Switch: Alien Invasion/Violence&S*x-Chapter 151: Nightmare

Nodding, I leave the room and mentally ask Harana to take me home, since Vage is still on one of the other angel vessels. The transition is smooth, space folding in on itself for a brief instant before reforming.

There is just something that helps reset your frame of mind when you walk into someplace as familiar as my room is to me. A feeling of nostalgia sweeps over me, even though I’ve only been gone a couple of days. The air smells faintly of fabric softener and old books. The carpet feels the same beneath my feet.

For a while, I stare at my large Naruto poster hanging on the wall opposite my bed. I’d picked it up a couple of years ago at one of the local conventions, after waiting in line for nearly an hour. I remember arguing with the vendor over the price and feeling absurdly triumphant when I got five dollars knocked off. On my desk is a figurine from Sword Art Online, which I special ordered from Japan and tracked obsessively until it arrived. I remember the excitement of unboxing it, of carefully placing it where it wouldn’t fall.

My TV, not as big as Stephanie’s or Stacy’s, has spent countless hours helping me grind through various levels of different RPGs. Late nights. Headsets. Digital worlds where the rules were clear and victory depended on skill and patience. There were always checkpoints. Always a reset button.

There just seems to be an energy that permeates the room and claims it as mine. An epitaph of who I am, as though some future archaeologist is going to look at it and say, "This was Nicholas Smith’s room. The savior of the human race." I almost laugh at the absurdity of that thought, yet it no longer feels impossible.

I sit on the edge of my bed and let the silence settle around me. The doubt that once gnawed at me feels distant now, muted by six tiny voices that reached into my mind and steadied it.

There is no longer any doubt that I’ll succeed. Not after my kids told me I’ll do fine.

I just wish I knew how I was going to do fine...

Plopping back onto my pillow, I soon pass out. The exhaustion drags me under faster than I expect, like gravity has suddenly doubled just for me. My body sinks into the mattress, heavy and unresponsive, while my mind keeps racing long after my eyes close. The last thing I see before sleep claims me is the faint glow of the streetlights outside my window, filtering through the curtains like distant stars.

In my dreams, I am sitting at a desk in nothing but my underwear. The room feels too warm, the air thick and oppressive. Professor Jane stands before an old-style chalkboard, wearing shiny black leather and holding a whip in her hands. The fluorescent lights above flicker faintly, humming in a way that makes my skin crawl.

"Answer the question," my teacher instructs.

Her voice echoes unnaturally, as if the classroom is far larger than it appears. I look down and see a piece of paper that is completely blank. Not even a name written at the top. Just emptiness staring back at me.

"Wh-what question?" I ask, confused.

Janet cracks her whip, and I hear it snap right next to my ear. The sound is deafening, sharper than thunder.

"The one before you. What are you going to do?"

"What are you going to do?" the question echoes as Stephanie walks into the room and stands next to our professor. "How are you going to do it?"

My girlfriend is wearing an oversized Kingdom Hearts shirt, and something tells me she is wearing nothing else underneath. Her expression is not playful, though. It is searching. Expectant. Like she is waiting for me to finally become the man she believes I can be.

"I’m curious to hear how my little brother is going to pull this off too," Loveth says, startling me as she bends over and whispers into my ear. Her breath is warm against my skin. "What trick are you going to use?"

The whip cracks again, and I see that Janet and Tina have been joined by everyone else in my life. Even Harley Quinn and my dad are there. Faces from school. Faces from the ship. Faces of people I have helped, hurt, changed. They form a semicircle around my desk, boxing me in.

"Answer the question," they all say in unison.

The sound vibrates through my bones.

I tear myself out of my desk and start running down the hall. The corridor stretches endlessly, lockers slamming shut on their own as I pass. My bare feet slap against the cold tile, echoing too loudly in the empty space.

"Quick, in here," a voice says, grabbing my arm.

I am pulled into darkness, and suddenly I am falling. Tina still has a hold of my arm, and she does not seem worried about the fall, so neither am I. Wind rushes past us, though there is no sense of direction, no sky, no ground.

She pulls me closer, and I feel her lips press against mine as her arms wrap around my body. I notice that she is wearing only her underwear as well. Somehow, despite her advances, I am not getting hard. The absence feels louder than any sound in the dream.

"Well, drat," she pouts when she notices. "I wanted to fool around. Oh well. How are you going to do it?"

Her tone shifts again, becoming serious.

I do not understand.

Looking around, I see that we are no longer falling through darkness. Instead, we are standing inside my mom’s house. The familiar smell of old wood and laundry detergent fills the air. The hallway light flickers just like it always used to.

"How are you going to defeat the demons?" Tina asks.

I look back at her, worried. Her grip on my arm tightens, but it does not hurt. I still do not know the answer to her question, so I run upstairs. The steps creak beneath my feet, each one threatening to give way.

Okay, okay, I know. When you are running away, the last place you should go is upstairs. But that is what I do.

I try to enter my old room, but somehow I end up in Loveth’s bedroom instead. The posters are different, the bedspread unfamiliar, yet the room feels distorted, like someone tried to recreate it from memory and got the details wrong.

"Quick, get naked," Loveth tells me. She is already in bed. "The demons are coming, and we need to get ready."

Looking down, I see that I am now completely naked. I move toward my sister, but when we touch, nothing happens. My senses do not expand, and I cannot feel any of my switches. Worse, even though she is sucking hungrily on my cock, it will not grow hard.

I am broken, I think, and turn to flee. The word echoes in my head. Broken. Useless.

Outside the window, I can see the demon ships landing. The sky is red, torn open by streaks of fire. I watch in horror as they start ripping into people, eating them alive. Screams fill the air, blending into a single unbearable note.

"You’re going to have to kill them," Harley Quinn(Dan) says right behind me.

Her voice is calm, almost gentle.

"No!" I yell. "I can’t do that again."

"Kill them like you killed the old me," the former man says as he grips my arms and shakes me. His face shifts between what he was and what he is now.

"No," I deny. "I didn’t kill you!"

"Nick!"

A sharp pain against my cheek brings me back to reality. The sting lingers as if the dream refuses to release me entirely. I see Dennis standing above me, with Rose on my other side.

"Dude, you were having a nightmare. Sorry for slapping you, but you wouldn’t wake up."

Groggily, I nod and sit up. My bed is a rumpled mess, sheets twisted around my legs. Sweat drips from my brow and down my neck. I glance at the clock and see that it is six p.m. The room is dim, bathed in the orange glow of sunset.

"We’re heading out," Rose tells me as she gently places her hand on my shoulder. "We have a couple of rifles, and a number of us are heading for the mountains."

Her voice trembles slightly, though she tries to hide it.

"We wanted to ask if you have any other advice for us," Dennis says. I can tell he is still worried about me.

A small part of me laughs at that. A few months ago, he would have called me a derogatory name and ignored me. Now he is my friend. The world really did end before it had a chance to get better.

"Avoid them if they make it past us," I tell them. "Trust me when I say you do not want to go up against them if you can avoid it." Like I am going to do in a couple of days...

"Any chance you want to fool around one last time?" Rose asks.

There is forced humor in her voice, but her eyes search mine carefully.

I grimace at her choice of wording and shake my head.

One last time?