I found myself knocked down by a large vibration in the middle of a field. I tried to get up but another one knocked me down. I got the distinct feeling I was unwanted in one direction behind me, so I rolled and later when I could I walked away from it. I came to a large industrial building with large liquid holding tanks, people are milling around it, I wave to a truck passing a checkpoint of some sort, I come to a house that isn't mine. I get the impression that it's dangerous to wander too far from the fortified factory/plant thing. I am about to knock on the door when a pleasant, kind of chubby woman in her late 30's to early 40's opens the door. She has tawny hair and is wearing a black dress. She offers me food for firewood. I agree.
Before I can do any work though I take the tour of the house and learn she lives with her elderly mother. Her mother is senile sometimes and forgets "the way things are now." I tell the woman I am looking for something, my brother? The woman offers to help. She seems nice. I step outside to do work. It's cold, but the sun is shining. I hear a squeaky door flapping in the distance. there is no breeze. I raise the axe and creep around the corner of the house, the noise is coming from the house next door, on this home's right. I creep forward, it's got a high hedge and a low slung roof. The walls are powder blue the roof is dark grey. I can't see what's making the noise over the hedge but I hear the noise again and I feel compelled to check. Turns out it's a post-zombie apocalypse world. A tall, heavily wounded and partially decayed man in a blood stained blue work shirt is striking a door that for some reason (maybe the hinges are made to do this) keeps closing itself.
I tell the owner of the house. She is instantly terrified, she tells me to follow her, she runs out of the house. I hear a slam at the back of the house, more have shown up, maybe I was seen or smelt, maybe they were wandering this way anyways, but the one playing with the door was not alone. It comes to the back door, I try to shimmy up to it without being seen, I'm seen. The window isn't real glass, I lock the door. It tries the door knob. I run up to another door, all wood in white and check that it's locked. It's locked. The home owner must have locked it. I scan the home's interior, the backyard entrance to the home is a large glass sliding door. I scan for weapons and see a fire place poker, a pair of heavy bolt cutters and the axe.
The backyard is still clear. I know that glass door is not secure. I begin to contemplate what to do. I am tempted to bolt out the backyard to go get help at the factory. I think of the old woman and of my would-be employer. I know I only have so long to choose. My head is swirling, they are at the large wooden door now, pounding on it. I didn't hear any screams, the owner of the house could be clear now. I have no guarantee, I should go get help myself. But if the old woman is killed the home owner, even the community could turn on me for abandoning her. Would they understand if I was going for help. Will the old woman sit still? How long until they reach that sliding door? Is help actually coming? Could the home owner be dead? They are still pounding. I think I hear my heart in my ears.
The old woman wanders out of her room, her feet are shuffling. She tells me there's someone at the door, I tell her it's dangerous to open it, she doesn't seem to hear me or care. She moves to the door. I warn her that there's zombies out there, she waves her hand, and laughingly says "nonsense." shuffling forward and reaching for the knob. I grab her to stop her. Suddenly she realizes that I am a stranger. She begins screaming and fighting me. The pounding on the door and walls intensifies. I force the old woman into her room, I begin to worry that she's going to have a heart attack or something. I throw her into her room then turn a book shelf in the hall over to both trap her inside and barricade the door. Books spill everywhere, nick knacks clatter, the old woman is screaming for help at the top of her lungs. "I'll barricade her in here and go run for help" I mutter to myself. I hear a loud crash behind me, --is it the sliding door?! I turn. As I turn the dream ends, I wake up.
