by Gareth Otton
Thud!
Tad jumped so hard he nearly spilled the drinks as he spun toward the living room door.
“What the hell was that?” Tony asked.
No one got a chance to answer before there was another thud, the sound of something heavy hitting the front door of the house. Tad put the drinks on the coffee table and took a step toward the door to find out what was happening when there was another thud, louder this time, as something hit the living room window.
The combined sound of three giant dogs growling made the hairs on Tad’s arm stand up as his skin prickled.
He rushed toward the window, ignoring the next thud and throwing back the curtains so he could look onto the street. Something dark and heavy covered his windows, blocking the warm yellow street lights save for one small area that hadn’t been covered yet. Tad ducked down to look out of that spot and froze in surprise.
A giant cement truck looked out of place on the narrow road. However, as bizarre as that sight was, it wasn’t this that chilled Tad’s blood. Neither was it the group of men lined up near that truck filling buckets with cement. The thing that caught his attention was the brief glimpse he got of a single person who made eye contact with Tad the moment the curtains opened.
He was enormous, at least seven-foot tall and broader across the shoulders than most doorways. His glossy black hair was long on the top of his head, but shaved on the sides, revealing inky black lines crawling up his face. Wearing a long, black, winter overcoat, there wasn’t much skin on display other than his face and hands, but even those were covered in tattoos that glowed as the man grinned at Tad.
After only a second, the man disappeared as yet another bucket of cement was thrown at the window, covering it. Tad felt a spike of Dream and the cement turned solid, creating a stone barrier between Tad and the outside world.
Tad only had a chance to glimpse outside, but it had been enough. He would recognise that man anywhere, and the sight of him at his home terrified him.
“Tad, what is it?” Stella asked, already on her feet and looking worried.
“Kuruk Campbell,” Tad answered, and the sudden fear that crossed Stella’s expression at the whisper of that name said more than words ever could.
Distantly, over the sound of dogs growling, Tad could hear other thuds as more cement was hitting the windows of other rooms. However, soon that was drowned out by an even more terrifying sound; the wailing of a fire alarm.
In a moment of horrifying clarity, Tad understood what was happening. For the fire alarm to drown out the dogs, it meant they weren’t pulling over Dream to augment their growling. Tad suspected that wasn’t by choice. Testing the theory for himself, he found dreamcatchers creating a barrier, blocking him from Dream. Meanwhile, his house was on fire.
Turning to meet the gazes of those around him, Tad whispered two words that terrified them all.
“We’re trapped.”
2
Friday, 23rd December 2016
21:45
While Tad’s body froze in panic, part of him reached for Dream. Over the last year, doing so had become instinctual, and it was no effort to connect to that door in his mind… or at least it shouldn’t be. Now he encountered the same invisible barrier he faced when trapped in Texas by Jacob and Brad.
“You blocked?” Stella asked, reading his expression and her scary ability divining the meaning behind it.
“They must be using a dreamcatcher,” Tad said.
“Can you break it?”
Tad shook his head.
“It feels as strong as the one in Texas and I needed three ghosts to help last time. There’s only Tony now, that’s not enough.”
Stella swore and looked around the room like she might find another way out, but of course there was nothing. Tad had installed dreamcatchers to protect his home, but they only stopped Dream from crossing the threshold, and allowed people with specific dreamcatcher tokens to dreamwalk inside. There was no escape route like there was in the DTHQ. Evidently, that was a massive oversight.
You can dole out blame later, he told himself. Right now, you need to do something. That’s smoke you’re smelling, you don’t have the luxury of taking your time.
Stella had come to the same conclusion and raced out the room like she’d had an idea.
“Stay here,” Tad said to a frightened Jen as he moved toward the hallway.
“I don’t have a choice,” Jen said, her frightened tone stopping him in his tracks. He looked back to see her eyes wide with terror and her face white. “I can’t move my legs, dad.”
Of course she couldn’t. Whatever dreamcatcher was blocking him from Dream would block Jen as well.
“That’s okay. You just stay here and I’ll be right back. Tony, stay with her,” he said before rushing after Stella.
The moment he stepped into the hall, he choked on the thick plumes of smoke that were coming down the stairs. Glancing up to the top of those stairs, Tad saw nothing but black clouds with flickering orange behind it. A part of his mind screamed that if he didn’t stop this he would lose the home he loved. However, he crushed that thought to focus on the most important thing right now, getting his daughter to safety.
He checked the kitchen, but of course Stella wasn’t there. Running off like that, how could she not be racing to the most dangerous part of the house? Cursing her for doing something so stupid, he prepared to do something equally bad by following her up the stairs. However, she headed that off by materialising out of the smoke a second later. Her skin and clothes were stained with black marks, but otherwise she didn’t look hurt, just determined. He was about to ask what she was doing before he realised she wasn’t slowing as she raced down the stairs. She was moving faster than most people could… maybe faster than Olympic sprinters.
Tad stepped aside just in time for her to race past him and without pausing, she dipped her shoulder and ran at the front door. There was a thud that was three times as loud as the sounds of concrete hitting the window, but otherwise nothing happened. Stella grunted in pain as she collapsed against it, but then she was stepping away and preparing to rush the door once more.
“Stella, stop,” Tad said, catching her hand and pulling her away from the door. He almost didn’t manage it as she was much stronger than he was, but something about his touch got through to her and she spun to face him.
“We need to get out of here. All the windows upstairs are covered in concrete, as is the back door. We have to break through.”
“Even you’re not strong enough to get through solid concrete,” Tad said.
“Leon would be,” Stella answered bitterly.
“But you’re not Leon. We need to come up with an idea that doesn’t involve breaking your shoulder against a door.”
Stella started to answer, but her words turned into a violent cough as the thickening smoke entered her lungs.
“We don’t have long. It’s an inferno up there,” she exclaimed.
The fingers of Tad’s left hand twitched violently at her words as he was flooded with terrible memories of what it felt like to be burned. Unbidden, the thought of Stella and his daughter experiencing that same excruciating pain swamped his mind and his panic almost overwhelmed him.
He was about to say something, but it was his turn to cough as the thick black smoke replaced the breathable air. He also didn’t like how he could already feel the heat from upstairs. Stella was right, they didn’t have long.
He dragged her into the living room and slammed the door before pulling off his t-shirt and stuffing it in the space under the door, hoping that it would stop the smoke long enough for them to think of a way out.
“I can’t get out either,” Tony announced, unbothered by the smoke.
“They’ll have dreamcatchers for ghosts around the place,” Stella guessed. “They came prepared.”
“What about the fire brigade, will they get here in time?” Jen asked, her fear making her sound younger than she was.
Tad sus
pected she was right. His neighbours must have called for help by now.
However, even as he thought that, he pulled the phone from his pocket and swore when he confirmed a dark suspicion. His phone had no signal, and as he saw the expressions on the faces of Jen and Stella as they did the same, he knew he wasn’t the only one. Like Dream, the phones were being blocked. But surely one of his neighbours would have got word to the Dream Team so they could come to the rescue.
“We can’t rely on that,” Stella answered, again reading his expression. “We need another way out. Come on, think. What can we do to overload that Dreamcatcher?”
“I told you, I needed three ghosts last time…”
“Well, you don’t have three ghosts, but you do have Tony. Jen is here as well, will that help?”
Tad was about to point out that it didn’t work that way. Since the Merging, his ghosts powered him up exponentially, each doubling his strength. That meant that with three ghosts he was eight times stronger. He couldn’t make that up with just Jen, even if he did merge with Tony.
However, before he said anything, he realised it wasn’t just Jen here with him. The dogs were all dreamwalkers as well. If he merged with Tony, then worked together with Jen and the dogs, they might be able to concentrate the power of seven dreamwalkers on the problem. That might be enough… No. That had to be enough, because he didn’t have any other options.
The biggest weak spots were the dogs. They had taken complex instructions before, but this was a push even for them. However, smoke was seeping in around the edges of his shirt under the door, the temperature in the room was growing so quickly that he was sweating even with his shirt off, and Jen was coughing from her spot on the sofa as the smoke made its way to her. This might be their last chance.
“Tony, merge with me. I have a plan.”
To his credit, Tony didn’t hesitate. He dissolved into white mist, a stark contrast against the black smoke, and Tad breathed him in, instantly feeling stronger. Suddenly the smoke and heat were less of a hindrance. He knew they were there, but it didn’t have the impact of a moment before.
“Jen, I need your help. You three, I need your help too,” Tad told the dogs. They looked at him with intelligent eyes, and Tad had to trust that they could understand. “Can you feel that barrier stopping you from connecting to Dream?”
Jen nodded, and after a long moment, the dogs bobbed their heads as well. Tad almost shouted for joy at the sight, thrilled that they could understand. However, Jen started coughing harder, and he knew he was running out of time. Back in Texas it had taken him a while to break through the dreamcatcher even when he was at full strength.
“Good. When I say go, we are going to push on that barrier as hard as we can.” A sudden idea struck, and he added, “Picture it like a giant bubble and yourself as a needle. We want to pop that bubble. But it’s a very strong bubble and this will be hard. Given enough time, we could push our way through with consistent effort, but we don’t have that time. So we are going to throw everything we have into that needle, focus all of our strength in one quick push to pop the bubble. Hold nothing back, and act together. You all got that?”
Jen was coughing continuously now, but she nodded to say that she understood. The dogs also nodded even as they slunk lower to the floor to escape the smoke in the room.
“Good,” Tad said as he rushed to the sofa, helping Jen out of it and laying her on the floor alongside the dogs before crouching down himself. He was dimly aware of Stella following their example.
“Right, here we go. Picture that bubble in your head. You got that? Good. Now picture yourself as the needle with all of your energy at the tip. You got it?” Again nodded heads. “On the count of three, we are going to drive ourselves at that bubble hard and fast, hold nothing back. Ready?” Again nods. “One… Two…”
Tad paused for just a second, taking one last look at the frightened face of his daughter with her eyes tightly shut so she could concentrate on what she was doing. He glanced at the focused expressions of his dogs, more grateful than ever that they had come into his life. Finally he met the brilliant blue eyes of Stella. She didn’t look afraid, nor desperate. She looked confident. She told him with just her gaze that she trusted him completely and she knew he would get them out of this. Without thinking he reached his bad hand for hers. His right hand was already gripping Jen’s fingers tightly and he didn’t have the strength to hold Stella’s fingers with his left, but she gripped hard enough for both of them.
“Three!” he shouted, then he pushed with all his might.
It was kind of like Stella’s run at the front door. Tad held nothing back, and pushed all of his strength toward that barrier at a single point.
It hurt.
The mental strain of throwing himself against what felt like a brick wall was agony. But the barrier gave slightly, almost like the brick wall was now covered in rubber. A second later, it gave even more as something else hit it. Then, almost at the same time, there were three more solid strikes, all in the same place, pushing hard against that wall that was now stretching like it was thick toffee.
“Keep pushing,” Tad growled, fighting down the pain to keep up the energy. They were almost there, he could feel that, but still the barrier held. He was dimly aware of the sound of Jen groaning with the effort, and even the dogs whimpered, but he forced himself to keep pushing. He gripped Jen’s hand harder for support, just as the increased grip from Stella’s fingers was lending him strength.
“Almost there,” he grunted through gritted teeth.
The barrier was stretching and thinning, the combined strength behind the needle starting to break through.
However, suddenly there was a yelp, and one dog pulled back, their strength gone. Tad grunted as he felt more of the strain fall on the rest of them. There was another yelp as another dog gave up the fight, quickly followed by the last. Each time the weight doubled on Tad’s mind, but they were already so close to breaking through that barrier, it was continuing to stretch.
Just a few seconds more was all he needed.
Jen cried out, then her hand went limp inside his own and all the weight of that barrier fell upon Tad. He panicked, wanting to check on his daughter, but he was so close to that barrier breaking. The pain was unimaginable as the full weight of it fell on his shoulders, but he was so close. Pulling hard on his connection to Tony, he kept up the pressure for as long as he could.
Then, just as he felt like he had run out of all the strength remaining to him, the tip of the needle pierced the barrier. Like a balloon being popped, the barrier vanished quicker than the human mind could process, and suddenly Tad was through the door in his mind and Dream was filling his body.
He opened his eyes but saw nothing as the mental strain had robbed his body of the ability to see, but slowly light returned. It wasn’t much brighter as the smoke was everywhere, but it was enough to see the blue eyes of Stella, still focused on him, still trusting even as she coughed out the smoke in her lungs.
“Grab the dogs,” Tad said before turning to Jen. She was laying beside him, eyes closed like she was sleeping. The dogs were also still, each of them having pushed themselves to a breaking point and their minds giving up from the excess strain. Had Tad not been merged with Tony, he might be unconscious as well. As it was, it would be all he could do to change the channel.
“I’ve got them,” Stella said and Tad looked up to see that she was touching Freckles and had pushed him over so that his body was touching the other two dogs as well. Tad focused on those connections and then pulled on Dream once more.
It was one step too far for his tired mind and he succumbed to the unconsciousness of the others, but not before the smoke vanished along with his eyesight, and he felt the familiar soothing presence of the walls of his round room.
3
Friday, 23rd December 2016
22:17
Water splashed over Tad’s face, colder than ice and shocking his system. He woke up splut
tering, but thanks to the magic of Dream, he wasn’t wet. Eyes open, he saw nothing, but his Dream sense filled his mind with more information than his eyes ever could.
Jen and the dogs were still unconscious, but even though they were soot-stained, they were healthy. They escaped the house just in time.
Stella stood over him, swaying unsteadily as her face was scrunched up in a frown of concentration and exhaustion. The relief of finding his daughter and dogs healthy faded as worry about Stella crept into his mind.
“Did you just throw a bucket of water on me?” he asked, his voice sounding groggy even to his own ears.
“Nothing else worked,” Stella said, not apologetic in the slightest. In fact, if he didn’t know better, he would swear there was a touch of desperation in her voice.
“How long was I out?”
“Ten, maybe fifteen minutes. I’m not sure,” Stella said. “Can you do something about this place? It’s getting hard to think.”
Tad suddenly understood her exhaustion. With the rest of them unconscious, it fell to her to keep them together in Dream. The researchers stranded here so long ago had found it difficult to keep themselves in one piece, Stella had to do the same thing for all of them. Tad was impressed she lasted as long as she had. He was also horrified that he had brought them here without thinking of the consequences. Better to have died in the fire than dissolve into nothingness in Dream.
He took over the strain of this reality, his connection with Dream making it easier for him. Then he called over some of the permanence of his home reality to lock everything in place. The fifteen minutes he was out had given Tony time to heal Tad’s mental pathways, so there was no pain as he reached for that door in his mind.
Stella felt the change in the world around her and fell to her knees beside Tad, exhausted and collapsing into him so her head rested on his shoulder.