As Jenny Calhoun slept, monsters invaded her dreams.  First she watched, paralyzed, as they tore Troy, her freshman boyfriend, to shreds.  Then it was the turn of Troy’s friend Rachel, who they feasted on as she screamed and screamed and screamed.  Her parents were next.  Then they took her best friend.  Jenny tried to call out, but no sound came.  The monsters turned towards her, but Jenny was still paralyzed and her knives were gone.

    She bolted upright to find The Destroyer close by, watching her with concern.  Sunlight streamed in through the windows of the abandoned warehouse in which they had taken shelter.

    “You were in distress,” The Destroyer said.  “I did not know what to do.”

 

   Jenny propped herself against the wall and wiped the tears from her eyes.  “I was having nightmares,” she said.  When she saw the curious look on his face, she added, “Bad dreams.  My friends dying.  Not that any of them were real to begin with.”  She suppressed the urge to scream.  “I’m not real, you’re not real, they weren’t real, our worlds aren’t real.  Everything I did, everyone I saved, all the people I cared about who I lost, it was all for nothing.”

    The Destroyer cocked his head.  “You look real to me.  I feel real to me.”

    “We were created by the people of this world for entertainment, Roy,” she said.  “They watched everything we did, everything we suffered, to pass the time.  That’s what we are.”

    “I am not known as Roy,” The Destroyer stated.  “I am known as The Destroyer.”

    “‘The Destroyer’ is the name of monster or a villain from a bad story,” Jenny declared.  “You’re neither.  I don’t really know what you are, but you’re not a monster and you’re not evil. So I’m going to call you ‘Roy’.”  She closed her eyes.  “Besides, it’s shorter.”

    The Destroyer looked at her for a moment.  Then he said, “Is there anything I can do?”

    Jenny smiled.  “You’re sweet, you know that?  For now, just give me a hug when I need it, okay?”  Her stomach grumbled.  “I guess we should probably find some food as well.  I think I’ve got about forty dollars on me – would they take American money in Japan?  I can’t imagine my credit card would be any good – the account doesn’t actually exist.”

    “Why would you need money?” The Destroyer asked.  “If we need food, I will just take some.”

    Jenny chuckled.  “Right, ‘higher being’ and all that.  We could absolutely rob a grocery store, and with our powers there’s probably nothing they could do to stop us.  But, we need to keep a low profile for now.”  She glanced at the orb floating nearby.  “And with that thing I don’t think that’s happening.”

    The anger rose again.  She pushed it down.  “Not that I’m all that opposed to robbing a store at this point.  We’ve suffered a lot because of this world.  Screw them.”

    “How have I suffered?” The Destroyer asked.

    Jenny sighed.  “You’re still not getting it.  We’re fictional characters.  We exist because somebody wrote everything about us down in a script or book or comic.  You don’t have a name because the person who created you never gave you one.  You sat alone and bored in that tower of yours because they never gave you anything to do, or any reason to do it.  Out here, right now, is the first time either of us have not had everything controlled by the people who created us.  You have every right to be as angry about this as I am, and I’m amazed you’re not.”

    The Destroyer blinked.  After a moment, he said, “Do you need a hug?”

    “Yes please,” she said, and closed her eyes and tried not to cry as she felt his arms around her.  “Nothing matters,” she muttered.  “Nothing I ever did matters.”

    After a couple of minutes she opened her eyes.  “And if my world isn’t real, and your world isn’t real, then this must be the only one that is real,” she said.  “So we only need to worry about what we do here, in this world!”

    The Destroyer let go and cocked his head.

    “Don’t you understand, Roy?” Jenny said.  “We need money.  But it doesn’t need to be money from here – it just needs to be money that we can use here.  We can get the money from any world.  And since the only world that is real is this one, then it doesn’t matter what we do in any of the others.  We can just go to any world like this one and rob a bank!”  She grinned.  “Let’s rob a bank!  Can you bring us to a created world like this one?”

    “I’ve never robbed a bank before,” The Destroyer said.  “Will robbing one make you happy?”

    Jenny’s smile faded.  “I don’t know.  But I’m tired of being hungry and we need the money, so let’s go and find out.”

    The Destroyer nodded.  “Then I will take you to a world like this one.  Also, what is a bank?”

If Jenny had to guess where this created world was set, she would go with New York City.  But not a New York City connected to any reality she could imagine.  For one thing, there seemed to be almost no women on the street.  For another, everybody wore dark suits.

    “What kind of story is this?” Jenny wondered.

    The Destroyer gazed up at the tall buildings.  “What are those buildings for?” he asked.  “Are they banks?”

    “They’re office buildings,” Jenny replied.  “A bank would have some a sign saying it is a bank somewhere.”

    A hollow popping sounded from one of the alleys.  Jenny tensed.  It took a moment for her to realize why – it was gunfire.  This must be an action movie.

    “What is an office?” The Destroyer asked.

    “It’s a place where people go to work and earn money,” Jenny said.  “Let’s try down this street – I think I see a sign.”

    “An office sounds very boring,” the Destroyer said.  “They should be high schools instead.”

    They walked down the street to a building with glass doors.  A friendly green sign with a dollar symbol on it declared to the world that inside was the First National Bank.  Jenny took a deep breath.  This is all fiction, she reminded herself.  Nothing in this world is real.  Nothing they do here matters.

    She opened the door and they stepped inside.  A couple of customers and several security guards stared at them, all wearing dark suits.  A pair of tellers behind bulletproof glass also looked at them.  They wore dark suits as well.

    Jenny took another deep breath.  “I can do this,” she muttered.  “They’re all fictional.  They’re not real.”  Side by side, she and the Destroyer stepped up to the counter.  Behind them, she could hear the orb humming as it hovered at a short distance.

    The teller looked at each of them with confusion.  Then he looked at each of them again.  Then he asked, “Can I...help...you?”

    “This is a robbery,” Jenny said.  “We’ll take whatever cash is in the safe.”

    Beside her, The Destroyer smiled helpfully.  “It’s our first bank robbery.  I am known as The Destroyer.  This is Jenny Calhoun.  What is your name?”

    The teller shook his head in confusion.  “This is a joke, right?  Did Dave put you up to this?”

    “You don’t believe this is a robbery?” Jenny said.

    “Well, you’re not...”

    “Not what?” Jenny demanded.

    “...not wearing suits.”

    Jenny rubbed her temples.  “Your objection to this being a robbery is that we’re not wearing suits?”

    “Well, all the bank robbers wear suits,” the teller said.  “It’s how they hide their guns.  And you’ve got no guns either.”

    “Are you seriously telling us that you’re not going to believe we’re robbing you unless we’ve got guns and are wearing suits?” Jenny said through gritted teeth.

    “Well, at the very least we’d expect a blazer or sports jacket–” the teller started, but didn’t finish.  Jenny punched through the bullet-proof glass, shattering it, grabbed him by his shirt, and dragged him across the desk.

    “Do you believe this is a robbery now?” she snarled.  Around her, she heard the security guards pull out their guns.

    Beside her, the Destroyer’s friendly look disappeared and became cold.  “You would raise your hands against a superior being?  That is very impolite.”  He raised his hand, and a spike of drywall and brick impaled one of guards, pinning him gasping to the wall.  The others turned and opened fire on him, the bullets ricocheting off an invisible shield.

    Jenny let go of the clerk and limbered up her shoulders.  “Guess I’m getting stabby after all,” she said, pulling out her knives.  With a dash, she sliced open the nearest guard’s side with one blade, and his throat with the other.  Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw another guard aim his gun at her, panic in his eyes.  He fired.

    Her monster hunter blood throbbing in her veins, her blades flashed in front of her, knocking the bullets out of the air.  “Nice try,” she said, “but too slow.”  The guard died as he tried to reload, Jenny driving a knife into his temple up to the hilt.  She looked to the Destroyer.

    His arm was still raised, drywall and masonry ripping itself from the wall to impale the remaining guards.  A couple twitched against the wall, blood spewing from their chests and mouths, before they were still.

    From the corner of her eye, she saw the teller reach into his jacket and pull out a gun.  With a flick of her right hand, her knife slammed into his forehead.  She took a quick glance around – no threats left standing.

    “That was easier than I thought it would be,” she said, pulling her knife from the teller’s forehead and wiping the blood off on his suit.  She climbed over the desk and motioned for The Destroyer to follow her.  “The vault should be back here.”

    They came to the vault door.  The panel of a keypad flashed to the side of the reinforced steel door.  “You can just rip that off its hinges, right?” Jenny asked.

    The Destroyer poked at the door.  “Yes.”  He motioned to the door, and an unseen force ripped it open, sending loose metal pieces scattering in its wake.  Just inside the door was a large pile of money in neat bundles.

    “Now we grab what we can carry,” Jenny said, stuffing bundles of bills into her pockets.  The Destroyer waved his arm, levitating a large stack.  Jenny looked at the stack and nodded.  “Right, let’s go home.”  The Destroyer held out his hand.  Jenny took it, and with a flash they were back at the warehouse.

    “Did that make you happy?” The Destroyer asked, allowing the stack of bills to drop to the floor.

    Jenny frowned.  “Not really,” she replied.  “But, now we have enough money for whatever we need.  Let’s get some of this exchanged, and go get something to eat.”

NEXT: “Jack Death”