1 – Still Born

The music was so loud that even from the bathroom, Jonny could feel the bass vibrating in his bones as he vomited into the toilet. He had drunk a little too much. A lot too much. He technically wasn’t supposed to be drinking at all, since he had a fight in a week, but he was never one to say “no” to a good party. His opponent wasn’t worth worrying about anyway, so even if he was a little off, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

His stomach heaved, and he launched another round into the swirling brown bowl. A moment later, he heard the bathroom door open, and the sound of at least three sets of footsteps entering.

“You in there, Champ?” called a voice.

“One shecond,” Jonny responded.

He hastily wiped his mouth on some toilet paper, flushed, and staggered out. He was greeted by the sight of three men in suits with their jackets and the tops of their shirts unbuttoned. All three were big—Samoan, maybe—and all three were standing in between Jonny and the door.

“What’sh up?” asked Jonny, trying to appear less drunk than he was. “Want shome autographs?”

“Actually, we was hopin’ we could give you some autographs,” said the one in the middle.

“Are you famoush?” asked Jonny, confused.

“He means we’re gonna beat you up, dumbass,” said the one on the right.

All three chuckled. Jonny stared blankly for a few seconds before he finally fully understood what was happening.

“You’re gonna beat me up?” he asked, staggering forward a step. “Haven’t you heard? I’m the shtrongest man in the world!”

“Heheh,” said the one in the middle. “That’s why we’s here. You said you’d take on anyone, anytime, anywhere. Well, here we are.”

“Come at me, you fat fucks,” said Jonny.

Despite what he said, it was, in fact, Jonny that came at them. He took a lurching step forward, putting his full weight into an overhead right aimed at the middle goon. The middle goon looked mildly surprised, but not enough that Jonny’s drunken attack could make contact. At the same time, the two on the sides closed in, making to grab Jonny’s arms. However, they missed, because Jonny continued his forward progress carrying the momentum from his off-balance punch into an off-balance takedown attempt.

The goon was heavier than Jonny thought he would be, but Jonny wasn’t called the strongest man in the world for nothing, and no amount of alcohol could completely eliminate his skill. He lifted the goon into the air, then twisted his body to slam him into the ground. His opponent’s head hit the floor with a crack, and his eyes rolled back into his head.

“Aw, fuck,” he said.

Even in his drunken state, he knew that wasn’t good. He didn’t have time to think about how not good it was though, because at that moment, he felt a sharp pain in his back. When he turned to see what it was, he found himself falling to the side as the pain got worse. When he hit the ground, he saw one of the other goons standing over him with a bloody knife in his hand and a panicked look on his face.

“What the fuck, man?!” shouted the other. “We weren’t supposed to kill ‘im.”

“You saw what he did to Kami!” said the knife-wielder. “I ain’t fuckin’ wit’ dat.”

“Yeah?! Well now you’re fuckin’ wit’ twenty to life, dumbass!”

“Chill, man, he ain’t dead yet!”

“You fuckin’ stabbed him!”

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“We gotta get Tony in here! He’s a doctor! He can fix it.”

“You’d better hope so. Drop the knife and go!”

Jonny felt a pair of warm hands on his back, trying to staunch the flow, but he barely registered it. His body was getting cold, and between the alcohol and the blood loss, he was having trouble even figuring out what had happened. His mind was never able to come to an answer before his mind went unconscious.

He dreamt he was flying. He went up, high into the sky until the city lights were no more than specks, then even further until the cities themselves were specks. Soon, even the Earth was a speck, and Jonny was rocketing through the cosmos.

This is trippy as hell.

He passed by stars and planets and asteroid belts and more, and all the while, he couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. He could vaguely recall meeting the three goons in the bathroom, but everything after that was fuzzy.

Damn, I shouldn’t’a drank so much.