Melanie doesn't start at the hand on her shoulder, nor does she immediately tear her eyes away from that grim specter of her own future. But Daniel's whispered reassurances, as absurd as they are, manage to shake her out of her stupor - enough for her to turn away from the body in the corner to hide her face and fist her hands in the sturdy fabric of his jacket.

"I don't like this dream," she says, no less absurd than Daniel's reassurances, but true. "I want to wake up, now."