Across the Deadzone

Chapter 5: Ophelia

I jolt out of a nightmare, every single muscle in my body aching like I'd just run a marathon as I struggled to catch my breath. I wipe a line of drool from the corner of my mouth and sit up as fast as my body would allow. Whatever I was laying on creaked loudly as I moved.
The LED lights that had illuminated the flat earlier were dimmed. I got to my feet, groaning quietly as my muscles protested and I tried not to knock anything over in the dark.
I made my way into the living area and, as my eyes adjusted, I could just make out Wystan's form sprawled out on the couch. His leg was slung over the top of it, one arm brushing the ground. A tiny snore escaped his lips. I smiled and went to turn around to go to bed when I heard the couch groan and light flooded into the room.
Wystan sat up, rubbing at his eyes.
"I'm sorry if I woke you up. I was trying to be quiet."
"No, no, it's fine." He yawned, then seemed to wake up a little bit. "But you know what's not okay?" he asked in a scratchy, still-half asleep voice as he ran a hand through his hair in distress. "Telling me you're fine and then almost dying in the middle of my flat!"
I stared down at my feet. "Yeah..." I trailed off, realizing I had no real explanation other than I was used to dealing with my own problems, which was something a permanent citizen wouldn't understand.
He stood up and crossed the room, his hands reaching for my upper arms. I flinched away at his sudden movements. He sighed and let his arms fall back to his sides.
"Look," he started, "I know it's been a long time since we've seen each other but you still have to tell me things. Especially life-threatening poison that's turning your insides into human-flavored Jell-O. Okay?"
I stayed silent for a long moment. "Okay," I finally mumbled, guiltily. 
Wystan nodded quickly, then kept nodding, rubbing at his face.
I took a step forward. "Are you-"
"Just... give me a second." He held up a hand and I stopped in my tracks. He quickly made his way toward his table, grabbing an orange bottle of pills with shaking hands. He downed a couple, inhaled slowly, then exhaled, and turned back to me. "I just got you back." His voice quivered.
I stared with wide eyes, stunned into silence. "I'm sorry," I whispered, not knowing what else to say.
He shook his head, not looking me in the eyes. Licking his lips, he said, "I should, uh, get some sleep. I have work in the morning." I nodded, chewing at my lip.
"Goodnight."
"Night."
I walked toward the bedroom and sat myself down on the mattress on the floor. It creaked again. The light clicked off and I was plunged into darkness, the kind that you only got inside of a cave.
I tried to close my eyes and fall asleep, I really did, but flashes of the blast kept flooding in until I saw nothing but that subway station. I felt nothing but that first blast of heat that seemed hot enough to peel your skin right off your bones, even from inside. All I could hear were the terrified shrieks and the inhumane screams of the people being melted alive right above me. Out of every horror I'd seen since that day, nothing came close to the blast. Other than maybe...
I forced myself to stop. My heart pounded in my chest so hard I thought it was going to jump out onto the floor ten feet away. Tears streamed down my face. I wiped them away.
"Wystan?" I heard myself call. Damnit, why did I do that?
"Yeah?" he croaked.
"Could you- could you actually come in here?"
He didn't respond and I almost thought he had fallen asleep when a lantern clicked on again. He appeared in the entryway with the light in his hand, shoulders slumped forward tiredly and his eyes bloodshot.
I scooted back until my back hit the cave wall so he had enough room. He set the light down on the flood and flopped down face first beside me, which wasn't very safe considering how close his head came to hitting the wall.
He was already asleep, although I don't know how I know. I reached across him to turn off the light. Having him there, the comforting warmth of his body, eased my mind somehow.
In no time at all, I was out cold.
   
When I woke up again, my circadian cycle told me it was morning. The time for the nighttime horror movie of the past was over. No, now it's time for the regular horror movie, otherwise known as present day living. Wystan was still sleeping beside me, limbs just as outstretched as last night.
I shook him awake, recalling that he said he had a job to get to. He jumped, mumbling, "I'm awake."
"Yeah, sure, Sleeping Beauty." He laid his head back down, resting against his forearm. "Don't you have to get to work?" His eyes popped wide open.
"Shit." He hopped up and disappeared from the bedroom. I heard him stumbling around, getting dressed. There came the unmistakable sound of pills rattling in a bottle. I was curious, but didn't want to pry. It wasn't any of my business.
A skull-rattling bell clanged, muffled in the small flat. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." I heard a thud and something clattered to the floor. I sat up, eyebrows furrowed.
He appeared around the doorway, hopping around on one foot as he tried to get his shoe on. "Okay, um, I have to go. I'm already really late. But, go see Cleo. She runs the bake stand in the Main Cavern. Sweet old lady, can't miss her. I heard her talking about how she needed help with something or other. She pays well, trust me. There's extra rations on the table. I'll see you tonight." He somehow said all of this in one breath then was out the door before I could even say thanks.
I went through my morning routine much slower than Wystan, letting myself be tired. Seizures tend to take a lot out of you.
Speaking of seizures, my head was still woozy, like someone had shoved cotton in my ears while I was inhaling water through my nose.
Shaking my head to dispel the sensation, I pulled my hair into a messy bun, secured my belt around my waist, opted to leave my backpack- and machete- behind, and grabbed a bag of dried nuts and fruits that Wystan had left for me.
The corridor from Wystan's flat is partially dark and half-full of people still half-asleep. I followed the flow of traffic, hoping it was the way to the Main Cavern. I hadn't really been paying attention yesterday. My shoulder had been aching too much. It still was, but thankfully not as bad.
I guessed right. The group of people flooded out in the Main Cavern, just like I hoped. The smells of cooking food, sweaty people, and gunpowder attacked my senses. Every inch of the cave was either packed with a booth or bodies.
I craned my neck to try to see over the crowd. Cleo. Old lady running a bake stand. How hard could it be to find her?