“I just want to get out of here and back to my life. If you can help me do that then I’ll believe anything. Can you do that?” replied Johnny.
“Well yes and no. Your dream was very vivid and real wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was and it lasted for what seemed like days. I kept waking up and then realising I was back in the dream, it was terrible.”
“And I guess you died at the end, didn’t you?”
“How do you know that? Yes, I did. I thought if I killed myself in the dream then I would have to wake up at home. I was sick of feeling like a slimy, fucking snake, wriggling my body and slithering around in the grass. It was disgusting. I ended up crawling into the middle of the road to get run over. I can still see the headlamps bearing down upon me with the terrifying noise of the engines and then -” Johnny was interrupted mid flow.
“And then you saw a blinding white light and you were travelling at the speed of light towards it and then you blacked out and somehow found yourself clinging to the vines.”
“Yes, that’s it. What is this, SAW 6 or something? How the fuck do you know that?” shouted Johnny aggressively.
“Lets sit down, there are some things you need to know,” replied Ed, sitting on the floor against the wall. Johnny did likewise and the two sat facing each other across the tunnel. Ed thought for a moment about how he could break the news to the young man, probably no older than his mid-twenties. He sat silently for a while before taking a deep breath and launching into his whole story, the tortoise right through to the Viking and the falcon. Johnny sat in disbelief with a smirk on his face as Ed brought the story into the present.
“And that’s when I heard you shouting along the tunnel.”
Johnny sat for a moment in silence looking down at the ground with his head in his hands.
“And you expect me to believe that do you? You expect me to believe that I’m dead and was reincarnated as a snake? It’s preposterous,” replied Johnny, obviously annoyed and upset by the whole thing.
“Honestly, mate, I don’t really care whether you believe it or not. In a few days you’ll know it as fact. I’m not here to convince you of anything. It’s by chance that we’ve met and to be honest, that’s fucking lucky for you because after too much time in this tunnel, you’d be here for the rest of eternity, whether you like it or not. Now you have choice, something that thirty minutes ago you didn’t. This predicament is all about the choices you make and believe me when I tell you that you have to make them pretty god damn quick.”
“Alright. Don’t be angry, Ed. You can understand my reluctance to believe this bullshit, can’t you? Less than a few days ago I was fighting a fire on a council estate in Middlesbrough being pelted with stones by the local youths, then the next thing I know I am a suicidal snake followed by this bizarre scenario. It’s a massive nightmare.”
“I understand. Man, it was easier for me to believe it all when I looked at my reflection and saw I was a tortoise. I totally feel for you. It’s so beyond belief, I know that. I have no idea what else I can say to you apart from the advice Sam gave to me. Try to remember as much as you can. It might help somehow in the future. You say you were on a fire job - is that the last thing you recall?” enquired Ed reassuringly.
“Yes, the dreaded Peabody estate. They would set fires in car parks and on waste land and then we’d come to sort it out and get pelted with stones, rocks, lumps of metal and anything they could lay their hands on. It was like a sport to them.”
“Why? Why on earth would they do that?”
“Christ, ask me one on science? I have no idea. I would like to have seen how they reacted if it was their house on fire with their possessions in it. I’m sure they’d be more friendly then, mother fuckers,” replied the fireman angrily.
“I’ve never heard of anything like it. It’s such a strange thing to do, battering firemen with rocks. It’s beyond comprehension.”
“I know. We had to endure that at least twice a week, often taking resources away from other emergencies that needed attending.”
“Do you think you might have got hit with a stone?”
“I don’t remember that, maybe I did though. It was known to happen. Sandy West got hit once and was in hospital for a week. Nasty fractured skull, even with his helmet on. Really nasty.”
“Well my advice to you, Johnny, is to think back as much as you can, try to delve deep and gather as much info as possible. I, however, need to be on my way, mate. Sorry. You’re welcome to come with me, but it’s not an easy journey and honestly, not one I think you should take at this moment. There are some strange intersections to say the least.”