Another Path (WT)

Bob Bob Duck.

"The fuck!" Josh stepped backwards at the sight of this new associate.

"Don't be afraid." Bob, as he'd designated himself, raised a grey hand.

It was grey because there could be no doubt at all that Bob was dead.

"Shit," Josh said, taking a step back. "Are you going to eat my brains?"

Bob sighed, a particularly wheezy sigh. "That's a vicious stereotype," he moaned.

He moaned because Bob was obviously a zombie. Apart from his skin being an unhealthy grey, in many places it was also flaking off, exposing a rotting carcass underneath. His eyes were glazed over, and his clothes were little more than rags.

"So you don't eat brains?" Josh looked at the undead sideways.

"Oh yes, of course I do. I mean, along with everything else."

Josh raised his hands, ready to do his newly found magic thing.

"No! No, it's okay," Bob said. "I'm here to help. Well, to give you some advice at least."

"Go on." Josh didn't lower his hands.

"You're not Jox, are you?"

"Why would you say that?"

"I see dead people," the zombie said. "Hear them too. Talk to them. Chat to them. I'd have coffee with them, if they had coffee here."

"They don't have coffee here?" Josh lowered his hands in shock.

"I know, right? It's fucked up."

"So you're not from here either?"

"Nearly all of the people here aren't native to this 'verse, or at least are descendants from other worlds, other universes."

"Okay, okay, so you said you had some advice?" Josh tried to wrestle the conversation back on topic.

"Yes, don't trust the ruler of this place."

"No shit Sherlock," Josh replied. "He already attacked me and threw me into prison."

"That's because he's batshit crazy."

"Yes, figured that out on my own, thanks."

"But he also needs you."

"So why did he try and have me killed by carrot then?"

"Oh, you were never in any danger, if you hadn't escaped by yourself, he'd have found a way to get you out."

"I don't understand."

"His Grace plays the long game. I'm not entirely sure what that game is, but it will mean your death, that I am certain of. Also, as you said, he's a wackjob. Totally nuts."

"They're saying I'm their saviour!"

"You're obviously a major talent," Bob said. "One that has a lot of power."

"As unlikely as I'd have found that some hours ago, I seem to have some ability in this place." Josh looked at his fingers.

"It may not have been apparent, or accessible, in your universe, but the rules are different here."

"How so? And how do you know?"

"Because what is happening to you, happened to me," Bob said. "My universe, my world, was aware of the multiverse, and even of this one in particular. I was recruited to try and take out His Grace. He was deemed a danger, so I was sent here to put him down."

"I take it that didn't go well?"

"How did you guess? I..." Bob stopped talking suddenly and looked around. "Shit, they're looking for you."