7-Dream a little Dream

7

Dream a little dream

It was vivid and real to Eisenhower.

He stood on a street made of concrete and bone.  Before him, stretched miles and miles of pavement.  All around him, in some sort of time lapse, forward motion, buildings began to build themselves.  They were made of dark stone and had some sort of extra corruption to them that Ein couldn’t quite quantify or describe.

These buildings surrounded him, making him feel constricted and claustrophobic. Suddenly, the streets became populated by…

…Rabbits?

Yes, rabbits.  They were all around him, flooding the street.  They all looked sad and dirty.  Somehow Ein knew they were hard working and had good hearts, but could never ascend out of the dirty and grimy streets.  This was because of the…

…Squirrels?

Yes, squirrels.  The squirrels lived in the buildings and looked down on the rabbits from their twisted windows and chuckled to themselves.  The squirrels were well dressed and all wore monocles and were very, very clean.  The reason for this, was because the rabbits had to pay the squirrels to live.

The squirrels had convinced the rabbits, sometime long ago, that this was how it had to be or else their society would somehow become communistic.  In fact, the squirrels were no better than the rabbits and had no actual knowledge of anything other than how to convince the rabbits that they were right.

Needless to say, this endless world of sad rabbits and evil squirrels was anything but a happy place.

Then, Ein saw it in the distance… An island off a dirty shore where the evil city stopped - just barely.  Ein could make out that the inhabitants of the island were…

…chipmunks?

Once again, yes, chipmunks.  They had somehow escaped the city of sad rabbits and evil squirrels and made themselves a home.  They worked hard to stay alive but they were happy.  They decided their own future.

Ein wanted to be on the island, he wanted to escape, but the city closed in on him…

… There was no escape.

 Ein’s eyes opened and he remembered where he was.

Ein slowly pulled himself upright on the inflated air mattress he had bought on the way to the dock.  He rubbed his throbbing head and remembered the events of the previous evening.  He wished he had picked up some ibuprofen on the way too.

Ein gave up and pulled himself out of bed.  Still in the clothes from last night, he wandered down the hallway back toward the Mess Hall.  Ein rolled his eyes as he began to hear the music from The Doctor’s iPod still blaring loudly from the room.  Ein walked into the Mess and found himself disgusted.

Cans and bottles and plastic cups littered the ground and tables, as well as half eaten chunks of food.  Candy and Stephanie had passed out on top of each other on one of the tables.

Stephanie’s breasts were bared.

Ein shook his head and waded through the garbage to get to The Doctor’s iPod and switch it off, returning the room to sudden silence.  Ein opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water and opened it.

There is no coffee.  Why didn’t we get coffee?

Ein’s brain reeled at the lack of caffeine to fight his hangover.  He slowly shuffled over to Candy and Stephanie, finding some paper towels, he covered her breast, then smelled himself.

He was going to have to find a shower.  They all were.

****

Cazador slowly woke up at the sound of the door opening.  His eyes befell the homely beauty from earlier.  He believed her name was Harriet.  She was holding a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice.

“Back for more, Senorita?”  Cazador managed a smile.  “You will have to untie me to see my true talents.”

Harriet ignored the advances.  “How did you sleep like that?”

Cazador could see the general confusion on her face and shrugged.  “When you have been in the places I have been, you learn to sleep when you can, regardless of how comfortable you are.”

Harriet seemed to accept that, setting the food on a small desk then dragging it over to Cazador.  She then pulled a chair over and sat down.

“Alright,” she began with a look of intensity on her face.  “Here’s how we are going to do this.  You are hungry, I’m sure?”

Cazador shrugged again, his grin returning.  “I could eat.”

“Okay.”  Harriet nodded.  “I am going to ask you questions and you are going to answer me.  Then I’ll feed you.”

Cazador refused to stop smiling.  “I assume, then, if I don’t answer you don’t feed me?”

“That’s the gist of it.”  Harriet responded, her face still hard and determined.

Cazador chuckled.  “My dear, Senorita, torture doesn’t seem something you are capable of.”

“Try me.”  Harriet said, hiding her wavering confidence the best she could.

Cazador stared at her for a long time then spoke.  “Alright… try me.”

Harriet nodded.  “Alright, what’s your real name?”

“I gave that to you.”  Cazador responded, still watching Harriet’s eyes.

Harriet scrunched up her face.  “Cazador is Spanish for ‘hunter’.”

Cazador’s grin became a smile.  “It is the name on my soul.”

Harriet shook her head.  “Bad start.”

Harriet took a spoonful of the cereal and dropped it on the floor.

“Tsk, tsk.  Such a waste.”  Cazador said, sarcastically.

Harriet looked at him and he cocked his head to one side.  “Let me save you some time, Chica.”

Cazador lashed out a foot and violently kicked the desks legs out from under it.  The cereal was sent crashing to the floor.

Harriet stared, shocked as Cazador explained.  “One time, in the field, I was lost behind enemy lines…”

Harriet’s gaze came back to meet Cazador’s as he spoke.  His eyes were suddenly cold and lifeless as he took himself somewhere he hated to go.

“Half a battalion of the enemy was looking for me while I crawled through the brush and jungle.  I was lost for eight days while they searched and I waited for my allies to make a move.  I became El Diablo.  I ate the blood of snakes to survive.  Raw, because a fire would alert them to my presence.”  Harriet shrunk back in her chair as the darkness of Cazador’s story washed over her.  “So you will have to excuse me if your terribly thought out cereal torture does not have the effect you would have hoped for, Senorita.”

Harriet struggled to find words.  “I’m sorry.”

Cazador’s eyes warmed again and he smiled.  “Don’t be, you are only worrying for yourself and your friends sakes.  I’m assuming you found the merchandise hold.  Now you know that what I’m saying is true?”

Harriet nodded in response.  Cazador continued, “Chavez is a bad man.  He will come within the week with five to ten others.  They will all be armed.  They will be trained. When they find you all here, they will rape and kill you all.”

Harriet gritted her teeth.  “What do we do?”

“Let me go and I will show you.” Cazador spoke with desperation, but inside he was grinning ear to ear.  He had her.  She was going to let him go.  He was going to be free again, and then…

“Harriet.”  Thad’s voice startled the two of them.  Harriet spun around to see her skinny friend in the doorway looking concerned.

“You can’t."  He said quietly.

Harriet nodded.  “I know.”

Harriet stood and began to walk through to the door.

Cazador suddenly let his rage get to him.  He began cursing in Spanish.  “You stupid puta, kids.  They are going to kill everyone, don’t condemn me to the same fate!”

Harriet didn’t respond and her and Thad left the room and shut the door while Cazador screamed obscenities from inside.  Thad groaned, then he took a deep breath.

“We have to tell everyone else,” he said, concerned.

“No,” Harriet said and Thad turned, confused.  “We can’t trust him.”

Thad shook his head.  “But if what he said is true, then we-”

Harriet cut him off.  “Just give me a day to think on it, Thad.  I’ll figure something out. Just a day.”

Harriet then turned and walked down the hallway.

TO BE CONTINUED…