Statue apocalypse 1

DREAMS AND DEALS CHAPTER 8: Statue Apocalypse 1

(30th March 20xx, 10 days after Aayan joined Dreamers)

After I was done taking the order of a customer I looked at the clock. My shift was over and I removed the fake plaster smile where nobody was looking.

I headed towards the break room. I tossed my grey apron on the handrest of a sofa and laid down on it.

I almost fell asleep when I heard the voice of my coworker Arun.

"You look like a corpse."

I listened to what he said but took a few seconds to process it. I then gave a deadpan reply.

"Is that so?"

Arun sensed that I didn't want to talk and sat on a nearby chair. He plugged in his earbuds and just remained there silently. 

We weren't interested in each other's business and didn't talk much. I accidentally fell asleep in the silent environment. 

Arun was the most professional employee in the cafe, unlike Daisy but I don't feel like talking about her right now.

My insomnia hadn't been cured and I was too tired on my shifts. Meditating had kind of helped me in that but having to communicate with so many strangers daily was still tiring.

Arun woke me up when it was time for my shift. I stood up and started walking like a zombie.

I went back to the counter in a dazed state. I was barely keeping myself awake when I saw a customer leave without their bag. I told Arun and rushed outside with the bag.

She had walked almost over to the next street when I screamed at her.

"Ma'am…you…forgot…your…bag."

People all around me started staring at me but I was too sleepy to care about them.

She also turned around and noticed me. We both walked towards each other when I realised she was my neighbour. 

"Thank you."

She took her bag and went her way. I don't think she even recognised me. Her expression looked as tired as mine. 

I yawned pretty hard while I pondered whether to return right now or wait a few minutes after the wind woke me up properly. I choose the latter.

I was walking around and enjoying the breeze. The sun was almost down and crowds of people were walking here and there.

I was just walking over to the next street when I suddenly felt danger. 

I looked around slowly but couldn't figure out what was triggering this reaction out of me. 

There were crowds of people on foot or in vehicles moving everywhere. I couldn't pinpoint the source of this feeling to any particular place.

I suddenly felt like something was behind me at a distance. It was very dangerous and it was walking towards me. 

I didn't move rashly. Something told me to be still. I stood stille, took out my phone and put it on my ear. I made sure the screen didn't light up. 

I controlled my breathing and facial expression using the meditation techniques I had learnt but my heartbeat was still really fast.

Then I felt that thing walking next from the side I had my phone. I didn't dare look towards it. When it passed by, I looked at its back.

It was a man in his thirties and for some reason I felt like he was coming to hunt me. He had a tall stature but no exceptional features. 

As soon as he passed by me I blended in the crowd. I kept watch of him through my peripheral, he had turned back and looked where I was. Then he kept glancing at the crowd I blended in. He couldn't find me and got back to what he was doing.

After he was a good distance away from me I ran back to the cafe. I was completely awake. 

Arun looked at me and didn't say anything. He probably didn't notice my urgency. I left the matter and got back to work.

—x—

After my shift ended, Neil called out to me and Arun. He gave Arun a slip of paper and he read it thoroughly. 

"This is the address of your target." 

Neil handed a bag over to me. He said to me with a smile.

"Today, Arun will teach you the real business." 

Isn't it too soon for me? Well, I'm not alone so it should probably be fine right. But I need to be vigilant of those blobs. 

Neil explained to us the name and nature of the target. He also told us about the layout of the building and the lock systems.

After he told us all he thought we needed to know, he told us to leave. I feel like we are being thieves. 

—x—

Arun and I entered the target's building and walked towards the door to his room. He put his ear to the door to listen to any sounds. 

There weren't any security cameras in the apartment or so we were told, but still it feels dangerous.

When he concluded that the target was asleep, he put his hands on the lock of the door. 

He focused for a while until a purple mist formed around his hands. 

The mist entered the lock and the door silently opened. Now I understood how Myra had entered my apartment. 

The target was named Yuan. He lived alone and had migrated from a small town far away from here. He also didn't have any friends who came over. 

He was mostly sad and became a target for a nightmare. It was disgusting how these creatures made miserable people even more miserable.

Arun closed the door and locked it after we entered. We then slowly checked on Yuan and found him soundly sleeping on his bed. 

Arun blocked the keyhole so nobody could enter even with a duplicate key. Then we checked the windows of his apartment. 

After we completely and stealthily sealed the room Arun took the bag from me and began his preparation. 

The first few steps I had seen before, the dreamcatcher and incense. What I wanted to know was how to enter dreams.

After he lit the incense we blocked our noses to not fall asleep. Then he took out two vials filled with some mysterious liquids. 

He poured a few drops from the first one into Yuan's mouth and took out the other vial. He threw a few drops around the room and I felt something happening in the room. Arun spoke to me in an almost silent voice.

"The first one lets people around him enter his dreams and the second one creates a barrier in this room so only we can enter."

So this was how. This is totally witchcraft.

He got down to the floor and took out a pillow. 

"When we enter his dream, us outsiders will be transported together. I will tell you the rest once we're inside."

He didn't give me a pillow. I sat down and rested my back to the wall. Instantly, I fell asleep.

—x—

I started seeing imaginary ripples forming in my vision. Then it came to a stop suddenly and I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was the bright sun in the clear light blue sky with many white clouds. This kind of sight was not found in the city.

I looked at my surroundings and found myself in an unknown place. We were standing in an open market with endless stalls and buildings around us.

The weird thing was that it was all grey. The streets, the buildings, even the people were gray or had a very dim colour that was close to black or white. Only the sky had bright colours. 

The place looked very rural as well. The buildings were old and most weren't even painted. The only weird thing was that the streets looked more like mazes than real streets.

There were dozens of statues near me but they all looked very real and detailed. Some were standing on stalls and some were walking along the road. Some were even waving to each other.

This scared me so much I panicked a little.

Then I saw Arun. He was standing beside me. Only the two of us had colours here.

"The nightmare could be hiding anywhere."

He looked towards his watch and continued.

"This place looks big, get a sense of the area, the bigger the location in a dream is the stronger nightmare we face." 

I looked at their faces and… they had no face, just like last time.

"They will only start moving when Yuan gets close to them. They are like dolls."

It was a very eerie sight. Dozens of human statues all around me and they could start moving anytime.

He then continued.

"They usually don't attack head on, so we might be fighting against time. We have to eliminate it by the time he wakes up, which should be about 6 hours from now."

I see. So it is like a game of hide and seek, no more like search and destroy. 

As soon as he finished, all the people in the village looked towards us. Sounds of something cracking could be heard from around us.

Soon all joints of all the statues cracked and they started moving slowly.

This was the moment when the two of us simultaneously said. 

"Fu*k" 

We started to run.

As we kept running the same direction I asked him.

"Bast*rd you said that we will not be attacked."

"Exceptions are everywhere. People make mistakes. Now shut up and run bast*rd."

The good thing was that the statues were very slow. We could have escaped even if we kept walking. 

The bad thing was that they were slowly getting faster and there were a lot of them, at least several dozen.

This is a nightmare. 

"This is a zombie apocalypse, I didn't sign up for this." I cried. 

We had to stop as we saw a wall of statues blocking our way. Before we knew it, we were completely surrounded by them.