1. Meet Jack

When he awoke, a high sound penetrated his ear. 

He couldn't see clearly; there were black and white dots in his vision. He shook his head to regain his mind, but the headache became only worse, his head feeling heavy.

'Where was I a moment ago? What was I doing?'

The sound penetrating him changed to a bell-like tone, turning into an overall deafness until his ability to hear recovered. People were screaming and whimpering; however, he couldn't pinpoint where these voices came from. He tried to focus his eyes, but the air was full of sand, obstructing his vision. He understood now that he was outside on a street—and there were others.

He stared down and looked at the black shirt on his body; it had a slogan on it, but he couldn't make out what it said; his jeans were blue with strange red spots on them.

'Blood?'

He heard the hysterical voice of a woman, 

"Was there a bomb?? Was there a bomb?!" 

Somebody screamed, and he lifted his head. He wanted to see who was talking, but the sand or dust or whatever had not settled down, and he saw no further than his shoes.

Coughing sounds shook the air, but he wasn't strong enough to follow suit—so he just breathed heavily.

He wanted to touch his head, but he had a gut feeling to not do that, because he was too sluggish—something wasn't right with his head; he had to put down the hand that was already halfway up.

He sat there on the street with no idea where he was, who he was, what had happened, or where the crying and yelling came from. 

So, sitting there while utterly clueless, he just waited, trying to listen to the other voices. A good while later, the dust settled a bit.

There was so much sand on the spot before him, and there were rocks—some black chunks and some rubble. He couldn't identify the people in the distance, not seeing even so much as a shadow of them.

But at least the hysterical woman who screamed the loudest was still to hear; everything was better than the ringing, the deafness, or the silence.

"Where is the police? Why isn't anyone here yet?" 

Further screaming was heard as he stared into the nothingness, when suddenly a big shadow evaporated in front of him. The shadow asked, directed at him,

"Are you okay?"

He needed a good while to process the question, 

"M-me? Are you....talking… to m-me?"

The big shadow came closer and sucked in a cold breath. 

"Oh boy… buddy, you have to get asap to the hospital; your head is... fuck man....." 

Hearing that, he couldn't withstand the urge and touched his head. His hand was moving up, and he slowly touched his forehead, which felt like a foreign object—not only his head but also the long thing stuck in it. 

"Ah". His hands fell as he understood, as he vomited on the ground. 

Something was stuck in his head—a metal-like thing.

"Oh boy…is there…" The big man looked around, and while remaining in front of him, he took a deep breath and yelled, "Is a doctor here? WE NEED HELP!"

After vomiting, he couldn't hold back to get that damn thing out of his head. He knew he shouldn't, and it could cost him his life, but his insides screamed, 

'GET IT OUT!'

He raised his hands again, but before he could touch that foreign object once more, the big shadow sat behind him and circled his arms around his upper body, imprisoning him so that he couldn't move.

Nobody of the voices afar answered the shadow, but they could hear the middle-aged woman again after a bit,

"Where is the police, ambulance? Anything? This bloody sand, I can't see a thing!"

The big shadow sighed and spoke in a lower voice, "Don't move, buddy; everything is alright; it's going to be okay. What's your name? My name is Jack."

He felt cold and began shaking, his teeth shattering, but managed to mumble, 

"I don't know, I don't remember a thing…"

Jack was stunned for a moment. 

"Oh shit… okay, I understand, no problem. I'll tell you what I remember. I was on my way to a friend, and then something happened before I blacked out. I have no idea what, but I can tell something should have struck the earth; I don't know whether it was a bomb, a meteor, or a plane; we can't see wider than a few meters; I have no idea what happened or where the ambulance is, and I have to say buddy..." he paused, 

"Fuck... I'm scared."