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Slowly, he felt himself drifting down, and his feet touched solid ground. His body regained feeling, starting with the tips of his toes. An amazing feeling of warmth spread through his body. As his hands lost their numbness, he waved them in front of his face. He panicked when he saw nothing but eternal blackness. He screamed out, and this time, the scream resounded in his ears twice as loud as it should have sounded. He startled himself and stumbled backwards. Light slowly began to filter through the darkness until Brian began to make out the shapes of things in front of him. He could see trees, though they still looked quite blurry. He closed his eyes, and waited until the strange sensation passed.
When he finally opened them, he found himself standing in the middle of a clearing. Pine trees surrounded it, their branches covered in masses of green needles. The night sky above him was foggy, and littered with clear patches that were dotted with stars. They shone brilliantly, cascading the clearing with rays of light. Wispy clouds drifted slowly across the sky, making their way West. He was quiet for a moment, listening to the intense silence that shrouded the forest. He closed his eyes once more, and felt a strange sensation pass over him, chilling his body. When he opened them, a foreign sound invaded the forest. He strained to hear the sound more clearly, and a moment later, he knew what it was: human voices.
This doesn't seem better to me, Brian thought, as his body tensed, paralyzed with fear. He ducked into the tall grass in the clearing to avoid being seen. A few moments later, he could see the source of the voices. Three men dressed in black scuttled across the clearing, whispering amongst themselves.
"The painting is there! I know it! I saw them buy it from Dalton!" one of the men whispered hoarsely to the other two.
"200 million is mine!" a second whispered greedily to himself. The other two men stopped and stared at him.
"Ohhhh no. Ours, Rourke. Ours. I ain't lettin' you get your hands on my share. I'm gonna be a very rich man. We all are," the third threatened. "I swear, I will kill you if you if you so much as think about stealing my money."
"That's if we get the painting," the second shot back.
"We will!" the third replied. "They're just regular people! They don't even know the painting is valuable!"
"You've got a point there, Marty," he agreed.
"Don't say our names, stupid!" the first cut in. "Someone might hear us!"
“Like who? The birds?" Rourke mocked.
"Oh shut up. I just don't wanna get caught, is all," the first said.
As their voices disappeared through the clearing, Brian made up his mind to follow them. It wasn't like he had anything else to do. He silently crept toward them through the tall grass, being careful not to let himself be seen. He broke into a jog until he reached the other side of the clearing. He stood up slowly and peered through the trees. He could see the men still walking swiftly toward their destination. He followed them slowly at first, then started running to catch up. He stopped a few moments later when he reached the end of the forest. He found himself on the edge of a deserted road. The men were nowhere to be seen, but he could still hear their footsteps. He followed the sounds until he saw them. They were standing in front of a large brick house, assessing the job.
"I say we go in through the back," one suggested.
"Nah. The bedrooms are in the back. It'd be best to go in the front," Rourke said.
"All right. I'll go in, you watch my back," the first motioned to the other two.
Brian watched as the first man inched his way around the corner of the building to the front. He scurried to the closest window, then took something out of his pocket. He held it up to the window and a few seconds later, Brian heard a clicking noise. The man raised the window and motioned the other two men to follow him. They looked around and then followed him through the window. They climbed in and then carefully closed the window behind them. Brian was wondering what he should