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Dreams: Part 16 – The Horrible Truth
The other agents ran towards the Dreamweb facility.
“I saw the guards open the gate and let in a bunch of armed survivalist-types,” shouted Archive. “That’s when I came looking for you guys.”
“There’s some kind of interference,” shouted Hammer. “I can’t use cell phones or cistrons.”
Jim-Bean pointed at a blazing white pillar of light over Holly Lake. “You think that might be the reason?”
“Don’t look at it!” shouted Archive.
The bays of guard dogs echoed in the darkness ahead of them.
Hammer and Jim-Bean let loose, cutting down the dogs before they could close.
Automatic weapons fire sparked back at them in the darkness. The three agents took cover in the woods.
“Whoever they are, this was an inside job,” said Hammer. “There’s no way they could have gotten past the defenses so easily.”
“Guppy must be in the Dreamweb!” shouted Jim-Bean.
The beam flared and a long column of light swept towards them.
“Get down!” shouted Archive.
They flattened to the ground and the beam flashed overhead, sweeping the Dreamweb facility.
A series of horrible wails and shrieks rose up from the Dreamweb. There was some sporadic gunfire. Out in the Dinosaur Lodge proper, there was more screaming.
“Go, go, go!” ordered Hammer. They crouched over to the entrance.
The survivalists were all dead. Some had clawed their eyes out. Others had shot themselves or each other.
“What the hell happened?” asked Jim-Bean, stepping over a dead body.
“I don’t plan to find out,” said Hammer.
Klaxons sounded. Security curtains slowly descended all around them. The Dreamweb was locking down.
They made their way past dead and moaning bodies to the Dreamweb monitoring room. The normally transparent glass was covered by metal shutters. The monitors showed only static.
One man was slumped over the keyboard. Jim-Bean yanked him back by his hair.
The man’s head lolled, drool and blood dripping from his chin. His eyes were moist sockets of blood. Blood dripped down the man’s crushed fists, and Jim-Bean knew what he held there.
“The first rule of the Bringers of Sacred Light…” the eyeless man gasped, “is there are no Bringers of Sacred Light.”
“Where’s Guppy?” shouted Jim-Bean.
“The Light of Sacred Truth,” said the man. “The veil of earthly illusion is rent…I saw the ultimate dimension…monstrous horrific shapes, saw touches, saw tastes…saw all.” He expired on the spot.
“Now we know Guppy wasn’t crazy,” said Archive, pointing at the man’s nametag. It read: BUTTS.
“We have to get inside there.” Hammer pointed at the Dreamweb dome. “If Guppy’s the source of this, there’s only one way to stop it.”
“I’ll take a look,” said Jim-Bean. He concentrated…
The other agents ran towards the Dreamweb facility.
“I saw the guards open the gate and let in a bunch of armed survivalist-types,” shouted Archive. “That’s when I came looking for you guys.”
“There’s some kind of interference,” shouted Hammer. “I can’t use cell phones or cistrons.”
Jim-Bean pointed at a blazing white pillar of light over Holly Lake. “You think that might be the reason?”
“Don’t look at it!” shouted Archive.
The bays of guard dogs echoed in the darkness ahead of them.
Hammer and Jim-Bean let loose, cutting down the dogs before they could close.
Automatic weapons fire sparked back at them in the darkness. The three agents took cover in the woods.
“Whoever they are, this was an inside job,” said Hammer. “There’s no way they could have gotten past the defenses so easily.”
“Guppy must be in the Dreamweb!” shouted Jim-Bean.
The beam flared and a long column of light swept towards them.
“Get down!” shouted Archive.
They flattened to the ground and the beam flashed overhead, sweeping the Dreamweb facility.
A series of horrible wails and shrieks rose up from the Dreamweb. There was some sporadic gunfire. Out in the Dinosaur Lodge proper, there was more screaming.
“Go, go, go!” ordered Hammer. They crouched over to the entrance.
The survivalists were all dead. Some had clawed their eyes out. Others had shot themselves or each other.
“What the hell happened?” asked Jim-Bean, stepping over a dead body.
“I don’t plan to find out,” said Hammer.
Klaxons sounded. Security curtains slowly descended all around them. The Dreamweb was locking down.
They made their way past dead and moaning bodies to the Dreamweb monitoring room. The normally transparent glass was covered by metal shutters. The monitors showed only static.
One man was slumped over the keyboard. Jim-Bean yanked him back by his hair.
The man’s head lolled, drool and blood dripping from his chin. His eyes were moist sockets of blood. Blood dripped down the man’s crushed fists, and Jim-Bean knew what he held there.
“The first rule of the Bringers of Sacred Light…” the eyeless man gasped, “is there are no Bringers of Sacred Light.”
“Where’s Guppy?” shouted Jim-Bean.
“The Light of Sacred Truth,” said the man. “The veil of earthly illusion is rent…I saw the ultimate dimension…monstrous horrific shapes, saw touches, saw tastes…saw all.” He expired on the spot.
“Now we know Guppy wasn’t crazy,” said Archive, pointing at the man’s nametag. It read: BUTTS.
“We have to get inside there.” Hammer pointed at the Dreamweb dome. “If Guppy’s the source of this, there’s only one way to stop it.”
“I’ll take a look,” said Jim-Bean. He concentrated…
Jim-Bean was walking through an alley, hurrying home. Looking across the street, he saw “El Caballo,” the Belize expedition van. What was it doing here?
By the side of the van Jim-Bean saw a pair of boots … his boots, still caked with mud, and suddenly he knew something was WRONG.
Looking up, a bat-winged shape passed against the stars, and Jim-Bean screamed as he realized that it was ALL WRONG! The hearing … the smugglers … there was something wrong about it … he couldn’t remember … then he realized he wouldn’t remember … the mind playing tricks … IT WAS ALL LIES!
Jim-Bean staggered into an alley, head reeling, when out stepped Kyle Woodson, spattered with blood, a huge hunk of his head missing.
“It’s all there…” he said in a gurgling, buzzing voice … an inhuman voice. “It’s all at El Cacao. You must go—“
Then his head exploded in a shower of gore and an alien Grey in a blood red surgeon’s gown leaped from the shadows. It raised a scalpel and lunged.
Jim-Bean fell backwards in confusion. Where was he? What the hell was going on?
The Grey moved supernaturally fast. It slashed once, twice, and Jim-Bean was forced to jump backwards each time. He finally hit the cold hard stone of the wall. He was at the end of the alley.
The Grey raised its knife, only to suddenly explode from a shotgun blast.
Guppy was standing there, shotgun still smoking.
“Where are we Guppy?”
Guppy, dressed in his usual clothes, looked around. “I think…I think we’re in my head.”