At college she sits with her friend at lunch to talk about the dreams. This friend knows about her dreams happening and is as worried as Jacque is. "Did you dream anything new?"
"Alpacas."
"Right. Still Luke?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because David' twelve year old cousin is called Luke. How old does your Luke look?"
"About fourteen, maybe fifteen." David sees them and tries to sneak up on Jacque. Leanne scratches her ear in an agreed way to tell Jacque that David is there, so they both greet him. "What you talking about?"
"David."
"Jacque don't."
"Why not?"
"Fine."
"What are you two talking about?"
"Leanne dreams about the future, and she's been dreaming about Luke."
"My Luke?" Leanne sighs and thinks back to the boy she walks with in the dreams.
"The Luke I keep dreaming about is about five three, I think he's about fourteen, short, straight black hair, a scar across his arm here, and honey coloured eyes."
"That's my cousin. I don't know what colour his eyes are but the scar is right. I didn't know you'd met him."
"I haven't."
"Tell him what the dreams are about."
"Do I have to?"
"I don't mind if you don't want to tell me, unless it's anything, you know."
"It's not, but it's worse than that, right Leanne?"
"It's viral apocalypse."
"Cool."
"Not cool. Everyone dies, apart from people who disappear with me."
"Oh, I got more food, just in case it does happen, but I still think it won't. We'd know if it did." They both turn to David when he speaks. "There's flu in Africa that wiped out a whole village."
"I thought we had more time. Luke said it started in Africa but I'm not sure." David looks scared, and Jacque looks like she's going to cry. "It's really happening?"
"Looks like it." Jacque does start crying, and David sits down next to her to comfort her.
"What do we do?" Leanne shakes her head and rubs her eyes before replying.
"We get as many people out to the middle of nowhere as possible and start again. There's other people who have dreamed about it and are prepared for it, so we won't be the only group out there. First we collect food, and bottles of water. Not tap water, that would just go green. Do you still have that van David?"
"What? Oh, yeah, I do. Why?"
"We can fill that up with food, water and other stuff we're going to need. Is it full of junk?"
"Yeah but it wouldn't take long to clean it out."
"Good. When that's done, get food, lots of it. Mostly packets and tins because those will keep for ages but fresh stuff won't. Get some fresh stuff for the next few days, and get plenty of matches and barbeque sets. Jacque."
"Yeah?"
"Could you take me out to that camping place and keep stuff in your car till it's needed?"
"Ok."
"Thank you."
"What about other people? And where are we going to go?"
"I've thought about the place, I just need to print out the maps to make sure I know exactly where we're going. Talk to people you think you could trust, and Luke, and get them to go with you if you can. Rachel's going, so are a couple of her friends and their family and some of their friends. We have transport for them and.." She breaks down in tears too, and David reaches over to catch her hand. "I'm here, I'll help, I'll go now if you're ok." She nods, and fights back tears.
"Yeah, thanks. The sooner we start the better. I'll tell the teacher that someone died."
"Barney."
"Ok. We'll tell the teacher Barney died. That should be enough to let us go home early." David sniffs, rubs his eyes, and squeezes Jacque before hurrying off to clear out his van. Jacque looks up and tries to smile, so Leanne shifts over to hug her and digs a tissue out of her bag for her. "You can stay here if you want." Jacque shakes her head and starts to get up. Leanne gets up and picks up both bags.
On the way up one of their teachers sees that they're upset and asks what's wrong. Leanne takes him aside a bit and quietly tells him their story. "Her dog died. The gate was left open."
"Ah. You're going home then?"
"Yeah, someone needs to make sure she's ok."
"Off you go then. Oh, I saw David heading out to the car park. Is he giving you a lift home?"
"No, I think he's just bored." Jacque waited for her and now they go up together. "Can Barney come with us?"
"Of course he can."
"And next door's dog?"
"If you can get it without being caught."
"I could take it for a walk like normal but never come back." Leanne hugs her best friend and digs out another tissue. When they get to the room, Jacque waits outside for a minute while Leanne tells the story, and when she comes out she puts her arm round Jacque's shoulders again and they start home.
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