cross-posted from: https://lemmy.fbxl.net/post/14421

Had a really neat dream. Had to get up super early so my mind didn’t let me sleep too soundly and that’s a good Chance of getting dreams because of it.

It was after the end. We start in a warehouse or something and the MC is getting a message that they need to figure something out or they’re never going to get out alive. There was all kinds of scheming. There’s a number of people in the warehouse and the exit is surrounded by zombies. One of the people there has a girlfriend who turned into a zombie.

Over time it becomes obvious that some of the people are changing. The MC keeps getting the message that they can get out if only they figure things out and that they’ll be powerful if they can figure it out. The guy who had a girlfriend breaks down and claims he went out and met with his girlfriend. everyone is horrified, and agree to lock him out – you want to be a weirdo like that, go to her.

Eventually it becomes clear there’s a certain laugh that predicts someone becoming a zombie. An insane laugh like you’ve given up hope. Even old corpses reanimate as zombies once they let out that laugh, and having figured it out the way to protect themselves they finally see out one of the other windows and see the world outside of the little enclosed area outside the entrance – every building has an emotive face etched into the buildings, representing the emotions that the people in each building have settled on.

The scene changes. An old civil engineer is angrily flipping switches trying to keep his tunnels in check as he walks through and sees the mess people have left behind. You think he’s in trouble with everything going on but he seems to be strong and in charge even though he’s clearly annoyed. It seems like there’s an indication that this guy’s controlled righteous annoyance has been channelled into strength, actual physical strength… In this world it seems that it matters how you express your emotions, it can make you weak, or it can make you strong.

I think the dream is an allegory for the different ways people react to the current age. The ones who laughed and became zombies and tore everyone apart were the ones who fell into despair, the old engineer got angry but kept on doing the work that mattered. The dream didn’t show it, but it was heavily implied that there were many other options besides the two. Presumably some of them would help you build and protect what matters, and others would become mindless forces of destruction.