Was I dead? I certainly felt like I was dead.

Groan.

Spring sunlight filtered into my hazy eyes between the shade of the toppled tree covering me. Which meant I hit my head on a branch when I sat up.

“Ouch.” On reflex, my hand rubbed my forehead—still no unicorn horn.

I chuckled a bit, then my eyebrows locked together.

If I could feel pain, that meant this wasn’t a dream. Yet, when I crawled from underneath the protective, fallen tree, my brain told me it couldn’t be anything but a dream.

The neighbourhood looked like an amateur demolition crew had knocked over trees and buildings and cracked the roads and sidewalks. Not that they’d be needed anymore since all the visible cars were wrecked.

“Guess that means no more late-night drives,” I spoke with a bit of confusion as I looked around.

What was going on?

I tried to remember what happened, but everything came in flashes. There was the dream—the rippling tea. Then there was…

I whipped my head back to see Grandma Sylvie’s house still standing. Well, half of it was. The other half was nowhere to be seen, replaced with a grassland that melded into a forest not far away. But the half that was still here held Grandma Sylvie’s room.

“But what about the… the rift. The… the care aid. He…” I only thought for a second before my body took over. I raced into the house and up the stairs and opened the door with a hint of hope.

Maybe they were all there. Grandma Sylvie would be lying in her bed with a smile as I entered. The care aid would scowl at me as I waltzed in, but at least he’d be alive.

My hopes dropped when I entered.

I saw the empty bed filling an even emptier room. There was no blood pressure monitor and no tubes of nutrient-filled liquids. It was just empty.

My knees caved into the floorboards as my head hit the ground in frustration. My fists pummelled the floorboards repeatedly until they started to bleed, and even then, it still felt like it wasn’t enough to vent the heaviness from my heart.

I can’t say how long I sat there like that, but I wasn’t quick to get up. It wasn’t until much later, and through heaving breaths, that I finally spoke out into the room.

“Thank you. Goodbye.”

I wish I could have said more. To have properly said goodbye to Grandma Sylvie and to hug her one last time before she was gone for good. But fate was against me.

I didn’t have the time I thought I had left.

Shatter!

The sudden shattering sound of glass made me shoot to my feet. I opened the bedroom door to investigate when my skin shivered with intuition. I hurriedly ducked my head and felt the wind brush over me as a blur of fur leapt where I previously stood. Looking back, I saw a horror that made me question if people could feel pain in a dream.

There’s no way that’s real, right?

Snarl!

“Fuck.”

I shut the door, skipped steps down the stairs, and ran out of the house faster than I had ever sprinted. Of course, the sound of a door shattering meant the horror wasn’t far behind. No, I made the mistake of turning my head back for another look.

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There were interweaving crimson vines entered in and out of the dog’s fur like some sort of mad science experiment. Its claws looked ready to slice through me, and its eyes were filled with dilated blood vessels that made my skin shiver.

And man, it was fast!

I was sprinting, and it jogged behind me like it was taking me for a walk around the neighbourhood. A beast like that was built for speed while I was made for eating.

But then, why didn’t it catch up to me?

The realization hit just as hard as the mailbox I crashed into. The damned dog was toying with me, running me dry until I couldn’t walk and then pouncing on me like an open buffet.

I jumped over hedges and fences, which it just rammed through. I pushed over my neighbour’s BBQ to impede it, but the claws scratched against the metal, giving it the extra leaping distance to catch up, not that it needed to catch up. I even got scratched trying to hit the thing with a lawnmower. As I ran, I noticed how it paused to flick off the oil on its body, not that it was very effective.

I was beginning to lose hope and lung capacity when I noticed my last trace of hope.

A sign that read ‘Charles Street.’

I ran between debris as the demon dog chased after me, pushing myself to run just a little longer. It wasn’t far now. Just a little bit further.

“Duck!” A familiar voice shouted out.

Bang!

I half-collapsed and half-tumbled out of the way as a rifle shell pierced the demon dog’s eye. It serves the damn thing right, getting cocky like that. The dumb demon dog made me wheeze for at least a mile.

“Louie!”

I felt arms hook around my shoulders as I got dragged inside the house and left propped up against the couch. I saw a big-toothed grin on my best friend’s brother’s face as he said something I couldn’t register. Probably some dumb joke, like always. Then, his face grew serious as more shouting sounded out around us. He left, and I watched as everyone whizzed around, trying to control the situation.

The front window had been smashed open, and I watched as Mr. and Mrs. Collins held up their outdated hunting rifles and fired.

Why were they using the old rifles?

I didn’t have time to question as they started firing again.

I slowed my heavy breathing, wiped the tears from my face, and sat up. I couldn’t just sit here catching my breath while everyone did something. Thankfully, my best friend recognized my intentions to help.

“Louie! Louie, go hold the door with Arden!” A feminine voice spoke behind me, and I turned to see Abby yelling orders at me while she stacked furniture against the doors.

I typically wouldn’t take orders from her, but she was right. The front door looked like it would break open at any moment, and Arden was barely holding on with a flipped dresser propped against it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As expected of a police officer and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Collins gunned down demon dogs with hardly any missed shots. The position seemed very defendable.

Shatter!

What they didn’t expect was a window breaking.

Vines wreathed the mix of bat and bird that flew around the house, swooping at our heads. I heard Abby’s scream and felt my load get heavier as Arden grabbed the nearby baseball bat and swung at the demon bat.

Whack!

Arden gave the demon bat another hit just to be sure it was dead, which was great, but he left me alone with the door. And I couldn’t hold it by myself.

Snarl!

Bang!

I fell backwards as the door was forced open, and Mr. Collins quickly shot the first demon dog that entered. Unfortunately, the second and third demon dogs leapt over the couch and into the living room unhindered. The second demon dog snarled as it leapt toward Mr. and Mrs. Collins, who fired in sync.

Bang! Bang!

Scream!

“Abby!”

I dove towards Abby and knocked her aside with me, but the demon dog raked its claws against my back as I tumbled. I could feel the claws sink into my back, but with another round of gunshots, I could rest assured that it wouldn’t attack again.

The pain nearly took me to the floor, but I fought against it, like when I got that lousy road burn on my scooter. I tumbled to the open door, ready to shut it and prop up the furniture again. I made it to the door but froze as I met face-first with another growling demon dog.

Well, shit, this is it. I’m dead.

I didn’t move a muscle as I watched the demon dog and the others behind it. They stared me down with blank looks now in their eyes, and the bloodlust from before faded like it was never there. Gunshots rang out as Mr. and Mrs. Collins eliminated them, but now they stood still. They weren’t even running away.

They were staring us down as they died.

“Dad, the front door!” Abby yelled from behind me.

A final gunshot took out the demon dog before me, and I finally unfroze from my daze. When I looked around, everyone was pensive, scanning everywhere an enemy could be. I naturally looked to Mr. Collins, who peered through the scope of his rifle, ready to shoot anything that moved.

“All clear; I can’t see any more of them.”

At Mr. Collins’ words, I felt all the tension in my body slump down, and I collapsed to the floor.

Was it over? Am I still alive?

This all had to be a dream because if this wasn’t...

My thoughts ended on the way those demons stopped at the end, making it clear that something else was up. Regular beasts don’t suddenly change like that, not that a demon dog was normal by any means. Either way, I—

An overbearing need to sleep suddenly clawed at my body and overpowered my mind. And by sleep, I mean passing out.