where your dream ends & my nightmare begins (excerpt)

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    Second Dream: the Dawn of the End

    That night, Daniel fell into an ongoing dream that he had already been swimming

    in for some time. His mind absorbed all the details that seemed to span over several

    months. He remembered living in an apartment complex similar to his own, except none

    of the important details were the same. When he came to, he was in an isolated house that

    stood on an acre of land. The house was empty except for the body of an old man that sat

    on a rocking chair. It was missing a head that had been painted onto the ceiling by a

    shotgun. By the time Daniel got to it, the brain matter resembled a Jackson Pollock

    painting colored in rusty browns and dried molds. Daniel grabbed the shotgun from the

    floor and checked it. The evidence suggested that it was in working condition, so he took

    it, along with the box of shells that sat on the nightstand by the rocking chair, along with

    a pack of Lucky Strikes. Daniel deduced that the old man must have killed himself when

    the outbreak first began.

    Daniel made his way through the house, finding non-perishable foods such as

    canned goods, oatmeal, coffee and pasta. It wasnt until he looked in the cabinet next to

    the rusted fridge that Daniel found the most precious item of food. He wrapped it in a

    checkered hand towel he found in a drawer and put it in his backpack. He thought he

    might have had enough, but then he decided to check the separate garage behind the

    house. There could be some tools, he thought, or a weapon or two. He walked out of the

    back kitchen door, the sun temporarily blinding him as he stepped on the tall, brown

    grass. It crunched under every step as he went to the garage, which could have been a

    barn. He pried open the latch with his crowbar. The wood was so brittle that it broke off

    with only two tries. He opened the doors and let the light spill in, illuminating the dust

    particles floating in the air. There was a workbench off to the side, with a tool box and a

    few handy items hanging on the wall, but what caught his eye the most was the car that

    was covered by a grey tarp. Daniel grabbed the tarp from one end and lifted it, sending all

    the grey tarp and dust in the air, flying away from him. There stood a car that made his

    modest sedan seem like a vehicle he wouldnt mind leaving behind.

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    Daniel packed the car with all the new items he had acquired and emptied out his

    blue sedan, which had helped save his life the last few months. He parked the sedan inside

    the garage and covered it with the same tarp, thinking ahead that it would make for a

    good backup car should he ever need it. He considered coming back to the isolated house,

    but he wasnt the only one making decisions. Celeste was waiting for him back in the

    apartment complex. In this dream, they had been together since the epidemic first began

    months ago. The end of the human race began with a discovery. A botanist named Dr.

    Alan Tapert stumbled upon the disease that wiped out most of the worlds population on

    an isolated river island within the Amazon River. He was working on a research paper,

    looking for new strains of fungi when a local Nahua told him about the island. He found a

    strain of Cordyceps fungi whose genetic makeup was a black mirror to our own species.

    Other Cordyceps were known to have spores that could infect and kill entire colonies of

    ants and other indigenous insects. What Tapert didnt realize, was that the Cordyceps

    fungus he had found and extracted from the jungle was specifically designed to

    exterminate humans. At first, Tapert thought he had caught a strain of the flu or possibly

    malaria, so he left Peru with his collected samples to go back home.

    The spores began working on Dr. Tapert as soon as he landed. He saw his

    physician who couldnt pinpoint what kind of fever had afflicted Tapert. He tested him

    and was sure he didnt have malaria, so he told Tapert to go home and rest. He did exactly

    that, except when he awoke, he his forearms were covered in tiny black circles. The black

    circles felt soft and had a thin layer of mucus. He tried getting up, but he found his legs

    were too weak to support his own body. He grabbed his phone to call his doctor, but

    when he tried speaking, his tongue was numb and he couldnt say anything properly. His

    fever was getting worse, making him sweat out all of his fluids. He crawled to the

    bathroom and threw up blood on his white tiled floor. His thoughts melted in his brain in

    shapeless blathering. He could no longer remember his name, or the face of his father. He

    tried getting up once more, but he fell and hit his head against the porcelain sink. As he

    passed out from the bleeding wound, all Dr. Tapert could think about was going to the

    highest hill at the park by his house.

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    When Dr. Tapert awoke, he was no longer himself. The disease that inhabited his

    body was a parasite that controlled Dr. Taperts mind. His body was covered in the black

    circles, and the heads of Cordyceps began sprouting from the top of his head. The whites

    of his eyes were yellow, and the rest of his skin appeared bruised. Tapert stumbled out of

    his house, walking on a Sunday afternoon to the crowded park by his home. It was filled

    with families enjoying their afternoon playing sports, grilling food, and children climbing

    on the jungle gym. Gradually, they noticed the diseased Tapert as he stumbled to the very

    same hill he had thought about before he passed out. By then, a few people grabbed their

    children, and somebody called the police, but it was too late. Tapert reached the top of the

    hill, and stared directly into the sun without ever shutting his eyes. He opened his mouth

    and gurgled a deathly rattle that released millions of spores from his putrefying body. The

    tiny, microscopic black spores sailed through air, finding their way into the lungs of the

    witnesses who were all staring up at the contaminated stranger. Tapert keeled over on the

    top of the hill and died. With his job finished, his body decomposed at an incredible rate,

    a parting gift to its first victim from the Cordyceps strain. The disease spread like wildfire

    throughout the city that same week, and it naturally infected tourists who carried the

    disease to other parts of the world.

    Of course, like any other disease, there was a small group of people who were

    immune to the Cordyceps disease. Daniel and Celeste happened to be among them. This

    was how they were able to survive once the disease spread and killed off their family,

    friends, and co-workers. Before the disease spread, Daniel and Celeste were incomplete

    strangers. They lived across from each other in the apartment complex. They would

    occasionally say hello as they passed through the hallway, but nothing ever developed

    between them. Daniel naturally was the first to notice Celeste. She seemed to be a

    bookworm, as hed often see her carrying a book with her when she came home, and she

    had cute black-rimmed glasses. He had a thing for spectacled women. Celeste on the

    other hand, didnt feel an attraction to Daniel until she saw him wearing a tank top on a

    hot summer afternoon. It was the first time she noticed his rugged handsome features

    that he hid under his usual dark wardrobe. She had thought of him as a frail man until

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    that day. These feelings however were left abandoned as they went on with their daily

    lives. It wasnt until the outbreak hit that they actually talked to each other.

    Their landlord called for a meeting at his apartment. His plan was to stay in the

    building and fortify it until a cure was found for the disease. He told everyone tat they

    could stay, but most of the tenants thought it would be better to leave and head to a more

    rural area. Only a few of them wanted to stay. Daniel planned to leave to find his brother

    across the state, but he noticed that Celeste was staying. She was too afraid to leave. The

    entire room began to bicker as couples and roommates argued about who would take

    what, where they would go, and what the best plan of action would be. Entire

    relationships were falling apart while Daniel and Celeste remained silent. Celeste was

    terrified and was fidgeting with the pillow on her lap. She whispered to herself, I dont

    have any family. Daniel heard her through the babble, and saw how alone Celeste was in

    the crowd of chaos. He got the urge to stay. If he left and his brother had succumbed to

    the Cordyceps disease, and there was a high chance that it could happen, his journey

    would have all been for naught. If the world was going to tear itself apart, he might as well

    find something worth living for. He walked across the room and knelt down in front of

    Celeste who had tears in her eyes. He touched her shaking hand and said, Its going to be

    okay. And that was how Daniel and Celeste met at the dawn of the end.

    They stayed with the Landlord and twelve other tenants. They fortified the

    building by using anything they could find from the abandoned apartments. Daniel also

    went on a mission to his old supermarket, not to find food, which had already been

    ransacked, but for shopping carts. The Landlord was a handyman extraordinaire and

    owned a plethora of tools, including a TIG welder. With Daniels help, they welded the

    shopping carts together to create a barrier at the front of the apartment. The only way

    inside was the fire escape, which they rigged with booby traps for any intruders, including

    a vat of boiling oil they had at one of the windows above the ladder. They lived safely in

    the apartment for several months. The Landlord had a generator that they used to power

    one room every night for when they had dinner. They did their best to keep the

    environment feel normal. Daniel and Celeste became close over time since they were the

    only ones living on the same floor. They would trade books with each other and kept

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    themselves sane with their own special book club. The thought to include others never

    crossed their minds, and they secretly preferred it that way. They would also play records

    from Celestes vast collection on her antique Victrola. Daniel would always be the one to

    crank the record player, which would usually last long enough to hear an entire song.

    Celeste was relieved that she had bought the record player years ago on a lark. She had

    considered selling it many times, but thankfully never did. She introduced Daniel to

    music he had never known, such as Scratch Acid and Bauhaus, while he would play her

    Beethoven and classical music.

    As winter approached and the gas stopped working, it was inevitable that the cold

    would bring them even closer together. They reasoned with their rational minds that their

    body warmth would keep them alive, but their instincts had other plans. On a frosty

    evening, Daniel had his arm wrapped around Celeste while they were falling sleep. Celeste

    could feel his heartbeat on her back, and wondered if Daniel kept his torso bent away

    from her to hide something else. She felt silly that they were this close to each other, and

    still too polite to take it any further. She trusted Daniel more than she had trusted any

    other man in her life, and yet they were distant and too polite. They were at the end of the

    world and still playing by a set of rules that seemed absurd and obsolete. Celeste turned

    around and saw that Daniel was staring at her with gleaming eyes. She planted a wet kiss

    on his lips, and he moved his torso up against hers, sliding his arm down to her backside.

    Daniel was indeed hiding something.

    Daniel reflected on these memories as he drove back to the apartment complex

    from the isolated house. He cut through the city, seeing hordes of people who had been

    infected by the Cordyceps disease. They were affectionately referred to as zombies. Seeing

    the diseased as zombies helped the survivors distance themselves from the reality of the

    situation. The diseased were mindless drones. They were walking parasites that only

    thought of one thing: to exterminate the human species. They would do this by any

    means. If they couldnt infect you with their spores, they would attack a person and tear

    their flesh apart, and others were cannibals, thus living up to the zombie moniker. Daniel

    always wondered whether or not the diseased were actually alive. He never had time to

    find out since he stayed in the apartment building most of the time.

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    When Daniel arrived to the building, he found that the hallways now resembled a

    labyrinth. Everything inside the building was different. Stacks of shopping carts and old

    desks that were welded together lined the hallways. They were barriers to keep things

    from getting inside or escaping the apartments. When he went around the wrong corner,

    he saw what it was they were keeping out: the Cordyceps zombies. The diseased had

    found a way into the apartment complex. One of them was feasting on one of the tenants

    that Daniel hardly knew. She was an old Russian woman who didnt speak much English.

    Now she was a chew toy for the dead. The zombies walked with a slow gait due to their

    sagging flesh, which turned their muscles into hardened jelly. They all had the black

    circles all over their body, including a few Cordyceps stems growing out from the tops of

    their heads. Any time they moved their arms, Daniel could hear their stiff joints crack and

    pop followed by a curdling moan that crawled out of their throats and left a putrid odor

    in the air. A tinge of fear ran up his spine until he remembered he had a shotgun

    holstered to his back. He grabbed it and took aim at the first zombie who was missing an

    eye. He blew its head into a hundred little black chunks that splattered over the shopping

    carts and other two zombies. Daniel pumped the shotgun and fired again, hitting both

    zombies who walked side by side. He grabbed his machete out of its sheath and swung it

    down on one of their heads, shutting down its brain for good. He stopped the second one

    by stabbing it through its skull, which was so depleted of calcium that it felt like he

    pierced through a watermelon husk. He called out Celestes name.

    In here! She screamed.

    He followed her voice through the rest of the maze until he could see her opening

    a door that was a behind a wall of shopping carts. He could see her green eyes through the

    thin metal bars of the carts. He ran up to her door and they both put their fingers through

    the bars so they could touch each other.

    The hells going on? Who did this?

    Its Luke. Hes gone mad. He started barricading the apartments. A few people

    decided to leave, and he tried making them stay and somehow the garage gate was left

    open and zombies got in.

    Where is he now?

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    I think he went back up and barricaded himself on the top floor.

    I knew the son of a bitch was losing it. Were getting the hell out.

    Thats great. How am I supposed to do that?

    Daniel tried pulling on the mass of carts, but it didnt give. He welded everything

    together!

    No shit.

    Daniel could hear the moans of the zombies coming from down the hallway. It

    sounded like a small herd. He had to act fast. Even though he was immune to the disease,

    they could still kill him, or worse, kill Celeste.

    Stand back, He said as he raised his machete in the air and swung it at the

    shopping carts. The machete miraculously sliced through the metal. He kept swinging

    away at the carts as the Cordyceps zombies staggered across the room.

    Hurry up! Celeste cried as she grabbed her backpack full of her belongings.

    The zombies were now ten feet away from them, their arms stretched out to grab

    their first bite of meat in days. Daniel swung the machete one the last time and cut an

    opening just big enough for Celeste to slide through. The zombies hands were only

    inches away from them. Daniel grabbed her hand and they made a dash for the other hall,

    but one of the zombies grabbed Celestes backpack. She screamed and was almost yanked

    to the floor but Daniel sliced off its arm. They ran away with the severed hand still

    holding onto her pack. They reached the only unblocked door at the end of the hall that

    led to the staircase. Daniel peeled the rotting hand off her pack and they ran down the

    metal stairs. The parking lot was mostly empty except for Daniels newly acquired 1972

    Chevy Nova. It had a faded black paint job with orange racing stripes down the center.

    What happened to the car?

    I decided to trade up. Aint she a beauty?

    Did you think about the gas mileage?

    Ummm. Yes.

    Thats why you need me around, Celeste said as she planted a kiss on Daniel.

    They both got inside. She put her bag in the back, on the boxes of canned food that

    Daniel collected. He turned on the car and engine roared. They drove to the gate and she

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    got out of the car to slide it open. The sun was shining bright for once, and they drove out

    to the empty streets to find their new life outside of the apartment they once called home.

    Celeste would occasionally see zombies roaming the streets, wandering around looking

    up at the sun or chewing on a scrap of human meat. She was reminded of what the world

    was like, and Daniel could see her demeanor sink. He reached over and grabbed the most

    precious item from the glove box: a mason jar full of canned peaches.

    I found em in an old mans house.

    Celestes smiled from ear to ear as she opened the jar and ate a mouthful of the

    sweet fruit. It was the most succulent thing she had in weeks. She closed her eyes and had

    vague recollections of her childhood. She remembered her grandmother standing at a

    kitchen counter, slicing up peaches on a summer afternoon. When her grandmother

    would look away, Celestes little hand would sneak a peach slice from the cutting board

    and stuff it in her mouth. Her grandmother would always notice and playfully call her a

    little thief. When Celeste opened her eyes, she saw Daniel smiling. He remembered that

    Celeste had told him about the summers she spent with her grandmother. Celeste felt

    lucky that he stood by her side when the outbreak began. They were nothing to each other

    before. He could have easily left her and made his way across the state like he originally

    planned, but Daniel stayed with her even as the world fell apart.

    Want one? She asked, to which he responded with a nod.

    Celeste put a slice in her mouth and wore it like wax candy lips and kissed him.

    He swallowed the slice and licked the syrup on her lips until his tongue found its way into

    her mouth. They were oblivious to the world, the disease, and every terrible thing that

    had swallowed their old lives. Daniels attention was off the road for only a second, but it

    was enough time for the Nova to hit an animal that let out a horrid shriek. Daniel hit the

    brakes and the car skidded to a stop. Celeste was rocked forward, but the seat belt caught

    her before she could hit her head against the windshield.

    The fuck was that?! She cried.

    Daniel opened the door and looked around the street. A malnourished dog was

    lying off to the side of the car. It was a brown Boxer with a white underbelly. It was

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    whimpering and it wasnt moving. Daniels heart grew feelings like moss growing on a

    wet stone.

    God damn it, He muttered.

    Celeste got out of the car and saw the Boxer. Her eyes immediately teared up. It

    was the first live animal she had seen in the months since the plague hit. And now it was

    about to die because of them. The Boxer looked up at Daniel with the bluest eyes. Daniel

    bent down and tried to pet it, but it growled at him and bared its teeth.

    Its okay I just want to help.

    Daniel touched its hind leg, but it kicked his hand away.

    Thats good, isnt it? At least its not paralyzed.

    Yeah, but its ribs could be broken. Or worse.

    Daniel reached in his pocket and took out a piece of jerky he had been saving. He

    broke off a piece and offered it to the Boxer, his way of apologizing for the accident. The

    Boxer sniffed the dry meat in his hand and licked it into its mouth.

    See, Im not trying to hurt you.

    The dog growled at him and whimpered in between short breaths.

    We have company. Celeste pointed to a group of zombies stumbling towards

    them from across the street. There were four of them, and they were ravenous for live

    flesh.

    We have to go.

    What about the dog?

    I dont know if we can-

    We cant just leave him, theyll eat him alive!

    Daniel grabbed his handgun, a stainless steel Smith & Wesson .45, and pointed it

    at the Boxer. The dog quivered and hid under its paws. It knew what was about to

    happen, but Celeste shielded the dog.

    You cant! She screamed.

    We barely have enough food for ourselves! How are we going to take care of a

    dog?!

    Dont shoot him! You cant!

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    We cant take him!

    Daniel looked into the eyes of the wounded Boxer. The groans of the zombies

    were getting louder. They were only a few feet away. Daniel looked at Celeste. He knew a

    piece of her would die if he shot the dog, so he raised his gun at the zombies and shot

    them in the head, one by one until they dropped dead only a foot away. The dark,

    gelatinous blood spread towards their shoes. Daniel looked back at the Boxer who was

    peaking up at him through its paws. Its blue eyes chipped away at his armor and made

    him crack a tiny smile.

    Get a blanket, He said. Celeste popped open the trunk and grabbed their trusty

    utility blanket. Daniel draped it over the dog, and the Boxer whined and growled trying to

    bite Daniels hands, but it only got mouthfuls of cloth. Daniel carried the Boxer to the

    back of the Nova and put him next to the boxes of canned food. The dog wanted to run

    away, but it couldnt move, so it kept its watchful eyes on the two strangers after it popped

    its head over the blanket. They drove off and Daniel noticed the sun was just about to

    hide behind the mountains. They would need to find a place to stay for the night. Daniel

    thought about the old mans house. He looked at Celeste as she pressed her face against

    the leather seat. Her gaze was fixed on the Boxer. It looked up at her with curiosity.

    Whats your name? She asked it. She had the eyes of a little girl again. It was a sight that

    would carry Daniel in the darker days that lay ahead. He found a stretch of road that

    seemed to be clear of any zombies. There were houses that lined the streets with red

    autumn leaves falling from ancient oak trees. Even if the dog didnt live through the

    night, he knew it was worth saving its life just to have this moment. For those twenty

    minutes of perfect silence, it felt like they were back in the ordinary world they longed for.

    Just a man, a woman, and their new dog.