This is a sequel to one of the first stories I posted on this blog.
He’d sawed off his leg to escape the zombies. Fortunately, he still had his trusty chainsaw.
He locked himself inside an empty store and stopped to rest.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm: an infected scratch.
Survival ended up costing him an arm and a leg.
They turned to see, floating in the nothingness, the King of Nothing, grinning maniacally at them.
“I know you…” said the Prince.
“I’m your father, you nitwit. You’re the Prince of Nothing.”
“I’m going home, you coming, Prince?”
“Yeah. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Fanny Ending.”
“I should’ve guessed.”
They escaped.
It was a daring and dangerous escape. Seriously, you should have been there. Truly spectacular. Even the Prince helped!
Once they got out of the dungeon, they found that they were, quite literally, nowhere.
“That’s what happens when you cross the Bridge to Nowhere,” said a mysterious voice.
“But, that pile of straw is in the cell, with us!”
“Shut up, loser. They want us alive, otherwise they would have killed us already. Once they see the fire, they’ll have to let us out. Then we can make our move!”
“Which would be?”
“Getting out of here, dummy!”
They put her in a cell with that loser, Prince Charming, who she’d come to rescue.
Before the irony became too much to bear, she said, “hand me that spoon.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll use that spoon to reflect that beam of sunlight onto that pile of straw.”
FIRE!
When she came to, she was in a cell, in some dank dungeon.
“Damn,” she muttered, under her breath.
“Thank heavens, you’re awake! But if you’re in here with me, how are we going to get out of here? I’ve been stuck here for weeks, and there’s no way out!”
She knew she had to get to The Other Side, but had no idea what she would find there.
This was, literally, Nowhere. It even said so on the sign.
Even the ground seemed immaterial. People she’d meet weren’t quite there.
Suddenly, something immaterial hit her and knocked her out.
She gave her last scrap of food (chicken bone with bits of meat still left on it) to the fifty-sixth gnome she came across, who let her pass.
And then the fifty-seventh gnome blocked her way.
So she punched him in the face and hurried on.
No more gnomes appeared.
“But before you cross, listen to me!”
“Oh, boy, what now?”
“Crossing the bridge won’t be easy. Hope you brought plenty of food.”
“Is it a long journey?”
“No, but every few minutes, a gnome will stop you and ask for something to eat. Better give them something than argue.”
“Before you can cross the Bridge to Nowhere, you must choose a destination!”
Decisions, decisions.
She would have to make her choice soon, lest her Prince Charming die in the clutches of the evil Fly-Dragon.
“For my destination, I choose… The Other Side!”
The keeper paused momentarily.
“You may pass.”