Dark Day Dreams, page 2
Suddenly, they heard a roar. An enormous version of Sarnathan was up on top of the Empire State Building, looking like a scaly version of King Kong nobody would ever feel sorry for.
Rex said, “Come on, we need to get inside before he sees us.”
They ran into the building and took an elevator down to the street level. Paul had trouble understanding why the cowboy used his magical powers some times and not others…but also knew this wasn’t the time to sit down and pester him with a lot of questions.
The sky overhead was filled with angry black clouds and every so often there would be a thunder clap and a bolt of lightning streaking down to the ground. It began to hail, small stones at first but then icy objects the size of softballs were falling, breaking car windows and knocking pedestrians to the ground.
Paul and Rex ran down the stairs to a subway platform. Rex said, “We need to keep moving and this way the flying demons won’t know where we are.”
There were thousands of shabbily dressed homeless people everywhere they looked. Paul said, “What’s going on here? Who are these people?”
“They’re the dream versions of the real people who choose to live down here. At a certain point, they’ve spend so much time in the dark they begin to forget what the outside world looks like. It even begins to affect their dreaming time.”
“Where are we going?”
Rex replied, “To see another friend of mine…someone who might be able to hide us for a while.”
They boarded a train and sat down. There were only a few other tired looking commuters sitting here and there. Paul wondered if they were dream versions of people who took the subway to work every day.
About five minutes into their trip, a door at one end of the subway car suddenly slid open. A demon covered in arcane looking tattoos came rushing toward them. The Midnight Kid didn’t have time to draw either his pistol or his whip so he just crouched down and tackled the monster. They began flailing at each other while Paul watched on helplessly.
The other passengers screamed and did their best to protect themselves.
Somehow Rex managed to get his whip loose from his gun belt. He jammed the end of the handle into the side of the demon’s head. There were parks and smoke coming off the creature. After a few highly charged, violent moments it stopped moving.
He sat there and caught his breath fo a minute. When he stood up, Paul asked him if he was okay. Rex grinned and replied, “Oh sure, just part of the job.”
Paul said, “Mind if I ask you a personal question, Rex?”
“Fire away, buddy.”
“Why do you do this? I mean, help strangers that is.”
Rex paused to think for a second and then replied, “Things are a lot less complicated here than in your waking world, Paul. Doing this is what makes me happy. It’s good versus evil, right versus wrong. And Sarnathan and his boys feel the same way about what they do. We don’t need many vocational counselors here.”
“Have you always lived in this world?”
“As far as I know. I think I might have just popped into existence full grown one day…I can’t remember not helping those in need and fighting the demons and other beasties in this realm.”
Paul stood there for a moment and thought about how cool it would be to just open your eyes one day and understand where you fit into the grand scheme of things.
Rex said, “Do you have someone you love?”
Paul turned a bit red. “No, not really. But there is somebody at my work I’d really like to ask out.”
“That’s good to hear, Paul. Survival seems a lot more important when you have someone you care about.”
Paul began to talk about Cynthia Diaz when suddenly they both heard a horrible noise. It sounded like the ceiling of the subway car was being peeled back. A giant spider with Sarnathan’s face appeared in the hole. It grinned and said, “Going someplace, fellas?”
It had almost grabbed Paul with one of its legs when the Midnight Kid crossed his arms and told his companion they were going to “jump” again. There as that same loud bang again and they found themselves walking down a street in the dream version of Brooklyn. It was late afternoon and even though the weather was nice, there didn’t seem to be many other people walking around.
They came to an older brick apartment building and Rex called upstairs on the intercom. A man’s voice answered and said to come on up. The front door clicked open and they headed for the elevator.
Paul said, “Why didn’t you just teleport us right into the apartment?”
Rex replied, “Hey, even in the dream world there are certain rules to follow. One of them is, give your friends a little advance warning before you just pop into their living room or whatever. One time I interrupted my buddy Spencer just as he was about to have sex with a dream version of Marilyn Monroe. He was pissed at me for months afterward.”
They got off on the seventh floor and walked into apartment seven fourteen. The place was full of strange objects…a large crystal ball with electricity in it, a stuffed life size Bigfoot, what appeared to be a space suit on a hanger and so much more. Paul whispered, “This looks like the Ripley’s Believe It or Not episode of Hoarders.”
A very old Asian man in a plaid bathrobe and slippers walked into the room and said, “Hello, Rex. Who do we have here?”
“This is Paul. He’s got Winter Solstice issues. Paul, this is Henry, a night wizard.”
The older man shook Paul’s hand and said, “Please make yourselves comfortable. I assume since you’re here that there’s been some trouble?”
Paul replied, “Yeah, you might say that. I went to bed last night back in my world and the next thing I knew I was here, being chased all over the place by a gang of demons. Believe me, it’s been way more exciting than the dreams I usually have.”
Henry laughed. “You have a good attitude, young one.” Rex playfully punched Paul in the shoulder and said, “That’s what I was thinking, Henry. This kid has certainly rolled with the punches so far.” They sat and talked for a couple hours and then Henry gave them tea and some kind of spicy noodle dish with pieces of chicken in it. Paul thought it was delicious…in the future he would have to make more time in his dreams to eat.
Suddenly, they all heard a scratching noise. Rex moved quickly to the window and looked down. Half a dozen demons were using their claws to climb up the side of the building and would reach Henry’s floor in just a few minutes. They were struggling but Rex had no doubt they would all succeed if he didn’t take some kind of quick action.
Paul said, “Why didn’t they just take the elevator?”
Rex replied, “Sleep demons love to show off. They’re kind of like body builders or Kardashians back in your world.”
Henry ran into another room and came back with a bucket full of sand. He pushed Paul out of the way, leaned out the window and began to pour the contents down on their would-be assailants.
He said, “This should slow them down.”
When the sand hit the faces of the demons, it stuck and spread into a mask. Suddenly, they couldn’t see, hear, smell or breathe and one by one they fell to the street below like so many flies
succumbing to pesticide. And the ones not hit by the sand were taken out by their accomplices falling from above.
But just when Paul and his two allies thought it would be okay to relax for a second, the front door of the apartment exploded inward. Sarnathan stood there with a fierce look on his face and said, “How dare you compare us to the Kardashians.”
Paul choked back a laugh. He had to admit that was a pretty good line.
Sarnathan launched himself toward Paul but the Midnight Kid managed to step between them. The two adversaries fell on top of a coffee table and pretty much flattened it. Rex yelled, “You two get out of here! I’ll catch up!”
Henry and Paul stepped around the two struggling bodies on the floor and went into the hallway. The older man pointed to a door marked STAIRWAY and said, “Let’s take these.”
They finally got down to the street level. Henry said, “We need to run away from here as fast as possible.”
“But what about Rex?”
“Trust me, he’ll be okay. He always finds a way out of these situations and I’m sure he’ll be able to find us.” They began running away from the apartment building.”
But after only going three blocks, they both found it harder and harder to lift their legs. Paul said, “Henry, what’s going on? What’s wrong with us?”
“Sarnathan must have put a motion spell on the ground near the building in case we tried to get away.”
Suddenly, there was a crashing noise above them. They looked up and saw Rex had jumped out the window. While he was falling, he crossed his arms and teleported to a spot roughly twenty feet from where they were stuck. He took out his whip and snapped it like a fisherman, sending the line out to a spot on the ground where both Paul and Henry could grasp it.
He pulled on the whip and began to slowly back away. It was like rescuing somebody from quicksand.
Eventually, Paul and the wizard were able to clear themselves from the enchanted area and walk normally again. Henry said, “What happened to Sarnathan?”
“I was able to shock him hard enough with the whip that he’ll be out for an hour or two. Stupid demon always seems to forget about that weapon.”
Henry said, “What do you want me to do?”
Rex replied, “You better stick with us for a while. Sorry I dragged you into this mess, old friend.”
The wizard grinned and said, “Oh, that’s okay. I was kind of bored tonight anyway.”
Paul said, “What’s the plan, Rex?”
The cowboy adjusted his hat and just stood still for a few seconds, looking off into the distance. Then he said, “I think we need to go someplace with more distractions. This part of the dream world is too much of a neutral territory…Sarnathan probably has spies all over the place just waiting for us to show up. We need to be in a place a lot less logical than this one.” Paul asked how they would do that. Rex replied, “There are a few different methods but the quickest way is for us to go to a comic book store not too far from here.”
“Why, is there a portal there?”
Rex smiled and said, “Kind of.”
************
It was called Artie’s Golden Age of Comics. Paul thought it was amazing…it looked like the place contained at least one copy of every single comic book ever printed and distributed by human beings.
An older black man wearing a purple tie-dye t-shirt walked up to the trio and said, “Can I help you, gentlemen?”
Rex said, “Yeah, I’ve heard rumors you have certain books here. One that can help people get over an illness or maybe even make their way to a different level of the dream world.”
“Well, none of you look sick so I have to assume your request has something to do with going to a different level. Who’s in trouble?”
The Midnight Kid pointed to Paul. “He’s got a whole army of sleep demons on his tail. We just need somewhere to go until the Winter Solstice has passed back in the real world.”
“All right, that sounds like a reasonable request. Stay here for a second, I need to go back into one of the storage rooms.” When he came back, he handed Rex a copy of a book called Magnus, Robot Fighter. He said, “I always thought this character should have been more popular. Maybe people thought his white boots made him look like a go-go dancer…after all, his book came out in the Sixties.”
Rex said, “What do we do?”
The store owner pointed at the book. “I marked the page. Each of you needs to read all the words printed on it out loud.”
“Do we get to decide where we end up?”
“No, sorry. It’s more of a spin the wheel, buyer beware situation.”
Henry said, “Thanks so much, Artie. What can we do to repay you?”
“Just get the kid to a safe place. I hate those fucking sleep demons as much as you do. Now I need to get a safe distance away, don’t want my presence interfering with the spell.” He turned and walked back to the storage room.
They took turns reading the words printed on page sixteen. For the most part, it was just Magnus and some evil forty first century business magnate hurling insults at each other. Paul wondered how the person who wrote the story would have any idea what kind of businesses would exist that far into the future. A second after Henry uttered the last magical word, the store was gone and they found themselves in what appeared to be late nineteenth century London. Rex sniffed and said, “Wow, the past doesn’t smell too good.”
The air was filled with soot from a nearby factory and they had to be careful where they walked. Fresh horse manure was not an uncommon sight.
They walked along and took in the sights and sounds. Merchants were calling out to prospective buyers, offering deals on cuts of meat, fish and other kinds of food. A mustachioed man wearing a sandwich board advertising some kind of show walked past them. A group of laughing children came tearing around a corner and almost ran into them.
Paul said, “Looks like they’re having fun.”
Rex replied, “Did you have a good childhood, Paul?”
“Sure, it was fine for the most part. Though I really didn’t enjoy being with my dad much.”
“He beat you?”
“Once in a while. But I actually preferred that to the hour long insult festivals.”
Rex put a hand on Paul’s shoulder. He said, “Sorry to hear you had to endure that stuff, buddy.” Suddenly, they heard a riotous noise coming from a park area located three blocks from where they were standing. As they were running toward it, there were numerous people running out with terrified looks on their faces. A young woman with tears streaming down her face cried out, “Run away, there’s a monster loose in the park!”
A twenty-foot tall version of Sarnathan was standing there, holding a large razor sharp sword. Half a dozen decapitated and dismembered dream people lay on the ground beneath where he stood.
Rex said, “I’m sorry, guys. I don’t understand how he keeps finding us so fast.”
He saw some motion off in the distance behind Sarnathan. It was more demons, numbering just somewhere south of a hundred. Apparently their boss was getting sick of this merry chase and wanted to put things to rest.
Henry gulped and then said, “We need to get out of here.”
Sarnathan stopped raging and realized who was standing in front of him. He grinned and said, “Paul baby, we have to stop running into each other like this.” Three demons flew over. Their leader pointed at the trio and said, “Get them.”
Rex began firing both pistols but it was tough because the demons were so fast and hard to hit. And he was distracted by the arrival of yet another group of demons flooding into the park via a gate to their left.
But then the universe decided to even things up a bit. A group of black clad British policemen ran into the park and began blowing whistles, yelling and swinging clubs at the demons. Paul saw one of them lifted up by an evildoer and thrown twenty feet through the air.
Then a group of Asian men dressed in white silk joined the fray. They were tumbling and somersaulting and flying through the air, making it hard for the slower moving demons to land a punch or do any damage.
Five large fire demons suddenly appeared, ready to help their evil brothers. They blasted away at the police and Asian fighters with heat rays but more often than not ended up hurting their allies more than their opponents. The bodies of wounded demons and dream humans were beginning to pile up all over the park. A large tree was on fire and a church bell was ringing, telling the populace there was an emergency and more help was needed.
Henry got slugged and fell. Paul got down on the ground to protect him. Rex was continuing to fire his guns up at the winged attackers.
Suddenly, an even taller version of Sarnathan was trudging through the crowd, knocking aside both demons and those opposing them. He grabbed Paul by the collar and yanked him up. Then he looked into Paul’s face and said, “You’ve done a good job of eluding me. But now I get my reward…a little mental torture time.”
Rex heard a whooshing noise and suddenly Sarnathan had numerous arrows sticking out of his right shoulder. And then a veritable wave of shafts came raining down, somehow only hitting demons. He looked up and saw a line of female warriors standing on the roof of a nearby one story building.
It was Sweetness and about twenty of her sisters. She had a brave, angry look on her face. She yelled, “You leave them alone, you bastard. If you’ve even stained the Midnight Kid’s mask I’ll make you pay in a really, really disgusting way.”
Rex tapped Paul on the shoulder and said, “Good to see her putting all that anger to constructive use for once.”
The fairies flew over from the building and continued firing. Demons were jumping up and down trying to catch them. The police and Asians continued fighting demons with even more intensity.
Sweetness yelled, “Human! Get out of here and save yourself!”
The trio somehow managed to make their way out of the park and ducked into a restaurant. Rex looked around and said, “Oh, I haven’t been in here for a long time. They make a great sirloin steak.”
He walked up to the waiter and whispered something in his ear. A couple minutes later, the man returned with some kind of cherry tart and handed it to Rex.
The dream ranger then turned to Paul and said, “Take a bite. It’s time to wake up.” Paul replied, “Thanks so much, guys. And please let those fairies know how much I appreciate what they did.”
He took a bite. It was the most delicious dessert he’d ever tasted. In fact, he was still licking his lips when he woke up in his apartment.
************
One of the really odd things about the dream world is that once the human is taken out of a particular situation, everybody just sort of stops doing what they’re doing and loses interest.
The policemen, fairies, Asian fighters and demons (regular, flying and fire varieties) all stopped fighting the minute Paul was out of their world. They helped each other up, dusted each other off and limped out of the park.
