Rifter Wars Book 1: Battle Lines

~ Chapter One ~ (Unedited)

The picture at the top is of Qwin, the main character.
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I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest. I had run all the way to this barrack from Cell Block V. But then I knew that the guards would be catching up and so I had ducked into the nearest barracks and climbed underneath the bed. And that's how I got here. I'm beating as quietly as possible while still taking in enough breath to keep my beating heart doing just that. There is no other noise in this room except my breathing and I can hear the guards stomping up the hall, opening doors and checking the barracks all the way down the hall. The closer their feet stomp that faster my heart beats but I try to keep my breathing the same.

Suddenly the doors fly open and I scoot farther under the bed trying to hide from the stream of light. The feet of the guards stomp in and I flinch just slightly. Suddenly the man barks out an order.

"Search the room. The prisoner could be..." Suddenly his voice trails off and all of the guards stop moving about all of them staring at the bed I am hiding under. I begin to worry that they have noticed where I'm hiding, and it's utterly quiet in the room. The guards start filing out of the door quickly, shuffling now, not stomping. "I'm sorry sir." Says the leader. "We did not mean to disturb you." Then the door clicks closed.

I lay in the dark staring at the light shining from under the door. Why did they leave? Suddenly a man's head pokes over the side of the bed looking at me from me from the vantage of a person laying on it. His face was young and his brown hair is cut nicely in a wave that followed the natural shape of his face. His eyes were a beautiful bright blue color. He didn't look any older than me, perhaps nineteen or twenty.

What he said next surprised me so much I almost began to laugh. He looked me straight in the eye, smiled and said.

"I suggest hiding in the closet."

I just stared at him and just watched as his gaze roved over my face. I could imagine what he would see. A tall, thin, dirty girl in ripped, dirty, smelly clothing. Her brown hair a mass of tangles, cut raggedly. Short pieces here, long pieces there and a few braids in the back. I'm nothing special but he smiles at me from his vantage point on the bed and I stare at him smiling at me and I feel myself smiling back. His head disappears and then his feet stick over the side of the bed as he climbs out of bed. He kneels down by the bed and sticks his hand out to me.

"Come on." He says "They're gone now. You can come out from under there. I'll help you up. I can't imagine it's very comfortable."

I hesitatingly reach out and then stop just above his hand. What if he was tricking me and as soon as I came out from under the bed he would hand me over to some guards who were hiding somewhere in the room? But I didn't see any feet except for his. Besides if he calls for the guards as soon as I come out I could over power him and use him as a hostage. Obviously the guards treated this boy with respect. But he could have called for the guards as soon as he saw me. And what he had said was stuck in my head. 'I suggest hiding in the closet'. Maybe he was trying to help me. So, slowly, I set my hand in his.

His hand was warm and soft and nothing like my hand, that was probably, cold, clammy and calloused from all my punishment work. He pulled me out from under the bed and then he helped me stand up. As soon as I was standing I jerked away, pulling my hand out of his. He stared at me a minute and then shrugged moving over to the closet. Pulling it open he gestured for me to climb inside. When I just stood there staring at him he just stared right back then he said.

"You know, if I had wanted to turn you in I could have called for the guards already."

"But," I said. "You could just be trying to gain my trust so that you can get me into the closet and then you'll call the guards and turn me in."