It was the nightmare again. The same nightmare Jess had been having for a week. But though the sluggish fog of dreams filled her head, she knew it was real.

She was out on her neighborhood street. There was nothing out there but parked cars, the cold on her back, and the moonlight reflecting off the asphalt. Then her mind reverberated with a mechanical hum that didn't reach her ears, and the street light switched on. The beam shot a perfect orange circle on the street, but something dark had broken the center. A shape the size of a beetle car, black and sharp. She opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out was carbon dioxide, as if the part of her brain that delivered that order had been ripped out.

She turned, and ran, but her legs had gone stupid. The knees came up too slowly, went down like they couldn't find the ground, and then they stopped moving altogether. She quickly lost her footing, and fell. The burning pain in her knee made her eyes pop open wide, and a spark of alertness enter her skull, but in response, her lethargy doubled its strength. Lying on her front, she could sense the creature getting closer, like a warmth looming over her back.

"Move!" she rasped at herself. "Move!"

But she felt certain that if her back moved a centimeter, it would be pierced.

The monster rolled over her feet. It was the feeling of a hard, leather shell over-passing her heels, and under that shell was a warm darkness, and anything could be inside. The edge continued to graze up her body- skimming her shins, then her back- until it hit the ground in front of her head, and she was completely enveloped.

She pulled her limbs into a ball, then rolled onto her back.

All she saw was black, and all she felt was emptiness.

Then there was the hiss of escaping gas, and she felt air being pumped at her from either side. It was a toxic smelling gas that burned her nostrils. She coughed, the burn eating at her throat. She covered her mouth and nose, trying to block it out. Then part of her brain switched off.

...

The nightmare left her as it always did- dark hair rebelling in greasy shards against its ponytail, pallid skin, circles of grey to match the eyes above them. When she met her brother for coffee, he made no comment, already knowing the source of her disarray. Unfortunately for his patience, she was going to bring it up anyway.

"It's real." she said. "I know- I know now. It's real."

"I think we already went over this, didn't we?" he said, lightly. "You agreed it was just a nightmare."

She bent her leg, putting her foot on her chair, lifted her pant leg, and showed him the dried blood on her knee.

"And this?" she said, a tight edge to her voice.

He looked at it. He didn't seem impressed.

"Doesn't look that bad." he said. "It's pretty normal, too. People get bruises all the time, and they don't know where they came from. Hell, I get those."

"Bruises, yes, but you don't just not notice skinning your knee!"

"Jess, if those things were really showing up every night, then someone else would have seen them. The street cameras would have definitely picked them up, and it'd be all over the news. Relax. Your subconscious is just stuck in a rut, or something."

...

She found herself standing in the dark street with a head full of fog. Something at the back of her head was shouting at her. She looked down the street.

Oh, god, there it is!

PAY ATTENTION.

That was it. That was what she'd been repeating to herself until she'd fallen asleep. If it was real, there had to be some reason behind it. There had to be some clue as to what the thing wanted. And if she wanted to convince Artie, she had to find it.

She forced herself to back up, and slapped her face. This woke her up a bit. She noted the way the thing was moving. Seamlessly, as if it was never really touching the ground. If there was a creature inside, every part of it had to be very thin, and crooked, fused to the 'shell'.

As if in response to her spike of consciousness, the lethargy returned in threefold.

Hypnotism, or... something. she thought, straining.

Her knees went weak, and she dropped. She lifted her heavy head.

LOOK AT IT! Come on!

It had spindly, black, taloned arms coming out in every direction like a beetle, but they never touched the ground. The front had a head shaped lump protruding from it. Its skin looked like a black, and leathery tarp. On the monster's back, there were ridges and bumps, the spine underneath.

"What do you want?" she rasped.

She swallowed, and forced her voice to a weak shout.

"What do you want?!"

It continued to inch closer.

It did have one feature. Something black and reflective at the center of its head, the shape of a nail, and the size of a nose.

A visor. she thought.

The thing started to roll over her feet, and this time, she could watch its ascent. She almost urged it to hurry. She didn't know how long her determination would last verses her overwhelming need to sleep.

When it covered her, she opened her mouth, and breathed deep before the breeze even started. When it did, she rolled the disgusting air around her mouth, trying to memorize the taste. It was completely unfamiliar, but it was how she'd imagine gasoline would taste.

She couldn't hold out any longer.

Remember this. she thought, as she went under. Remember this, you freaking idiot. REMEMBER IT!

...

The sunlight streaming from her window edged onto her eyes, and she sat bolt upright on the bed. She closed her eyes, and balled her fists tightly on either side of her head.

Spindly, exoskeleton, visor, taste!

She smacked her tongue, trying to taste it again- and suddenly she could. Not on her tongue, but oh-so-faintly on every exhale.

Like she was a carrier.

...

She couldn't wait. She was bursting with the information. After showering, and throwing on some plaid and denim, she drove to her brother's place of work, and waited till he came out. He already seemed pissed. She could read it on his face.

This better not be about-

"It's using me to spread it." she said.

"This isn't okay, Jess. I'm working."

"How do you think I feel?" she snapped. "That gas it pumps into me? I can taste it every time I exhale. I think it might be using me to slowly poison people, or something! And its skin is just a cover! Its face is a helmet-"

She realized her facts sounded like babbling, but she was so desperate for him to understand, to validate her.

"They might be using me to kill people. I don't understand it, but I know that something's very wrong. If you would just listen to me-"

"Jess, enough!" he snapped. "You know dad's been looking for an excuse to get you locked up ever since mom got diagnosed- and trust me, he will. So, just go home, and get some rest. I've got to work. We're not talking about this again."

He turned his back, and walked back inside the building.

Warm tears started spilling down her face before she'd even registered the emotion she was feeling. It was despair, and frustration balled into a throbbing pain in her chest until all she wanted to do was run to a bathroom, and scream into her knees.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She didn't want to see anyone right now, and she certainly didn't want anyone to see her. She desperately swiped at her eyes, but the moment she turned, more were already streaming out.

"Oh, there now."

A thin, refined hand moved to brush away the tears.

"Come and tell mummy all about it." said the stranger.

She looked to be in her fifties, had dark hair curled at the top of her head, and a manner that was both slightly condescending and infinitely comforting, as if she knew exactly what Jess needed, and how to cater to it.

"I'm sorry." said Jess, wiping at her own face to have an excuse to cover as much of it as possible. "I don't think I know you."

The woman clucked with a little 'aw', and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm Missy," she said. "and I'm the woman who believes you."