John opened his eyes. The bright blue sky greeted him with clouds moving in unison, herded by an invisible shepherd. Yet this wasn’t the time to appreciate mother nature. He propped himself up as there were others like him. They sat in a dazed with their eyes wandering, trying to get their bearing. But most of them were still sleeping on the ground, oblivious to the predicament that was about to come.

“Wait,” his eyes went down, glancing at his chest. His white office shirt was still bloody with a hole, but his skin was intact. His fingers traced over his chest as the knife that stabbed him was no longer there.

“Is this the afterlife?” was the most rational explanation he could think of. Since surviving through a stab in the heart was not something that easy like in the movies. Even if there was a chance he got saved by a paramedic, he should be on a hospital bed and not here.

He stood on his feet as he looked around the vast plain. At first glance, he could roughly estimate the numbers of the people that were in the same situation as him. “Give or take, probably around a hundred fifty or two hundred or so.”

His eyes gazed at the far end of the plains as he saw the tree line of a forest. While on his back was the mountainous range that looked no different than the Himalayas. Scratching his head, he wondered whether this was paradise or something a tier lower than that. “This can’t be it, can it?” he thought beautiful angels would greet him but so much for his ideal fantasy dream.

“Hey, you,” a voice pulled him over. He looked and saw a middle-aged man standing up from the ground. The receding hairline and the sparse gray hairs were enough to tell him that this man had gone through his years.

“You know what’s going on here?” the middle-aged man asked. He was as clueless as John.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. He was hesitant in telling him that he was dead. Breaking bad news right after waking up was the most terrible thing that someone could do, and he wasn’t going to be that guy.

“Psst,” a suspicious sound drew his attention. He turned and found a man with a tin-foil hat. He questioned the fashion sense but to each his own.

The gaunt man whispered something, “we’re being abducted.”

John heard it, and again he didn’t want to be that guy. He thought that this unique man might have been struck by thunder or some accident in area fifty-one. A pity he didn’t know that he had already died.

“I’m telling you, it’s the lizard aliens,” the tin-foil man whispered as he got closer to John.

“I believe you, man, a hundred percent,” John gave a thumbs-up as his feet shuffled backward. “I’ll spread the words that way, and you go that way. Got it?”

He left the daze tin foil man while he had the chance, in the name of spreading the truth and message, John escaped.

‘Why does the afterlife feels like being alive? Shouldn’t I at least not have the urge to pee or something? Better yet I hope I don’t need to poop anymore.’ Questions kept emerging while John had the sudden urge to leak his faucet. Looking around, people were starting to get up one by one. They were confused and distraught. And it would be a bad idea if he peed in front of these people.

John was a man who valued his privacy especially in regards to dropping the one and two. He barely even used the public toilet let alone the urinal. Straying away from the group, he found the closest tree line. If he could he would have wait until he found a hygienic toilet but nature called.

A hundred yards away, he stood behind the tree away from any possible gaze from those people. Looking around the idle forest, he hoped there wouldn’t be a bug flying around while he did the deed.

With the coast clear, he took it out, and down it went. Relief set in as the tension went away. Yet as he zipped his pants up, a familiar ring echoed close to him. “My phone?” he sounded uncertain yet he could feel the vibration in his pants pocket.

He pulled out his Uphone 12 Mini, tilting his head to the side while pursing his lips. In his hand was something he couldn’t comprehend. ‘I’m dead, but my phone is still working? Hold up, this thing shouldn’t even exist here. Should it?’ Numerous questions bombarded his mind as he didn’t know what was what right now.

The Unknown Caller on the screen wasn’t making it any easier for John to pick it up. But with those questions stuck in his head, perhaps this call might have the answers.

“Hello? This is John,” his voice was polite as a salesman giving his first pitch. “Who am I speaking to?”

There was no reply. Nonetheless, he waited since he definitely heard the breath of the caller.

“Is this an angel perhaps? Or is it a service where I can ask anything I—”

“Shut up!” the caller shouted, and his lips tightly sealed as though it had never been open.

That was something he never expected to hear at the other end of the line. He didn’t know an angel would be this harsh or perhaps the angel that called him was a tsundere? Someone rude but tender at heart.

“Listen here, you idiot,” the caller had no intention of curbing down her rudeness.

“Ma’am, even if you’re an angel, can you please use more—”

“Shut the fuck up and listen!” again he was silenced like a sheepish lamb. Whoever arranged this angel to him was definitely turning his paradise into hell.

“Hey, are you listening?” even with a question, he still got shouted.

“Yes,” he replied, wishing he had the most elegant angel.

“Did you just arrive?” she asked.

“More like waking up,” he replied.

“That’s the same you moron,” again this feisty angel never stopped hating at him. “Now, listen to me. Whatever you do, you need to get out of there and run towards the Crown Deer Forest.”

“And which one is that? Is there a landmark that I can easily spot? Cause from here I—”

“Ugh, it’s the opposite direction of the Balkan Mountain. Now get your butt up and start running!” her urgent voice was gone as she hung up without notice.

‘For a tsundere angel, she really couldn’t wait to get a taste of my fine D.’ His fantasy ran wild again. But who could blame him? He thought he was dead and inside paradise. It would be a bummer if he realized he wasn’t.

‘Hmm? What’s that noise?’ He peeked from behind the tree and his eyes widened. People were running away for their life despite the so-called afterlife. They ran like ants, scattering through the plains as a predator lurked among them. Even from a hundred yards away, John could see it, the thing that hunted them down.

“What the fuck?” a beast the size of an elephant yet it wasn’t those gentle creatures that roamed the savanna. It was a lizard-like creature with scales shimmering in obsidian. Yet its head was unlike a lizard. It had the head of a tiger with its lower fangs resembling a tusk. From those descriptions alone, it was safe to say it was a monster.

It bit and snapped a man in half as it swallowed those two parts in one sitting. The swing of its claws was enough to paint the ground with crimson. Its cry or roar or whatever in between sent shiver down the spines of whoever heard it. What John was seeing was a massacre, and then he remembered.

He turned and bolted further along the inner side of the tree line. Keeping in mind the word spoken by the harsh angel. He glanced a few times back and saw the mountain mentioned by her. It was behind him and he desperately prayed his direction was right.

‘Shit, this isn’t paradise is it.’ With realization hitting him in the face, the feeling of embarrassment came creeping up on him. Those words talking about an angel and so on with a stranger would definitely haunt him for the rest of his life.

The roar of the beast was slowly fading in the background as John kept his pace. He didn’t know where he was but it was better than being lunch for a monster. In time, his breath grew heavy with his legs slowing down. He was reaching his limit and for a guy who packed a few muscles in the arms and in the body, long-distance running was not one of his fortes.

He stopped as his lungs couldn’t take it anymore. He slouched with his hands on his knees. John couldn’t say a word and the only thing that left his mouth was the loud noise of his breath.

Looking around, there was nothing but trees and more trees. There was no sign of men or any other people that he saw back there. He wondered whether he was the only one who escaped. Then the familiar ring tone rang, and his hasty hands answered.

“Huff. Hel-lo?” He wanted to say more but his lungs weren’t letting him.

“Where are you right now?” she asked.

“Wait. Huff. Huff. Huff,” he tried to catch up his breath first, but the woman was way ahead of him.

“Don’t talk, and just listen. Do whatever I say, and you might live for another day,” she said. It sounded like a threat but for some odd reason he knew it wasn’t.

“No matter what, I need you to keep on running. The Onyx Panthera won’t stop hunting you, not until your scent is far away from its range,” her words sent a shiver down John’s spine. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but a warning was good enough for his survival.

“For now those people would buy you some time. But that isn’t enough. You need to reach the domain of the Crown Deer for you to truly be safe from that Panthera,” she said.

“Wait, I’m already in the Crown Deer Forest, shouldn’t I—”

“You’re only at the outer perimeter. What you need to do is to run further. Deep inside the forest until you see the silver fireflies. Once you’re there, you’re safe,” her words were reassuring and for once she didn’t shout at him.

“I don’t know how to say this. But thank you. I really mean it, thank you so much for helping me even to a stranger like me. If it wasn’t for you I would have panic and shit my pants,” John said ending it with a slight chuckle. Despite the unknown identity of this person at the other end of the line, he was immensely grateful.

Silence reigned for a whole minute as she didn’t say a word.

“Um, would you mind telling me your name? It kind of bothers me how I don’t know my own savior’s name,” he said.

“Stop being feeble and get on with your feet,” her shout came back. It was either she was always like that or John hit a nerve. “I’ll call you back when it’s safe.”

“Hey, wait…”

She hung up.

“Well damn,” John a had lot more questions especially the part on how to maneuver oneself through a forest. He had a vague direction and a vague indicator, but nothing on how to know which direction was which. “Let’s just hope I don’t get lost.”

He kept his eyes peeled as he moved forward. He jogged at a pace, while thoughts circled in his mind. ‘If this isn’t the afterlife, then what is this place? For sure it can’t be Earth, since there was no way a cat that big wouldn’t be discovered by now.’

But someone came to mind.

‘Probably he was right, we’re probably being abducted.’ He deduced as such after knowing he was alive, healthy, and being in a strange place. John just wished he knew more about whatever was happening.

Yet not paying attention had its cost.

He tripped over a dead branch and slammed himself right at a tree trunk. “Ow,” his hand was on his face, rubbing his forehead with a grimace. He glanced at his fingers a few times, hoping his forehead wasn’t bleeding.

But rather than blood, something bluish floated in his sight. He stared at it for a few seconds with his body as still like a statue. ‘Am I seeing things? Or is this the start of my mental breakdown?’

A blue window depicted a set of numbers, with two letters that were more than just recognizable.

‘Let’s think this through, John. It’s either a visual hallucination or I’m dealing with the real deal here.’ He preferred the latter since being mentally ill wasn’t going to be much helpful in this situation. ‘But after that big cat, it kinda hard not to think this game-thing is real.’

The thought of the Onyx Panthera made him stood back on his legs. He ran knowing he wasn’t in the clear yet, not until he saw those silver fireflies she told about.

‘Let’s get this straight, I was stabbed in the heart and died and then came back alive again in some unknown place with a monster running loose. Or I didn’t die and went into a coma while some nutcase doctor put me in an experimental virtual reality world where the creator had a thing with RPG and fantasy settings.’ Both of his reasonings didn’t make any sense. Although the latter seemed more possible since virtual reality existed. But that kind of high-tech stuff was still far in the future and the degree of realism was too comparable to reality. John didn’t want to put down the capability of humankind but he doubted we could create something like this in this current century.

‘Why is it have to be that guy again?’ The tinfoil hat man came sneaking up on his thought again. His remark of being abducted didn’t seem far-fetched right now.

‘Nah, it can’t be.’ He shook his head denying that possibility. The aliens that he knew of wouldn’t attempt such a thing. ‘They’ll probably prefer probing our asses than putting us in a game-like world.’

To his surprise, another blue window opened.

‘Can’t say no to that. I might as well play along with this until I figure it out with the others.’ He hoped he wasn’t the only one surviving. At least if he found someone else, he might have the chance of writing mental illness off from the list of possibilities.

‘Or should I just ask her?’ He pulled out his phone and opened up his call history. The Unknown Caller was at the top of the list, and she probably had the answers to his questions. ‘Should I? Or should I just wait?’ He didn’t want to get screamed again as he swore his right eardrum had probably gotten swollen by now. But he had to know.

‘There, I did it.’ He pressed the number and waited for it to ring.

“The number you have dialed is not reachable.”

“Wait, what?” his eyes found the signal indicator. The big cross was enough to tell him why he couldn’t connect. ‘Fuck, I’m an idiot. Of course it won’t work here.’ He realized once again that this wasn’t earth where every stretch of a mile had a cell tower. But the bigger question was. ‘How the hell did she call me?’

Standing alone in the forest with his back opened wide, John was making himself too vulnerable with his sight glued at that phone of his. Then he heard a branch snapped. He turned out of reflex and he froze. ‘Shit!’ He could only curse himself from the inside as he was surrounded.

Goats with twisted horns like the devil emerged from the shadows of the forest. Their red eyes glowed menacingly like the saber of a Sith Lord. It would have been fine if they were normal goats, but those rows of sharp jagged fangs told him otherwise. Saliva dripped from their beards as if they had been starving for days. John could even smell the stench of their salivas as they crept upon him.

‘F it!’ John turned and fled, pushing those legs of his to the max. ‘Do your thing Running skill.’ It was unfortunate but his running skill wasn’t the active type.

The clopping noises of numerous hooves chased him down from behind and the feeling was shitting bricks. His fight and flight response kicked in as it stimulated the glands to secrete those powerful hormones of his. Adrenaline rushed into his bloodstream as his speed just got a little bit faster.

Yet a high-pitch bleat came like a siren. He jumped to the side and rolled himself before finding his feet back on the ground. His body ached with all the little twigs and pebbles stabbing him through his clothes. A loud thud echoed as he watched the four twisted horns slamming against the thick tree trunk. He heard a crack as he swallowed a mouthful of his saliva. John didn’t want to imagine what would happen if he was the one who got hit.

“Maa,” the goat’s horn was stuck to the tree. It struggled to free itself with its hooves dug deep through the dirt ground, pushing itself away from the tree.

John got up, preparing to flee as his eyes fixated at the sight of those goats huddling around the stuck one. They tried to set their kin free, slamming their horns against the oaken trap.

He found his chance and readied to bolt. But his eyes found a lone goat straying from its trip. It stared at him with its glowing red eyes. “Huh,” he sighed. ‘Why does it always have to be that one guy who just needs to make things difficult.’

John ran, and the goat chased him down like it was a hound. Yet its bleats were less than intimidating. They raced against each other, but in a sprint, no man could contest against a goat. Just after a few yards, the goat was right behind his tail bone.

Then the hair on the back of his neck rose as if it was a sign. He threw himself to the side and the goat lunged forward, missing him by a hairbreadth. Its horns crashed against the dirt ground as dust and dirt went flying. It got up, shaking its horn from the dirt. But out of nowhere, John tackled it from the flank.

‘It’s just a goat, John, it’s just a harmless goat.’ You could call it self-hypnosis but for John, that was the best option. As he took the goat by surprise, his hand swiftly grabbed one of its hind legs and pulled it upwards. Its hoof left the ground and the goat lost its balance. The stinking ram fell to the side. It bleated louder, shrieking right beside John’s ears. Yet the man was persistent. ‘I ain’t going to die from a goat.’

John took out the pen from his pocket and stabbed the goat right at the neck. The billy started squirming on the ground, bleating and moving its head. It tried to stab John with its protruding horns. But it couldn’t reach him. John stuck his head closed to the neck, breathing in the smelly fur as he had no intention of letting go. His legs wrapped around the ram’s hind legs while his free hand strangled it by the neck.

Again, and again, John kept jabbing it with the bloody tip of his pen. It almost saved him from that bus massacre and now it finally had the chance to redeem itself. Like they always said, the pen is mightier than the sword.

Half a minute later, the struggling stopped. The goat was dead, and John could finally take a breather. He rolled himself away from the carcass and stared at the thick foliage of the treetop. There was barely any light weaving through those leaves. Then, it appeared again.

‘Oh, yeah. I forgot it was a game.’ He smiled, and it didn’t last long. A cacophony of bleats made him propped his upper body up. At a distance, a trip of starving goats was coming at him. “Ah, fuck.” He scowled in annoyance. Then his eyes found that same blue window again. He thought of a possibility and he hoped he was right.

“Open status sheet?” nothing happened. “Character status?” again no new blue window. By this time he was already up on his feet and ran like hell. He tried every possible word he could come up with, and they were all a dud. ‘Damn it! At least give me something here.’ His legs were fatigued as the lactic acids were piling up and his body was close to reaching its limit. He couldn’t continue, not until he found the way to open it up. Then it crossed his mind.

“Menu?” a blue window emerged.

“Status?” then the thing he wanted appearing right in front of his eyes.

‘Fuck. Who the hell made this shitty user interface!’ It pained him of how difficult it was to open something so simple. Yet now wasn’t the time to complain. He made a split-second decision after briefly scanning the whole status. “Distribute one point to vitality and five points to agility.” To his words, the pain in his lungs and muscles lessened to a degree. While his speed was unlike before.

He sprinted like the wind as the distance between them remained stagnant. And coupled with a few zigzags between the trees, it wasn’t long before the goats finally gave up. Yet John didn’t stop.

He kept running with a wide grin on his face.