“What have you done?”

“Me? It was your idea?”

“What does that suppose to mean? Whenever I have a stupid idea, you will go and do it?”

“You’re the almighty and famous film producer. I am just an actor.  Where are we anyway?  And where is the time machine?”

Joshua and Mike found themselves in an abandoned metropolis. Vegetation was growing thick on skyscrapers, trees and bushes covered the streets, wild animals were roaming the roads, and there was no sign of human activity.

They walked in and out of different deserted shops and restaurants trying to figure out what happened to the people. Most of the shops were empty, and supplies were low for any survivors.

“Now what?”, asked Joshua.

“Let’s keep on walking maybe we will find something.”

“Like zombies?”

“That would be fun don’t you think? I will record the entire chase and get an Oscar for the best filmmaking.”

“Whatever dude. I knew working for a low budget film wouldn’t do me any good and why did you go and rent a real time machine in the first place?” Joshua was frustrated with Mike’s relaxed attitude.

“Cut costs. We could travel in any era we want to film our scenes and leave. No additional costume designs or CGI. It was a smart move.” Mike was walking around the town with confidence as if he knew where he was going.

“Where did you rent the time machine?"

“It’s not exactly legal you know.”

Joshua grabbed Mike’s sleeve spin him around and stared at him in the eyes, “Where did you rent this machine from?”

Mike didn’t resist. Instead, he found Joshua’s reactions rather amusing, “You know I can’t reveal my sources. I have a reputation to maintain.”

“Are you shitting me? There seems to be no one left on this freaking planet, we lost our gateway back home, and apparently, I am stuckwith you forever.”

“Don’t worry, we will get some supplies, and I have a tracking device for our ride back home. First, we will need to film some of the scenery. This place is awesome.”

Mike was humming a cheerful melody picking up cans of food and bottles of all sorts of drinks filling his backpack. Joshua was trying to figure out how that idiot of a filmmaker got his hands on a time machine.

“Here we are.” An arcade house stood in front of them. A seven-story building with colourful but damaged signs inviting its guest to get lost in time and space of the unknown.

“Life was better on the other side?" Read Joshua on a sign at the entrance of the building,  "What does that suppose to mean?”

“Do you remember the virtual reality fantasy video games, this place looks like it was one of those arcades dedicated on virtual reality.”

“Reality! That’s it. You idiot, did you buy the time machine from the black witch market?”

“What? No, come on that’s absurd. I would never do such a thing. Why, what did you hear?”

“I knew it. Those machines are not time machines, they transfer you into an alternate reality, a parallel universe similar to ours. Aaah! now I am stuck in a post-apocalyptic world where humans went extinct. Great!”

Joshua was looking around trying to find their gateway vehicle when he noticed Mike disappearing for a split second, reappearing and then dissolving into thin air. He panicked.  An unknown force might have killed Mike.

Silence. Joshua found a car racing simulation and hid behind it.

“I’ve told you a thousand times not to summon me in this reality.”

“Can you keep your voice down he might hear you.”

“You brought me a new one?”

“Of course I did.”

The arcade out of nowhere sprung into life and startled Joshua outof his hiding spot. “There you are.”, said Mike.

“I thought you were dead. What’s going on, I saw you disappear.”

“No, no I found our gateway machine, but I wasn’t sure if it was ours or an abandoned one, so I tested it.”

“Who were you talking to a few moments ago?”

“That was my good friend Silik my lead animation designer. I brought him here to help us film. He’s been here before. It’s one of his favorite universes to visit when he wants some peace and quiet.”

“Where did he go?”

“I am right here,”, Silik said while slamming a baseball bat directly at Joshua’s face.

The two men took Joshua’s unconscious body and placed it in the middle of a big plaza on the top of an artificial wooden platform, tied up on an iron pole.

Another cycle was about to end. The sun was gently receding behind the horizon allowing the moon to rise to its dark throne. Just before the last sun rays disappeared Joshua woke up. He was strapped tight to a pole unable to move.

“Mike, what the hell man? What are you doing? Let me loose!”, emptiness, his words echoed, and the silence returned. “All I wanted was to be part of a fantasy movie and now most probably I am going to be executed by a cult,” Joshua mumbled while crying out his last words.

Footsteps could be heard from all four corners of the plaza. A horde of people was approaching the sacrificial platform. They were synchronised, energetic and were approaching fast. 

Red hooded people surrounded the square, humming a chant.

“MIIIIIIIIIIKE, LET ME OUT OF HERE MAN. I don’t want to die. I am still young.” The chanting and synchronised boot pounding on the concrete road stopped.

A man approached the platform, looked up and slowly ascended the stairs. The mysteriousman took a good look of Joshua and then revealed his face. It wasn’t human. It had scales and fangs. The creature’s eyes were green, yellow snake-like, deadly.

“We have gathered today for our weekly sacrifice. Reveal your faces, my siblings. It appeared to be no humans in the crowd. “Humans have destroyed our planet, and we are here to destroy theirs.”

Cheers erupted and sent the plaza into orbit. Joshua was getting light-headed, and cold sweat was running down his spine.

“Our greatest warrior, feast on human flesh and in a few years you will become invincible.  We will invade Earth in all parallel universes and take our revenge once and for all. We will annihilate the human race from the face of every known world.”

High tech weapons unknown to Joshua were raised from their holsters, and an earthquake initiated the ceremony. A six-meter tall beast approached the platform out of nowhere.

“Oh no no wait. There must be some mistake. Great priest, I am not human. I am a druid, and it will be a grave mistake to kill a druid. You don't want my race as your enemy.”

“Did you hear that my siblings? Druids have joined the ranks of humans, taking human like form, smelling and acting like them. But you know what, druids have mystique powers, and by eating them we can obtain them as well. Go champion he is all yours.”

A song created a cult-like atmosphere, and Joshua was struggling hard to free himself. The beast was approaching, and with each step, the sacrificial platform trembled. 

“Do it champion.”, screamed the priest and the horde increased the pace of their chanting.

The shadow of the lizardman embraced Joshua, and he knew for sure that was it.

“AAAAAAAND CUT.  Well done everyone, that was one of the best scenes I've ever filmed."

“Say what?”

Mikeappeared out of a building with a megaphone and a tablet. “You did an excellent job, and I think you might have a chance of winning an acting award with that performance.”

Someone from the crew untied Joshua, he stood up, looked around bewildered and asked, “So all of this was fake, staged to get me to perform like a real-life situation?”

“Exactly.”

“What about the machine and that guy hitting me with a baseball bat and that six-meter guy, how did you do all that.”

“The machine was fake, filled with sleeping gas, the animals were from a zoo nearby, the big monster, obviously robotic engineering and the hit in the face, well that was real. Again congrats on your performance.”

“No wonder you haven’t worked with any major actor twice.”