Paws skidded, bodies thudded, fire crackled. The sounds were all around him yet he couldn't see or smell anything over the whirling smoke. It was overwhelming.
A stick waved at the edge of his vision, no thoughts were clear enough to process as he instinctively gripped onto it, begging for anything to get them out of this hell. He couldn't breathe as he was flung out of the flames and threw plumes of smoke. William coughed, his naked tail lashed out behind him as he spread out on the cool ground, his fur covered in ash.
A snail sat in front of him, mouth holding onto the other end of the stick that saved him from the fire. "It's you! You were in the battle- and you-" William wheezed unable to finish his sentence. He knew it, he would never forget that face or shell, it was the snail he admired.
"I admire you too you know." The snail said, before William could reply the world swirled into black and he jolted awake.
"Thank god your awake, I thought you were dead." He looked at the direction of the voice to see a rat covered in ash, along with multiple other curled up around the area.
"Wha-" A sharp pain seized his throat as he began to speak.
"Shh, it's best for you not to talk, there was a fire set in the base camp by one of the youngers by accident, you were caught underneath the ledge you had fallen asleep at and you had hit your head and passed out, I couldn't leave you behind so I went there and dragged you out, you swallowed a lot of smoke though."
That explains his nightmare, and how it felt so real. Dread overshadowed him. He had so many questions yet the claws that gripped his throat wouldn't ease, and he wasn't going to risk loosing his voice forever so he just nodded, scanning over all the injured rats.
"It's terrible isn't it, we are known for being 'one with the fire' but it seems fire has bested us this time around." The unfamiliar rat said again. Geez she talked a lot didn't she. William zoned out as she began to talk again not being bothered to listen to the nonsense.
He just hoped everything would get better, and they wouldn't be attacked in such a vulnerable position. He hoped.
