Rise of the Dreamer

by L. J. Higgins

  The wobble in his voice revealed the toll seeing so many Dreamers die must’ve had on him. No wonder he’d begged me to stay safe so often. We grabbed what we wanted from the cars and Cameron walked us up the rickety wooden steps to the back door.

  “We should be safe in here,” he said, turning the key. “The MMC think everyone has moved into the main city areas.”

  As I stepped over the threshold I scrunched my nose up at the stale, damp smell assaulting my senses. It must’ve leaked inside when it’d rained and been unable to air out with the windows shut, and the doors locked up. Harper and Cameron started opening windows around the place, allowing a fresh breeze to fill the room, dispelling some of the smell.

  “Keep the blinds pulled shut in case there are any drive-bys,” suggested Harper.

  It felt wrong being in someone else’s home who hadn’t invited me to be there. Cameron had done well in finding us a safe house, but I couldn’t bring myself to use their furniture. Instead, I sat on the thick carpet in the living room. Harper shared out cheese sandwiches she’d brought along for us, and we sat in silence eating them. Joe grabbed his sandwich and sat down next to me.

  “This feels weird, right?” He took a large bite, his sandwich almost gone.

  “You’ll choke if you shove so much in your mouth,” I joked.

  “What are you two talking about?” Sarah asked, sitting down on my other side followed by Byron.

  “How much food Joe can fit in his mouth. It took him two and a half bites to eat his whole sandwich.” Joe shot me a glare unable to speak his mouth was so full.

  “Remember the time at the tavern when we dared him to eat the giant steak?” asked Sarah.

  Joe swallowed with a loud gulp. “I’d prefer to forget. I was so sick, I think I had a steak hangover.”

  “That’s a thing?” asked Byron.

  “Apparently, I haven’t ever tried to eat as much as he did that night,” I said.

  Janine joined us, sitting beside Joe.

  “Can I ask you something, Janine?” asked Sarah.

  “Sure. What would you like to know?” asked Janine.

  “What did Rose say to you before we left?”

  “Sarah, do you have to know everything?” I interrupted. “You don’t have to tell us, Janine.”

  “It’s fine. She said she understands why I did what I did, even if she doesn’t believe it was right. Then she told me that she forgives me.” Tears danced in her eyes.

  I reached across Joe and grabbed her hand. Rose truly was a beautiful person, and it would’ve taken a lot of soul-searching for her to forgive Janine.

  “Anyway, who’s taking the beds?” asked Joe, his mouth was empty and able to speak again.

  “Not me. The floor sounds like a great option,” I said.

  “I’m with Amelia. Floor sounds good,” said Sarah.

  A smile broke across my lips as I enjoyed the easy conversation between my friends. They may have taken different paths while I was missing, but somehow we kept finding our way back to each other. Maybe we would be okay after all.

  A heavy weight across my stomach woke me and I blinked my eyes awake, focusing them on the arm, which had slipped over me in the night. Sliding it off, I rolled to my side to find Joe still fast asleep. Shocked, I sat up with a jolt, stirring him awake. He looked at me with groggy eyes and a crooked grin.

  “Morning,” he said.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” I replied.

  “What’s the time?” he asked, unaware of where his arm had been.

  The room we lay in was still dark, and no one had woken yet.

  “No idea, but everyone’s still out to it. Go back to sleep,” I said.

  “I’m wide awake now,” he said mid-yawn.

  “You look half dead.”

  “Oh and you look like a hundred bucks. When was the last time you looked in a mirror?”

  He laughed when I ran my fingers through my hair to make it look semi-presentable.

  “So, today’s the day,” he said.

  “Or tomorrow, I don’t know what time it is remember.”

  “Are you feeling okay with everything?”

  “I just want it to be over, it can’t come fast enough.”

  “I feel the same. It’s hard to imagine a life without the MMC now. But I look forward to finding out what it’s like.”

  “Me too.” My thoughts were already full without him adding more to them. “We should try to get some more sleep. It’s going to be a big day.”

  “Before we do, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. What happened to the necklace I bought you for your birthday? Did you lose it?”

  I reached up and stroked the nape of my neck. “No, when I woke up in my cell with Janine everything I owned was gone. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be silly. It’s not your fault. I was just curious.”

  “We better get back to sleep.”

  “Yeah, I’ll try. Sweet dreams, Amelia.”

  “Sweet dreams, Joe.”

  “Morning.” Harper’s voice sung through the two-bedroom house waking everyone.

  It’d taken a lot of tossing and turning for me to fall back to sleep, but when I did I’d crashed into a deep slumber. My aching body felt like an elephant had trampled on it through the night.

  Harper cooked us bacon and eggs for breakfast, saying we needed our energy for the big day ahead. When we’d eaten, we packed up the cars and climbed in. Following Cameron, we drove towards the city, turning in the opposite direction when we came to the first set of traffic lights. I waved out the window as they disappeared and whispered for them to stay safe.

  “They’ll be fine, Amelia,” Janine reassured me.

  “I know,” I replied, but I didn’t sound as certain as she did.

  The drive to the carpark felt longer than it had the day Cameron had taken us. But soon we were parked up and Joe was slinging the backpack with the canister in it over his shoulders. I ran my hand over the word ‘Dreamer’ spray painted on the brick wall.

  “Alright, boss, lead the way.” Joe tucked his hands in the straps of the bag.

  I glared at him for the ‘boss’ comment before leading them out of the safety of the carpark. We walked towards the MMC’s mirrored building. The sidewalks seemed quieter than our last visit, but the traffic was as busy as it had been before the Cambiar virus was released.

  As the towering, mirrored building came into view, my steps faltered for a moment. Knowing I was being irrational, I pushed myself to quicken my pace. We wouldn’t be going anywhere near them. We’d be safe. Cameron had promised.

  The others picked up their pace behind me, and we soon found ourselves striding down the alleyway Cameron had shown us. Joe swung the bag from his back and unzipped it, pulling out the metal cylinder. If I hadn’t known what it was, I’d have thought it was a large thermos.

  “We got here pretty fast, I don’t expect to hear from them for a while. Joe, take off the top and have it ready to release for when we receive the call,” I said.

  Joe did as I asked and we sat on the ground leaning against the brick wall waiting.

  “Maybe we should call and make sure they’re okay?” asked Sarah.

  “We could release it,” suggested Joe.

  I pulled out the phone Cameron had given me, realising we’d been there for five minutes. It felt like an hour had passed.

  “They’ll call. We should wait,” I replied as the phone’s screen went dim.

  The phone lit up again, vibrating in my hand, peaking everyone’s attention.

  I read the text message out loud. “Ready. Set it off at 7:15am. Stay safe.”

  “How much longer is that?” asked Byron.

  “Two more minutes,” I said.

  I stared at the watch while the number three changed to a four, and I swear I didn’t blink once while I waited for it to change to five.

  “Joe, you’re on.”

  Without hesitation, Joe twisted the red cap on t
he cylinder and pulled it out. I tensed unsure what would happen when he opened it, but only a loud hiss filled the air as mist spewed from the top spreading into the air around us.

  “Well, that’s it done,” said Joe.

  “I thought it might at least make a bang or something,” said Wade.

  “Alright, let’s get out of here,” I instructed, and we began making our way out of the alleyway.

  The streets were much busier when we stepped back onto the sidewalk. People walked along, staring straight past each other, on a mission probably constructed for them by the MultiMind Corporation. Cameron had said it wouldn’t take long for the anti-virus to start waking people up, and curiosity got the better of me.

  “Let’s wait and see what happens,” I said.

  “But Cameron said-” began Janine.

  “Amelia’s our leader. If she says wait, I’m waiting,” Joe cut her off.

  I appreciated him backing me up, but had a sneaking suspicion he wanted to watch what would happen too. Last time we’d had to wait in our camp for news to come of the outcome of our actions. This time we wanted to watch it first-hand.

  Chapter Twenty

  I began to wonder if anything was going to happen. Maybe it wouldn’t be something we’d notice. Maybe they’d continue with their day completely unaware they’d been infected and then cured.

  A young lady dressed in a navy jacket and skirt was walking towards us when she stopped mid-walk and began coughing into her hands. A man stopped beside her and also began coughing. Soon, everyone on the street was coughing and sneezing, rubbing their eyes and looking around them. One man stretched his head from side to side as though his neck had been stuck in the same position for too long. Every one of them looked confused and dazed, still spluttering into their hands and looking around as though aware of the world they were in for the first time in weeks, possibly months. The woman swapped glances with the man, and I realised how frightening this must be for them. Imagine coming back to consciousness and having no idea where you are or why you’re there.

  I took a step forward and felt Janine hold my arm. “Amelia, what are you doing? We need to go.”

  “I can’t. Look at them. They’ve got no idea what’s going on.”

  Shaking her hand from my bicep, I paced over to a bench seat bolted to the sidewalk, and stepped up onto it.

  “Everyone, I know…” My voice was too quiet, I had to speak louder. A few heads turned in my direction. It wasn’t because of my voice but because I was standing on the chair.

  I felt someone grab my hand and looked down to find Joe. Sarah took hold of my other hand. I squeezed them both tight.

  Finding my voice, I spoke louder. “I know you must be confused and wondering what’s going on. If you listen, I can explain it all to you.”

  People’s eyebrows pinched in the middle as they turned towards my voice. I must’ve looked like a crazy person yelling out to them from the bench. But at least I had their attention. A few cars began pulling over to the side of the road, their occupants climbing out, coughing and looking around, a lost expression across their face.

  “This may be hard for you all to believe, but the Cambiar virus wasn’t an accident. It was created by a company called the MultiMind Corporation. The same corporation who created the Wristchips and Wristocuffs to try and control us last year.”

  This appeared to grab more people’s attention and they began to walk my way, exchanging glances with each other.

  “The virus was created to do two things: control the minds of Non-Dreamers, and to murder Dreamers whose thoughts couldn’t be controlled.”

  Eyes widened around me, and whispers spread through the growing crowd filling the space between stifled coughs.

  “They killed people who were important to you, and took your freedom to think and act for yourself. But we’ve created a cure, a way for you to fight back and let them know you won’t be controlled.”

  “How come you weren’t being controlled?” a lady called from the crowd.

  “We found a cure. It’s the reason you’re all waking up right now. I’m one of the few Dreamers left.”

  “How do we know you’re telling us the truth?” called out someone else.

  “Yeah, how do we know this wasn’t all because of you? Because of Dreamers?” asked another.

  I looked towards Janine for some help. How could I convince people we were the good guys, not the people who’d done this to them?

  “Tell them your story, tell them the truth,” Janine said, squeezing my hand.

  “I don’t know how to convince you.” A few people shook their heads and started walking away. “But I can tell you I was manipulated by them too. And, without the cure, I’d be dead right now, like many other Dreamers.” I gestured to Janine. “My friend here used to work for them. That was, until she found out what their motive really was. They wanted to control all of your minds using the Cambiar virus so they could control how you spent your money. They did it to make themselves even richer than they already were. They’re greedy, money-hungry monsters, who only care about themselves and their growing wealth.”

  “Those bastards!” a man yelled from the back, followed by even angrier words and claps of hands.

  “The worst part is, we thought our government had gotten rid of them, and they were gone for good. But they were working on new ways to manipulate us right under our noses this entire time. They’re still working from their building here in the city.” I pointed up to the towering structure made of glass and mirror. “But it’s over now. You can all go back to your lives and you don’t have to worry about them controlling you anymore.”

  Janine squeezed my hand. I looked to smile at her.

  “Well done,” she said.

  As the whispers and conversation throughout the group grew louder I let out a sigh of relief. They appeared to believe I was telling the truth.

  A large man called out to the group gathered in front of me. “It’s time we showed the MultiMind Corporation exactly what we think. Let’s let them know we’ve had enough and they can’t control us anymore.”

  His anger reverberated through the entire group, and they followed him as he began walking towards the building.

  “What are they doing?” I asked Janine.

  “I think they’re going to take down the MMC on their own,” she answered, concern lacing her voice.

  “But the MMC are dangerous. They’ll get hurt.” Panic rose up in my chest. What had I done?

  I called out to the crowd. “Go back to your lives. They’ll only hurt you. We’ve cured you, so don’t let them hurt you any more than they already have.” But they continued following the angry man, yelling out hateful phrases towards the MMC building.

  “We should go,” suggested Sarah, Byron’s arms protectively around her.

  “This is my fault. I’m going in there.” I began chasing down the crowd.

  “Not without me,” said Joe.

  “I’m coming too,” said Janine.

  My mind set, I ran towards the growing group, followed by Janine and Joe. When the group reached the locked glass doors at the front of the building, they began banging on it and calling out. A few people left the group to pull rubbish bins from their stands and anything else they could find to hit the glass with. Soon the glass cracked, followed by a loud smash, and the group stormed through the broken, glass sliding doors into the foyer.

  Pushing through the front doors with the crowd, I found myself in the foyer. Janine stood behind me, but we’d lost Joe in the push. Members of the group climbed over the front desk and banged on the lift doors, but no MMC staff showed their faces.

  “You cowards. Come down and face us,” yelled a burly man with a bald head, his voice echoing through the room.

  “Yeah, come and face us,” another voice called over the group.

  Soon their calls and voices filled the foyer before a loud crackle sounded through the air and a voice echoed above us. “We at the MMC would l
ike to give you all the chance to leave our facility in a peaceful manner. To walk out alive, all you need to do is hand over Amelia Bailey and Janine Muller.”

  Hearing him say my voice sent shivers down my spine, and my throat tightened. It was the voice of the man who’d been directing my torture at the other MMC facility. He must’ve been watching my speech outside. Cameron had warned us that there was lots of security cameras. I’d wanted him to know I was behind this, but now I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. Cameron was right. We should’ve left immediately. Instead, I’d created a mob, and walked myself and Janine straight into the hands of the MMC.

  “Amelia Bailey and Janine Muller, make your way towards the lift doors. I’ll send someone to collect you both. That is, of course, if you don’t want the deaths of all of these innocent people on your hands?”

  An involuntary growl left my lips when he said the word ‘innocent’. He knew they were innocent, yet he’d decided to control and manipulate them to feed his greed.

  “Let’s do this,” I said to Janine.

  She took my hand and squeezed it tight. “I’m with you all of the way.”

  “Amelia, no!” Joe’s voice found us through the crowd.

  “Joe, we have to,” I called out.

  The mention of my name parted the crowd, a pathway free of bodies that led to the doors of the lift. Joe attempted to push his way through, but two men held him back. He fought them, his expression full of sadness.

  Janine and I made our way towards the lift, and the shiny metal doors split open. Inside the lift stood five men in black, guns held up from their chests. Stepping towards the lift, I held up my hands, and the guards narrowed their eyes at me, pointing their guns at my chest and head.

  “I’m Amelia Bailey. Leave these people alone, and you can have me. I have all the answers you need.” I wasn’t sure what my plan was. But these people couldn’t die because of me.

  “And I’m Janine Muller. You know me.” Janine stood beside me, her hands above her head.

  One of the guards at the back of the lift spoke into his radio, “We’ve got them.” He then nodded at his comrades. Three of them stepped outside the lift, and Janine and I were beckoned towards it.