text: The air entered his nose, flowed through his lungs, then back out his mouth. The oxygen was pumped through his body from his heart, rejuvenating his cells. Thousands of cells at once reformed from a lifeless organism into thriving cells all with a purpose engraved into them. His bones cracked and snapped back into place. Ligaments rebonded with each other from a tangled mess. He is alive. Now standing, he gazed upward towards the stone wall which was once behind him. Although it was night, it was still a shock to him when no end was to be seen. He began walking along the wall. At first limping, he now walked at a steady pace with gentle, deep breaths. His clothes, still tattered, were soaked to the brim with blood. Minute pieces of his broken off flesh stuck like wet glue to his pants where a bone penetrated his skin. After hours passed by, he, at last, saw a break in the forest around him; a road. Once reaching the road, he shifted his head to the left then right then began walking to the right. A little way down the road a light pierced the shadow of night and caressed his eyes. Covering his eyes as they adjusted to the sudden change, he instinctively was drawn closer. There before him stood a small convenience store. Through the clear pane windows, fluorescent lights illuminated the pavement which surrounded the convenience store’s immediate surrounding ground. He walked up to the door where a small laminated piece of paper was stuck to it. On it was the time of opening and closing. He looked at this puzzled. According to the schedule, the store should be closed, but then why were the lights on? Blowing this fact off as a mere mistake, he pushed to open the door and stepped through. The sense of dread overcame him. The air was murky with bloodlust. From the far left corner, a subtle flick could be heard moments after darkness shrouded him once again. The darkness was familiar to him. It took but a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark. But that wasn’t fast enough. A blade swung, slicing through the dorsum of his nose and splitting the pupil of his eye. He doubled over with his hands covering his face. Without hesitation, he came back up with force and caught the side of their jaw with his fist. Now in the dominant position, he grabbed their shoulders and kneed their gut. Taking advantage of the situation, he grasped the knife from his hand. He flipped the knife in his hand as he raised it above his head then plunged it into their back over and over again until their body went limp in his arms. He dropped the dead weight onto the ground and placed the knife next to the body. He walked away as the cuts on his face finished closing. He looked back one more time. Where the figure once laid, there was nothing.