The soft humming of the medical equipment filled the room, its steady rhythm blending into a soothing white noise. Eli had barely slept properly since the trouble began, and now that the immediate danger had passed, the exhaustion he had been suppressing finally caught up with him. His eyelids grew heavy, and although he tried to remain awake, his head gradually sank forward until he was leaning against the top of the medical pod. Before long, he had fallen into a deep sleep.
His dreams were far from peaceful.
At first, there was only darkness. His arms felt numb, as though something heavy had been pressing down on them for a long time, and his consciousness surfaced several times without fully waking him. His exhausted body simply refused to respond. Then he began to feel something cold clinging to him, wrapping around his body with a damp, suffocating chill that seemed to seep straight into his bones.
It felt like a snake.
