You never know what will happen to you. It doesn't matter if you're a worker or a millionaire, we're all equal to gravity or an accident. But then what happens? Behind that dark veil called death? Gandalf, for example, said that it's just part of the journey to get through, the main thing is to keep going and keep going!
When I woke up from my nightmare, I found my new companion-a corpse that had drifted ashore during the night. You know, I've been awakened by all kinds of things, but never by a corpse almost at my feet. Plus I had this weird dream about my grandfather. Apparently, I'm definitely not in heaven, since I can be afraid of anything and bump into dead people, even though everyone in heaven is dead anyway.
Okay, I need to figure out who it is, maybe this lifeless piece of flesh that started to stink a little in the sun will at least give me some answers to my questions.
To begin with, the man I had met that morning was dressed very stately. He wore straight pants and a leather belt, a snow-white - or rather, it was snow-white, until it turned a crimson print - shirt. And some arrow holes in the back. Arrows? Strange that he was dressed for my era, but killed by arrows.
There were only eight holes, two of them from stabbing weapons around his liver and stomach, and six on his back from arrows, one of which pierced his lung. Thanks to this information it's not hard to guess how he died, but who shot with such force and what kind of arrows were they, if they could pierce from the back all the way to the lung?
The fact that I had read all of Sherlock Holmes, alas, did not help me find any other details in my examination, except that on the back of his tie, there was some strange symbol in the form of a half of a fish silhouette. In my world something similar was the symbol of Jesus, but only something similar, not this, and I'm not sure I'm in my world yet.
It remained for me to look through his personal belongings. I searched his pockets and found nothing but a pack of wet cigarettes and a soaked lighter. In the inside pocket of his jacket I found a clip containing 1,755 pieces of... something. I don't know all the currencies in the world perfectly, but it certainly wasn't Euros, Dollars, Pounds, Yen or Rubles. I decided to look at the bills later, because the most important item of this contest was a bag, or rather a business briefcase.
In fact, doing all this was very embarrassing and disgusting, because on further inspection the corpse stank more and more. One could start complaining about life in this strange place, but on the other hand, a lot more emotionally charged things have happened in the time I've been in this place than in the last year. And that's great, because on top of that I wasn't thinking about Diana at all, and I wasn't worried about my problems.
Okay, I was distracted by something, by my own thoughts, I don't think I need to rush anywhere, but I'd better look through the bag quickly. On the one hand you're digging through a corpse's personal belongings, and on the other I felt like a kid looking around the apartment for presents before the new year.
You'd better never do that, because every time I've been disappointed. But this is the first time I've searched a corpse, so I don't think I'll be disappointed.
I was about to make myself more comfortable to begin my inspection, when suddenly I heard voices on the beach, where there had not been a soul for the past 24 hours.
- He's probably got to be around here somewhere. With wounds like that, if he's still alive, he won't get far, and he must have left footprints.
- Yes, his master did a good job on him. That's a lot to take on Emun's strongest member.
- Don't get distracted! Hey, you two, go down to the beach and take a good look around. Yerinobu and I will look for tracks here. When you're done, meet me near that rock over there.
The situation was beginning to develop as rapidly as possible. The guys who were involved in the death of my new morning dude were speaking, for some reason, in English and were now coming for his things. What should I do? I don't think I can just go out and say hello to them, they might think I'm his accomplice and come to his aid or take his bag, which, as I understood from the conversation, contained things of value to them.
Bitch!!! I'm starting to panic! I have less than a minute before they come down. We have to hide! Where! ???? It's the beach!
I never thought I could think that fast, but as I grabbed the stranger's bag, I noticed a huge bush right next to the descent to the beach, which was slightly covered by a rock on the downhill side of the path.
From where the corpse lay, the view of the place was minimal.
I grabbed my T-shirt I'd been sleeping on, my shoes, the stranger's bag, and, scrambling to smudge my footprints in the sand, quietly made my way to that bush and lurked in the leaves.
As soon as my family got a computer, I was allowed to play on it for no more than an hour at first. I think it was like that for you too, some activities make time go by faster than usual, and others take forever. It was like that this time, too.
To judge adequately, these two were with me for no more than five minutes, but it felt like more than an hour had passed.
The branches made it hard to see, but I got a good look at the two of them. They were plus or minus the same height, and the first one, the more talkative one, had an elongated face and a long, hooked nose. His sparse black hair fell slightly down his face in bangs, and the other was silent and more gruff, with stubble and his hair pulled back in a bun.
Both were armed with swords on their belts, shaped like katanas, except that the hilt was wrapped in something like duct tape. There was nothing more distinctive about them.
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They went down to the shore and, to my surprise, did not immediately find the body. Which was, in fact, under their feet. It gave me a hint of hope that I would not be discovered.
- Here's our passenger. Look!
At that moment I tensed up, because I thought they had spotted me.
- Yeah, he's really dead.... I can't even believe it. Hahaha. I'm standing by the corpse of the great and invincible wanderer Hinata Sayaka. He's been causing trouble for years for the likes of us, and here his carcass lies at my feet.
- That's enough. Does he have the bag with him?
The guy with the bangs kicked over the body, Hinata as it turned out called him, onto his back.
- There's no bag here. Maybe he lost it in the water.
- Maybe, or maybe someone was here before us and we were too late.
- So who would come this early and into the territory where the Glee Club lives?
Who are the Glee Clubs? Where the fuck have I gotten to, why do I have to pay for one carefree day with another adventure on my ass? Except this time, it really could end fatally. Dying after dying the next day is strong, can I at least be the first one here?
- Let's look around the beach; I'll go north and you go in the opposite direction. We need to find some footprints, or the owner won't forgive us for such a mistake.
- Okay, but what about the body?
- We need to take him with us. The doctors' examination will give us a lot of useful information, plus the owner will be happy to have such a trophy.
- Oh man, only then will you drag that smelly and soggy piece of meat.
- Let's get this over with quickly, go to the end of the beach and come back here, we'll get the body later.
The guy with the beard quickly left in his direction, while the one who talked more kicked Hinata's body for a while and leisurely went in his direction.
The day before yesterday I was sad and reveling in my miserable life. Wondering what to eat for dinner and suffering from the lack of cigarettes, and in the evening, did I die or not? I never figured it out.
Yesterday I played with the sand and bathed, went to the rocks with toads, and slept peacefully as never before. I had pleasant dreams and rested from all the stuffiness that had gone on in my life before. I had even forgotten a little about the fact that all the things I hated so much in my life I had created myself and not blamed myself for it.
And today I am on the verge of death due to the fact that two complete strangers will cut me into pieces because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and also foolishly decided to take this bag with me, why?
Is it my head problem again?
I don't know if that's the same reason I went down the slanted road in my life or something else?
I simply invented the role of "spotlight" for myself in life; it always seemed to me that this was how I could achieve all my goals and occupy the role I liked best. In all my dealings with all people, I sacrificed my interests to allow people to shine. I always wanted people to do that for me, and I naively believed that if I did it, it would eventually return to me.
I constantly tried to help everyone, to solve everyone else's problems and to be in a stupid sense a stopper in all the barrels.
The only thing is that it never ended well. And it probably won't this time, will it?
Why did I go to that corpse in the first place? Why did I hide and take the bag?
I could have just run away as soon as I saw him. Pretend I didn't see anything, that's all. What do I care?
But we'll think about the mortality of our existence later. First we have to get out of here. These guys seem to have gotten pretty far away, only problem is, I don't know if there's anyone left on top.
I peeked carefully out of the bushes and looked around; both guys were out of sight. Every move I made was like an exam as I made my way out of hiding. When I looked back one last time, I began to move toward the path that led to the top. Suddenly I heard a voice.
- Oh, who are you, wait a minute!
Oh, shit! I've been spotted! What to do?
- Hey, where are you going? I'm not going to hurt you, I just have a couple of questions. What kind of bag is that?
The guy with the bangs was moving quickly in my direction. I think he knew from the beginning that there was someone on the beach and just pretended to leave.
Never before had I found myself in such a critical situation-an apparent detractor was moving swiftly in my direction with his katana exposed. And although in the past I had often thought about suicide, my body and brain, perhaps against my will, or perhaps ahead of its reaction, began to signal the danger and look for options. What to do?
- Stop it! I don't like running in the sand. You know you can't run.
Body! The knife! He had a knife sheath on him; at first I didn't pay much attention to it, but my brain clearly produced a picture from the moment I examined his body. I jerked sharply in the direction of the stranger I knew this morning.
- Know this! I didn't mean to kill you. Or rather, I wanted to, but not hard and fast, but since you won't cooperate, I'll gladly skin you alive!
These words would normally make my hair curl, especially when I wasn't used to them, but right now my whole gut, my body, and my thoughts were working in tandem. It's strange that you feel most alive when you're on the verge of death.
I got to the body in a short jump, the distance with that guy was shrinking very rapidly.
10 meters......
Where's the knife?!
7 meters....
Fumbled.
4 meters....
Pouch is empty...... Huh.
3 meters....
I'm out of luck again, to hell with it all....
2 meters.....
But I don't want to die! That's right I don't want to die! I'm not going to die here!
1 meter.....
I'M NOT GOING TO DIE HERE!!! I'M NOT GOING TO DIE HERE!!! I'M NOT GOING TO DIE HERE!!! I'M NOT GOING TO DIE HERE!!! I'M NOT GONNA DIE HERE!!! WHY DO I HAVE TO BEND TO THE STUPID JOKES OF THE UNIVERSE!!! IT'S GONNA BE WHAT I DECIDE!!!
- Here we get to know each other better. Let's start with the feet so you can get to know me a little bit.
The next moment happened as if on autopilot. He drew his sword, and I automatically couldn't think of anything better to do, so I tried to cover myself with Hinata's body.
- Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!
It was a chopping blow, but it was very strong, because I was thrown a meter and a half into the water. But my first plan worked, though not perfectly, his very sharp and cold sword slashed across my left arm, because I grabbed my body very hard and threw it over far. The wound was deep, but I hardly felt any pain. Now I had to run.
After doing my best to get up, I ran for about 15 meters until I realized that no one was chasing me. I didn't want to, but I had to turn around.
What happened?
Instead of an angry and furious chaser, I saw his bloody body lying on the same spot where he had tried to chop my legs off. Was it a trap?
I overcame my fear and all my self-preservation instincts, approached the body, and realized that he was indeed dead. There was a huge diagonal cut on his torso... How the fuck did that happen?