The ranch style house had been vacated quickly. What was left behind appeared to have been rummaged through a few times.
Most of the furniture was gone and some strange symbols had been painted on one wall. A warning.
I heard something big coming and looked for some way out. There was a hole in the drywall that I could crawl and slip through. It led to another room.
Drained fish tank. Sewing machine. There I found a pair of scissors that I picked up as possible defense and put it in the pocket of my long duster coat.
I heard some other people, running my way down a hall. I slipped into another room and closed the door. There I found a butcher knife. “That will be even better.” I thought.
I could see that they were looking for shelter so I opened the door for them as the three hurried into the room.
They asked how long I had been there as they hadn’t seen me before. I told them I had just gotten here. They told me this room was safe for a little while but that we should go soon.
I looked out the front door and saw a scattering of more people. As I stepped outside I looked up and saw a perfectly round, shiny metallic ball fall from the sky. Then another and another as it started to rain these larger than basket balls. They were few and far enough apart that if you watched for them you could easily dodge them. People were panicking and I got the distinct feeling that they were some mass hallucination perpetrated on the people. One hit at the corner of the house and I ran to get a closer look and it was gone. No damage anywhere. They would disappear soon after they hit. There was no destruction of the houses when they hit. “Look! These things aren’t real!” I said as my hand went through one as it fell near me. So, this is what that ‘thing’ was doing! Causing hysteria and feeding off that! But where was it? How do I stop it? All I knew is that I was here to investigate this and find a solution. At least now I had some idea what was going on! The knife and scissors would be useless. This was a mind game and I had to keep my wits about me.
I woke up.