I woke up taking a very large, deep breath. Breathing, should not be something anyone should really be surprised about. I mean it happens all the time for everyone. But this breath was different. It was like that first breath you take when you’ve been under than water to long, only more so. This breath was the first breath you take after being dead. I would be surprised if very may people will ever take a breath like that, let alone remember such a traumatic event. Unfortunately, I was getting used to it. 

Now that I was awake again, I went through my usual check list. 

1) How fucked up is my body. 

I could feel the normal stiffness, but that would soon fade. I was cold, also something to be expected, and unless I was buried in snow, that would also fade.  Next was any major damage that would prevent me from moving, like broken bones, or missing limbs. Nothing felt missing or gave off any consciousness shattering pains. Just a large collection of aches and pains that indicated muscle strains, worn joints, and minor wounds. Good, nothing really horrible, or anything that will take too long to fix.  

2) Determine immediate surroundings, and access danger level. 

I focused on what I was hearing, trying to understand what was happening around me through the ringing I always got when I woke like this. I couldn’t hear any loud roars of monsters, or the screaming crash of battle. Which could mean that everything is already over, I’ve returned a distance away from the battle, or I’ve returned a random spot that could be anywhere on the world. 

If it’s the first, that would be great. I hate waking up in the middle of a battle, it usually means I’m just going to get dead again soon. Returning a short distance away is the best option. It gives me time to get orientated, and my new body time to heal. The Last option is a royal pain in the ass. Starting new, with no idea where I am, who this body was, and what the local conditions are, is just freaking annoying. Thankfully the last option doesn't happen very often.  

The ringing was starting to clear up, so I could make out more now. I could hear the occasional voice, a swooshing sound that repeatedly got louder then softer, and what sounded like rain on a tarp. The voices and the tarp could mean that I’ve woken up in one of the camps set up near the battle, but I pretty sure there wasn’t any chance of rain for the day. The swooshing sound could be a river, also something that I knew was not close to the battlefield. It was starting to sound like my least favorite revival type. 

Now that my ears have stopped ringing, my eyes should have cleared up enough to make out more than just light and dark blobs. I slowly opened my eye lids, fighting against the stuck gunk that always seems to be there when I wake up like this. At first it was just a blur of fuzzy colors with vague shapes, but as I blinked to clear out the gunk, my surrounding slowly came into better focus.  

-Looks like I'm lying on my side under a greenish tarp. 

Beyond the edge of the odd coloured tarp, could see a small garbage strewn dirt patch bordered by a line of trees, and beyond that, large shapes moving by in time with the swooshing sound. 

Someone walked by at that moment. The tarp blocked him from hip up, but that didn’t stop me from hearing the steady stream of swearing. What he was saying was of no interest, the language he was saying it in was. A language I had not heard in a very long time and made me completely forgo my normal awaking routine.  

I forced my aching body to move, I shuffled out from under the tarp and swayed like I was completely drunk as I stood up. The whole time my eyes did not leave the shapes rushing by beyond the trees. I shuffled across the litter strewn dirt only to trip and slam into one of the trees, some-thing that I’m sure hurt like hell, but right now I didn’t care. Beyond the trees was a street, and the swoosh was the tires rushing over the rain slicked roadway. An asphalt road, with rubber tires, on gas powered cars. The rain and tears ran down my face as I stood desperately clinging to the tree, watching the cars drive by.  

“I’m home.”