1 Chapter 0 Surviving just to die (Revised)

Having enjoyed the first few days of his vacation in Australia, visiting places like the Daintree Rainforest, exploring the diverse number of animals at the Taronga Zoo, and finally touring around Sydney, Marcus wondered why everything had suddenly gone horribly wrong.

Currently he was fairly far out from the beach having swum after an interesting school of fish that were brightly colored, when a freak thunderstorm had whipped up out of nowhere.

Lightning flashing and thunder booming, Marcus knew he needed to get back to shore, and began swimming in a panic as fast as he could.

Moving with the upmost haste, he flapped his arms and legs with heavy strokes to propel himself as fast as possible, and created large and loud splashes in his wake, all the while thinking, 'I am not going to get struck by fucking lightning on my first vacation in years.'

After he had vigorously been swimming for what seemed like an eternity to him, Marcus gave a quick glance back to check on where the storm was and saw that it was now right on top of him.

Unfortunately, as he looked back, he noticed that the storm was not the only impending danger, as his frantic splashing had attracted a friend.

A huge razor-sharp toothed friend that seemed hungry and was easily three times his size.

Seeing this, Marcus wondered what the world might have against him, and why it had decided he had to die one way or another.

With renewed vigor, Marcus began swimming full speed ahead, hoping that by some miracle he might be able to reach the shore before the shark reached him, or that maybe it was not interested in him in the first place.

However, contrary to Marcus' wishes, after just a couple of seconds he saw big old Brucey swimming right under him, before pointing its head up and exposing its big toothy maw.

Stopping abruptly, Marcus' life passed before his eyes, as he wondered why he deserved to go out this way.

Certainly, he was not the perfect person, but it was not like he had every done anything so bad to die like this.

Then he felt the impact as the shark rammed into him.

Except instead of being crushed between its teeth and becoming its next meal, Marcus' abrupt stop had caused the shark's trajectory to be off, and it hit him into the air with its snout instead.

Nevertheless, it had still hurt like hell to be rammed in the side by a couple thousand-pound shark, and as they descended back towards the water, the shark once again directed its mouth towards Marcus.

Yet before they hit the water there was a huge flash and a loud boom, followed by a deathly silence.

Falling back into the water completely disoriented, Marcus had no idea what happened, until he made it back to the surface.

There he saw it, a sight that blew his mind.

The shark that had almost eaten him was floating on the top of the water, roasted and dead after being struck by lightning.

Frankly, Marcus felt that this was unbelievable.

He knew that the chances of being either struck by lightning or attacked by a shark were incredibly rare, but the odds of a shark being struck by lightning while trying to eat someone must have been astronomical.

Still, Marcus could only feel a sense of elation as he had just survived a truly deadly encounter, and thought, 'Well better you than me Brucey.'

Reveling in his good luck to have gotten out of this perilous situation with nothing more than a bruised side, Marcus continued making his way back to shore, albeit at a slower and calmer pace, so as to not attract the ire of the world again.

'Finally, land.' Marcus thought as he pulled himself back up on shore, exhausted as hell.

Sadly, he was not going to be able to lay down and rest, as the storm was still going full blast around him, and he was being pelted by heavy drops of rain.

Taking just a minute to regain some of his stamina, Marcus headed towards the area he had left his stuff, but found that it was long gone, either because someone took it, or the storm had blown it away.

Of course, he was currently the only one left on the beach as everyone else had already fled to safety due to the heavy storm, so he could not even ask about his missing items.

Shrugging his shoulders, after his near-death experience, Marcus felt that losing his beach towel, a cheap bag, and his water bottle were not that big of a deal.

His most important possessions like his phone and wallet were safely stored away in a nearby locker, and he quickly made his way there to collect his things and get the hell out of this storm.

After getting to his locker and taking multiple attempts to remember his passcode, Marcus eventually opened up his locker and was reunited with his possessions.

Taking out his spare towel, he did his best to dry off since he was soaking wet, before changing into a set of fresh clothes.

Now wearing his dry t-shirt and blue jeans, Marcus was left with a new predicament.

He had no sort of protection from the rain, such as a jacket of umbrella, and he refused to get sopping wet again after finally getting dried off.

Taking out his phone he was overjoyed to find that is still had plenty of battery left, since with all that had been going wrong today, he figured it would have been dead.

First checking the weather, Marcus found the storm that had blown in quickly was going to be moving away just as quickly.

And after around ten more minutes of heavy rain, the storm began do dwindle, until the clouds broke, and the sun began shinning once again.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Marcus decided he had had enough excitement for one day and called a cab to take him back to his hotel, since he was in no mood to walk to the nearest bus station and wait.

Once the cab arrived, he was greeted by the friendly driver and gave him the address of the hotel he was staying at.

Soon, he was on his way back to his temporary abode and enjoyed what started out a peaceful drive.

However, as the cab was passing through a busy intersection, a truck ran a red light and nearly plowed straight into the backseat where Marcus was sitting.

His heart pounding and breathing heavily from the shock, Marcus looked back at the truck that almost ended his life, and thought, 'Holy crap, it only missed us by a few inches. I swear I am not going out via truck after surviving a thunderstorm and a shark attack.'

Holding his hands together, Marcus looked up towards the sky and promised the world that its message had been received.

'I promise I will be a better person from now on. I will recycle more, buy a hybrid, and donate to charities. Please just stop trying to kill me today.'

After throwing out this little prayer to the world that seemed hellbent on ending him, Marcus looked vigilantly out of the cab's windows wondering where the next life-threatening danger might come from.

Luckily, after the experience with the truck, they arrived at the hotel without incident, and Marcus felt that his message for peace had been received.

Paying the driver and getting out of the cab, Marcus scurried into his hotel, and quickly went up to his room.

Closing the door behind him, he felt a sense of relief now that he could breathe easy again in the safety of his room.

'Okay I am not leaving my room for the rest of the day. I need a shower, some food, and then I am spending the rest of the day lounging around in peace.'

First taking a shower, Marcus ran the water hot and allowed the soothing warmth to wash away his fatigue and nerves, before drying off and ordering some room service.

Normally he would not do this due to how stupidly expensive it was, but he had no intention of leaving his room again today.

Picking the most expensive item on the menu, he ordered the lobster thermidor, since nearly dying three times made him want to try something new and luxurious.

When it arrived, he could already smell a delicious armor coming off of it, and as soon as the server who brought it left, he dug in.

After eating the quite delicious, though still ridiculously expensive lobster thermidor, Marcus flopped down onto his bed and spent the rest of the day readding a good book.

Eventually the day began to turn to evening, as the sun began to set on the horizon, and the exhaustion of the day began to catch up with him.

Letting out a long yawn, Marcus turned over and shut off the last lamp he had on, before putting his head down to go to sleep, and thinking, 'Today certainly was wild, but I still have a few days left. Though as much as I like the beach, I think I have had my fill for a while. Anyway, there is still plenty to do here. Maybe I will go and visit the famous opera house tomorrow. Yeah, that is… a good idea.'

Falling into a deep sleep, Marcus began dreaming about the amazing sights he would see during the remainder of his trip.

Unfortunately, he never got to go and see the opera house, or anything else on Earth for that matter, as he never woke up again after going to sleep that day.