The End: Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX: “The Threat grows near.”

The first night after what would later be called The Fall had everyone that survived on edge. They did not know what was to come of the world they were forced to live in. Or even what lived with them.

***

Jeff had a dream the first night. He had already taken his watch, and was settling in for the remaining few hours he had left before sunrise. It had been a very boring night, and Calendar had not made it any easier. It seemed like she had gone out of her way to make their watch the most miserable time of his life.

But nothing compared to the dream he had that night.

It was simple, no crazy hidden messages in the scenery or anything like that. It was just him in the same place he was when he fell asleep. He was standing there and right in front of him was a girl. She was about ten years old, dirty blonde hair, serious look on her face.

“The Threat grows near,” she was saying.

“Threat?”

“More are coming. The city will be the battlefield. Many will die.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t trust your eyes. Your ears. Your mind. Things will be false. She will be false,” the girl replied simply.

Then Jeff woke up.

“You okay man?” Pete asked. The entire group was around him, staring.

“What’s up? Something wrong?”

“You were screaming,” Alana said.

“Oh. It – uh – it must’ve been a bad dream, that’s all.” Calendar stared hard at him.

“Well, I heard some voices, so I’m gonna go check I out,” Kristin declared, standing up.

“I’ll go with,” Pete replied quickly.

“No, I think you should stay with Jeff. We girls can handle one outing on our own,” with that said, the three women rose and began walking down the street toward where the voices were being heard.

“Pete,” Jeff said after they were out of earshot.

“What’s up man?”

“That dream…We can’t leave this city. The girl said so. It was weird. I get the feeling that what she said should be taken seriously.”

“Girl? Predicting the future I take it?”

“Yeah. You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I don’t know. After what’s happened in the past day or two, I’m not sure what to believe. But I trust you. And Kristin. Alana too. Not Calendar. Something’s off with her, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean.”

“Plus the fact that I had the same dream.”

Jeff stared at Pete.

“What?”

Pete shrugged, “I kinda saw it all from your eyes though. I mean, I could tell it was your eyes, y’know?”

“Not really, but you understand what I mean, right?”

“Yeah. I think Kristin got the message too. They way she reacted seemed, weird.”

“It seems too odd that we had the same dream,” Jeff rubbed his eyes.

“Not the same dream. We just saw the same thing,” a voice spoke from behind them. They both leaped to their feet and spun to face the newcomer.

It was Kristin. She had somehow ditched the two social workers and had made her way back to their campsite.

“Jeff, you were the one with the dream, not me or Pete.”

“So what does it mean?”

“I’m not sure yet. All I know is that if – when – we find my aunt, we’ll find some answers.”

Jeff glared at the blonde girl, “How can you be so sure?”

Kristin stared him in his eyes, “She has experience with this kind of stuff. Now, I think we should keep this a secret. Just the three of us, okay? I hate to keep Alana out of the loop, but it’s a safety measure. Calendar can’t be trusted. We can’t tell her anything.”

“But what if they try to leave the city?” Pete asked. Good point.

“Remember what the girl said: ‘the city is the battleground.’ Do you really think any of us have a say in if we leave or not?”

She let the question hang in the air for a moment before heading back the way she came, saying, “I need to get back to them. We need to find the other survivors.”

Jeff and Pete stared at her retreating form, thinking separate thoughts with the same message being put across:

This was only the beginning of it all…