21st Century Outbreak

Chapter 1

"Billie, wake up," Mike said.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Hey," he continued. "You okay?"

It was dark, so it must've been late. I looked around my loft bed, then out the curtains to see the tour bus. Okay, it was just a dream.

"Billie?"

"Hm?" I asked. "Yeah, no I'm fine. Just nightmares..." I recalled the terror from seeing what I saw in the dream.

Mike nodded in the darkness. "Okay, but you were yelling like crazy. And it's almost 3 am. If there's something wrong, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks, but I'm fine, really. It's probably just one of those dreams you never forget, y'know?"

He nodded again before closing the curtain and climbing down to his bunk below mine.

That morning around nine, I opened my eyes slowly, only to see the red curtain.

Everything's fine. No big deal.

I climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen area of the bus. Surprisingly, I was the only one up.

I made a bowl of cereal and sat at the table, reading the junk mail that had come last night.

A few minutes later, Tre got up.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," I said.

"Morning, loser," he joked. "Since when are you up before me?"

"Since I grew up and left you in childhood."

Tre laughed and sat across from me with his own cereal. "So what's new?"

"Mm, nothing?" I replied. "We practically live together, wouldn't you know?"

"What was all that yelling last night?"

I looked up from the junk mail. "Nightmares," I said, looking back down.

"That's it?" he asked. "There's got to be more to this 'nightmare' of yours."

I looked back up and set the mail on the table. "Okay, well I dreamt I was abducted by aliens."

"That's awesome!"

"But their leader, maybe, tried talking to me."

"Where'd they come from? The aliens?"

I shrugged. "Anyway, the leader ended up being my wife, so yeah. That's why I yelled."

Tre looked shocked and interested. "Dude, that's such a cool dream. I mean bad but cool."

"And it felt so real, too. Not like other dreams." I recalled the feeling in the dream. So angry, but why?

"Whoa," Mike said, crawling out of his bunk. "Billie, you're awake? This is crazy."

I playfully rolled my eyes. "So, anyone know when and if we're playing today?"

"First off," Tre started. "A frontman should know his own schedule."

"Boy, you sound like my mom."

"Second, not today. Tomorrow we're performing, but today we're rehearsing."

I nodded.

Mike sat down with some bacon,

"Where the hell did you find that?" Tre asked. "I want some."

"The fridge," Mike said. "Maybe you should look next time."

"You two are like an old married couple," I joked. "Anyway, I'm gonna get dressed and maybe go to a nearby Starbucks." I put my bowl in the sink and went to the back room. Instead of pajamas, I put on a pair of black skinny jeans and a t-shirt.