I open my eyes
I am on a train
Molly is sitting next to me, Jane across from me
They are playing with cards
I look at them
It seems Jane is winning
No wonder
In all the years I've known Molly, she never won any game
She is too nice to be a winner I guess
MOLLY: Lina, you are awake!
JANE: Sorry we played without you. Molly didn't want to wake you up.
Of course, she didn't
ME: It's alright. Where are we?
JANE: We are almost there. 2 more stops.
MOLLY: I can't wait.
The train stops
I see some people getting off the train, and others getting on board
A lady arrives next to us
S he looks at the number on the last vacant seat and smiles at us
LADY: Well ladies, it looks like I am with you.
She sits
Molly and Jane greet her
Her face looks familiar
She sees me looking at her
LADY: Are you alright?
I think I am being rude
ME: Sorry, it's just... your face looks so familiar. Have we met before?
LADY: I don't think so. What is your name?
ME: Lina. What is yours?
LADY: Melissa.
Ah
ME: Ah.
Never mind
ME: Yeah no, never mind.
LADY: Well, I am a nurse. Maybe we met at the hospital? It actually happens more than you think.
MOLLY: Really?
JANE: I am so bad with faces. And with names too.
MOLLY: I am actually pretty good with that!
Only nice people are, Molly
And I think we have already established that you are one of them
No need to brag
Jane, on the other hand, is obviously not a good person
I look at the bag Melissa is holding
Then it hits me!
Of course!
A nurse!
ME: Wait, I remember you!
I guess I am a good person after all
Suck on that Jane
MELISSA: You do? Well, I am glad.
ME: Yeah, you were in one of my dreams. You were also a nurse, only I didn't know your name.
MELISSA: In your dream?
It all makes sense now
I must be dreaming again
And that Melissa lady is like a regular character
I did not know that was a thing though
They all look at me like I am crazy
I feel like I need to explain myself
Fair enough
ME: This is a dream too. Right now. On this train. I am dreaming and none of this is real.
MOLLY: I am not real?
ME: Well. You are. But not at this particular moment.
MOLLY: Oh.
ME: And you Melissa, were in one of my previous dreams. You had a syringe in your bag. Actually no, you had two. I don't remember it all, but I think it helped me. A lot.
MELISSA: I see.
She looks at her bag
I look too
Yeah, there is a syringe in there
I know
JANE: What about me? Am I also real or just another random character?
I don't know Jane, why don't you figure it out yourself
Seriously
What a waste of time
ME: I don't know Jane, maybe?
JANE: What?
I see a man passing next to us and leaving the wagon
I see Molly and Melissa making weird faces
What's wrong now?
Is someone taking a picture of us?
I look around
Ok, now I understand
The smell
That smell
I cover my face with my arm
This isn't working
I can still smell it
The smell of a bad sweat
And yes, there are good sweats
There can only be better sweats than this one
ME: Oh man, where did that man come from, the sewers?
JANE: Wait, I think I have some perfume in my bag.
MOLLY: Won't it just be lost in all this awfulness?
ME: Yeah, at this point you would have to empty the whole bottle.
MELISSA: Let's just open the windows.
She has wisdom
We open the window
Finally, we can breathe again
MOLLY: Lina, if this is your dream, couldn't you just dream of a more pleasant smell, like flowers? Instead of death itself.
ME: I don't control my dreams, you know.
Then an image of another dream flashes into my head
I start laughing
I remember now
This was a fun one
ME: He. He. He
MELISSA: Are you alright?
ME: Yeah, I just remembered another dream of mine. I'm pretty sure you were in it too.
MELISSA: Me again?
MOLLY: Oh, I am so jealous.
MELISSA: Was I also a nurse?
ME: Ha-ha. No. I mean, I'm not sure what your job was, but your name was not Melissa back then.
MELISSA: No?
ME: Your name was Fiona. And...
I keep on laughing
It's so hard to make a sentence right now
ME: And you...
Laugh
ME: You were...
Laugh
ME: You were... handing out... deodorant to people.
I laugh
I look at the others for a reaction
I get none
ME: You wanted to prank the security camera... but instead of spraying paint, you wanted to spray deodorant.
Still no reaction
MELISSA: And this is what's funny?
ME: Well, of course, the idea itself isn't funny. I didn't get it at the time. And I still don't. But the fact that you thought it would work IS the funny part. Don't you think?
She does not seem to agree with me
No one does apparently
Tough crowd
MOLLY: Oh yes, that's really funny! Ha ha ha
Oh Molly
Don't laugh now
This isn't being nice
This is just pity
Suddenly
The train stops
We all look up to listen to the driver announcing our final destination
I look around
The wagon is empty
Only Molly is left
Well, I guess that answers Jane's question about being real or not
I just hope she managed to figure it out before disappearing
MOLLY: I think we have to get off the train now.
ME: Yeah, I think so too.
I look outside
The vibe has changed
Everything is all gray, and cold
We both get up and get off the train
We arrive in front of a school
We enter through the front gate
I am not sure this is a good idea
I look at Molly
What is she doing?
ME: Molly what are you doing?
MOLLY: I don't know, I feel itchy.
I see her scratching her armpits
What is wrong with her armpits?
ME: What is wrong with your armpits?
MOLLY: I don't know.
She looks through her tee-shirt
MOLLY: They are all red. And kind of smelly too.
Great
Another one
I look through my backpack
I take out a deodorant and hand it to her
She takes it
MOLLY: It's empty.
She gives it back to me
I am about to put it back in my backpack when we enter the main playground
We stop
The playground is filled with beds
Empty beds
Old and used empty beds
This is officially creeping me out
And the smell
Again
That smell of death all around
I take Molly's hand
MOLLY: What happened here?
ME: This doesn't feel good.
MOLLY: Do you think they are all dead?
ME: Who?
MOLLY: Whoever was lying in those beds.
I look at the beds more closely
All the mattresses are covered in dirt, stains, and hair
ME: Well, personally, I hope we don't get to see whoever, or whatever it was lying in those beds.
Then a sound
I see a mattress being hit by a bullet
We both get down instinctively
I look around trying to find out where it comes from
I look back
I see him
A man is standing near the front gate with a rifle
Why am I always being shot at?
If they want me to leave, I'll gladly be on my way
No need for such drastic measures, SIR!
Another shot
This time it almost hit my foot
I take cover with Molly
More shots
Then nothing
We wait
I decide to be brave and take a peek
I take a peek
MOLLY: What do you see?
ME: I think he is dead.
Molly looks too
The man is on the ground and is not moving
We hear footsteps and look back
Two men arrive, both holding a gun
Molly raises her hand above her head
Should I do the same?
Does that really help in these kind of situations?
MAN: Relax, we are here to rescue you.
Molly lowers her arms
We get up
I look around to make sure no one else is trying to kill us
All clear
ME: Thank you.
MAN: Come with us, we need to get inside before the raid starts.
ME: What raid?
The man stops and looks at me
I feel uncomfortable
I want to look elsewhere but I can't
I need to be brave
He is not scaring me
...
Well
Ok
Maybe his attitude is
But not his face
I need to be brave. For Molly
I ask again
ME: What raid? Who are you exactly? What is this place?
He stays silent for a minute and looks at us
MAN: My name is Man. This is Manny.
How convenient
ME: Yeah, and I am Woman, and she is Womanny.
He smiles
Eww
His teeth are so dirty, I am this close to giving him the toothbrush that I have in my bag
MAN: Well Woman. In case you haven't noticed, we are at war. The USA is about to launch a raid against us. It's only a matter of minutes now.
MANNY: Our intel is telling us that other countries might join them in the raid.
MAN: One more reason to put you guys to safety. Inside is our headquarters. Follow me.
We follow him inside
ME: Do we even stand a chance against that raid?
MOLLY: Yeah, are we talking about a man raid or an air raid, like planes and bombs?
MANNY: Both actually. We are expecting men on the ground, like the one you just saw. Along with some helicopters, and bombs.
ME: Great.
This sucks
MOLLY: This sucks.
Atta girl
ME: And what is your plan then?
We arrive in a room filled with people
They are all looking at a map of the school
MAN: The plan is pretty simple, Woman. We have to hold the grounds. Protect the people inside.
ME: That doesn't seem very elaborate to me.
MANNY: We don't have anywhere else to go. They are already surrounding the school.
MOLLY: What?
MAN: We told you, it's only a matter of minutes.
Saying it like that I would say it's more of a matter of seconds
ME: How many men do you have?
MAN: This is it.
I look around me
There must be around 30 people in this room
Is it too late to switch sides?
I don't want to die
MOLLY: Lina, I don't want to die.
Molly takes my arms
Suddenly
We hear noises coming from outside the room
We all turn quiet
I whisper to Man
ME: What now?
MAN: We take our weapons and we do as we planned.
MOLLY: Which is what exactly?
ME: Dying.
MAN: We fight.
ME: Pretty much what I just said.
MOLLY: Oh man.
MAN: What?
Oh Man
MOLLY: No, that was an expression.
MAN: What was?
ME: "Oh man".
MAN: Yes?
This is pointless
I look around and do not see any guns left
ME: Manny?
MANNY: Yes?
ME: Give us some guns.
MANNY: There aren't any left.
ME: Are you serious?
MANNY: We weren't expecting you.
ME: Yeah, story of my life. But you must have some extra somewhere? Guns, knives...
I see the door explode and Manny along with many others fall onto the floor
I look at the table behind Molly and see two axes
I take them
I see a machete on my right
I take it and give it to Molly
ME: There you go Womanny. Take this.
We get out of the room and walk in the corridor
The roof is gone
It's all dark outside
The only light left are the ones from the helicopters outside
This is pure chaos
So many bodies on the floor
Are we really going to be the last 2 survivors?
I look behind me
I see 3 other people
Ok, the last 5 survivors then
We walk very slowly, making sure not to step on a corpse
I see Man lying on the floor a few steps ahead
I am about to reach him when I hear sounds behind me
I look back
I see Molly and the other 3 getting on the floor very quickly
Molly then proceeds to take a dead body and put it over herself
This is disgusting
The other 3 are doing the same
I look around
It seems I have no other choice
I get on the floor, take the nearest body, and put his arm on top of my head
Damn
That armpit smell again
I give a quick and awkward look at Molly and the others
I see her hiding her machete under her jacket
Molly you are a genius
I take my two axes
Unfortunately, they are too big to just hide under my jacket like that
I try to think
I hear voices coming our way
No time to think
I instinctively take them and hide them under my armpits
I admit
I am not proud of this decision
But they surprisingly fit perfectly under there
I see in the corner of my eyes soldiers, coming from the end of the corridor
I close my eyes
And I pray
I pray for them not to find us
None of us
I can feel my back sweating
I wake up
This was intense
In fact...
I think I am still sweating!
I take a moment to breathe
I remove the cover
Fresh air
I look at my nightstand
There is something on my lamp
A Post-it
"Buy deodorant"
Ohhh... I get it now