by Gareth Otton
Tad received a look that would have made him cringe six months ago. Now he barely reacted, his thoughts focused on the house ahead.
“Yeah, well, you better—” His words cut off abruptly as he looked down with a sneer. “What is that puppy doing here?”
Tad looked down, not at all surprised to find Growler at his feet.
“There’s nothing I can do about him,” Tad explained. “Don’t worry though, he won’t be in the way.”
“He’s a puppy. Are you kidding me?”
“He’s the reason I survived the first time I went against these two.”
The man looked like he would strangle Tad before muttering something about this being a train wreck in the making.
Like the rest of the houses on this street, the Campbell’s was a large, detached home made primarily of wood. It was too big for two college students and Tad wasn’t surprised to find it was their family home, passed down from their grandparents.
The house was still, the windows dark, but that didn’t say much. They were confident the Campbells were inside, but after waiting so long to act it was hard not to doubt their information.
The agent beside him asked if the other teams were in position. Receiving their confirmation, they finally had the all-clear to act.
Tad was suddenly running to keep up with the five men on his team, all of whom wore serious expressions and had their guns ready. A similar group moved on the rear of the house while a third approached from opposite Tad’s group. Within seconds they crossed the garden of the last house between them and the perimeter of the Campbell home. However, without consciously knowing why, Tad slowed.
Something on the lawn caught his eye, little more than a shadow to his blurry vision, but something that spoke to a primal part of his brain. He would have missed it had his eyes not been unfocused, seeing more in vague shapes than individual detail. There was a strange line extending from the Campbells garden onto their neighbour's property and Tad realised exactly what it was a moment too late.
“Everyone stop,” he shouted, but no one had time to react.
All three teams stepped onto the Campbell property and instantly there was an explosion of light. The dreamwalkers who crossed the threshold had triggered a massive Dreamcatcher on the ground that encircled the Campbell home. Tad flinched away, covering his eyes and wondering how they missed it.
It wasn’t paint like normal or everyone would have spotted it, just a discolouration of the grass. However, now he looked closer he realised the light was shining through the grass and guessed the dreamcatcher was underground and had disturbed the grass enough to discolour it.
However, they had done it, the majority of the tactical team along with Chakikra and Morris were inside the circle. Tad suspected they just lost the element of surprise.
“Move in,” the leader of the tactical unit shouted into his microphone, ignoring the phenomenon and rushing toward the house. He hesitated at the thinner lines of light that created a web like pattern around the house, but when he crossed them without incident he and his men sprinted forward.
Tad didn’t need Growler’s scared whimper to know they were making a mistake and he needed to do something about this dreamcatcher so he could provide them with backup.
“Growler, come here,” he shouted to the dog, trying to get it outside the effect of the dreamcatcher. However, the puppy could only get to the edge of the larger circle and couldn’t cross the bright line. In the distance, on the other side of the property, Tad saw Morris having the same struggle.
Swearing to himself, Tad rushed to the edge of the dreamcatcher, digging his booted foot into the ground as he tried to break the circle. However, the magic was no more vulnerable from outside as it was from within.
“Tad, what’s happening?” Stella asked through his earpiece, but he didn’t answer.
Movement on the porch of the Campbell home caught his eye, and he looked up to see the front door fly open as the first of the tactical team was about to reach it.
New light shone from within the darkness of the house, one that triggered bad memories for Tad. This was a small, localised dreamcatcher, glowing with brilliant white light, but this time painted onto the skin of a human body. This body was larger than most humans and as he stepped into the morning sunlight, the closest tactical guy took an instinctive step away. He should have opened fire instantly as that hesitation cost him dearly.
A second dreamcatcher on an enormous shoulder burst with light and Kuruk jumped forward with supernatural speed. He casually backhanded the tactical agent and sent him flying twenty feet before landing with a crunch. There was no movement from the agent, whereas the giant college student was already speeding off to another target… another victim.
Tad watched helplessly from the sidelines as the giant rushed amongst the tactical team, his movements too quick for anyone to get a shot off. Two more agents died in quick succession before Tad recognised a pattern. The dreamcatcher wasn’t taking out the tactical team at random, he was heading for Morris who stood at the circle’s edge wearing a panicked expression.
Break the circle, Holcroft!
His inner voice screamed at him to help before they were all dead and he looked away from the carnage and back to the line. He had to break it, but he had no idea even what it was. If it was buried under the earth, then he would have to dig it…
His thoughts trailed off as the answer became clear. He needed to break up the earth and hope he could destabilise the dreamcatcher. Lacking any tools, he got creative.
Taking a massive swing, he kicked at the ground with the steel toe of his boot and called to Dream at the same time. The result was an explosion of grass and earth that showered the garden beyond and left a crater like a small meteor had struck. It didn’t break the circle, but it revealed what it was made of.
A line of concrete was poured under the ground, three feet deep and almost as wide. Tad needed to break through that if he wanted to break the circle, and a quick glance showed him he didn’t have time to wait. He heard the crack of gunfire as one agent risked a shot, but they were too cautious of friendly fire and the shot went wide, giving Kuruk time to kill another agent and get ever closer to Morris.
Stella was screaming for an update, but again Tad ignored her as he turned his attention to the concrete. Jumping into the crater, he kicked again, hoping for a similar effect to the dirt.
Instead, he almost broke his foot as he kicked a concrete barrier with as much force as he could without the protection of Dream. Another agent died as he shouted in pain and guessed what happened. Of course he couldn’t break the barrier, it was powered by Dream deliberately to stop dreamwalkers. His gifts would have no power over it. Tad knew that eventually it would burn out, but this was concrete and it would take…
His eyes widened as the answer came to him.
Not wasting a second more to think on it, he called over to Dream again, shoving the door open wide this time and getting ready to release as much energy as he could in a single moment. As always when using Dream, every nerve tingled with electricity as it filled him. However, for the first time, he didn’t release it into the world, instead he pulled over more. He couldn’t rely on keeping the door open for a steady stream of Dream, he needed it all at once. So he kept filling his energy wells and ignored the fact that every second wasted was a second the giant was headed for his friend.
The tingling became a buzz as though he were filled with raw electricity, itching to be free. He felt so full of power he was surprised it wasn’t leaking through his skin. He kept pulling until he felt he might burst, then finally he acted.
It wasn’t a kick he needed this time, just a touch.
Using the hand he damaged last time he tried something like this, he pressed his fingers against the hot concrete and let loose all his stored energy in a single rush.
Dream energy screamed through the contact, rushing along the lines of the dreamcatcher with such intensity that even with his eyes
closed and a hand covering them, he still saw spots of light in his vision as the dreamcatcher shone like it had captured the energy of the sun itself. There was incredible heat nearby as the concrete struggled under the impossible energy and he scrambled away before he got burned again.
No sooner had he moved out of the crater when the dreamcatcher overloaded.
The light flashed once, so bright Tad thought even his hands might not protect his eyes, and then abruptly it went out.
Boom!
The earth around the dreamcatcher erupted like someone had set off a controlled explosion. Dirt, stone and plants were launched high, filling the morning air with a cloud of dust that only hindered visibility further for people already blinking away the aftereffects of the flash.
Men cried out and Growler yelped, but the dreamcatcher was down, and finally Tad could act.
He waved his arm, wincing as he reached for Dream again but bearing the pain with gritted teeth. A wind built up from the disturbed air, and the clouds of dust were blown away giving Tad a better view of the situation.
Six men lay on the ground, unmoving. However, from the look of things this was because of Kuruk and not the explosion. While the ground was chewed up everywhere, the slimmer lines were not nearly so bad as the edge of the circle.
The men in tactical gear were disoriented and were slowly getting their bearings while Growler shook off dust and soil. Tad felt a huge wave of relief as he saw the little guy safe, but it didn’t last. Out the corner of his eye he saw another unnatural light spring up as Kuruk shook off his disorientation and moved again. He was quicker to recover than Morris, and before Tad could act he closed the distance between himself and the dreamwalker and casually turned the man’s head back on itself.
Tad heard the snap across the garden and watched in horror as the little dreamwalker collapsed into a heap, leaving a ghost standing over his body looking scared and alone.
“No!” Tad screamed, a primal reaction that was laced with Dream, making those nearest flinch and even turning Kuruk’s head. The giant’s eyes widened when he saw Tad like he might actually be scared, and then he sprinted away, that damn dreamcatcher flaring on his shoulder again and somehow giving him the impossible speed to cover the ground between the garden and the house in the blink of an eye. Before Tad could think to react, he was inside and out of sight.
Tad started forward, ready to flush this monster out and put him down once and for all. But before he had gone a single step, there was an iron grip on his arm, pulling him back with such strength it felt like a robot had grabbed him.
Tad turned in surprise to find Stella holding him back and shouting for everyone to stop.
“Don’t go after him,” she screamed.
Her warning fell on deaf ears as the tactical team, furious at the death of their colleagues, rushed into the house. Tad heard the smashing of wood and glass from the back that told Tad they had breached there as well. Tad tried to go help them, but Stella showed the extent to which she had grown stronger by tugging him back, forcing him not to move.
“He was lying, Tad. His fear before he ran, it was a lie. He wants you in that house.”
Her words were fast and panicked, forcing him to listen. It took him a few seconds longer to understand and even that was only helped when he felt two distinct calls to Dream, like Dreamwalkers changing the channel.
“Oh no,” he said as realisation struck. He took one step towards the house, intending to get everyone out, but it was too late.
This explosion was not powered by Dream and was twenty times what the last had been. Even standing at the edge of the garden, it threw Tad from his feet into Stella, knocking her over even with her vaunted strength. The hurt of the impact was only the start of his pain as suddenly he was showered with the debris of the house that had disintegrated in the explosion. Wood, stone, glass and more flew outward in all directions until Tad finally did something about it.
Using the last of his strength, he reached for that door in his mind one last time to change the channel, keeping hold of Stella as he did so. The world flickered and changed, then suddenly he, Stella and Growler were at the end of the street, out of the initial blast radius and safe from the debris.
Tad groaned at the pain in his head from overusing Dream, not to mention the other pains from being near two explosions. It was strange that he could barely recall the sound of the explosion, yet his ears rang so loud it was near impossible to make out anything else. Slowly the world faded back in and the first thing he heard was Stella’s voice.
“Bring everything. Ambulances, firemen, the lot,” she was shouting at someone. Tad couldn’t see who as he kept blinking to clear his eyes. “I don’t know. Just hurry. There’s nothing left of the house. I don’t know how anyone inside could have survived.”
“Nothing left?” Tad questioned, still blinking as he tried to climb to his feet and shake off the effects of overusing Dream. No matter how hard he blinked or even how he rubbed his eyes though, something was seriously wrong.
“Tad, easy. You took the brunt of that explosion. Are you okay?”
Tad didn’t answer, instead rubbing at his eyes with a little more panic this time. He blinked and opened them again, then rubbed them some more.
He kept doing so, harder and faster, until Stella grabbed his hands and pulled them away.
“Tad, what’s wrong.”
Unable to keep the panic from his voice as his oldest fear made itself known, Tad couldn’t answer at first until Stella asked another time.
Seeing nothing but darkness, Tad blinked back tears and said, “Stella, I can’t see.”
20
Thursday, 14th July 2016
11:16
Tony exited Cardiff’s branch of this particular, world-famous lingerie store, and was lost in thought. He’d come for the same reason he’d tried the strip clubs last night and visited so many of his old haunts. He needed a distraction.
It had been five days since he last merged with Tad, and the bond was completely gone. For the first time he felt the pull of Dream.
It was subtle at first, like there was some annoying fly that kept returning to take a small bite of him, and all he had to do was brush it away. However, soon that fly became a swarm, and as he tried to brush off one, another was trying to get a piece of him. Now it felt like if he were not constantly on guard, Dream would pull him apart until there was nothing left. It required one of two things to keep himself together, constant concentration, or a distraction strong enough to focus his mind on an external problem, leaving his subconscious to fight the battle for him.
It was strange that a strong enough distraction was all it took to stay sane. It was almost like Dream could only take you when you were actively thinking of it happening. There was a lesson there somewhere, but Tony didn’t have the mental bandwidth to deal with it.
He was so distracted he ignored the three times he was recognised while in the store and walked directly into someone as he stepped out of it.
Tony grunted and stumbled back, quickly mumbling apologies that cut off as soon as he recognised who it was.
“You again?” he asked as a startled Amber brushed her crimson hair from her eyes and shot him a nervous smile.
“Hey Tony. Fancy running into you… here.” Her eyes drifted to where Tony had come from and her smile faded. For the first time there was no effort to put the smile back in place, there was just an expression of disappointment. “Really? You were spying on the women’s changing rooms? Strip clubs and leisure centres aren’t enough for you? You have to be a pervert here as well?”
“I—” Tony started, but Amber wasn’t hearing it. Unlike the last few times he’d met her, she genuinely appeared disgusted and before he could explain himself she walked away.
Tony stared after her, dumbfounded and filled with the desire to chase her down and force her to listen.
He shook his head, thinking how ridiculous that was. The last two times he’d seen her he�
�d been desperate to get rid of her, now he wanted her to stay. He needed to count this as a blessing and move on.
The trouble was that as soon as she walked away, he realised he had nothing better to do and that brought the tug of Dream again. Those few seconds talking to Amber had been the distraction he’d been seeking for days.
He was running before he’d consciously decided to move, darting between startled shoppers and keeping his eye on the bright red hair that moved faster than was normal for a human walking. So fast that she drew attention from the surrounding people. Tony picked up the pace.
She had turned off the main high street and was halfway down another, much quieter road by the time he caught up. She wasn’t responding to him calling her name, so he had to resort to grabbing her arm to get her attention.
The moment he made contact she stopped and spun, pulling her arm free and shoving him hard enough that she knocked him back a few steps.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded, angry at her shove, her judgement and everything about her. In his anger he lost all sense of Dream tugging at him, and he revelled in that. “First you follow me around like a crazy stalker, and now you insult me and think you can just walk away. What the hell is your problem?”
“My problem? You’re the sick freak who’s hanging around in women’s changing rooms and—”
“Really? You ever see me in a changing room?” he demanded.
“What?”
“Did you see me in a changing room? In all your stalking when did you ever see me somewhere I shouldn’t be if I was a normal thirty-year-old man?”
“I… But you…” Amber frowned, struggling for words as Tony successfully knocked her off balance.
“I thought so. You stalk me for days, take things out of context, then insult me like you have some kind of moral right to attack me. I never asked you to follow me and I don’t owe you anything.”
“Well, what were you doing in there if you weren’t in the changing rooms?” she demanded, regaining her composure but turning red-faced, regardless.