Elzra pushed the sweaty, fogging goggles up to her warm forehead with a wet arm as her eyes strained to see the blue screen. World 1: Today's task is to fix all the debris from World 43. Remember- If you leave this world, you will no longer be able to come back in it, will be found and executed. The last sentence was, of course in small letters at the bottom of the hovering device because only an idiot would think to do so.

Was she an idiot?

As her gloved fingers returned to their work, they had a mind of their own. She knew exactly what to do to what. Everyone did. The slot in front of her slapped open every 15 minutes with a new project. If a job was unfinished in that time, she pulled an emerald green lever to start the conveyor belt connecting her to the other. The one to her right would then finish the job and dump it in the hole that connected all the way down to the trucks that each went to the world they'd been working on that day. They were all young, all of them. They needed to be, for the next 40 years they'd have to work like this. Shipped off to engineering school since they were all newborns almost, not learning about anything else but their kin. Fix, repair, make and ship off. That was their 24/7 schedule. But why? For what? They'd get paid, of course. In the next 3 years they'd all get their first paycheck. No days off. No slacking. Just a 5 minute break for meals once per day. What was this world? World 1-The most important one. Without them, who would fix all the junk from other worlds? The wrench strained in her hand from the weight of the bolt as her mind raced with the thoughts. Sighing in relief and getting to the 44th project of the day, she remembered that only 5 more needed to be completed in order for the work day to be over. As they grew older they'd need to fix more of them. There was a grand slide to the next world-one unknown, that sometimes smelled of campfire smoke and fire. It was used to deliver big packages to the different worlds and such."Get to work, slackers!" The metal hit her back hard. Their plump boss looked at her with beady eyes, almost pressed into his fat face. He toddled away, metal bar in his hand, barking at his next victims. "Elzra...staring at the main slide again?" Arlie whispered through his thin white lips, pale bony arms struggling at the wires he was cutting off with weak pliers. She turned her head to face him and looked back to her work. "Shut up. Why'd ya whisper anyway? We can talk ya know." "Yeah...but it feels...weird...dunno why..." He said this as a broken pipe slipped from the slot in front of him, making him tug at the lever in surprise. "'Do know its like, our 4th year here, right?" She conversed back, a screw finally loosing from the screwdriver. He was really frail, not meant for this world.

His pumpkin hair that curled at the tips, blue-and-gold speckled eyes and a sprinkle of freckles on the bridge of his nose on his ghostly pale face finished the recipe. He'd been threatened multiple times by officials that if he didn't do something to get more meat on those bones, he'd be executed for breaking a worldly law-"not having the right requirements in order to work properly in the assigned world". Heaving her backpack over her black crossing overalls, she stared at the hook with her name on it.

The bronze pipes that outlined the room spewed steam every now and then, not the safest thing about the pipework. The cracked nametag now read 'Elz a', the l's tip slightly chipped off and mold growing from the corners, starting to attack the 'E'. Sighing, amid the river of teenage workers beelining for the exit doors to the dorms, she stood and stared at the large metal slide. Others rolled their eyes as they passed her. After the echo of the closing door, her footsteps and the bellowing of steam from nearby pipes were the only thing audible in the big empty workroom. She stared down into the slide. The smoky, fiery smell wafted strongly up her nostrils, growing stronger with each step. Without thinking, she suddenly sat herself down the way a 3 year old would plop themself down on the big red slide at the park. Her large cloth backpack on her lap like the little sister she'd always wanted, she slid herself down the metal slide. Suddenly, she was enveloped in dizzying darkness as the slide swirled round and round. The smoke smell was nauseating. Her stomach rose as a grey light cut through the dark like a knife, the source if the smell coming closer. The last thing she remembered was hitting the concrete floor. Hard. As her eyes fluttered open, they stung slightly at the bright yellow light above her. The smokey smell wasn't detectable anymore. Where was she?Taking a good look around, she found a gas mask hanging from a plain rocking chair in front if the bed she was currently on. The clinking of dishes was audible from a kitchen as she swiveled herself out of bed, popping her head out of the room and into a long hallway. It looked like a good place to live, a perfect place for a very large family to-"oof!" Her head snapped from the paintings on the walls to the chest she'd bumped into. A girl about 2 years older than her wearing a summer dress.

But this one was...Black?Not yellow, pink or green, like the ones she'd seen on the boss's magazines at home. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and face showing signs that a tan was wearing off. Smiling sweetly at the strawberry blonde, she asked her how she was. "Oh...I'm fine...but what world am I in?" The dark brown haired girl's eyes were glossy for a second, but returned to normal. she suddenly grabbed Elzra's wrist and led her to a large curtained window.

Poking her fingers through it, Ezra couldn't believe her forest-green eyes. There were raging fires amid the sidewalks and town, buildings in ruin, an apocalypse really. Smoke bellowed from every direction of fires. she saw two figures in the fiery glow, gas masked. They both looked identical in the dark like that. "W-what....world...is this?" not looking away from the figures, they inched closer. Closer.

The girl was now in the kitchen, finishing in drying the dishes. There were piles and piles of them perfectly stacked and shining on the counter. One false move and they would all come toppling down. "Ah...my name...is-" The brunette was interrupted by a door slamming open, two figures-the same gas-masked ones as before entered the room, tearing their masks off. "Who's the squirt?" a boy asked as he hung his coat neatly on a peg. The other, an identical twin, really, sat on a sofa.

They both had one freckle on the bridge of their noses, brown hair slowly merging to blonde, and Hershey's chocolate eyes. Apparently, he was talking of Elzra. "Let's leave that for dinner." The other girl called from the kitchen. "There's many more to come." She continued, the room starting to smell of bread and other foods. But the Hershey-eyed twins seemed to be alike, but so different.

The door suddenly slammed open again, and a green thing walked in. It was scaly, almost 8 feet tall, needing to bend a bit as it made its way in. A finned tail, arms and feet followed shortly after. It wore pants, now shrunken to shorts and a white XL t-shirt beginning to crop up despite its height. Elzra stared at it, eyes as wide as dinner plates. As it inched closer, it grinned, revealing fangs in every corner if its gaping mouth. It was eyeless under its blue hair. As she gasped to let out a scream, a little boy with black wolf ears pulled her down and clamped a clawed hand over her mouth. "Shhhh....he'll fall and break something if you scare him like that." The boy appeared to be about 4 years old, shirtless in order to show off a large scar slashed across his chest and a tail popping from his pants. Ezra got up and stared at the roomful of freaks.

The girl and twins greeted the monsters as if everything was normal. Yup, definitely no raging fires about to kill us outside and no way is there a werewolf kid and monster in this house Elzra thought to herself, trying not to stare at the strange family. Dinner was soon declared ready, and she let a sigh of relief. Finally, a way to get some explanations. And food. Only now did she realize she was starving. Sitting herself down in her seat, the monster sat next to her, drool slowly oozing from its sharp mouth to the plate as it sniffed the air. To her left sat one if the Hershey-eye twins. Getting a better look at him, younger or not, he was pretty cute. "For the last time, Dawn! Dinner's ready!" The girl called from her seat, passing a large plateful of fish to a lip-smacking monster. "Yeah!" a response was heard from what appeared to be a...basement? THUNK-thunk THUNK-thunk THUNK-thunk.

Heavy footsteps were heard coming closer, closer until-A girl with sweet orange hair in a pigtail on the left side of her round head and black grease stains on her face emerged from the stairway. But her leg amazed Elzra. It was prosthetic, gears were seen twirling away inside as he huddled to the table, nearly tripping. It reminded her of home so much. All seated at the table, the girl, metal leg, monster, werewolf boy and the Hershey-eye twins. The messy crunching of fish was heard as the monster downed his plate before the girl even started talking. "So, let's introduce ourselves, shall we? My name is Amber. Yourself, miss...?" "Call me Elzra, please" the blonde nervously said at the large table. Then the twins, one by one said "Erjen" and "Alren", apparently more focused on their plates than their guest. But names were no use since they looked so identical. "And me! me! my name is Remie!" The wolf boy looked up from his heap of a plate of meat and was on the verge of yelling. The monster next to her turned to look at her with its eyeless face with a smile full of fish, making Elzra return to eating her bread.

"A-and him...?" She asked, turning to the orange-haired one. "Oh him. He doesn't have a name. Or gender for that matter. It's actually an alien from a world that no longer exists anymore. One if the last ones. it was a very watery world, so they'd eat fish-like animals and that's also what the webbing's for. Pretty useless in this world, considering the fires, but there's nothing we can do about it. Call me Dawn." She said, slurping soup. "Sorry but I have a lot of questions here...the fires? Why so many? and I'm sorry to ask Dawn, but what's happened to your leg?" Elzra called out, wanting someone, anyone at this table to give an answer. "This world's air has deadly chemicals that can only be cured by the smoke of fires. Once we light one, we need to wait for it to completely purify the air around it with its smoke." Amber responded, glaring at the twins for them to be if some use in the conversation. "Dawn's been shot in th' leg. And made her fake leg from scratch. Creativity is forbidden in the world she's originally from." They both answered in unison, getting themselves a free dirty look from the one they were conversing about. With a sudden smirk, Dawn spoke up.

"The twinsies here were serial killers. Better not trust 'em" She shot back at them, putting the soup bowl to her mouth.

"Shut up metal leg!" Erjen yelled. Dawn's eyes widened and they instantly started bickering. "Oh don't mind them. They're always like this. We were killers in a world that wasn't ours. We then found Amber and decided to join her. We're wanted in many other worlds, you know." Alren turned to look at Elzra this time. "And the werewolf...?" she asked, glancing at the wolf boy who was currently tearing a steak with large fangs. "He's a refugee. World skipper. Almost ended getting himself killed in entering this one." Even an idiot would know that a world skipper was one who jumped world to world. Something that could lead to execution if officials found out.

"Amber, I hate to ask, but, what's your story?" She looked at the brunette with questioning eyes. "I'm from your world, Elzra." She said with a smile. The blonde almost choked on her water. "I got so tired of fixing junk all day. so I went down the slide and here I am now." Amber's thin red lips curled into a warm smile that almost made Elzra forget who she was. So Elzra explained her story to the rest.

About how she had the same problem as Amber and went down the slide. That's when Elzra realized-all these creatures, were things unwanted from their true worlds. And that's where she finally realized, that she belonged here.