Free An Infinite Sorrow by R.J. Harker Page A

hehehehe!" 
      "Sorry, gotta go!"  Amazingly, the car was unlocked with the keys still in it.  Rich pinched himself.  No dream this time, this was happening.  He fired up the engine, and set off down the main road toward the highway. 
      "Ok, ok, got to get out of here.  I'd better drive to...to...and then I'll call...someone...crap."  The fog was clearing, but Rich realized he didn't know any other town names, he didn't know what road he was on, and couldn't remember anyone he was supposed to call. 
      BAM!!  The front tire was almost swallowed by a pot hole.  The road was in really bad shape, and the starless, moonless night didn't make it any easier to get his bearings.  "CRAP!!!"
      A little girl stepped out onto the road.  Rich swerved at the last minute and hit a tree,
    ******
      Rich's head hurt. 
      For a moment, he thought he was waking up in his room at home, but then the cold hit him.  He rubbed his eyes and looked around.  He appeared to be in a concrete room with no windows.  No door either, he could see right into the hall.  A few people walked past, uninterested. 
      "Hey!  Hello?  Where am I?"  Luckily, somehow, he had a plain set of clothes.  Walking around in a hospital gown would have been really awkward at this point.  He walked out into a long hallway, which led to some sort of vast cafeteria.  It was filled with young people his age, and in the same plain grey uniform, all eating something which looked like low budget ham (He hoped it was ham).  Finally, he spotted a familiar face.  Alice was sitting at table six. 
      He sat next to her.  "Man, I'm glad I spotted you.  How'd we get here?  What is this?" 
      She turned to face him.  Only her left side had been visible to him when he'd entered the room.  It was Alice all right, but Alice with an eye patch.  "Commander, I'm not in the mood for games.  I'm going on thirty hours without sleep, and we're not even prepped for the next op yet.  You should probably get to central command."
      Rich took the time to blink.  "Central what?  Damn, Alice, I didn't know you'd go all Nick Fury on me for a hospital prank.  Who did I tick off that bad for you guys to keep me going this long?  Is Franklin back there?" 
      She stopped eating.  "How could you even joke about Franklin?  Get your head on straight, and quick.  We've got a job to do." 
      Rich stood up and raised his hand.  All the people eating at talking in the cafeteria hushed and looked at him in anticipation.
      "Soldiers of the resistance...yo!!  Waz up!!!"
      Alice gave him a really weird look.  He spotted Liz toward the back of the room, in the same plain grey uniform.  "Men, and women, and women.  We are embarking on an epic journey of stupidity for the future of humanity.  It doesn't really matter what anyone has to say today, just remember, all your bases belong to us.  I'm going to go now.  Heck, I may even get to go on a real date!  May the force be with you..." 
      The room was dead silent.  Eye patch Alice pulled him back into his chair.  "What are you doing?!"
      "Hey, I have not yet begun the stupidity yet.  Someone better come clean about what's going on.  This morning, I was at the movies with my friends.  Then, a haunted hospital.  Then, I woke up here, which is just the tip of the iceberg on the level of weirdness I've been going through this month.  Start talking."   
      "Rich, that was five years ago."
      "What?"
    She was serious.  This was actually happening.  He'd woken up from passing out at the movies and being hospitalized to become the leader of the human...teen...resistance...thing.
      Rich retreated into the rack room, his head was spinning.  He'd been pulled out of everything he knew into random worlds of madness.
      Alice followed him into the room, and pulled her shirt off.  "Come on, wake up.  We've got to talk."
      "Ah...Alice..."
      "Oh, come on Rich.  They're just boobs.  You'll