He opened his eyes.

Hmm?

It was dark yet the noise down the street and lights from outside made the shared ward a bit illuminated. He stared at the white yet dark ceiling caught up in a daze. The sound of the machine right next to him made him glanced to the side. The vital sign monitor machine kept beeping at an interval in tandem with his heartbeat.

I’m alive?

That realization suddenly struck him. He still couldn’t put his head together as his mind was still clouded. Out of nowhere, tears came down like a gushing river.

I’m alive.

He couldn’t believe it. He knew the last thing that he remembered was being smacked into the air by a giant tail. Now, he was here. On a comfy bed in a safe place. It didn't feel real yet it was.

I’m alive.

He repeated those words time after time. Never he had thought of being grateful for being alive. He thought life was boring but him, feeling the sensation of being alive was the best thing in the world. Living and breathing without pain and anguish. Yet something emerged from the recess of his memories.

Maria…

He stopped breathing as the image of that woman appeared once more. Yet the last scene he remembered about her only left him in more tears. He couldn’t even listen to her explanation about ‘him’ leaving her after the kiss they shared. It left him clueless, leaving him thinking, was he wrong? Did the thing that happened ten years ago was a misunderstanding? The truth he seeks was far away. As the truth was now out of reach separated between the world of the living and the dead.

Only the sound of sobbing filled up the ward. The thoughts of others resurfaced. Gina, Eugene, and her parents. It only made it harder to stop crying. Regret, desperation, sadness and all of it jumbled up into a state of perpetual sadness. In the end, he could only cry.

The nightmare he went through felt like a fleeting dream as if it ended after he woke up in this monotonous color room. But he knew that wasn’t the case. He was lucky, or in another way to interpret it, death came knocking and made a U-turn.

He cried until he fell asleep once more.

--

Who's talking?

The sound of people chattering was loud and making him woke up from his sleep. He frowned as his eyes slowly opened up. The doctors were having their morning rounds around the ward. A junior resident with her new white coat was eager to learn despite everything that had happened in the last week. While listening to her senior doctors talking about the patient’s condition her eyes drifted away for a second, glancing at the patient. But that act alone made her stumbled on her feet, surprised by what she saw.

“Dr.Allen, the patient,” out of surprise, her tone was a little bit higher than normal.

Her seniors cast a scrutinizing glance at her while Dr.Allen took note of where this junior of hers was looking at. He turned around and faced the patient and his eyes went wide open.

“He woke up,” said Dr.Allen.

To his words, the rest of those over-worked doctors turned their attention to the awakened patient. Jason saw these doctors staring at him like a caged lab rat. It felt extremely uncomfortable, and he had to break the ice.

“Hi?”

--

Rather than the whole ward, the whole hospital was in an uproar. They knew who Jason was, a survivor from the invasion of New York City. There were others like him that had been saved but his situation was a rather interesting one different from the rest.

Throughout the whole morning up to the afternoon, Jason was kept busy with the constant medical check-up and a lot of questioning. Questions in regard to his health of course. From the basic question of how he was feeling today to whether he piss any blood color urine this morning. Jokes aside, his condition wasn’t that good. After waking up this morning, his body felt like he had been hit by a truck. Thankfully he wasn't sent to another world.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Every muscle on his body was aching and he noticed a few appendages of his were wrapped in thick bandages. His left leg wrapped in a cast and he swore his ribs kept on hurting as each time he breathed in, he felt pain over his chest. He was informed that when he was found, his condition was in a near-death state. If it wasn’t for the first aid emergency as well as the quick action of the coast guard that found him, he wouldn’t be alive right now.

Again, Death made a U-turn.

“If you wouldn’t mind me asking, how long was I in a coma?”

The doctor who was checking on Jason maintained her silence, she was about to say something but a knock came from the open door. Both Jason and the doctor turned around and saw a man adorned in an office suit. Yet Jason had a hard time believing this was a normal salary office worker.

“Hello, Mr.Park. May I come in?”

Alongside him, they were two others and from the look of it seems like henchmen. Jason didn’t manage to say anything as the request he received are merely pleasantries. This man with an island bald head piqued Jason’s interest. He had a hunch that the man is a government official but shouldn’t he at least got the paycheck to do something with that bald head of his? Medical advancement had really improved these days and hair implants were not that rare.

The island bald man gave a signal with his hand prompting the doctor to leave the room with only four of them. Jason didn’t want to ask how the island bald man knew his name, he probably did some research over him before coming by. Yet he couldn’t take his eyes off that bald spot and he didn’t even try to cover it up.

“Ehem, Mr. Park?”

The bald government official took Jason’s attention from his receding hairline.

“Yes,” he replied.

“You don’t want to ask how we know your name? Considering how we found you without any IDs or credentials, are you not curious about who we are?”

“I’m supposed to be dead and here I am still breathing. That’s enough for me to care,” he replied with a slight smile on his face.

The bald man was speechless, he wasn’t thinking from Jason’s perspective. In a sense, he was rather ignorant.

“I apologize Mr.Park, that is not our intention. Just seeing you alive is great and well, surviving through the disaster is a miracle itself,” the bald man paused after giving his fake heartfelt message. Then came the business part.

“I’m Agent Bond and these are my colleagues. We’re from the NSA, and we have some questions for you Mr.Park,” said the bald man, now dubbed as Agent Bond.

Jason couldn’t help but be surprised by that name. It didn't actually match how he thought of the name called Bond. The absence of hair really played a part.

“Bond?” Jason had to say it.

“Well, uhm. Mr.Park, although I know you had gone through a lot of adversities for the past whole week. But I hope you can answer a few questions for us for the sake of our nation,” Agent Bond ignored that mischief look on Jason’s face. He maintained his professionalism and did his job. In a way, he had been teased quite a lot for having that name along with his appearance. He wasn’t ugly, it’s just that his average appearance didn't really match the grandeur of that name.

“Since you know my name. Shouldn’t you rephrase the word our nation?”

He’s Canadian and that’s a fact. Agent Bond stared at Jason before he continued.

“Mr.Park, enough of this charade. Rather than the nation, the whole world is at stake here. Including Canada,” Jason jolted as he tried to prop his body up but failing as the pain was too much to bear. He knew beforehand that a crack was reported above Canada but his hometown wasn’t included in the list unless he missed it.

“You mean Toronto?”

“Oh, Toronto is safe. What I meant is the other cities, Ottawa, Quebec, Victoria, and others,” that stoic look on Agent Bond was rather cold as he listed down those cities.

“Gone?”

“Invaded,” Agent Bond replied.

Deep in thought, he realized the distance between Ottawa city and Toronto was not that far. Then a sudden thought emerged, as his head started spinning around. Left to right, searching for something.

“Mr.Park?” the sudden change in behavior alarmed Agent Bond.

He moved around ignoring the pain, then out of patience he turned to Agent Bond.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in a hospital, Mr.Park. Can you please calm down,” Agent Bond usually handle this type of situation with a gun in his hand but considering Jason was a sick patient on the bed, he doubted it would be the method to deal with this situation.

“No. What I mean is, is this place close to New York?” the vital sign monitor was showing his heart rate going up and up with no sign of going down.

“We are in Bayshore Community Hospital, it’s in New Jersey,” said Agent Bond.

Jason stood motionless as he was in deep thought. He wasn’t a U.S citizen and the only thing he knew about New Jersey was, it was just New Jersey. Then he remembered something related to New Jersey.

“Are we close to any beach that’s facing New York City?”

Agent Bond looked up to the corner of his eyes before he answered.

“Union Beach is the nearest and its definitely facing the city,” his casual tone in answering Jason’s question left Jason’s mind numbed.

“The fuck? Then get me out of here. I need to get out of here,” the image of that Scarlet Rex terrified his whole being. His sense of urgency was going up the roof as well as his heart rate with the machine keep on beeping faster.

“The monsters are coming,” Jason said as his eyes looked around.

I lost my sword.

The horn sword he used to slashed his opponent to death was no longer by his side. He remembered how he lost it when that gigantic tail struck.

“Calm down Mr.Park, the monsters are not coming,”

Jason stopped and turned to agent baldy here.

“What do you mean?”

“The monsters or what we called them as UC, an abbreviation of unidentified creatures. They have stopped advancing after invading both Staten Island and the whole length of Long Island. To the north, they also stopped after reaching the border of White Plains. As of now, we are safe.”

Jason couldn’t believe it. How could those monsters stop advancing? Then a thought flashed by.

“They didn’t invade New Jersey?” just above Staten Island was a landmass resembling an island but under the state of New Jersey.

“Strange of how it seems. Yes, they didn’t invade New Jersey,” Jason wasn’t the only one, the whole nation was wondering why they didn’t proceed on advancing. The numerous intelligence agencies couldn’t put their heads together regarding this fact.

Did the UC themselves know the worth of New Jersey? It was as if the UC were New Yorkers themselves.

“Not only New Jersey. Other invaded cities also show that their advancement had stopped at a certain border that doesn’t cross into another state. As if something is…” Jason cut him and continued.

“Directing them.”

Agent Bond nodded affirming it was aligned to their own hypothesis of this whole UC invasion. It was definitely wasn’t random, considering the place they attacked were major cities.

“Mr.Park, may I have a turn in questioning?” for someone working in the bureau. Agent Bond showed patience, unlike Jason, who had seen in the movies. Well, movies do show a fake portrayal of everything.

“One last question, how long was I in a coma?” his first question that was left unattended.

“A week Mr.Park. You have slept for one whole week.”

Rather than surprise, Jason looked down in solemness.