A day of new beginnings

The rain.It fell down on me. My lifeless, carcass of a body. The rest of my energy began to leave me. I could feel it, my soul slipping away.

The blood from my gunshot wound poured out relentlessly. Just as the tears of my begging self had done at the mercy of the gun. My debts had caught up to me. Loan sharks, brokers and my gambling addiction had finally come to collect what I had owed them.

It was just as they say. The light before you die. But before that you see everything play out in front of you. Your entire story. From when you were young as a child, to the final moment.

I was just a country boy. My naivety got the best of me. I felt money for a brief moment and went haywire. I didn't see it. The consequences of my actions. I landed myself in copious amounts of financial struggles, sprinting towards luxury and materialistic items.

And then it began. The hell of my time in the city. I was forced into unpaid labour. Illegal as it was, the authorities couldn't care to save me. After all, it was my doing that had got me here.

I stashed drugs for dealers. I committed crimes unwillingly. I aided in the murder of many. And even if I did get paid, my never ending stupidity brought me back to my suffering. More gambling, led to more loans. And my debts just grew.

In the end they had to finish me. They saw no possible way of me ever repaying them. So they came knocking. And when my problems came running towards me, I tried to flee and denied the accusations, though they were true.

Of course, they caught me. I was cornered on a roof. And that's where I was shot. A bullet, right through the chest. After I got shot, they kicked me off the roof, and I fell down, into a wet, secluded alleyway.

'Is this it?' I thought. 'Does my story end here?'

My final breaths were coming upon me. 'Goodbye, cruel world' My final thought whispered away.

That's where everything changed. A gate, between realities ripped open before my soul, and sucked it in.

I was surrounded, by an area of interstellar design. It looked like stars, galaxies, universes had covered me. I was trapped there, until I heard a voice. It was distant, but it was pulling me closer.

"Ganno?"

A female voice. Soft on the ears, but sounded worried. It was welcoming, and calm.

"Ganno you're bleeding!" The voice was closer now. And I felt it. A hand, touch my face.

"You can't die here, the gate to 'the open' arrives in a few months."

'Fuck...' I cursed. My head was pounding, and it felt like it was being crushed. 'Where am I?' I thought. 'Did I survive the gun?'

My eyes slowly cracked open, unwelcome by the sun. Its rays were piercing my pupils, forcing me to squint.

My eyes opened fully, and were blessed by sheer beauty. Not just the woman, but the scenery around me was captivating. Lush green trees, a pearlescent sky and clouds as fluffy as cotton.

"You're alive! Are you okay?!" the woman squealed. She threw herself onto me, even though I had barely recovered. Just then, the brain of my body and my soul had synced, and I knew the woman's name. Though it felt unfamiliar to me, I still spoke.

"Roma, I'm fine, I don't know what happened." My voice was croaky, dehydrated it seemed. "I'm sorry if I scared you, but where are we?"

"You did scare me you bastard." I began to search my surroundings, clueless as I was.

"We're inside the creek Ganno. We both fell down while hunting. Thankfully you were holding me while we fell but we were separated when you smashed into a rock to shield me."

I rubbed my head, wiping away a liquid. Blood. Contrary to my old life, I'd be screaming right now, but I'm not. My new body has adapted to this life style. My new body is... strong.

I stood up, looking Roma up and down. Man was she beautiful, but right now wasn't the time for that. "I should be okay to start moving."

I started hopping around, warming up the blood in my body. "What about you? Are you injured?" She had been shaking since she had come over to me, clearly something was up.

"My ankle... might be broken. Do you think you could carry me to the top?" she asked coyly.

"Carry you. To the top of this ravine?" I asked nervously.

"Yep." she smiled manipulatively.

'ARE YOU FUCKING DUMB. WHO IN THE WORLD IS STRONG ENOUGH TO CARRY SOMEONE ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF A RAVINE. DO I LOOK LIKE HULK. DO I LOOK LIKE THE ROCK? I'M WEA-' I thought but then stopped abruptly. Maybe I could do it. After all, I haven't tested this body. And by the looks of it, I fell down here and survived, so i must be kinda strong. Right?

"Sure, What could go wrong!"

I was wrong. A lot could go wrong. Soon after we began climbing I realised the worst of my troubles. Navigating my way up. While Roma clung onto my body, I was busy searching for ways to get up safely, without jeopardising the both of us.

A large squeal was heard, and flapping noises rose out of the darkness.

"BLOOD BATS!" Roma screamed.

'What do I do? Bloodbats, they probably like blood, coming from the name. How can I avoid them, while protecting Roma.'

I scanned my surroundings as fast as possible. A few metres up was a ledge, where I could rest with Roma. The ledge stretched pretty far along the ravine, and we could probably find a small shelter there. But with the blood bats, how could I get there in time.

My mind journeyed back to a moment in the town hall. I don't remember being there but my body does. I think I read in a book about blood bats.

Obviously, as they're name stated, they like blood. Any blood. Right now we didn't have any blood. They look for the red hue. The cloth from Roma's garments would easily absorb the blood. Could we use that? Right now isn't the time to be deciding. We have to do, or don't.

"Grab my knife, its in the holster of my leg."

"What? I can't kill them all on my own!"

"Just do it Roma."

"But I can't!"

"Just fucking do it!" I screamed. She was getting on my nerves. While I'm trying to save our asses, she was busy procrastinating.

Got it, now what Ganno?"

"Tear some of your clothing off and make a small into my skin. Cover the rag in my blood and throw it as far as you can, it should distract them till we get to the ledge up ahead."

"Alright, I'm cutting in. I'll count down. On three."

"Okay, I got it Roma, I'm ready."

"Three!" she dug into my skin, going a bit deeper than she should have. It wasn't fatal, but it hurt.

I screamed, but clenched my teeth to stay quiet. Roma began covering the rag with my blood. And soon, the previously white cloth had turned a bright, blood red.

"Wait, before you throw it, chip a piece of rock off with my knife so you can throw it more effectively." I told her. If she'd thrown it without the rock, it would just flap in the air and be caught by the bats easily.

Roma did as told, and threw the cloth as far as she could. The bats' squealing became louder, but soon trailed off towards the decoy.

I mustered the strength that I had left, and pushed my way towards the ledge.

"Now that wasn't hard, was it?" I teased Roma. She seemed upset from when I cursed at her.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scream at you. We were in danger, and I didn't want you to get hurt. So I needed you to act fast. I'm really sorry." I apologised, after all, she didn't deserve to be treated the way I did to her.

"No, its not your fault. I should have listened. I was too busy being stubborn even though I didn't know that you had a plan." she reassured me. "Whats good is that you got us out of there. Who knows what would have happened to us if you didn't think of the plan you had."

It was getting dark, and we needed a shelter. We could also use my knife to make a fire, and then we could sleep.

"Roma, there is a small cave up ahead, should we sleep there for tonight?" I asked her. She was holding onto me, trembling. When I spoke to her she took a while to respond and judging by her body language, she was probably still shaken at the situation.

"Whatever works, leader." She chuckled.

'Leader huh?' I like the sound of that.