Death of a Dream: A New Awakening


Chapter I: A Second Chance

And so it was, I was dead. Deader than a doorknob. Deader than a floating goldfish. Deader than…aw…you get the picture. The only thing living is my mind. My mind and I just floating in the black void of deadness. Woo. This is fun. I always thought the lifestream was more exciting than this. Hmm. OW! Gosh! The heck? Dude, I didn't think you hurt when you were dead. Eee! My entire body aches!

"Biggs! Oh my God! Biggs!"

Eh? I know that voice. Hmmith.

"Biggs! For the love of all that is holy! Say something!"

Now, if I didn't know better, that would sound like Jessie to me. I cracked my eye open. "Does 'ow' count?"

Her eyes went wide then she hugged me. Damn, that wasn't pleasant. I screamed out in pain and she let go immediately. Hmm, so I wasn't dead huh? Funny, I thought that plate squished me flatter than a pancake. I looked up to see the said plate dangling precariously 15 feet above our heads. Well, if I wasn't flat now, I sure was going to be.

My head ached…bad. I put a hand to where it hurt then drew back. Blood. Then I looked down at the ground where my head was. A rather large piece of material had struck me in the head. Well, that would explain that. As I got up, Jessie ran over to unbury wedge. He had a metal beam pinning him down, and to the looks of things he was out cold as well. I couldn't help; I still had to regain my senses.

The plate groaned and creaked above our heads. Jessie had Wedge unburied and I went over to help carry him out. There was less than 3 feet remaining of the exit to Sector 7 into Sector 6. We rolled Wedge under, Jessie followed and finally me. We emerged at a broken down playground. I looked down when I heard something I kicked go 'ping'. It was an empty bullet shell. Barret had to have been here.

"Looks like they escaped." I stated once we set Wedge down. I bent down and picked up a shell.

"What makes you think that?" Jessie asked me. I tossed the empty shell to her. "Oh."

"So..."

"So what?"

"How badly are YOU hurt. I got half of my cranium knocked off by a cement block." I continued padding at the injury that had ceased bleeding, but it still hurt. I looked at her clothing, torn and bloodied but I didn't know just how badly she was injured.

"Scratches, bruises mainly. I woke up on the ground near you. A piece of metal came about 3 inches from shishkabobing my head."

"Oh." I sat down. Standing up wasn't helping the pain at all. We sat in silence for a moment until a large crack sounded. We both looked over at Sector 7 in surprise.

The plate creaked and groaned louder, swaying. Finally, the wires and buildings holding it up gave way and the plate slammed into the ground, crushing anything left in the slums. A large dust cloud enveloped us. When the dust cleared, I looked over at Jessie. Her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Well, that would've sucked, now wouldn't it?"

"....."