Dark matter chapter 1, waking to embers

The sun felt warm and friendly on the beach as the waves gently crashed onto the white shores, he looked around and saw children playing, parents watching over with loving eyes and older couples walking, hand in hand.

He could smell the sea, the sand going in between his toes and the girl of his dreams right beside him, both laying on the large towel they touched each other's skin, hers was smooth and warm, it felt so safe and yet there was something that was odd.

He looked around and he could hear a beeping noise, maybe it was a phone or a watch alarm, it got louder and louder, forcing him to cover his ears. Time started to slow down. He didn't understand but when he closed his eyes and opened them again he was in darkness, he felt weightless, suddenly a beam shone in front of him and he shielded his eyes, he looked around and as he moves his head his body moved as well, he was looking at the floor and could see his shadow.

He turned his body more like as if he was flying and could see a red glowing button, using his floating skill he slowly moved towards the button and pressed it, once he did there was a beeping and then he fell to cold hard metal.

He had touched down.

He tried to get up but strangely his body wouldn't let him, he tried calling for help but his mouth was dry and cracked he coughed harshly and eventually got to his knees, they cracked and buckled under the weight and he fell again, he groaned in pain as again he made a second attempt but first attempting to flex his fingers, then he slowly wriggled his toes, once he found life in them. sluggishly his body cracking and aching he wobbled a bit then staggering towards a door. It opened on its own and the light flooded into his eyes making them sting and water. But he saw more than one colour, white and red....

Blood red...

He stared at the rotting corpse for a moment or two as the wind rushes past him and caught him by surprise, he started to shiver and looked at his body, he was completely naked.

Clutching his groin he looked around and to his relief he found a skin-suit, he fumbled a moment to get it on and every once and a while looked at the corpse, the smell was awful he would've been sick if he actually had anything in his stomach to bring up.... Food.... Next priority.

Looking at the corpse again he slowly walked towards it holding his breath, he fumbled through the corpses clothing and found a purse, he looked inside and found some money, he took it out and also the persons ID card, he studied it and it read, "Charlie Harkin - dream stasis engineer" there was also a picture of Charlie, it was a woman with red hair and olive green eyes, no special features about her, looking at the corpse you couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman.

The maggots wouldn't really care.

As he continued down the hall he started to become dizzy, he quickly out stretched his hand to touch the wall and he hugged it. Using it to support himself he made his way to a white door with a red symbol that looked like a snowflake. He used the keycard on the side of the door and the door made an buzzing noise as the locks became undone and it opened itself.

Though suddenly everything seemed.... Normal. Though it was quiet, the room was spacious, with a few tables and chairs, the room was lit by blue neon lights on the celing.

He took a few steps inside feeling strong enough he realised that this was the waiting room, then he remembered but it was still a blur. He could remember voices.

Chatter, people smiling and laughing and the room not filled with neon blue but with other light, filled the room with colour. Now it felt cold and alone, on the left of the door was the reception, he made his way behind the desk and looked around, any unlocked drawers, files random dabs of paper, anything to help, nothing. Nothing but smears of blood and scratches on the walls and furniture.

He stared at the computer for a moment, it was still on and was unlocked. Thinking for a moment he decided to look into it, just to find something, anything at all.

It was blank, every file that he clicked on was blank.

"How the hell did that happen?" He said. Looking at the destruction even noticing a small white plush teddy bear, it used to look innocent, with it's torso scratched torso and it's cotton innards spilling out, blood was sprayed over it, the cotton soaked it up and it felt like the little bear was bleeding, it's innocent eyes and felt smile was still there.

He shivered and moved away from the receptions desk and continued to look around for anything that was worth anything, avoiding the sweet blue eyes of the bear and found nothing.

There was another short hallway that had the same white door with a red snowflake, he pressed the card on the reader and it took a moment to register the command, the reader bleeped happily and the door slid open to find only embers.

The world was in flames.