❝𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐀❞ ━ TREECH

21. a nightly visit

Then, she freezes. Down the hall right at the entrance to the kitchen. All she sees is a hand poking out beneath the debris, waving for help. Even in her dreams, her brain has filled in the tiniest details such as the ring with the heavy emerald on it that she has been wearing recently.

"Here, Junia! Help me, please!"

She rushes forward without any hesitation. The flames around her burn brightly and like nothing can stop them, her heart races and even though the flames can't touch her, she's sweating profusely. But then, right as she's about to try and lift some of the rubble, she freezes.

Right beneath her is a puddle of blood.

She doesn't register what happens, all she feels is herself falling. It's as if the puddle has sucked her into some kind of portal. She's falling and screaming for what feels like ten seconds, the air around her icy, and when she lands on the floor, she's almost completely engulfed in the darkness.

June pants, her blood running cold once again as her eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. She's in the old amphitheater, the only strange part being that it looks just like it did before the bombing. She lifts her head off the cold floor and squints but eventually manages to pull herself up so she's sitting.

The moonlight casts a faint ghostly glow on everything around her, including herself. There's a cold chilly breeze, a stark contrast to the flames she felt not even a minute ago, and it's only when her breathing slows down a little bit that she realizes she's not alone.

It's not a figure she recognizes immediately, especially considering the fact that they're a bit further away. But even from afar, she's quick to notice the way they're twitching almost uncontrollably. She pulls herself up as quickly as she can and runs over, her heart stopping as soon as she realizes who it is.

Treech. And from the way he's writhing and his hands are twitching, the condition he's in reminds her of Clemmie's. She crouches down next to him immediately and when she sees his eyeballs are a faint yellow color, she swallows. His skin is peeling all over and his lips are so chapped they're bleeding.

"Treech?" she barely manages to whisper and places her hand on either side of his face. There's a faint whimper leaving his lips and she gasps softly, inspecting him closer. "Treech, what happened to you?"

"The snakes," he rasps out. He sounds like he hasn't had water in a while and when she touches his forehead, she can tell he's burning up. There's sweat running down his forehead, his dark curls clinging to the skin, and his chest rises and falls rapidly with every breath he struggles to take. "They - They got me! They're gonna kill me!"

He sounds just like Clemmie.

She shakes her head frantically and feels the tears coming immediately. She knows it's just a dream, yet it feels so real when she cradles his face and searches his gaze. His tongue juts out and he hisses, only to immediately whimper in pain again.

"You're not going to die," she tries to tell him even though her voice begins to crack, "it'll be alright-"

"No, it won't!" The panic in his voice makes her flinch slightly, even more so when he suddenly grips her arm tightly. "They're killing me, June!"

When she looks down at his hand, she swears her heart stops beating. Scales are running up his hand and arm in various colors. Green, blue, red, orange-