It was early. Still asleep in my warm bed when my alarm clock radio next to my bed began to hum and crack  with the static sound of white noise. The television across the room clicked on to a fuzzy scramble. Luckily my small home could only hold so many devices, I thought as my phone began to buzz. I lagged under the covers not sure if I was still in a nightmare. Just as I reached for my alarm clock everything fell silent. The TV screen still glowing with power,though the screen was black. My breath hitched in my throat with anticipation. 

Then what sounded like some kind of weather alert squalled across all devices. Silence. Then,in  an elegant and quiet female voice came a single phrase, or a name?

"Agent Bluebird."

Silence. Blackness. 

As quickly as it had all started, every device turned itself off and went back to normal. 

I laid in my bed for an what felt like an eternity. Struggling to define what had happened. I tried to convince myself that it had been a nightmare. One that meant absolutely nothing. A sting in the back of my mind knew that wasn't true. Though the name, or the words Agent Bluebird meant nothing to me. 

My mind tried to rationalize away my nightmare, but it had triggered something in my body, a restlessness. I tossed around in my bed for a while before my body pushed itself out. 

It acted almost normally, calmly brushing my teeth and feeding the dogs. But my body wasn't me. It was on a mission that my mind wasn't aware of. It pushed me through my menial morning tasks almost as a favor to me, so that the real work could begin.  

My body grabbed the leashes and strapped the dogs in for the morning walk. The sun still had not come up. My two sleepy dogs lazily led the way out the front door, not sure why we were moving so early.

 We made it halfway down the steps when I noticed my neighbors lights were on. We walked further and I noticed even more lights on. We began to notice other people out with their dogs. No one spoke, but I could see my own panic mirrored in their eyes.

My brain told me it couldn't be later in the morning than three am, but everyone in the neighborhood seemed to be awake. Had they had the same Agent Bluebird experience? My dogs and I looped our way back home. 

My brain screamed with a panic no one, including my own body could hear as it opened an air vent in the corner of the bedroom. My  hand reached inside the duct and removed a large automatic weapon I had never seen before. I strapped it across my back along with a row of ammunition and made my way out to the street with the rest of my armed neighbors. We fell into a silent march to oblivion.