There is a large warehouse underground somewhere in the countryside. Everything above ground is covered in snow. The warehouse is part of a great big military confinement. I get put into a group with my ‘sister’ who I am pretty sure I’m not related to (because I don’t have a sister) but we look very a like so the instructor assumes we are related. The instructor is very harsh and strict.
There is a routine sameness to the days. I cannot tell if this is the second winter, or if there is always snow. I develop a crush on one of the guys in another section. This somehow makes the days easier, I dream about secretly meeting with him. I start to wander what is beyond the boundary. I wonder about another life, another time and place.
On a day just like any other a great battle breaks loose. I’m in the cafeteria carrying my tray of food to a table when it happens. Great big explosions all around, they are in sleep mode so don’t make a sound. Somehow two very clear sides emerge, these two sides fight against each other. I end up being on the side I don’t want to be.
I keep trying to escape over to the other side but someone always stumbles on me just as I go to make a run for it.
I end up killing the instructor and slip away to the other side.
There are episodes of fighting and small breaks of cease fire between. It’s the start of another open fire period, I go to shoot the Dollhouse lady (one of the teachers who believed in a picture perfect dollhouse life), she raises her gun but I shield myself with her son.
We shimmy sideways both of us trying to get a good shot at each other. We reach a rocky ledge and I quickly jump in. As I crash into the water I feel her hand on my leg. She wont let go. I wriggle and twist trying to shake her off.
It’s really hard to breathe, I gasp and spit air into the heavy water. I swim under a big tree branch and as I twist back up I see a small dark eel wrapped around my ankle. It’s a poisoned eel.
Further downstream I get washed up outside the warehouse, which has been excavated by all the water. I crawl inside the doorway and lye on the muddy floor just inside. I can feel the poison inside me. The eel has transformed into a cat with bright blue eyes, staring at me.
I lie back down and dream about my fighting partner, how we would wrestle in the snow until our fingers and toes felt like they were on fire.