New Elysium: Breakout (Book 1)

Denial Part 7

"I am the love and I am the kiss, I am the fight, I am the fist, 
that sets your world on fire." 
"Set Your World on Fire" - IWNBTS

He'd spent the night picking his dream apart like a damn Neo-Tokyan. Some of the elites for all their claims of science picked at the "supernatural" for answers to things. He shuddered at the memory of how real it felt; the feel of her in his arms as he crushed her against his chest, her warm breath against his neck, her small arms wrapped around him. His own feelings confused him more. In the dream, he'd been more than concerned, more than willing to stand between her and the void.

The void itself, that was the part he couldn't understand. Whatever it was, it had come flying out at him from all sides, all angles... He hadn't been able to stand against it alone, but when it had gone for her, he had gone into overdrive to protect her...

His mind had repeatedly gone back to those few moments before, analyzing every detail until he was sick of himself. Why would he even go through those lengths to protect her?

Red hadn't slept for the rest of the night, simply laid on his cot staring out into the blackness. It was ironic considering his dream, but he felt no fear only a grim certainty that he was being pulled in a direction he didn't want to go.

He stayed in his cot past the time he'd normally be up watching as the sun sent brilliant rays of light through the cells to pierce the darkness before finally exploding into a brilliant light. He saw it all but hardly noticed any of it.

He barely noticed as Dag slid off the top rack, his feet nimbly hitting the ground before grabbing his shirt. Before he could slide it on, he turned and noticed Red still laying in bed and did a double-take.

"Red, what the... You sick?"

Red stared blankly at the underside of the top bunk. Metal pipes supporting Dag's mattress had started to rust. Dag was going to break the bed down on top of him one way or another.

"No." His voice sounded hollow and grating, realizing he probably needed water. But even that small action, simply getting up would mean his day would start and he'd have to face her.

Dag flinched, knitting his brows together. He dropped into a squat next to the bottom bunk, concern marring his features.

"You sure, you are usually out of here by now, what's up?"

"I'm fine."

Dag lifted an eyebrow in response and as much as Red wanted him to stop, he could hear Dag launch into just the line of questioning he didn't want him to go in.

"It's her, isn't it?"

"It's nothing to do with her," he snapped too quickly. He closed his eyes, groaning inwardly. Dag knew him better than most people here. But unlike most people here, he wasn't going to leave it alone. Dag didn't necessarily pry, but he could pull information out of a person simply by the way they hunched their shoulders.

Dag crossed his arms as he studied him. "Look, man, I heard you last night calling out in your sleep..."

Red groaned out loud this time, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand trying to remember what he said. "Just a fucking nightmare..." He sat up swinging his legs over the side of the cot. "It's nothing..."

"Sure it isn't... You don't just lay in bed for anything..." Dag hesitated. "Seven years we've been in the slam here, and not once have you had your panties in a twist like this. It's her. She gets to you..."

"It's not her..."

"Or she just gets you." Dag paused before standing, stretching his arms above his head, he towered over both bunks, his silver-colored arm flashed in the light in stark contrast to his dark skin. He pulled his shirt down over his head.

"So whose name were you yelling then? If not hers..."

Red stopped. He remembered how he'd woken up...cold, his blankets he kicked to the floor. The dream was just as vivid as ever. His face flushed as he turned towards Dag with a defeated sigh.

"Look, I don't know what it was... It was like there was a void, a dark void, and... I was supposed to protect her."

"A dark void..." Dag's raised eyebrow couldn't get any higher.

Red dragged both hands through his bedraggled hair. His stomach cramped begging for water as his mouth felt dry. "It's just a fucking dream."

"Look Red, I'm not going to say what this is..."

"It's nothing," Red insisted, refusing to meet Dag's eye.

"But sometimes you meet a woman and you want to move heaven and earth to protect her."

Red flicked his gaze up at Dag, a frown crossing his features. "Heaven and earth, Dag, seriously? Do you know what century we're in?"

"It's just an expression, Red."

"It's archaic."

"Doesn't change what it means." Dag spread his hands out in a circular gesture. You want to protect her..."

"She doesn't need me to protect her." Red sat down on his bunk and put his head in his hand dragging his fingers through his tangled hair. "You know she can take care of herself."

"The way of a man with a woman is a mystery-" Dag started to quote, Red knew it well, having heard it so many times already, but instead of letting him finish the verse he interrupted.

"It's really not all that mysterious." He raised a middle finger in Dag's direction, just to let him know exactly what he thought of the lecture. Not that it bothered Dag any.

"It is when it's got you like this." Dag waved a hand, his expression amused. He let his arms cross over his chest eyeing Red with a serious expression. "I've never seen you get this flustered over anyone. And we've been through some... situations." He let the last word hang in the air.

"Some situations" was putting it mildly. They'd blown up a space station together. Red closed his eyes again. It was not his best moment, if there was one thing he'd wished they'd gotten into it was getting onto Karnak and somehow managing to blow it to smithereens, along with every man, woman, and child living there. He'd buried it, sometimes going over every detail of their trip there, because no matter how many times he'd gone over it, he was still not sure how they'd managed it.

Red shook his head denial in every movement, but inwardly he wondered. I don't even know her. Not that he had to know every woman he'd run into. He ran another hand through his tousled mohawk, letting the silence stretch between them.

"She's possibly a way out, a means to an end," he finally got out. It was the best excuse he could think of.

"Sure she is," Dag finished.