AN: Once again, sorry for taking so long. I've been working my ass off at work lately, because everybody but me was on vacation, leaving me with all the work. So that hasn't left me with much energy when I come home. But anyways, who cares...?
There isn't much to say than this chapter is a little short of action, but I assure you that there will be plenty in the next one. But hope you like it anyway...

Doubt 'til thou canst doubt no more... doubt is thought and thought is life. Systems which end doubt are devices for drugging thought.

Albert Guerard

Chapter 12

Float up From a Dream

Saturday

September 26th, 1998

Sean was running.

He didn't know why, but that didn't seem to bother him. What bothered him though was that there wasn't anything to run on. The ground was missing.

He looked up and around. There were no walls either, or a ceiling for that matter. Everything was black and empty. But somehow he managed to keep running. He wasn't floating in the air though. He could feel the ground under his feet, but he just couldn't see it. Then he realized he wasn't wearing shoes. So he could feel the cold floor under him.

The darkness around him seemed to go on for an eternity. And there was nowhere to run, because there was nothing to see out there. The only thing he could see was himself. Somehow he was well lit, while everything around him was black as coal.

Suddenly Sean felt something wet under his bare feet, so he stopped. He looked down to see what it was. It was a cold, crimson red liquid. It kind of looked like blood, he thought.

Looking closer at it, he saw that it was flowing in the direction he was facing. He started to follow the trail, walking with his feet in it. He could feel that the longer he walked, the stronger the current got and the deeper the river of blood became. Then he noticed that it was going downhill. He could feel the blood getting slippery under his feet. He couldn't keep his legs steady so he fell on his back, landing in the small river.

Slowly sliding downwards he noticed that he was picking up pace, and before he knew it he was descending rapidly. He felt like he was sliding through a water slide, only this wasn't fun because it wasn't water, but someone's blood he was sliding through.

The slide turned a couple of times, but ended out in a straight line. He could tell because there was a light in the end, and he was heading straight towards it.

As it grew bigger and bigger, Sean noticed that it was some kind of hole. There was a bright light coming from it, making him unable to see beyond it. When he reached it, the light swallowed him up and he couldn't feel anything. Not a floor, no wind or gravity. Then suddenly everything went black once again.

Now he was standing on a staircase. At the top of it was a large steel door, and there were walls following the stairs all the way up.

A distant voice could be heard. It sounded like a girl calling out for something. Sean started walking up the stairs, because it seemed like the voice came from behind the door.

As he got closer to it, the voice started to sound familiar. It was Sabrina calling for him.

"Sean! Sean!" She was yelling. "Help me, Sean!"

Then he started running as fast as he could, up the stairs. But suddenly he got grabbed from the sides. Arms were coming out of the brick walls.

Sean continued, but the arms kept holding him back. And as he pushed forward more and more of them started appearing. But now it was full torsos that were sticking out.

They were hissing and whispering to him.

"Stop! Murderer! Don't kill her!" They kept on telling him. But also their voices seemed so familiar.

Sean looked at their faces in horror and discovered that it was people he knew. His father, his mother, his colleagues and his friends. They had all turned into zombies and were now trying to keep him from getting to the door on top.

"Don't do it!" Pat told him, as he grabbed Sean's right arm and pulled him to him. His face was disfigured and pale, but Sean could see it was him. Then he saw his eyes. They were glowing white. In fact he couldn't tell whether or not he had eyes. It looked more like he had a flashlight inside his skull, shining through his empty eye sockets.

Sean turned as he got grabbed by another person. It was Karen who was boring her nails into his arm, tearing through his clothes. Her eyes were glowing in the exact same horrifying way as Pat's and the others eyes.

"You murderer!" She whispered angrily. "Don't kill her too!"

Sean just kept on going, writhing himself free of their strong hands. He ran the last piece of way without getting attacked again.

When he reached the door, he turned around to see if his loved ones still were there. They were there still, staring at him, no longer trying to reach him. Then they slowly started moving back into the walls, becoming one with them once again.

Sean turned to the door once again, and pushed it open. He walked out into the open space of a rooftop. The wind was blowing hard and he saw it was dawn. The sun was rising red.

Next thing he saw was a dark haired woman lying on the ground not far from him. Next to her sat a man in a black uniform. Sean couldn't see who it was, because he was wearing a ski mask.

The man was holding her head up, but when he saw Sean he put her head down on the ground. The hair fell to the side and Sean could see that it was Sabrina lying there.

Suddenly the mysterious masked man stood up and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Sabrina's head. Sean wanted to run to him and beat the shit out him, but he couldn't move an inch. It was like he wasn't meant to interfere. Like he was just a bystander, forced to watch something horrible.

The man looked over at Sean and reached for his ski mask. He then pulled it off and revealed his face to him.

Sean's blood froze along with his body. What he saw was himself standing there, aiming at his life's love. But it couldn't be, he thought. He would never do such a thing. It was like he was his evil twin standing there.

His doppelganger just grinned at Sean and started laughing.

"You killed her!" He suddenly yelled at him with anger, suddenly changing mood completely. He raised the gun again and aimed at her face.

"NOOOO!" Sean yelled as hard as he could.

But he couldn't do anything as he pulled the trigger.

BAM!

Sean sat up, screaming "no" out into the room. But it faded out as he realized it was just a dream. He looked around, wiping the sweat of his forehead. He was drenched in it. His whole body felt damp and sticky.

Sabrina was still sleeping. Her left arm was resting on his lap. Sean removed it slowly, trying not to wake her, and stepped out of the bed. Actually it was incredible she hadn't woken up by the sound of his loud scream. But Sean's scream hadn't really been that loud. He just thought that because of the effect of the dream. Or rather nightmare.

What was that about anyway? He thought, trying to remember it. He hadn't dreamed that one before. But it seemed like it was somehow connected to the dreams he had had earlier. That rooftop… It's always the same one. I wonder what that means…

Then he suddenly remembered what he had seen on that rooftop. Himself shooting Sabrina…

No… that wasn't me… He thought, but then became uncertain. Or was it?

He couldn't make any sense of it, and maybe he didn't want to. Whatever the case, he pushed it aside.

It was just a dream. He thought, reminding himself how pointless it was to try and analyze it. Besides, he guessed it was pretty normal to have weird dreams in weird situations. After all he had been under a lot of stress lately.

Sean looked out the window. It looked like the sun was setting, because the light was dim and orange. So they had been sleeping from morning to evening again.

Have we been sleeping for so long? Sean thought, not believing his eyes. That's gotta be more than twelve hours…

He couldn't believe that they had been sleeping for so long. He had tried staying up for this long many times before. In highschool they had sometimes been partying from evening to evening. But this was of course different, because Sean and his friends had been working hard all day and had been very stressed out. That can make any person tired.

Unless you're on speed. Sean joked to himself.

The numbness from sleeping was slowly starting to dissipate, so when he got up from the bed, the pain struck him. His stomach was killing him. It hurt so bad. It was because he hadn't been eating anything for almost half a day. He felt like his stomach had started consuming itself.

He placed his hands on his stomach while bending forward.

"Aww, man…" He said silently to himself. "I've better find some to eat."

Moving towards the door, he suddenly felt dizzy and started to stagger. He placed a hand on his head, which were starting to hurt too.

This can't be normal. He thought and stopped, leaning against the wall. Then he noticed the wounds on his wrist. They had been scratched heavily and were now red and oozing with pus. That was when he started to feel how much it really itched. Both wrists were itching, as were the bite on his arm. He guessed he had been scratching the wounds in his sleep.

Sean was getting more and more disorientated. His vision was getting blurry, and he couldn't really focus. Not even his thoughts could he keep together. He could only set his mind on one thing: Food!

Just the thought of putting his teeth into a fat juicy steak, made his mouth run. But it also gave him the strength to push himself away from the wall and go for the door.

Though it wasn't very likely that there would be a hot juicy steak waiting for him, he pushed the door open and staggered for the kitchen. He was hoping that the ones, who owned the apartment, had at least left some kind of food behind.

Raising both his arms, he reached for the refrigerator door and opened it. But unfortunately the light inside it lit up nothing. It was empty.

Oh no… He thought, starring into the empty space of the fridge. I must have something…

Turning away from the kitchen, he looked over at the two brothers. They were still sleeping. Slowly Sean started to move in their direction. His feet shuffling over the carpet. He felt like he was going to die if he didn't eat something soon. And in this state he would eat anything.

Only focused on getting to the brothers, Sean started to moan while he breathed heavily.

"Must… eat..."

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Dude, what the fuck!" Mike yelled when he opened his eyes and saw Sean, sitting on his knees next to him.

Sean had ripped open one of the backpacks that had been on the sofa table, and was now stuffing himself with some of the potato chips they had brought.

He didn't even answer the question, but kept on munching the snacks. He couldn't eat it fast enough.

Mike just glared at his friend who seemed to be acting like some kind of animal. Normally Sean was eating very controlled and refined, but right now it seemed more like he was eating like a pig. He was practically throwing the food into his mouth.

What Sean hadn't thought of was that the chips made him really dry, thus making it harder and harder to swallow it.

Mike noticed it right away and got up, intending to help his friend. He quickly ran to the kitchen, and started looking for a glass. He went through almost every cabin to find them, and of course they were in the last one.

Mike ripped out a glass and turned to the sink. Turning the faucet, he filled the glass with cold water and turned back to Sean. He was surprised to see that he was still trying to eat. Eventually Sean started coughing, because his throat was all dried out.

Mike handed him the glass and watched as he practically drowned himself in the water. Sean coughed and gurgled as the water entered his throat, but he somehow managed to drink it all anyway. He then handed back the glass to Mike, expecting him to refill it.

He didn't object though, so he went back to the kitchen.

Sean's state of mind slowly started to go back to normal, and he stopped stuffing his face for awhile. He could feel that it had helped a lot the get some to eat. But he was still hungry so he continued, but with a less frantic approach.

He opened another bag of snacks and started eating those too. It was a bag of those cheddar cheese balls. Normally he didn't like them very much, but right now they tasted like heaven. He also found a little pack of crackers. They tasted like heaven also, but he was getting a little tired of chewing dry food.

Mike sat down next too him, handing him the second glass of water. Sean drank it slowly and wiped his mouth in his hand.

"Do you mind telling me, what the hell that was all about?" Mike asked him, raising his eyebrows in expectation.

"I'm not sure… But I woke up, feeling incredibly hungry." Sean tried to explain, though he didn't even know what it had been himself. "No, hungry doesn't describe it. More like starving…. It was like I hadn't been eating for a week."

"It sure looked like it." Mike responded, looking a little bit confused. He was hungry himself, but not that hungry.

"Anyway, I think I'm okay now. I just need to get a little more to eat." Sean said, and smiled. He could feel the energy coming back to him. Also his wounds had stopped itching, and his head stopped pounding.

He then stood up, trying to get a feel of his balance. It had been way off before, because he had been dizzy and disorientated. He staggered a little and then decided to lean against one of the chairs. He was still feeling a little groggy, but it was definitely getting better.

Sean let go of the chair and started moving towards the kitchen once again. He looked through some drawers and found a pack of toast. After further search, he found some peanut butter too.

Taking a couple of knifes with him, he grabbed it all and carried it to the sofa table. Mike looked surprised at his found.

"Nice… Breakfast." He said, but then looked at the clock on the wall, that said 7.29 pm. "Really late breakfast that is."

"More like dinner." Sean chuckled.

As they started to make some sandwiches, Pat suddenly sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawned.

"Wha-what's going on?" He said, with a low coarse voice. "I smell peanut's"

"Breakfast." Sean replied and pointed at the table.

Pat just grunted and stood up. He scratched himself in the crotch a few times, mumbled something about a toilet and started walking out of the room.

Mike looked over at Sean, and they both started laughing with their mouths full.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Inside the bedroom, Sabrina was finally waking up. She reached out to the other side of the bed before turning to see. When her hands didn't connect with anything, she rolled over to look only to find that Sean was gone.

She quickly sat up, rubbing her eyes. Looking around, she noticed that Sean wasn't even in the room. But the door had been left open. The light was on in the kitchen she could see.

She got out of the bed and started moving for the door. Her feet moved silently over the carpet, as her eyes were watching the window over the bed. It was getting dark outside, so they had been wasting an entire day on sleeping.

Suddenly a shadow walked past the door. She didn't see what it was, because she wasn't paying much attention to the door, she only saw that the light got blocked for a second.

Fixing her eyes on the half open door, she walked closer to it. She the heard a door close and a lock turn. Wondering what was going on, she pushed open the door and stepped out of the bedroom.

Much to her comfort, she saw that Sean and Mike were sitting at the sofa table. But she couldn't spot Pat anywhere. She guessed it could have been him walking past the door. He had probably headed towards the toilet. It was located beyond the washroom.

"Oh, look who's up." Mike greeted her and smiled.

Sean turned around to see, and she greeted him with a warm smile. He suddenly felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Sabrina had the warmest smile in miles. No one could resist smiling back at her and Sean was no exception. He smiled back at her, but then she suddenly started laughing at him.

He frowned not getting why she was laughing, but suddenly realized that he had peanut butter on his teeth. He licked it of, trying not to laugh himself.

Sabrina sat down next to him and kissed him on the lips.

"Mmm." She said as they separated again.

Sean kept on watching her as she started to make herself a sandwich. Even though her hair was messy and her eyes a little baggy, she still looked beautiful.

How could I get so lucky? Sean wondered to himself. She's smart, funny and gorgeous. How can I guy like me end up with such a goddess?

She looked back at him, while taking a bite of her sandwich. She was thinking the exact same thing. She couldn't get over how cute he was. Never in her entire life had she ever met a guy that had been so nice to her. Sure they had sneered at each other a little the past couple of days, but it was the moments, like the one they were having right now, that made all worries fade away. She adored him, and he adored her.

Mike was just watching the couple in silence. They were so good together, he thought. Sean was such a great guy, and Sabrina was such a great girl. So naturally they would be together.

As he was watching the two, he suddenly started missing his girlfriend. He realized that she hadn't called him. She was supposed to call Pat's cell when she had gotten out of the city.

He suddenly went for Pat's backpack to see if he could find the phone. Sean and Sabrina just watched him as he frantically searched through it.

When he finally found the cell, he pulled it out and looked at the display. It displayed the text "1 missed call". He checked who the caller had been, and just as he had expected it was Judy.

Mike stood up from the armchair and started walking away from his friends.

"Sorry guys. Gotta make a call." He said and dialed the number.

"Judy?" Sean asked and Mike responded by nodding.

He walked out into the hallway that led to the front door from the living room. He closed the door to get some privacy, as he could hear the dial tone in the phone.

It just kept on dialing, so he hung up. He looked at the display again, amazed by how it lit up the dark hallway. He could barely see beyond the phone if he looked directly at the light.

Mike pushed the dial button once again. He had to know if she had made it out. It was driving him crazy not to know. Amazing how doubt can deteriorate a persons mind. It can make you do irrational and dangerous things.

He was scared of what he might do, if Judy didn't pick up her phone. Maybe she was all right, but she might as well be dead.

The dial tone beeped at least 10 times before he gave up. He was about to try again, when he realized that it was hopeless. If she had had the phone on her, she would have picked it up by now. Instead he tried to find out when she had called him. It said the call had been made at 1.23 that morning. It was around the time they had been driving towards downtown. No wonder they hadn't heard the phone ring. It had probably been in the trunk of Sean's car at the time.

Mike leaned his back against the wall and slid downwards till he reached the floor. Then he just sat there for awhile, covering his face with his hands.

He was frustrated. The doubt was tearing him apart from the inside out. Maybe she had made it out of the city at the time she had called. But maybe she hadn't and was calling him for help instead. If it was the latter, then she was most likely dead by now.

Mike shuttered the thought. He didn't want to think about it. She had to be alive.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"I hope Judy's all right…" Sean said, looking after Mike as he closed the door to the hallway. "She means a lot to him."

Sean could easily imagine how he felt. He himself would go crazy if he didn't know where Sabrina was and if she was okay or not.

Before Mike had left to call Judy, they had all been feeling comfortable and relaxed. They had felt like they were in a completely different place: a place without worries and fear. But when they had remembered Judy, then they had snapped right back to reality. Their mood had quickly changed from happiness to sadness.

Sabrina took a last bite of her sandwich and rested her head on Sean's shoulder.

Please tell me that we're going to make it out of this. She thought. She knew that there was a possibility that they weren't, but she needed just a little bit of hope. She needed Sean to tell her that everything was going to be okay and that soon it would all just be a bad memory.

Sean heard the toilet flush in the bathroom and seconds later Pat stepped into the living room/ kitchen.

"Where did you come from?" Sabrina asked, though she knew the answer.

"I was out… you know… shaking hands with the president." Pat answered, trying not to sound too obvious.

Sean couldn't help but smile a little.

"So why did it take so long?" He asked, since there had gone a good amount of time since Pat had walked out there.

"Well… he held a pretty long speech…" Pat joked, hoping he was going to break the ice a little.

Both Sean and Sabrina frowned and sent him a look.

"Speech? That has got to be the grossest metaphor I've ever heard in my entire life." Sabrina then said and shook her head.

"She's right, dude. That was kinda gross." Sean said, nodding.

"What? Are you serious?" Pat said, smiling. "I thought it was hilarious."

But his smile quickly went away, when his brother stepped into the living room. Mike was not looking very happy. He looked very sad, almost like he had just gotten some terrible news. But in fact he hadn't gotten any news at all, and that was what bothered him.

He just walked over to the sofa and sat down, as his friends watched him all the way in silence. He placed the cell phone on the table and covered his head with his hands soon after.

Sean didn't dare to speak a word, but he was curious.

"Is Judy all right?" He asked, but realized how stupid a question that was. Of course she's not all right if Mike is acting so sad.

Mike slowly removed his hands from his face and looked at his friends. His eyes were red and a small tear slowly started running down his cheek.

"Shit…" Sean mumbled, but immediately got up and walked over to him. He sat down beside him, as the others joined in. Now they were all sitting next to Mike, trying to comfort him.

"I couldn't get a hold of her…" He sniffled, wiping the tears of his face. "I don't know if she's okay or not…"

"Well… has she called you yet?" Sean asked.

"YES! That's why I called her back!" Mike suddenly burst out, sneering at Sean, but then it struck him that Sean didn't know. He hadn't seen the message on the display. Mike didn't bother to apologize though. He could see that Sean didn't take it personally.

"It's okay…" Sean said, as if reading his mind. "I understand."

Mike continued. "She could be safe, but there's a chance that she might be in danger too. Maybe she was calling for help instead."

Sean could see what he meant, but he still tried to make him feel better.

"You can't know that. She's probably fine. She went a lot earlier than us. The situation wasn't this bad back then. Maybe she got out before all this." Sean said, sounding very comforting.

Mike molded it over a couple of seconds.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe she was just caught up in something. That's why she called me so late." Mike said, cheering a little bit up. There was no point in assuming the worst, because that wouldn't do him any good. Instead he smiled at his friends, and wiped his face for the last time. "Thanks guys. Thanks for being there for me."

"You're welcome." Sabrina said with a warm voice.

"Anytime, bro." Pat said, and hugged him as they both got up from the sofa.

It was quite touching, Sean thought. When two brothers hugged, then it touched something deep inside. He wished that he had siblings. But then again, Mike and Pat had always been like brothers to him.

Sean got up and walked around for a second. His dizziness had dissipated and he wasn't feeling hungry anymore. Actually he felt loaded with energy. He felt like running a marathon.

He thought it was a little weird, considering he had been a cripple almost 15 minutes ago. But he ignored it and decided he was ready to go. It was time that they left the apartment. He felt that they had already spent too much time there. They had a radio station to get to.

"Are you guys feeling ready to leave this place?" He asked.

"Yeah." Pat said, feeling the same way. "Let's get the hell out of here."