“That’s good, she likes reading. I bet she will be a writer one day. Wouldn’t that be cool, to have a writer in the family?”
“Yeah, she is smart. A little too smart for her own good, though.” K giggled and leaned her head on my shoulder. “What’s going on, Mark? The virus? The agency? I have been so scared for you and everyone.”
“It’s all going to be fine. It will all work out. I am just glad you and Sam didn’t get sick.”
“I’ve been watching her, and she seems normal. I was freaking out after you called.”
“All that matters is I am here now. We are safe and together. I don’t know what is going to happen, but I know we will be fine.”
“Good, I kind of like you.”
“I kind of like you, too.”
I wrapped my fingers in with K’s and kissed each one. She looked at me and smiled. “You know how I like that. What are you trying to do to me?”
“I just miss you, I feel like I haven’t seen you in such a long time. I just want to remember you, like this. Happy and safe.”
“Remember? Are you going to go away again?”
“Yes, I have to go overseas, and I don’t know how long I will be gone. It has to be done and will do a lot to fix the mess we’re in. Our futures and the future of this country depend on this. But with all that is going on, it is risky… do you understand?”
“You may not come home.”
I nodded. “I love you, K, always have.”
“I love you, too, Mark. You are my one and only.” I kissed her. We held each other and watched Sam play.
***
I held it together until I left the house. K and Sam were in bed, and I slipped out so I didn’t have to say goodbye. I couldn’t do it. I had to talk Kreios out of this, to at least try to fight.
“No, Mark.” Kreios stepped out from the shadows and stepped in front of me. “If there were any other way, or if we had more time…”
I stepped off the curb and began to walk down the street. I looked back to my house, the house K and I bought after we were married. I felt a lump grow in my throat, and I turned to Kreios.
“I don’t want to die, Kreios. I want to stay and fight. I feel like this is giving up.”
“It is not giving up. This is the only way. You die to save your life, you die to save your family. Or will you sacrifice them so you can live?”
“There has to be another way!” I was not going to go down like this. My entire life, I fought. I was not just going to let someone kill me when there was still a chance.
Kreios took my arm, and I wrenched it away, my hands glowing with energy.
“Mark, stop.”
“No, there has to be another way, I won’t let you just kill me.”
“Then you leave me no choice.” Kreios grabbed me and shot up into the air. We flew straight up, and I struggled to get free of his grip, but he was like iron. My hands were hot, and I could feel energy flow through my arms and legs.
“Let me go!”
Kreios took me by the arms and held me out from his body. “Mark, do not make this harder than it has to be. You will not win.” He tossed me, and I tumbled end over end. I was unaware of where I was or what end was up, only that I was falling, and falling fast.
I saw building and brick flash before my eyes just before I hit. I slammed to a stop and shook my head, trying to clear my vision. Kreios landed so fast that the rooftop shook. I looked at him and got to my feet.
We stood on top of a building, but I didn’t know where or how far he had thrown me.
“I will fight you, Kreios. You are not the only one with abilities.”
I flipped my wrist and brought both my hands together. A bright, white light shot from them and hit Kreios dead in the chest. Kreios slid backward and rushed me so fast that his body was just a blur.
I jumped up, and he flew under me, but turned before I could land. He took my foot and yanked me down. I hit hard, and I tasted blood in my mouth. I rolled, and light consumed my body. Some was from Kreios, but most was from me. I watched as he took hold of my shoulders and punched me in the face.
The blow felt like raw steel. I fell backward but managed to stay upright. Kreios was shirtless as my energy burned off his clothing. He was pure muscle, and his skin was bright white. Tattoos winding up his arms and neck glowed hot yellow. I began to regret my decision to fight him. He was not of this earth, and I was… well, who knew what I was.
I looked at my hands, and my head pounded with a sharp pain right behind my eyes. “Stand down, Kreios.”
Kreios didn’t answer, just stepped forward. I reached for him and let all the energy flow from my body. Kreios disappeared in the bright light flowing from my body. I was the human bomb once again. I remembered how it felt when I stood against the Red Dog.
A pulse pounded from my body and sent a shockwave out in a circle around me. I collapsed to the rooftop, grabbed my ears, and pulled at them. They must have burst, because I couldn’t hear anything but a low hum.
I sucked in air and opened my eyes. Kreios stood over me, glowing with the same energy I had. His eyes burned, and he was now naked. I could see raw muscle and bone all over his body. I had hurt him, but not nearly enough to kill him; he was healing as I stared at him.
“I am sorry, Mark. You are a good man, but it is time.” I couldn’t hear him, but he was in my thoughts, I could hear him in my head. He reached down and placed his hands on each side of my head. I felt pressure fill my brain, and I clamped my eyes shut. White light took over and the silence… was…
CHAPTER 33
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP…
Shhhhhh-kuh, shhhhhh-kuh, beep, beep, beep…
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Beep, beep, beep…
I opened my eyes and saw bright, white light. My eyes hurt. Was I supposed to have pain up here, or wherever I was? Where was I?
I blinked and opened my eyes again, and saw that it was not a room of light, but just a light. Two bulbs in two rows and covered with a plastic cover. I tried to turn my head, but couldn’t.
Beep, beep, beep…
I could feel my fingers, as if new blood was flowing for the first time. They tingled, and I tried to lift my arms, but again couldn’t move.
Shhhhhh-kuh, shhhhhh-kuh, beep, beep, beep…
I had something in my mouth, down my throat—a tube or something. I almost gagged, but forced myself to relax. A few minutes went by, and I managed to move my head a little. I was in a room, most likely a hospital. Had I won? Did Kreios fail to kill me?
A heart monitor made beeping sounds, and next to that was what looked like a breathing machine. The screen to the heart rate monitor had a logo in the top center. I blinked and squinted trying to read the tiny letters.
W. J. A.
My mind raced to remember where I was, when I was, and how I survived. WJA. I know what it meant but did not want to know. It wasn’t that simple, not that… couldn’t be. I fought Kreios. I had lived and somehow was here, wherever here was.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
All the sounds in the room seemed amplified, and I wondered if it was because of my eardrums bursting. How could I still hear? I found the clock; it was on the wall down past my feet. It was a boring thing, a black frame with a white background. Just below the center of the clock was a label. It read, “Solomon Timepiece.”
Where was I? What was going on? I had been… where? The memory was like a dream. Once I woke up, it was fading fast. Had I been asleep?
I knew… I knew what it was, all of it. For one second, I knew what it was. I was here. Here is the now, this was me, and this was real. Kreios, who was he? What was he?
A click, and the door opened. A tall black man entered the room wearing blue scrubs. He looked at me, and did a double take.
“Mr. Appleton?” He rushed to me, took out a light, and flashed it into my eyes. It was that same white light, the energy I knew so well, the same light.
The man looked
from screen to screen and smiled. “Mr. Appleton, can you hear me? If you can, blink twice.”
I blinked twice, and he clapped his hands. “Great.” He seemed overjoyed.
I tried to move again, but could only move my fingers a little and my head a little more. I looked the man over as he checked me and the machines that were keeping me alive.
“Mr. Appleton, you have been in a coma. Do you remember anything?”
I blinked once—I figured that was the code for, “No.”
He nodded and smiled. You were in an accident four years ago. You have been in a coma and non-responsive. You are one lucky man.” Leaving the room, he returned a few minutes later with a woman in a long white robe.
The doctor looked me over and flashed the light in my eyes again. I was now able to move my head and my hand a little more. It took some time, but they took the tube out of my mouth, and I sucked in fresh air, which burned like fire.
“Now don’t try to speak, Mr. Appleton. You have not used your voice in some time and we don’t want to overdo it. I am Doctor Weston, and this is Kirk.” She pointed to the black man, who smiled.
“We did not have much hope for you to pull out of this, but I do believe we have witnessed a miracle.”
This was all wrong. I tuned out the rest of what they said. Kirk, he was the nurse assigned to me. The doctor, the clock, the WJA. It was all here. My brain took things and put them together to make another world. My heart sank, and I felt like throwing up. A panic took over, and I began to breathe fast and deep. I couldn’t get enough air.
“Calm down, Mr. Appleton. Take it easy, breathe slow and deep.” Doctor Weston took my hand and said, “Do you remember the accident?”
I blinked once.
“Four years ago, you were in an explosion at the Super Mart. Do you remember that?”
No, not again. It wasn’t true, couldn’t be. Why was this happening to me? Tears filled my eyes and, she leaned over to wipe them away.
“It is hard, I know. I am so sorry Mr.—Mark. You survived, but broke your back. I am sorry, but you are paralyzed from the waist down.” I looked up at her in shock. I couldn’t be paralyzed; I could feel my feet, I could feel my legs, and they hurt.
I blinked fast, and she looked to Kirk and the other two nurses. “Bring me some water, please.” Kirk left the room and returned with some water in a plastic cup and a bendy straw.
I took a drink. It felt good and hurt all at the same time.
“Mark, I know that this is hard, and I don’t want to be the one to tell you, but you will find out eventually.” I knew what she was going to say. I knew but didn’t want to hear it, couldn’t.
“Your wife and daughter were with you, they didn’t make it. I am so sorry, Mark. My heart breaks for you.” Doctor Weston cried and held onto my hand as I sobbed. It was too much for me to take. I couldn’t do this anymore. I just wanted to die, to really die so I didn’t have to be thrown into real and fake worlds, to just be at rest. But more than that, I wanted K, I wanted Sam, I wanted to hold them, I wanted to kiss my wife, and I wanted to hold her again.
After a time, I opened my eyes and was alone again. I could see the sun streaming in through the window. I knew now that it was all a dream. A dream in a dream, or my mind trying to keep me alive, pulling from things and people around me to create this other world. Was that what other coma patients went through? If they never pulled out of it or realized it was just a dream, they would be in a coma for life. Trapped inside of their own heads.
But was that a bad thing? I could live a full life in my dreams. I could hold K and Sam; I could love Maria and my son. Was it the inner desires that created it all? Could it be controlled?
I wiggled my toes and knew that I was going to walk again. I would live and might even have a chance to be happy. The dream was fading and almost gone from me now. Memories I had were now just feelings, but I feared that if I let them go, I would be lost forever.
How could I let K go? I knew how to keep her, how to keep Sam, Maria, and everyone I loved. I knew how to live with them. This life is the people you love. I didn’t want to live without them, even if in a fake, made up world in my dreams.
It was better to dream with them than to live without them.
I closed my eyes and called up my memories. Let them take me away into my dreams. In my dreams, I was a father, a husband, and a hero. It was real, this life is the sham, the fake mask hiding what is down deep. I would see K again, I would hold and play with Sam. I would live in my dreams.
EPILOGUE
A WOMAN STOOD LOOKING through the glass window of Mark Appleton’s room. She watched him cry and now fall asleep. She had dark skin like coffee and cream. Her smooth black hair reflected the fluorescent lights above.
Isis was beautiful and dangerous.
Flipping open her cell, she waited for an answer. After three rings, he picked up.
“He’s awake.”
THE END
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I want to thank you for reading this series. I know that for many of you, this was way out of the box, and I applaud you for sticking in there with me. Even though this is a cross-genre series, which I know is against the rules, I figure the rules are meant to be broken.
I dreamed the first book idea, and each plot in each book came to me as I slept, so you see how I have dreams as the theme. I want to say first that this came from me. I knew from the beginning where the series was going to go, so from the first turn to this ending, all were meant to be just as they are. Now, the story along the way just did its own thing, and I had no idea how supernatural it would get, but that is the fun of writing.
Ideas like the WJA and the tube that ran under the ground came from the bank tubes you and I use every week. The weapons all came from my contacts in the FBI and military and are based on real weapons that are being created. I took some creative liberties, of course.
The abilities Mark has are from my teen series, Airel. He and Kreios are a crossover from that series, and in fact, I wrote Airel based on parts of the Mark Appleton series.
I hope you had as much fun as I did and look for other Mark Appleton books that will be outside of this series. I even have a Solomon book in the works about how he started the WJA. We will see where my mind takes me.
Thanks again for reading.
Aaron Patterson
August 11, 2011
Boise, Idaho
Copyright ©2010, 2011 by Aaron Patterson
All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher.
StoneHouse Ink 2011
StoneHouse Ink
Boise, ID 83713
http://www.stonehouseink.net
First eBook Edition: 2011
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
In Your Dreams: a novel/by Aaron Patterson
Cover design by Fuji Aamabreorn
Published in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Acclaim for Aaron Patterson
Dedication
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
; CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
EPILOGUE
Author's Note
Copyright Info
IN YOUR DREAMS (Mark Appleton #3) Page 19