Predator

Light. Dark. Light. Dark. Light. Dark. These were the things Kelly Severide saw as he slowly came to the realization it was his eyes opening and closing. The light wasn't actually light though, it was dark too, just not as dark as the dark. When he closed his eyes he couldn't see anything. When he opened them, he saw something, but he couldn't make out much, it was still dark, but he could make out a few things, vaguely. He was in a room, he knew that much. Since he was lying down, he guessed it was a bedroom.

He moved and the brush of the sheets against his skin told him that he was naked, and he grimaced when he turned over and felt half dried bodily fluids on the bed touching his skin. Okay, so that was why he was naked. That made sense. But who was with him? He turned his head, which felt like a mammoth feat in and of itself, and saw the other side of the bed was empty, the covers were strewn all over. Kelly turned the other way and reached down beside the bed, feeling for his clothes. He felt around as far as his arm could reach, then slowly he inched his upper body off the bed to reach further, he found one of his shoes, he pulled himself along a couple more inches, felt along the floor, found one sock, found the other, found his other shoe, then he pulled himself clear off the bed and landed on the floor in a heap.

A moan escaped him. He was kind of hurt from the fall but not really, but he got the wind knocked out of him, and he was so tired. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep, but he wanted to go home and do it in his own bed, instead of...wherever he was. Kelly lay there for a few minutes resting, then he forced his eyes open, he crawled along the floor an inch at a time like a worm, he found his underwear balled up on the floor, a foot or so past that he found his jeans, then his shirt, and his jacket. He gathered them together one at a time and tried to stand up to get dressed, but he fell back on the floor. He sat down and pulled his underwear and jeans on, barely able to gather the strength to lift his hips off the floor long enough to pull them up. Every movement he made felt like it was slowed down tremendously, everything took longer to do than it should've. He pulled his shirt on over his head and got stuck for a few seconds before he found the strength to straighten out the material. Getting his socks and shoes on took about 10 minutes, he didn't have the energy, he couldn't focus, it felt like he couldn't grip anything to pull it on or tighten the laces, and he could barely remember how to tie a knot.

Once he was finally dressed he curled up on the floor and fell asleep again for a while. When he opened his eyes the darkness was slightly brighter than before but not much. he didn't know what time it was, he had no concept of time, all he knew was he wanted to go home, and before the sun came up. It took a couple tries but he was able to get to his feet this time, he walked unsteadily and slowly, but he kept his balance enough to stay on his feet, he left the bedroom, blindly stumbled from room to room, pressing his body weight against the wall for balance and support. He found a door that should've led outside, it wasn't locked. He opened the door, pushed open a metal screen door, and walked out onto a creaky porch.

Outside it was still dark, kind of, the street lights were still on, but this wasn't the city. Stars faintly shone above, and he could make out the crescent of the moon. Kelly felt dizzy when he looked up, and felt his body wavering, he reached out and found a metal rail, and used it to hold himself up as he found the porch steps. There were only a couple but they were big, and he stepped down, and held himself up as he staggered down the sidewalk out to the curb to get to his car.

His car wasn't there.

There weren't any cars parked there on the street. Kelly slowly spun around and looked back but he didn't see a car in the house's driveway either. But he had to get home. So, he was going to have to walk all the way...however far that was.

Using the street lights to see by, Kelly wandered out into the street and made his way down the block. It was quiet out here, no sounds from the city, just some crickets chirping, and a dog barking somewhere in the distance, and a bird cawing somewhere. Kelly felt like a zombie stumbling along the road, he had no idea where he was going, but he was sure sooner or later he'd find the way back to town and to his apartment.

After what felt like forever, he teetered down a few more blocks and came to a downtown area that was mostly closed for the night, but the lights from the closed storefronts made it easier to see by. A sudden set of lights blinded him and Kelly reached out and put his hand on the hood of a car, a taxi, that had stopped in the middle of the street just a few inches short of hitting him.

The driver leaned out the window and commented, "What's the matter, pal, you party too hard?"

Kelly moved around to the side and looked at the driver, but he couldn't make out the man's face.

"You need a ride somewhere?"

Did he? He didn't know where his car was, he didn't know where he was. He was tired, and just wanted to go to bed. He half leaned in the window and slowly asked, struggling to remember the actual words he tried to say, "Can you take me home?"

"Where do you live, pal?"

Where did he live? He knew that he knew it, because he'd been there before. But the address, numbers, a street, they weren't coming to mind, he couldn't even try to guess because it was all a blank. Kelly reached to his pocket, and unsteadily took out his wallet, he opened it up to his driver's license, and held it out for the cabbie to see his address listed on it. The man nodded once and merely said, "Hop in."

Kelly woke up as the car stopped. His head was slightly clearer now, but everything still felt fuzzy. The driver told him the total for the fare, but the numbers didn't register in his head. He took out his wallet and just handed bills to the man one at a time until he finally said it was enough. Severide found the door handle, got the door open, stepped out, weakly shut the door behind him, and headed up to the apartment. He felt in his pockets for his key and found it, unlocked his door and walked in.

It was getting lighter out, the sun would be up in an hour or so, everybody else would be getting up and going to work. Kelly shuffled his feet along the floor as he headed to his bedroom, shut the door behind him, sat down on the bed long enough to get his socks and shoes off, then yanked the covers back, crawled in hastily, pulled the blankets back up, and closed his eyes, sighing in relief as he craned his head to the side and felt his soft pillows under his head. He felt like he'd be okay now.