Ganama

Day 20.

That morning I returned to a life I had forgotten months ago, last night. In a passing of only a few hours I had changed from wanting to run away, to wanting to run back. The forest had lost the promise of freedom and hope, and now presented itself a place of death and evil. Picking up my bag, I started making my way back to the police station. I knew it would be stupid to go anywhere else, I would end up there either way.

As I kept on walking back to town, the true twisted nature of my dream became more and more apparent. Then, as the ringing sound of waking up began to wash away, another, more familiar sound moved in. From all around me, I could hear Meg's constant screaming, it filled the forest as a recognizable tune, like the music you never notice in a store until you listen for it. It gave the uneasy balance of foreshadowing and dependability that kept my heart at the edge of terror.

At the same time I noticed that there was another helicopter in the sky looking for me. I joked at the idea that I had my own personal helicopter waiting to take me away.

"At least my taxes are going towards something useful."

I remembered I had a small mirror in my backpack, and put that with the knowledge that you can signal search parties by flashing something reflective at them. I tried this for a while as I kept walking forwards with no success.

The path I took back must have been the wrong one, as I found it very different. The further I went, the trees looked more and more perfect, almost synthetic. They were all lined in rows, had the same height, the same shape, and I swear they looked like they even had the same number of leaves. Then the grass became more and more perfect, also to the point of looking fake, like stadium turf.

Further ahead, there looked to be a large tube on the ground. It was a bundle of wires as thick as my leg. It laid perpendicular to me, and went on for as far as I could see. It had a yellow arrow pattern that pointed to my left. I followed the wires for hours until I found myself at a large cement wall. The wires went into a perfectly sized hole in the side, and out of sight. The perimeter of the wall was rather large, and the wall went up to oddly reach the exact height of all the "trees".

There were doors every so often that led inside, but every single one was locked. Each door read "SILICIUM" on the front, and below it was the corresponding door number. I realized there were twelve in total as I passed by door ten, then door eleven, and then to door zero. Door zero was different though, it wasn't really a door, but more of a barred window.

Inside the walls there was a concrete bowl the size of a large pond, filling the entire area. It resembled the shape of an upside down cone, and was completely filled with clear water. A small walking path went around the walls, and at every door there was an industrial ladder that led down into the bottom of the deep pool. The cables also led down into the water, and into the dark depths. I continued on, and eventually the forest began gain back it's natural look.

Some time later, the sun gave off an orange glow as it drifted past the horizon; grabbing for the mirror again I tried to signal the helicopter for a second time. This time the helicopter started rushing towards my area. Ropes repelled down, and three armed men slid down the ropes. One man shone his flashlight in my eyes to stun me as the two other men searched me down.

*BZZLEEP*

"Tango recovered."

*BZZLEEP*

"Gotcha Alpha 11."

The man turned his flashlight away from me and pointed it at the ground, a small distance away from us. The helicopter circled the spot before eventually landing there.

The two men grabbed me by the arms and took me to the chopper, almost lifting me off the ground. The bald man from the police station was inside. He was wearing a bulletproof vest over a white longsleeve shirt; his vest read "Tactrin". He eagerly leaned over as I sat down, and stretched out his hand to shake mine.