Later, though, I had another dream. Very vivid, detailed, and strange, as most of my subconscious musings are. So here it is... a storified retelling of my dream.
(No, I really don't know what caused the following dream to occur.)
"We're so glad you took time out of your busy schedule to take the tour of our remarkable facility," the tour guide announced in his pseudo-joyful tone. But it was obvious to anyone who looked in his eyes -- he was disgusted with these people, and he was disgusted with these tours. He led several of them a day, and spoke the same scripted garbage every single time. The monotony was enough to make him want to throw himself over the otherwise chained-off ledges.
I found myself suddenly nudged softly in my ribs. I blinked, snapped out of my own distant daydreaming, turning my attention to my boyfriend.
"Why are we here?" He asked me, looking a little vexed at me.
I shrugged. "I don't know," I answered honestly. "But I figure that since we're already here, we may as well go along with it."
"Fine," he replied, looking around with a near impatient look on his face. "But if this is boring, I'm going to be upset."
"I'll deal with that if the time comes."
"When the time comes."
I cut him a sideways glance, and began to follow the group of spectators and strangers that laid out in front of us.
"We do request that all our visitors wear these bracelets," another guide spoke as he attached a metallic chain around my left wrist. "This way, we can keep up with our visitors and keep them safe. Now then, if you'll come along this pathway, the tour will begin..."
I tugged gently on the strange metallic band that had been practically forced upon me, noticing that it didn't feel cold like most metal objects tend to feel. I pressed it tight between two fingers, tugging on it again, swearing that for a moment, it had a pulse of its own.
"Don't play with it," my boyfriend chided after a moment. I couldn't help but notice the expression on his face suggesting his own desire to prod at the bracelet he'd received.
"Something doesn't feel right about this place," I declared quietly.
"Like what?"
"The bracelet... I don't think they're using them just to keep up with the visitor count. It... felt like it pulsed."
"Are you sure you didn't just feel your own pulse?"
I blinked and mulled it over. "No... I'm not sure. Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm being paranoid."
"They're going to leave us behind if we keep stalling."
"Then let's go."
The guide was continuing his big dramatic lecture about the history of the facility. "...which was created about twenty years ago. Today, this facility is where we do the majority of our research. As we deal with very dangerous elements and conditions, there will be many places that we are unable to take our tourists. Please follow me."
The group was led down a long passageway with a multitude of doors on either side. Below the floor was a hundred foot drop into steaming green fluid, which we were told we wouldn't want to try to interact with. Despite my fear of heights, I leaned over the ledge and squinted into the material. It seemed thick and stagnant. I was quickly pushed forward, and continued with the group.
As we walked past one of the doors, an awful screamed pierced through what was supposed to be soundproof metal. Everybody in the group seemed to jump about three feet, turning towards the source of the sound.
"Please return your attention to me and the other guides," the disgusted man quickly shouted. "We still have many places to see before the tour is over, and this procrastinating will get us nowhere."
The group hustled on ahead, but I stayed back. My boyfriend stayed at my side, though he seemed to vehemently disapprove of my decision.
"You'll get us in trouble," he warned softly.
"I have to know what that sound was," I replied, carefully grabbing the door handle and twisting it. To my surprise, it actually opened. I walked through and found myself standing in what almost seemed like a new building altogether. The walls and floors were solid white, and the hallway had a very sterile scent. I blinked and took a few steps forward, rubbing my hand against the walls. "Feels like concrete."
"Look over here," my boyfriend announced suddenly. "I found a window."
I quickly walked over to where he was standing. A very large pane of glass was inserted into a portion of the wall, revealing another room. There were frightened looking people within the confines of the other room, huddled together in the center of the room. We looked for a door but found none. Another panel of glass soon was found, followed by another. They each produced the same result -- frightened masses of prisoners huddled together and trying to keep it together.
"What is this place?" My boyfriend questioned me, as if I knew.
"I thought something wasn't right about this place." I said, almost to myself.
"We have to get out of here."
"But what about everyone else?"
We jumped in distress as a trapped human from the other side of the wall lunged at the window, clawing at it with inhuman ferocity. We stepped away from the window, then ducked out of view as a door opened from the other side of the room and what appeared to be guards rushed in. We cautiously leaned up just enough so we could watch what was happening. The guards grabbed the disturbed person and walked over to a platform. Suddenly, there was a loud creaking sound, followed by a screeching that faded for a few seconds, and ended with a splash.
"Did they just..." I couldn't finish my question.
"I think they did." He rose to his feet. "Come on, we really need to get out of here." He pointed straight ahead, as we couldn't go back the way we came. "Let's see if maybe there's something this way."
We walked quickly down what seemed like an endless corridor, refusing to glance into the windows that lined the walls. We had been traumatized by witnessing the behavior and treatment of those kept within those walls, and knew it would only have slowed us down. We finally made it to a door that was the same color as everything around us. He grabbed the handle and slowly turned it, shivering a bit as it creaked open. We were greeted by an old man in a solid white outfit.
"Hello, strangers," he said in a strangely somber voice. "Hurry and close the door before you are seen."
We shut the door and walked towards the center of the room. The old man continued. "It's been a while since anybody's been brave enough to break away from the group. It was a good call. You two stand a chance of escaping the facade alive."
"The what?" I asked.
"This is a facade factory, children. The people who run this place are actually very twisted people who only want to see pain and suffering inflicted upon others. It's rumored that these people were neglected in their pasts, and are exacting their revenge through torture and death. On the outside, however, this looks like a simple research facility. This is how they get their victims -- offering fake tours." The old man got up, trembling and barely able to hold his own weight.
"What are you doing here?" My boyfriend asked of the elderly man.
"I used to be a guide here," the man replied. "But the more I saw of the horrors that went on here, the less of it I could stand. Finally, they thought I fell insane, and they put me in here. I pretend to be crazed in order to help curious strangers like you try to avoid the fate that eventually awaits the rest of the tourists."
"What about everyone else?" I asked dismally.
"I'm afraid it's far too late for them. Anyone who remained on the tour line has probably been imprisoned by now. And those who are trapped here are no longer able to think for themselves. They have been poisoned by their imprisonment, and many are insane. You two are the only ones who stand a chance of escaping alive. However..."
"What?" We asked in unison.
"The guards already know that two of their victims are unaccounted for. They are probably looking for you as we speak. If they catch you, then there will be nothing that anybody can do to save you, and you'll be imprisoned within the facade forever, just like the rest." The old man sat back down and pointed to a vent in the wall above. "Hurry, children. Through that vent. It will take you into the heart of the facility. While I do not guarantee your safety, it is where you stand the best chances of escaping with your lives and your sanity. There are many places within the machinery for you to hide. Also, as soon as you can, get rid of the bracelets. Now that they know you're loose in the facade, they will soon activate them. The bracelets will slowly drain your life energy while also poisoning your mind. Please, children... don't let this second chance escape you."
We nodded and quickly went to the vent. Suddenly, we heard a furious pounding on the door we had just come through. Hurriedly, we pushed open the vent and my boyfriend insisted I go in first. I wanted to protest, but the door was slowly splintering. I scrambled into the vent and found myself suddenly falling down a long and dark chute. I reached up for him, unable to see. A few moments later, I felt his hand grip mine, and we plummeted through the claustrophobic shaft for what felt like an eternity.
We landed atop a large machine in the middle of an unsanitary and rusted room. We laid flat atop it while two people walked by.
"Have you activated the bracelets yet?" One of them asked.
"Affirmative," the other responded. "They have an hour of strength and two hours of sanity left. If we don't find them by then, they'll be dead of insanity or exhaustion."
I looked down at the bracelet on my wrist, seeing it suddenly flashing a pale green color. As the patrols walked past, I got up to my feet and looked around. Nearby, I saw a large chainsaw of sorts. "Look!" I instructed my boyfriend. "We can get these things off if we get over there."
"Then let's be quick," he replied. "We've only got two hours."
We jumped across the tops of the machines, occasionally pausing and ducking into dark crevices when our rustling around attracted attention. Fortunately, it seemed that the bracelets didn't possess tracking devices. My boyfriend made the last jump to the chainsaw without any trouble, then quickly motioned for me to follow. I jumped but missed the landing, holding onto the side of the machine and attempting to climb up it. He quickly leaned down to help me up, neglecting to release himself from his bracelet first.
"No," I yelped, "get the chain off first!"
"Living won't do any good for me if you're not with me," he insisted, holding onto me tight and pulling me up. I watched him quietly, looking alarmed when for a split second he looked down at me as if he didn't know who I was. He recovered, however, and pulled me up. Cautiously we got to the chainsaw and waited as it slowly chewed through the chain that had tethered us to a proverbial time bomb. Within five minutes, we were free from the death sentence.
"We still have to get out of here," I announced before letting myself get too pleased with our progress.
My boyfriend pointed nearby. "Look over there. That pathway has to go somewhere..." It was a long chute, much like the air vent that had dropped us into this room.
"Then let's go that way." We walked over towards it, looking up and trying to figure out how we were going to get up to it. Suddenly I noticed a conveyor belt of sorts and jumped up, grabbing hold of it. My feet rose from the floor, and I was being taken towards the chute. "Quick!" I shouted down.
The conveyor belt had us hovering over more of that strange green substance. The area was extremely hot and humid, almost stagnant. Down below, a skull of sorts seemed to float up from the substance and glance up at us. I shivered a little and tightened my grip on the conveyor belt. I watched my feet as they dangled helplessly, trying to convince myself that I was unafraid of heights. Down below on a lower platform, two guards were oblivious to us hovering just overhead. They were more focused on sweeping what appeared to be bones off the platform ledge.
We continued on for quite some time, until the conveyor belt seemed to turn back in the other direction. We dropped down to the platform we had been watching the guards on, carefully attempting to find a door before we were seen. By now we could hear an alarm blaring in our honor: Security breach: Two unauthorized personnel have infiltrated the facility. Find and eliminate at all costs.
We slipped through a door just as the two guards intercepted our location. We found ourselves in a room similar to the one we had seen all the imprisoned people within.
"A dead end," my boyfriend cried out in distress.
"Maybe not," I said. "Look." I pointed towards another window, one which appeared to be a path towards the outside world.
"Aha! We found them! They're attempting to break through the window!" We heard from the other side of the door. All the guards rushed away from where we were, apparently heading towards the outside to try and intercept us.
"Oh great," I mumbled softly, beginning to worry about the situation.
"Look at this," my boyfriend suddenly spoke up, moving a stepladder over towards yet another vent. "Wherever it goes is definitely better than us being here."
"Right, let's get moving," I nodded, jogging over as he moved the plate to the side.
We traversed the chute as cautiously as we could, trying not to make much noise. We popped out on the other side of the hallway, in another room with another outward window. I peered down towards the ground and saw nobody guarding the area. "This is it!" I declared. "Our escape!"
He was digging through a drawer, coming back with a large knife. "Will this cut us out?"
I took it from him and tapped the glass with it. After a few minutes of my tapping, the glass developed a crack or two. As I did that, he was steadily painting over the other window with white paint. The alarm became a dull broken record constantly repeating in the depths of our minds. However, we had both become remarkably calm. I slowly dug a path through the glass with the knife, then pushed hard on the glass and watched as it fell to the ground below. "We're open!"
"It's a long drop..." He pointed out as he walked over to join me.
"What choice do we have?" I growled somewhat.
"None, I guess."
Suddenly, a beating sound exploded on the door leading into our room. A nearby platform began moving, and the floor was slowly moving under us. Towards the wall. Below was more of that horrible green magma.
"What now?" My boyfriend asked, grasping the windowsill. I looked around hurriedly and spied a cord nearby. I ran over towards it and proceeded to try and yank it from the wall. "Stop it!" He yelled. "The floor's going to fall out from under you! Get back here!"
"Hold on," I growled with effort, nearly falling backwards as I snatched the cord from the wall. After a moment's recovery, I ran back over and threw part of the cord out of the window, tying the other half around something on the windowsill. "There. Now we get out of here."
"You go first." He insisted.
With no time to argue, I quickly climbed over the windowsill and grasped the cord tightly. I let myself slide down several feet before stopping myself, then watched as he climbed over and began traversing downwards. And down we headed, towards the ground.
Towards our escape.
We'd hit the ground running. We'd run as fast as we could, never look back, and hope to God we found civilization.
(Unfortunately, at this point I woke up. The perfect cliffhanger for a suspenseful and strange dream... do they make it or not? It's up to you to decide.)
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