Read Online Lucid by L. E. Fred - Free Book Online Page A

free?” I repeated the phrase in my head. “What does that mean?”
    â€œI don’t know , ” h e admitted. “And before I could ask, she disappeared and the other woman was in front of me. The snake lady.”
    â€œFrom before?”
    â€œYeah, her name is Serpentine, by the way. She gave me ten seconds to run. She took a chunk out of my shoulder before I found the ball of light. I’m still bleeding, man.” Mitch almost whined the last part, like it wasn’t fair that a dream could physically injure him .
    I felt a cold shiver run down my back. Not only were these people, Leona and Serpentine, enslaving people in their dream world, but they could also cause physical harm.
    I kept him on the phone in silence for a few minutes. What could I possibly say after hearing that horror story? Sure, it sounded like a pretty standard nightmare. Only this time it was real. We were both in over our heads, it seemed .
    â€œHey, get off the phone with your girlfriend!” Kyle shouted as he banged on the door .
    â€œGotta go?” Mitch asked me.
    â€œYeah,” I said over Kyle’s noise. “But dude, I—I don’t know what we’re gonna do.”
    â€œI don’t think we can get past the security , ” Mitch responded gloomily. “I mean, getting off the ship is fine, but if those women are around… we’re no match for them.”
    â€œMaybe Tiff will—”
    â€œC ome ON!” Kyle was getting impatient. Don’t keep him too long from his Mexican food.
    â€œWe’ll talk later tonight on the computer , ” Mitch assured me. “We’ll fill Tiff in and see if she can find some more research about this resort company.”
    â€œSee you.” I hung up the phone. Kyle was about to bang on my door when I opened it. I had to duck to avoid a pretty lethal punch.
    â€œAbout time!” Kyle studied me. “But you weren’t talking to Tiff, were you?”
    â€œWhy do you care?” I raised an eyebrow. “And how would you know anyway?”
    â€œYou always talk to her with a deeper voice.” Kyle grinned at the look of outrage on my face. “But this time you were t alking to a dude, weren’t you?”
    â€œSo?” I shrugged. “I have other friends, Kyle.”
    â€œYou have two friends,” Kyle mocked. “And one of them is at baseball camp. So who were you talking to just now?”
    â€œNone of your business—”
    â€œI bet it has to do with those comas.” Kyle studied me for a full minute. I tried not to blink or look away. I didn’t want to give anything away despite being completely shaken up my Mitch’s story. Finally, Kyle shrugged. “Guess you and your little friends are really scared of zombies.” With that, he led the way down. I knew Kyle brushed the issue off because he didn’t want to seem too concerned — and he was hungry — but I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d keep trying to figure out what was going on.
    .
    Day 5
    Night
    I climbed the stairs to my room as soon as I got home. All through dinner I thought about Mitch’s story and tried to visualize the place he described. I also played out the scenes in my head where he met the CEO and ran from the snake lady. He said her name was Serpentine. Giving her a name just made her that much more real, and scarier.
    Naturally, Tiff was online waiting for me to explain what Mitch told me. He had apparently sent her an e - mail earlier saying he made progress in the dream world, but he hadn’t elaborated. I hastily typed everything Mitch told me to Tiff. It took her a few minutes to reply.
    â€œWell, at least we have some more information.” Tiff would try to see the advantages of Mitch’s nightmarish encounter. “And we know the bus rides actually end up somewhere.”
    â€œBut why would a vacation resort want to put people into comas?” I typed