Brian listened intently to the class even when he didn't understand anything the teacher was saying.
Colombia was not the country with the best education in the world, and good teachers who did the job out of passion were scarce, for that reason, the teacher in front of him only worked to earn money from him.
Brian didn't blame him, he worked from time to time to get money, not because he liked doing it, however, he did feel helpless when the teacher in front of him sent homework on topics that he didn't delve into very much.
That added to his poor eyesight didn't help Brian like to much studying.
The teacher looked at his watch every so often before approaching his desk and taking his suitcase and leaving class.
Brian sighed at that sight and also got up from his seat to go to the bathroom.
Noon indicated his break and his time for lunch.
Having been sitting from 7 to 12, he would inevitably need to stretch his body and go to the bathroom.
"I really need some glasses or something," Brian muttered as he looked up at a urinal.
After going back to the classroom and putting his backpack on his desk, Brian got ready to eat.
He was the only one left in the room. Although he occasionally talked to his classmates, he wasn't really close to them, so he always ate lunch alone in the living room while his classmates went out somewhere.
He had dropped out of high school last year and had been separated from his true friends to enter an environment completely unknown to him.
Brian wasn't a person who made friends very easily, much less with people he'd only known for a couple of months.
Brian could be talkative and even a joker, but that was only with those close to him. With relative strangers, he took a serious and even stoic attitude.
You couldn't blame him, he was quite a homebody, so he obviously didn't deal with new people usually.
The school he graduated from was in a small town. The town itself was not bad, it was even quite a comfortable environment, however, due to its size of it, there was only one school where most of the children were enrolled. A small number of relatively better-off children were sent to the city he was currently in and enrolled in one of the numerous schools there.
Apparently, during his first year of life, his family was poor. They had to eat and live, but they could not afford any luxury. They had to be frugal so that all the food and resources would last long enough.
During his 17 years of life, his family improved his condition and he went from a poor family to a common family. They still couldn't afford many luxuries but now they didn't have to worry about tomorrow's food.
Returning to the subject, due to the condition of his family, he had to attend school in his town. There he grew up with his childhood friends, so obviously he was used to being with them but not getting new ones.
As he remembered his new companions, Brian let out a breath.
Most of them were several years older than him, so it would be hard to find a subject to get close to, while the younger ones about a similar age to him had quite different personalities.
Brian really didn't see a future coming up easily for them.
Taking a large mouthful of food to his mouth to erase the annoyance in his heart, a strong tremor was felt throughout the place.
Brian swallowed without chewing the food in his mouth in surprise, which caused him to feel the need to cough uncontrollably.
"An earthquake?" Brian said softly through teary eyes from the cough as he leaned against his desk.
The tremor seemed to get stronger and stronger, so Brian grabbed his backpack and began to run hastily.
Even though the place was pretty lonely for those hours, a large number of people blocked Brian's way.
There were two exits from the institution. One main and one rear.
Brian was relatively close to the back exit. He would only have to go down the stairs and run for a couple of seconds down a corridor until he crossed a door and arrived at a parking lot next to the city streets.
Falling to the stairs from a sharp elbow to the hundred of him, Brian was stunned for a few seconds.
The earthquake intensified and walls began to crack.
Brian upon seeing this came to his senses and was about to launch himself into the tide of people who were running, however, all his vision went black.
--------------------------
With a sickening stench reaching his nostrils, Brian awoke.
Completely disgusted by that smell, Brian got up quickly, however, his whole body was sore to varying degrees.
He felt as if a tractor had run over him.
With a groan, Brian leaned his body forward and looked at his face in a pool of murky water there.
He had a large amount of dark clotted blood on his face.
Bringing her hand up to touch his face, a pain similar to being stabbed by a stinger spread through his head.
"Fucking motherfucker. This shit probably needs stitching and disinfecting," he muttered to himself as he looked around.
From the smell and appearance of the place it seemed to have reached some kind of sewer, however, it was quite rough.
"I have to get out of this place before I get some weird bacteria"
Brian trudged in disgust through the puddle of murky water that spread all over the place.
He really didn't know where he was going. The only things he could see that were similar to an outlet were high places with circular holes that Brian immediately identified as ducts for shit and debris to come out.
Obviously, in his state, it was impossible to reach those places, and Brian himself was reluctant to try to climb.
Walking was still disgusting, but it was better than touching someone else's shit with your hands.
Brian was increasingly confused and puzzled by his situation.
The city he was in wasn't exactly very big and advanced, however, it couldn't have such crude sewers.
"I was kidnapped?" He began to think as he frowned.
He inevitably remembered a rumor that recently circulated through the networks.
Apparently, in a certain place, inhabitants of the streets abducted healthy young women and took them to the sewers where they had a 'Community Dinner'.
Brian didn't really believe in it and just kept it in his mind as an interesting myth, however, the situation he was in really made him think about it a bit.
With a strange squeal at an intersection, Brian became agitated as he had never been before.
His heart was pounding like a drum and his breathing quickened.
Brian felt as if his world was unreal due to the adrenaline rushing through his body.
With as much care and stealth as he could muster, Brian ducked behind the intersection and watched the source of the scream.
A man was hunched over as he audibly chewed on something in front of him.
Even when he had poor eyesight, Brian was almost certain that the thing jutting out in front of the hunched man was a pair of feet.
'...The rumor was real?' Brian thought as he looked at the scene in front of him even more surprised.
The hunched man stopped chewing on the corpse in front of him and turned with a squeak to let Brian see what he looked like.
What he previously thought of as a man was a monster.
A gigantic mouse looked at him with blood in its mouth and bright eyes like a predator with its prey.
Even if he really was a cannibal man, Brian wouldn't be so scared, but what was in front of him was something out of nightmares.
Brian even forgot to breathe as he watched the huge killer mouse.
With an even higher-pitched squeal, the mouse began to run toward Brian.
Like a mouse whose tail has been stepped on... Or rather, like a human whose tail has been stepped on, Brian leaped at incredible speed to the other side of the intersection.
He wasn't such an athletic person, but he did get some exercise from time to time just like he played soccer with his friends, however, the speed at which he ran could even be called world-class.
His heart seemed about to explode from the force and speed with which they beat.
The mouse was getting closer to him and the water slowing Brian's steps didn't help.
Tripping over something, Brian fell into the water.
He felt extremely bitter at his imminent death, but trying to get up he saw what made him stumble.
A half-eaten person in strange clothes from yesteryear.
Brian was scared, but feeling the footsteps getting closer and closer to him, he didn't have time to stay still.
About to start running backwards, Brian noticed a foreign object that was strapped to the man's waist and quickly pulled it out before turning back to the mouse that had already pounced on him.
Whether by instinct or luck, Brian had taken a low stance that caused him to dodge the mouse's bite, however, he would be left at its mercy by being under the mouse's body.
With a squeal, the mouse fell on Brian and thrashed violently for several seconds causing it to even step on Brian several times.
Gradually, the mouse's movements began to cease.
Brian crawled under the mouse and came out covered in blood.
Although the mouse hurt him with its desperate attempts to run away, Brian was doing relatively well. The blood that covered his body was from the mouse that had a great sword stuck under its neck.
Brian lay in the sewer water as he panted heavily.
Running at such speed and facing that huge mouse had taken its toll.
Brian had already been broken before the encounter with the mouse, now that he was hurt even more he was in an even more miserable state.
Hearing the screeching of more mice, Brian scrambled to his feet and limped through the gutters.
He couldn't afford to vomit or face a mouse that size again. Or at least not in the state he was in.
A few minutes later, Brian saw a large hole through which light was coming in, however, quick footsteps alerted him again.
Turning around, Brian saw at least 10 mice similar in size to the one he killed earlier.
Even more desperate than before, Brian limped toward the hole and dove in when the mice nearly caught him.
With a long fall, Brian passed out again.