THE MOMENT
"What the hell?" Victor twisted the knob closed and rushed out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around himself but did not bother drying off. He left a trail of water as he hurried to his bedroom to turn the TV on.
He regularly listened to his favorite morning DJs while in the shower. He hadn't even lathered up when an unfamiliar voice filled the air between songs. She asked if there were any men left in the world with troubling sincerity; it was enough to interrupt Victor's shower.
"Reports continue to flood in across the world. All men have disappeared; if you are a man or know where to find one, please contact the authorities," the news anchor announced. Her eyes were red with sorrow.
"This is a joke...," Victor sat on his bed as he tried to make sense of the situation. He double-checked his phone; but, there were no missed calls or texts. It stung a bit that he didn't mean enough to the women he knew for them to check on him; but, he understood. He never made a particular effort to become a good friend. And they were likely more concerned with the other men missing from their lives. He was raised in an orphanage and tended to keep to himself. While growing up, he was the only person he could rely on.
He stood and dressed while he wondered about his next step. There was a very real chance he was the last man on Earth. The kind of attention that would give to him made Victor feel uneasy. He began to imagine the worst scenarios of him being perpetually poked and prodded as the women try to find out why he was the only man left. Once he was dressed, he turned around and found a golden retriever with a long, shiny coat standing on his bed. Victor did not own a dog.
"I'm sorry to rush you," the dog said. Victor's mind blanked out in surprise. "If you have anything you want to take with you, grab it now," he said. He may have been a talking dog; but, Victor was smart enough to realize he might have something to do with the disappearances across the world.
"Who are you? Where are you taking me? Did you take all the men too?" he fired the questions one after the other. He felt relieved when the dog shook his head.
"My name is Buddy," the dog replied. "We don't have a lot of time before you're noticed but I'll try to explain it briefly. The men were all sent to another Earth. The ones that did it missed you; but, they'll send you there too if you're discovered."
"Another Earth?" Victor asked. It sounded outlandish; but, half the world's population disappeared. And, he felt like he could trust Buddy for some reason. "Why?" he asked.
"They will be devoured," the dog said. He hung his head; but, kept his eyes on Victor in a sort of puppy-eyed apology. "the fate that I'm trying to save you from."
"What?" Victor asked. "They're all going to get eaten?? If you're not behind this, then who is??"
"Not all of them, some will only be killed; Majicka is a picky eater. The ones that did this are known as the Conquistadors, two of them anyway. Majicka the mermaid, her guard Chip, and a unicorn named Runehart."
"Unicorns and mermaids??" Victor asked. His voice carried a smile with it as if he'd heard a mildly funny joke. "You're kidding." The answer made it clear that whatever was going on, Victor was not going to be the one to save the world.
"I'm a talking dog," Buddy reminded him.
"Fair enough," Victor nodded.
"So, where am I going?" he asked and moved to his closet to begin gathering some of his favorite clothes.
"To a different Earth," Buddy replied. Victor stepped back to look at Buddy through the closet door.
"A different.. different Earth, right? Not the one with the mermaid?"
"There are an infinite number of alternate Earths. I will take you to a safe one," Buddy said.
"Alright..," after a moment Victor exited the closet with a bulging canvas laundry bag and a smaller backpack. He went to his chest of drawers while continuing the conversation.
"So... the mermaid and the unicorn are going to eat all the men that were taken from here? Why men only?"
"As I said, Majicka is a picky eater. She prefers to only eat men. That is if she isn't starving. Runehart has a preference for women," Buddy answered.
"Ready," Victor said. He stood in front of the bed holding his two bags. Buddy nodded and a tall black portal opened in the air next to Victor.
"Then, let's get you to safety," he said. Buddy hopped off the bed and trotted through the portal. Victor followed but posed more questions on the way through.
"So..that means the women on this Earth are in danger too? What about the women on the other Earth?" he asked. The portal closed leaving Victor's apartment empty for several minutes.
Then, a horizontal black portal appeared in the air and a woman in a jogging suit fell out onto the floor face first.
"Owwwww...," she pushed herself up and noted the soft carpet between her fingers. She stood and took a confused look around the apartment while rubbing her nose.
"What the hell...?"