Dream Killing (6 page)

CHAPTER NINE

“Drew?
Wake up.” Max’s voice was soft but still brought Drew out of his sleep and out
of the game. “The alarm went off. Let’s see if they found anything out about
T.”

“Where were you?” Drew’s question almost
sounded angry.

“What do you mean? I haven’t gone
anywhere. I’ve been here all night.”

“No, in the game. I saw a huge crowd of
people get killed and I couldn’t find you. I waited in the library for you but
you never showed up.”

“I didn’t dream last night. It’s the
first night in weeks that I woke up feeling rested.” Drew could see a freshness
in her face that he hadn’t seen until now.

“Thank God. I thought for sure he had
gotten you.”

“Who?”

“The robot. Have you seen him yet?”

“Yes. I figured that T had already told
you about him. He is the leader of a group of ruthless men. It is almost as if
he is un-killable. We figure he is the leader of the game. He tries to recruit
people to help him kill.” When Max said that, it sent chills down Drew’s spine.

“He gave me the choice of being with him
or dying. I chose to be with him but then got away from him. That was the other
night.”

“Oh, Drew, you can’t be on his side.
Please tell me you aren’t. He’ll use you to get people near him and then he
will take the kill.”

“After what I just saw, you can bank on
me not being on his side.”

They left the bedroom and went into the
living room to watch the news. No new details had been found as to what was
causing the mysterious hemorrhages, or who T really was. Drew and Max decided
to go over to The Bean and see if anyone else had heard anything. Drew found a
smaller t-shirt for Max to wear with the jeans she was wearing last night, and
when they both were dressed they headed out.

At The Bean, Adam was at his usual post
and smiled as they walked in. “Hey! You guys finally ran into each other!”

“Yeah, you could say that,” Drew
answered. “We’ll have the usual, Adam.”

“It’s a shame about T, huh?” Adam didn’t
sound surprised at all with T’s death. “It’s too bad. I was starting to like
the guy.”

“Did you know anything about him?”

“No. The police came in here yesterday
to ask about him. It seems they saw his alarm clock with the store name on it
and thought we would know something about him.”

T had a bean alarm clock too? He doesn’t
seem like the type to use silly stuff like that.
Drew was starting to see T in a
different light. He also found it weird that all three of them had the same
clock.

When the coffee was ready, Drew and Max
settled in on the smaller couch by the window. Drew was still thinking about
the alarm clock, but quickly changed thoughts. It was silly to keep focusing on
a stupid alarm clock when there were more important things to be thinking
about.

“My contact sent a text while you were
getting dressed and let me know that they would be calling me in about an hour
to let me know what they found out.”

“Good. So they should be calling soon.”

“Any minute.”

As if on cue, Drew’s phone vibrated on
the table in front of them. He answered, listened for a few minutes and hung up
without saying a word.

Puzzled, Max asked, “Well, what did he
say?”

“He said we needed to meet with him so
that he could tell us everything.”

“Oh. Why couldn’t he tell you on the
phone?”

“Not really sure. He just said we needed
to meet in person. C’mon, we have to leave. We’re meeting him at the lake.”

Together, holding hands but not
speaking, they walked to the bench where they first sat and talked together.
They sat down and waited. Drew had an uneasy feeling. It’s not like his contact
to be so secretive. Usually he just gives Drew any information he needs.

Drew’s contact showed up after about 10
minutes. “Let’s go sit over there,” he said, pointing to a small picnic table
under a tree.

The three of them walked over to the table
and took a seat.

“I wasn’t able to find anything on your
friend, T, but I did find out some information on another person you know.”

“Who?” Drew was now thoroughly curious.

“Well, I was reading the article about
authorities looking for information on your friend and it mentioned that
according to Adam at The Bean he lived in the area. I found nothing on T, but
in my search I found out some interesting facts about your friend, Adam.”

Drew looked confused, “Adam? He’s not a
friend; he just works at the coffee shop we all go to. What did you find out?”

 “Ok, it seems that Adam used to be an
accomplished scientist that worked for a company called Center-Tech. He was
head of the department that was working with nanobot technology. He had tried
to convince the president of the company to allow him to move forward on a
project that would change the world.”

“What would that project be?” Drew asked
the question cautiously.

“Well, apparently Adam was trying to
create a nanochip that could be consumed by a person unknowingly. With the chip
inside the person, Adam would be able to control the person’s thoughts,
particularly during the REM stage of sleep. Obviously, the president of such an
important company refused to allow such research to be done. When he denied Adam
the chance to develop the chip, Adam went a bit crazy, claiming that he had
already created the chip and that the president would be his first test
subject. The threat didn’t sit well with him and he fired Adam.”

“Were any charges brought against him?” This
time it was Max that asked the question.

“No. There wasn’t enough to charge him
with, so it was dropped, but it was really ugly.”

“You must have information on another
Adam. Our Adam is way too simple minded for that type of work.” Drew found it
hard to believe that Adam would have anything to do with that type of scandal.

“That’s all the information I have for
you. If I hear anything else I’ll let you know.” As soon as he finished his
sentence, Drew’s contact stood and walked away.

“You don’t think he was actually talking
about Adam, do you?” The question came out of Max’s mouth with a hint of a
chuckle.

“Nah. It makes no sense.” Drew replied.
The two walked back to Drew’s house. Once they got to the steps, it was Max
that spoke.

“I really should go home. I have to work
tomorrow and all of my stuff is there.”

“Well, if you come up for a few minutes,
I can grab a few things and we can go to your place. I still don’t feel
comfortable leaving you alone.”

“Drew, it’s okay, really,” she started
to speak, but then realized how sweet Drew was being and continued, “Aw, heck,
that sounds great. Why not?”

In Drew’s apartment, Max gathered up her
shirt from yesterday and her purse. She sat on the couch and saw a story on the
news pop up on the TV. She grabbed the remote control and turned it up.
According to the news report, another five people had died of a brain
hemorrhage in the past 24 hours, and all at the same hospital. It was the
hospital only a mile from Drew’s house.

“This makes no sense,” Max said almost to
herself.

“No, it doesn’t, but until they figure
out what is going on, I think it best that we stick together.”

“Yeah,” she said, “I think you’re
right.”

After gathering up a few more things,
Drew and Max drove to her house. It was surprising to Drew just how close she
lived to Drew. She was just about a mile north of him. What wasn’t surprising
to Drew was the way her house was decorated. Each room was painted a different
color, one blue, one red, one yellow and one green. The artwork and pictures on
the walls were all brightly colored as were the rugs on the floors; just what
he would’ve expected from a kindergarten teacher.

“This place is great!”

“I know, it’s a bit loud. I love color.
It makes me happy.” She again sounded just like a little girl. That made Drew’s
smile even bigger. She then said, “Why don’t you make yourself comfortable. I’m
just going to throw on some shorts and get comfortable. You hungry?”

“Yeah, I could eat.”

After she changed, they made themselves
a late lunch and decided that they had had enough news for the day. They put on
a movie and sat in silence, Drew with his feet on the coffee table and Max with
her feet on his lap. Drew started to massage her feet without even realizing he
was doing it. Everything seemed so natural. After a second movie, they both
realized just how exhausted they were.

“If you would be more comfortable on the
couch I would understand, but you are more than welcome to stay in my room with
me tonight.” The shy little grin on her face told Drew that he would probably
be happier in the bedroom. They walked to the back of the house and got ready
for bed.

While they both considered giving
themselves completely, the thought that they had only met days ago kept
creeping into their minds. They kissed for a while and fell asleep holding each
other tightly.

*****

CHAPTER TEN

The
alarm went off at 6:30 and Drew awoke feeling refreshed. Max, on the other
hand, slept quite restlessly despite being in the arms of Drew. He found
himself wondering if she had played the game last night. It was odd that he had
spent another night dreamless.

“That was brutal,” Max said before even
opening her eyes.

“The game?” Drew’s question was more of
a statement as he stretched and stood up.

“Yeah. Where were you?”

“I didn’t play. I was really expecting
to come up against the robot, but instead I didn’t even dream.”

“Weird. Oh, well. I got my shot in at
the robot. The damn thing never goes down though. He just walks around shooting
everything in its sights. Except for the few people who seem to hover at his
side. I got a couple of them last night. It was exhilarating. I almost made it
back to the library looking for you.” Max’s voice was a mix of excitement and
sleep; Drew found it quite appealing.

“You almost made it? What happened?”

“The robot got me in the back as I was
going through the doors.”

“How many lives do you have left?” Drew
asked, not really sure he wanted to know the answer.

“I have 7 lives left. I really need to
step up my game a bit.”

The two got out of bed and began to get
ready for work. They really didn’t want to split up for the day, but there are
only so many days they can call in. Max gave Drew a ride to the “L” platform
closest to her place and parked in front of a news stand.

“Do you want me to pick you up from
work?” Max asked as he was about to step out of the car.

“No, you don’t have to. I need to go
back to my apartment. My neighbor is out of town and I told him I would look
after the place. I can check in at home, See if I have any mail and make sure
everything is okay there. Do you want me to come by when I’m done?”

“That would be nice. What time should I
be watching for you?”

“I’d say 6:30-ish.” Drew figured that
would be plenty of time.

“Okay. That will give me plenty of time
to get dinner ready. See ya then.” Max leaned over and gave him a quick peck on
the cheek and with that Drew was gone.

Once on the train, headed for the
dreaded day of boring phone calls, Drew wondered why he hadn’t played the game
last night. He then realized that he hadn’t had his usual coffee.
I guess a
little sludge from the pot at work won’t kill me. At least I hope it won’t.

Drew stepped off the train onto the
platform. From there you could see the windows on the second floor of the
building he worked in. He stood there for a while, imagining that on the other
side of those windows was his desk at the agency. Granted, he never wanted to
be responsible for people’s lives again, but he could really go for being back
at a job that gave him more excitement. He shook himself free of that thought
and walked to the end of the platform and down the crowded stairs.

Once inside, Drew made his way through
the maze of cubicles, passing his on his way to the coffee pot. After making
himself a cup, he made his way back to his desk and sat down. Once again, the
day greeted him with a pink piece of paper. This time the message read: She
sure made it easy. Sorry I missed you again. Will keep trying.

Who the hell is this from? What are they
talking about?
Drew
couldn’t understand why people leave such cryptic messages. He decided that he
would think about it later and got to work.

***

At around noon Max called Drew to see
how his day was going. It was nice to have somebody that cared. He told her
about the messages he got from the mystery caller, but other than that, there
wasn’t much about his day to tell her. After getting off the phone he grabbed a
sandwich from the cafeteria on the first floor and went back up to his desk.

While he ate his lunch, he wondered what
the message meant. Who had made it easy, and for whom? It always seemed that
Drew was met with more questions than answers. He found himself getting
frustrated and decided to just get back to work, hoping that the second half of
the day would move faster than the first.

There was a commotion in the hallway
about five minutes from quitting time, so Drew decided that leaving a few
minutes early wouldn’t hurt anything. He walked out into the hall and saw
paramedics lifting one of the cleaning crew onto a gurney.

“What happened?” Drew asked one of the
other cleaning people who looked distraught.

“She said she had a headache and then
just went down. She isn’t breathing and they can’t get a heartbeat.”

Drew was beginning to wonder just what
was going on all of a sudden. There were so many people dying and nobody seemed
to know why. He was beginning to worry. Could there be an epidemic even the CDC
didn’t know about? Would it eventually kill everyone around? Again, more
questions and no answers.

Drew rushed to the train and then rushed
home. He checked the doors of his neighbors apartment and all seemed well. Drew
let himself into his place and looked around there as well. He then called Max
to let her know that he was just going to change and grab a few things and that
he would be on his way soon.

“Do you want me to stop and pick
anything up on my way over?” Drew hoped she would say no so he could just go
right there.

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind, a couple of
croissants from The Bean would go nicely with dinner. Oh, and could you grab
some of those yummy muffins?” Max sounded so happy and almost excited.

“Sure. What flavor muffins would you
like?”

“The cinnamon apple ones are great. Help
me grab a couple of those?”

“Sounds great. Be there soon.”

After changing out of his work clothes,
Drew grabbed another change of clothes for tomorrow, his laptop and a bottle of
wine. He made sure to lock all windows and doors before heading over to Max’s
house.

He rounded the corner and walked over to
The Bean. Drew had never seen the coffee shop as crowded as it was when he
walked in. After waiting for what seemed like forever, but was probably closer
to ten minutes, Drew was next in line.

“Hey, Adam. What’s going on?”

“I’m the only one here. We were supposed
to close because of what happened, but people just kept coming in.”

“What happened?”

“Lisa, our evening girl passed away
today.” Adam said the words, but didn’t really sound too affected by them.

“Oh, my gosh, really?”

“Yeah. They think it was a brain
hemorrhage.” Again, Adam spoke about her death as if he were talking about the
newspaper not being delivered.

“Wow. There are so many people dying
that way. Listen, I just need a couple croissants and a couple muffins. Here,
throw me a bag and I’ll get them myself. You are busy.” Drew tossed him a ten
dollar bill and told him to keep the change. Adam slid a bag across the counter
and mouthed the word “thanks”.

After Drew grabbed what he came for, he
weaved his way through the customers and headed towards the door. As he went
through, he flipped the open sign over so that people on the street would see
it was closed and motioned to Adam that he had done so.

Now Drew had his duffel bag, the laptop
backpack over his shoulder and the bag from The Bean. Any other time he would
probably just walk to Max’s house, but he was tired and flustered and wanted to
get there quickly, so he hailed a cab and headed over. This time of day in the
city is hectic, but the cab made it there quickly and after paying his fare,
Drew climbed out and up the steps of the cute little bungalow.

“Hi!” Drew didn’t even get a chance to
ring the bell. Max was standing in the open door smiling and waving. She
grabbed the duffel bag from Drew and led him inside.

Drew stood inside the door and breathed
in deeply through his nose. The house smelled absolutely delicious. Max let him
settle in while she put the finishing touches on the dinner she obviously
worked so hard to prepare. After hooking up his laptop and letting it load, he
made his way into the kitchen.

“Wow! That smells fantastic!”

“I hope you like lasagna. I was going to
make garlic bread, but I thought maybe the croissants would be nicer.” Max
looked so proud of her meal.

“Lasagna is one of my favorites. I’m
glad I grabbed the red wine!”

“Ooooh, great! I also have a salad made.
Wanna help me set the table?”

“Sure.” Together they brought the dishes
to the table and got everything ready. Drew poured the wine and they sat down
to eat.

While the two ate, Drew told Max about
what happened in the hallway at work and then what he found out at the coffee
shop about the evening barista. Not wanting to monopolize the entire
conversation with negativity drew asked Max about her day and she beamed as she
told him about her students.

When they finished dinner, they stood
together at the sink and did the dishes while finishing the bottle of wine. 
Out of nowhere, Max said, “Do you watch Survivor?”

“Do you?”

“Yes. It’s starting in a few minutes.”

“I never thought I’d admit it, but yes,
I do watch it. I like to DVR it so I can fast forward through the commercials,
though. I hate commercials.” Drew couldn’t believe he just admitted to being a
fan of Survivor.

“Cool. The DVR is set. Let’s go for a
walk? We can watch the show when we get back.”

“That would be nice.” Drew thought back
and realized that the last time he went for a walk with a female was back in
college.

Spring nights in the city are still a
little cool, so they both threw on hoodies and locked up the house. Not being
completely familiar with Max’s neighborhood, Drew let her lead the way. They
headed around the corner and walked a few blocks north. When they got to the
next corner, they turned left and saw the flashing lights of an ambulance.

“Oh, no!” Max let out a gasp that
startled Drew. “It looks like the ambulance is at Martha’s house.”

“Who’s Martha?”

“She’s another kindergarten teacher
where I work. Hurry.”

The two jogged up to the ambulance just
as the gurney was being wheeled inside. Max could see that it was indeed
Martha. She asked the paramedic what happened but was told to talk to the
people outside Martha’s house. They walked over and were told by a neighbor
that Martha was outside walking her dog and just fell to the ground.
Apparently, Martha had suffered a headache immediately before the incident.

“Will she be okay?” Max’s question was
softly asked, as if it came from a child.

“She wasn’t breathing and her heart had
stopped. They were doing CPR and tried shocking her heart, but it wasn’t
working. They decided to get her in the ambulance and keep trying on the way to
the hospital. It doesn’t look good.”

Max fell into Drew’s arms. Drew sensed
just how upset she was and insisted that they go back to her house.

“There’s nothing we can do for her here.
When we get back to the house, we can call the hospital and find out if she
made it.” Drew tried to sound caring, but deep inside he was really worried.

“I barely knew her. She had just started
at the school last week to take over for the teacher who left to have a baby.
It’s just getting to be too much. People are dying all over the place. When will
it stop?” There was a desperation in Max’s voice that made Drew’s heart sink.

He got Max back home and they called the
hospital. Martha was another in a growing number of mysterious deaths. Drew
suggested that they turn the lights down and call it a night.

“No. I won’t be able to sleep. Let’s
just go ahead and watch our show. It will do us some good to take our minds off
of this craziness for a little while.” Max went from being distraught to being
strong.

“Okay. Maybe you’re right. Tomorrow I am
going to take time off of work. Are you able to get some time off?”

“I never take time off, so I don’t think
it will be a problem. Why?”

“Well, until we know what is going on
with all of these deaths, I think we should stick close together.” The truth
was, Drew was terrified that something bad would happen to Max, so he wanted to
make sure he was with her at all times.

They grabbed the muffins and a couple of
glasses of milk and sat in front of the TV. Somehow, they were able to shut out
everything and enjoy their show. When it was over, they went in the bedroom.
Max set her alarm and to make sure they didn’t sleep too late, Drew plugged his
alarm clock in and set his alarm for thirty minutes later. They both chuckled
about the matching alarm clocks. They climbed into bed and both pretended to
sleep. Really, they both lay awake, trying to make sense of things.

*****