Warmth blanketed me, weighing me down comfortably. Something gentle pressed briefly against my forehead. I felt comforted as the dream shifted. I didn’t want to witness another death. I tried to surface, but I was in too deep.
Tall stalks of grass and wild flowers swayed in the gentle breeze. To the west, the sun’s dying rays painted the sky. A single furrowed dirt track, perhaps made by game, followed the edge of the woods to the east. The air smelled fresh and crisp with no hint of pollution.
In this dream, I drifted as a bodiless bystander without someone else’s thoughts or feelings pushing into me as if my own. I observed the area, curious about the change in perspective.
A circle of stones crowned a patch of barren earth in the middle of the wind-ruffled grasses. Seven women stood within. I could see them clearly. One of them had a round, distended stomach, very large with child, and she was dressed better than the rest. Her taupe gown, a thin flowing material, molded itself to her belly in the breeze. The rest knelt in a half circle before her, dressed in rough skins and furs. Dirt dusted their skin and matted hair.
The pregnant one spoke in a guttural tongue. It took a moment for her words to make any sense.
“These I give onto you for your protection.”
The speaker motioned for the woman to her right to come to her. The woman stood and approached the one in the taupe gown, her steps hesitant. The woman in taupe gave a small encouraging smile. Her eyes held so many emotions: concern, sadness, hope...
Placing a hand on her swollen belly and the other on the coarse woman’s flat stomach, she spoke a single word, “Strength.” Immediately, her roundness decreased while a bump formed on the other woman’s previously flat stomach.
The woman gave a startled yelp and quickly moved back to her kneeling position, her hand protectively cradling her newly rounded middle. The woman in the gown motioned to the next primitive and repeated the process. It continued until the stomachs of those kneeling were all rounded with child and hers showed no sign of inflation.
“Go,” she said softly to her group. They stood and parted, each heading in separate directions.
Chapter Two
I woke feeling rested, but cranky. I wanted just one night without dreams, not that I wasn’t grateful for that last dream. At least no one had died. Struggling out of the bowl my body had created in the mattress, I checked the clock and flew into panic mode. Fourteen hours had passed! Too much time in one spot.
Scrambling to the window, I peeked around the curtain. The sun barely rimmed the horizon. Silence still claimed the morning—but not my thundering heart. My eyes darted around the street, searching for anything out of place. Nothing. I moved away from the window and slid my feet into my shoes.
Grabbing my bag, I eased out the door. The motel office waited a few feet away. Down the road, several trucks stood in front of the restaurant.
I hurried to return the room key. I needed a ride. I needed to move. The man from the night before took the key from me and returned the small cash deposit he’d required since I didn’t have a credit card. With a fake smile, I stepped back outside. The bus would bring me back to where I started, and I couldn’t go back home. I paused looking for options on the very dead street.
An early riser stepped out of the CCC. A dirty green knit cap covered his head and a brown scarf insulated his neck. Grey whiskers protected his cheeks. This far south winter rarely had a bite, but today would be one of those days.
He strode to a late model Chevy truck. Rust and mud speckled the back fender, but I didn’t care about that. He was just the option I was looking for. Waving to catch his attention, I hurried over to ask if he’d give me a ride out of town. He looked me over, eyeing my thin long sleeved shirt and asked me a few questions about where I was headed. Satisfied with my answer a better paying job in a bigger town, he agreed to give me a lift.
“In the bed, ‘course. Can’t be too careful. Sorry,” he said, getting into the truck cab.
I didn’t mind the conditions. A ride was a ride, and I needed it desperately.
Using the bumper, I vaulted into the bed and hunkered down near the cab. As I’d expected, the cold pierced my skin as soon as we started moving. At least, the cold would help keep me awake.
I dug in my bag looking for something warmer. My hand brushed against a zipper. Carefully, I pulled a hooded sweatshirt out of the grey duffle. I frowned at it, puzzled. It didn’t look familiar. I turned it in my hands for a moment before deciding I didn’t care. Nothing seemed familiar anymore. I pulled it on and zipped it up. It smelled good, clean, unlike most of what I’d crammed into the bag, and it helped a bit against the wind.
The panic and need to move calmed as the driver kept a steady speed heading northwest out of town. It gave me time to think. Fourteen hours was crazy long for only one death dream. Since they had started, they had varied little. Discovery, then death. Like an alarm clock, they woke me to the truth: the beasts were coming, and I needed to run to save those I loved. Unfortunately, like those past lives, I hadn’t truly believed the dreams until one of thosethingsactually arrived.
I rubbed my nose trying to warm it. At least I’d gotten away...this time.
The second dream about the women puzzled me. It was nothing like the other dreams. What did it mean, and why did I dream it right after that man found me? With a sigh, I leaned my head back and stared at the sky unable to answer my own questions.
I wasn’t sure if it was pity or his true destination, but the man drove an hour to the next big town with a bus stop. Discreetly digging in my stash of cash, I offered him a twenty for gas, but he waved it away with a gruff, “take care.”
Looking at the schedule, I studied my options. There were several buses departing within the next hour. Only two general directions, however. North and west. Though I’d tolerated the cold, I didn’t want to push any further north in November without a decent jacket. West seemed like a good enough choice.
* * * *
The dark circles under my eyes, a constant presence for the last few weeks, stood out vibrantly as I stepped off a bus in Springfield, Illinois twenty-four hours later. Wearily, I shuffled away from the drop-off location. The layovers and transfers helped keep me awake and prevented a screaming fit while traveling, but I knew I needed to crash soon.
A fellow passenger pointed me in the direction of the nearest motel. Just a few blocks. No problem. Money would be an issue, though. This would be the last room I could afford. I wasn’t even sure if the fake ID I’d gotten online would work here. Most kids my age got one for drinking. Not me. As soon as I started dying in my dreams, I’d planned to run on some level and bought one just for this purpose. Running and hiding. If only I’d had a destination in mind. But, how could I when I didn’t even know where these things came from? For all I knew, I was heading right to them. Hard to plan when you didn’t know which direction was safe. Well, I knew home wasn’t safe. One found me there. I thought briefly of my mom and felt a pang. Please let this keep her safe.
Checking into the cheapest room I could manage, I headed to my room. I wanted sleep. Bad. My stomach cramped. I wanted food, too. However, both food and sleep would need to wait because I just couldn’t stand my own smell anymore. I walked to the bathroom as I peeled off my clothes. The money I had stuffed in my bra fell to the floor. The thin fold of bills worried me. I counted my remaining cash. Less than fifty. Enough to buy a few meals, but it wouldn’t get me much further, which meant I needed to earn some more. I set the money next to the sink with a sigh. I was tired, hungry, and poor. Could anything else knock me down?
