The whole town seemed deserted, like a ghost town. Stray newspapers headlining about the mayor's kidnapping rolled through the streets to be trampled by a disoriented, potentially brainwashed person. Kai felt uneasy, as if she was walking through a haunted trail. This had to be some kind of mean joke, or a total dream come true. If Goodwin was real, then who else could be here?
Kai stopped. A strong, alluring scent blew past her. Jo stopped too and looked back at her. "Kai, what is it?" she asked her quietly.
"Coffee," Kai whispered and dashed towards the smell, drawn to it.
"Wait!" Jo shouted and followed behind. She trailed behind Kai up a short flight of cement steps and fell through a door into a café.
"Get away from me you zombies!" a man's voice shouted from inside the café.
"Zombies?" Kai poked her head around the corner. Jo came up behind her and both of their eyes widened in surprise.
Jack Atlus stood there, waving an empty coffee jug at several people with the dead look in their eyes. Kai noticed that one of them wore a short-sleeved shirt and bore a glowing, purple spider mark on their right arm. This has to be a dream. It just has to, she thought.
"Jack, why do you always pop up when you're not wanted?!" Jo shouted and Kai was clueless. Had Jack popped up somewhere in Jo's town before?
Jack saw the girls by the door and he dashed towards them. "Here, hold them off," he told them as he passed them and went through the door.
"No way!" Jo screamed and followed him down the steps. Kai followed and slammed the door behind her. Jack picked up a cinderblock and put it at the foot of the door.
"There, that should stop them for awhile," he smiled at his own cleverness. "You girls' best get out of here while you still can," he said valiantly before dashing off down the sidewalk.
Jo and Kai looked at each other and shrugged before running after him. He was faster than both of them, and eventually, Kai stopped to take off her hi-top sandals and dashed off after Jack, running faster bare-foot. Jo tried to catch up but she tripped and shot her hands out in front of her to catch her fall. The whirring of an engine could be heard to her right and when she landed, she looked down the alley to see a red duel runner coming at her. She screamed and was too afraid to move out of the way as she covered her head.
She heard screeching, Kai pitter-pattering through the puddles towards her, accompanied by the sound of someone wearing boots.
The duel runner stopped, just inches away from her. The man driving it took off his helmet and revealed a mess of black hair with gold streaks, complementing his blue eyes. Jo gazed up at him in wonder, glad that Goodwin and Jack weren't the only ones that had stepped into reality.
"Are you okay?" Yusei asked her, coming to her side to assist her.
"Is she alright?" Kai huffed, holding her sides as she came up to them. Yusei pulled Jo up, who gaped in awe. Kai giggled, now she was starting to believe this whole thing.
"I'm perfectly fine," Jo smiled, staring into Yusei's eyes.
"What were you doing out on the road? Did you know you could have gotten hurt?" Yusei scolded her as if she was a little kid.
"I tripped," she chewed her bottom lip.
"Yusei, have you seen the news?" Jack asked him and Yusei turned to the blonde man, "Goodwin's in control and everyone are zombies!"
"I know Jack. I was heading up there to see what was going on," Yusei told his friend. "For some reason, these two girls aren't brainwashed. Same goes for us."
"Goodwin has a reason behind this," Jack narrowed his eyes, "I can feel it."
"Let's get going then," Yusei said, pushing his duel runner behind a dumpster. He knew none of the zombies would have any reason to steal it, but he still felt that he needed to conceal it.
Together, they walked quickly towards the mayor's office, where Goodwin was patiently waiting.
