The moment my body settled into the bed, I felt sleep pulling at me.
Jeremy reached out and clasped my hand, something he’d never done before, and squeezed it, hard.
“You’ll protect me, right?” Jeremy whimpered. Being this close I could hear his heartbeat knocking against his chest. It brought tears to my eyes.
“With my life.”
Master Aki appeared over me then and tied the thin piece of the dental floss around my wrist and then to the front door knob of the hotel room.
What in the hell? Was this some kind of ghetto booby trap? It might be genius, but my mind was too tired to think right now, so I didn’t even ask about it. That’s the level of exhaustion I was at. Someone was tying dental floss around my arm and I didn’t even care as long as I could sleep.
“Me too,” Damien told Master Aki.
My mentor paused for a moment but then nodded, tying a piece of the floss to Damien’s wrist and then to the door knob. If someone opened it, it would theoretically wake us up … theoretically.
My eyelids started to droop. “Hurry up, I’m going down,” I told Master Aki.
He snapped on his dream band and snuggled into Mr. Hansen. All heterosexual norms were left at home. We were totally snuggling, boy, girl, old, young, it didn’t matter. Sleep and staying alive were the only things that mattered, and for me to take in this big of a group, we all needed to be close.
“See you on the other side. It’s going to be okay,” I told my crew.
It had to be.
Taking a deep breath, I started to center my breathing. Maybe I should have asked Master Aki to take us in, but it was too late now. We were all programmed into my band and…
I harness strength, I project peace, I—couldn’t think straight because I was tired as all hell and sleep pulled me into the Dream War fast and hard.
Would I arrive in one piece? With all my teammates? With all my weapons? Nothing was a sure thing anymore; the breeders were psycho and they controlled everything.
The second I felt my feet hit the ground, my eyelids sprang open and I spun around. We were in the middle of nowhere, thank God, but one of those giant ghouls was nearby, sitting on his butt—and snacking on some humans I guessed.
I’d never seen everyone drop in so quickly. Even Maxine, who normally had trouble falling asleep, came in right behind me. This was probably the most sleep deprived we’d ever been.
I did a quick headcount to make sure everyone was here. Ten of us, plus the stupid cat. The moment Jeremy turned and saw the giant off in the distance having his human snack, he whimpered and Josephine pulled out the blindfold and headphones, placing them on him.
“You’re okay, buddy. I’m calling Dawn,” I told him.
So far nothing seemed different about the Dream War, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that. Those ships landed and something had changed. I just didn’t know what yet.
‘Dawn. Kit needs hel—’ Before I could finish connecting with her, a sharp pain sliced through my skull and Dawn’s hurried reply came back.
‘No! Don’t contact Dawn.’
With a deep thud, I was kicked out of her head and left gasping for air.
Damien’s worried face swam into view. “What happened?”
What had just happened? Dawn didn’t seem mad, more worried.
I rubbed the base of my skull and started walking to a tree canopy, where we could take cover. Damien followed.
“I think Dawn has been … I donno, infiltrated or something. She said not to contact her. I think she was protecting me.”
Damien swore, looking more stressed than I’d ever seen him. Our crew followed closely behind as I tried to drum up a plan B. Skyhome was the perfect plan, but now that was dashed.
“Well, we just need a few hours of sleep to recharge and then maybe you can wake yourself up and then wake all of us up.” He peered over his shoulder to make sure everyone was following.
Master Aki had jumped into the Dream War to teach me that I wasn’t actually being held hostage by the breeders, that I could get myself out. I’d willingly woken myself up for the first time in my life about a week ago, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I could do it again. I also wasn’t sure that doom and gloom news would be welcome right now though, so I kept it to myself.
“Alright, let’s do inventory,” I told my team as they entered the thick alien tree canopy with us and took cover.
The first thing I did was glance at everyone’s wrists and see who had their plasma bands on.
Jeremy’s, Josephine’s, Maxine’s and Damien’s were missing. Those damn breeders had found a way to start stripping us of our weapons. I wasn’t worried about Maxine and Damien, but Josephine and Jeremy needed theirs. Pulling mine off, I handed it to Jo. “For him,” I told her.
I knew I wouldn’t have to ask anyone on my team. They would do the right thing. And sure enough, Brisk handed his band to Josephine.
“We need you to be able to protect him,” he told her.
I smiled at my big tough Marine and he winked at me.
Josephine reluctantly took it and Damien reached out, rubbing the small of my back. “If I had mine, I’d give it to you,” he whispered.
I knew that. This guy had hired me to protect him and I’d gone and fallen for him. Now I knew he’d do anything to protect me.
“Okay,” I told our group, “Dawn might still be coming. She just won’t be able to tell me. So let’s sit tight and camp out so long as it seems safe.”
Everyone nodded, and Maxine and Brisk started to walk the perimeter with their semi-automatic rifles. Master Aki and I luckily both had one katana each. That was enough to do some serious damage up close.
Josephine sat
