Rise of the Dreamer

by L. J. Higgins

  “At least she still has her weird sense of humour,” said Sarah, who was standing out of my view.

  “I see that,” said Cameron with an amused smile. “I’m going to check out the wound on your cheek, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to do anything for the bruising except wait it out. I’ve brought some painkillers, which will help with the swelling.”

  My face felt taut as I gave a lame grin, making it hurt. The tape pinched as he pulled it away from my skin.

  “It’s a small cut, and the other side has a bit of gravel rash. They won’t need to be covered up anymore. I’ve put a few butterfly stitches on the cut, but it won’t leave much of a scar I don’t think. Face and head wounds tend to bleed a lot, which is why it looked much worse than it was.” He threw the gauze into a plastic bag and passed it out of my view.

  It was easy for him to say it wasn’t bad. He hadn’t been bashed in the face with the butt of a gun.

  “You’ll need bedrest for a couple of days. Maybe you should stay here with Harper until you’re better?”

  I was in Harper’s cabin. My shoulders relaxed knowing I was somewhere safe.

  “Janine has said Kaelee can stay with her if you want to stay. I’d offer for you to stay with Ethan and me, but it would be a bit squishy in the double bed,” said Rose.

  “Thanks,” I muttered, my eyes heavy again.

  “We should let her rest. I’ll be back to check on her soon.” Cameron ushered everyone out of the room and flicked off the light.

  For the rest of the day, I drifted in and out of sleep. It was a blur of random faces and muddled dreams until early the next morning I awoke, wide-eyed and unable to fall back to sleep. Shuffling my way up the bed, I sat up, leaning on the metal bed frame. The room was only wide enough to hold the bed and a bedside table. A box of tissues was the single item resting on top of the wooden table, the one piece of evidence someone had used the room. It reminded me Kaelee hadn’t had a chance to bring any of her personal items with her. No photos, no clothes, nothing.

  The desire to use the bathroom sat heavy in my bladder, and I decided instead of waking everyone up I’d attempt to navigate my way to the toilet on my own. Turning, I placed my feet flat on the wooden floor and stood up trying to make the movement smooth and fluid. As I got to full height, my head throbbed, sending a sparkle of lights across my vision. I squeezed my eyes closed until they passed, holding onto the wall in front of me. Deciding it was safe to move, I guided myself to the door using the wall, and made my way out into the dining room.

  The moon’s light spread through the windows, illuminating the room with its glow, making it easy to see where I had to go. I continued through the tiny kitchen and into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me.

  After relieving myself, I washed my hands and looked up at myself in the mirror. I knew I’d lost weight, most of it while I was locked inside the MMC’s cell, but my drawn-in cheeks still shocked me. Especially now my left cheekbone was blue and purple, my eye swollen above it. My right had a graze across it, but didn’t look as bad as it felt. My long brown hair was a matted mess, tied haphazardly in a ponytail. I slid out my hair tie to attempt to brush my fingers through it. My attempt seemed to make it frizz even more. Resigning myself to the fact I wasn’t going to look human again until the MMC was gone, I decided to file it away as another reason to destroy them.

  “Amelia? Amelia?” Harper’s panicked voice rang through the air.

  “I’m in here,” I called back to her, opening the bathroom door.

  “Oh my goodness, you scared the crap out of me.” She placed her hand over her heart.

  “Sorry, nature called.”

  “You should’ve called out to me. Here, I’ll help you back to your room.” She slipped her arm under my elbow for support. “How did you get so far? Is your face hurting? Do you want any more paracetamol?” She asked so many questions, I didn’t know which one to answer first.

  “I want to get back to bed.” The idea of a soft pillow appeared to remind my head it was sore and it began throbbing again. “And maybe I’ll take you up on a couple of paracetamol.”

  Blinking my eyes open, I rubbed at them to wake myself up, forgetting my face was sore for a moment. But when I bumped my cheekbone with my hand, an ache spread through it, making my head throb all over again.

  “Morning.” Joe poked his head around the corner, greeting me with his crooked smile. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’m sick of sleeping. Please tell me I can get out of bed today.” I pushed myself up into a sitting position, pulling my blankets up to my shoulders.

  “From what I heard, you’ve already been wandering around. But Cam said you should be fine to come out for a while and hear what’s going on. But if you want a break, let me know and I’ll bring you back.”

  “I know you want to make sure I’m okay, but it isn’t like I nearly died or I was sick. I got smacked in the face. It’s just some bruising.”

  “Sure it is, plus the fact you blacked out and took a long time to wake. Oh and you spewed too.”

  “I spewed before I got hit,” I protested.

  “I know you aren’t Cam’s biggest fan at the moment, and you know I’m not either, but that was a pretty nasty ‘smack to the face’. You were lucky to have him look after you.” I hated how he quoted my words back to me.

  I climbed out of bed and turned back towards Joe. “You didn’t think to bring me some clothes, did you?”

  “Crap. Yeah. Sure I did. One moment.”

  He disappeared out of the doorway but was back five minutes later with a bundle of clothing in his arms. He placed them on the end of my bed and smiled at me.

  “So, do you want to leave me alone now so I can get dressed?”

  “Yes, right. Call out when you’re ready.” I swear his cheeks flushed pink before he left and closed the door.

  It was a relief to pull off the singlet and cotton shorts I’d been wearing. I was grateful my friends had changed me out of my wet clothes, but I didn’t want to know who’d been the one to do it. Surely they hadn’t thought Cameron would be the best one? He’d been the one person out of the group who’d seen me naked before. Except for Kaelee, of course. I shook the thought from my head and pulled on a t-shirt and denim shorts. I wished I had time to bathe. But it would have to wait for later. I was eager to find out what our next move was, even if it meant facing Cameron.

  “Okay, I’m ready for you,” I called out.

  Joe swung open the doors wiggling his eyebrows. “Are you?”

  I shook my head. “You’re such a male sometimes. Come on, I want to find out what’s going on.”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you, someone else has come with Cam.”

  “Who?”

  “Tech is here.”

  I may not have been ecstatic at the prospect of spending time with my ex-boyfriend who’d dumped me moments after I found out he wasn’t as dead as I’d thought. I was, however, surprised to find myself looking forward to seeing my ex’s best friend again. He’d been the backbone to taking down the MMC the first time around, and had been the reason I was able to escape the facility in the bush.

  Everyone sat around the metal drum in the middle of our campground. Cameron stood facing Harper, the two of them in deep conversation. Tech stood behind them, kicking the dirt and dead leaves with his hands clasped behind his back. A grin formed across my lips as I watched him. At least I could count on Tech to stay the same. His short curly hair still sat like a messy nest on top of his head, and he’d grown his beard a little longer than usual. He looked as awkward as ever.

  “I’m going to go say hi to Tech.” I turned towards Joe, who had his hand hovering over the small of my back as though I may collapse at any moment.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” he asked.

  “I’ll be fine. I got this far, didn’t I?”

  “Okay, I’ll go sit with Wade. But if you feel dizzy…”

  “You’ll be th
e first to know.”

  I felt his eyes watching me as I walked away.

  “Hey,” I said as I approached Tech.

  He looked up with a start, the dirt he was kicking must’ve taken up a lot of his concentration. “Amelia, how are you? Oh your face…”

  “Gee thanks, you look great too,” I laughed.

  “Oh I didn’t mean…”

  “I know. How are you? What are you doing here?”

  Tech may have been our behind-the-scenes guy for many of our schemes, but this was the first time he’d showed up to help us plan and iron out the kinks.

  “I thought it was time I grew a pair and helped you guys.” The language sounded strange coming from his lips. I assumed he was as sick of the MMC as we were.

  “Well I, for one, am glad you’re here. It’s good to see you.”

  “You too. And even better to see you’re alive. I’m really sorry to hear about… well… you know. I was shocked to hear it was over.”

  “That makes two of us,” I replied.

  I gave him an awkward nod before leaving him so I could take a seat next to Sarah. As I did Harper began to address our group.

  “Okay, let’s get this started.” Her dreadlocks were tied up at the back of her head, and twisted into a thick bun. “Cam and Tech are here to help us work out where to release the anti-virus we stole from the MMC’s truck. They’re also going to help us distribute the canisters to some of the other Dreamer groups we’ve been in contact with. Some of them will be meeting Joe, Wade and Byron later this afternoon to collect theirs and take others to pass on. This way it will be an attack on every major town and city at once, which means the MMC won’t have a chance to counter attack.”

  Cameron stepped forward to speak. His eyes drifted to me for a moment before looking over the other faces. “Before we decide exactly where to release the anti-virus, I think the groups who are going to do it should go on a scout mission. It’ll help them familiarise themselves with the areas. And it’ll give them a chance to witness the extent of the control the MMC has, and the effects the Cambiar virus has had on people. You’ve been out here for so long, I don’t think you understand how bad it’s gotten.”

  Harper spoke. “We’ve divided you into two teams. Of course Rose will stay to keep Ethan safe, but the rest of you will be sent to two locations in the city to see where you’ll wait for your signal to release the gas when the time comes.”

  Cameron started. “The bacteria won’t take long to spread through the air and infect the people around you. The altered virus will fight the Cambiar virus, and those in your immediate vicinity should start ‘waking up’ in around five to ten minutes. But I’m confident the anti-virus will cure everyone within a few kilometres almost immediately, and will continue to spread until everyone’s cured and it hasn’t got any more Cambiar virus to feed on.”

  “How do you know there aren’t any side effects?” asked Janine.

  “I’ve tested it on rats, and on some of the patients who were brought in with the Cambiar virus. The MMC assumed they’d been changed to Non-Dreamers. But I know they were cured because I’ve been checking in on them and they aren’t under the MMC’s control.”

  “Can it mutate? Will it vanish once the Cambiar virus is gone?” Janine pressed further.

  I was thankful someone was asking the right questions. The rest of us were excited to be a step closer to taking the MMC down. I still found it strange to be so happy to have Janine around.

  “I can’t guarantee it won’t, but I’ve taken every precaution to make sure it will attack the Cambiar virus and nothing else in its host’s body.”

  I remembered something Cameron had said. When he’d explained how the Cambiar virus worked when I’d woken up from being sick. He’d told us it didn’t simply turn off a Dreamer’s abilities. It either altered them or killed them.

  “Would the cured people still be Dreamers, if they were Dreamers before they got the Cambiar virus?” I asked.

  Cameron’s solemn look answered me before he spoke. “No, they’ll be Non-Dreamers like me.”

  In a way it felt like the MultiMind Corporation had already won part of the battle. How many Dreamers would be left? I wondered how many there were to begin with, how many had died or been changed.

  Once Cameron and Harper were finished speaking, they advised we’d visit the city the following day and spend the rest of the week planning. We should be ready to release Cameron’s anti-virus on the weekend. There would be more people roaming the city on the weekend, which meant more to cure in a shorter amount of time. I found it hard to believe it could be busy at all after seeing how quiet and deserted it’d been during my last visit. That was the visit when I’d learned the virus was created to murder Dreamers and control Non-Dreamers, and when Tech had snuck me out of the city before it was put under lockdown.

  “Can I talk to you?” I hadn’t noticed Cameron approaching me.

  “Yeah, sure.” I swallowed hard as I stood, my stomach twisting.

  Sarah gave me one of her ‘are you okay?’ looks. I nodded and followed Cameron towards the path to the stream.

  “You okay?” asked Joe as we passed him. He reached out to touch my arm.

  “I’ll be fine.” I smiled at him, and he let me go. I could feel the heat of his gaze as I disappeared down the pathway.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The awkwardness hanging in the air between Cameron and me made me second-guess my decision to talk to him. Why did we need to do it in private? Hadn’t he already told me exactly how he felt? As far as I was concerned, he’d made it pretty clear he didn’t want to be with me anymore and why. But despite my head running rampant with questions and pushing me to run back to my friends, my feet kept stride next to him.

  “So, you and Joe look happy.” Cameron started as the stream came into view.

  That was how he was going to start the conversation, with his obsession with Joe? I clenched my fists then released them trying to remain calm. I may have been angry at him, but fighting wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

  “I’ve been better. Joe’s been a bit down because his girlfriend just broke up with him. Guess I know how he feels.”

  “Oh, I didn’t realise he had a girlfriend.”

  “There’s a lot of things you don’t know.”

  “So why did they break up?”

  “What does it matter?” I asked, knowing what he was implying.

  “I was just curious. Trying to start conversation.”

  “Well if you must know, you and Laina had a lot in common. She didn’t understand Joe’s need to take on the MMC, and she had an issue with mine and Joe’s friendship.”

  “At least I know it’s not all in my head.”

  I sighed and crossed my arms across my chest.

  “Sorry. This isn’t the way I wanted this to go. I can tell you’re still angry at me.” I hated how he said it as though he thought I would’ve well and truly moved on by now.

  “I wonder why I’d be angry. Let me see. I mourned the death of my boyfriend, then weeks later I discovered he was alive the whole time. Then, oh, hang on, he doesn’t want to be with me anymore.”

  “Amelia, I…”

  “It’s okay. I’m okay. But I’m a bit hurt you think I’d get over you and move on so fast. Like what we had was nothing.”

  I could see the pain in his eyes and the knowledge he was hurting eased my anger enough to think straight. Was I really angry at him? I was also hurt. My ego had taken a hit when he’d said he didn’t want me anymore. It was just so strange being around him while feeling so distant after how close we’d been. But I wasn’t even sure if I saw him that way anymore.

  Letting out a loud sigh, I relaxed my tense jaw. “I’m not angry at you. I get why you don’t want to be with me. I guess it was just a shock. And it’s strange having you here, but we feel so distant. Does that make sense?”

  “Yeah, it does. I feel a bit the same. When I saw you hurt, I remembered how much I ca
red for you. I’ve been focusing so much on why we shouldn’t be together that I forgot the reasons we were. I did love you, Amelia, and I still care.”

  “Then why break up with me like you did? I was already shocked enough to find out you were actually alive. Then you hit me with the fact you didn’t really want me to find you.”

  “It wasn’t that I didn’t want you to find me. I’d just imagined our reunion to go so much different than it did. And I definitely didn’t think I’d see you at the MMC facility. I know I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have laid it all on you like I did. I guess I’d been holding onto it, and it’d built up over the time I’d been looking for you, and it was like you turning up opened the floodgates and my thoughts came pouring out. I was scared that if I let you get a word in that I’d lose all courage to tell you. That I’d remember how much I loved you and tell myself it could still work.”

  What would I do if he decided he’d made a mistake? What if he said he wanted me back? I couldn’t be with him again. Maybe I’d been wrong in choosing him in the first place? Maybe he was what I needed at the time. I decided to change the subject. I was uncomfortable with where our conversation was heading.

  “So, why was it you wanted to talk to me? I’m sure you didn’t want to discuss my relationship with Joe, and I’m guessing you didn’t want to rehash our break-up.”

  “It’s funny. I didn’t realise how much I’d miss talking to you.”

  There he went again. I shifted my weight to get comfortable on the hard surface of the rock I sat on.

  “What are you trying to get at, Cameron? Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind.”

  “No, I haven’t changed my mind. Sorry, I don’t know why I said that. I don’t want to freak you out. It’s just strange sitting with you again. Talking, being friendly. And I’ll admit I’m surprised to hear you and Joe aren’t together. It’s kind of making it harder to tell you what I’ve got to say.”

  “Which is?” I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer.