The cold wind of the night blew past John, who was sprinting away from the enemy's ambush, trying to reload his gun, to keep the enemy at bay, and to stop them from giving chase.

'Bang'.

An ear-piercing sound rang through the cold night, making John's senses scream, and making his face go pale, at the sudden realization that he was about to be hit by the bullet of an enemy sniper.

As a last attempt at preserving his life, he tried crouching and moving out of the trajectory of the bullet, but that soon proved to be impossible as he was running at high speed, and the last thing he managed to do was crouch.

Unfortunately, the bullet that was meant to hit his knee, to keep him alive, ended up scattering his brain on the ground, as a result of him crouching.

After minutes, an enemy soldier found him and checked his body.

'Haaah'. A long sigh could be heard escaping the soldier's mouth.

"Mission failed, the target has died, return back to base immediately."

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Meanwhile, an entirely different thing was happening in John's mind.

'Huh?'. Everything was dark, John was in a panic, and fear was creeping up in his mind. He didn't know where he was, all he remembers is how he died, and now everything seems consumed by darkness.

A sudden thought spurred in his mind.

'Is this death?'.

The moment the thought entered his mind, he was filled with an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

He decided to wait, maybe something will happen, he was already 35 years old, so waiting wouldn't hurt. He wasn't even sure that he was still alive.

Time passed by, days, weeks, maybe even months?

John couldn't remember how much time passed, and he couldn't handle the loneliness anymore.

He flew into a rage, kicking and attempting to scream, but nothing was happening, he could feel nothing, only pain at the attempt of moving.

His rage died down, and curiosity took over his mind. He never felt pain since the darkness took over.

John was not afraid nor hurt by the pain, as he was used to it, but one thing was for certain.

He was curious.

Trying to 'move' again, he felt a bit of pain.

His mind was in a panic, he was uncertain and afraid about what might happen.

Realizing that he might lose himself if he panics now, he tried calming himself down and shutting down his mind. He fell 'asleep'.

After 'waking' up, he decided to think calmly about his situation and what was happening. Ever since waking up in the darkness, he never ate, not even drank water and never saw the sun.

There was no way he was still alive.

Deciding to wait, he kept falling asleep at random times, until one fateful day...