Frenzy & Torch

Chapter 10: Drumstick

Fort Drumstick was a sprawling three thousand acre fortress located on a distant desert world named Kelona. The natives had constructed it in the midst of societal breakdown. It was erected with amazing craftsmanship; there were watch towers half a mile high, a mess hall, and multiple barracks buildings. Xitanker's forces recently stumbled upon the abandoned settlement and immediately utilized it as an outpost while sending teams out to mine rare minerals. The troops were all voluntary mercenaries, with the exception of a couple coerced prisoners.

Elizabeth and Annabelle were currently held captive in an alternate dimension by a giant winged brain in his living room. They had been here for only ten minutes after being pulled through the dimensional wormhole, but for everybody else in their home dimension, they had been gone for seventy-two hours. The surrounding environment was electric green and there were strobe lights in colors they had never seen before. The bass boosted music violently rattled the protective sphere. The brain was watching a soap opera named Debbie The Downer. The titular character was arguing with her daughter over her marriage to a cross-dressing firefighter.

"Hey." Elizabeth said.

The brain kept staring at the TV.

"Hey, dickhead!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The brain slowly turned to face her. "What?"

"Let us the fuck out of here!"

"No." He faced the TV again.

Elizabeth's eye twitched.

"You have a real way with words." Annabelle commented while sitting cross-legged and playing with a yo-yo.

"At least I'm trying to do something!" Elizabeth poked a finger against her own sternum. "You've done nothing for the last ten minutes but sit on your ass!"

"Well, what else would I sit on?"

"Dammit, Annabelle, are you completely fucking catatonic or what?!"

"Will you calm down?" Annabelle pulled out her orb. "We won't have to lift a finger to get out of here."

"Oh, you and your fucking orb. How 'bout you inform me of shit instead of leaving me in the dark so you can act smart?!"

"Because I find it amusing, how about that?"

"You know what, fucking bite me!"

"With pleasure!"

"Hey, be quiet, you two!" the brain said.

"And what if we don't, huh?" Elizabeth put her hands on her hips and stared assertively at the creature. "The fuck are you gonna do about it?

"I'll eat both of you!"

"You don't even have a mouth!"

"Alright, that's it— " he was interrupted by three policemen busting down his door. One was upside down, one was tall with unnaturally long limbs, and the third one had skin that was constant TV static.

"We received a tip that you were keeping hostages from Dimension Eighty-Nine-Hundred! Let them go, now!" said Static Man while aiming his weaponized tangerine.

"Fuck you, pigs!" the brain yelled as it flew through his foam window.

"You two, go after him! I'll take care of these two!" Static Man directed his attention to the girls. "Very sorry about all this. I'll send you back to your dimension now. Be prepared to make a rough landing though, it's completely random where you'll pop back up."

Elizabeth was confused. "Hold on, what— "

The girls fell through an open portal at the same velocity from when the Japanese ship exploded, slammed into a section of Fort Drumstick's wall, then finally crash landed in a mess hall. The shockwave shattered windows and blew over a few signs.