buried underneath his attacker.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” the uninfected creature runs over and pulls the attacker’s body off of Ryan. They look down at Ryan. The creature that tackled him had scratched him, but it wasn't deep enough to be fatal. The scratch happened when he was tackled. It still hurts him like hell. “Oh, that’s not good…”
“Ugh... I'm in pain.” Ryan winces as he tries to move. Ryan tries to stand. It takes a while for him to stand. He looks over to the uninfected blue creature. “Can... you carry me to the van, please?” Ryan asks.
“Yeah, no problem.” The uninfected creature picks up Ryan.
Then a few more flying creatures surround the island. Svetlana yells for everyone to get in the van. Everyone gets to the van. The uninfected creature hands Ryan over to Ray and Tori. They then climb on top of the van. Everyone else that wasn't already in gets in the van, as the other creatures land on the island.
Svetlana drives off the track the van was on, shaking the van, and the uninfected creature on top of it, around. She steers around the tree on the island, and rams into an infected creature careening them off an island. The van goes soaring off the island, but a portal opens up, and they are sent to a different dimension.