Dream Killing (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

Sitting
in his cubicle, Drew looked up at the clock and realized that today actually
went a little faster than usual. He was thankful to be able to pack up his desk
and call it a day. As he walked to catch the train, he decided that a couple of
muffins from The Bean would be a nice little treat. He didn’t eat sweets very
often, but they looked so good.

Drew enjoyed his usual people-watching
on the train, and almost missed his stop. Surprisingly, the lady that was
sitting next to him nudged him with her elbow and alerted him to his impending
mistake. As he walked down the stairs from the platform, he could smell the
coffee and was looking forward to stopping in at The Bean.

Drew was greeted with a handful of
hellos as he walked through the door of the coffee shop. It felt nice to be
acknowledged that way.

“Coffee, black, right?” Adam asked,
taking Drew of guard. Drew hadn’t expected him to remember how he liked his
coffee.

“Actually, no, today I would love a
couple of the blueberry muffins over there.”

“Good choice. Here’s a bag, go pick out
the ones you want.”

“Thanks.”

As Drew walked down to the other end of
the counter he passed someone that he was sure he had seen before, but couldn’t
place the face. It was a large man with the darkest skin Drew had ever seen.
Where had he seen him before? Usually good with faces, Drew was thrown. His
training had taught him to be mindful of the people he comes in contact with,
and he wasn’t used to the feeling of not knowing where he had seen this face
before.

With muffins in hand, Drew walked around
the corner and up the steps to his apartment. The muffins smelled so good that
he actually considered skipping dinner altogether and go right into dessert.
Being the disciplined person that he was, he quickly dismissed that idea and
let himself into his apartment.

Drew made himself a salad and grabbed a
diet soda out of the fridge. Better to eat healthy now so that he could enjoy
the muffins later! He was about to set his food on the breakfast bar where he
normally eats, but decided eating in front of the TV would be nice. He had some
shows on the DVR he had been meaning to watch, and this way he could get
comfortable. He set his food down and ran into the large bathroom to change
into his shorts and t-shirt. He hated leaving his work clothes on once he got
home. They made him feel as stuffy at home as his cubicle made him feel at
work.

Turning on the TV, he decided that he
would get caught up on CSI. He hadn’t watched the past few episodes, and it
always made him chuckle as he watched. Sure, some of the methods they used in
the lab were accurate, but Drew knew of some much easier ways of coming to the
same conclusions. His favorite thing to say while watching was, “If you guys
only knew!”

By the third episode, Drew had finished
his salad, and had also devoured both blueberry muffins.
I will definitely
need to work out after that treat,
he thought to himself as he settled down
for the last episode of CSI.

When the program was over, Drew turned
off the TV and locked up his apartment. If he was going to go for a jog in the
morning, it was best that he hit the sack early.

He checked his alarm clock and flopped
into bed, ashamed that he had indulged in the muffin extravaganza. Luckily, the
park was nearby and he could simply jog over, run for an hour or so and then
have time for a quick shower and head to work. Drew dozed off as he thought
about the spring run in the park.

***

Drew jolted, sitting straight up.
Whatever made the loud bang that woke him wasn’t very far away. He turned to
get out of bed and realized he was on the floor. Looking around, he saw four
blank walls and a door. He was back in the dark room, but this time the TV on the
wall was gone. He set his hand down on the floor to boost himself up and it
landed on the gun.

Drew made his way to the door, knowing
what would be waiting for him on the other side. He looked at his watch and saw
the glowing 49. Some would be happy to see that they still had 49 lives left,
but for Drew that wasn’t enough. His quest for perfection had always led him to
want the best for himself, and 49 just wasn’t a good enough number. That led
him to another uneasy feeling. He would have to kill in order to bring himself
back to 50 and then he still had 50 more kills to win.

He stepped out into the corridor and
looked around. All was quiet. He inched forward, and out of the darkness he
heard the sound again. Something hit the wall beside his head. He knew it was a
bullet. Drew ducked down and slid himself forward along the wall. When he felt
he was in the clear, he stood straight and checked his weapon; full clip,
safety off. He was as ready as he could be.

Drew stood tall, flat against the wall,
weapon ready. He turned the corner and heard footsteps. In the dimly lit
corridor he could not see anyone, but the sound of footsteps seemed to be
getting closer. He moved forward, glancing back and then ahead again. He was
nearing an intersection of sorts. The tunnel he was in kept going, but it
branched off to the right. The footsteps had to be coming from that direction.
He stopped, back against the wall once again.

A dark figure came around the corner and
stopped. Both men pointed their weapons. It was then that Drew realized it was
the man he encountered the night before. Both Drew and the other man side
stepped, and before Drew could decide what to do, the man turned and continued
down the hall. Drew relaxed slightly and wondered why neither of them fired their
weapons.

Another shot rang out and this time Drew
was hit. There was a searing heat in his left arm, and he could feel the warmth
of his blood spread as it soaked his shirt. He knew he had to get back to the
safe-room, but first he needed to shoot his pursuer. Adrenaline pulsing through
his veins, Drew spun on his heels and pointed his gun. There was nobody there.
He stepped forward and another shot rang out. He turned slightly and just
around the bend a figure stood in the shadows. Drew fired his gun and the
shadow dropped to the floor.

Drew went to the shooter, kicked his gun
from his hand and carefully, his own gun still drawn, reached down to grab his
wrist…just in time to see the man’s number change from 30 to 29 on his watch.
Drew then glanced at his own watch; 50.

Drew took the downed man’s gun, tucked
it into the waist of his jeans and slowly made his way back to the safe room.
He could feel the blood dripping off of his hand and that gave him an uneasy
feeling. Wondering if he would run into the Dark Man on his return to the safe
room, his footsteps quickened, and kept his gun drawn.

Once back at the doorway to safety, Drew
looked around one last time. All was clear, so he opened the door and ducked
inside. Even though the room was fairly dark, it was a little brighter than the
corridor. Drew took off his shirt and looked at his wound. It seemed to only be
a graze, but he wrapped the shirt around his arm to stop the bleeding and sat.
He needed to rest and figure things out.

Who was the man from the corridor? Drew
knew that he had seen him there last night, but he seemed to recognize him from
somewhere else. As he leaned his back against the wall, Drew drifted off to
sleep with the Dark Man’s face on his mind.

***

Drew could hear the familiar soft buzzing
of his alarm and slowly opened his eyes. His first instinct was to reach his
right hand over his chest and feel his left arm; nothing. It had all seemed so
vivid and real. He sat up, still seeing the face he encountered in his dream.
He knew he had seen him before, but remembering where was proving fruitless.

Drew dragged himself out of bed, threw
on his track pants and grabbed his shoes. Maybe a run would help refresh his
memory. He grabbed a bottle of water on his way out of the apartment and locked
the door. Tucking the single key into his shoe, he jogged down the stairs.

As he made his way over to the park, he
looked at all of the faces that he passed hoping that one of them would be the
face of the man from his dream. Then he chuckled as he thought about the fact
that he was looking for the man of his dreams.
Do you realize how crazy that
sounds,
he asked himself as he entered the park.

Running usually helped him clear his
mind, but this run was different. With every step he went deeper into thought
about his dream. Like a TV show, last night seemed to be a continuation of the
dream from the night before. It was definitely a nice change of pace compared
to the hum-drum world of customer service, but his frustration was soon growing
when his thoughts returned to the man who chose not to kill him…twice. If only
he could figure out why he seemed so familiar, then he could finally put the
thought out of his mind.

*****

CHAPTER THREE

After
a quick shower Drew decides that he has just enough time to stop in for a
coffee on his way to catch the train. As he walked through the door, he
instantly noticed the large, dark man sitting in the same spot as the last
time. When Adam came to the counter Drew inquired about the mystery man that
has grown increasingly familiar to him.

“Hey, Adam. Before you get me a coffee,
do you know who that man is over there? I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere
other than here, but I can’t seem to place where.”

“Yeah, that’s T. He comes in here all
the time. You want your coffee black, right?”

“Sure do,” Drew said, looking over at
the man again. This time, T was looking right at him and moved his head in a
gesture that called Drew over. Hesitant, he made his way over to T and asked,
“I’m sorry, but do I know you from somewhere? You look very familiar to me.”

“I was about to ask you the same
question. You got time to sit and have your coffee? It’s ready, by the way.”

Drew grabbed his coffee and sat down.

“I have a few minutes before I have to
head to the “L”. I’m Drew, by the way,” he said as he put out his hand.

T shook his hand and said, “T. I saw you
in here last night. Do you live around here?”

“Right around the corner, you?”

“Yeah, about five blocks from here. I
must have just seen you around then.”

“Probably. You come here a lot?”

“Every day. It’s the only quiet place
around here.”

“Yeah, that it is.”

“I know you have to get to the train. It
was nice meeting you,” T said, making Drew feel as if that was his cue to
leave.

“Yeah, you too. See ya’ around,” Drew
replied, and with that, he left. Although it was possible that Drew had just
seen him around the neighborhood, he felt as though there was someplace else
that he knew T from.

***

All day at work, Drew found himself
teetering between thoughts of his dream and trying to figure out why he felt he
knew T from someplace other than the neighborhood where he lived. It was
frustrating to him, and distracting, but every time the phones were quiet, that
is where his thoughts led him.

Even people watching on the train ride
home from work didn’t deter Drew from trying to figure out why he knew T. It
was becoming almost an obsession, and it was really starting to annoy him.

Drew avoided stopping in at The Bean on
his way home for two reasons. First off, he didn’t want to run into T again
right now, and second, he knew if he went in again he wouldn’t be able to stop
himself from buying more of those delicious muffins. So, he walked down the
steps from the train platform and headed straight for home.

It was Friday night, which meant changing
into something comfortable, ordering a veggie pizza, and calling his father.
This has been his Friday night ritual as long as he could remember, aside from
those times when he was on a mission and couldn’t use the phone. After talking
to his dad, he enjoyed his pizza and a movie marathon.

It was somewhere in the middle of his
third movie that Drew fell asleep on the couch. When he woke, he reached for
his remote without opening his eyes, thinking he would just turn off the TV and
sleep right where he was. His hand moved around and finally rested on something
other than the remote control. It was his gun.

Drew opened his eyes and stood up. He
bent down to pick up his weapon and felt something in the waistband of his
jeans. It was the gun he took off of the kill from last night. He felt better
knowing that he had a backup weapon and checked both to see how much ammunition
he had. As he had hoped, both clips were full. Checking his watch as he moved
toward the door, the 49 reminded him that it was now time to take this game
seriously.

Back in the tunnels, Drew decided that
he would turn left instead of right at the end of the first corridor. Not sure
of why he wanted to do so, he neared the turn and stood, back firmly against
the wall and drew his weapon. Just as he turned to look down the large and
darker corridor, Drew felt a tap on his shoulder. He quickly turned.

“Shhh. It’s me, T. I knew you looked
familiar!”

Drew couldn’t believe it. “T? How the
hell is this possible?”

“I know! I saw you come out into the
corridor and couldn’t believe it,” T whispered. “Let’s go. We shouldn’t stand
around too long.”

The two men quickly made their way
through a series of twists and turns, until finally coming to another fork in
the corridor. Looking around, they moved to the right and came to a dead end.

“Okay. If we stick together, we can
watch each other’s backs. This place is crazy.” T spoke quickly, “We have to
head back and take the left tunnel. Cover me.”

“Okay,” Drew responded. He was still a
little out of sorts from finding out that the two of them were both in this
game.

Just as they got back to the fork and
took the other tunnel, shots rang out. It was T, and as he fired his second
shot, he went down. Drew saw a figure in front of him and fired his gun. He hit
his target and then looked down at T, “How bad are you hit?”

“I don’t think I am going to make it. Go
back. Get out of here. People had to have heard the shots. They will come for
you. Go, now!”

Drew turned and left. He knew that T
would be back in the game tomorrow, so his guilt at leaving a man down was
short lived. As he made his way back through the maze of tunnels, he was forced
into another kill, only this time there were three of them against him. How he
made it out alive was beyond him, but Drew made it back to the room ahead of
the game; his watch read 53.

The second he sat down, Drew’s guilt at
leaving T in the tunnels got the best of him and he jumped back up.
I can’t
just leave him there,
he thought to himself. After all, T did take a bullet
that could have easily been meant for him. In true Agent fashion, Drew checked
his weapons and left the room to search out T.

Snaking down the corridors, Drew was
careful not to make a sound. Avoiding another shootout would be a bonus while
on this mission. Thankful of his training, it wasn’t hard to find the spot
where T went down. Surprisingly, though, he was not there. Drew found himself
full of questions:
Was he able to save himself? Did someone capture T?
Drew
was hopeful it was the first question.

With nobody there to save, Drew turned
to go back to the room. T was there, right behind him.

“Thank God! I came back to see if you
were alright and I saw that you were gone. Are you okay?” Drew’s voice carried
a startled yet relieved tone.

“Just when I thought it was over, the
pain started to just…,” T started but then paused. Looking confused he
continued, “Vanish. Then I was back in the safe room and I went looking for
you.”

For a moment, they both stood silent. It
wasn’t until they heard more gunshots that they both jumped into action. They
moved in the opposite direction of the gunfire, both feeling that they had had
enough action for one night.

Once they reached the doorway to Drew’s
safe room, T spoke with a slightly confused look on his face, “Well, I don’t
know how this is happening.”

“What?”

“We are both in this game, or dream, or
whatever it is…”

“And we also know each other on the
outside,” Drew finished the thought with the same confused look.

“I think we should meet at The Bean
tomorrow. We can talk strategy.”

“Sounds like a smart plan. I can be
there by 9:00.”

“Okay. 9:00 then.”

Drew looked at T and said, “Stay safe.”

Drew went through the door, hoping that
having an ally in this game would help. Thinking about what T had said, Drew
realized that he had not thought of the game as a dream while he was playing.
With this new revelation, he sat down and placed his guns on either side of
himself.
If T is at The Bean at 9:00 will he even know what I am talking
about? If this is just a dream, I could wind up looking like some crazy
stalker. I think I will just play it cool. If he is there I will just say hi
and leave strategy talk up to him.
Drew didn’t like this confusion. He
finally figured out why he felt like he knew T, and now another question loomed
in his mind.

He leaned his head back against the wall
and closed his eyes. The events from tonight had drained him of his energy and
he knew tomorrow could prove to be just as crazy, so sleep would be in his best
interest. It wasn’t long before he was in a deep sleep.

***

When the alarm went off at 8:00, Drew
regretted not setting it for earlier. He felt like he needed more time to
mentally prepare for his meeting with T, if in fact there really is a meeting
at all. Foregoing a shower, Drew slipped into his track pants, left the same
t-shirt on, and decided a quick jog might help him think more clearly.

A couple of laps around the park was all
he had time for. Drew wanted to be at The Bean before 9:00, hoping that he
would be there before T. If it was simply just a dream and T was merely just a
character in the dream, then he could just say hello and carry on with his day.
If T approached him and mentioned the dream then he would run with it.

Not even stopping off at home, Drew
jogged right to the coffee shop. Adam was behind the counter again. Drew was
first to speak, “Hey, Adam. Are you ever NOT working?”

“What can I say? I love my job!”

“That’s cool. Can I get a coffee,
please?”

“Sure thing, Boss, can I get you
anything else?”

“What the hell, I’ll take one of those
croissants, too.”

As Adam got the coffee, Drew grabbed the
biggest croissant he could find. When his coffee was ready, he paid and grabbed
a table. He picked the table next to the one T usually sat at, trying not to be
too eager. If the dream had been just that, he didn’t want to be sitting at T’s
table; that would seem…weird.

Drew looked at the clock on the wall. It
was exactly 9:00, and on cue, T walked in. He exchanged words with Adam and,
coffee in hand, walked past his usual table and sat across from Drew.

*****