How to live (1)

"Keehyeukk!!!"

Do you know that stinging feeling when you put alcohol over an open wound?

You might have thought that it's the bacterias burning or whatever.

However, that is not the bacteria or virus getting burned or evaporating, but it is your skin being burned. But not totally, though. Your skin, although thin, is a very tough and strong layer of defense that can prevent most dirt and liquid from going in, including the alcohol.

At most, we'll only get wet.

The stinging feeling you experience is actually due to the nerve endings that exist right where your wound is located. The nerves are called nociceptors and they send a signal to the brain in the form of pain to tell you that 'hey, there is something dangerous here, I might break.' (Goldbach, 2016)

Yeah, that also happens when bleach is poured onto your skin, the only exception is that it does burn your skin.

But what if it is poured directly to a wound?

It will sting. Of course it will sting. It will sting you to death.

Well, that's if you aren't treated properly and immediately.

And the slime collector certainly isn't receiving that treatment.

"Hiyaaaaak!"

High-pitched yet almost not audible cries of pain could be heard coming from the slime existence. The mouths of the broken heads attached to the slime collector all opened up and wailed silently.

There were no voices coming out from their mouths as all of the heads did not have complete throats. Yet Rando can strangely hear a ringing in his ears like the sound a microphone makes when you put it too close to a speaker.

It was like the booming sound of a bomb but without the explosion.

And although it sounded closer to *nnggggggg* in Rando's ears, he could faintly tell that it was screaming in pain.

Rando almost dropped the bucket full of bubbly water balloons that he was holding to cover his ears.

He could feel that his eardrums were about to explode at any moment, and that he should probably cover them.

But he didn't.

He picked up another water balloon, opened wide his eyes that were trying to close tightly shut, and then aimed at the slime existence.

'It works! I should shoot more!'

He said in his mind as he threw the water balloon with great precision.

If the existence wailed at the water balloon hitting its arms, what would happen if Rando hit its blood?

Like throwing a grenade, Rando threw the water balloon which exploded as soon as it made contact.

*splash*

"hiiiiiiiiiyaaaaaak"

More screaming could be heard from the existence.

The arms that were grabbing the windows started to let go one by one and the slime collector started to flail its arms out in the air as if it was panicking.

Unlike the panicking existence, Rando started to throw more and more water balloons towards the slime collector. He furrowed his eyebrows and put down the bucket he was holding, knelt, and then proceeded to use his two hands to throw more water balloons.

'Three, four, five, six...'

Rando started counting in his mind how many times he has thrown a water balloon.

He has calmed his mind by now and started to collect information against the enemy. He was not a scientist in any way and he doesn't know how long the detergent can kill the virus, but what he does know is that he had diluted the detergent with water so much that it might not work as effectively as it should.

'That monster is already wailing in pain and it looks like it is panicking, I need to escape soon.'

Rando still has about half a bucket left of water balloons and he continued to throw more at the slime collector. As his really large target is literally right in front of his nose, he didn't need to look at the existence to aim anymore. Instead, he started looking for an escape.

The subdivision he was living in was quite small, and the streets weren't that long either. The apartment he was living in was constructed after the war to house the few remaining inhabitants of the subdivision before, and was located on the street he was just in.

'If I go outside and run through the streets, I might run into another one of those monsters. Who knows if there's only one, I need to assume there might be more. I know that this one can't jump, but what if others can?'

Rando glanced at the broken buildings on the street that was hidden away by the large body of the slime collector.

'I could go there, the monster shouldn't be able to follow me if I go through a forest of concrete.'

And within just two glances he had already found a plan on how to escape, all the while he was throwing two more water balloons.

With a plan in mind, Rando was now more confident that he could escape.

'But before that, I need to get as much as I can from here.'

He threw two more water balloons before standing up. He picked up his bucket before running through the shelves, grabbing all that he saw. Top shelves, middle of the shelves, bottom of the shelves, at the floor, and even behind the counters. Rando put all the things that he grabbed into his bucket and then went near the window where the existence was flailing its arms.

He took the rest of the water balloons from his bucket and threw them towards the slime collector before jumping outside through the windows and running for his life.

With a bucket in his left hand and the fire axe in his right hand to balance his weight, Rando ran through the almost empty streets. The streets weren't wide as there were only two lanes, but the two lanes that he ran through felt like the giant river separating the enemy borders and his nation's borders in a battlefield.

'I need to flee.'

In his dirty military uniform, Rando was swimming through the strong currents of the gushing waters of a river. He was carrying his wounded and bloodied partner on his back as he swam towards their temporary base.

The enemy troops could catch up to them at any moment and shoot them from the river bank, so Rando needed to get away quickly.

Although it was hard swimming while carrying an almost dead friend on his back, Rando never complained, and instead swam faster. His hands continued to shovel water and his feet never stopped kicking the current.

"He's here! He must have jumped into the river!"

Voices from the forests behind him were the warning shots that rang inside Rando's mind. He gritted his teeth and struggled to swim faster.

'Almost there! Almost there! Hang in there buddy!'

Rando could already hear footsteps from behind him. He wouldn't mistake the strong thumps coming from the forests.

'They're near!'

Rando kept swimming as hard and as fast as he could.

Finally,

'We're here! I need to get up!'

Rando pulled himself into the other river bank and picked up his partner and carried him on his back once again. In spite of the wet and now heavy uniform he was wearing, he endured and started running away.

His mind was blank, and all that was driving him to move forward was his heart telling him,

'If Micky can't go back, his family will be sad.'

Behind the always serious face of Rando was a soft and warm heart. He cares so much about other people that he would jump in front of a bullet for them.

But as he would always say,

"That would be stupid, if there's a way to live, why not run towards it?"

And Rando did run towards his apartment.

He has left the forest of concrete and has now reached the other street. He couldn't hear the wailing of the slime collector anymore, but that didn't stop him from running.

The only thing that can stop Rando from running is the bug metal gate of the apartment building. He dropped his axe and reached for the handle, opened the gate, and kicked his axe inside. He too went inside and closed the metal door behind him, before running up the second floor and entering his apartment once again.

His dog stood up and met Rando from afar. It didn't go near Rando at all. Instead, it barked at him.

"Woof woof!"

That was when he thought that maybe, just maybe,

"Shit, am I infected?"