Chapter 8: Mystery Box

James opened the door. They saw a stage which was dimly lit, with only sporadic beams of moonlight penetrating through the boarded-up windows and cracked ceiling. The torn red curtains hanging loosely and the grandeur of its theatrical history overshadowed by a sense of decay. There were vertical containers stacked onto each other. Each container had a small circular window. To the center of the back stage were a series of props. There were large containers stacked on top of each other. Some were open with rusting props inside them. 

To the back wall, there was a box. It was a large, narrow, wooden box with a colored beam emitting towards the sky.There were two glowing question marks imprinted on the lid of the box, side by side and with the right one being vertically reversed.

"Perfect," James commented. He had a wide smile on his face. They started to walk towards the box. 

"What is it?" Lois asked. 

"It is called the Mystery Box, where you have a chance to get a weapon from it," James answered.

"So it's like a slot machine but with guns," Lois remarked.

"Yeah, exactly," James replied. He thought that was pretty accurate. 

They approached the Mystery Box. "Why not give it a shot first, let's see if Lady Luck is on your side?" James suggested with a playful grin.

Lois smiled back. "It has been on my side ever since you have come into my life," Lois replied. 

James was not sure if that was true. He made her cheat on her husband, abandoned her family and children and took her to a world filled with flesh eating monsters. However, she looked happy. She had a wide smile on face as she approached the Mystery Box. 

"We will go to some place better for sure," James added. 

"I look forward to going anywhere with you," Lois said. James did wonder how and why she trusted him so much. Lois approached the box and pulled the latch open. She opened the lid of the box with her hand. 

James thought that was strange, the box did not glow and the weapon appearing and randomly cycling through did not happen. Lois reached into the box and pulled out a gun. It had a sleek and unconventional design. The gun had a red metallic chassis with a smooth curve.

The barrel of the gun was a cylindrical shape On the side of the weapon, there were additional components such as a power cell and cooling vents. It had an oversized, circular muzzle at the front.

"Ray Gun," James remarked. 

"Ray Gun?" Lois questioned. She looked at the strange gun in her hand. It was something she had never seen. It looked like it was out of a futuristic movie.

"It is a powerful weapon that does splash damage so if you miss it still hits something," James explained. 

"Really," Lois said. She looked at the gun. "Here you can have it," Lois added.

"Are you sure?" James asked. 

"With your aim, this will be better," Lois remarked. She smiled. 

James thought she was right although the truth hurts sometimes. "Sure, I can take it," James replied. He smiled. Lois gave James the Ray Gun. James took it and looked at the Ray Gun. An iconic and powerful weapon. He had the Ultimatrix and the Ray Gun. He thought he was doing pretty well. 

At that moment, a zombie came walking out of a barrier. Lois aimed her gun and shot him in the face. His head moved back as his leg gave away and collapsed. His eyes stopped glowing. 

Another five zombies came walking from the dressing room. James aimed his Ray Gun. He pressed the trigger. A green energy wave came out of the barrel and headed towards the group of zombies. The middle zombie got hit in the chest directly. The splash damage hit another two zombies next to him. In total three zombies went down. Lois quickly got into action and fired two bullets, finishing the remaining zombies off. 

"That gun is powerful," Lois remarked. 

"It is for sure," James said. He noticed the gun did not have a great kick to it. He thought of the creator of this gun, Maxis Ludvig and how if this gun was mass produced it could have changed the course of the war. 

He snapped back to reality. "My turn now," James said. 

"I wonder what you will get," Lois pondered.

James thought the Thundergun would be amazing. He walked to the Mystery Box and closed the lid. He opened the Mystery Box again. He saw nothing. There were straws everywhere but no gun. He closed the lid again and reopened it. He saw nothing again.

"There is nothing," James remarked. 

"It is a box," Lois pointed out. 

"The Mystery Box is more than that, it can give a weapon but this one does not seem to work," James said. 

"That is truly a shame," Lois responded.

"It is," James concurred.

"Let's turn the power on," James said. He realised the perks were working before the power was switched on. He thought that was different for sure. 

They walked across the stage and got to a large grey panel with visible bolts. There was a handle. "Power," James said. 

"It was not too dark here," Lois observed. 

"This is our ticket out of here," James said. 

"So we are leaving now?" Lois asked.

"Not just yet, these zombies are pretty slow, we can gather all the useful items and then teleport out," James said.

"So you will use that brown lizard to bring everything into one location?" Lois questioned. 

"He is Humanoid Dinosaur but yes, I will use Humungousaur for that purpose," James replied. 

James grabbed the handle and flipped it. There was a loud noise and crackle sound. Lights turned on. The curtains opened up to reveal a teleporter. The teleporter was a circular pad adorned with an illuminated circular ring at its centre. The outer edge of the teleporter was surrounded by an array of lights. There were electric rods on top of the teleporter. 

James and Lois walked up to the teleport. He took out the Multiverse Remote from his pocket. He saw the error message was gone. "Perfect," James said. 

"Perfect?" Lois questioned.

"The remote is now working, we are now going to grab a few things and then leave, this place could get worse very quickly," James said. He knew that zombies could get stronger and harder to kill. If he wanted to stay he would need a bigger group. 

Lois nodded. They looked up into the audience seats and saw it was wrecked. The seats were all over the place and broken in various locations. There was a lot of derby scattered everywhere.There was a small fire in one of the seats. 

"Lets go and connect the teleporter, there is a super powerful item which we will need," James said. He was not going to miss this opportunity. 

Lois nodded. They both walked down the middle aisle. They saw zombies coming out of the ground. Lois was quick to react, she aimed her gun and shot them in the head. Some did not even have a chance to get off the ground. James thought Lois was a great addition. 

They walked to the back of the theatre room and took a turn to the right. They both walked into the corner. Lois was still scanning the area. "Juggernog tonight!" a jingle was heard. 

The vending machine was tall and thin. It had a red and white colour palette. On the front it was written "Drink Juggernog '' and "10¢". There was a faded bloody handprint on the front. On the top, a circular sign with the plus symbol. The machine has two wheels on the back. 

"Another perk, and it got a plus sign so something to do with life ," Lois observed. 

"Indeed, it will make us stronger and able for us to take a hit," James replied. 

James walked up to the machine and hit a button. The machine dispensed a clear glass bottle with the drink itself being red in colour. He opened the lid. "Take it," James offered. Lois nodded and took the bottle. 

James hit the button again and another glass bottle dispensed. He opened the cap. "Cheers," James toasted. Lois and James touched their bottles and started drinking. They both drank the red liquid down. It tasted awful as usual. 

"This was awful," Lois commented.

"It was," James replied. 

"I don't feel any different," Lois said. 

"It's like the others, they have an ability but only when we need it," James said. 

Lois nodded. She aimed her gun and fired another bullet killing a zombie. It was a headshot. 

James noticed a large knife on the floor near the machine. He picked it up. The blade was large and there was a handle on it. "Bowie Knife," James commented.