Kui woke up with a start. His tired eyes opened slightly. Only darkness faced him. 'Grandma... I need to call 119… I need to save her...' his body refused to move. Only his fingers twitched.
'I need to move. She will die... I need to get up...' he exhausted every bit of the energy in his body to move.
He rolled over and suddenly gravity shifted. He fell down somewhere.
A sharp pain hit him from all parts of his body. The pain was intense in his right leg.
'Phone... my phone...' he moved his stiff hands to his pants.
Instead of his suit pants, he only touched rough-textured cloth pants. There was no pocket.
'Hospital suit… did they take my phone? That would mean they came for us!' his eyes opened wide hopefully.
The darkness was quite blinding. He was not able to see anything clearly. Only vague shadows were seen.
There was a bed right beside him.
'I have to call a nurse…' the call button is probably by the head of the bed.
He reached out to the bedside and grabbed it to steady himself.
the rough texture of the bedspread stunned him for a second. it didn't feel like cotton or any other material he knew. It felt more like gunny bag material.
'This is not a hospital bed... then... where…' he squinted his eyes and looked around him.
It was a very small room with a raised ceiling in the middle.
A very daunting thought came to his heart.
'no... no…. I can't be captured… I...'
With the amount of rage Dai Zu held for him, it was likely he would have done that.
Tears sting his eyes at this realization.
'Fuck! I need to get out of here!' he could see a door close by.
He hurriedly crawled to it and banged it.
To his surprise, it wasn't locked and it banged open.
Bright sunlight hit him right on his face.
"oh Kui is awake!" someone shouted. "Get the doctors!"
Kui's eyes were still not able to adjust to the bright light leaving him blinded. He hurriedly picked up a rock to protect himself. 'I will fight my way out! That fucking Dai Zu! I will kill him! I will kill him!!!'
"Kui put down the stone," a soft female's voice called to him.
By then, his eyes had cleared up and he was able to see what was going on.
Four people stood surrounding him. Three young women and an old man with a small basket with him. They all looked at him with a worried look on their faces.
'Who are they? Did Dai Zu hire someone to keep me here?' he looked around the surroundings. Huts…. There were two huts close by.
He was completely confused.
'Did he throw me into some rural village? Why?'
"Kui please, you have to let the old man treat you. Your wounds are bleeding." A lady carrying a small bundle whispered with a deep, worried frown.
Kui gazed down at himself. He was wearing an old dirty brown shirt and beige pants. His whole torso was covered in bandages and on one of his legs he could spot red blood seeping out.
"Where is he?" he coldly glanced at them. "I know you work for him. Just... just let me call 119. I won't tell on you."
The women looked at him utterly confused. "Kui, who are you talking about?"
"Dai Zu!" he shouted in rage.
They all stepped back, slightly murmuring to themselves. "die he hit his head. I heard when the ship overturned, he fell unconscious. Maybe some rubble must have hit him," the older-looking woman whispered to the old man.
Kui glazed at them confusedly. "What ship? just... just give me your phone! I'll make a call. I'll make sure you will get out scot-free. Only he will go to jail."
Once again, he was met with skeptical gazes.
"What is phone?" the youngest of the women whispered softly.
'What is going on? Why don't they know what a phone is? Something is wrong here…' his eyes inadvertently fell on his palm.
It was tanned and calloused. His wrists were clean.
'This is not my hand.'
As an artist, he maintained his hand very well. But during his depression, he did fall into a habit of cutting himself. The deepest cut was healed by that brush, but the smaller ones were still there.
But this wrist was completely clean.
not just that Dai Zu had cut his fingers. but all his fingers were intact now
No cut marks.
nothing.
This was not his hand.
He touched his body.
"This is not my body."