Dream (The Waking Sleep Book 2)

by Lucy Adler

  “Is that... normal?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Well, even for sleepers, that’s pretty long,” Jake said. “But just because I’ve never heard of anyone sleeping for two days, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before. And remember, what you did was unprecedented, literally. So it makes sense that your sleep would be, too.” He reached over and rubbed her back as he finished.

  Brix couldn’t comfort Daria specifically about what she was going through, but she was still her closest friend.

  “I’m sure everything will be fine, Dashy. Besides, when you’re a superhero, who can really tell you what’s ‘normal’? You gotta figure that out for yourself!”

  “Right, Brix,” Daria scoffed, laughing at the same time. But the truth was, her friend’s words were encouraging... even if they were a little embarrassing.

  “Well, I suppose we still have about twenty-four hours,” she said. “I mean, they could still show up, right?”

  “Of course,” Jake said with a smile.

  The three of them were quiet for a while after that.

  They did their best to enjoy their peaceful surroundings.

  And tried not to imagine the worst case scenario for their friends.

  3

  Month: 4 | Day: 6-7 | Year: 60

  (Beginning yesterday)

  CUTE LITTLE ANIMAL

  Aury yawned.

  “Maxy?” she whispered.

  “I’m here, kiddo.”

  She crawled along the cold, stone floor, towards the sound of his voice in the darkness.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve been better.”

  She could hear him groan and grunt a few times as he sounded like he was shuffling along the floor.

  “Did you sleep?” she asked.

  “A little. Don’t know how long. What about you, turtledove?”

  “Same. I don’t kno--” She interrupted herself with another yawn. “I don’t know how long. It was so weird. I was super tired but like jittery at the same time. What’s that about?”

  “No one has been in to see you, right? I didn’t sleep through anything, did I?”

  “Not that I know of. What about you?”

  “Nope. After they bandaged up my leg, the only person I’ve seen is the food guy. The food’s not bad though, eh?”

  He laughed and it seemed to lighten the mood a bit for Aury. She had been kneeling, facing the wall that divided their cells. But now she turned and sat down, leaning her back and head against it.

  “Not as good as yours, of course! But hey, those cherry tomatoes were sooo juicy! We gotta get some when we’re back out past the Gates.”

  “I could murder a sausage right now.”

  “And some mashed potatoes.”

  Their words, and a laugh here and there, echoed throughout the cavernous prison beneath the Institute, breathing life into the stifling eeriness of the place.

  “What do you think they’re going to do with us?” Aury asked.

  “I haven’t got a Danny La Rue, kiddo.”

  “Have you tried entering the dream-state?”

  “Yup. You?”

  “Yup.”

  “No good, eh?”

  “I just couldn’t,” Aury replied, her voice sounding more afraid now. “I tried. It was like I could see the Veil there in front of me but I just couldn’t get close enough.”

  Max thought he heard a sniffle or two.

  “It’s ok, turtledove. We’re gonna be alright, don’t worry.”

  “Thanks, Maxy.”

  ____________________________

  There was the sudden sound of a powered lock disengaging, then a door swivelling on its hinges. It banged against the stone wall, then a shaft of light cut down the hallway.

  Aury had been sitting in the back corner of her cell, her knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around them. As a set of footsteps began making its way along the hall, she got up and walked over to the iron bars. They made her feel like an animal in a cage.

  “Dinnertime, children!” a voice called out.

  Aury heard the first tray drop to the ground outside Max’s cell.

  “I hope the potatoes are properly mashed this time. No lumps, mate.”

  The man delivering their meals ignored him and dropped Aury’s tray next. She hadn’t gotten a good look at him yet, but that evening the light caught the side of his face enough that she could just make out a few features. He was younger than she expected. He couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.

  As she knelt down to pull the tray through a slightly wider opening in the bars, he knelt down in front of her.

  “Don’t eat anything except the bread,” he whispered.

  “What?”

  But he didn’t repeat himself. He stood up and held out a baton that had been hanging from his belt. He dragged it along the bars of their cells as he walked away.

  “Eat up, little piggies!”

  Then the shaft of light quickly vanished as the door slammed shut, the powered lock whirring and clamping into place.

  Aury felt around for her food for a moment as her eyes adjusted once again to almost total darkness. The only other light was a soft glow from a panel in the wall, across from the next cell after hers.

  She felt a bottle, probably the water they had been given with each meal so far. She ran her fingers along the side of the plate and felt a few lettuce leaves dangling over the edge. Then she bumped up against the two slices of crusty bread that she had just gotten a glimpse of when the man - well, teenager - had delivered her food.

  “Hey, Maxy?”

  “Yeah, skin?” he called back, his mouth already full.

  “Did that guy say anything to you?”

  “Nope. Why?”

  He punctuated his response with a swallow. Then she heard his fork clanking on his plate.

  “Stop eating.”

  “What?” he replied as he took his next mouthful.

  “Seriously, just stop eating for a second.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  By now, their eyes were able to see vague shadows again, just enough to trace the outline of the items they had each received.

  “Did you get any bread?”

  “Uhh...” he said, blinking a few times and feeling around just to make sure. “No, doesn’t look like it. That’s alright though. What’s the point of bread without butter anyway?”

  Aury held her slices up to her nose and sniffed them. They seemed normal enough, even if they felt pretty dry.

  “So, can I eat now?” Max asked after a brief period of silence.

  “The guy told me not to eat anything except the bread.”

  “Huh?”

  “I know. Pretty weird. But he whispered it, all secretively. Do you think he meant it, or is he just screwing with us?

  Max was quiet for a second, letting out a ‘hmm’ and tapping on his leg with his hand.

  “Well, either he’s protecting you from something bad in the rest of your food, or he’s trying to feed you something bad in the bread.”

  “You think he’s trying to poison me? Why? And why just me?”

  “What if he really is protecting you, though? Why just you?” Max asked, as if he were offended that the mysterious stranger didn’t care as much about him.

  They were both quiet again as they kept thinking about his words.

  “I think I’ll just skip this meal altogether,” Aury finally said. “I mean, if the bread is some kind of poison, then I shouldn’t eat it, right? But if the food is bad and the bread is fine, then he’s only giving it to me so that I have something to eat. Might as well skip both. Better safe than sorry.”

  “What about me?” Max asked.

  “I don’t know,” Aury replied, sounding overwhelmed. “I’m just so tired, but jittery at the same time. And so hungry, but afraid to eat.” She groaned in frustration. “I can’t even think anymore.”

  She heard the clanking of utensils on the metal plate again
.

  “Well, I’m eating. Screw it. The food hasn’t killed us yet!”

  Aury curled up on the floor in the corner of her cell, clutching her growling stomach. The smell of her dinner and the sound of Max enjoying his didn’t help. But she did her best to think about other things. Like seeing their friends again, and the blue skies and beautiful hills beyond the Gates, far from the city of Progress.

  ____________________________

  The door at the end of the hall swung open again and smacked against the stone wall.

  “Huh!” Aury gasped, sitting up with a fright. She looked around her, flicking her head back and forth, her eyes as wide as possible, her hands feeling the floor. “What the heck?” she said out loud.

  “Mealtime, kiddies!” a voice rang out.

  She blinked quickly, then rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands.

  The first tray, as usual, dropped outside Max’s cell. Then the next tray dropped at hers.

  She crawled along the floor, her head dizzy, her arms and legs feeling like jello.

  “Did I just wake up?” she whispered to herself.

  As she arrived at the plate of food and bottle of water, she looked up, hoping to catch another glimpse of their delivery boy.

  But it wasn’t the same person this time. He was older, maybe mid-twenties.

  “Crawling around like the animals you are!” he laughed at her. Then he knelt down and looked more closely through the bars. “But you’re a cute little animal, aren’t you?”

  Aury cringed and shuffled backwards.

  “Oy, mate!” Max called out from the darkness. “Why don’t you come over here. We’ll have a chat.”

  “You wouldn’t want me to do that.”

  “Ah, scared of a guy with a gunshot wound in the leg, are ya?”

  “Just stop it,” Aury said. “Don’t be idiots.”

  “Is that your boyfriend?” the man asked. She didn’t answer him.

  “You know what,” he continued, “maybe we should have a chat.”

  “No, just relax! He didn’t mean anything,” Aury pleaded.

  But the man had made up his mind. He fiddled with a few keys until he found the right one. Then he removed the baton that was holstered at his side.

  “Stop it!” she called out.

  The key entered the lock, then turned with a squeal until the bolt opened with a clunk.

  “Maxy!”

  “We’re gonna be alright, turtledove,” he called back to her.

  “Aww, isn’t that sweet,” the man said mockingly.

  Then Max said something she wasn’t expecting.

  “It’s time, kiddo. You can do this.”

  “What?” Aury replied. But her confusion was short-lived. Between the menacing guard and the disoriented feeling of waking up so suddenly, she hadn’t had a chance to process the fact that she had actually slept. And not just a nap, either. In fact, she could barely remember anything from the previous night. Which means she must have gotten at least several hours.

  “I’ll be honest,” the guard said as she heard him take two steps into the cell, “I’m really going to enjoy this.”

  “Me too,” Max replied.

  “Maxy!” Aury called out one last time.

  Then she heard the first thud. The first horrible, terrifying sound of wood, or metal, or plastic, or whatever the thing was made of, slamming against some part of her friend. Her family.

  “Now!” he called to her. “Do it now!”

  Her hands were shaking, her heart racing. Her mind was like a storm on the ocean. How could she focus it?

  Then a second thud.

  She balled her trembling hands into fists. She clenched her teeth.

  And then she closed her eyes.

  ____________________________

  “I wish we had a little more light,” the guard said. “I’d love to see your face right about now.”

  “It’s all Robin Hood!” Max replied, putting on his best, full-on Cockney accent. “In fact, I’m a bit peckish. Might ’ave me a Ruby and a Tiddly Wink after we’re done ’ere. Care to join me?”

  “Once I’m done with that other leg, if you go anywhere after this, they’ll have to carry you, ‘mate’!”

  He raised the baton over his right shoulder, lining up another strike on his injured victim.

  But just as he was about to swing his body and lower the weapon with as much force as he could muster, something held him back.

  And it wasn’t just holding his arm. It was crushing it.

  He spun around in an attempt to fight it off. But as he came face-to-face with the thing that had locked on to him, he was overcome with terror.

  He screamed, flailing and twisting, trying not only to free himself from its grip but also to comprehend just what exactly had attacked him.

  It released him for a split second, only to lunge forward, its front paws - if that’s what they were - pounding his chest and slamming him to the floor. But despite the force with which it handled him, the thing itself wasn’t actually heavy. It was like raw energy moving against him yet without the weight or substance of a physical being.

  He tried to protect his face with his other forearm, but the thing locked on to that one next, crushing it with even more force this time.

  “Stop it! Stop!” he shrieked.

  Then he heard a voice. An echoey, ethereal sound. It felt like it was coming from the creature, only its mouth was still holding his arm.

  “But you didn’t,” it said angrily.

  Then Max spoke calmly and quietly from the dark corner where he was lying.

  “Alright. That’s enough, Aury.”

  The creature opened its mouth and the guard pulled his limp, mangled arm to his chest. He groaned as he writhed in pain on the cold, damp floor of the cell.

  Then he felt the thing lift its paws from his chest. He tried to look up as it walked away.

  In shape and form, it reminded him of a wolf. But its appearance was darker than darkness itself. A blackness that was almost incomprehensible. And yet, amidst the void, circles of green light danced and rippled in waves, like the surface of a pond broken by a thousand tiny pebbles.

  Before it rounded the corner in the direction of the neighbouring cell, it looked back at him one last time and let out a low growl. Its eyes glowed with the same green light, and he noticed his keys dangling from its mouth. Then the creature turned again and disappeared into the darkness.

  The last thing the guard saw was what looked like a tail wagging behind it.

  Then he passed out.

  4

  Month: 4 | Day: 7 | Year: 60

  YOU’LL NEVER HAVE TO THANK ME

  “How bad is it?”

  “I’ll live.”

  “Can you walk?”

  Max had been lying on his side. He tried to push himself up and get to his feet. Aury grabbed his forearm to help steady him.

  “Oo-oo-oo,” he winced as he started to put pressure on the leg the guard had attacked. Despite the pain, he was able to stand up straight.

  “What do you think?” Aury asked, still holding his arm.

  “I think I can walk, slowly. Definitely can’t run.”

  Aury made a brief sniffling sound. The door at the end of the hall had been open the whole time, so there was just enough light in the cell for Max to see that she was crying.

  “That was brave,” he said, wrapping his arm around her.

  She let her head fall into him.

  “I was too mean,” she replied through the sobbing, her voice muffled against his chest. “But I was just so afraid of losing you. I lost control of myself.”

  “Hey now,” he said, rubbing her back and wrapping his other arm around her as well. “I’m more afraid of what he might have done to you, kiddo. It’s probably better if he can’t use those arms for a while! Besides, I knew you’d slept. That’s why I poked the bear!” He tried to laugh just a little, hoping to lighten the mood.

  “You’re all I�
��ve got, Maxy.”

  He squeezed her tighter and she hugged him back as they stood in the shadows of the cold, damp cell.

  “You know, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the Aury Wolf.”

  He could feel her body shake as she laughed.

  “I like to save him for special occasions.”

  “I’m flattered!”

  As they breathed a little easier after all the excitement, they suddenly noticed a form in the hall outside the cell, silhouetted by the shaft of light from the entryway.

  “Hey,” it said.

  “Who are you?” Aury asked, her adrenaline ramping up again.

  “It’s ok, I’m here to help.”

  “Wait,” Max said, cocking his head and squinting, “you’re the food guy, aren’t you?”

  “Uh, yeah, that’s me.”

  “Where were you ten minutes ago!” Aury barked at him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, stepping closer, as if he wanted to enter the cell with them.

  “Stay out there!”

  “Sure, sure.” Then he looked down at the floor beside them. “What happened?”

  “Nothing. But if you try anything, ‘nothing’ will happen to you, too!” Aury was feeling on edge. But as much as she was talking tough, she really didn’t want to hurt him.

  “You only ate the bread!” he said excitedly. “Good!”

  “I didn’t eat anything, actually.”

  “Oh.”

  “I didn’t know if I could trust you. And what was that about, anyway?”

  “They’ve been giving you mild doses of Direx in your food. It’s the new version of Sendrax. They were experimenting with building it up slowly in your system. I think they killed the last guy they injected, so, you know... Anyway, I slipped in the bread because it was clean.”

  There was awkward silence for a while before he continued.

  “I think I can get you guys out of here.”

  “Who are you, mate?” Max asked. “And why are you helping us?”

  The food guy hesitated, taking a few steps left, then right, rubbing his forehead at the same time.