The dream started in on a situation very similar to the one before it, with invaders, only this time it seemed to last two or three times longer. The first thing I remember was that I was in a large city. People were taking shelter in the larger buildings, and there was a group of warrior rebels who were making plans. Two or three of them scouted ahead to look for the invaders, while the others stayed at the fringes of the city. They couldn't come back because the invaders got too close.
The edge of the city overlooked a road about fifty feet below, that eventually curved into the city. After a while, the invaders could be seen marching along the road. They just looked like little black figures from that distance, but there were a lot of them, moving in large blocks like an army. It was immediately apparent that the rebels were very much outnumbered.
***
I was with my parents. We still had some time before the invaders got to the city, but not much. We checked into a hotel as a hiding place. For some reason, the hotel room looked a lot like my bedroom. In fact it was my bedroom. My parents opened up some boxes of paper that were in my closet, and started ripping up their contents. They said that we had to destroy all evidence that we existed, including birth certificates, ID cards, and anything that had our names or information on it. This would make us harder to track.
In the meantime, my dad sent me to gather supplies, especially food. According to him, we would need enough for thirty years. As I hurried out onto the sidewalk, I thought we would be lucky to remain undiscovered for a month. The city was unfamiliar to me, and I didn't know where I had to go to get food. As I started to look around, I saw a minivan parked nearby with a dark haired oriental lady and a little girl (her daughter, I guess) standing next to it. The lady was helping the girl into the seat, moving slowly and casually, as if nothing was happening. The streets were almost completely barren, and those that didn't have a hiding place were panicked or getting ready for a rebellion.
I tried to warn the lady about the invasion, but she didn't understand me very well. She mumbled something about picking her son up from grandma's and began driving slowly away. I ran after the car. The hotel was towards the top of the hill, and I was running uphill for a while. When I caught up with them in a parking garage, the lady was buckling a baby into the back seat. I tried to communicate again, but she said she was very busy and had to get groceries downtown. By now I was thoroughly annoyed. I felt like a bit of an idiot as I chased the car again, this time downhill. I started to get worried that time was running out, but I wasn't willing to give up after wasting a good amount of time already.
I found myself in a small store, but most of the food was gone. While I waited for the lady to finish arguing with the shopkeeper, I noticed a vending machine. I took out some money, thinking that even if vending machine food wasn't healthy, it was better than nothing. I found out soon enough that even the vending machines were totally empty, the glass smashed through. I knew that the invaders had reached the city, and the shopkeeper left. The lady finally seemed to understand what was going on when she went out the door, and began running with the girl up the sidewalk while carrying the baby. I followed, dreading the long hike uphill. I could hear explosions behind me, and had to keep going even though I was really tired of running.
I came to some sort of train yard that had to be crossed. There were about ten tracks, one after another, with trains zooming by at high speed in either direction. I managed to time my crossing just right for most of the way. I had to pause on one point, and was terrified about a train coming directly at me. My intuition told me to stay right where I was, so I did, despite my fear. A train I hadn't noticed rushed by on the next track over, and it passed soon enough for me to leap out of the way of the one coming at me. By the time I had crossed the tracks, I had lost sight of the dark haired lady.
I made it back to the hotel room only to find that we had to leave immediately. The buildings were going to be searched, and hiding was no longer an option. We checked out and left just about everything that hadn't needed to be destroyed in the room (except the violins, which we gave to someone for storage and safe keeping at my mom's insistence). As we were getting ready to leave, someone who looked a lot like the sorcerer walked in and questioned the lady at the front desk. I saw her point in our direction, and we left right away. We were on a different sidewalk, this one level. My mom got separated from us. My dad talked about how the invaders could disguise themselves, and there were several already doing so, such as the lady at the front desk and a news reporter. We were going to try and find where the enemy "headquarters" were, and attack from within. We ran past a homeless person on a corner. He yelled out something about how there was no invasion and how the whole idea was ridiculous. We crossed the street, and didn't know which way to turn or whether to go strait into an alley. The homeless person continued to yell, "You might think that there are ENEMIES but you wouldn't be RIGHT!" We went right.
It wasn't long before we came upon a guarded building. By now it was night time. Luckily, the one guard that could see us was very sleepy, and we managed to sneak past him. There were a lot of windows, and some of the walls were made of glass. There were several more guards both inside and outside. I managed to just barely get past the remaining guards and into the building, although my dad was still outside. I found a lower level that seemed relatively quiet. There were some people that saw me, which worried me at first. I realized that they were probably prisoners and wouldn't give me away. While I was investigating the room, my dad started talking to me on a walkie-talkie. All I can remember was something about "inheriting the Earth", which reminded me about the saying "the meek shall inherit the Earth". And then he died.
I didn't have much time for that to sink in, because some people came in the room, telling me I had to hurry. One of them looked like a guard, but apparently he was on my side. The other was a lady who started giving me directions. I went into an elevator. They continued talking through the open door. I can't remember everything they said, but basically, I was supposed to take a device with a button on it from the elevator (I could see it on the lower right hand side) and walk into a classroom, saying that I was there to lock up. They said it was important to actually lock up.
The elevator doors closed, and I pushed the button for the level they said to go to. I picked up the device and exited the elevator when it made it down to the right floor. I was in a wide hallway, which turned further on. The hallway was empty, but I saw a door nearby and went through it. I was in the classroom, and it was apparently an all girl class. The students looked very bored. The teacher finally noticed me, and I explained nervously that I was there to lock up. They waved me ahead after giving me a suspicious look and also dismissed the class, I guess for a break. I went out the door on the other side of the classroom after everyone else had left. I found that pressing the button once locked the door that I pointed it at.
I followed the students around the turn in the hall. At the end of the hall, there was a miniature arcade where some were playing video games. Others just stood around in the hall. I walked up to the arcade for a closer inspection, and was surprised when TF turned around. She looked as if she wasn't expecting me to be there either, and we talked for a while about nothing especially important. That was the only bright spot in the entire dream. After a while, I remembered why I was there, and started telling her about the invasion and everything that had happened. I felt a little guilty when she looked suddenly unhappy and worried.
***
I was back in the elevator, talking to the same people again. I guess I ended up in a dream time warp or something, because I knew that I was back in time, before I had gone into the classroom. This time, I heard a little more of what was said. One thing was that there was blood on the elevator floor, and the guard pointed out that it me. He apologized for having to shoot me in the foot because he was the head guard and others were watching. This time as the elevator went down, I stared at the top of my foot for a while, which was starting to hurt. I grabbed the locking device just before the doors opened.
When I stepped out into the hallway, it was different; there were lots of people standing around outside the room. I figured they were parents that had come to pick up their kids. I entered the room and was surprised to find a crowd. The doors on either end of the room had been propped open. I made my way slowly towards the other door, looking around as I went. I caught a glimpse of the top of my dad's head in the crowd, but didn't think much about it. In the center of the room was the lady with the two children who I had tried to warn about the invasion. They were on an upraised platform in chains, and I realized for the first time that everything was set up like a court hearing.
I was afraid they would be killed, and tried to figure out what to do. The only thing I could think of was the device that I held. I pressed the button, trying to unlock the chains from a distance, but apparently it only works on doors. The device emitted a sound. A few of the people near me started to look around, and I had to hurry away to remain unnoticed.
I left through the door on the far side and began going down the hall again. To the right, I could see the same section of hall that I had gone down and found the arcade. Instead, I turned to the left, where there was another, unexplored section. Then I saw my dad. I began walking towards him, when I remembered that he had died. I realized that it was actually an invader, and ran in the other direction. I ended up back in the court room, in the middle of a crowd that was staring at me. The invaders had finally noticed me. By now I was really tired of all the running around.
I tried turning the invaders against each other with words. This didn't have much affect at first, but other people in the crowd caught on and started talking also. There were a couple of scientists who told me about how they had been isolated in different buildings and how they had communicated by sending messages out the window and across the power lines using some string attached to a coat hanger. They said that they had created a device to create a portal. While the invaders started arguing about who should be the leader, a portal was successfully opened, and they were all sucked into it. It was like the end of the story (complete with narration) when I knew that the invaders would have nothing left to destroy except themselves. The last thing I remember before I woke up was the image of many glowing eyes sinking to the depths of a black ocean, far away in space.
