Despair Inside Of Dreams

11: International Convict

"Are you out of your mind?!?" the man in the white shouted at me. I was on the ground, looking up at him. As he started to walk away, I stood up from the ground. We were back in the field, underneath the tree, but the tree seemed to be losing its leaves.

"Why am I here, again?" I shouted at him. He turned around.

"My job is to show you the future, not change it. And when I show you the future, you don't change it." I could see on his face that he was furious.

"What do you mean?"

"You know where you're at, right now? The hospital. A wall collapsed on you." He took a deep breath. "That's not even the beginning of it."

"What is it?"

"Aries, you were born with a special gift: The knowledge of the future, of which you can only view through dreaming. You're a Dreamrunner."

"A Dreamrunner? Is this some sort of a superhero movie?"

"My job is to show you these dreams. Probably, one of the only rules in the Dreamscape is that you don't change the future. If you violate that term-"

"A massive earthquake happens? I only did it to protect Otto, I wasn't about to let him just break his leg."

"It wasn't an earthquake. If a Dreamrunner is to violate the terms, they may get their powers taken away from them."

"So, I may not be able to dream again?"

"Correct. That's not it, though. You violated the term three different times within the same day. The Judicature wants you eliminated."

"What's that?"

"It's our judicial administration. They get to manage Dreamrunners, like you. Since you have disobeyed the rules, they've sent an eliminator after you."

"That doesn't sound too good. Can't you overturn the ruling?!? I don't want to die! I didn't even know about this damn rule!"

"Look, we're running out of time. There wasn't an earthquake. The eliminator is after you, and he has almost found you. When you wake up, you have to run."

"Why do I have to run? What does the eliminator look like??"

"He framed you, Aries. The eliminator set off a bomb in the school, in attempts of killing you. You're an international terrorist, who has been framed."

"I'll just tell the police and they wi-"

"They're not going to listen; if they catch you, they will throw you in a maximum security prison for your life. If the eliminator catches you, you will die. That's why you need to run. The eliminator will look like a normal human. He may be seventeen-years-old, or he could be seventy. He could have any kind of hair, eye color, features, etc."

"So, I just run from the hospital? You better be with me; I'm going to need help."

"I won't be able to help. We might not be able to see each other for quite some time. I have someone down there for you, though. Stay safe, Aries."

I woke up on a hospital bed. There were a lot of machines around me, along with a cast around my arm. I couldn't move it; the pain would overcome my ability to move my arm. I assumed that it was fractured from the wall that fell on me. There weren't any doctors or nurses in the room with me. As I got out of the bed, I heard what sounded to be shouts and yelling. I looked out of the window and saw thousands of police cars and SWAT teams, surrounding the building. Jumping out wasn't going to be an option since I assumed I was on the 25th floor of the enormous building. I bolted out of the door in my white, patient's outfit. Luckily, there was nobody to be found in the hallway, but I heard other people coming. I pulled the fire alarm and ran into the hospital closet. I heard footsteps running by the closet. I decided to disguise myself as a doctor, so I found a doctor's outfit in the closet. I put a surgical mask around my mouth to protect my identity and sprinted out of the closet.

"Hey!" a doctor, right by me, shouted. "We're all sprinting this way, not that way!"

"What's going on?!" I asked, as I sprinted along with him.

"The building is undergoing a lock-down! The terrorist who blew up that school is here, on this very floor. The police are taking over this building. We're all told to evacuate."

"Terrorist? Who?"

"His name is Aries Barnes. How do you not know of him? He's all over the news!" We both stopped running and looked at each other. "Wait a minute. Why do you have a cast around your arm?" I couldn't respond. "Why do you look so much like the terrorist?"

"Look." I took the mask off of my face. "You've got to help me; there's been a misunderstanding."

A deep gasp fell around his face. As he grabbed his walkie-talkie, I had no other choice but to knock him out. I jabbed him in the stomach with my elbow and kicked him, right above his knee. As he staggered, I slammed my broken arm across his face, shattering my cast open. He fell, unconsciously, to the floor. I sprinted down the stairs.

As I got to the 17th floor, I encountered two police officers. I ran into a door, which happened to be the surgery floor. I ran past the lobby and into a huge, operation room. It was a dead end. The two officers came into the room with their guns pointed at me.

"Don't move! You have nowhere to go. You are under arrest!" one of the officers shouted. I put my hands in the air. As I started to surrender, two sniper bullets came spiraling through the window. Next thing I knew, the window behind me was shattered, and the two police officers fell, lifelessly, to the ground. As I looked at their bodies in shock, I heard more teams coming upstairs. I looked behind me and saw the sniper with complete, black body armor and a mask, laying down on top of the building across me. The person stood up and shot a grappling hook that struck the building, right above me. I assumed that was my cue to be rescued. I started to climb my way across the busy road below me. I tried not to look down. Halfway through, I heard gunfire, aimed at me, coming from the streets. I started to climb faster. Right before I could make it to the building, a bullet struck my hand, causing me to descend into a free-fall.

Luckily, I fell through the building's window. The building was abandoned. As I rushed upstairs to the roof, I met the sniper, standing on the very top of the stairs.

"Thank you so much for saving me," I said, as I started climbing up the stairs. "There's a bullet in my hand; can you please help m-" The sniper pulled out a taser and electrocuted me. I blacked out.

I woke up on a bed, in what seemed to be an apartment. The sniper in the black outfit and mask came inside the room. I sat up, and my heart started to race. My hand was wrapped in a cloth which was soaked in my blood.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," the sniper spoke. It sounded like a familiar voice. "Well, I'm not going to hurt you again."

"Show yourself."

"I electrocuted you because it made the job easier for me. I needed to get you out of the building somehow, without being detected."

"Where am I?"

"I got that bullet out of your hand. The pain should go away soon, hopefully."

"I need to know what's going on."

"Fine." The sniper removed the mask and threw it on the floor. "Happy?"

"Miranda?"