The Named

Chapter 11: Nightmares

I'm lying on my back in a strange forest. No, it's just a clump of trees. There's an open meadow to my right. The sky is blank. Everything is grey.

A howl crashes through the silence.

Echoing.

And Echoing.

AND ECHOING!

OH GOD! IT WON"T STOP! IT'S GETTING CLOSER! SOMEBODY! PLEASE!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

My body is sitting upright, rigid as an icicle. My blanket has been thrown up against a tree trunk, held there by a thin sheet of ice. Crude ice shanks are buried deep in various tree trunks and in the ground. From my fingertips up to my armpits I'm armored in scales of ice and rime. Gasping I take it all in, attempting to locate the invisible predator.

"Holy Crap."

Jerking I peered through the dim light at Rell. Still in her bedroll, flat on the ground, she was staring up at a massive ice spear as it dripped water onto her forehead from where it had lodged itself in the tree above her.

"OH no! Rell! Are you alright!?"

"Well, apparently, since you managed to miss me by mere inches. You have impressive aim for someone shooting shards of ice in their sleep."

"In my sleep? You didn't hear that sound?"

"No, I was resting peacefully like a normal person. There's nothing out here but owls, mice, and an incredibly large orchestra of crickets. You were having some sort of nightmare. I woke up about the time you flash froze your blanket to that tree and started screaming. Thankfully I laid back down to wriggle out of my bed roll when you started shooting ice shards everywhere."

Groaning I lifted myself up off the ground. This was our fourth night on the road and the third time I'd had some sort of violent nightmare. The first was the world destroying itself in a massive conglomeration of all four elements. Rell was captured in the second by men with plastic faces that started to melt into a viscous river separating the two of us and slowly rising to drown us both. Last night was a void, a great blackness that threatened to devour me as I tried to remember who I was.

Focusing, I released my mind's hold on the ice littering the campsite. Slowly it began to melt and flow back into the ground.

"I am so sorry Rell. I'd complain of my own lack of sleep but I'm depriving you of yours as well."

Standing up, Rell grunted and shrugged. "We may as well start moving since neither of us is going to get anymore sleep tonight. If we find a well hidden spot we may be able to sleep during the day. That might help your psychotic nightmare problem."

Nodding my assent I began to pack up the few things I'd packed with me. Not wanting to carry too much money we'd opted to pack a few essentials and hunt along the way. We both hunted primarily with our elements but to keep up appearances we'd packed bows, a small quiver of arrows, and a small knife. Other than that we each had our bedrolls and I had my folder and an old map of the southeastern quad.

Trudging down the road under the eerie light of the moon gave me shivers. Shadows curled from the base of trees and stretched out as if to entangle me in their phantom-like clutches. I jumped every time an owl hooted or a mouse screamed as it was swept off to be fed to ravenous owlets. Clammy cold seemed to wrap itself around my torso. Whispering breezes tried to strangle me as they slipped past my neck. A bat dived past my face barely missing my-

"Oh quit it would you! I can hear your teeth chattering over here. Talk to me about it. Tell me what you dreamed instead of brooding about it and spookifying your surroundings."

Steadying myself I try to collect my thoughts. This one was shorter than the others yet seemed more real even after I woke up.

"I was laying in my bedroll, in the campsite. I don't think you were there. It was dark. There was no noise, anywhere. Everything was in shades of gray. Then there was this howl. I've never heard anything like it. It was like I wasn't really hearing it. It was echoing inside my head. Oh god, the echoing. It wouldn't stop Rell! It just wouldn't stop!"

"Calm down Quin, it's alright. There's nothing howling now. If there was it would just be a wolf out trying to survive just like we are. Nothing can echo inside your mind unless you let it ok? You're safe. Well, as safe as any of us can be but that's beside the point."

Her words made me chuckle. "Rell, you aren't very helpful."

The hair around her face waved out slightly as she huffed at me. "I know but I can't do much better without sacrificing realism. You know I wouldn't lie to you without good reason and your self-inflicted madness has yet to reach a point where I think I have good reason to sugar coat things for you. I don't care what your crazy brain is trying to convince you of, there's no-"

She was cut off by a howl so loud and intense it could have come from right in front of us. Synchronized, we both sank into a defensive position. Hands open and in front of our faces. Prominent foot in front, opposite behind. Eye's glued on the smallest disturbance in the dusty path before us.

The only change in the scenery was the ground.

The wind swept over the path.

Slowly, oh so slowly, a sentence.

"I see you."