Endurance by T. J. Blake

as the trees lost their leaves, the grass
turned into nothing but mud, the swings and climbing frames burned
into orange and grey rust. The children sitting on the swings burst
into flames and disappeared.
    Soon, Tom was
alone; even Miller’s body had disappeared.
    Then he heard
a creaking sound followed by a number of snapping sounds. Tom
watched as the ground ahead of him, the London Eye moved inland.
Tom turned around and began to walk backward; he saw the London Eye
falling. As it reached him, he could hear Dr. Miller’s voice fading
in and out and echoing eerily in his mind.
    ‘ Mr.
Williams. Mr. Williams. Wake up.’
    The Eye was a
foot from hitting the ground; it exploded violently, launching Tom
into the middle of the street. He hastily got back onto his feet.
As he turned to run, Anna stood right in front of him. Her pupils
were a deep red, blood trickled from her eyes, leaking down to her
cheeks and onto her blood-stained neck, which was covered in bloody
hand marks. She had no expression, her skin was a light cream
colour and her neck was covered in black, thick veins. She smiled,
revealing yellow stumps for teeth and pitch black gums.
    A hovercraft
distracted Tom from looking at Anna any longer. It arose from
seemingly nowhere. Anna began to scream, the scream pierced Tom’s
ears. He stared at Anna’s mouth opening wider and wider. The
hovercraft shot the ground around Tom and Anna. It shot a bullet
towards Tom’s head that seemed to travel in slow motion, as it
reached his face, it forced him to awaken from his
nightmare.
    Tom sat up
straight, short of breath, sweat dripping down his forehead and
running down his stubbled face in rivulets. Miller stood at the end
of the bed.
    ‘ You okay,
Mr. Williams?’
    Tom paused as
he tried to catch his breath. He grabbed the glass of water next to
his bed, sipped, and stared at Miller.
    ‘ Yeah, just a
bad dream.’
    ‘ Care to
share?’
    ‘ I can’t
really remember it, but I think my Mum was killed, was a childhood
nightmare.’
    ‘ Okay, Mr.
Williams. I have some good news. We can go into London today, but I
need to introduce you to someone. Come in, Smith.’
    The door
opened and a young man entered. He wore black shoes, trousers,
blazer and tie, with a white shirt and identification badge on his
right pocket on the blazer. His blonde hair was spiked at the
front. His shoulders were wide and sloped, his arms hung loose as
he swaggered toward the bed. A gun was strapped to his
waist.
    ‘ Mr.
Williams, this is Agent Smith. He’ll be coming to London with us. I
trust that you’ll be on your best behaviour, but rules are rules.
You’re a danger to the public, so we have to take precautions, I’m
afraid.’
    Smith folded
his arms, revealing bulging biceps. ‘Good to meet you, Mr.
Williams. If you decide to make a run for it, I will not hesitate
to shoot you, and these are not rubber bullets,
understood?’
    ‘ Understood,’
Tom said sarcastically.
    ‘ Good to see
you two getting on so well already. Agent Smith and I will leave
you to get ready now. I have left you some normal clothes to wear
while in London. I’m assuming you don’t want to wear that white,
unflattering all in-one paper suit,’ Miller chuckled.
    Miller and
Smith left the room and shut the door. A faint locking sound could
be heard after the door closed.
    Tom walked
toward the chest of drawers opposite his bed. There were clothes
folded on the top of it. Tom took the clothes and placed them on
his bed.
    The clothes
Miller left him were identical to the clothes Tom wore at Jubilee
Gardens with Anna. Tom thought of the sun shining into his eyes,
Anna’s eyes sparkling, the deep blue water full of energy, he
remembered the breeze blowing across his skin.
     
    These are
memories; they are not hallucinations. How could I have been
fooled! They must be covering up what happened. I cannot be the
only one to be alive after it. I need to get out of
here.
     
    Tom unzipped
his jumpsuit and let it