Chapter Four - Roll The Tapes

Watching the glistening fire glow in the shroud of darkness, my peaceful thoughts were interrupted by a violent snore that grew louder with each breath. I looked over at Elvie, who was sound asleep and probably dreaming of a better life. I reached for the blanket in my rucksack and gently placed it over her, trying carefully not to wake her.

'How can one girl make so much noise?' I wondered before lying on my back and desperately trying to stay awake. Still, as I settled more into the grass, the more it felt like the fire was wrapping its arms around me and making me drowsy. I soon succumbed to the Sandman and closed my eyes.

I felt my body begin to manifest into the dream realm, finally settling on firm grass and stone. I still held my rucksack safely on my back and looked around for some bearing of what nightmare I had arrived in.

"Another lucid dream? When will this ever end so I can go back to the flowers and sunshine I was used to!" I yelled angrily towards the sky - 'As if someone's listening.' I chuckled.

My feet began to trudge forward, the gravel crunching and groaning with each step without my control; I let my body carry itself to its destination, unaware of the true nightmare I would witness nor how difficult it would be to escape. They say that lucid dreaming is a blessing and can provide the best experience of your life. But as I made my way closer to the abandoned village, the bricks from house walls scattered and broken across the ground. "This place!" I told myself, "Anywhere but here!" I forced every muscle in my body to turn around but to no avail. Each time I blinked, I was drawn closer and closer until I could finally see the bloodshed that hovered over like a cloud. My eyes scanned the area, picking out broken glass and pottery from the glistening reflection of the sun until it finally landed on a man shrouded in darkness against the bright sky. His body was blackened, possibly from ash or soot, but I could just make out a weapon brandished in his arms. An SA80. I could recognise it anywhere out of instinct.

"Hey!" I foolishly called out, not recognising the danger I was truly in. The man didn't respond but instead trained his gun in my direction, slowly looking down the iron sights. I darted behind a broken wall and braced for impact.

Dust covered my clothes and smothered the air as a spew of bullets rocketed towards me, crumbling the wall upon impact and slowly exposing me. I looked around for something to throw, just to distract him, but my hands felt heavy - as if I was gripping onto something.

Peering down, I could see I was armed; a Glock 17 was sat comfortably in my grasp, and I didn't wait long to use it. As the man stopped firing to reload his clip, I swiftly shot above the wall. Then, I began to fire upon him, landing most of my shots into his chest and sending him crashing onto the dusty ground with a thud.

I cautiously walked over to his corpse, my gun still held close to my chest on the chance he awoke; his body lay stiff and cold. As I edged closer, his body began to shrink in height until it resembled a small child. Then, it began to bleed with colour, finally showing a black ski mask and dirty clothes littered with holes.

I peeled off the mask, and the more it revealed, the more my heart sank until it felt like it had touched the floor. Upon exposing his face, the body clearly belonged to a child no older than thirteen. Dropping to my knees, I lifted his head, stared into his green eyes, and wiped the blood from his mouth. I must've stared for at least five minutes before I awoke to a worried Elvie looking over me, her face whiter than usual.

"You were having a nightmare. It sounded bad with all the tossing and turning. Are you okay?" She asked kindly.

"No shit. I'm fine, it's a normal occurrence, and I've just gotten used to it." I paused after my blunt reply, "Thank you for waking me. I don't know how long I would've gone on otherwise. And I'm sorry for falling asleep, that is. Did you sleep okay?"

"No, thank you for covering me. That was a lovely thing to do. I'm just worried about you. All the secrets you keep, mixed with the nightmare; you need to come clean, get it off your chest."

I looked up as a bright flash of red lit the night sky like dawn as the supply drop had been made. "Not right now. Put this fire out and pack up. It's time to move for that drop before the others get there. From the looks of it, it'll be a twenty-minute walk, so we better move quick. The less we see of the others here, the better."