Life was a fickle pickle. One day it was all roses and sunshine, and the next day one's soul trickled across an endless void, looking for a flicker of hope, of light.

Jimmy died. He quite literally lost his life, lost his head, and got decapitated. Was that enough to wipe him off of the face of the planet? No.

This context was not metaphorical. He wasn't going to 'live forever' because the people would remember him as a hero, but he was going to live because sometimes, death was optional. It was optional when preventive measures were taken to avoid it.

In this case, what felt like an eternal slumber later, Jimmy opened his eyes, and saw his loved ones through the other side of a thick glass that separated him from them. He was in a container, within the same bunker that he discovered, and at this very moment, the liquid from container number two, the one he was floating in, was being drained.

"Fuck…" He mumbled, "I really got killed out there, huh? Jurassic Jesus saved my ass, kinda."

As the liquid drained from the container, he started coughing his lungs out as his body adjusted to breathing air, instead of whatever that odd liquid was. This was a lot more uncomfortable than he anticipated, but then again, this may perhaps be the toughest challenge he had to face today. Judging from the happy faces of the people on the other side of the glass, they had plenty of good news to share.

Once the liquids drained, the container opened up a square, one meter wide door for him to slip through. He crawled out, butt-naked, and was almost tackled by his mother, Lasra on the other side, who insisted on dressing him up.

"Sorry sweetheart, but I'd rather not see your junk." She said, and looked away to give him privacy, "I'm sure the elders feel the same way."

After he got dressed, his father, Gnegor, grabbed him and then threw him upwards a few feet, to celebrate his presence, and in this case, his existence as well. This was usually done to newborn babies, but it was an appropriate way to celebrate heroes as well.

"Haha!" He hollered, "That's my boy!"

Everyone around them cheered as well. Jimmy's mood started to improve, and while he floated across the air, he saw Mika stepping away from the control panel of the cloning room, along with Jimmy's girlfriends. This was when he sighed in relief, and could finally relax.

"I can't believe she remembered which buttons to push," He mumbled, "Damn, Mika, I underestimated you."

The cloning room was crowded. Every single human soul that had participated in today's battle, was in the cloning room now, where they had been anxiously awaiting his 'return' and were now celebrating him. Most of them did not understand the technology in front of them, how it worked, how it preserved life so perfectly, but they didn't care to understand it either. Their hero of the day was alive, and that was all that mattered.

Jimmy's girlfriends rushed towards him, and showered him with hugs and kisses. Anna started biting him at some point, to let out all the frustration that pent up in her heart over the day.

"I told you to get down, dumbass," Eni smacked him behind the head, but she did try to be gentle, "Listen to me next time."

"What is she talking about?" He asked, looking at Anna. "How did I die?"

"Severed head," Anna sighed, "Three Field Runners tried to kill you, well, one of them did kill you, but if it makes you feel any better, all three of them are dead now. You were right to 'save a checkpoint' Jimmy, or else we'd never see you again."

Nechi was crying. She whimpered in his ear like a child, and refused to let go of him.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" She cried, "I was worried sick!"

"It was best to keep my 'inevitable' death on the down low. If I told everyone about it, you'd get distracted, and we'd lose a lot of people." He answered, and then he finally managed to latch her off of his body, and look her in the eye. "Relax, it's over."

Unable to hold herself back, she jolted forwards and kissed him on the lips. She didn't care who was watching, and didn't care who she upset either.

Jimmy kissed her back, and gently pulled his two other girlfriends into a hug. They appreciated it, and started giggling like little morons moments later, kissing him all over.

After they got enough of each other, he straightened his spine, and looked for Gnegor, his father, and Zik too.

"How many people did we lose?" He asked them, "I don't know if you realize this, but in this body, I never took part in today's battle. You have to imagine that I was never there, so tell me everything that happened."

"Mika did say something about that," Gnegor sighed, scratching his head, still confused about how cloning worked. "You were our only casualty, son, you were the only one that got killed. Well, you, and a few elders who had plotted your death, apparently?"

"You were their main target, Jimmy," Zik then added, "Those three hundred men were bait. They just wanted to lure you out, so either they, or the damn grass humpers could kill you. My guess is that the west hills see you as the greatest threat of all. Unfortunately, Gorka killed all seven of those dried up elders before I could beat a real answer out of them."

The old woman in question then stepped in, and said, "I could keep killing them for a hundred moons, you hairy brute. Those elders, those traitors were planted within our fighters, to kill all of us, not just this young rock humper! Field Runners have snuck in and out of our home, past your hairy nose, and you were none the wiser!"

"They're fast!" Zik tried to excuse himself, "How was I supposed to see them?"

"I saw them. I killed one of them in broad daylight when they were going after the boy." She coughed, "Are you saying my eyes are better than yours?"

Zik did not know how to answer that, so he stood quiet. He felt ashamed.

Jimmy had a hard time keeping up with everything, so he asked, "Are you saying that seven elders betrayed us, just so they could keep fucking around in dark caves all day, without ever being 'interrupted' or some shit like that?"

"Yes," Gorka answered, "They were our elders, people we were trying to protect, but they weren't from my circle, if that's what you're wondering? They were idiots! I was surprised that they thought they could kill me, of all people. I sent them to the clouds. Damn bug fuckers."

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