Those who are about to die, salute you.

It's a crowded club, the music pumping and the people dancing. In such situations you cannot avoid bumping into people, you simply can't. So, when I bump into him and knock his beer out of his hand, it really isn't my fault, it could've happened to anyone.

Even before I can open my mouth to apologise and offer him a replacement beer, I see a flurry of movement. An instant later the side of my face explodes in pain as his fist slams into me. I feel the skin of my cheek and the flesh underneath give way as my head violently twists around, followed immediately by my upper body. It goes dark and silent for a second, but, much to my own surprise, I stay on my feet.

I double over before I realise why. His second punch hits me right in the gut. I instantly feel nauseous, but pain is still the dominant sensation. My entire abdomen seems to be on fire as I double over, crossing my arms across my stomach. My knees buckle, and I almost go down, but still I stay on my feet, by sheer surprise if anything else. All the separate sounds around me join forces to create this roar in my ears, but I can still I hear my girlfriend screaming hysterically.

It's the third hit that gets me down. As I try to look up and beg this guy to stop this, he hits down on me, full force. I feel his knuckles slamming into the side of my head, at that point where your ear and the absolute back of your jaw meet. Something cracks inside my skull, and as I go down, I taste blood and metal in my mouth.

I hit the ground hard. I immediately try to roll over and assume some kind of fetal position, but only half succeed. As I'm lying there, half on my stomach and half on my side, I see the crowd gathered around me, creating a circle, much like an arena, in which we are the gladiators. There are three people in the circle: me, on the ground bleeding, the guy standing over me and leering down on me, and my girlfriend, screaming, crying, begging for help and not knowing what to do to stop this. The music is still pounding, but I cannot hear it anymore as much as feel it reverberating through my sore body. I cough up some blood.

I look at the people around me, surprised that no one does anything to stop this, and then I look at my girlfriend, who's still screaming and crying. I try a smile, but fail. I roll back onto my stomach, and try to get on my knees, when I look to the side.

The noise around me crescendoes as I see the steel toe of his boot coming straight at my face. In that instant the sound stops and my muscles tense up and I swallow blood and I squeeze my eyes shut and the hairs on my neck stand on end and I brace myself and I try to turn my head away and ...