AN: Hello once again, the last couple of chapters have been pretty rough, so here's a long chapter for your trouble. In the mean time, I hope everyone has a nice day.

***16***

I woke up to the same unyielding dark that had been there when I checked out. The first thing to hit me was a thousand angry aches and stings from my back and shoulders. I would have tried to move and get a look at what was keeping me down this time, but my left leg was being held still by something stiff that surrounded it.

Trying my best to ignore the pain that covered me like a blanket I couldn't help but notice that there was an actual blanket on me. Like the surface I was laying on it was too stiff to be soft and seemed to be half plastic from how loudly it wrinkled from my twitching movements.

Ok, lets think about this.

I was awake. Or at least I think I am. Well, I'm not being hunted down by anything or being ripped limb from limb, so thats a good sign. I'd made a break for it, got tackled. Then what? There was a rumble and voices? Memories came trickling in along with more details of my surroundings.

A machine hummed to my left and gave an occasional beep. I was laying on my stomach on some rough sheets. Was that a TV talking in the background, or the murmur of conversation? I tried to rise again, the weight of my body was enough to keep me down.

Hello?

Just like last time there was no response.

I fucked it up real good this time.

Hello?

I knew better than to expect a responce, but that didn't stop me from trying.

You were right. The dreamers won.

Nothing.

The dreamers had won. It was three on one and I'd been an idiot. I should have listened to the Walrider and just let them wither away.

No. That's bull shit. I did the right thing. I just have to get up and finish the job.

My flayed back spasmed at the thought of movement from underneath a layer of bandages. Looks like moving isn't an option. Without having much of a plan I called out to whoever might listen.

"Hello?" the word came out more quietly than I had meant, being bogged down with thick spit and having to make its way over strained vocal cords.

A cough rattled its way out of me before I had the chance to say anything else.

It didn't matter much though, not long after I spoke a I heard a door open and shut lightly from somewhere behind me.

"Who are you?" I made myself speak before they did. With my luck I was still in a hallucination and this was just the preamble to getting murdered again, I might as well make it last.

Light footsteps walked to my side.

"How are you feeling?" A youngish sounding woman's voice came out of the dark.

Everything ached, my back throbbed again, both legs could have been turned to jelly for all I knew, most of my organs were bruised and had tried to take a vacation to the outside of me. I bit down a sarcastic comment.

Think silver linings, at least my left arm isn't in hilarious amounts of pain. I took everything in and answered simply.

"Bad."

The ladies voice hummed in acknowledgement.

"You're bandages are holding up well." she said softly.

I'd had a few too many brushes with death in the past month to let my guard down. I tensed up at the sound of her coming closer, it took all I had not to wince from the having my frayed muscles pull at one another. The woman apparently noticed, and drew back a little.

"It's ok. I'm going to go get Dr. Sutton. She will be here in a couple of minuets."

The girl hung around for a second or two, waiting to hear an acknowledgement that never came. Eventually I heard her light foot steps leave the room and the door click shut behind her.

Another hospital, or doctors office? I needed to stop waking up in strange places after getting the shit beat out of me. I tried to move again, only for nothing to respond.

Could I get some decent lighting in here? Were there bandages on my face or something? I couldn't see a damned thing. Asking the Walrider for information now would be useless, it was probably dead- or whatever passed for it- back in that house off the highway.

God I was stupid. It said we would lose and here I am.

Shit, now the dreamers were just out there. How long would it be before they burned through whatever energy they got from the Walrider? Or was it still alive in some sort of twisted team up? It didn't seem too keen on the dreamers, but it tried to kill me when it was living in Billy's head, so who even knew what was going on now. Also, where the hell was I?

What happened? I woke up. Ran from the house. Got tackled. Got hit again? There were people? I remembered someone saying something about 911. It didn't matter much, I needed to get back to work and find some other way to get rid of the dreamers.

The door swung open and then shut again. Heavier, but still gentle steps crossed the room and stopped where the young woman had.

"Sir?"

"What." What now? What kind of bull shit injuries had I ended up with? Sure I didn't have the Walrider to patch me up this time, but I'll be damned if anything stops me now.

This new voice was still a woman's, but considerably older, more worn and more than a little tired.

"Sir, I'm afraid I have some bad news." She paused

I didn't let the silence hang for long.

"I'm sure it's bad, just get it over with. I've probably seen worse."

The silence seemed offended before the doctor spoke again.

"Well then." she went on with a carefully professional tone "You came in after being struck by a truck on highway 6."

That would be the final blow that knocked the dreamer off of me.

"I don't remember a thing" playing dumb was an old trick, but it had never failed me before.

The doctor breathed deep "Of course. I don't need to know what you were doing out there in the middle of the night, but…" she shuffled a bit, the tone of her voice changed from clinical to something more gentle, nearly grandmotherly "You're in pretty rough shape here son, and well, it's not looking too good for you."

Story of my life.

When I didn't answer she went on "How much can you feel right now?"

The way she kept talking like I was a wounded animal told me that things were worse than just a scratch here and a bruise there. "My back feels like hamburger and everything hurts, except for my left arm. I can't feel that at all"

More silence in the dark.

"Is there anything else?"

"I can't see?" what else was I missing?

"...I'm afraid we had to amputate-"

"Stop right there. What?" This had to be another layer of dreamer hallucination.

Very funny you bastards, but I wasn't falling for this one.

"Sir it's… What's your name son?"

"It's Miles. I'm fine. I'm not falling for this" I willed myself to move but found everything too frayed and fatigued to do its job

"Whoa there Miles. It's ok, everything is okay."

"No." I wasn't staying here, I had so many other things I needed to do.

"Shh, it's ok. If you move now you'll just hurt yourself more."

They strain of moving told me that she was right. Too bad I'm too stubborn to listen to my own common sense.

"Miles, please you're just hurting yourself." She was speaking like someone watching an injured animal now.

This was real. I wasn't lucky enough to still be trapped in some dream-like hell; there was no way the dreamers or even the Walrider could make something sound that human.

"Shit," I gave up in a huff.

"I know this is stressful, but watch your language young man."

What?

I couldn't help but choke out an ugly strangled laugh.

Really? I'm sitting here without an arm, beaten all to hell, and you're getting on to me about a bad word? The flesh under the bandages trembled some more with the rattling movements of my lungs. How do I get myself into situations like this?

"Hey doc?" I collected myself just enough to string words together.

"Yes Miles?" an edge of professionalism slipped back over her voice, like she had been unsettled by my little outburst and was re-evaluating the situation.

"What's the damage? Besides the arm" I needed to know exactly what was going on before I started a new plan at revenge.

The doctor took a breath, whether she was stalling for my sake or her own I have no idea.

"When you were brought in there was some frostbite on your back and limbs. Bruising along your ribs and chest. Massive lacerations, several dislocated joints, a fractured femur…. And, I'm afraid that the optic nerves in both of your eyes have been severed and partially removed.

"It's a miracle that you're even alive." She ended on what was supposed to be a happy note.

Was that it then? I couldn't bring myself to find something funny to say, for once.

"I understand that this is difficult news, and if there is anything that we can do for you here, please let me know."

A little bit of numb realisation hit me in waves

"One more thing doc, where am I?"

"Skiff medical center."

"Where is that?"

"You're in Newton, Iowa. Is there anything else Miles?"

That still didn't tell me where I was, not really.

"No, that's it."

The doctor left the room, footsteps faded and the door shut, leaving me with nothing but the hums and beeps of machines.

Fuck!

I didn't try to move again, though I felt my breathing go a little wild while I took the news in. Blind dreamers, they're just god damned hilarious with their blood from the eyes bullshit! How the hell was I supposed to do anything now? What was I going to get a seeing eye attack dog and figure it out from there? I didn't even have the Walrider now, I'd already lost literal limbs and now I was missing half of my head.

No, I was my own person. The Walrider was just another monkey on my back. It's better that I had gotten rid of it.

Ha, ya right. That was bull and I knew it. It was my tool for revenge. Without the thing I was just another victim of Murkoffs as easily thrown to the gutters and forgotten as anyone else in the asylum. And I hate to admit it, but the Walrider had been the only thing I had to talk to for months at a time. I'd never say it out loud but the monster had become a sick and twisted friend that I loved to hate.

And now it was dead.

For a second I could see vivid memories of the black void filled with the men I'd murdered and a sobbing Waylon in the center of it all.

The Walrider was dead, or worse.

The beeping at my left grew more rapid with my pulse.

Calm down.

I'll wait this out. I'll figure something out. I have to. I haven't cut a bloody swath through assholes in business suites just to let one of their experiments cut me down like nothing. I ripped my attention away from past tortures, focused on breathing steadily again. Arm or no arm, eyes or no eyes. I should already be dead a hundred times over, this wasn't going to stop me.

I had just started to calm myself down when the door opened again. The footsteps that came in were too heavy to be the lady- she must have been a nurse now that I think about it. They were faster than the doctor, and she had just left, so it couldn't be her.

"Hello?"

"Hello, I'm detective Schafer. I have a few questions for you."

Great. The last half a dozen times I'd run into law enforcement it hadn't ended so well. Ok, just keep calm, you haven't done anything to piss this guy off. Not yet anyways.

"Look guy, I just woke up and it's already been a long day-"

"I understand that you're going through alot right now. I promise I won't take long." Every word he said was clipped and to the point. Did he have a bit of an accent? Something from the east coast? He sure as hell didn't talk like someone from the midwest would.

"Ok, fine then"

"Thank you. What's your full name?"

For a second I debated coming up with a fake last name. It wouldn't matter much though. I didn't exist in any sort of records anymore so he wouldn't find anything worth knowing there. And there was no reason to worry about Murkoff sending more hitmen like last time- it's a bit hard to hire a killer when there's no money and no one left alive to do it.

"Miles Upshur." I settled on the truth.

"Mr. Upshur, what were you doing on the highway so late at night?" I heard him start scribbling notes down on a paper.

Think fast Miles.

"I don't know" I didn't know where I was going with this either. "I was in Des Moines, and then I was not, and next thing I knew I was stumbling through the snow and onto the highway." I left the words tumble out and hoped they made sense as I did.

The pen scratched what I said onto the page in real time. Other than that there was no hint as to whether or not the detective bought it.

"Are you saying that you were kidnapped?" he said too long after the scribbling stopped.

"I'm saying I do not know, but I suppose I had to have been. Not much else would explain it" See, there he went making his own conclusion, all that was left for me was to make him think he was right.

"Would anyone have a reason to do this? Those are some pretty major injuries."

"I did get hit by a truck."

The silence thickened again. I'd been doing so well at not pissing anyone off.

"Mr. Upshur, this isn't a joke. Someone tried to kill you. Were you doing anything that might give someone motive? What were you doing in Des Moines?"

"I was there for work, and no. I can't think of any reason someone would want me dead." Couldn't think of anyone that was still alive or actually a person at least.

"What do you do for a living?" He spoke over the scribbling.

It's easier to remember a lie when it's mostly the truth "I'm a reporter, I was looking into a story."

"Which paper are you with?"

Well… "I'm freelance?" still not a complete lie.

"Right, and what was the story about?"

"Just the same thing everyone else is writing about, Murkoff" also technically true.

"In Des Moines?"

"Hey, they're a big company, they had a long reach."

"Is it possible that could have anything to do with this?"

"Nope." there was the absolute bullshit I was expecting to be spouting this entire conversation "I'm just a small fry, nothing worth getting rid of at any rate."

Detective Schaefer took a couple of steps closer to the head of the bed. It sounded like he sat down, a stiff cushion wheezed out a bit of air as his weight settled onto it.

"Mr. Upshur, I can only help you as much as you'll let me. If there's anything else you know. Anything. I need to hear it."

Murkoff was dead in the water, hell I could say anything I wanted right now, it would be believable. Well, mostly anything. The world was the same boring place it always had been. Demons and otherworldly monsters like the walrider and dreamers did not exist in the minds of most people.

A stray memory of charred fingers and skin grown over empty eyes picked at me.

People didn't know that there were things out there that hunted them from the dark. That was probably for the best.

"Sorry officer. I don't know anything to tell you."

The silence that replied seemed unsatisfied with my answer.

There was a shuffle "well, if you do remember something, feel free to give me a call. My phone number is-"

"Just give me a business card or something." I cut him off. "I'll let you know if I've got anything for you."

"...Sure." I heard him rustle around for a wallet and set something on a table. He didn't say anything else before stepping to the door.

I was hoping for some more quiet time to figure out my next move when someone came barreling through the door the detective had just opened.

"Is he up yet?" A frantic woman asked loudly enough to nearly burst my eardrum.

There wasn't much of a pause for answer before she made a few shuffling footsteps to the bed.

"Mattie, get over here." She yelled.

"Ruth, I know you're excited hun, but shush up a bit." A man with a voice deep enough to rumble the bed a bit followed Ruth into the room.

"Looks like you're a popular man mister Upshur." the detective said back into the room before stepping into the hall.

I didn't have time to snark back before the woman started talking again.

"Are you feeling alright? I brought you some flowers to liven up the room, and here's some casserole, it's my granny's recipe" she added the last bit as an afterthought. There was a clatter as glass clinked against the table next to the bed.

Ok, I'll bite. Who the hell were these people?

"Ruth, he's probably not very hungry," The man spoke again "My name is Matthew Pierce by the way, and this is my wife, Ruth." Matthew said, this time to speaking to me.

"I'm Miles. If you don't mind me asking, who exactly are you?"

"Oh…" Ruth gasped a little "did no one say anything to him?" She whispered to Matthew loud enough to be heard from the hallway.

"Ruth, hun, let the man rest."

I should probably just get all my talking for the day out of the way "It's fine. I've been resting for…" How long had I been out?

"See, we're not bothering him any. Miles, we are so sorry that we hit you on the interstate, is there anything we can do to make it up?"

So that's who these people were.

"Uhh, no it's ok." I guess they kind of did me a favor, there was no way I was going to get away from the dreamers by stumbling blindly through the snow.

"Oh, we insist" It was Matthews rumbling voice this time "We could call family for you, or… I don't know just name it. I can't but help feel like we owe you something."

"No, you don't owe me anything."

What was I going to do after this? I could call Chealsy… well, then again, what was she going to do? Let me crash on her couch until whenever? No, I can't ask that of her. Besides, she didn't really like being in the room with me, especially after everything she saw in California.

"We insist. Really I feel just terrible." Matthew spoke again.

Tim?

Who was I kidding, that was a terrible idea.

"It's fine. You don't need to call anyone for me" I finally spoke back.

I wasn't about to try to move again, that was a losing battle, but I needed to figure something out. I'd taken my minuet to bitch and moan to myself, now I needed to focus on the future.

"Oh, please, there must be something we can do. At least take some of this casserole"

"…Ruth, please"

The missing presence of the Walrider was getting more noticeable, I was going to have to remember to eat and sleep again.

"No. Thanks for the offer but there's not really anyone to call anyways" there the conversations done; I know they thought they were being helpful, but I have things to think about, this way they tried as much as they could and could still leave feeling like they did something. It was a win-win

"Oh no, really? The holidays are coming up there has to be somebody." Ruth somehow get even louder "I know! Why don't you spend the holidays with Maddie and me. We're not too far from the hospital, so you can make it back for any appointments, and with a few good home cooked meals you'll get better in no time."

Shit, that backfired.

"…I couldn't, besides"

"That's a great idea" Matthew chimed in "after all, we do owe you something"

There has to be a way out of this. "I don't really think that-"

"Oh please, the whole family will be over I'm sure you'd love to meet them. Besides, nothing heals the soul better than holiday spirit!" Ruth was this close to bursting my eardrums.

"It's settled then, as soon as your doing good enough to get out of here, you're welcome at our home"

I opened my mouth to protest again, then thought better of it. I did need a place to stay, and I wasn't exactly in good enough shape to figure something out on the fly. But still, just lounging around some people's home surrounded by all their loved ones? That hadn't worked out so well last time.

Then again, I didn't have any corporate hit men chasing after me or any pseudo-demons using my head as a condo anymore.

"Uhh, sure. Thanks for the offer." I got a few words in while Ruth was taking a breath.

"We're so glad to have you! Maddie I have to call my sister, she'll be so happy to hear we've got a guest this year" There were a few clattering steps as Ruth left the room.

I could still hear Ruth loud and clear from the hallway, Matthew had to speak a little louder than before to be heard over the sound.

"If there's anything else we can do, don't hesitate to ask. Really, I'll find a way to make this right."

He had gotten more serious at the end there. If only they knew that mowing me down with their truck had probably saved my life in the first place. They didn't owe me, but I couldn't exactly tell them why.

"Don't worry about, you two are doing plenty now." I told Matthew before he turned to leave.

He must have been pretty tall because it only took a couple of footfalls before he swung the door shut. Ruth's voice only became slightly muffled through the wood.

Ok, at least I wasn't going to freeze to death in the winter as soon as I left here.

With the commotion of having other people in the room being gone the ache and pains of my tattered body started to dig at me again. I had to figure a way out of this, but like it or not the best thing to do now was nothing.

I focused on breathing without having my lungs feel like putty.

It was more than likely that the dreamers wouldn't be after me at all, they got what they had wanted. That begged the question, where would they be going now? The walrider had said the things were attracted to energy, but what did that really mean? It's not like they had gone chewing through a power plant. I should have been doing more to figure out what the Walrider was instead of taking "monster" at face value.

My back ached distantly and my armless shoulder spasmed. A couple of hollow memories from the asylum nagged at me. So many mad men were there, a few came that way, some were driven to it once inside. They all said the same damn thing though, that there was a demon there, that there was something bigger going on.

I blinked, only to still find nothing when my eyes opened.

This was already going down a dark path and I could tell it was only going to get worse.