The Dream Machine Takes All of Us

[backslash]

((Raja Narang continued from Dark, Darker, Yet Darker))

It turned out that there were two basement levels. In the center was a staircase, a spiral of concrete and metal that twisted up towards faint daylight. Branching off of the stairs were halls and rooms just like the one where Raja and the other two had started. They didn't stop to explore any of those.

There was barely any conversation as he, Ray, and Dan climbed, and even their footsteps seemed muted and swallowed up by the sturdy concrete stairs. Raja had picked up speed somewhat the closer they got to the top, eager to get out of the dark. When it was light enough to click his flashlight off and stow it back in the bag, his mood finally became... well, not good still, but more stable. He was glad in the moment, and he'd hold onto that.

As they emerged onto the ground floor, Raja could finally get a sense of what the building they were in actually looked like. It was big and blocky, mostly made of concrete, with large glass windows lining the outer walls. The light was dim, but it was clearly daylight filtering in. It was at this moment that Raja realized how much humans had in common with plants (at least the ones who didn't already have plant parts growing from them, or something). If he hadn't been a little winded from climbing the stairs all the way up, he might have sprinted outside and faceplanted in the dirt just to soak up the sun.

Instead of doing that, he shuffled away from the top of the staircase so that Ray and Dan could get out, and he started rooting around in his bag again. There had been something in there that felt like paper, and paper either had useful things on it or could at least be written on. When he'd finally remembered to pat down his pockets, he had just confirmed that his phone was indeed gone, and somehow he doubted that either Ray or Dan had invested a lot of time into learning sign. Having to do charades to communicate every little thing was annoying.

[Jilly]

((David continued from the abyss of despair and general annoyance))

They finally made it. Oh baby, let there be light. David could've collapsed right there and basked in the glow of the dim but comparatively radiant natural light, if he was alone. But he wasn't and he was the tough guy, so he couldn't.

However, instead, he picked up his pace and sped past the other boys, nearly ramming down Raymond. He ran up to the nearest window and put his hands and face against the admittedly kinda grimy glass as he got his first glimpse of the outside in...hours? Days? When was it, come to think?

His hopeful grin slowly faded into a frown as he realized that, yeah, they were in a desert. They dumped them in the middle of the fucking high desert like they were garbage.

Now he was even more pissed, but not enough to do anything other than stare through the window like he was a street urchin.

[carduinal-cyn]

((Raymond continued from Dark, Darker, Yet Darker))

No building could last forever, could it?

A few flights of stairs and a view of endless desert later, Raymond reached instinctively for his phone, frustrated as he was with his current company.

...Of course it's gone, he grumbled to himself. I should've expected that. No terrorist in their right mind would let a bunch of meddling kids call the cops. For all we know, Cyrus has a body count by now. Guy's messed up. He would kill someone, no question.

Just looking out at the sands and the cacti made Raymond's mouth start to water. At the best of times, he needed to pack two 24-ounce hydroflasks with him every day: he was essentially an overgrown water balloon even in human form, and he always drank them all down. He'd checked the backpack: he had six liters. 24 ounces were just under one and a half of those bottles.

If he rationed himself, he would last about two days.

[Salic]

((Claudia Salgado continued from Dead!))

The hike from the Flatlands was longer than expected, but Claudia was certainly used to long hikes. At some point, she must’ve outpaced Selene and Anatoly, as she was a few meters ahead of them when she reached the door. The entrance to the building.

She stopped in her tracks. They’d finally made it, but now she was filled with apprehension. She had no idea what to expect behind the heavy door. She assumed there would be people, but right at the entrance? Probably not. Claudia’s companions had caught up to her now, and she steeled herself with a deep breath. She grabbed the door handle, twisted it, opened the door-

And three faces stared back at her, in just as much shock as her.

She gazed at them: Raja, the quirky Indian boy, David, the grumpy guy with the glowing blood, and Raymond, the blob guy. While David could be a major buzzkill, she could’ve ran into much worse, like Crispin. Or Cyrus. She released the held breath she had, and mentally shook herself to greet them.

“Hey guys! It’s, ah, Raja, David, and Raymond, right? It’s me, Claudia, from the volleyball team! It’s good to see that you guys are okay.” Claudia paused for a moment. “Selene and Anatoly are behind me. So uh, how uh, how are you guys?”

Yikes. What a dumb question. Ah well, everyone made a faux pas every once in a while. In either case, she was more concerned about their intentions towards her and her little posse.

Well, I’ll find out soon enough, won’t I?

[Polybius]

((Anatoly Orlovsky continued from Dead!))

The blood rush had only lasted about ten minutes, maybe fifteen. He'd come down very quick- the excess energy within him went out like blowing out a candle, and suddenly he walked slower and his senses were less sharp. Anatoly wished that he'd had time to savor it, to just enjoy his rush and and play around for a little bit, but the situation hadn't really allowed for that. And he wasn't going to ask for more blood so soon, Claudia and Selene wouldn't like that.

Still, even after the rush ended Anatoly still felt much better than he had back home, where the pig blood and pills had made him feel like he was barely alive. For the next few hours, Anatoly would actually be like a normal guy. A normal vampire in a battle royale in the desert. An unfortunate side effect of being normal, however, was all the doubts and fears coming back into his head. Claudia and Selene knew about his Gift. He'd fed from Claudia, and he barely even knew her! Embarrassment, anxiety, and fear occupied him as the group walked towards the building. Anatoly was in his nightmare scenario, he was exposed for them to see. So far, it hadn't gone anywhere near as bad as he'd feared, but still, he sensed some... uncomfortable vibes from them. He only hoped that he could prove his loyalty, somehow.

Worries about how the girls felt about him took up most of Anatoly's thoughts. The seriousness of the game itself still hadn't fully settled on him. In all likelihood, Anatoly was going to die in the next few days, he knew that logically, but it was hard for him to fully wrap his head around. Just a few hours earlier, Anatoly had gone through a very real near-death experience, so the hypothetical idea of him being killed by one of his classmates seemed fanciful by comparison.

That would probably change the first time someone attacked him.

Anatoly trailed behind Claudia as they arrived at the building, which was basically a giant gray box. He still wasn't sure about this being a good idea, but it was very sunny and he wanted to go inside. God, he was acting like a stereotype. Anatoly was about to follow her to the door when his eye caught a faint orange glow in the dark window. Anatoly turned and found himself staring into a big, grimacing face looking out from behind the glass.

Anatoly knew that face. It was from that grumpy junior with the radioactive blood. Well- he didn't know if it was actually radioactive, but he wasn't going to test it out. The guy's name was... Dylan? Dylan.

Anatoly stared seriously into Dylan's eyes, then tilted his head and grinned. Anatoly wanted the boy to know that he was friendly. And he hoped Dylan would be friendly too, or at least not killy. Anatoly heard the door creak open, and turned back to Claudia. He realized that he should warn her there were other people right inside, but before he could say anything she was already making introductions.

Anatoly turned back to the window and waved.

[Laurels]

((Selene Flores continued from Dead!))

Selene had fallen to the back of the pack despite leading it at the start. The desert heat was already working against her, she who chose leather and dark clothes. The leather jacket had been taken off and wrapped around her waist and she pulled a hair tie out to at least tie her bangs out of her face so they weren't sticking to her forehead. She now had a weird little top knot, but vanity wasn't going to keep her alive. What would keep her alive would be finding shelter and better supplies to survive this place.

They had finally chanced upon the compound after their Lawrence of Arabia trek. Selene paused for a bit, letting Claudia and Anatoly make their way to the door first. When Claudia opened it, she began talking to people. Selene peered over and saw three boys inside. She didn't know them too well, other than that they went to school and she had vague ideas as to what their gifts were.

Selene merely raised a peace sign at the group.

"Sup? We come in peace," she said.

She really had nothing better to say or do. She just wanted to hang back in case these three dudes turned violent.

[backslash]

Raja probably should have expected to run into more people pretty quickly; from the look of the map so far, whatever this building was, it was the only one around. He still jumped a little when the exterior door creaked open, revealing familiar, if somewhat dusty and sweaty, faces. A pleasant rush of outside air followed them in, stirring the more stagnant atmosphere of the inside.

The six of them were kind of spread out on the ground floor of the building now, Raja and his two companions by the stairs and the newcomers - Claudia, Anatoly, and Selene, all people that Raja would have been perfectly happy to see on a normal day - clumped by the door. Raja exhaled slowly through his mouth, consciously easing the tension from his shoulders where they'd started to hunch in surprise.

Raja realized suddenly and starkly that he was relieved to see them. None of their faces had drifted through his mind while he wondered and worried over who might be out there and what could have happened to them, but damn, the knowledge that they were here and as okay as they could be was like coming up for air. Scrunching the map he'd been holding into one hand, Raja took a few more steps away from the stairs and towards the three of them, smiling and extending his free hand in a wave. After the greetings, he gestured in welcome for them to come further inside. This was his house now, he supposed. Be our guest, and all that.

[Jilly]

David sneered back at Anatoly before turning from the window and giving Claudia the same look. He went for his bag, not even looking up for Selene's The Day the Earth Stood Still-ish greeting while he rooted around. The slight chill of air from the door reassured his assumptions.

"We're cool," David said to Claudia, his mouth still in a frown. He found his jacket and put it back on; the quiet ruffle of leather echoed off the halls. "Don't go downstairs."

[carduinal-cyn]

Three seniors had arrived on the scene before Raymond could even pop open his backpack for his first glass of water. He knew little of them beyond their names: Claudia, Selene, and the perennially sleepy Anatoly. None of them struck him as particularly murderous. Unless his eyes lingered on Claudia's body for too long, he was confident he could control his shape in front of five near-strangers.

The challenge, he realized, would be logistics. Where would they sleep? Where would they eat? Who would stand guard? Who would strategize? Ray's imminent survival depended on how quickly he could answer those very questions — if, indeed, there was interest in forming such a group in the first place!

To start with, the best plan was to identify himself with the other boys. "We sort of woke up down there," he explained. "It's pitch-black... lots of screaming."

[Salic]

Claudia heard Raymond’s description of the basement of the place and came to the quick conclusion that it would be a shitty idea to go down there. No one had any way to see, and the screaming may have come from something malicious. She decided that she wanted to stay away from the stairs at all times.

She walked further into the building, taking Raja’s gesture as a welcoming one. She stood aside from the door to let Anatoly and Selene walk in.

“Thanks for the advice, Raymond. I’ll be sure not to go down there anytime soon.”

Claudia swung her duffel bag off of her shoulder and onto the ground. She cleared her throat and said “So, what’s the plan? We gonna group? We gonna split? Let’s just get that shit out in the open, first and foremost. Me personally? I’m down with grouping. Not sure what you guys think, or what Selene and Anatoly think, but I’m just putting my thoughts out there.”

[Polybius]

Well. Dylan wasn't very friendly. After the other boy turned away from the window, Anatoly went over to the door to join his companions. He peaked over the girls' shoulders to examine the motley group of guy's they ran into. Anatoly knew Raja and Raymond better than he did their glowy friend. Raja was cool. Raymond was... eh. With their Gifts, the two of them working together could probably kill Anatoly's group if they wanted to. But they didn't seem like they were gonna do that, so Anatoly was cool with them.

"Hey, the more the merrier, right?" Anatoly said, spreading his arms out. "As far as plans go... uh, the most important thing is not dying, and then..."

He scratched the back of his head. Was there really anything they could do? They had bombs around their necks, and people in those sorts of positions usually didn't have much wiggle room. How long did they have again? Selene said five days when he'd asked her. So Anatoly saw it as a competition between the government and the kidnappers. Either the government would find them and shut down the game before the deadline, or the animal weirdos would blow them all up. Or, even if the government found them, the kidnappers would probably blow the kids up before the cops got to them. So it felt like there was nothing they could do. Except play the stupid Fortnite game. Which... he wasn't gonna do.

"...Eh, I dunno."

[Laurels]

One boy was a bit frosty, which would have been nice in this desert heat, but for Selene, it was a bit off putting. She had to mentally write him down as "guy to not stand so close to." The other guys seemed a little more receptive, at least nice enough to warn them about screams in the basement. Selene continued to keep a friendly smirk on her face, but for the most part, it was getting a little hard to keep up.

Claudia was already talking about the trios merging, which Anatoly was fine to go with as well. Selene thought they'd maybe want to be a bit more cautious. It wouldn't take long for people to go mad, especially if they weren't sure about what everyone's gift was at the moment.

"Well, before we do that, can we at least go inside?" she asked Claudia and Anatoly.

Selene wiped the back of her neck.

"I mean, before we talk about unity, we ought to at least do an exchange of information."

[backslash]

Raja would have echoed the sentiment of not visiting the basement, mostly because it was dark as hell and full of stuff to trip over. He decided that he appreciated Ray keeping it vague about who had been doing the screaming and why, but Dan's follow-up just made him wonder what he'd encountered before running into Raja and Ray. He had already been in kind of a state then, hadn't he? Not that Raja could judge.

His expression dropped from the smile he'd been maintaining for Anatoly and the girls, mouth beginning to twist into a frown as everyone started talking plans and groups and... dying. His stomach lurched along with it.

Raja took a moment to steel himself again, consciously schooling his face back into something neutral, and then he flapped the map in his hand until the others turned to look at him. Once he had their attention, he tucked the map under his arm to free his hands.

<Do any of you know sign?>

Blank stares in response. It had been a bit of a long shot, but Raja still exhaled though his nose in disappointment. Charades it was.

Holding up the map, he gestured to the border drawn around the area, then at himself and the door which Selene and Anatoly were still taking up. Having to do things like this always made him feel stupid, but he pointed his hand down, two fingers extended, and mimed walking with his fingers. Hopefully someone would get the gist that he wanted to go out and walk the perimeter, and they wouldn't have to do twenty questions along with this.

Anything besides yes or no questions was going to be a pain in the butt, unless somebody found a pen. Maybe they'd get the idea he was pushing but would want to know why, and that would be a whole other can of worms. It was really simple, in ways that he still couldn't explain via mime.

Somebody was looking for them.

Somebody had to be looking for them, because there had been something like 50 people on the class trip, and 50 people didn't just vanish into thin air without someone being behind it. They could try to fake deaths (try to use real deaths, but thinking about that for more than a few seconds made him taste bile) but it would still have to be obvious that things didn't add up. There had to be a trail, and eventually the trail would lead here, wherever here was. And when the people following the trail got here, there needed to be something for them to see so that they would know to stop. Raja and everyone else needed to be visible, and to be visible, they needed to be outside and have an idea of the lay of the land.

Anyway, he was tired of being inside this crumbling concrete building already. Even in this big, wide room, everything sounded like it almost started to echo, before some trick of acoustics swallowed it up.

So explaining all of his reasoning would be difficult, and Anatoly and the girls looked like they had been outside for a while already, but-

Something buzzed by his ear. Raja slapped at it reflexively, moving before he fully registered that it had happened. His palm caught the thing squarely, and his stomach jolted in revulsion at the touch of chitinous legs even before he saw it.

It was some kind of cricket, fat and brown, twitching on the concrete floor where he had smacked it down. It writhed around, nearly righting itself before Raja's shoe came down on top of it with a disgustingly moist crunch. He ground it into the floor, lips peeling back into a grimace, feeling goosebumps raise on his arms and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

You know, he'd been so focused on his idea that he had forgotten for a little while that there were usually bugs outside. He didn't really get a chance to consider his course of action before something else buzzed.

Hummed. Almost rumbled. Coming up from underground.

Raja heard them all coming, maybe half a second before all hell broke loose.

[Wham Yubeesling]

”Fly, little maggot, fly as you please~
“Join the collective memory~”

[backslash]

And they came crawling out, flying out, skittering out, oozing out even up from cracks in the floor that he hadn't noticed before, like they were coming for vengeance for the one that Raja had just crushed, swarming up out of the depths with a low, buzzing moan, and then she was there.

Her voice guttural, creaking out something that could have nearly been a melody. Her eyes blank, bloodshot, and staring. Just like before.

And Raja did what he had managed to stop from doing before, whenever he saw her. He started backpedaling away without thinking, fight-or-flight switch ironically thrown all the way over to flight by the sight of all the flying, swarming things surrounding her, crawling over her, even her clothes shifting like they were alive with a thousand squirming legs underneath as she rose into view step by step, hands cradled against her chest like she was carrying something precious.

"Isabella-!"