Dream Simulation

The world ended a few decades ago when a nuclear bomb destroyed everything. On the surface, everything is just a mist of toxic air. In the short term, it causes pneumonia, and in the long term, it leads to mutation; it's the cause of the monsters lurking out there, changing innocent, fragile bugs into sadistic killer creatures.

Humanity was pushed to a small island where an underground bunker protects the remaining humans, safe from the toxic air above.

A young man with a slender body and long black hair, around 23 years old, is running fast through the woods, not wearing any protective face mask. Is he stupid?

Another young man, Jared, slightly younger than him but much buffer, is chasing him, crashing through every branch that gets in the way.

Soon enough, Jared catches up and shouts through his gas mask, "Stop! Stop right there, Charles!"

But the one being chased isn't listening. His rebellious nature reminds Jared of himself, and it makes him sick.

Jared throws a broken branch, and it hits him right behind the back, throwing him off balance and causing him to trip onto the jungle floor, where fallen leaves have piled up.

This is his chance! Jared snatches the handcuffs from his back belt, and as soon as he sits on the man's body, he locks them in place—his wrist to the man's. When the man tries to escape again, he trips once more, falling back to the ground.

"Release me, Rod. You know it's not right down there!" he hisses, half begging. "They're fooling us!"

"I'm not letting you go, not in this damned world! Let's go back, Charles!"

Jared helps the man to stand on his feet and push him back to the bunker. Now that he cannot escape, the man can only growl, "My name is Etienne!"

"And my name is Jared, not Jarod," the younger one replied while keep pushing Etienne to one direction. Even though Jared is younger, his bones are well-developed and his muscles are buff, making them seem the same age.

"Ouch!" Etienne stops and turns his body to face Jared, striking a sassy pose with his hand on his hip. He looks Jared up and down a few times, belittling him, then proceeds to protest, "Can you be more gentle?!"

Jared giggles, always finding this side of Etienne hilarious. He pushes Etienne forward anyway. "This is already gentle by your standards. You like it rough, move!"

"Geez! Why didn't you spank my butt instead?" Etienne says sarcastically.

"Not here," Jared replies jokingly.

"If you care about me, you better release me. That old bastard is going to beat me up again," Etienne warns, his voice laced with worries.

"No, Cezar promised me he won't hurt you."

"Hah?! You believe in his lies?! His promises are manipulation!" Etienne stops walking and looks at Jared boldly, probably because Jared is still too young to see who Cezar really is.

In contrast to Etienne, Jared sounds chill. "I won't let him hurt you. How about it?"

While they both are bantering each others, they did not realized a giant creature shape like a spider with a woman half body is watching from above. It had been following the two scout boys, and waiting for the right time to strike.

"What can you do, kiddo? You're just an 18-year-old who worships a dictator as a hero!" Etienne snaps.

"He is a hero!" Jared insists. "He saved us all by building the bunker, so we can live safely from the toxic air. We owed him our lives!"

"What toxic air? It's all fresh here," Etienne argues. He gestures his hand in a wide wave, as if trying to point in every direction.

"It might smell fresh, but in the long term, you'll get sick from it," Jared counters, recalling what he heard in school when he was a child.

"It's fresh, come, let me show you!" Etienne tries to snatch Jared's gas mask off, but Jared freaks out, pushing Etienne's hands away from his face. "Leave my gas mask alone!"

The two end up giggling, chasing each other like kids again.

"Charles, stop! Stop! No joking! No playing!" Jared yells with a serious tone, and Etienne stops fooling around.

Etienne shakes his head as he continues walking toward the direction Jared pushes him. "Not only you keep calling my name with that cafeteria guy, but you're also blinded by the lies. You seriously need some brainwash cleansing, boy."

Suddenly, the giant spider jumps down from the tree to capture Jared, leaving him struggling against the tight body grip from behind. But Etienne quickly notices this and, with superb reflexes, he kicks the spider in the face, releasing Jared.

"Go! Go! Go!" Jared drags Etienne through their tied wrists to escape the scene.

The slippery wet soil, after the rain, mixes with the moss all over the ground under the dead leaves, making each step feel more dangerous than usual. At one point, Etienne slips and falls, but Jared helps him stand up. Noticing the giant spider coming at them, Jared grabs a stone and throws it at the spider.

His throw is much stronger than a normal human's and becomes even more enhanced when his life is on the line. The stone hits the giant spider and embeds itself in one of her eyes, causing the spider to scream in agony.

"Oo... strong arms... I like that," Etienne caresses his fingers on Jared's bicep, but Jared immediately pushes Etienne to keep running. "Let's get out of here, quick!"

Knowing the spiders usually live in colonies, if one awakens, the others might hear the noise and join in. But it's too late. As they run together, struggling enough with their wrists tied, the noises from the woods send shivers down their spines.

The other spiders are coming at them.

"Can you... throw stones again... at them? Maybe they would... get scared and... leave us alone..." Etienne says between panting breaths.

"Just run!" Jared replies.

Every once in a while, Jared would stop and grab a stone to throw at the group of incoming giant spiders, but it only hits one of them—or misses the target completely—and there are still the entire swarm of spiders coming at them. So, Jared and Etienne keep running back to the bunker where they will be safe.

"I can see it... woo!! We're saved! Without rifles or protective armor!" Etienne sounds happy. "And only stones!"

As they get closer to the bunker, the security guards stationed above the guard tower, above the bunker's iron gate, notice two humans trying to escape from the swarm of giant spiders. The guards ready the gatling gun, and at the right distance—when Jared and Etienne are close enough to the bunker—they begin the barrage, shredding the front lines of incoming giant spiders, ripping their body parts apart and spilling blood across the forest floor.

There's no way the spiders could handle the mighty gatling gun. The spiders begin to retreat when the bunker's gate opens, letting Jared and Etienne back into the safe zone.

When they return to the bunker, they enter the purification chamber, and sterilizing steam sprays all over their bodies. Since Etienne isn't wearing a face mask, he can't help but cough as he inhales the steam.

"I'll be getting pneumonia from the sterilizer at this rate," Etienne sighs.

"No one told you to go out there without a gas mask," Jared replies, unbothered.

"You can... lend me your gas mask. A little sacrifice as a gesture of love won't hurt," Etienne winks playfully, only to receive a lazy glance from Jared.

Etienne is thrown into the jail, and they lock it tight.

"Nice," Etienne sighs. He tries to bargain. "Mind giving me a little light? A small, tiny candle won't make you poor, right?"

But he is only met with the sound of the bars shutting, leaving him completely in pitch darkness. Jared, who watches it all happen from behind Cezar, looks on with the terrified eyes.

"Let's leave him for a week," Cezar says, walking away and leaving the dungeon with his two guards.

"You promised no jail time!" Jared chases Cezar, his tone filled with worry.

"I promised no torture. Leaving the bunker out of rebellion is a violation of humanity. In this era, we only have each other. Just being accepted back is mercy enough. He's lucky I didn't hit him in the face!" Cezar answers coldly while continuing to walk.

"But... who will I go scouting with if he's in jail?" Jared still doesn't give up. He respects Cezar, but he can't stand seeing his partner locked away like that. "All he did was escape the bunker, right? Why does he deserve such punishment, as if he tried to murder someone?"

Cezar stops walking and grabs Jared's collar. "If you don't shut up, I'll put you there with him!"

***

The next moment, the bars open, and Etienne screams happily. He stretches his arms wide to embrace the incoming light. "Finally, ....light!!"

But after throwing Jared in the jail, the door shuts again, leaving them in complete darkness with a cruel, cold slam of iron door.

Etienne sighs. "Well...hello, darkness, my old friend...thank you for granting me a companion."

Jared growls and snuggles himself into the available bunk.

"Why were you here again?" Etienne asks.

"Never mind that," Jared answers briefly.

"You didn't followed me here, do you? Why? Can't stand spending a week without me?" Etienne teases, in which Jared only answers with silence. 

"How cold!" Etienne keeps talking, as he seems happy now that he got companion, "well then, following you, I'll take a nap also. Don't do anything pervert on me while I'm sleeping, you hear me?"

"You're the pervert one!" Jared complaint.

"You're bigger than me!" Etienne slaps back.

Silence occurs not long after both of them are tired of bickering. Not even once does Jared tell him that he punched his idol, Cezar, in the face for breaking his promise to not give any punishment, including jail time, which is what got him thrown in jail. Now, for Etienne, he would spend a week in the dark, confined room. The food is not good, and after someone does some toilet business, the smell will be all over the space.

"So stink! What did you eat?!" Jared closes his nose tightly, about to throw up.

"The same thing you ate! I don't know what they gave us; it's pitch dark, and all I know is it's not delicious," Etienne argues.

"Close the toilet lid, for fuck's sake!" Jared flips the toilet lid, and the smell is reduced.

"Now, do you regret following me to this black pitch? We still have six days to go," Etienne says.

Jared giggles. "Nah... it's worth it. It's worth every boring moment, it's worth every bad food, it's worth every stinky toilet smell."

Etienne answers with another giggle. "Gotta admit, you're too cute to resist sometimes. Too bad you're idolizing that old pervert!"

"You're wrong about Cezar," Jared says, sounding serious now. "I know he's sometimes mean, but he means well."

Those words immediately change Etienne's mood to sour. "Why are you here? Why? If you idolize him so much, you're supposed to be following him, not me!"

"Don't get me wrong. Cezar is a great man, but... it's you where I want to be with, Charles," Jared confesses. In this pitch dark, Etienne can only judge by the voice, and Jared sounds genuine, despite his naivety.

"I'm "Etienne"... gosh!" Etienne sighs.

***

In the pitch dark, a pair of glowing eyes opens up. And Jared can hear a majestic voice echoing in the darkness.

"You might have hope, child. I will support you."

When the voice stops, the red eyes on Jared's dragon tattoo embedded on his right shoulder glows. Jared can feel his broken organs tingling.

Soon, they rapidly heal themselves like a timelapse footage. His kidney, his liver, his broken ribs—everything that was wrecked—comes back into the right place. And finally, his heart pumps faster, delivering more bloodstreams through his veins.

In a few minutes, a miracle happens. Doctors cannot believe what just occurred; it's unexplainable.