The sight of green canopies partially covered the cerulean sky and its fluffy clouds; the gift of vision. The rustling trees grew to be audible for his ears; the gift of hearing. The felt world was regained as he sensed the cool light breeze; the gift of sensation.
The first heartbeat thumped, stimulating all the senses at once. A perfect yet momentary bliss.
The second heartbeat followed. Stronger than the fomer, shooting the brain into activation. The lungs expanded, heaving as much air as possible. And with the heat of working blood flow came a ringing headache, kicking his awareness awake.
"Ugh." I wiped the morning out of my eyes. "What in the…" I muttered, sitting on my backside observing my surroundings. 'Trees. Trees. More trees. A man. More tre—Oh a person!' I noticed. He had both a haircut and a beard that gave him a square-like face. His attire seemed to consist of leggings and a tight black shirt.
He was trotting back and forth at a panicked speed. That was until he had noticed me, after which his palm slapped against his face, smiling. 'It's either he's crazy or this is out of context.' I thought, getting off the dirt. My legs felt a bit shaky and unstable that I might trip over.
He walked over, standing right in front of me. Seeing him closely now, I notice a bite-shaped notch on his left ear and a breastplate he had on his shirt. 'Now that's unsettling.'
Suddenly, he blurred something with a serious tone, "How did you do it" he asked, frowning.
'What are you talking about?'
"What do you mean?" I inquired while tidying my clothes, specifically the full-length tunic with a hood that I had no recollection of wearing. "And who are you?"
Squareface's eyes widened, shocked by what he had heard. "Oh this is unfortunate." He noted, looking a bit worried. "Do you know where you are?"
And it clicked, the pieces of this hidden puzzle I overlooked were naturally putting themselves in their fitting positions. The unfamiliar environment, my unusual clothing, squareface's unsettling appearance. It all felt alien because I couldn't recall a single memory about them!
"You're right, this is unfortunate." Emphasizing on his words. "I just lost my memories."
"He's alive?!" A voice uttered behind squareface. "Didn't you say he had no heartbeat?"
The newly arrived man dressed pretty much the same as squareface, who tilted his head a bit to see him. "Yeah, I was surprised too. You won't believe it, he just los—!"
A fist crossed his face without warning, and another connected with his chin from below. Slightly lifting him into the air before collapsing to the ground. Motionless. "I sincerely apologize if I misunderstood the situation." I whispered to squareface's unconscious body.
There was almost no doubt about it. The new guy there wouldn't be so surprised if I was alive nor indicate that I was supposed to be dead. It just doesn't add up. But what fits my theory is squareface's first words to me. Asking me how I did 'it', possibly referring to how I am still alive.
His partner in crime himself had realized how dangerous the situation is by now, taking a stance with an antique-looking knife he had tucked into his pants. Luckily a distance of seven meters stood between us, keeping death's door away.
I felt terrified of dying, yet energetic and much more perceptive and aware. Likely to be the effects of my body's flight-or-fight response to the situation. A moment or two passed and he finally made his first step forward.
I was in a clear disadvantage—unequipped—and searching for squareface's knife for what short vulnerability was not an ideal option. Instead, I stepped forward too.
Not only was I closer to my predicted end, but also closer to the unconscious body I feared waking up and destroy any chance I had at surviving this one on one.
His partner in crime made yet another step forward while I grew anxious over it. Standing there, waiting for some kind of miracle. Watching him gradually close the distance had forced the realization that I'm fighting for a life I was going to lose whether I like it or not.
There was no winning against him with no combat experience or an element of surprise, no fleeing with unstable legs covered in a long piece of clothing that made it harder to run. There was no survival if I feared the idea of killing or being killed. 'I never chose to be here. To die in agony in place of my past self! It's just not fair to die like this!'
Just looking at this squareshit's face lying on the ground poked my nerves, welling me with an urge to bash his skull in. But then, all that anger turned to gratitude as I looked at his partner while I raised a foot over his windpipe, ready to smash it in.
His friend quickly froze in place, ready to bargain. The distance between them now was about three meters and a half. It was enough for me to crush his windpipe and connect his lower jaw to his collar bone, or so I believed.
"Your knife." I voiced with mental exhaustion. "Throw it to me." He complied, throwing it to where my other foot was. "Now take 15 steps back." He did as I told, taking another five extra just to be sure. I picked the knife and held it against the unconscious's neck. "Go around me to the opposite direction while maintaning the distance."
After he was done, I pointed the knife to squareface's arm instead. 'Now here goes my gamble.' I thought, making a shallow cut on both his arms from his shoulder to his wrist. "Your friend will bleed to death if you don't bind his wounds."
I began to slowly walk away with my knife pointed at him before jogging towards the direction he came from. 'They both wore the same clothing, squareface had no pockets. Meaning that whatever they used to get here still had their keys in it.'
But that wasn't the only gamble here. The other one was whether he would leave his friend unattended to chase me, or tend to him until he wakes up. The chances of the latter were better now that I have his knife at my disposal, however; everything falls apart if he chose the first option—implying he could take a knife on barehanded.
A minute later. 'Still no sounds of approach.' I thought, finally getting out of the forest.
The sight of their means of transportation killed all the fear I had held onto, seeing as they used a horse-pulled carriage to get me here. 'What kind of sick joke is this?'
"Hey! Where are the other two?" A man that rode the carriage waved at me with a pleasant smile. 'Maybe he wasn't in on their plan?' I approached him slowly, trying to gauge how much he knew from his reaction to giving him no response. That's when he noticed the blood-stainted knife in my hand. And with a swift chain of movements he got off the carriage and leaped over 8 meters of ground to tackle me down, all under two seconds.
He repeated his question but this time with a threatening voice. "Where are the other two!" Robbing me of what I thought of as an advantage.
After I told him what I had done with them, he threw me against a tree and pinned it with the knife. As I agonized in pain, the man sprinted towards his comrads in the forest.
'Fuck fuck fuck, this hurts so fucking much!' I felt the knife's iron skyrocketing this burning sensation. Not to mention that he would get killed as soon as they are back. 'Even the world's fastest man isn't that fast! And how did I even piss him off?!' I shouted at myself. 'And where the fuck do you even get a carriage?!'
I gave up on thinking of plans, there isn't a single one that could get me out of here before he returns using with his super speed in two minutes at most. 'At least I tried.'