From Day Dreams of a Spaced Out old Man comes

[Deleted54170User]

DANGER! Frail human being, DANGER!

NO DAY DREAMING ALLOWED IN THE WORK AREA!

 

My memory of a previous employer shouting at me made me think of that.

She had to shout, because I was really in deep concentration while day dreaming about the girl I met and what we could do after I got off work and got cleaned up. You know, 1st date.


The smoke from the forest fires cleared from the sky yesterday afternoon. Day dreaming indoors about what to do outdoors is no longer necessary.

 

With the smoke gone my day dream faded. To chores outdoors, and to work cleaning the remains of burnt wood from the trees that got burned in the forests fires.

 

Afterward I can get out there and do my best doing the outdoor plan I've devised.

 

What did you day dream about doing when you had some time off from your daily grind? Hopefully you had some time without having to have one of natures dangerous disasters keeping you from enjoying your own time off from the daily grind. Or did your employer keep interrupting you when you were day dreaming and told you to get back to work?

 

Day dreamers in work areas?! Nooo!

[Deleted54170User]

I got to play and finish playing Fallout: New Vegas's DLC "Old World Blues". FINALLY!

 

Wow! That was really fantastic!

 

Dr. Mobius lives on. I let him live. I thought it was the correct thing to do. :geek: He's really so absorbed in writing his math equations on the floor in his spacious laboratory, while the other's 5 scientist's plans to move out into Vegas wasteland got put on lay-a-way until they can clean up their bio-gel. :ermm:

 

That ends another wondrous adventure :sleep: , that was almost like real work :huh:. Now I can get back to working on the fixer upper little house I bought, almost on the end of the block, with it's little fixer upper bomb shelter under it, that is just outside of the Big, MT; near Great Falls, Montana.

[Deleted54170User]

Big, MT... Smirk. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Deleted54170User]

The Big, M T Smirk. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Ah! The serenity!

Quiet and peaceful.

Spending almost all day indoors.

Making fresh water.

Making breakfast.

Eating breakfast with orange juice

Buttered toast.

Eggs over easy.

Strips of bacon.

Making an Espresso'.

Making fresh soil.

Day Dreaming.

Ah! The way it was, when my grand parents talked about the way it was.

Ah! The way it was,

When Father or Mother was day dreaming about the way it was.

Oh! And the way they all talked about the ways it could be.

If I can only keep up doing all the things I need to Terra-Form the Planet.

Before it lays me to waste!

Was it?

Could I actually find the time,

to figure out what it was I wanted to do,

the time before,

when I was very young,

before when I had to start doing

all the chores,

just so I can enjoy the way it is,

that was.

[Deleted54170User]

The thrill of emotional rushes is what some seek, while the rest of us try to give it to them.

I ponder a question. As though someone might ask.

This Autumn; what games will give you a rush of thrills and spills?

[Deleted54170User]

Prologue

I never felt anything when the strange device came into contact with my skull.

I had stopped to look at what a store keeper had put in their window display. I saw a reflection on the glass. A blur distorted the view behind me. It was barely visible. I had never seen anything like it before. Then I saw what must have been what hit me.

It appeared out of nowhere. I felt my body sinking down to my knees. It felt as though I had just peeled off a jumpsuit. There was no pain just a sudden feeling of relief as it seemed my body sank to the ground right in front of me. I felt like I still stood there, upright.

The notion of being separated from my flesh and bone left me stunned. I had nothing on me, at the moment, worth stealing and I thought it might be that I just had a hunger attack.

The part that gets me was I felt like I was still standing up. I felt like I had just shed my body like it was nothing more than clothing. Suddenly I felt, no, I seemed to gain some control. I felt as though I were moving. It felt like I bent down and picked up a pair of trousers on the floor and put them on.

Suddenly there was pain. It was intense where the object that appeared floating in thin air touched my head. After a moment I could see from my bodies eyes.

I sensed I had just arranged my body like a suit and tie. I felt intense heat on the back of my head. I nearly fell down to my knees. I felt my head swim as I regained and maintained consciousness.

I saw that the window glass I had been looking at was gone. I thought maybe I had fell forward into the big picture window glass and broke it. As I focused and saw more clearly I could see the glass, the items I thought I saw inside on display, and the frame of the window was not there. The space was shrouded in a light fog. I thought I must be suffering from a concussion.

Suddenly brilliant white light surrounded me. I gasped and inhaled sharply. It felt like I had just been filled up inside my body. I felt like what it might feel like when filling a glass pitcher with cool water. Suddenly I desired a carbonated drink. One with caffeine and lots of sugar.

My vision came back to me again and the place where I had been returned to the way I saw it before. I turned around quickly and crouched. I heard the glass shatter behind me. I saw a person with a fierce look on his face. A crowd of people ran in the street. They were destroying everything in their path. A siren blared. I felt a gentle breeze begin.

The breeze became a surge gaining force as I stayed crouched near the store front. A broad street sign bolted to the concrete was between me and the air flow. I was glad to have it there. I thought the wind was just picking up a little bit and would cool me down. Then next thing I knew it sent all of the people in the street flying like leafs on the wind.

I crouched down lower and put my arms over my head and leaned into the stand blocking the wind. The screams of people was mingled with the winds whistles. As the bodies flew past I got glimpses of their faces. The voices were drowned out by the shrill of the wind passing the edge of the big street sign I was crouching by. I heard a loud thump on the other side of the sign. I instinctively bowed and covered my head.

As I stared down on the side walk I saw droplets seeping toward my feet from under the signs crack at the bottom of it. It occurred to me it must be raining. I looked up a little. I saw streams of dark fluid passing off the outer edge of the sign. A woman's face appeared as if she were sneaking up to peak at me. A moment of hope that she and I were playing the game of hide and seek passed away as swiftly as her severed head. The wind lifted it away.

I thought. The bomb! They dropped the big one?!

The sound of thumps on the opposite side of the sign increased. After what seemed like time stood still I backed up to get closer to the brick wall behind me nearer to the stores door. The wind drown out all the sounds except is own whistle and gusts. The fierce screams it made when it found cracks and holes it could pass through was almost like human terror.

I realized the thumping sounds ceased. I hoped the wind was dying down.

I backed up further into the doorway to the store. As I turned to look for shelter inside I could see streams flowing along the concrete filling every seam and crack. I thought the wind had slowed, but it wasn't.

I crouched inside the store's entry way wall. I wondered why the thumps had stopped. I dared not look up and out, because my eyes might be blinded by the light of the bomb or the wind might strike me blind. Shade occurred outside my eyelids. I sensed darkness coming. I thought maybe a cloud had formed overhead. I felt my will to not look fading. I fought the urge. I let my sense test what I felt with my exposed skin. It was not burning or getting too dry.

My clothes were wet though, and I had s*** myself, but I was alive. I thought the darkness clearly was a sign of the wind finally slowing. I opened my eyelids a slit. I moved my elbows so I could see a bit above my forearms.

A ceiling made it darker. Somethings had spilled over the top of the big sign I had been cowering by a few moments. A wall in formed in front under it. Darker?

It was pitch black. My eyes began to focus. I saw limbs hanging down from the top. Bodies piled high up had literally been stacked up as they poured over the sign to my left and fell down to the right, and in front of me. The arms and legs hanging down among them looked like untrimmed branches in a hedge. All of the dead bodies were piled only a few feet from the brick wall jutting out from the doorway and a few feet from the sign that gave me cover. As I live and breath!

I was trapped there. My mind slipped. I was felt terror crowding out my sanity. I had to reason with something to save myself from the insanity. Why I was here?

I arrived in the big city looking for fame, fortune, and glory. Acting was what I always wanted to do.

I might find all that I needed in the big city to make my dreams come true. I felt my panic rise up into my throat. I stared out at the heap. I heard sounds, whispers behind me. Behind the store's door. I turned to look. I could barely see it. No glass style. I remembered, it had no windows.

I called out. Waited for the whispers that came from there to answer. I wondered if the building was still there on the other side. I tested the door. It was locked. There might have been people inside the store panicking and screaming, but the sounds only sounded like whispers. I sat down. there was only a few feet between me and the pile of corpses. I decided if anyone was inside they might let me in. Then it hit me. In my confusion I forgot it was a store.

More then likely it was closed at this hour! I thought about what I should do. If I could not break in, I was trapped there. Maybe the big picture window was broken. I could try to squeeze past the corpses. I looked out at the heap of bodies. I panicked. I sat down. I felt my sense of reality slipping away and natures roar went silent for the moment. I collapsed.

Surrounded by the corpses protecting me from the real danger outside the pile.

[Deleted54170User]

Chapter 1

 

I awoke.

My thought turned to survival. I must. On the verge of losing anything I had left of a mind I turned to the door for one chance of getting out of the pile of rotting corpses.

It was a strong lock. I searched my pockets. Panic began to fill my mind. I breathed deeply, suddenly. My chest hurt. I must have lost all my military manly manner and cried myself to sleep. I felt my cheeks and the residue dried there felt like goop. I knew that some time was spent crying like a baby, and yet, a spark of severe desire to live brought me back to now.

The door. A door. A master lock. A person with a desire to keep out people at night. I imagined it was a steel door too. I imagined. I felt insecurity creeping on my minds fringe of what was real and what I imagine. There wasn't enough light to see if the door was hardened steel. I touched it with my hands. Almost like I was caressing another person hoping to sooth them.

I felt smooth paint over a series of rippling carved wood. WOOD!

I tapped on it. Waited a moment. Pounded on it. I heard sound from my pounding on it echo in the space beyond. I waited another moment. Silence. I pounded on it again. Hoping for someone to answer I opened my mouth to speak. My throat was so sore I barely squeaked out a hello. I struggled to work up some saliva and swallow.

The moist fluid pained me as I tried to swallow. Through my ragged tonsils I called out again. Hello.

I waited.

There might be someone, some good Samaritan inside. I'd rather there is than to break in and make an acquaintance with someone out of their mind ready to fight. I worked up some more saliva. Hello.

My sanity was beginning to be ripped by worry. Worry like a venomous poison driving me to the extreme. The hope someone else survived and was on the the other side of the door lingered on my mind. I hoped I would hear a voice, a sound that would break the silence. My stomach growled.

The door between misery and me.

I wished I would fall asleep and suddenly hear a voice calling out, "breakfast is ready". I was still sane enough to reason with the past. I was still strong enough.

I drove my right shoulder into the door.

It buckled. I felt the air flood into the crowded space. I smelled blood. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. The air seeped out from around the door was like perfume.

I hit the door with another ram of my right shoulder. The locks post gave. The air flooded my nostril. Musty clean air.

I fell in flat on the floor. Smooth cold floor tiles met my faces cheek. Cold refreshing air seeped into my nose while pressed against the tiles.

Ah!

Cold?!

I looked up. The room was dark. I sat up ready to get to my feet quickly. I let my eyes focus. The building was intact on this level. Cool air.

Cool air after an A bomb?

I was weak still, hungry, and needed water. I looked around the room, ready to crawl if I had to, to get to any water or food that might be nearby. Water. At least water. I tried to remember what kind of shop it was.

I moved on all fours until I passed some shelves. I looked toward the back for a water fountain, a door, a restroom. I reached the end of a shelve and poked my head around to look behind it. I felt my eyes winch when a bright strip of white beamed into me. I squinted. I looked again. My eyes adjusted. I realized it was a beam of light almost as thin as a hair. I looked to see where it originated. I felt like a child that had discovered something wondrous and wondered if I would get snatched up off the floor and given a tender hug and stern warning from my Mother. That's a no, no!

I could see better. I saw that it was a customer trip light to cause a noise to let the owner know someone was entering another room. I grab at the shelf using my hands I got to my feet. I could see I was next to a path to get to the check out stand. Cordoned off with ropes and poles.

The air was still. Cool, but still.

I stepped over the little beam of light. I turned toward the dark space beyond it. I walked over to the wall the beam stopped at. I slid along the wall for support. My jacket snagged on something at my shoulder. I felt around it. A set of switches. I wondered if there would still be electricity. They must have a back up generator? I flipped the first switch I felt. Light flooded into my eyes.

[Deleted54170User]

Chapter 2

I kept my eyelids shut for a minute. It was just the opposite of letting them adjust when walking into a dark room. I waited.

I raised my left hand to cover my eyes. I opened them slowly. I friggin don't believe it. I'm in a fast food shop. I looked at the switches. I read the labels. Fountain, food container counter, restroom. I stopped reading at restroom. Switch on! A neon light pointed the way.

I turned to go to clean up, when I saw the word, television, on a label. I flipped it on. Nothing happened.

It shook me up. I felt the need to seek help. I went to find the restroom. I walked through the door. It was a single room for one occupant. I walked over to the sink. Turned on the tap. Almost stuck my hands into the water as the water spewed out.

This is a simulation device to train all you grunts in the event of an all out nuclear war, if you should be so lucky as to not be where the bombs fall. The bathroom mirror faded into my view. I saw the puffy red bags under my eyes. Proof I had cried like a baby all night. I looked down at the water coming out of the faucet.

Definitely water. I grabbed a paper towel and dropped it into the sink to see what would happen. I watched as I stood there recovering from the shock that I remembered to wait; startled by the fact I even remembered the simulation training program. The return of society from the devastation might be left up to you. Ya da ya da ya da. I laughed. My throat strained so much it hurt like... I saw the paper drinking cup dispenser just as I was about to drive my hands into the water to get a drink.

I took one and filled it. I sipped. Cool water. I coughed. My sore throat went spastic as the water reasoned with my tonsils.

I suddenly remembered the condition of my shorts. I started to strip. I felt a flicker of modesty fearing someone might walk in.

I stripped, trying to wash up using the sink proved to be a challenge. I took my dirty clothes over to the divide wall. Washed them one by one, first the shorts and trousers, just like Mother used to I used the toilet to flush out all the crap and dried urine. Used the hand soap to rinse everything including my trousers and my socks before I hung them all to dry on the toilet divide wall.

When I stepped out of the latrine with the paper towels I fashioned into a loin cloth I remembered the television set. I looked around for the remote.

I saw it right under the cash register counter. The TV flickered. The screen filled with static and white spots. I pressed the channel button looking for a station that was live.

Blacked out, blacked out, static, static... A woman appeared. If you're watching, you and I are among the lucky ones. I've been trying all morning to get the station up and working. If you're watching, I have not been able to get a phone to work. I have no news about what caused last nights destruction. I'm afraid... I am not the person who runs this place. I just happened to be using the bathroom...I was following a guard to the door to let me out. She ran out to help a friend who had been knocked down by some invisible force. She got knocked off her feet before I could got out the door. They were... They were swept... Swept away like leaves in the wind. I'm...

She started crying. They were swept away.

[Deleted54170User]

Chapter 3

I remembered last night. What she said. Swept away!

Swept? Swept away?

What?

What?!

The bright flash. She saw no bright flash, no heat, no burn?! They were just swept away!

I saw a bright flash, no heat, bodies swept away. ???

It wasn't a bomb! The bodies would have been disintegrated if it was.

I heard her voice squeaking like mine did. I turned to watch. I knew I needed to listen, learn what ever she could tell me.

She continued.

I can't believe I am even alive. I hope someone sees this. I think there might be a way out on the roof. But I am too scared to go look right now.

She got up and walked off camera.

Where are you going? Don't leave!

I was stunned that she just got up and walked off. Feeling like a child that was deserted, I looked at the TV's monitor trying to understand what made her decide to leave. I started feeling miserable. I looked for something, anything to rid me of my misery.

I walked over to the soda machine. Started to fill a cup with cold water.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her return with a coffee mug. She sat and sipped some of her brew. She start blubbering with her head down looking into the cup. She looked up. I am trying... Sob!

I searched the building... all morning... I can't believe there isn't another person in the building. On second... she sipped from the coffee mug. Look at the mug and crying... thought I saw a door that said service tunnel entrance. I think... I'm... I'm so scared... I think it might be safer to use the tunnels. Maybe after I finish this tea I will feel better.

My mental gears started turning.

Tunnels? Service tunnels...

I started to go searching. Stopped, better eat something, better make a up a pack. Clothes? Drying. She's alive. Someone else might be too. Calm down.

CALM THE f*** DOWN! Soldier! It's just a simulation.

Yeah! It seemed so... really fun though. It's almost like a game Sarge. All those weird creatures and... and... humans turned into mutants, turned into ghouls? Where do people get these idea?

My mind ticked off the memories. I seemed to have turned into a ranting idiot. I focused. Cleared my mind. I stared back into my new home. The fast food joint. I shook my head. Water... calm myself down.

Bathroom was across the room. Raised the soda cup, pushed it under the soda dispenser, pressed the water button, and splashed the water in my face. Yeah! Calm down.

s***! My loin cloth is falling apart. Water and paper towels do not mix well under these conditions. Remember that! I stood at attention.

Throwing kisses at the woman on the TV.

It wasn't a bomb! It wasn't an A-bomb. Dancing and prancing around. It wasn't an A-bomb. It wasn't an A-bomb.

What am I doing? Sheeze.

My clothes?! Dry?

In my bare feet I skipped along and slid across the tile floor.

I walked into the bathroom. Checked my clothes. Still damp.

HM? I turned to go. I noticed something behind the opened door to the bathroom.

A hand drier! Alright!

[Deleted54170User]

Chapter 4

As my clothes dried, one by one, I put them. Clean shorts, clean socks, clean T-shirt, etc., etc.. I walked out of the bathroom. I heard the gal talking. Grabbed the remote and turned up the volume so I could hear her clearly where ever I was in the building. It made me feel a bit better knowing someone else was out there somewhere who was... Alive.

Time to search the back room.

I always wondered what was in the back room in one of these fast food places. I stood for a moment looking at all the stacked cases and stuff. I saw a blank wall. My mind suddenly made a stop to think.

I could almost hear that simulation game guide. Stop thinking about all the things you see; and start thinking of what you will need to survive. What are you going to be up against when you go outside?

Three of those tall lockers like they have in the schools got my attention first.

One was locked with a padlock. The other two I only had to jimmie. I found some spare clothes that were a bit big for me. Beggars can't be choosers. All of a sudden I remembered a day when I was at a class the Y. M. C. A. was offering. I was 12. There was a special piece of gear we needed if we were going on the hiking trip into a national park.

I found some wooden crates. I found a store workers jacket that was way too big for me. Perfect.

I tied the ends of the sleeves into knots so the sleeves would hold stuff. Perfect to pack up all the little bags of chips, snack bars, and party favor food. A small refrigerator in back had a couple of bottles of booze. Antiseptics!

I took a swig out of the bottle that had not been opened yet.

Whoah! Yup! Antiseptic for... and smooth.

I suddenly had an urge for fresh food. I went out front to look in the main service's trays. They were empty. No other frig so they must get that in the morning to fill the main food ingredients trays before they opened for business. I turned and went back to the back room. Examined the janitor's stuff.

I found a gallon jug for bleach that was almost empty. I rinsed it out several times to remove any last bit of the bleach in it. Filled it with water. I took apart a shipping crate. Found some straps I recognized. They were those new kind two people used for lifting refrigerators, couches, washers and dryer. I had seen them do it on TV.

I made them into shoulder straps for the backpack. With the boards I pried off the shipping crate, I started making a backpack plan.

I tied the boards together with twine I found in a foot locker. I tied the coat to the backpack. I finished packing the coat and zipped it up on with food and the spare clothes, essentials. I searched the bathroom. Opened the soap dispenser. The bag was nearly full. I took the bag of soap out of the hand dispenser in the bathroom. Broke the lock on the ladies dispenser. The pads were useful in case I needed bandages for big wounds, the tampons would fill a bullet hole.

I was going to ignore the manly safe thinkers dispenser when I remembered how big they would get when inflated.

A few prophylactics for flotation devices. Just in case I had to do some swimming. I took them all.

They could float the backpack. With my stash of medical supplies added I dragged the backpack back to the back room.

Once there I saw janitorial stuff for cleaning. I tied the broom stick to the pack's side, where a rifle might go, and put the long rolls of heavy paper shop towels on it. I used the trousers like the coat, knotted the legs and filled it with more bags of food, one leg for medical stuff. I folded it up, checked the big shirt, added the underwear, and socks on top in it. Then struggled to neatly tie it all securely shut.

I found an exercise pad between two of the lockers. Bed mat; for my purpose.

While preparing the pack I passed the service tunnel entrance a couple of times. I realized the service tunnel door was going to be a bit of problem. A Master Lock padlock on a twin hinge clamp. There was nothing I had found I could break that lock the way it was setup. I looked at door for another way. The hinges caught my eye.

Talking to myself again like it was a part of my routine now I said. Good thing they're on the inside.

I looked at the hinges. They looked like no one had ever opened the door. They were jammed tight. No WD 40 anywhere. Not even a bottle of 3 in 1 oil.

I broke several plastic forks, spoons, and knives trying to pry and hammer the hinge's posts out before they came loose and out.

While I did, frustration engaged my senses of security.

I'm never getting out of here. Come on! Break Loose. I broke a couple more plastic tools so quickly I practically hollers my head off when... I remembered the simulation training system, before I blew my stack and broke every one of the remaining plastic eating utensils. Like the last time I suddenly shouted at myself. GET YOUR MIND OFF YOUR EMOTIONS. Think about what you're going to need to do.

I slowly picked at the edge of the pins top rig chipping little bits off the plastic of each eating utility.

While I picked a pried I reviewed all I had learned, checked if I had all I might want to take with me from the fast food joints available stock.

The woman talking on the TV repeated some of what she said. Until we find out what caused the winds to do what they did, she said, stay inside.

I agreed with her there, only, I was going to travel the tunnels underground until I knew what I was up against.

She was still talking to the station camera when I was about to enter the tunnel. She said; the building the lights and power are still on.

I suddenly realized I didn't have a flashlight.