Shane was having a very restless dream. In his dream, he was constantly running through gates, away from the dangers in different dimensions. Although he hadn’t seen any other, his imagination could fill in the gaps after today. 

He didn't only dream of enormous insects, but of all animals that were the size of highrises and people the size of skyscrapers. Rowan was impatiently waiting for him at every portal, snapping unintelligible words at him. 

They jumped through a portal again, Rowan ran ahead of him and disappeared from view, which kept happening in his dream. He felt as if he had entered World War II, loud bangs sounded around him as if bombs were falling, and the thick smoke made it almost impossible to see. The smell of burnt flesh penetrated his nose, making it hard to breathe. 

Coughing, he made his way through the smoke until he heard his name. It was Rowan's voice, but it sounded vague and distant. He soon realized that he wasn't being called in his dream, but in the real world.

Shane was awakened by Rowan's voice calling out to him, but that wasn't all. She grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him. Shane opened his eyes and looked into Rowan’s big, wild eyes, and stared back in panic. He blinked, but his vision didn't seem quite right, like she was kind of blurry. 

The room was also strangely darker than when he went to sleep, did he just sleep through the entire day? The burning smell from his dream was still haunting him and he coughed in the inside of his elbow. There was a huge bang that seemed to be coming from outside. He saw Rowan's mouth move, but didn't hear anything besides a ringing in his ears. 

He blinked again as his hearing returned slowly and he shot upright while Rowan was yelling something unintelligible at him. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins and felt his heart beating loudly in his chest. 

“Shane! Come on!” she yelled loudly at him and looked over her shoulder. “Everything is on fire, we have to go now!” 

Only now he was fully starting to realize what was going on. His vision wasn't blurry at all and his dream was not lingering. Reality had entered his dream instead. This sudden realization caused Shane to sit upright and put his feet down on the ground. 

Rowan seemed relieved that he finally woke up fully and responded to her. He looked around and saw the thick smoke coming from their right, as well as from the corridor behind the iron bars. At first, he totally missed the giant hole that was blown into the wooden wall where the bench had been standing previously. The bench was gone now. 

For a moment Shane wondered why Rowan hadn't just left, because she had the chance to do so now that there was a giant hole in the wall, and it would make more sense for her to just leave him behind and get to safety herself. 

Rowan didn't give him any time to think that over because she grabbed his wrist and pulled him up, then started to usher him ahead. Shane staggered to his feet for a moment, but found his balance and climbed through the hole in the wall and over the debris. 

He had to jump about three feet down on the other side and reached out for Rowan to help her, but she ignored it completely. She clambered out of the hole herself and jumped down next to him. Shane looked around uncertainly, what were they supposed to do now, where should they go? 

Chaos had broken out around them. A few of the little wooden houses surrounding the police station were on fire, people were running around screaming, chased by filthy-looking men, who were not wearing the same uniforms as the men who had arrested Shane and Rowan earlier. They just hoped that the men would leave them alone as they tried to escape. 

“We have to get the Tuner,” Rowan said. 

“But… the building is on fire, we can’t just go back inside!” 

Rowan ignored him completely. She turned around and ran for the entrance of the building. Shane hesitated but eventually followed. What choice did he have? He would be stuck here if he didn't go with her, so he had to make an effort to save the Tuner from its demise and allow them to leave. 

If he would die, being burned alive or get poisoned by inhaling the smoke, he at least wouldn't have to stay here forever. He couldn't stop coughing as he went after her through the front entrance of the building. He tried to protect himself by pulling up his shirt over his nose and mouth. 

From outside a loud voice that sounded very tinny spoke. “This is the resistance, you are surrounded. Surrender or die.”

He only stopped for a second, listened to the voice, decided not to listen to it and tried to follow Rowan. The corridors were smoky and he saw a body lying ahead. Rowan had already disappeared from his sight and he had no clue where she went. 

“Rowan!” He yelled, he panicked for a bit, but she emerged through the smoke just a few moments later. 

She was holding her black, worn-out backpack along with the Tuner and his belt. She grinned but began to cough loudly. They walked back through the corridors quickly, Shane held the door open for her to get through and then followed her, after she handed him his belt. He tried to get it back in place while also leaving the building at the same time. 

“We have to get out of this village, I don’t want to risk trying to open a portal here,” Rowan told him hoarsely. 

Shane confirmed this with a single nod, whereupon Rowan started to run. He followed her, but also noticed that both of them were moving a lot slower than they had done before. He was already starting to feel out of breath. 

Shane had no idea which way they were going through all of the chaos, but Rowan seemed to know exactly where they had come from the night before and how to get out of the village quickly. He tried to pay no attention to the gruesome things he saw happening around him, as he knew he would want to stop and help. 

He tried to ignore the screams, the sound of gunshots, the explosion that happened somewhere to their right and made his ears ring once again, and the ground under him that was colored a bloody red in places. 

Eventually, the buildings were standing further apart and they reached the edge of the village, where the cobblestones changed into grass. They both knew they should've paid a little more attention to their surroundings instead of just running away as quickly as possible, as they almost ran into a small group of armed men.

They seemed to be patrolling around the edge of the village. The men wore dirty uniforms of a dark green color, one of them seemed to be covered in blood splatters. As soon as they caught sight of Shane and Rowan, they aimed their weapons at the pair.

“It’s now or never,” Shane whispered. 

She nodded and understood exactly what he meant. She grabbed the Tuner, which had been safely hidden in her pocket. The men pointed their weapons at Rowan right away, but didn't shoot and didn't seem sure if the Tuner was a threat or something else. These extra seconds gave Rowan the chance to press the buttons at lightning speed. She tried to hit the right buttons for her home dimension, but anything would be good right now. 

“Ma’am, put that down. We won’t ask you again.”

Rowan looked up with a grin, putting the Tuner down on their request so they wouldn't shoot them, holding her other hand up to show that she wasn't a threat. Shane did the same thing, putting up both his hands, while he could feel the now-familiar rumbling underneath his feet. 

The portal was already starting to form in between them, with Rowan and Shane on one side and the men on the other. The last Shane could see of them were their surprise faces, but soon enough the portal covered the empty air between them with an intense blackness. Before the crack had formed and opened properly, Rowan already jumped through and Shane followed her quickly, he didn't want to be left behind.