chapter 1

"Aargh!", he groaned.

In a dark and abandoned alleyway, located God knows where.

Three people were gathered, two sprawled on the floor knocked out cold, and one sitting against the wall. Cain pressed down on a stab wound in his stomach, blood staining his hands and abdomen.

This was the first time he had ever gotten stabbed, and in that moment, he endured a level of pain he had never encountered before.

Just a few hours earlier, Cain was in his room studying for his semester test, which was to take place in about 8 hours.

It was late, and there was so much to cover, but very little time.

Cain was in his late teens and lived with his parents and his little brother.

He was nothing special, just a regular guy, who had no plans for the future or ideas about what to do with his life, like most guys his age.

Now, he was not too bad at his studies, he had a good head on his shoulders, but the problem was that he didn't use it too much.

He was lazy; very very lazy, and the result of that was the situation he was currently in right now, cramming everything the night before the test.

But even that was not going to be possible because just after a few hours, due to boredom, he slowly but surely started to doze off on his desk.

Then, it came like a lightning strike.

He was suddenly jolted awake.

"Huff huff"

He did not know why, but he was out of breath and on his knees.

He looked down, and he saw that he was naked.

He could feel the cold night air, the hard concrete beneath his feet.

His body felt tired and heavy, and there was a stinging pain everywhere on his skin like his whole body was being pricked by needles.

He could hear loud sirens and dogs barking far behind him, but that only messed with his already chaotic state of mind.

His head hurt like hell like he had been hit in the back with a pipe or some shit.

Confused and clueless, he glanced around, trying to make sense of the chaos unfolding around him

He was not in his room anymore, but someplace unrecognizable to him.

His instincts screamed at him to flee, and the growing commotion behind him intensified the urgency.

So, confused about his present situation and without a better idea, he started moving in the opposite direction of the noise.

His feet hurt, but after running for what felt like an eternity, he reached the edge – or, more precisely, a fence made of steel mesh.

It seemed like he was in some sort of a port, as there were shipping containers everywhere around him.

As he stopped for a while and looked around to learn about his surroundings, he heard the shouts of the people chasing him, they were getting closer.

He quickly climbed the fence and resumed running away, the further the better.

It was ghost-quiet beyond the fence.

Not a single car or individual could be seen on the streets.

But still not willing to risk it, he dashed towards the nearest alleyway, limping to find some cover.

And that's where he ran into a problem.

There were already two men in the alleyway.

It seemed like he ran into a guy who was mugging someone, one guy was knocked out cold on the floor, and the mugger was going through his pockets.

Cain, seeing this, stopped like a deer in front of headlights.

The muggers panicked too after he suddenly saw a strange man appear out of nowhere.

But the mugger seeing him stop and freeze like a statue took the chance and lunged at him.

"Fuck"

Before Cain could realize and do something, it was already too late.

He was stabbed in the stomach with a knife.

Adrenalin rushed into his blood, and he instinctively threw a right hook at the guy who was still trying to push the knife further in.

It must have been quite a strong hook cause the mugger immediately fell to the floor, knocked out cold.

Cain too slowly sat down with his back against the wall.

He felt pain, unbearable pain but surprisingly did not pass out.

He slowly pulled the knife out of him, and more blood started to flow out of the wound, he pushed down on it using his hands.

"Ah," it hurt.

He sat there for a while, but it was a good thing for him, as this break allowed him to catch his breath and clear his head a little.

When he finally felt the pain a little bearable and had enough energy to move again, he approached the knocked-out mugger on all fours and started stripping him.

He put on his hoodie and his pants along with his shoes but tore up his t-shirt into strips and used it as a bandage for his wound, he also found some cash in his pockets, it looked like a couple hundred dollars seemed like this guy had made a good haul tonight but had the bad luck of running into him.

Or was it his bad luck since he was the one who got stabbed?

Well, whatever the case, he did not stay for long after he recovered, fearing the people chasing him might soon catch up again.

He started moving again, but this time even more slowly because of the added pain.

He kept moving around for the entire night, making sure that he wasn't being followed, and finally, when morning dawned, he decided to seek refuge in a motel.

He did not even think about going to a hospital, he had watched enough movies to know that hiding in a hospital while being chased was not the best idea.

He was feeling so weak and exhausted that all he could think about was someplace safe, with four walls to hide him, someplace to rest his exhausted body, and this place was exactly that.

"Ting" The bell rang as he entered through the door, there was a middle-aged woman inside cleaning the counter.

"Welcome....."

"Well, you looked like shit," She remarked as she stopped what she was doing and greeted him, and she was right.

He did look like shit, the mugger's clothes that he stole were not exactly clean, and he looked like he had not slept for days.

"Can I get a room?" Cain questioned

"Sure", She eyed him for some time chewing on a piece of gum, then turned around and took out a key from the rack behind her.

He reached out to grab the keys, but swiftly she pulled back her hand leaving him confused.

"$50 per night" she declared "cash only"

He snapped out of his daze and quickly shuffled through his pockets.

He took out $50 from the money he took from the poor mugger and gave it to her.

He took the keys and went where she told him the room was.

It was a small room with not much space inside, but he did not care about that.

He immediately laid down on the bed as soon as he entered, he was exhausted, but finally, he was safe.

He didn't know how to explain it, but those seemingly fragile walls provided a sense of safety and security. It felt as though, regardless of the turmoil outside, inside those walls, he would remain unaffected.

And with that reassuring feeling, coupled with the comfort of a bed, he quickly drifted into sleep.