Chasing Imagination

Casper

As we neared the central common room, I broke into a run. Arriving back in the thick of things felt as if I had missed out on an invitation to the biggest party of the year. Twenty or more Dreamers were standing in a hoard, facing down the corridor that led down the long tunnel all the way to the station exit, cheering and shouting and heckling. Only when I craned my neck through the gang did I see at least thirty Marauders charging away from the group, back down the tunnel, fleeing for their lives as guns were fired after them.

Several bodies littered the common room as I peered in, but it was crowded with many more Dreamers, also seeing the Marauders off out of the main base entrance. Felix held one woman up at gunpoint, and I turned away just seconds before the fatal gunshot rang out through the hall.

I glanced around for faces I recognised besides Felix. With Amy in her current state, the last thing she needed was to see Felix’s ecstasy over killing another notorious Marauder whose name I knew was Hannah.

The first person I spotted, a little unfortunately, was Matt. He was looking, if anything, a little confused, but caught my eye as I glanced over and came running across the room.

‘Hey Amy, Casper,’ he said, his tone friendly but also weirdly business-like. His brow was furrowed deeply. ‘Have you seen Imogen?’

‘She’s just coming,’ I said. ‘We were fighting down near the armoury and the database.’

‘Oh,’ he said. Now it was his turn to look as if he hadn’t been given an invitation to the party of the year. ‘Well, is she alright?’

‘Yeah, she’s fine,’ I said casually. Certainly as far as I was aware, Imogen hadn’t sustained so much as a scratch.

‘Hey guys!’ said Felix charismatically, striding over. He made to throw his arm cheerfully around my shoulder before realising that his hand was covered in blood. Looking at it in disgust, he dropped it limply to his side and I dodged out the way, wrinkling my nose. I looked over at Amy who was disturbingly pale and eyeing Felix with bitter disgust.

‘You alright, Amers?’ Felix asked her, getting the mood hopelessly wrong.

‘I’m fine,’ she mumbled, forcing a smile. Well, her lying was getting ever so slightly better, but that didn’t mean she was exactly good.

‘What ‘bout you, Matt?’ Felix continued, thankfully not lingering on the point. ‘Killed anyone?’

I knew that this was the last conversation Amy should be taking part in, but the twisted side of me longed to stay, just to see what Matt was going to say. I was already preparing for the worst—chances were, if I’d killed someone as good as Con, he’d probably gunned down at least six Marauders, but I had to know for sure.

He pulled a face. ‘Reckon I fucked up big time, actually.’

I did a double take. ‘What?’

Felix echoed my shock. Deep down though, I could feel morbid pleasure bubbling in my dark, cruel soul. I’d done something Matt hadn’t. For the first time in my life, I was officially better than him. The title may only last a few minutes, perhaps an hour at most, but it was an hour of pride that I’d never expected to get.

‘You remember that guy Xavier, right?’ Matt asked, sighing again. I could sense that his pride had been severely wounded today. And I knew that I probably had some sort of disgusting disease, but I only grew happier.

‘Uh...’ Felix said.

‘African looking guy,’ Matt said. ‘Dreadlocks.’

‘I remember him!’ Felix chirped in keenly. ‘He’s a sadistic bastard.’

‘What happened?’ I asked, eager in the most twisted way.

‘I nearly had him,’ Matt replied. ‘I was so damn close! But I lost concentration for a moment, and he was gone, running off. I shot like, ten times, but I didn’t even make contact with him once. And then he was outta my sight. Just like that.’ He punched the air in frustration and I put on a sympathetic mask.

‘Damn, that sucks,’ I said, knowing that every word I was saying was a lie. ‘Oh well, better luck next time.’

‘What about you two?’ Matt asked. This must be bad: he was happy to change the conversation away from himself.

‘Oh, well I just shot that bitch Hannah,’ Felix said. ‘You probably saw that. And as for Casper, well he’s already told me he shot Con. Like, Con, Con.’

Matt’s eyebrows lifted up in shock. ‘You serious?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. This was my time. This was probably the only chance I had.

‘It was definitely him?’ Trust Matt to doubt me. I’d never expected any more. Felix and I both laughed.

‘Yuh,’ I said, my enthusiasm growing. ‘I checked the body. It was insane!’

Without warning, Amy’s hand dropped from my grasp and she turned and walked away in silence. I felt terrible, but I’d almost forgotten she was there.

Felix and Matt both gave me quizzical looks. Suddenly, my great mood was dissipating.

‘I should go and check on her,’ I suggested awkwardly. Being the twisted man I was, I wanted nothing more than to stick around for just a few more minutes and rub it in Matt’s face that I had done something that he hadn’t, but I wasn’t completely heartless.

I scanned my eyes across the constantly growing crowds, seeing her gentle blonde curls bobbing in amongst the masses. I hurried after her, but she was moving swiftly, already towards the other side of the room. She got out to the main tunnel and turned left, her pace quickening even more as I was left behind, dodging my way through excited Dreamers celebrating, chatting...a few of them mourning. I dreaded to think what could have happened that I’d missed out on.

I wanted to call out her name, but she wouldn’t hear me over the crowds anyway. It seemed that everyone was blocking my way as I ducked and dived into every possible space, skirting round people, hurrying in amongst groups until I reached the relative calm of the corridor.

‘Casper!’ The voice was coming from behind me. Turning, I saw Jay and Kira heading my way. Seeing Amy's face put everything into perspective, and this was the last thing I needed right now, but Kira looked concerned, so I hung back just a moment.

‘Con, huh?’ Jay said, a smile spreading across his face.

Crap. This was the last thing I needed. However great I’d felt about killing the notorious Marauder had been dashed by the betrayal I’d seen in Amy’s eyes.

‘Yeah,’ I said, smiling slightly. ‘Who told you?’

‘Matt,’ he said. That, I was shocked about. ‘Just saw him for, like, ten seconds. He sounded a bit jealous actually; did you hear how he fucked up?’

The situation was becoming more and more surreal. ‘Uh, briefly,’ I said, my mind in other places.

‘Have you seen Felix?’ Kira asked, her light brown eyes filled with worry. ‘I’ve been looking for him but—‘

‘It’s fine, he’s in there,’ I reassured her, glad to be of some use. I gestured back into the main room.

She smiled in relief, but then frowned. ‘I looked in there, I didn’t see him.’

‘Right on the far side,’ I said, ‘close to the dead body of a Marauder woman.’

‘Oh,’ she said, pulling a face. Yeah, we weren’t completely heartless. None of us wanted to be standing in a room with a dead body slumped on the floor.

‘Listen,’ I said, the agitation within me growing, ‘I’ve got to go, I’ll see—‘

‘Casper!’ Oh God, Linzy. Not that I disliked her or anything, but I didn’t really even know her that well. I mean, she was Amy’s roommate, but she barely even spent any time with our lot.
She was striding across the room with Dan, her black and red hair bouncing.

‘I heard you killed Con,’ Dan said, beating Linzy to the point.

‘Err, yeah,’ I said, ‘look, I’ve got—‘

‘That’s insane!’ Linzy cried excitedly. Somewhere beside me, Kira departed to go and look for Felix. ‘How d’you manage that?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said, desperately trying to be polite.

‘Where did you shoot him?’ Dan asked eagerly.

‘Head? Heart?’ Jay prompted. ‘How many times did you get him before he died?’

‘Seriously guys!’ I yelled, shocking them all into silence. ‘I’ve got to go! I will talk later.’

Leaving three sets of confused, accusing eyes boring into the back of my head, I broke into a run as I headed off down the tunnel. I stopped to watch a man and a woman come past carrying another man between them—Harry; I didn’t know him well. He was bleeding badly and I stopped to let them through.

‘Thanks,’ said the woman, Elsa, nodding in my direction. Harry was leaving a trail of blood on the floor behind him as he clutched at his chest, biting his lip so as not to yell out in pain. I didn’t ask what was wrong despite my curiosity; they needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. My questions would only be a hindrance.

I broke back into a run, this time practically sprinting the remainder of the way to Amy’s room. That was where I assumed she would be.

Sure enough, I could hear movements inside after I knocked on the door.

‘Come in,’ a voice called out. It was high and fragile. Was she crying?

I pushed open the door, taking a sharp intake of breath, dreading what I was about to find.