AN: Welp buckle your seat belts guys, we're starting this week out with a bang. Also, another huge thank you to my reviewer(s) and I hope everyone likes the chapter.
***21***
Schaefer reeked of whisky and was holding a gun.
I laid flat on a hard mattress and plastic sheets. Every nerve in my body felt raw and singed, like I'd fallen asleep on a bed of coal.
The room was still black but the smell of disinfectant and hum of monitors said that I was back in the hospital.
A chair creaked, heavy and uneven steps crossed the room.
Schaefer was drunk, I could smell it long before he leaned over the bed. His arm was in a sling too, sprained maybe? Both of those together would make him easy prey.
Wait, what?
"What the fuck was that?" he snarled.
His breath was more hard liquor than air.
I couldn't see, but I knew he was favoring one leg. If you hit his left knee the whole leg would fold in without a second thought.
"Answer me damn it!"
My throat stung and protested against the idea of words. A cough rattled out of me and eventually a few sounds crawled out with it.
"I told you, Murkoff-"
"Bullshit! That thing wasn't a person" The bed rocked a bit as he steadied himself.
I could reach over and go for the neck. He was so distracted with himself-
My arm moved slightly at the thought only to get snagged on a piece of metal. Was I cuffed to the bed?
"I might be fucking crazy but that thing died and burst into flames. I don't put much faith in anything but the smoke made a goddamn bee-line to you and disappeared."
No shit. Becoming a fucking playground for demons beyond our collective understanding was basically my hobby these days.
"There are two more" the swarm had twisted into a familiar form, that featureless face hung in my memory, "maybe something else too."
"No. No there can't be more. That thing was impossible."
"You read the documents, it was one of the things called the Three Blind dreamers." I tried to sit up, to get closer. Every strand of muscle in me strained and threatened to pop. A snarl and surprising pain pushed me back down.
Schaefer stepped back from the bed, a machine continued beeping it's steady rhythm.
"If half the things I thought were impossible actually were, I would have been able to just stroll out of Mount Massive. Now uncuff my arm, I have to end this."
"You're delusional. Stay down!"
"I wish I was delusional. Just let me out of here and I'll solve your monster problem."
"How the hell do you think you're going to do that?"
I fought through the strain of sitting up "I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out."
I couldn't see. But I knew the detective had a mixture of fear, anger, and confusion painted over his face. It was like having some un-nameable sense, something between seeing and hearing and feeling. Whatever it was, it was telling me to break out and go wild. To find something - anything - and hunt it down.
"Miles, get back down!"
"No, they're out there!"
They were actually out there. I could feel it, like little beads of my own thought were tracing around the building. They were hungry. They wanted to get in.
"Stop!" He put a hand on me to push me back onto the bed.
The reaction happened in an instant.
I fell through the dark and opened my eyes to find a neighborhood covered in soft ash. Schaefer stood in the middle of the road, wild eyed and terrified.
"Where are we?"
I found myself standing next to him.
"Don't panic." I was mostly telling myself. The last time I was here the burnt dreamer was using me as a chew toy, it wasn't here this time though.
What had been stinging cinders floated on the air only to settle around me like a gentle mist. The vacant and starved buildings took on a lighter look, like they were just waiting for their owners to come home again. I took a deep breath of hot air, the tension on my limbs loosened. I was almost comfortable for the first time in a month.
A handful of gun shots split the thick air before being replaced by the clicking of an empty magazine.
Schaefer. He didn't belong here with his machine and his fear.
No, that wasn't what I meant.
"Miles, get down!" he yelled at me. I didn't budge, moving now would mean jumping at him and doing something I would regret.
"Fuck!" He turned tail and got a few steps of a sprint in before a solid black wind rushed past me and pulled him into the air.
The scene folded out in slow motion before me. The other dreamers were close, staying at the edge of my domain. This place. I mean this place. The thing in the smoke was different, familiar. A beast in search of something interesting; wanting for a thrill, for something to surprise it. It was tied to this place, to the other dreamers, to me now.
"You whiny piece of shit!" I shouted at the cloud that held the screaming detective, "what the fuck are you doing here?! I thought you were dead!"
The air in the street grew hotter with my anger. The swarm curled around to face me while still suspending Schaefer above the ground.
"Say something. I know it's you in there"
"I thought you were dead." A voice rose from nowhere in particular.
"Well that makes two of us. Now let's get out of here, we have dreamers to kill."
"Put me down!" Schaefer yelled from his place in the swarm before being plopped onto the ground.
The swarm took on the ghostly form of a man that floated a few inches off the ground.
"I can't just leave."
"Oh bull, get us out of here." I wasn't in the mood for a back and forth conversation. This place was getting on my nerves anyways. It was starting to get a bit too familiar for my comfort.
"I'm not being dramatic. I'm bound to the other dreamers."
"What is that thing?" Schaefer spoke an actual sentence for the first time since he was picked up off the ground.
"Do you remember the scribbles from the picture that you were giving me shit about? Well, meet the scribbles." I looked back at the Walrider, "what do you mean bound?"
"You're still as thick headed as you always were."
"Just tell me what you're talking about!" I didn't need a lecture right now.
"I mean they won." A few wayward shrieks cut through the air "we need to hurry this up, I can't be everywhere at once."
"Hold on. If you're basically their bitch now, how are you here then?"
"There are three of you, you moron. I'm spread out but still alive." the ghostly form was slipping away.
I was just going to let the being one of them part go for now.
"One more thing, how do I kill the other two?"
"A gun seemed to work pretty well" the last of the Walrider slipped away, leaving me and Schaefer alone to listen to the growing wails of the dreamers.
As soon as we were alone the need to hunt something down and rip it limb from limb came crashing back. The Walrider was gone, this was the opposite of how it was supposed to work.
"Miles get me out of here" Schaefer came closer to me.
"Get back, and let go of me!" I pushed him away harder than I meant to. When I did the sights of the burned street shattered and left me back in the dark. Sharp screeches cut through the walls. They hadn't gotten into the building, but they were close, running through snow and looking for a week spot.
The detective took a step back towards the bed.
"Don't touch me!" I rattled the bed, the moments freedom from pain was gone now that I was back in the real world.
"I don't know what the hell you are, but tell your friends to leave." he sounded frantic, the scent of copper mingled with that of whisky. How hard had I thrown him?
"They're not my friends we need to get the hell out." They were coming around to this side of the building.
There was a seconds hesitation, then a low moan spurred Schaefer into action. The cuff on my remaining wrist went loose. I was in the perfect place to flank him. It wouldn't take long for the others to get here.
I crammed those thoughts back into a dark corner of my mind.
"They're coming from the east." I went the opposite way.
My leg threatened to go out with each step. It had to still be broken; I could feel the occasional bead of blood trickle down my back too. All of it was lost in the flood of anguish that came from every other nerve in my body.
The halls were empty besides me and Schaefer. Where was everyone? Even the nurses station was abandoned. In the second that it took to wonder about it the detective took the chance to get in front of me.
"I'm not following a blind guy," there was a snort "if you're even actually blind that is."
Ok you testy son of a bitch, when they come after you I'm just going to leave you behind.
"It's complicated. Hurry up!" They found a fire escape and were getting inside.
They had to know where I was if I could feel them. They'd been living in this hell for over a year, I had just started. I didn't even want to think about all of the sick things they were capable of.
"My cruisers on the far side of the lot." we must have been near a door. Schaefer stood still like he was searching for them in the snow.
"Well go then, they're inside!"
"How did they get-"
"Just go." I went passed him and towards where I thought the doors were.
I'd chosen the right direction; biting wind cut through the hospital gown and ice grated against my feet the second I stepped outside. Schaefer wasn't far behind. He didn't say a word while we picked across the frozen pavement. How far away did he park?
The dreamers were tearing through the hospital. Scents of bile and bodily fluids wafted to me in waves. One of them dug their hands into a screaming body. I could feel the soft strands of organ meat get stuck under the nails on my hand.
The small hum of static brought me back to focus on the frozen lot around me.
"Fuck, not again!" The detective took off at a sprint across the slick ground.
Was that friendly swarm or something else? I didn't want to find out the hard way and took off after Schaefer. I hit the cold metal of the police cruiser at the same time a thousand freezing beads of lead hit me. I ripped the door open, the shards ripped into my back. Swallowing a howl I fell into the passenger seat, Schafer slammed himself into the driver seat.
"Oh my God-"
"Just drive!" the sensation of nanobots burrowing though battered skin made me sickeningly at home.
The others were making it to the front of the building. The tires spun for a second before gaining traction and sending the car peeling out of the lot.
The air in the car stunk of copper and booze. I took a second to breath while the fire that had to be burning my nerves cooled slightly. The car's engine roared and the frame shook. We had to be doing over a hundred.
"Slow down. They're not going to catch us." I tried and failed to keep my voice calm.
The car skidded to a stop, I had to brace myself not to go flying.
"Well damn, if you stop moving they might catch up!"
There was the unholstering of a weapon, Schaefer leveled it at me.
I took a breath in and exhaled a few words "put the gun down Schaefer."
"Why the fuck would I do that?"
"Because it's empty. I heard you run out of ammo." Don't try to bluff me.
There was a beat of silence before the metal and plastic thing got thrown into the back.
"Fine." the car pulled back onto the street. Occasionally another vehicle rumbled by us on the road, "ok, while I'm thinking strait. Tell me what's going on."
"That's what I've been doing!" Oh really! Now you wanted to talk about it now? I've been saying the same damn thing for the last two weeks and now you're ready to listen? Now. After we had the dreamers tear through a house gathering full of women and children? Actually, how many of them were dead? How many lives did they rip through before we managed to put even one of them down!
"I know! I know you've been saying shit about Murkoff and escaped patients… and… I know! Ok?" There was a bit of heavy breathing.
Well isn't this quite the scene.
"And where the fuck have you been!"
"What?" Schaefer asked from the driver side.
"I'm not talking to you right now." I told him, barely containing the urge to yell again.
We could just kill him and take the car.
Don't tempt me.
Is it really me tempting you any more?
Ghost, I don't need you to play games right now. Just patch me up and make sure the dreamers are sleeping when I find them next.
I wish it were that easy.
"Just tell me what to do! I've had enough of a run around!" I yelled at the air. Schaefer leaned away from me.
So testy, you were so sure of yourself a month ago
You can call me a dumb ass later, I'm sure you will. But we have bigger problems now.
About that, I'm due back any minute now.
There weren't enough swear words in the english language to say just how pissed off I was right now.
Then stop wasting time and help me out.
I've already done as much as I can.
The scars on my back itched ever so slightly
Is that what the shit is on my back? Am I your personal note pad now?
Don't flatter yourself. It's just easier to get back in here if you're labeled as mine.
Oh really? Realistically I shouldn't be mad about that, but at this point I was ready to yell at the sky for being too blue. Know what? It doesn't even matter. I already saw one of the dreamers get mowed down by a clip full of lead. I'm just going to try that on the others.
I wouldn't do that…
Why the hell not? I didn't have many more options. I wasn't about to let them eat through the countryside.
Well, I've been doing nothing but holding their hunger back since I got here. If you kill the others you'll just end up absorbing their power and hunger. With or without my help I would give you a week before going completely mad.
What was being said refused to register.
I don't care what happens to me, I just want those things dead.
Let me spell this out: If you kill them you will just become a worse version of them.
I'll worry about that when I get there.
You're insufferable. I have to go before I rip myself in two. I know you have a death wish but try not to die while I'm out.
The presence of the Walrider vanished from the cramped car. It would take a quick jerk of the wheel to send the car tumbling, then I could… No.
"Well fuck you too then!" I distracted myself by yelling at the Walrider that wasn't there to listen.
I stewed in the silence. I would have stayed that way too if Schaefer didn't take it as a sign to start talking again.
"Are you talking to me now? Or is there someone else in my car?"
"Schaefer don't try me right now." I pinched the bridge of my nose just to have something to do.
"Try me then. I'm listening. I've seen enough to believe anything at this point."
You haven't seen shit.
"Fine. Murkoff did some more experiments, made more monster besides the Walrider. That's the black smoke by the way. It's kind of an ass but that's besides the point." every word came out tired and matter of fact. I just didn't have the energy to make a joke, not now.
"Anyway, these other things were called the blind dreamers. They basically eat people's minds, trap their victims in comas that are really living nightmares. It's pretty shitty. There were three but now there's just two, it seems like they don't like getting shot."
I ran out of fucks to give a long time ago.
Schaefer took a second to process, driving well enough with the traffic as he did.
"So where do you fit into this?"
"I used to have the Walrider riding around in my head. The dreamers got a hold of it a month ago and here we are now."
"So why are they still in town?"
"I don't have a goddamn clue why they stuck around at first" I didn't really care either.
"Ok… Why are they here now?"
Just fuck it.
"When you shot the first one I absorbed it. Before you ask I don't know how this shit works, I'm just trying to stop it."
"You…" I could hear the little hamster wheel powering his brain squeaking in effort to connect the dots "you absorbed..."
"Sound it out, you're a big boy."
"You're one of them now?" the car kept driving smoothly in spite of the detective growing more tense.
"Eh. Probably."
There was a stunned silence.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not the one killing people on sight" not yet at least.
"So, these things… they're not people." he went on to ignore the revelation.
"The Walrider never was, no. Officially I have no idea about the dreamers, but it's looking more and more like they're something similar."
"Similar to what?"
"The Walrider. I'm not going to mince words with you. It's a demon native to Germany, nazis got involved, it's complicated."
"Nazis?"
"Look if I have to explain every little detail to you we're not going to get anywhere with this conversation."
"Ok fine. Hell's broke loose and decided to come to Iowa. What else is there?"
"Damned if I know. Nobody bothers to tell me anything."
Another silence settled. The car went over smooth pavement, I didn't care enough to ask where we were going. A few songs came and went over the radio before being interrupted by Schaefer.
"We're fucked."
You don't say.