Colors of danger

I see it every night without fail, the sight of my parents lying lifeless in a pool of blood is all I see.

It's almost like I'm pulled from my reality and take back in time to relive that day over and over. It's become like a tradition.

When I fight this dream, it fights back. If I refuse to close my eyes, I hear their voices. If I use substances, I feel their hearts beating in my hands and the taste of their blood in my mouth. It never stops pushing.

Some nights it gets so bad that my roommates have to call outside for a guard, who then drugs me a few more times till I'm numb. That's the only way to fight, I must be completely and utterly helpless, crawling and begging at its mercy.

But I was just one in 65. Not many of us could get peaceful sleep. Those who could either cried in silence or they were knocked out.

But tonight was different, this was the one night my demons stayed back...and perhaps cleared the way for something far worse. When I closed my eyes, expecting my usual dose of torture, instead of blood I saw myself.

In the vast darkness and depths of my mind, I wasn't alone. This imposter had my face but a different look in his eyes, hatred, and anger. His hair was braided, with gray tips. He looked older, his beard was still in its early stages. This was the first time I ever felt that my mind didn't belong to me, neither did my body. I felt paralyzed in my bed. I was in a lucid dream but the dream wasn't mine.

I saw him tilt his head side to side with a look of contempt. His eyes were no doubt judging me, like the me he saw was a mistake he wished he could erase.

Then his lips finally moved and he said to me, in a rough echoey voice, "Red and white are colours...of danger. Trust...only...the danger."

His voice was like an echo in my mind, and it was soon overshadowed by a whisper of my name ringing in the back of my mind. The dream vanished and my body returned as my eyes blinked open.

I rolled my head on the pillow, feeling the chip on my skull vibrating. But I chose to dismiss it with the dream and answer El's call.

We slept on the same bunk bed and he was right beneath me.

"You know one of us is gonna die tomorrow, right?"

He said tardily when I groaned in response. I may have dismissed it as just another dream but I couldn't help but be curious. Who the hell was that, me? What did he mean by red and white? The more I thought about it, the harder my chip vibrated.

"Are you listening?"

El's voice brought me back again. But before I could answer, the mechanical doors opened and two guards barged in, banging their boots on the floor and waking up the others.

One shone a flashlight on me and went to drag me off the bed while the other pointed a gun at anyone who tried to leave their beds.

"Stay down!" He yelled, "I said stay the fuck down!"

"What's going on? What did I do?"

I tried to ask but they just dragged me out of the room and took me to another. The guards scanned their key cards before the door opened and they dragged me in, each holding an arm. The first thing I saw in this room was a large glass box with a chair that looked kind of futuristic. It had a helmet with long wires that sank into the floor attached to it and restraints on the armrests. They threw me on it and strapped me in, then left me there.

"Hey! What's going on!" I kept screaming as I struggled in a desperate attempt to free myself. "Somebody tell me something!"

Although the room was completely dark outside this box, I could still see more dark figures moving around and entering in a rush.

"How long was the interaction?" A woman asked from my left side. This one was commanding, you could tell from her tone that she was a leader. I assumed she was the head scientist.

"5 seconds, maybe less. It was through a dream." Another responded from my right. I could make out the part of her face by the light of what I thought was the tablet she held. I guess she was her assistant.

Through the reflection of her glasses, I saw an x-ray of my brain on her tablet.

"Alright, give me the numbers and start the procedure now. " the leader shouted, clapping her hands to rush the others. "We can't miss this chance, people! Dreams don't last forever."

I guess there were more of them watching outside the room because another voice immediately responded through what sounded like a mic.

"Heart rate, brain activity, blood pressure, and adrenaline levels are all normal." the voice reported. "It seems to be a different entity, ma'am."

"Then let's catch it." the head scientist said. "Run the neuro link interface."

At her command, I felt a surge of electricity strike my mind like lightning from the strange helmet on my head. I felt it burn down my spine in a matter of seconds, and all I could think about was how much it hurt.

I felt my body try to leave the chair, unable to comprehend the pain, then freeze halfway up as the restraints on my legs and wrists. It was like a reflex, completely independent of my will.

The shock sent me into a trans-like state. I saw the images of my dream again, the same man with the same message. I had thought the most pain they could inflict on us was frying our minds through the chips, but I was wrong, this was definitely worse.

May have not been the best time to think about it, but my theory had been proven. 'neuro link, different entity', I thought to myself. They really were trying to reawaken something within us, something not from this world...but I guess whatever visited me wasn't it. Though it seemed equally as important.

When the torture finally ended my body slumped back into the chair, and everything went dark. I couldn't feel my own body or even move it but hearing still worked, although everything sounded like an echo.

I heard the head scientist ask, "What is it? What do we get?"

"It seems to be a coded message, ma'am. Some sort of riddle or instructions." The voice in the mic replied.

"Read it to me." She requested.

"Red and white are the colors of danger. Trust only the danger.'. That's all we got." He said.

"Dammit...Alright. New assignment, people. We're playing a game, a crossword puzzle. Rearrange the letters, look at them from every angle, and tell me what they mean." she commanded as her heels clanked hurriedly to the door. Then she added, "Darcey, make sure he's okay and take him back to his courters." before she scanned her way out.

Moments later I felt a sting on my neck, which I assumed was the assistant, Darcey, giving me a shot of some sort.

"Don't worry, kid, you'll be okay." She reassured me before telling the guards to remove the restraints and take me back.

Then died my hearing too.

***

When I woke up my head was still buzzing, and I had a nosebleed. No one else was in the room, which made sense because it was about time to head to the training hall. At least I thought so, I didn't actually know how long I was out.

I rushed off the bed but my balance was also a little off and I reached for the wall to keep from falling. My head was killing me, but I knew that if I didn't make it my headache would be made much worse.

I grabbed my shirt and made my way through the white-colored halls. When I entered the combat room, everyone was already assembled around the wide blue mat at the center of the room where El stood waiting with a black staff in one hand.

Surprisingly, no one was cheering or debating over who might win and I soon noticed why as I stepped on the mat. Zeus was there.

No one in this place had a name. They either went by the aliases we were told or by the names we gave them.

Zeus's name was obviously inspired by the Greek god of mythology. Because that's how we saw them, like gods... and we were the pawns. The lawly mortals. Plus, everyone seemed to fear him.

He was the one who ran this shit hole. He always wore a black suit and tie and coincidentally, he was the last person all of us saw before our incidents.

For me, he waved with a grin as he passed us in the park. Then everything went blank.

We only ever saw him once at the beginning of every month. He'd watch us train from behind the large window at the far end of the room like he did today, but there was a female doctor with him now and Darcey the assistant. I guess the redhead doctor was the same one who fried my bones.

"You're late, 38," Bishop said as he approached the matt. "Almost three hours."

"Sorry, sir," I said. "Out of my control."