Robert crouched behind an overturned table. He could hear the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. Between each footstep was a squishing slurping sound, like the sound of a rotting piece of meat being dragged behind some great beast of prey. His breathing was raspy and fast. His heart was pounding so hard that he could feel the blood pulsing in his ears. Sweat dripped from his hair onto his eyebrows and ran into his eyes, burning them and blurring his vision. Looking down at his hands he could barely see them in the dim light of the darkened room, but even so, he could still see that they were shaking in the darkness.
As the footsteps drew closer to the open doorway, he held his breath in an attempt to conceal his position. The room was completely silent, but in his mind, the pounding of his heart was as loud as the beating of a bass drum.
The intruder moved ever closer. In a few moments, the sounds of the footsteps stopped and he could hear the hissing sound of the intruder’s breathing. The hair on the back of Robert’s neck stood up as he could sense the intruder’s eyes scanning the room. After long moments the hissing decreased and the intruder’s footsteps could again be heard as it continued down the hallway.
Slowly Robert eased up from his hiding place and looked toward the open doorway. Above the doorway hung a clock, the hands stood at 11:22. The intruder was nowhere to be seen and he breathed a sigh of relief. Standing up he waited, hoping the intruder would continue to move farther away. At that moment he heard a hiss just over his left shoulder. Spinning around his eyes met the eyes of his pursuer. He opened his mouth to scream but, in a flash, before a sound could issue forth, a slimy tentacle-like appendage was around his throat. His scream was silenced to a gurgle before it had a chance to form. He could smell the stink of a thousand rotting corpses as he was pulled toward his doom. The last thing he saw before the darkness consumed him was two large glowing cat eyes, inches from his face.
Sitting straight up in the bed Robert clawed at the unseen force around his throat. As his own fingernails dug into the soft flesh of his neck, he realized he could breathe again. Rays of soft moonlight streamed in through the open window shades, lighting the room in an uncanny blueish glow that did little to assuage his terror. Putting his hands down to the bed to study himself, he could feel that the bed was wet, soaked with his own nighttime sweat.
Slowly his breathing returned to normal. Looking over at the clock the glowing hands stood at 11:22. He had only been asleep for minutes, but it felt like he had been chased for hours. Reaching over to the lamp beside the bed he clicked the switch. Nothing happened, the room remained in darkness. Sorry no-good electric company, power’s out again, he thought, no wonder I soaked the bed with sweat, the air conditioner is off. Sliding a drawer open he fumbled in the darkness for a flashlight. Feeling it in his hand, he lifted it up and slid the switch forward. He was greeted with a dim yellow glow that quickly faded to darkness as the last bit of power drained from the long unused batteries. Dang it, he thought, I have got to be more diligent about keeping stuff up. Plopping the useless light back into the drawer, he slid it closed and stood from the bed. Might as well call the electric company after hours service to see how long the power is going to be off, he thought.
Feeling around the top of the bedside stand, he searched for his phone, but it was nowhere to be found. Must have left it in the other room, he thought as stumbled from the darkened room into the hallway. Entering the front room, the little toe of his right foot found a leg of the coffee table. It was as though a sledgehammer had been brought down on it, driving the toenail all the way to his heel. Howling in pain he dropped onto the sofa clutching at his throbbing foot. As he attempted to massage the pain away, a sound caught his attention. It sounded like the low hiss of a tire being slowly deflated. Lifting his eyes he looked towards the source of the sound. There, in the direction of the kitchen, hovering in the darkness about seven feet from the floor, were two large, red, glowing cat eyes.
His heart leaped in his chest as he forgot the pain and jumped to his feet. A slurping squishing sound could be heard as the eyes began to move toward him. In the darkness, he had no chance to search for a weapon. In a panic, he turned and began to run. Only a hand-full of steps separated the sofa and the front door. Covering the distance in a heartbeat he thrust the door open and dashed outside into the darkness. In a panic, he ran as fast as his feet would carry him. He was wearing only a pair of boxer shorts. Branches, briers, and twigs slapped and tore at his naked upper body as pure adrenalin carried him far longer and further than he would have thought possible.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, pure exhaustion consumed his body, and he dropped to a large log lying beside the path. As he sat there with his knees trembling, his chest heaved rhythmically as his depleted body gasped for oxygen. Looking down he could see small trickles of blood running down his arms and upper body where the branches and briers had torn at his skin as he ran blindly through the woods. Looking upward, the sky was completely dark with not a star, or even hint at the moon that had so vividly shone through the bedroom windows only minutes earlier.
Slowly it dawned on him that nothing he was seeing made sense. There was no moon, no stars, no streetlights, he carried no flashlight, yet he could see the woods around him. How was that possible? Suddenly, just as his mind began to comprehend the absurdness of the situation, the forest seemed to grow darker. It was as though his awareness of the insanity he was seeing was molding his perception.
Slowly the darkness grew closer and closer as though he was in a giant black velvet sack that was slowly being drawn up around him. As the darkness closed in, it felt as though his very universe was being compressed inwards. He tried to stand, to run, in what direction it did not matter. Almost every living thing has a fight or flight response. Robert was in full on flight mode. He had to run, had to get away. But to where? Where was he, where was he going? His exhausted legs refused to support his weight. In protest, they gave up and he tumbled face first into the leaves covering the ground.
As he struggled to pull himself up from the forest floor he suddenly realized that he could hear a hissing sound. At that moment he could feel a cold inhuman breath on the back of his neck. His body trembled in fear as he slowly turned his head. Suddenly a large drop of spittle landed on his cheek and he could smell a rotting corpse odor. At the same moment, a large slimy smooth tentacle wrapped itself around his body and pulled him upwards. The last thing he saw before the darkness enveloped him was two large red glowing cat eyes, inches from his face.
Sitting straight up in the bed, Robert held his arms out in front of himself. There was no trace of cuts or scrapes. Lifting his foot, his little toe could be seen in the dim light, although a phantom ebbing throb remained, there was no evidence it had, only minutes earlier, been smashed on the unforgiving coffee table. As before, the room was lighted only with the moonlight from the open window shades. Putting his hands down to the bed to study himself, he could feel, as before, the bed was wet with his own sweat.
Only a nightmare he thought, but oh boy what a nightmare. Easing himself from the bed he reached for the lamp on the table. As he reached for the light switch he could see the glowing hands of the clock sitting at 11:22, the sound of the light switch clicking was not met with light. The room remained as dark as ever. Reaching into the bedside drawer, he pulled out the flashlight and clicked the switch. Just as it was in his dream, the bulb glowed pale yellow for only moments before fading to black.
The hair on his neck began to stand up as he heard a slithering squishing sound approaching the bedroom door. Lifting the window shade he looked for an escape route. Although the room was bathed in moonlight, the world outside was totally dark. Paradoxically, though the world outside his window was dark, he could see a thick tangled forest that seemed to recede into infinity.
Turning back to face the hallway door, the slithering squishing sound approached closer and closer. “It’s only a dream,” he screamed, “it’s only a dream!” The bedroom door swung open and a pair of glowing red cat eyes framed by a blob-shaped darkness filled the hallway. Shadows danced and twitched in the moonlight as though the arms of a giant squid were caught in a hurricane. Suddenly a muscular tentacle wrapped itself around his ankles and swept him from his feet. His body was lifted into the air and his head slammed into the hard wooden floor as he was twisted into a suspended position like a great slab of meat being hung on a hook. The last thing he sensed before the darkness consumed him was the smell of rotting flesh.
Sitting straight up in the bed Robert didn’t wait this time to explore his thoughts. He bounded from the bed, ignoring the wetness of the sweat-soaked sheets and the blue glow of the moonlight. Running down the hallway, he dashed into the kitchen. Hitting the light switch on the wall he was greeted with darkness. Looking up he could see a clock hanging on the wall, the hands stood at 11:22. “No, no, no,” he screamed, “I can’t still be dreaming.” Pounding the switch with his fists he screamed again, “Wake up, wake up you fool”. Again and again, he pounded the nonresponsive switch as he screamed. The plastic cover shattered and blood began to appear on the wall as the skin was torn from his hands by the repeated abuse.
Suddenly the smell of rotting corpses assaulted his nostrils. Spinning around, two large glowing red eyes filled the air in front of him. “Nooooo” he screamed as a massive muscular tentacle pulled him from the floor.
Robert crouched behind an overturned table. His eyes fell upon a clock hanging on the nearby wall, the hands stood at 11:22. “No, oh God no,” he screamed as slithering squishing footsteps approached the open doorway. “Please wake-up, oh God please let me wake up…”
Removing his headphones, Leonard leaned forward in his chair, “Hey Carl, we got an issue with one of the cryo-units.”
The other white-coated technician closed the book he was reading, “What now, Carl?”
“I’m seeing brain activity on one of the units.”
With an exasperated sigh, the bored technician sat his book down, leaned over and looked at his companion’s display console. “I don’t see anything, everything looks fine to me.”
Pointing at a squiggly line on a screen the first technician continued, “That, don’t you see that?”
“Leonard, you are too uptight. That’s just random neurons discharging.”
“They trained us about random neurons discharge. I don’t think this is the same.”
Pushing his glasses up on his nose Carl leaned closer and adjusted a control. The line smoothed out and became flat once again. “See Leonard, you just had the sensitivity turned up too high.”
“But I had it where it’s always been.”
Come on Leonard, loosen up, we got the skate job of all time. We just get to sit here all night and make sure those human Icicles in the other room are all snug and comfy. We can read books play games, whatever. This Job could be done by a computer, but thankfully the geezers up in D.C. wouldn’t approve this project unless there were humans monitoring the system 24-7, so here we sit on our butts all night every night and get paid for it, and paid pretty well I might add”.
“I know Carl, and it’s only been a week, but I know how important this project is. When they trained us they were sure to emphasize how dangerous it would be if someone was allowed to dream while in hibernation. Our body wakes us up if a dream gets too intense, can you imagine what it would be like if you were in a dream and could never wake up.”
“Of course it’s important Leonard. If it works out, then in a few years people will be ready for deep space colonization. Can you imagine it? Just get in bed and go to sleep, and when you wake up, you are at a new world to build a civilization on. But you worry too much; we got nearly five more years to go. If you start hitting the alarm button every time a needle wiggles, the brass is not going to be happy.”
“I guess you are right Carl,” Leonard said as he leaned back and started to replace his headphones.
“By the way,” added Carl, “what unit was that indication on?”
Pausing for a moment Leonard looked at the control panel, “1122, Robert Hastings,” he said as he placed the headphones over his ears and cranked up the volume.
Sitting up in bed, Robert glanced at the alarm clock; the hands glowed in the moonlight, standing at 11:22.