"You want to watch where you're poking that thing?" Zeke asked as the shaggy purple rotund creature shoved a spear into his back.

"Less talking, more walking," the other creature said as it, too, shoved its spear into Zeke's back. "Queen Mai-La-Juna grows impatient."

"First of all, I'm pretty sure you've got the wrong guy. I don't know any Queen Mai-La-Juna. Also if you guys had one of those programmable transporting doors, why didn't you program it to go straight back to her so we wouldn't have to walk so dang far? Where the hell are we anyway?" There were enormous trees all around him and it was almost pitch dark. Something seemed vaguely familiar about this place.

"Get down!" One of the shaggy creatures shoved Zeke to the ground mere seconds before a large rainbow colored serpent dropped down from a tree and snapped at the space where his head just was. The other creature ran the serpent through with its spear.

"Close call," the creature said. "If that thing had bitten you the very blood in your veins would have turned to dust over the next couple hours. At least we'll have a tasty snack now. Poison Rainbow Serpent jerky is most delicious as long as it's prepared properly."

"What if it's not prepared properly?" Zeke asked.

"Slow, prolonged, agonizing death," the creature said. "You be sure to share some with me, yes? I would take it as a grave insult if you refused."

"You're an expert at making it?" Zeke asked.

"Never made it in my life. But I watched my mom make it a couple times. Pretty sure I know how. Of course the second time did kill her."

Zeke gulped. "Isn't this queen person in a huge hurry to see me? As much as I'd love to sample this undoubtedly delicious delicacy of yours, it would be really bad to keep her waiting, right? We'd better save this poison snake jerky of yours for later."

"Hairless little boy man is correct," the other creature said. "Best not keep Queen Mai-La-Juna waiting. Although why she bother with prepubescent wimp like him no make sense to me."

"Here, you carry this," the first creature said as it shoved the dead serpent into Zeke's hands. It was over ten feet long and quite heavy and thus not very easy to carry.

"Walk faster," one of the creatures said as it gave him another shove with its spear.

"Cut it out, man," Zeke said. "I'm walking as fast as I can. How much further do we have to go anyway?"

"Not much further," the second creature said. "Fifteen, twenty miles. Give or take ten miles."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Zeke grumbled as he re-adjusted the serpent body. His arms and back were starting to ache from the weight and it felt like he was getting a blister on his left foot.

*

Dr. Wentworth sat brooding in his La-Z-Boy chair. "Eustace! Come pull the lever and make my chair recline! And fetch me my whisky bottle while you're at it!"

"Yes, sir!" Dr. Wentworth's assistant Eustace said as he ran to the liquor cabinet. "Are we going to work on your vengeance scheme on that no good Dr. Octavius today, sir?"

Dr. Wentworth took a long swig from his whisky bottle as Eustace reclined the chair all the way back. "I'm afraid I've sunk into a deep depression, Eustace. Now go leave me be. I want to be alone with my whisky."

It had taken a few weeks before the effects of the mind control device had worn off and at first Dr. Wentworth had been livid with anger. The moment he found himself back in possession of his senses, he threw away the paint brush he had been using to clean up some of the damage he had caused to a local retirement home. He swore that vengeance would be his and stormed back to his laboratory immediately. He sat at his work table with his extra large notepad with the intent of engaging in an intense brainstorming session, but found that he had no ideas. The longer he spent trying to come up with a suitable plan the less he was able to come up with. The best thing he had been able to muster up was placing a whoopie cushion underneath Dr. Octavius as he sat down. Truthfully, he had jotted that down very early on and hadn't come up with anything else since then. He crossed out the whoopie cushion idea angrily and sent Eustace to fetch his whisky bottle. He dropped himself into his La-Z-Boy and that's where he had remained ever since.

He laid back in his chair guzzling whisky and wallowing in his misery. But then he recalled something strange that had occurred earlier that day. Something out of the ordinary that he had almost forgotten about in the midst of his alcoholic haze. A young woman had knocked on the door. Eustace had shown her into the room and she had begun asking him about parallel universes or some poppycock like that. Then she had had the gall to inquire if he was Dr. Octavius and if not, if he could perhaps tell her where to find him. His rage had flared up at the mention of that name and he had flung the whisky bottle he had currently been drinking at her head. He missed quite badly and it smashed to pieces on the wall behind her, but apparently that had been enough to frighten her off as she hurried out of his laboratory.

He had dismissed the matter as a minor nuisance and immediately resumed his drinking and wallowing, but something she had said had managed to stick in his craw subconsciously. Something about parallel universes. A small seed of an idea began to bloom in Dr. Wentworth's mind and he found himself letting out an involuntary evil cackle. He pulled himself out of his La-Z-Boy and returned to his work bench where he began to furiously jot on his notepad.

*

It had been a long and arduous walk, and Zeke's captors had killed several more dangerous animals, which they had also forced him to carry. He felt like his legs were about to crumble beneath him when they announced that they had arrived at their destination.

They appeared to be in a small village comprised of several grass huts. There were no trails leading off into the surrounding trees and the darkness was what Zeke would describe as oppressive. He wasn't sure why anyone would choose to live in a gloomy and desolate location such as this, nor was he sure how the creatures had found their way back to this place since as far as he could tell there were no notable landmarks anywhere. Just trees and vines and darkness as far as the eye could see in all directions.

"Queen Mai-La-Juna most anxious to see you. You go into main hut, but be sure to bow and not look her in eye. Also don't speak unless she speak to you first."

"Okay, but would you mind taking these carcasses from me first?" Zeke asked.

"You really stupid idiot, aren't you?" one of the creatures said. "You go see Queen Mai-La-Juna with no present and she cut your head off. On the other hand, hairless boy man head probably make for tasty after dinner snack. You give carcasses here. Me eat especially well later."

"On second thought I'll go ahead and bring these with me. As an offering to this queen person, obviously. Thanks for getting these for me."

"You shut up now. Whiny voice hurt ears and make me want to smash things. Like your stupid looking face."

"Okay, okay. I'm going in the hut now. Are you guys coming with me?"

The creatures both started laughing hysterically. "We not crazy enough to go in hut. Queen Mai-La-Juna unpredictable even on good days. No, we value our lives way too much to risk being in her presence. Now get in there." They poked him again with their spears.

Zeke hustled into the hut making sure to bow. He also took the opportunity to finally drop the load of animal carcasses he had been hauling for miles. His aching arms throbbed in relief from being unburdened.

He remembered not to look at the queen directly in the eye but he was able to see that she was an immensely large round creature covered in long purple hair. She was easily twice as big as the creatures who had captured him and had an enormous jiggling belly and several chins.

"Zeke!" she said in a harsh gutteral croak. "Long time no see. Now come over here and give your true love a kiss."