Chapter 3

She was able to maneuver underwater; her plunge stopped around 6 feet below the surface. She gently dropped onto a massive metal grating. She pushed upward with her feet and returned to the surface. She coughed and tried to clear the water from her eyes.

She treaded water for a moment; somehow, the water now had an acrid iron taste and gave off a rusty metallic odor. She hadn't noticed that earlier. Her eyes stung when she blinked them. The well was probably there before the town came to exist. There was no way of knowing what kind of chemicals might've developed in the murky depths. She rubbed the final trace of water blur from her eyes and looked up through a grating above. The well was now covered with the bars like those she'd landed on. What happened there? The roof of the well and the gazebo above were gone. She could see white and gray sky through the slats. She reached up and nudged the grating, it rattled. The cover was loose.

She used her body to push up out of the water a second time, she hit the grate above and knocked it off. Had it been bolted, she would've been marooned. She climbed up to the rim of the stone wall and paused. She hadn't gone anywhere. She fell into the water and came right back up. But, something had happened. The world had changed. The trees were no longer lush or living. They were now crude iron rails that jutted towards the sky. The ground was ashen and smoky embers continued to flicker beneath the white ash that was once grass. She was dreaming. That was all. The scenery around her was merely a figment of her imagination.

The pristine white gazebo was now nothing more than a few blackened posts. She climbed over the stonework of the well and stood upright on the ground. At least her bag was waterproof, her documentation and materials were safe. She shook the excess liquid from the exterior before she unzipped the pack. She removed the camera from the case inside. She needed to photograph wherever she was. Of course, it wouldn't do any good since she was dreaming, but it kept her mind off the barren wasteland. If her imagination kicked in, in this sort of atmosphere, it would quickly become a nightmare.

She turned the device on and waited for the introductory splash screen to clear. She adjusted the settings several times. She gently shook the device, but it didn't help. The camera showed the exact same spot she'd been in. It showed the world as it was before she emerged from the well. Again, there were trees and vegetation. It didn't register the world she now stood in. What good did that do?

Well, there was nothing more she could do. She just had to wait until she woke. Who knew how long that would take? She squinted to decipher where the trail now lay. She stepped away from the well's rusted stone exterior. The well's stones must contain iron, because they were as rusty as the water inside. Luckily, she found the flat indentation of the trail where she'd been walking. It was now covered with several inches of white ash.

It looked like a blizzard had hit this strange place. White flakes hailed down from the sky in random frequencies, but it wasn't cold. She held out her hand and caught several flecks, but they smudged black. It was ash. Ash fell like snow and the white world was dim. What had she watched before sleeping? She couldn't remember. Evidently, she'd caught something on volcanoes. That was it. Just a special on volcanoes.

She continued forward, but there was no sign life anywhere. The animals were gone, she couldn't hear any vehicle engines, nothing. She crested the next knoll and the trail came to a sharp turn. The corner's eroded edge dropped down into the red rusty waters of Toluca Lake. Why was the water now red? The well had just been rusty, hadn't it?

She didn't like this. When would she wake up?

She walked ahead and came to the broken iron gate of what appeared to be a cemetery. She held the camera up to see what it really was. In the camera's view, it was a beautiful country graveyard with a picturesque stone church on the far side. It looked like it had been constructed from the same stones the well had been. In her view, outside the lens, it was home to a few crude rocks and the foundation of a structure that once was.

She walked towards the foundation to see if she could find a road or something. She passed through the next battered gate and found an outlet that led to a road. She stopped quickly. There was someone, or something, ahead of her. A man stood there, at least it looked like a man. A strange man with a triangle on his head. No, it was a huge piece of metal, shaped like a pyramid. Too late. Her imagination had taken over.

She stealthily backed up towards the gate. She didn't want to encounter this individual. It looked like she'd escaped his notice, she was ready to dart back through the entrance, but he stopped all movement. He slowly turned. A thousand massive roaches poured out from behind him. They quickly sped towards her.

She moved slowly at first, but when she realized there was no way of avoiding him or the bugs, she bolted back through the cemetery. She sprinted to the other side and stopped for a moment. Her sides were splitting.

She would wake up at any moment.

She turned to see where they were. He was still right behind her, dragging that damned sword, the bugs chattering as they raced to her. That sword made a terrible racket when he dragged it. It sounded like metal groaning against metal. She took off again, her muscles were on fire. How did he catch up so quickly with that damned hunk of metal? She reached the curve with the drop and turned.

She had to wake up.

She gasped because he was right behind her, sword drawn above his head. He swung it down towards her and she jumped back, over the ledge. The tip of the blade cut her shirt and scratched her flesh. She fell down into the water, deeper and deeper.

She had to wake up.