I am so excited for this! I've wanted to do The Evil Within for a while. I held off on it because I wanted this to be a later entry and have people get comfortable with the dreamer first. I thought back to back horror would be excessive, so I waited. But wait no more! I hope you are as excited as me for this and I hope I deliver a great story in this entry in the Lucid Dream series.


"Hey. Wake up."

I moaned.

Why did my head hurt? And why were my ears ringing?

"Hey, come on."

I slowly opened my eyes. Hovering over me was a man who could have been described as ruggedly handsome. He looked to be middle aged, but that was hard to tell in the dim lighting. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and had a five o'clock shadow – and was that blood on his face? He was wearing a white dress shirt, black pin-striped vest, red tie, and had a shoulder holster for a pistol, but looked to be empty.

"There we go," he said, gruffly.

I looked around. We were in some sort of tunnel with water running. Then the smell hit me. It smelled like waste and something metallic.

"Aw, that's gross," I said, wrinkling my nose.

"No surprise," said the man. "We're in a sewer tunnel."

I sat up. The ringing in my ears stopped now. "Why are we in a sewer tunnel?" I asked.

"I was investigating a call to the mental hospital," he answered. "What about you?"

"Mental hospital?" I repeated, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Beacon Mental Hospital," he clarified. "The one we're under."

I shook my head. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"You must have hit your head," the man surmised.

"Wouldn't surprise me as much as it hurts," I responded. "Who are you?"

"Sebastian Castellanos. I'm a detective with the Krimson City Police Department. Do you remember how you got down here?"

"No."

Krimson City sounded familiar, too.

"Do you remember your name?" Sebastian tried.

Did I remember my name?

"Élan Wembly." The answer was out of my mouth before I could think much more on it.

He looked baffled at my odd name. "Okay, Élan," he said, trying out my name. "Let's find a way out of here."

I got to my feet and assessed myself. My charcoal cargos had dirt and wet patches and my matching short sleeve full zip hoodie wasn't looking much better. My black high tops, which my pants were tucked into, had mud splattered on them as well. Sticking out from under my hoodie was an inch or two of gray fabric of the shirt I had on. I dusted myself off the best I could with my black gloved hands. I reached back to check my hair and found I had a knit beanie covering it. I noticed something black on my right forearm. I turned it and saw it was a tattoo of three zodiac signs in a line: Libra, Leo, Scorpio.

Next to me, Sebastian groaned as he stood up. He was putting all his weight on one leg.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything in that bag of yours that can stop bleeding, do you?" he asked.

Bag?

I shifted and felt something move on my back. I had failed to notice the sling bag strap going around my chest. I pulled the gray bag around. My water bottle was in its own exterior pocket. I unzipped the main compartment and started looking for anything for first aid. I found a roll of gauze and some adhesive bandages, along with a couple candy bars and snack packs.

"I have this." I held up the bandages and gauze.

Sebastian huffed. "I doubt that'll do anything for this." He looked down at his leg.

I took a closer look as well and noticed the slick patch running down his pants. At his shoe was a puddle of blood forming.

"How did that happen?" I asked, alarmed.

"Psycho with a chainsaw," Sebastian replied.

"A psycho with a chainsaw?" I repeated flatly. "Okay, you need to start at the beginning and explain to me exactly what is going on." I unrolled the gauze and started treating Sebastian's wound the best I could.

"I don't know what exactly is going on. We were going back to the station: me, Detective Joseph Oda, and Junior Detective Kidman," explained Sebastian. "Connelly was giving us a ride. The call came in over the radio – multiple homicides at Beacon Mental Hospital. There were units already on scene, but nobody was answering their radios. As we got closer to the hospital, our radio stopped working. When we arrived on scene, there were patrol cars there, but we couldn't find anyone. Joseph and I went into the hospital while Kidman stayed back. There were bodies all over the lobby, the floor and walls covered in blood. Joseph found a survivor, a doctor. He stayed with him while I checked the security cameras. Next thing I know, I'm waking up, hanging from my ankles with other bodies, while some psycho is cutting up a body in another room. I freed myself and got chased by the guy with a chainsaw and managed to escape down here."

I finished bandaging Sebastian's leg. "Yeah, and he got you good in the process. If that guy is still around, I don't want to be anywhere near him. Let's get out of here."

"Yeah."

I let Sebastian lean on me as we started walking.

"Where's the exit?" Sebastian muttered to no one.

Ahead of us looked like someone sitting slumped over in a wheelchair.

"You see that?" I pointed to the person.

Sebastian looked at what I was pointing at. "You have a weapon?"

I patted my pockets. I found a Swiss army knife in one. I showed it to Sebastian.

"Better than nothing," he said. "Keep it handy."

I flipped out the blade.

We walked forward and saw the person slumped over in the wheelchair was dressed as a patient and was dead. At his feet was a note. I reached down and picked it up.

BESIDE THE LOCKED GATE AT THE FAR END OF THE SEWER, THERE IS A LADDER WHICH WOULD TAKE YOU TO THE OLD WARD. IF YOU COULD MAKE IT THROUGH THERE, YOU WOULD FIND AN ELEVATOR LEADING OUTSIDE. YOU WOULD BE THE ONE WHO ESCAPED. YOU MIGHT BE THE ONE WHO SURVIVED. –R

There was something about picking up and reading that note that was satisfying to me and I didn't know why.

"Let's keep going," I said.

Sebastian and I continued to the far end of the sewer. We found a doorway leading to a small room. Inside was the ladder the note talked about.

"I'll go first," said Sebastian.

"With your leg?" I asked.

Sebastian ignored me and began climbing up the long ladder. I followed after him. At the top of the ladder was what I assumed to be the old ward. A makeshift desk with a computer was set up behind some prison bars. Laying on the keyboard was a red file folder. Sebastian walked through the doorway and picked up the file folder.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Something called STEM," Sebastian replied. "I'm not sure what it is."

"Can I see?"

Sebastian handed me the folder.

13:00 – STEM SYSTEM OPERATION TEST BEGINS.

13:15 – SUCCESS. CONFIRMATION OF BRAINWAVE SYNCHRONIZATION, LOSSES MINIMAL. CONTINUING WITH EXPERIMENT. AGENT COLLECTS THE DATA.

13:30 – ANOMALY OCCURS. NOT WITH THE SUBJECT; THE STENOGRAPHER CLAIMED THEY WEREN'T FEELING WELL AND THEN FELL INTO A COMA FOR REASONS UNKNOWN. DOCTOR ORDERS THE STEM SYSTEM TERMINATED.

13:45 – STAFF BEGINS COMPLAINING OF NAUSEA AND FALLING UNCONSCIOUS ONE AFTER ANOTHER. THOSE WHO CAN STILL MOVE PLAN THEIR ESCAPE FROM THE HOSPITAL BUT FOR UNKNOWN REASONS ARE UNABLE TO. THOUGH THE STEM SYSTEM SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEACTIVATED, SUBJECTS MAINTAIN BRAIN WAVE SYNCHRONIZATION WITH THE HOST.

"What were they doing?" I asked.

"Come on. Let's get out of here." Sebastian was already over at a metal door. He pushed a button on the panel next to it and it slid open.

I followed him out into the hallway and we continued searching for a way out. The hallway led into another room. This one had windows showing the room adjacent to it.

"This must be the old ward," I said, looking at the old bed, meal carts, and partitions in the crumbling room. "The exit can't be far now."

We went into another hallway, this one lined with filing cabinets. There was only one other door and that was one into the room we saw through the windows. The room seemed to be a locker room for personnel.

An angry growl made us turn to the windows. A large man in a metal mask wielding a chainsaw was chasing us.

Sebastian tried the door at the other side of the room and found it locked. We were trapped! I looked around for any place to hide. There was only one tall locker. I pushed Sebastian towards it.

"Hide there!" I hissed.

I ran to the wall of half lockers. They seemed to be wide enough to get my hips through. I started trying the doors and found an unlocked one on the bottom row. I pulled my bag around to my front and scooted in backwards, tucking my head and pulling my knees up to my chest. I caught the locker door by the vent holes with two fingers and pulled it shut.

The door to the hallway was flung off its hinges and sent across the room. It hit the pendant light in the process, causing it to swing violently and throw shadows around. Chainsaw man stomped in and began looking for us, continuing to make angry grunts and growls. He revved the chainsaw and swung it wildly. It hit something and I heard wood and glass hit the ground. He turned to the lockers I was hiding in. I covered my mouth so I didn't make a sound. He revved the chainsaw and hit the top row. Sparks flew and the lockers rattled. I winced at the sound of metal on metal. Chainsaw man let out another yell. He dashed across the room and crashed through the locked door. The sound of the chainsaw and grunts faded, but didn't go away.

Sebastian came out of the locker. I pushed my locker door open with my foot and wiggled myself out. Sebastian helped me by pulling me by the ankle. I looked around the trashed room. The lockers had been gouged into and if I had been in any of those, I would have been maimed at the very least. Sebastian tapped my shoulder. He motioned for me to follow him.

We went through the door chainsaw man opened for us. It was another hallway with windows on the one side to show what was in the next room. We crept over to the doorway and saw chainsaw man meandering his way around the room. Now and then he would pause, yell and swing his chainsaw. When he turned his back, Sebastian and I were quick to pass the doorway. We turned down the hallway and saw it was a dead-end. The only way out was through the room with the chainsaw wielding murderer.

"We can't let him see us," Sebastian whispered.

"No kidding," I breathed.

There was a vent cover knocked off, leaving a space to get into the room. We looked inside and saw chainsaw man patrolling around the room. There were beds and partitions in the room, things we could use for cover. There were also a couple other doors that led into the room.

We crouch walked over to the first door. Chainsaw man was backtracking to the hallway, his back to us. I quick to go to the second door, but it was blocked by some stacked crates.

"Élan!" Sebastian hissed.

I saw chainsaw man on the other side of the crates coming over to me, revving his chainsaw. I had to hide! Next to me was a locker like the one Sebastian hid in. I quickly hopped in and waited.

Chainsaw man sawed through the crates. He stepped out into the hallway and looked around. He was so close I could see his cloudy blue eyes. He waved his chainsaw in the air before going back inside.

I waited a moment and then got out of the locker. Sebastian was gone. He must have found his own hiding place. The doorway was clear and chainsaw man went back to patrolling the room. He was now in the process of cutting through a random bed. I snuck passed him and ended up in the nurses' station. I glanced behind me. Chainsaw man was turning around! I ducked behind a half wall and waited. The sound of the chainsaw and his footsteps got closer and closer. I wasn't in a very good hiding spot. The second he came around the wall, he would see me.

Somewhere behind me, glass shattered. The footsteps and the chainsaw moved away to investigate the sound. I crawled forward into the dark and around a pillar. Sebastian was there! He pointed to a light at the corner of the room. We made our way over to it and out into another hallway. It didn't sound like chainsaw man was following us, but we stayed low and quiet.

Sebastian opened a door and we took refuge inside a room.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Not really," I answered.

"We're almost there. Let's go."

I nodded.

The next room wasn't a room, but a hallway with wheelchairs and gurneys filling it up. At the other end was the elevator with the barred doors like a prison cell.

Sebastian began to limp forward.

We heard the grunting and revving again. Chainsaw man was coming! I pulled Sebastian forward, trying to help him along. The door we came through was knocked off its hinges with force just like the last one.

"Oh shit!" Sebastian yelled.

Chainsaw man roared and charged, swinging the chainsaw haphazardly. Sebastian stumbled, but I was quick to pull him up. I kicked a wheelchair in chainsaw man's path. He batted it aside. Sebastian crawled over a gurney and I pushed it at chainsaw man.

He was too close! Even if we got to the elevator, we wouldn't have enough time to open it before chainsaw man sliced us up.

There was a screech and I saw the elevator opening up for us on its own. I didn't know how that was possible and I didn't care. We were almost there, just a little further.

"Come on!" I pulled on Sebastian and we dove into the elevator.

The doors closed behind us. Chainsaw man tried to cut through the bars of the elevator, spraying us with sparks. Sebastian and I scrambled to the back of the elevator. The elevator started taking us up and away.

Sebastian groaned and sat up. He spat out some blood that was in his mouth. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He tried for one, but apparently there were none or the pack was ruined because he crumpled it and threw it aside angrily. He settled for just leaning on wall.

I did the same. I looked at his injured leg. We couldn't go on like this. We almost got killed because Sebastian couldn't run. If he wasn't injured, this wouldn't be so hard. It shouldn't really matter as we were almost out of this place. Why couldn't wounds heal just as fast as they occurred? It needed to be healed. Now!

I started to feel lightheaded, like I was coming down from the adrenaline. Something in my waist pocket vibrated. I fumbled around for the pocket's opening and found a smartphone in a heavy duty gray case. There was an alert on the screen.

WELCOME TO YOUR DREAMING.

I was lucid dreaming! But where was I? Beacon Mental Hospital, Krimson City, Detective Sebastian Castellanos, STEM – I was in The Evil Within!

"Social media that important?" Sebastian asked.

I looked over at him and blinked. "Event reminder." I put my phone away.

The elevator came to a stop and the bell dinged as the doors opened. Sebastian and I got to our feet.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about missing your date," Sebastian said.

I rolled my eyes.

We stepped out into the hallway. Sunlight was coming from the windows, showing that we were above ground. There were wheelchairs shoved up against the walls and there were the bodies of several police officers laying on the floor.

"Come on. We're almost out," said Sebastian.

He stepped out ahead of me. I noticed he no longer had a limp. His leg was healed up. Good thing, too, because I knew we were going to have to do a lot of running.

We didn't get far when a great explosion rocked the building. The windows rattle and bits of plaster rained down on us. The building was coming down! We started running, stumbling as another tremor shook everything. We burst through the swinging doors and ran into the lobby. I tripped and fell. Sebastian grabbed my arm and pulled me back up. We ran for the exit. Sebastian slammed himself against the doors and we were out.

The circular driveway was filled with police cruisers on one side while the other half of the driveway was missing altogether. Across the street was an office building was on fire and missing a chunk out of it like a bomb had gone off. The ground began to rumble again and another high-rise began collapsing.

A siren drew our attention to the driveway. An ambulance was backing its way in, pushing the cruisers aside as it made its way to us. There was a man in the front seat.

"Detective!" he yelled over the loudspeaker. "Get in! Get in!"

The ground quaked and the windows of the hospital shattered. I dashed with Sebastian to the ambulance, glass raining down on us. The pavement crumbled under the rear wheels of the ambulance. The driver sped away from the collapsing pavement. Sebastian got ahead of me and jumped through the open passenger window. I couldn't keep up.

"Get her! Get her!" I heard someone yelling from up front. I don't know if it was Sebastian or the driver.

The side door opened and someone stuck their hand out. I grabbed the hand without hesitation and jumped. I flopped on the floor of the ambulance. The vehicle took a sharp turn and the door slammed behind me. Then there was a jerk that bounced me on the floor, knocking the wind out of me.

"You okay?"

I looked up and saw a woman with short brown hair and dressed similarly to Sebastian, but without the vest and tie, kneeling in front of me. Kidman.

"Yeah," I replied, strained. My ribs ached from hitting the floor.

She sat down in the single jump seat.

I got to my knees.

"Please, settle down, Leslie," said a man to my left.

Sitting in the jump seat were two men. One was older with his dark hair and beard clipped close and wearing a doctor's coat over his dress shirt and pants. The other was a young man with white hair and wearing a patient's uniform.

"Settle down, Leslie . . . settle down, Leslie . . . settle down, Leslie . . ." the young man repeated, his head down.

I caught Kidman looking at them, or more precisely Leslie, warily.

I got up and balanced myself. I looked out the back window at the destruction that was happening.

Behind us, the road and everything on it was collapsing, kicking up one big debris cloud. A building fell right behind us. The ambulance bounced, the rear coming up. I fell backwards.

I groaned. "Michael Bay," I cursed through gritted teeth.

The ambulance took another hard turn, causing the tires to squeal. I rolled against the doctor and Leslie's legs. The doctor reached down and grabbed my arm, trying to keep me from sliding around any more. The ambulance accelerated and we hit a bump. I looked out the back window and there was a building sliding across the road.

The ride smoothed out at that.

The doctor let go of me and I rolled over. The lighting changed outside. A glance out the window told me we were in a tunnel.

Kidman got up. "You hurt?"

"I've had better days," I said, checking myself over. I got up and straightened myself out.

Leslie was mumbling incoherently and rocking back and forth. Kidman knelt in front of him to see if he was hurt.

"Everyone all right back there?" Sebastian asked over the intercom.

"Just a few bumps, we're fine," said Kidman.

"Fine . . . fine . . . fine," Leslie repeated.

"We will be once we're far away," said the doctor.

"A little further and we'll be fine," said Sebastian.

I felt like there was someone standing behind me. I whirled around and found no one there. I looked back and saw Sebastian staring at the same place I checked. We made eye contact. He noticed something, too.

Leslie was still repeating the same word over and over. "Fine . . . fine . . . f-fine . . . fall! Fall!"

The ambulance swerved. I ended up on the floor with Kidman.

"What's going on up there?" the doctor wanted to know.

Kidman got up and went to the window. "Look out!" she yelled.

Not good!

"Fall . . . fall . . . fall!" Leslie screamed.

Then we were airborne. And all went black.


So this is a little bit different than my other Lucid Dream stories. I thought it would be a little different for the dreamer to start a dream and not know what was going on right away. Leave me a review, let me know what you think, and I'll see you at the next chapter.