Running for Life

Chapter 4

I open my eyes. It's dark, very dark. I can barely see my hand in front of my face, but I still see it. There must be light somewhere. I turn around and I see it. A light at the end of what seems to be a tunnle. I start running for it. I get closer and closer. I can tell it is a glass wall now. The closer I get, the more I can make out. As I get closer, I notice that there is a small white room on the other side of the wall. This is so strange. Where am I? What is going on? Why is there this small white room in a cave of darkness? Finally, I reach the glass. There's a chair in there,looks like a dentist chair, no doors. Yet there is a girl in there. I see the long, beautiful, flowy blonde hair and immediatly know it's Taylor. She's looking at the glass, thrashing like she's trying to get free, but there is nothing holding her down. I can see she is screaming in pain. Fear and adreniline run through my veins. I turn around to see if someone is behind me, but there is nothing as farr as the light reaches. Then, I turn back around and instead of seeing the glass wall giving me a front row veiw at Tay's tourcher, my reflection stares back at me.Somehow, there is still a faint glow coming from the wall. Now it's just me, all alone in the silent, pitch-black tunnel. I stare at my reflection marveling how this could be happening and then, I hear it. It's like the scream of a girl, but towards the end of the scream, it edges into the growel of a dog. I try to turn around to see where the noise comes from, but I can't move. It happens again, but this time, it sounds closer. Now, I am desperatly trying to turn around, to see what is coming toward me. Then finally, the third time it happend, it is a full howl. I see it now, in the mirror. I finally can move by the time I see a yellow haired dog coming at me in the reflection. I turn to look at it, and try to claim it. It keeps coming at me, snarling, mouth frothing. I stop trying to calm it and franticly look for an exit. I reach out to feel the walls. They are made of cement. It's made of cement? Why? Where am I? I start knocking on the walls, they don't sound hallow, so I can't break through. There has to be an exit somewhere. I can't be trapped in here. There's only one place left to check. So, I check the mirror. It sounds hollow, must be a room on the other side. Oh no, that's the room Tay's in. Or is she? I have one choice to make, be eaten by this dog, or possibly hurt Taylor in the process of surviving. She might not even be on the other side. So, I take the risk. I burst through the mirror, into the white room, and fall to the cold hard floor, landing on some shards. It's the same room Taylor was in, but she isn't here anymore. The dog comes up to the hole in the wall and slowly makes its way through. It comes up to me and stands over me, snarling, licking the foam from its lips. Just when the mouth opens wide and the mouth starts desending and it seems like everything is over, my eyes jolt open and I am back in bed, out of breath and covered in sweat, but at least I'm in the protection and saftey of my house. Light flooded into the room, and, for a second, I thought I was back in my other room, in the house that burned down. But then I remember last night, the light, it looks so inviting, so happy, so enjoyable, like nothing even happend last night. It makes me feel sick. It's so pretty out, it would never cross anyone's mind that a house just burned down. All the way down to absolutely nothing. Then i started thinking about my dream again and I realized something, That dog in my dream, it was Taylor. They changed her. They made her attack me. We had to have been at those labs. Then I realized something that made my stomach turn, that may have been a dream, but it was also a vision.

I slowly got out of bed and made my way to my closet. All summer clothes, and a few winter ones strewn in there. I finished getting ready for school and walked down the hall, and down the stairs. I was hit with the smell of bacon halfway down the stairs. To most people, bacon is a wonderful thing, a piece of heaven, but to me, its a bit of hell. Brian only makes bacon when bad news is going to be delivered. I couldn't take anymore bad news, not today, not tomorrow, not ever again. Bacon was made when they told me, "Ty, your ganny. Well, she passed away." I hate it when people say "passed away" to avoid the word died. Death is inevitable, don't try to cover it up with "pretty" words. Bacon also said, "We're moving." I hated leaving my friends in Iowa, but that was almost nine years ago and I'm over that now. Then one time, it meant, "I have cancer." That was the worst. It was a few years ago. I was fourteen, and Adam had gone to the doctor becuase his leg was in a lot of pain. He came back that night about four hours later, and he look devistated. I asked him what was wrong, if he would be okay. And he said he was just tired, so i didn't think about it. I went up to bed and fell asleep. The next morning there was bacon. He delivered the news to both Brian and me. We looked at each other, and then just sat there and cried. But today, has to be different, it could be different right? Maybe they'll tell me more about who I am and why people are hunting me. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed some bacon and eggs, and sat down at he table. No one was out here and the silence was irritating, almost mocking me. It was quiet like a desert in the night. No sign of life. Then Adam came out of their room, dressed in his usual nice suit with a hot pink tie that fades to blue at the tip. His hair was slicked to the right.
"How you doing bud?"
"Okay... Last night. It was a little nerve racking."
"Yeah I know. It was for me too." He went over and piled some bacon onto a plate and sat down. He looked like he wanted to talk to me about something so I asked what was on my mind. "Last night, Brian said something about tests and a street addresses and it's been in my head all night so what was all that about?"
"I don't think your ready."
"Ready? You don't think I'm ready for what?" My dad looked at me, studied me really hard, and hen shook his head.
"Your not ready. Come on, get in the car, we're going to be late for school." I only asked one question his time, "Why the bacon?"
"Excuse me?" Adam looked a little offended actually.
"The bacon, we only ever have it when you are going to tell me some bad news."
"You want bad news?" He said in an angered voice.
"Well no but-"
"Well I'd say last night was enough bad news for a good year. Okay? So don't ask about any bad news for a long time. You here me?"
"Okay. Thanks for the bacon." I got up and cleaned off my plate. I'm not ready? Not ready for what? I think after last night, I'm ready for anything. I picked up my backpack and got into the car. Adam got int the car a few minutes later and we headed off to school. I desided I would try one more time, "What was Brian talking about. Just tell me." Adam looked at me in the mirror and shook his head again. Then it finally came out. Only two words came out of his mouth, "The truth."