"Have you noticed anything strange about this place yet?" the woman who went by the name Caitlin asked Anthony, both of them sitting in the empty rooftop diner. She had raw umber hair that was a little darker than Anthony's skin, and even though they were both in casuals, Caitlin either did not have the time or the care to undo or redo her military bun. The evacuated, starlit, and murky venue made it difficult to see what Caitlin was wearing other than the white blouse that was soaking in some of the emergency lights past the glass railing. Sirens and fleeing patters accompanied the sips they both took, Caitlin from her margarita and Anthony from his bourbon respectively.

  "Which country are you supposed to be in right now?" Anthony asked back.

  Caitlin smiled, her red lipstick glimmering against a missile that went right above a residential city block. "Do you think we split timelines already? Well... ugh... verbiage aside... you know what I mean right?"

  Anthony nodded, taking another gulp from his drink. Anthony and Caitlin locked eyes for several seconds.

  "We arranged our flights to go to Beirut," Caitlin finally answered.

  "My memories say we arranged them to fly to Amman," Anthony answered back.

  There was no need to point out that the King Hussein Mosque and Martyrs' Square were abreast at the ground level. Them spotting the reality changing ever so subtly was the catalyst to this conversation, and it was as normal to them as the exploding missile behind Caitlin on the skyline.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "This is a city... in the very literal sense," Caitlin said.

  Anthony raised an eyebrow.

  "What would happen if we ended up in a town or city the writer did not specifically name and we ended up going to it. Well... we found our answer," Caitlin said. "It would not surprise me if those clubs and bars down were from other continents altogether."

  "Do you think there is an instance of Usher somewhere?" Anthony asked.

  Caitlin shrugged. "Beats me."

  "How are you so blase about that one thing that keeps appearing no matter how many times we break reality or create a time travel contradiction?" Anthony asked. "Whatever Usher is... that is the secret to all of this craziness."

  "No," Caitlin said. It was so long ago they had finished their meals, however Caitlin scraped whatever was left on hers as an excuse to lift up the fork to point behind Anthony. "They are the answers to everything."

  Even though the sun had been long gone, it was not possible to mistake the glowing white and black blur for a missile, a drone, or a stealth bomber. At the same time Anthony registered some kind of fusion of goat and man in the object fast approaching, the entity collided into tens of city blocks immediately. The rooftop swayed in a way it was never meant to, buildings initiated their unplanned demolitions, and the warmth in the middle of Anthony's chest took more prominence in his mind than his instincts to take cover. Why the powerful sensation took prominence became clear when both of his hands had already moved on their own, both of his palms covered in unlighted blood.

  "I am sorry Dominic," Caitlin said. "I have no intentions in letting you take the place of the existing one."

  As the diner sank lower, more lights hit the blonde roots inside Caitlin's hair. She shot Anthony with her silenced gun three more times before his body got lost in the nascent ruble, then she free climbed in heels across falling buildings and towards a prehistoric man on a sentient cloud.