The third week passed.

We had actually managed to be very sparing with our food. We probably had enough for another month if we kept at our current pace, but we were starting to get antsy. Holing up in the basement like this... it wasn't living. We were going to need to leave this place eventually.

On Monday, I shared my thoughts with Jared. He agreed, said that it would be best to start moving and look for more food while we still had plenty left. If only we knew what was going on out there. We ended up deciding to leave on the next Monday.

Tuesday night, while Jared was fiddling with the radio, he actually managed to pick something up that wasn't just static. However, it wasn't human speech either.

"Is that... a sheep?" Jared asked, puzzled.

I strained my ears. The very distinct sound of a bleating sheep (or maybe it was a goat?) came from the speakers of the radio.

"What the hell?" I thought out loud, "It is."

We listened for about another minute.

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Every couple of seconds, the bleating of a sheep would echo through the speakers. Occasionally we'd hear another muffled bleating from what sounded like a bit off in the distance of wherever it was being recorded from.

"Someone leave recording equipment in a farm or something?" Jared said as he shrugged.

Farms were really only owned by rich people, millionaires and billionaires who wanted to eat actual meat instead of bugs and the processed stuff, which made the entire situation even stranger.

I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

The first time in nearly a month that we managed to hear anything on the radio, and it was something as strange and utterly unhelpful as this.

I shook my head and looked out the window at the rain. Jared stayed near the radio, listening carefully for anything else. All he heard was the sheep. Ten at night, the bleating stopped. He still kept it on that station, but nothing came up again.

That night, I had the dream about the cathedral again.

This time, however, it didn't end where it always had before.

When I reached the wall of darkness, it slowly faded away. The hooded figures around me started to chant loudly.

Steadily, the shape of a throne revealed itself at the end of the cathedral. My body kept walking forward against my own will.

There was a figure sitting on the throne, but it was veiled in shadows.

I stopped in front of it, and bowed.

A booming voice echoed through the entire cathedral. I couldn't understand a word it said.

The cloaked figures screamed with what sounded like ecstasy.

I felt a cold hand grab my heart...

And I woke up screaming.