Black Rain (Cheddie Apocalypse AU)

A Tear From an Eye Dreaming

Looking back, I don't even remember dreaming. It was just a split second in my head. Just a second of darkness.

Until the fever dream started.

In the dream I woke up, standing alone in an open field. The sun was covered by dark storm clouds. I looked around me and saw nothing, nobody else.

I was alone. Until the clouds started parting. All I heard then was the wind growing stagnant, and suddenly I heard the howls.

The sun shone on me like a searchlight. That's when I looked behind me and saw a line of trees.

The first sunstalker jumped out and I took off. I tried to run, but because of course it was a dream, I was too slow. Just as I had been when I was awake in the city, I was grabbed. This time however, the creature dove straight for my torso and plunged it's long sharp nails into my stomach.

I couldn't feel it. But the sight of it-- god, I can't get it out of my head.

I screamed. I thrashed around for a second.

Just as the beast reached for my head, it all faded away, back to black.

But I soon noticed that it wasn't completely black. It was more of a deep grey. What you see when you close your eyes. I suddenly felt dull pain in different places all over my body.

I was awake.

I slowly opened my eyes with a groan, suddenly hearing a voice that almost scared me.

"Finally, you're waking up.... I was pretty worried, that thing almost certainly would've killed you...", a voice said. It was another man. He sounded like he had just woken up himself.

I opened my eyes as best as I could, but my eyelids felt so heavy. I could only see that he had long hair, black. I could also see he had facial hair. He sat at my side. I felt that I was under two blankets, laying flat on my back. I gathered my mental strength and started to talk.

"I-I... W-who.... W-who a-are you...? W-where... Where a-am... I-I....?"

He looked at me for a moment. "My name is Christopher. Christopher Cornell", he said. "I'm the one who found you getting choked out by one of those rain-runners or whatever they call them now."

I felt myself sigh in relief, and a sudden hope. He had saved me. I looked up at the ceiling. "F-finally.... I-I'm not.... F-fucking alone...."

He smiled and put a hand on my forehead. I winced in pain as it really hurt. "Yeah.... I feel the same way here.... Sorry about this, I know it hurts. You had a fever a few days ago. I'm only checking to see if it's gone.", he said. I got a little scared.

"D.... Days.....? H-how.... How long... H-have I been out...?" I asked. He sighed. "I'd say maybe, um... Two weeks. It's been a while, but with your condition, it was sort of a good thing. You've healed a lot more, but that fever almost took you out.", he replied.

I closed my eyes for a moment. "God....", I groaned. He sighed. "Don't worry. It's gone away. I managed to scrounge up some medications from the hospital last Saturday. You're gonna be just fine."

I felt better once again. "A-am.... A-am I gonna be alright...?" I asked.

Christopher put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure you make it out just fine.", he said.

I smiled as best as I could. "T-thank you....", I replied. I was grateful for this man. He had saved my life and was willing to do whatever he could to make sure I was going to survive.

He stood and turned to leave, but not before looking at me for another minute. "You can just call me Chris if you want. I should've mentioned that earlier.", he said. I chuckled very weakly. "That's... T-that's fine....", I said. He turned back for a second. "What's your name, kid?"