State of Emergency

So I was in town, specifically in an area of town called Hill Street. At the top of Hill Street is a bank on the corner, some stores on the opposite side, and what used to be the old Boots chemist till they moved out to somewhere out of town. There is also an alley between buildings.

Not in my dream.

In this dream, the bank was there, but where there's a greasy spoon cafe there was an entrance to some sort of subterranean baths. I went down a flight of spiral stone steps that looked to date back to Roman times, and saw three burly men in swimming trunks, discussing business as they trod the glowing blue waters.

Where the alley was, instead there was a covered mall and rows of small shops on either side. The alley had the same dogleg shape, but it was darker, and the glass panels overhead were grimy from years of neglect.

Just past the alley, unexpectedly there was a bright shop, with its entrance doors wide open and people milling about in the street outside. I spoke with the manager, a nice-looking chap in a dark suit. Looked a bit young to be a manager, but there you go. He sounded inexperienced, too, but he was learning.

I heard the sound of people pounding on metal. I looked back, and I saw that the mall shutters had closed. The manager listened to the pounding and said "Get out onto the street before the outer doors close."

Outside, the crowds were gathering, confused. I wandered down to the Island Green shopping estate, through more crowds. It was cold. Rain was starting to fall.

Then I got a text, and opened my mobile phone. The text read "Please stand by. At 13:30, check your phones for an urgent message."

It was 13:29. As I watched, the time changed to 13:30 and a new text came in. It read "Telephone and internet services are now suspended due to a national state of emergency. Please stand by." The crowd began to react with shock, fear and outrage, but I got a call.

It was a clipped military voice calling me by name. I answered. It asked to confirm my location and asked me to move to an open space.

There was a helicopter overhead. And soldiers drove up in a large truck bearing military colours and markings, and asked me to get into the chopper when it landed. I saw a Colonel inside the darkened interior of the chopper, and a lot of women soldiers manning consoles on either side.

And that was it.