“SHIT, SHIT… SHIIIIT!” Aaron swore glancing down at his health bar. It was dropping precariously low, the Feral Wolf that had attacked him wasn’t letting up it’s flurry of attacks. “Inspect!” Aaron shouted.
-Feral Wolf-
-Lvl4-
-HP 189/236-
Another swipe. The wolf's jagged claws missed him by a hairs breadth as Aaron clumsily dodged rolling on the forest floor. His makeshift weapon, a branch, dropped out of his hand. As a mundane item it didn’t even have any durability it snapped as it hit the ground.
The wolf had bounded forwards as it tried to swipe Aaron, having misjudged the distance of the tree in its trajectory splattered its snout on the bark, releasing a yelp and drawing azure ichor.
“HA! Dumb bastard” Aaron mocked as the Feral Wolf backed away from the tree in a daze. “Inspect!” It felt extremely corny to shout out the name of the skill but it seemed to be the only way to get it to work.
-Feral Wolf-
-Lvl4-
-HP 169/236-
-Status: stunned, bleeding-
The Feral Wolfs Hp was dropping ever so slowly due to its bleeding snout, yet as quickly as the stunned status had appeared it vanished. The Feral Wolf zoned in on Aaron's eyes sending a shiver down his spine.
“Oh crud…”
Aaron’s life seemed to flash before his eyes as the wolf jumped, aiming for his neck. The death of his parents. Watching his younger sister succumb to cancer as he sat helpless beside her hospital bed. The loss of his parent’s house and the move into an apartment after he lost his job due to his struggle with addiction to different drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.
In the last days of his previous life Aaron had been a walking husk, living off his meagre savings, barely feeding himself daily and not taking any care of his living quarters. Smoked stained walls and Chinese take-out was all he knew. Trying to forget everything but without the courage to end it all. He had always hope that there would be someone to save him, to pull him out of the deep hole he’d dug. But a helping hand never came.
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6:39 PM
Aaron had glanced down at his battered digital watch, the brand unknown to him. Yet he had always kept it on him, its battery was said to be able to last for years even after the owners death. Shivering he hugged his bony arms around his torso, autumn was near, he could feel it.
He started rushing in the direction of the city centre. As it was a Sunday the Chinese shop he like was closing at 7. He didn’t want to be too late, the owner wouldn’t serve him any food if it was 10 minutes till closing time.
“Huff… Huff” His lungs shuddered in his ribcage the state they were in was beyond repair, Aaron knew this but it didn’t stop him from smoking anything that came in his reach. Yet the pain he felt was numb, something that he had gradually gotten used to, the alcohol running through his veins also doing its work.
The predicament he was in now was one that he had faced many time before. He had, 10 minutes prior, made his way out of his bed, “Hungover as shit” as he called it. The best cure he knew was one he had learned after a long year of medical college.
More Alcohol.
And so he was clumsily, albeit shockingly swiftly making his way to the cheapest Chinese take-out establishment in his city. His heart hammering away, only just enough to keep him from keeling over and dying of a heart attack. At this point in time Aaron’s body was an embodiment of what a human would look like if they were a train wreck on the inside.
As he turned the corner his eyes were fixated on the bright neon sign of the Chinese take-out. 低价 it read, he had no idea what it meant but the prices were low so he didn’t much care. Glancing through the take-outs glass front he saw the owner, his eyes wide open as he seemed to be screaming something at Aaron while pointing to his right.
“He…” Aaron smirked and snickered under his breath, he never had understood the weird way of greeting that the man seemed to have.
--
It was near closing time and Fenhau was in the process of cleaning the counter of his restaurant. He glanced down at his watch Sea-Gull watch a present bought for him ny his late father.
6:42 PM
Fenhau wasn’t anything like his namesake, the energy he had once had, had given way to grit and greased elbows through long hours of work. These days he only felt youthful when he looked at his son, Haoyu, the stress from the immigration and overwork had left him completely bald. Yet things had recently started looking up for the now middle-aged Fenhau, business was good and he had finally paid off the loans on his take-out. Under his estimate he would be able to make enough money for his sons college and a car by the time he came of age.
While wiping down the counter he looked up.
And instantly cringed. “The young failure’s back, Aaron I think he was called…” He muttered to himself. Then his eyes widened in horror.
He started to scream out loud waving his arms and pointing behind the young man even though he knew it was too late, he started running out of the take-out.
--
Jim had been a truck driver since the day that he had gotten his license, his love for the behemoth vehicles had been with him since he was a young boy. He glanced down at his Casio watch, digital and with a convenient alarm setting, an easy to use watch for a simple man.
6:42 PM
“Fuck damn it!” Jim swore as the tobacco fell out from the cigarette he was trying to roll, the cigarettes filter had just fallen too, he reached down to grab it.
Jim let go of the steering wheel, letting cruise control take over.
That turned out to be a big mistake.
His arm clipped the wheel. “SHIT, SHIT… SHIIIIT!”
He had no way to regain control.
--