I wanted to scream like hell, but my mouth was stuffed with cloth. I wanted to beat the crap out of that bastard right now, but my hands and legs were tied. All I could do now was nothing.
"So, how was your dream? You survived much longer in your dream than I expected. Well, these idiots died really fast in their dreams as well as here." Leon came and sat beside me and questioned me about my dream.
I was trying my best to tear the ropes. It was nearly impossible because they were made of slime, which gave them high elasticity. When I used all my strength to break them, they just stretched and strained my hands.
Leon looked at me and said, "Oh, I forgot you had cloth in your mouth, right? That's why I was wondering why you still aren't answering my question." He removed the cloth from my mouth and held it in his hand.
"You fucking son of a bitch, I will fucking kill you right now," I shouted furiously. He stuffed my mouth with the cloth again.
"You know what, Kex? At first, I thought of going to another cart, but you insisted on helping me and even paid for me. That means you were the reason for their death; you even paid for your own death," Leon spoke while preparing the rope for the hanging.
After struggling for a bit, I threw the cloth out of my mouth. "Why are you doing this? For what purpose are you killing these innocent people? Did you kill all those missing people?" I asked him.
"Wow! You are great, you threw the cloth out of your mouth. Well, I do not have any purpose, I guess. No, I didn't kill everyone who went missing—we take turns and kill people. This much information is enough for you to be satisfied, right? After all, you are going to die right now." Leon caught the rope tied to me and started dragging me towards the tree.
He stopped at a place where it was easy to throw the rope for hanging. He started tying the rope tightly to my neck. It strained my neck and made me unable to breathe.
As I was struggling to do something, I tried to tear the ropes tied to my hands. There was no result, but I kept trying. Suddenly, a big branch struck my head—Leon was the one who hit me. Blood ran out of my head, and I slowly started to lose my vision. Everything went dark.
Suddenly, I felt some lights in the dark. When I opened my eyes, I was not at the tree in the forest. I was at another place, which looked like a hospital, as I was on a bed and could see other patients. The room was big and made of white marble, but my concern was that everywhere I looked, there were only young people. I saw about ten people, and they all were young.
A nurse with a bowl on a tray was coming towards my bed. She saw me awake, then ran back to the entrance door and left the room. What might be the hurry for her to run like that? I thought.
I lifted my back from the bed and leaned against the wall. I started to think that the last thing I remembered was spending my last moments with my family before leaving. I slightly remembered taking the passenger cart. But I couldn't think of what happened next. Even after thinking hard, I didn't get any idea or reference.
Meanwhile, at the same time, I was observing every incoming and outgoing patient. I noticed one common thing in all of them: they wore the same clothes—same cloth, same uniform, young people—which meant those people were students, and this was an academy.
The nurse entered the room again and walked towards me with a female student following her. Both ladies came towards me. The nurse asked, "Are you fine? Do you feel pain anywhere in your body after waking up?"
"No, I feel absolutely fine. If you don't mind, can you tell me where I am and how I got here? I can't remember how I ended up here," I straightened up and questioned the nurse.
"To be honest, you had an accident. The cart you were on fell into a valley due to some issues, and I, who was near the area, heard the crashing sound of the cart and came to rescue. While you and the cart driver were the only ones present at the accident spot, we admitted both of you to the academic clinic. The driver woke up yesterday and left," the female student who followed the nurse explained all of my questions.