Valencia, the city of beaches, seafood and sun in the west coast of Spain.
In the harbor area Richard Morrison shambled towards a nearby supermarket for a bottle of water to cure his massive hangover after a long booze cruise to heal his soul. As he searched shakily his pockets for his wallet he quietly thought.
What a fucking trip, never again.
It was a quiet Sunday morning in April and Richard couldn't be bothered with any extra steps in his journey towards his reserved hotel room.
Walking slowly he thought back to the night before, he began to question his drinking habits and swearing to himself once again that he should never again drink to the point where one can't even remember who he is.
He was quickly pulled out of those depressing thoughts as a bus on the opposite driving lane was going out of control and crashing towards an nearby lamp post.
''What the fuck?'' He thought in a drowsy state and for a brief moment he denied the current reality of the situation.
The driver and the passengers are probably going to be very hurt, if not even die. It was not just some sort of hallucination from a hangover and lack of sleep.
The out of control bus swung in an unstable manner between both lanes until eventually came to a sudden stop by crashing into a nearby fountain.
Richard looked in shock as the bus driver flew in a perfect semi-circular arc right in front of him in a pile of bloody mess.
While processing what was happening, one thought came to his head first and he was not proud of it. ''I will never eat minced meat again.''
After his inappropriate thoughts he could feel something bubbling up towards his throat, making him nauseated and unwell.
Taking a few steps to the curb he unceremoniously kneeled and let it all out in an explosive manner.
Wiping his mouth with a napkin taken from the cruise ship's buffet, he could not help but feel shitty.
''Oh how I wish I had spearmint bubblegum with me...'' He mumbled out loud and spat on the ground.
After his...episode, he finally did the right thing any decent person would do.
He pulled out his cellphone to dial 112 (EU emergency number), but he was interrupted as he heard something captivating yet confusing.
An unknown androgynous voice sounded from inside his head ''Let the games begin, please try your best -Team Godly''
Am I going crazy or who's pulling pranks at the time like this?
After the strange voice had faded, something came into Richard's field of vision which seemed a lot like some sort of game interface from some low budget game.
✶ Richard Morrison ✶
Title Job / Class - None - - None -
Level 0 Primary attributes Secondary attributes Skills Expand/hide Unspent attributes Strength - 9 Luck - 7 Unarmed - 5 Sword skills - 2 0 Agility - 6 Charm - 5 Knife skills - 3 Ranged attacks - 4
----------------------------------------
Vitality - 8
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Stamina - 6 Hp 57/102 Intelligence - 11 Mp 55/55 Spirit - 9
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
As Richard stood in daze wondering what in god's name was his eyes seeing, he finally snapped out of it when something drew closer.
''Am I finally insane?'' He spoke in a quiet voice and raised his eyes towards the originator of the sound.
In shock he watched as the bus driver tried to stand up multiple times, legs twisted in opposite directions but failed each and every single time and eventually giving up and slowly crawling towards Richard.
The bloodied mess that was the bus driver did not say a single coherent word nor scream in pain, letting only quiet moans while unsteadily advancing towards Richard.
''Hey dude are you alright? Habla inglés? Estas bien?''
The bloodied man approached Richard and he was reminded of the old movie President Evil that seemed too much in common and decided to have some caution.
The bus driver obviously was badly hurt and logically after taking such a geometrically beautiful dive to the cold and hard concrete street by all rights he should be in coma or dead.
The crash had attracted nearby people and in the surroundings you could hear women screaming in fright and people calling for an ambulance.
Some people proved to be of no use at all, like Richard. They were pulling out their cellphones and taking video of the accident and some were just standing still in shock, in learned helplessness.
Only a few brave souls decided to man up and go help the poor ol' bus driver and the passengers of the bus while the crowd were content on just watching the spectacle.
Richard watched cautiously while feeling conflicted about his situation. He knows that by common he should help, but what can he do? He has no experience patching up someone or treating open wounds.
Only remotely useful medical information that Richard knew was CPR and he can't see anyone that seems to have died or has his/her heart stopped.
Regret rolled in as even the emergency treatment course he learned from the Finnish army had mostly faded from his memory.
The time he served in the army was 9 months, but it did not interest him at all.
When you are younger, some things when forced are just not that interesting compared to a civilian life where you could party and spend time with friends.
How was he supposed to get motivated and learn properly when all he could think was.
''If I wasn't bound in this shithole for 9 months by law, I could eat, sleep, drink, party and fuck. What's so cool about playing war that is obviously never going to happen?''
Richard watched the helpful man get closer to the bus driver to inspect his wounds, feeling nervous about the whole thing.
Helpful man A was finally by the bus driver's side, closely inspecting the wounds on his legs and estimating the amount of blood loss.
He ordered helpful man B in a calm and professional manner to inform the extent of the drivers wounds to the paramedics, when suddenly the bus driver turned and chomped quite a bit from the helpful man A's face.
''PUTA MADRE!!'' he shouted in frenzied panic and tried to struggle himself free from the culprit's strong jaw.
The helpful man A struggled for a while before helpful man C came in as the helping hand and the previous crowd started to scatter in haste.
Only a few hardcore film enthusiasts, me, the helpful guys A-D and handful curious people were left on the scene.
The siren sound started to echo through the streets of Valencia and Richard could feel that maybe... Just maybe this is not just a bad joke of the day, it could go on for quite a while.
He power walked 50 or so meters away from the scene and looked around the formerly peaceful marina, besides the people convincing themselves by repeating: ''This video will go viral and gets me plenty of new subscribers on MeTube.'' The helpful people were already fleeing and the street was quickly becoming deserted.
Cool seaside wind blew against Richard's face, and he could not help but realize that the normal way of life might not be guaranteed with the strange status board and the voice of self proclaimed god.
''The coming of the end? Seems like those religious nutjobs few years back were off a little bit if this is it.'' Richard spoke out to nobody while scratching his head.
While in deep thought reconstructing the previous scene, screaming sounds resounded from the direction of the bus as bloodied people slowly walked towards the film enthusiasts and the remaining curious Georges.
''Yup... nopenopenopenope I'm not going anywhere near that shit if they start to bite people. I have seen enough horror movies to avoid sketchy situations like these''
Finishing these thoughts, they were proven to be valid very quickly as the people started to bite and eat the good samaritans.
Never had he seen such gore where living persons were gutted alive in real life, when the hangover and the lack of sleep was not helping it either.
I gotta get away from here, but before that...
He went once again unceremoniously to the curb, emptied what was left in his stomach and fled from the scene like a frightened rabbit.