***

A crawling sensation on his skin was the first thing he felt upon awakening.

Japheth’s hand shot up reflexively to brush at his face. He felt slickness, perhaps sweat or blood or both. He heard the buzzing of flies, felt several briefly land on his searching fingers. A good deal more were hovering around his head, by the sound of them.

There was a burning brightness searing through his eyelids, and unbearable heat.

Perhaps this is Hell…what sort of flies do they have in Hell, I wonder… perhaps they have teeth, and tear you apart for eternity…

“Here! Another alive here!” It was a man’s shout from close by. The sound of it was daggers in Japheth’s ears.

A shadow blunted the wrath of the light. Japheth...

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