applesaucedream | First Night [Open to Multiple]

Current Music: May 23rd, 2013

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First Night [Open to Multiple]

Jodie Holmes, age six, sits in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. One wall is lined with a mirror that is not really a mirror. There are cameras mounted in the corners, their power lights like unblinking red eyes in the dimness (not darkness; they left the light in the hall on for her). She surveys the sparsely furnished room with her back against the headboard and her chin atop her teddy bear. There is a flashlight on her bedside table, and she knows Cole is just outside. They should be safe here, and she tries to be brave - brave for Aiden, whose fear shivers the tether that binds them.

"Don't be scared, Aiden," she says, hugging her teddy closer. "We're gonna go to sleep, and nothing bad is gonna happen." The phrase has a practiced cadence to it, like a prayer, or a magic spell. But God hasn't stopped the monsters, and she doesn't know if she believes in the good kind of magic anymore.

She pushes her legs beneath the covers, but she doesn't lie down. Something is coming. She can feel it.

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Jodie latches onto him with all four limbs and without hesitation. It doesn't matter that he's a stranger, all that matters is that he's getting her out. "Hurry!" she sobs as the far side of the coffee table rises toward the ceiling and then tips, falling toward them, and in a moment it'll crash down on both their heads…

… and then it halts in midair. Aiden's caught it, giving them enough time to get through the doorway. Once they've cleared it, he follows, letting the table drop as he retreats out of the apartment.

The doorway should lead to a bland hallway, but it doesn't. They're in a child's bedroom, a proper one, lived-in, books on the shelves and toys on the floor. It would be inviting, but the lights here are flickering, too. The monsters have followed them. She's home, but she isn't safe. "Don't stop!" she cries as a little radio on her desk crackles to life, filling the room with a harsh, static buzz. "They're coming!"

Again there's nowhere he can go, no way he can dodge fast enough -- and again the threat is stopped by an unseen force as Andrew bolts for the exit. He realizes too late that he's dropped his screwdriver, but there's no going back for it now as he charges out into the --

-- Into the other bedroom? He experiences a moment of supreme disorientation, knowing this isn't what was on the other side of the door a moment ago but not knowing what that means. For a second, too, he thinks to close the door behind them, but it won't make any difference; they've already been followed and a door wouldn't hold this creature anyway, not after what he's seen it do. "I've got you!" he tells her again, barely breaking stride as all this flashes through his head. He needs a hand free to open the next door, but she's clinging to him so tightly it doesn't matter that he's only got one left to hold her up. He bounds down the stairs he finds on the other side, taking them two and three at a time.

Jodie watches over Andrew's shoulder as photographs and artwork fall off the walls and the hallway phone is slapped off of its little stand and clatters onto the floor. Aiden sticks close, knocking aside any flying objects that come too close to hitting Jodie or Andrew, but they're retreating too quickly for him to actually tangle with the monsters themselves.

The stairway leads to a door that, to all appearances, leads out into a bright, snowy winter afternoon. But it opens to reveal a long, silent hallway. It's well lit, but freezing; thick frost covers the floor, walls and ceiling, and icicles dangle from support beams.

The hall is strewn with bodies, most propped against the walls, some sprawled across the floor. They, too, are covered in frost. Fortunately, Jodie is in no position to see them; the door they've dashed through has shut behind them, and frosted metal fills her field of vision. She shivers in the sudden stillness, then buries her face in Andrew's neck.

Andrew throws open this door as well, not knowing what's on the other side but trusting that it has to be better -- to stop is to allow whatever's chasing them to catch up, and he's more afraid of that unknown entity than of the unknown space before them. He lives to regret that assumption as he abruptly skids -- no, slides -- to a stop, feet threatening to throw themselves out from under him as he hits a patch of ice. He regains his balance and stares, breath puffing visibly out in front of him as he gulps the cold air. One hand slides up Jodie's back, a mix between a comforting touch and an attempt to encourage her to keep her head down.

"Alright," he says, voice strained. "Alright, it's alright, they've stopped. Hold tight; I'm going to get us somewhere warm. Just keep holding on, just like that."

He can't hesitate. He can't let her know that here is something terrible, and he can't tell her not to look without making her wonder and fear why. Swallowing thickly, he takes a careful step forward, then another, working to make his strides even, deliberate. Confident. There's a door at the far end and he aims for it, glancing to each side at the corpses and at the broken windows through which some of them lay. "What's your name?" he asks softly.

It can't be over. They can't have just given up, not after the way they were chasing her before… can they? Maybe they're safe, now that Andrew's here.

She's still shivering, though. Her bare feet are hanging out in the open air, and her thin pajamas aren't doing much to ward off the cold. "Jodie," she says softly into the collar of Andrew's shirt.

Aiden doesn't like this. The monsters are still there - he can feel them even if he can't see them. He peers into the rooms on either side, but stays in the hall with Jodie and Andrew, ready to defend them if any more objects come flying their way.

Andrew's fairing slightly better, but he's never been a fan of the cold and he can feel it sharply through the soles of his trainers and through clothing meant for spring. "It's very nice to meet you, Jodie," he says solemnly, looking away from the body over whose legs he's stepping in order to avoid meeting the blank gaze of what was formerly a man. He holds his breath the last few steps, willing Jodie not to look up, willing the door to be unlocked --

The handle rattles in his grasp, and his heart sinks as he sees the pad where he's meant to swipe a keycard. Turning back to the hall, he lets his gaze rove over the still bodies. Whoever they were, whatever they were doing here, whatever happened to them, odds are at least one of them had access to this door. "There's a door, but it's locked," he tells Jodie, not wanting her to wonder why he's stopping. "I'm going to find a key, so I need you to hang on while I look around -- you're doing so well. Just a little longer, then we'll get warm."

Right. If he's lucky, one of them will be wearing a keycard as a badge on the outside of their clothes. If he's less lucky, he'll only have to dig through a couple pockets before he finds what he's looking for. Steeling himself, Andrew backtracks, looking over the first body.

Aiden thinks: a key. But not a house key, more like a card. He's not sure how he knows this, but it doesn't matter. They need a key, and he can help find one. He doesn't like the bodies, doesn't want to get too close to them, but he darts from corpse to corpse, anxiously checking them for badges. None in the hallway. He moves to the side rooms.

"Okay," Jodie says, voice muffled. For a few moments, she keeps her face tucked snugly against Andrew's neck, where it's warmer. But then it occurs to her that she could at least help look for a key, and then they'd all be out of here faster. She lifts her head, blinking her eyes into focus.

And then she sees the bodies.

Her grip on Andrew tightens convulsively, and she pulls in a quick breath of cold air. What happened? Did the monsters do this? Grown-ups are supposed to be safe.

Andrew moves as quickly as he dares between the bodies, looking over each one. Nothing -- nothing. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. He's going to have to try some pockets, and he doubts how long he can keep Jodie from looking up once he starts stooping and taking away one of his hands to rifle through the clothing of the dead.

It's a moot point soon enough. Andrew turns his head to see her face when she tenses. He gives her a little squeeze in return, surprised she hasn't screamed. "I'm sorry," he says. "I didn't want you to see this. You don't have to look if it scares you; whatever happened here is over now."

He hopes.

It's not over. Jodie is certain of that much, but she doesn't want to say so aloud. That might make it real. Instead, she hides her face again, shivering as much from fear as the cold.

Key key key… Where is it? The longer they stay here, the more certain Aiden feels that the monsters will return. Even the quiet is too watchful to feel like a reprieve after the noisy chaos of the lab.

Wait. Here's something. Aiden peers closely at a badge one of the bodies has clipped to its coat pocket. Key! A frisson of excitement hums through the tether, and he gives the cracked pane of glass a gentle thump to get Andrew's attention.

Jodie lifts her head when she feels Aiden's excitement, which is just as well - otherwise, the sudden thump probably would have started her screaming. Instead, she points into the side room. "In there."

Andrew stoops, taking one hand off Jodie's back to rifle through one body's pockets, his eyes carefully turned away from the face. Cold bites at his fingers and the clothing is stiff with frost. He finds nothing in one pocket, and then another, and then Jodie shifts and he rocks back on his heels and withdraws his hand at the thought of her seeing what he's doing. The thump from one of the room makes him jump to his feet, heart pounding as he stares at the empty -- no, not empty, but dead space from which the sound came.

Jodie isn't screaming, he realizes belatedly. He turns his head and furrows his brow at her, staring at her face for several long seconds as he parses her behavior...and her tip. "Alright," he says slowly, glancing back at the room. Still nothing. Carefully, he makes his way over and around the shattered glass, giving Jodie another glance before looking over the bodies here. When he sees the card he's not sure whether it's a flood of relief or a jolt of fresh fear he feels -- this is bigger than he thought. He doesn't know what he thought, but it's dawning on him that he's woefully unprepared for whatever he's got himself into. It's the work of a moment to bend down and unclip it with a murmured apology to its owner, and then he's striding back toward the exit, key in hand.

Jodie rests her chin on Andrew's shoulder as he heads for the door. Now that they're on their way out, she's seized with a sudden conviction that things are about it get bad, that the monsters are going to come back and do something awful.

Unfortunately for all parties, she's right. As Andrew heads out of the room, the body he just divested of a key rises up into the air like some sort of horrible puppet, feet dangling several inches off the ground. Its head lolls, then twitches with impossible rapidity, as if being vigorously shaken, though the body remains eerily still.

Jodie stiffens in Andrew's arms, then screams as another corpse is hauled upright by invisible forces. No no no no!

Andrew burns with curiosity, barely able to hold back on the urge to ask her how she knew about the key. Get out of the mausoleum first, he chides himself. He has to trust that on the other side of the door is some modicum of safety and sanity that will give him the chance to ask her what she knows about what's happening.

There's a soft, sliding sound behind him, and he feels the little body in his arms go stiff with fear. Andrew's step falters, the hair on the back of his neck rising as he turns to look just as its head begins to snap back and forth. This time it's not just fear for Jodie that floods through him, but a feeling of dread all his own. A short, shocked breath puffs out of him, visible in the cold and still of the room, and then he and Jodie act in the same moment, she screaming and he abruptly bolting for the door, trainers squeaking and sliding on the slick floor. "No, no, no!" he shouts at the world in general, unknowingly echoing Jodie's thoughts. He slams into the wall beside the door, only just breaking the impact with his own arm to protect his charge, and scrambles with shaking hand to slide the card. "Come on, come on!"

The reanimated bodies move slowly, drifting out into the hallway. There is no hurry. The door's locking mechanism wasn't designed to function in freezing conditions, so no amount of card swiping will open it. Jodie shudders as they hit the wall, wanting to tear her eyes away from the advancing corpses but unable to. Now the ones in the hallway are being hoisted into the air, too, half a dozen of them clustering together in a mass.

Aiden darts frantically into one of the side rooms and grabs a stool, hurling it at one of the bodies. It lurches, but doesn't go down. Of course it doesn't; it's the monsters he has to fight, not the shells they're wearing. Shifting his focus to the frontmost monster, Aiden strikes out, not at the body, but at what's hiding inside. The monster dissolves into nothingness, and the body crumples.

One down, five to go. But as the bodies drop, it becomes clear that each triumph is only temporary. More monsters are swarming, picking up the bodies seconds after Aiden fells them. He can't hold them off forever.

Jodie stares in astonishment as the bodies drop. Aiden's fighting them - really fighting them! But it's not enough, even she can see that. They just keep getting back up again. "The door!" she shouts. "Aiden, the door!"

Aiden retrieves the stool and hurls it at the oncoming bodies once again, knocking the frontrunners back a few feet. Then, he whirls toward the door, into the door, forcing the lock open with an audible click.

Andrew feels a flush of triumph as he gets the card through the slot. It doesn't last, though; the card reader is as dead as the man whose key he's using. He flings it away in disgust, digs in his pocket for his sonic screwdriver only to remember he dropped it in the bedroom, and turns to face their would-be attackers.

"What?" he asks as one simply drops without apparent provocation. A moment later another follows suit, but by then the first is up again. Andrew looks around wildly for some way to fight them off or get through the door. Then Jodie shouts that name again -- the one he's increasingly sure doesn't belong to her teddy -- and the door clicks open at Andrew's back. He doesn't hesitate, but whirls on the spot and yanks it open, diving through and slamming it shut behind him.

Well, it is warmer.

This door leads to a dusty rooftop with a hot sun blazing overhead. Sandbags are piled in each corner, offering meager cover from neighboring rooftops and none at all from the sun.

The threat here isn't on the other rooftops, but on the ground. An angry crowd is gathering around the little building. Men with weapons in hand and cloth masks obscuring their faces are glaring up at them, shouting threats in Somalian.

Jodie clings to Andrew and gapes down at this new threat, her eyes finding the small figure of a boy about her own age.

Andrew gasps, the hot air burning his lungs by contrast. The door slams shut behind him and he has to squeeze his eyes shut for a few moments in the brightness of the day. He spins on the spot as soon as he recovers enough to open his eyes and look, his mouth hanging open as he takes it all in.

"This isn't right," he says, probably to himself but possibly to Jodie. "This can't be right."

Jodie's nowhere near as lucid as Andrew is at the moment. It doesn't occur to her that they shouldn't be here, that it makes no sense considering where they were. All she knows is that it's another Not Nice Place, and she hides her face again, wishing it would all just go away. "I don't like it here," she whimpers.

"Understandable." Andrew doesn't mean to be terse, but he's trying to work this out. The atmosphere feels entirely different, a jarring mismatch that goes beyond indoors versus outdoors. He holds Jodie close and thinks back over everything that's happened since the start. First a research facility, then a real bedroom, then...well, then another horror to follow in a series of places that make less and less geographical sense the more he thinks on it. Light dawns, and he gasps again. "It's a dream!" He exclaims. "We're dreaming! And that means...."

He squeezes his eyes shut and concentrates. There will be no doorway this time, no acknowledgment that their movement in space has to make any sense at all. Perhaps he ought to choose somewhere quiet, but having a child in his arms and a burning desire to fight against the darkness he's seen so far leads him to make a rather different decision. The rooftop fades, shifts, and twists, the heat becoming muggier and the shouts of the men becoming the delighted shrieks of overstimulated children. When Andrew opens his eyes again he's standing next to the carousel in Fantasyland, Jodie still in his arms. He lifts his head and grins at the world around them. "It means I can do that!"

They're dreaming? Jodie blinks as the shift occurs, then cautiously lifts her head. The rooftop is gone, and instead, they're… where are they? She gapes, twisting in Andrew's arms to look around at the milling families, the bright carousel, as Aiden drifts straight up into the air to get a better idea of their surroundings. He is the first one to spot the unmistakeable castle rearing above the entire park, and the tether hums with excitement.

They've never been here before. They never thought they could come here; Jodie's father never would have allowed it. But here they are. Jodie turns to Andrew, a faint, incredulous smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Are we in Disney World?" she asks shyly, as if afraid to believe it.

"We are," Andrew confirms, delighted at her reaction. Score one for the meta-crisis! "Much better, don't you think? If we're going to dream, we should do it in style."

Silently he hopes he can remember enough of the park to keep it stable if she wants to ride the rides or see the other lands. The trick is probably to not think about it too hard and to let it be a bit of a mishmash so long as his brain doesn't leave gaping holes in the setting. Already the other people are dressed in clothing from mismatched decades, faceless until one concentrates on them and sees a random face from his past.

"We've never been here before," she says. Her own clothes have, without any sort of deliberation on her part, shifted into something more appropriate for the setting: jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt.

Her smile fades a little as she remembers why they've never been here. Her parents weren't at liberty to take her on vacations, but even if they had been, they wouldn't have brought her someplace like this, with all these people. Glancing up at the empty air, she pleads, "Be good, okay?" Now that they're here, she's worried Aiden will ruin it all.

Andrew glances up along with her, seeing nothing but aware she's certainly not talking to him. By now she's inadvertently dropped enough clues -- albeit most of them consisting of her screaming a single name under duress -- that he can hazard a guess. "Are you talking to Aiden?" he asks gently, though he has no idea who this Aiden character is.

Jodie hesitates for a moment. Maybe she should've been more careful, but Andrew seems nice, and he already knows some of what Aiden can do. She nods, puffing out a little sigh.

Alright. Definitely a second presence, or at least a little girl who believes there is one. This being a dream, an imaginary friend could easily become 'real.' Or Aiden could be a waking world person who's just invisible right now.

"He's the one who helped us earlier, isn't he?" he asks.

Another shy nod. "He knows how to fight the monsters, now." Too bad he hadn't learned it earlier; if he had, she wouldn't have had to be in the lab in the first place. But maybe this means she can go home soon, now that he knows.

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