Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 10

"Yeah, they've got me scrubbing toilets and tried to mate me with a goat. For a supposedly superior species they don't seem too bright about some things."

"So you got a name there, big guy?" she asked.

"I'm Zeke," he shook her hand. "You?"

"I'm Sadie."

"Nice to meet you, Sadie." Zeke shoved his hands in his pockets, chewed on his lower lip, and stared at the ground.

"So do you have a girlfriend, Zeke?"

"Well, it's kind of a complicated situation. You see I was supposed to be engaged to this jungle princess, but she lives in another dimension and I sort of smashed the doorway to get there. So I haven't actually seen her in several months, but I did pledge my eternal love."

Okay, she thought to herself. So this guy's a nut job. Too bad. He's kind of cute.

"So how about you?" Zeke asked. "Got a boyfriend?"

"Nah," she said with a wink. "Boys are dumb."

Okay, Zeke thought to himself, missing the apparent humor behind her statement entirely. So she's a lesbian. Too bad. She's kind of cute.

"So how are we going to get out of here, Zeke?"

"I don't know," Zeke shrugged. "It seems like we're hurtling through outer space. Maybe we can make a break for it when they land on another planet, but I don't know how we'll get back to Earth."

"Maybe we could hijack the ship!" Sadie said with a gleam in her eye. "You look like you're a big strong guy. Are you a good fighter?"

"Gee, uh..." Truthfully Zeke couldn't remember the last time he had exercised, let alone gotten into an actual fight. "I wouldn't want to mess with me, that's for sure."

"With abs of steel like those, who would?" Sadie replied poking him playfully in his stomach.

"Are you making fun of me?" Zeke sniffed. He was a little sensitive about the slight beer belly.

"No, not at all," her voice took on a tone of mock seriousness. "Okay, I am. Jeez. Relax. Don't you have a sense of humor?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, of course I do. But is this really the time to be joking around? I mean we are stuck on a spaceship millions if not billions or trillions of miles away from Earth. We may never see our home again. Sorry if I don't find the situation too hilarious."

"What are you going to do, spend the whole time moping around? Come on, let's see what sort of stuff they've got around here." She began digging through piles of items, pausing occasionally when something caught her eye, but mostly tossing junk over her shoulders.

Zeke wandered back over to the arcade games that had caught his attention earlier. One of them appeared to be out of order, but the other was a fighting game that appeared to be rigged up to allow free games.

"I'll challenge you to a match," Sadie said as she sidled up beside him and grabbed one of the joysticks.

"All right," Zeke shrugged as he selected the two-player option and grasped the other joystick. He hammered at the buttons furiously but managed to get thoroughly beaten, barely managing to inflict any damage at all on Sadie's player.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sadie smiled at him with a sideways glance.

"No fair, I think my buttons were jammed or something."

"I'll switch you sides," she offered.

"Okay," Zeke said. He traded places with her, grabbed the joystick firmly, and stuck the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth in a show of determination. Once again he got his ass kicked soundly. "I don't want to play this anymore," he grumbled and walked away from the machine.