Dream?

The forest groaned and hummed in the moonless night. Lex groaned, his bruised eyes shifting open, fighting wisps of sleep that threatened to drag him back under. If it weren't for the biting cold and sudden panic that struck his chest, he'd have stayed lying down. But he didn't. He scrambled onto his feet, fear dripping from his pores. Where was he? No matter where he looked, he couldn't see anything further than a few metres away, and it certainly wasn't his old stuffy apartment he fell asleep to. He put it down to his lack of sleep, as he guessed he was probably dreaming. If he was dreaming, though, why did an ugly feeling weigh his heart down? He hadn't heard of a forest that was still intact after most of human civilisation ignored climate change, which unsurprisingly exasperated the situation to a full-blown war between countries as they blamed each other for their actions. Lex concluded it was indeed a dream, however, couldn't understand how it felt so real. He had the same problem a few times, except ironically, he dreamt of his own forsaken world. Turns out the events he dreamt about came true, which he boiled it down to as a coincidence. So he was dreaming of a forest. Was it the past?

Lex pondered whether he should move or stay put. The thing he least wanted to do was attract a predator. Dying in his dreams was still quite unpleasant, so he'd rather avoid it.

Even if he started walking, where would he walk? He couldn't see anything, let alone know where he was. He almost let out a scream as he noticed he was butt naked. He had been so transfixed on his surroundings that he hadn't noticed that his clothes were missing. Well, that's just great, Lex sighed. All he needed was a TV crew and he could be one of those people on 'naked and afraid', a TV series from long ago when there were still forests.

Lex winced as his soft bare foot stepped onto a sharp twig and he cursed under his breath, but slowly pushed on, blanketing the pain. He did this for about an hour, getting more and more anxious as he couldn't even identify how far he'd gone, if he was walking closer to a civilisation, or away from it. He could walk right into the hands of a bear for all he knew. They were enormous creatures, according to the books they studied at school back when he was younger, but like the ecosystems, they too collapsed. There were a select few still though in zoos, however his family could never afford to spend money on watching some poor creatures stand there for all to see, like celebrities, except treated terribly.

He collapsed against a depressed tree with dazzling blue leaves. 'Strange'. He'd never heard of a tree with blue leaves before on earth. Well, it was just a dream, so what did it matter? Exhaustion washed over him as his body refused to move any further. He'd pushed himself over his limit, either that or he lost some blood, probably both.

Nausea washed over Lex as he remembered a scene from a person he saved before he retired from being a paramedic. It was one of many memories that haunted him, and probably would for the rest of his life.

          ---

It had been bucketing down, and the ambulance was tired from the many daily trips they forced it to make, and that day was no different. The caller, in a state of panic, screamed into the phone about another boy being beaten, which prompted them to respond. People believed that a gang, which had recently set up shop in their city, was responsible for it becoming a common occurrence..

He'd seen many of the unfortunate victims of their attacks, but this one was a tier higher. It had been a 16-year-old boy. He was stripped naked, and tied against a tree, with his bits visible for the world to see. However, they were badly mutilated, and his body was lashed so badly that it was a shock that he was still alive.

The boy had been awake the entire time as well, and still was. The gang had laced their weapons with a toxin that just increased the pain further. When he'd gotten there and untied the boy, he stumbled forwards into his arms, barely conscious, and begged him to save him. They'd rushed him to the hospital, and they'd tried their best to save the boy, but the poison had gotten to his heart. He'd died by the time they arrived at the hospital.

      ---

It was torture. Every time he slept, he'd end up back on that day, with the boy falling into his arms. Every time he failed to save the boy, no matter what he did. He could imagine the boy strung on the tree in-front of him, with his sad and lifeless eyes, blood still dripping from his lifeless body. 

Lex shook the image from his head. He just wanted one day and night. Just one where he didn't have to think of the boy, and the other people he failed. He could still remember how the mother and father collapsed at the sound of their son's death. Lex hadn't thought of getting the police to do it, so he did. He wished he hadn't. He should've left it with the police.

A distant shriek snapped Lex alert, but it was as good as trying to look through a wall. Even if there was something there to eat him, he had no weapons to kill it, nor the sight to see where it was coming from. An idea sprung into his mind, and he quickly dug his fingers into the bark of the tree, and used his remaining power to scale the tree, only to collapse into a small dip in a branch, perfect for sleeping. Despite the intense itching and cold that attacked his skin, Lex lay on his stomach and mesmerised himself with the beautiful leaves.

A second later, a huge beast dashes past, barely leaving any time for Lex to get a glimpse at it, and it made his heart freeze. It looked like a giant cheetah with many rows of teeth and long razor daggers for claws. It could tear him apart without a second thought. He clung to the branch in fear of being discovered by the monster for about ten minutes before resting his grip to give into his intense desire to sleep.