The Dream Inhibitor

Two: The Manhunt

My first sensation is thick smoke and hard ground under my feet. My eyes open and I take in looming, smoking buildings to my right, and an alley full of trash and litter to my left. Straight ahead and behind me is a section of asphalt; it looks like a road. I glance around, looking for pursuers,  and then walk up next to the building, pressing my back against the wall. My senses are slowly coming into focus, one at a time. I smell things burning. I hear sirens wailing in the distance, perhaps around the other side of the building. Finally I can feel, and I'm wearing a simple pair of black pants and a tanktop, my dark blonde hair is pulled up in a ponytail, and I'm holding a machine gun, of sorts. My fingers explore the gun quickly, and I have an idea of how it works.

I start trotting along the side of the building, alert for anything that might be looking for me. I hear the thumping of what might be some kind of flying contraption above me and look up into the smoky sky, trying to decipher shapes. Sure enough, there's the faint outline of a helicopter. 

"Put down your weapons now!" Someone yells, their voice magnified by some kind of contraption in the helicopter so I can hear it perfectly clearly.

"Surrender or we will fire!"

In a split second, I make the decision to run. I bolt along next to the building, and I somehow have the luck to find a door leading inside. I almost slip trying to slow myself down and dive through the doorway. I hear an explosion right outside; the people in the helicopter must have bombs. 

I roll to keep from hurting myself too badly. I rise to a crouch and blink a few times to get accustomed to the darkness of the room I'm in. I get up and stalk towards another door. I kick it open to see another room with more light: a small lamp sitting on a table in the corner.

"Going somewhere?" A deep, masculine voice rumbles behind me.

I whirl around and see a tall, dark, slender man, standing in the corner. He's shocking, just in general, with his immense height and picture-perfect face, but it's his eyes that really grab me. They seem to glow with an almost sickly yellow light and are hard to look away from.

He clears his throat and puts out a hand, inviting me to take it. I hesitate for a second and then turn and grab the lamp and hurl it at him. I hear a crash and a groan from behind me as I bolt through another door. I find myself in a long hallway, and I turn left and start running as fast as my legs can carry me. I feel something hit my face and I falter, looking around me. All I see is a large black bat, flying alongside me. I don't have any time to react before something else hits me, a lot harder. I'm on my back, scrabbling against the hands of an enemy I can't hardly see. 

"Give me the gun, sweetheart." The person growls.

I kick up my knees as hard as I can, trying to push my attacker over my head. It works, sort of. He rolls halfway over my head, pinning my shoulders. I struggle pointlessly as he sits on my shoulders and holds down my arms with his own. I find myself looking into the face of another striking man, this time with deep reddish eyes, tan skin, and a wild tousle of brown hair.

"You're not going anywhere. Stop trying." He snaps, as I try to roll over and get away from him.

I have no idea where my gun is. I finally quit struggling and wait for the man to do something else.

"Well, that's more like it, sweetheart." He purrs in my ear.

I cringe at his closeness and instead of answering I simply stare into his eyes angrily. After about a minute of silence I decide to say something.

"You gonna kill me?" I say flatly.

He tilts his head, as if thinking. "Hmm. Yeah, I think I will. Thanks for the suggestion."

With that, he reaches over somewhere to my left and grabs my gun. 

There's a brief moment of pain before nothingness.