Landis is just home from a long morning shift, dozing off in a chair on the apartment’s balcony, when it happens. It starts with a searing pain in his hand that radiates outward from his palm, up through his wrist and elbow. Then a flash of something on the inside of his eyelids - the split-second image of a dark tunnel. The smell of spilt blood, of musty cave walls. Someone screaming, someone sobbing. Someone’s pale face, frozen in a mask of pain.
Landis’s eyes snap open as he jolts forward in his chair, his mouth half-open in a cry that doesn’t quite make it out of his throat. Sweat is beading on his face, and his forehead tenses with dull pain, a headache in the making. He feels nauseous. Seasick, almost. He’s used to waking up from nightmares, has been ever since he left the lake house, but this is different. His dreams have never caused him physical pain before. He clenches his hand into a fist, and winces a little at the deep ache in his muscles.
“Landis?”
Landis turns slowly, unsteady on his feet. Danton and Wes are crowded together in the frame of the balcony’s sliding-glass doorway. Danton looks concerned, his mouth drawn up into a nervous frown, and Wes looks typically indifferent.
“Did you have another nightmare?” Danton asks.
“No,” Landis says. His voice comes out hoarser than he expected, and he clears his throat, swallowing a few times before he goes on. “It was different. It wasn’t about the lake - I was in some kind of tunnel. I don’t really remember what I saw, just…the smell of being underground. And seeing the rock walls. But it…hurt me, I guess. Like whoever I was in the dream was hurt, and I woke up still feeling their pain.”
The sun had felt pleasant before, when he had come out here to sit, but now the heat is bearing down on him, making the pounding in his head even worse. Landis feels like he’s swimming through humidity with every move he makes. He can’t take it much longer. He passes through Wes and Danton to get inside, mumbling a quick “sorry” as all three of them shiver with the impact.
“You look like shit,” Wes says, following him into the kitchen. “Like, more than usual, I mean. That must’ve been some dream.”
“It was barely a dream. I just closed my eyes for a second.”
Landis opens the fridge and takes out a bottle of water. He doesn’t open it yet, instead pressing the cold plastic against his forehead and wrists, trying to cool down. He can feel his pulse racing out of control, and tries to take deep breaths, willing himself not to panic. What the fuck did I dream about, that got me this upset? Why can’t I remember what I saw?
He opens the cabinet above the stove and fishes out a bottle of ibuprofen. As he gulps down two pills and a mouthful of water, Landis checks the long scar on his arm where Gen sliced it open. He half-expects it to be angry and red, even burst open, but it looks the same as it did this morning, a shiny, undisturbed line of scar tissue. At least he has that going for him.
“Are Austin and Otter still out?” he asks Wes and Danton, expecting he knows what the answer will be.
“Actually, that’s what I came here to talk to you about,” a voice that belongs to neither Wes nor Danton answers him.
Landis looks up from his arm just in time to see Richard appear in the kitchen doorway. Wes’s upper lip curls in something like disdain, and he drifts through the wall, leaving without another word.
“What’s his problem?” Danton asks, looking at the space Wes formerly occupied.
“Oh, we had a sort of disagreement the other day,” Richard says. His voice is strained - it’s obvious he’d rather not be addressing it. “Anyway, Landis, I came to talk to you. Austin’s in trouble. So are Otter and his brother.”
Landis’s heart sinks. Worst-case situations are already flooding through his mind as soon as the word “Austin” leaves Richard’s mouth. What could happen to them out in the desert? A monster? A hiking accident? A serial killer hunting people on the trails? Did the lake follow them out there to kill them?
“Otter is possessed by whatever was bound to the lake before,” Richard says. Landis feels his gut clench up with nausea again, and clutches his water bottle so tightly that the plastic bends inwards with a loud crackling sound.
“Are they…I mean, no one’s died yet, right?”
“No.” Richard shakes his head.
Just because they’re not dead doesn’t mean they’re not hurt. Or dying. Landis clenches his teeth, willing himself harder than ever to stay calm and in control. Austin, Otter, and Otter’s brother need help, and that has to stay Priority Number One. There’s no room to panic right now.
“Where are they?” he asks.
“In a mine shaft along the trail,” Richard says. “Probably about a twenty minute drive outside of town, and another fifteen minutes of walking. As best as I figure, the lake is trying to do some kind of blood sacrifice…it talked about waking up something that was sealed away, inside the mine. And Austin’s injured, so he needs all the help he can get.”
“Badly injured?” Danton asks, his eyebrows furrowing.
Richard shakes his head again. “He won’t bleed out anytime soon, but he won’t be much help to you, either.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Landis asks sharply. Richard and Danton turn their eyes back towards him, and he shrinks a little under their gaze. “I mean, I’m just one person. And I know I beat the lake before, but I don’t think that trick will work again. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to find the mine shaft in time.”
“You’re right,” Richard says, “but I wasn’t planning on sending you alone, anyway. Austin does work for the police, you know. I’m sure they’ll send someone if you ask.”
Landis cringes a little. The last interaction he had with the police was being interrogated in the hospital about Austin’s stabbing. And before that, escaping his jail cell. He can’t imagine anyone at the station is exactly going to leap into action to help him, but it’s worth a shot. Luckily enough, Austin keeps the phone number to the Sheriff’s Department stuck to the fridge.
The other line rings just enough times for Landis to convince himself that this day is going to end with him once again in handcuffs, in an interrogation room. He’s about to slam the phone back down into the cradle when he hears the telltale click of someone picking up.
“Sheriff’s Department, this is Grace speaking. How can I help you?”
“Grace?” Landis blurts out, louder than he means to, instead of hanging up the phone.
“Landis?” It’s hard to tell, but Grace sounds almost elated. “How are you? You’re still working at the diner, right? Austin said you were, and I meant to come visit, but I’ve just been so busy! I really feel bad about it.”
“I’m good,” Landis says. He’s smiling without really meaning to - it feels good to hear Grace’s voice again. “But listen, Austin’s in trouble.”
“Is it,” Grace lowers her voice conspiratorially, “you know, the thing from the lake?”
“Yeah. And, uh, he’s out on the trails with a couple other people. In one of the mine shafts, actually. I think some of them are hurt, so, I need help getting to them.”
“The mine shafts? Oh my God,” Grace breathes. Landis can hear her typing rapidly at a keyboard for some moments before she speaks again. “Yeah, let me tell Sheriff Maxwell, and we’ll get people right on that. You can point us to where they are, right? The mine shafts are…well, they’re huge. A search party might take days But if you can help….”
Landis looks back at Richard, mouthing the question. Richard nods.
“Yeah,” Landis says into the phone.
“Great. I’ll see if someone can swing by and pick you up on the way out. Just sit tight until then, okay?”
“Okay,” Landis says, still smiling softly. “Thanks, Grace.”
“Everything’s going to be fine,” she tells him firmly. The line goes dead.
Landis sets the phone back into the cradle, looking towards Richard and Danton again. “They’re going to help. Grace said they’ll probably come by and grab me on the way, so I can show them where to go in the mine.”
“Good,” Richard says, then frowns a little, like he’s working through something in his head. “Do you think you’ll have time for an errand before they come?”
“I can let you know when they get here,” Danton offers.
Landis raises an eyebrow. “What’s the errand?”
“There’s one more person I want you to ask for help,” Richard says. “He’s not going to like it, and you probably aren’t going to like him, but he’ll be good to have on your side if things go more sideways than they already are.”
“So where are we going to meet this guy?” Landis asks.
Richard grins, and points towards the ceiling. “Just upstairs.”
landis voice okay who is the terrifying nightmare vision about THIS time