I have been challenged to write about Inception once a week until the end of the year.  Not that this really changes anything because I was planning on doing that anyway.

This week, we continue my adventure into the world of fan fiction.  It’s probably safe to say we won’t be getting any more Inception stories from Nolan and the Blu-Ray doesn’t come out till later this year.  So in order to get a fix, I’m pretty much gonna have to make my own so hopefully, you need a fix too.

The first is a story in parts.  Here is Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6.  This would be Part 7.  It’s called

“The Human Vault.”

A flapping sound.  A dull flapping sound, cycling.  Over and over.  But hold.  The noise begins to fade but not out of diminishing volume.  The sounds of the Hummer’s engine exerting; the screams of the guards inside; the pandemonium just outside the shiny black exterior start to overwhelm it, washing it away like so much nothing.

The Hummer’s driver yells to a guard in the backseat.  The guard complies, releasing his tight grip on the female prisoner and raising the rifle at his feet to the ready.  He emerges from the open window and applies a lead finger on the trigger.  Casing after casing flies through the air, a barrage of lethal legacies sent to the silver Corvette closing in on them.

In the same moment, William watches this guard’s sudden appearance and turns his head to his two passengers.  “GET DOWN!”  It’s a command that’s followed before the sentence is finished.  Emma and Nathan duck down as William swerves the car dangerously from side to side, attempting to weave through the cloud of lead.  The sounds of shattering and crumpling signal a partial failure, but the freshly-minted car holes keep the Corvette’s contents alive.

His clip emptied, he ejects it, sending the black metal crescent clattering onto the blacktop.  He digs his gloved hand into a satchel slung around his shoulder, fishing for a loaded replacement.

Emma waits; feels the calm in this storm; and gets up from cover while drawing her gun.

“Don’t hit my daughter!” Nathan screams.  She doesn’t respond, takes aim without a word.  Compensating for William’s erratic driving is a matter of seconds and just as the guard jams a new clip into his rifle, his head lines up in Emma’s sights.  He doesn’t know it.

BANG.

The slug slams into the guard’s head, shoving the entire upper half of his body up against the edge of the car door before slumping over its open window.  His rifle drops, skittering away behind the Hummer and shrinking in the fast expanding distance.

The Corvette crushes the weapon underneath its wheels as Nathan leans over the two front seats from the back.  The projections all around are screaming now – it’s cacophonous and horrifying – and just behind the car, their masses are growing, still attempting to stop these intruders.

“I think we should’ve gone with a more subtle plan,” Emma shouts over all the commotion.

The Hummer’s driver sends his foot down hard on the acceleration.  The pedal grazes the floor of the car as the engine roars.  Traffic begins to thicken up ahead and the Hummer crosses in and out the empty spaces in each lane.  William matches the movements but he is quickly losing any and all distance gained from tailing it before.  There’s just too many cars to avoid being bogged down.

Another guard inside the Hummer – the one in the passenger’s seat – resumes the offensive, popping out with his own rifle.  With considerably less precision than his predecessor, he fires in the very general direction of the Corvette, unleashing a scattershot of bullets.

William dodges this wave with ease, still trying to close the space between them and the Hummer.  “Where do you think they’re taking her?” Nathan asks.  There, on the horizon, at the end of the street, William sees the massive number of guards waiting for them, a solid line of black before them.

“I don’t think they’re taking her anywhere.  They’re taking us there.”

Nathan and Emma spot the trap, the wheels turning in their heads but coming up blank.

“Emma.  We’re gonna need to warp things a little,” William suggests.

“Just one look at the projections around us would tell you that’s a bad idea.  They’re already aggravated.  This will only make it worse,” she answers.

Nathan takes a brief look behind him.  At this point, there are so many projections that he can’t even see the road they’ve left in the rearview.  The road ahead is short and without salvation.

“Sometimes the worst idea is the only one you’ve got,” Nathan states with finality.  “William’s right.  Alter the architecture.”

Emma stares at Nathan momentarily, searching for something to change in his eyes.  Finding nothing, she looks up ahead and closes her eyes.

That’s it for the seventh installment.  Check back the same time next week for part eight of “The Human Vault.”