The Rift

Chapter One: The Mission

Elsewhere...

I swiftly run beside the long brick wall, an M-16 assault rifle in my grasp.

Wearing a red flannel shirt under a thin gray jacket along with black pants, it's slightly tough for me to run in this weather. The late afternoon sun is out but is slowly being cover by large clouds moving in from the east.

My sneakers scrape against the concrete ground with each quick step I take while running.
Right when the brick wall comes to an end, I duck behind the corner. I rest my head against the tough surface of the wall and catch my breath. I wipe a small amount of sweat from my forehead, just below my short black hair.

I look over my large firearm, quickly checking to see if there's any problems with it.

It's loaded, which is good considering the mission I agreed to join today. I have two more ammunition clips in my pocket. I've practiced dozens of times, loading and unloading the M-16.
I slowly raise the rifle, and I take a deep breath. I jump from behind the corner of the brick wall, aiming my rifle at Anna's head.
She's already waiting there with a pistol raised.

"Bang. You're dead. It's over", Anna says to me, then she lowers the gun and stuffs it behind her back, wearing a light gray shirt under a black, unzipped vest. She has her long black hair tied back in a braid, with a few strands hanging down from above her forehead.

I groan in annoyance and lower the M-16.
"What did I do wrong?", I ask Anna.

"Well for one, I could hear you breathing a mile away", she tells me, "and you were too slow when you come out from around the corner. In a real situation, you'd be dead right now."
"Well this isn't a real situation, is it?", I ask Anna smartly.

"Not yet at least."
"Why are you even teaching me this?It's not like I'm gonna...", I trail off. It's hard for me to talk about this.
After the war, I vowed to never kill another human being again.
Not everyone was supportive of my decision.

Anna tilts her head and softly says, "You never know. There's gonna be a day when someone is going to try to kill you, and you'll have to make a decision."

"I don't need to hear this", I snap, swinging the strap of the rifle over my shoulder and stomping past Anna.
She calls out to me, "David, wait."
I stop and turn to look at her, a pissed off look across my face.
"I'm sorry if I offended you, but you can't hide from the real world forever."

"I can and I will. It's not about killing people and staying alive. It's about remembering who I am", I sternly tell Anna. I turn and walk away, heading toward the enormous main building of the train depot.

Today, I join Anna, Eli, Theo, DJ, Emma, and a new friend named Trevor at an abandoned train depot to get gas for the generators back at Haven. Since I'm sixteen now, I can join groups on supply runs and such, but it's not required since we have a lot of adult volunteers.
I come across a wide row of train tracks, leading to the side of the main building.

Yeah, I was a little harsh to Anna, but I was only defending what I believe in.

I hear slow footsteps scrape against the ground from around the corner of the smaller brick building. A walker appears and sees, wearing a drab suit and snarling its rotten teeth at me.

I step back and pull out my sidearm, the pistol that was given to me by Jesse.

The walker reaches its arms out for me, and the next thing I see come out from around the corner is the glint of a long blade.
The katana slashes through the walker's neck, decapitating it. The headless corpse collapses to the ground. Eli is standing there in a battle stance, but then he lowers the sword.

He wears a black jacket with the hood up and covering his long haired head. A few splotches of dark blood lay on the bottom of his jeans. Stubble grows on Eli's defined chin, and his long, wavy  black hair is slightly damp from sweat.
"Everything clear back there?", he asks, flicking his sword to clear off the walker blood.
"Yeah. Let's move", I tell Eli, starting to walk past him.

"Hold up", Eli says, grabbing the hood of my thin gray jacket.

I face him and he asks, "You alright?"
"Yeah", I tell him, "Why wouldn't I be?"
Typical Eli. In the past year, he's become like a big brother to me.
"Just makin' sure", Eli says, he pats me on the shoulder and him and Anna walk side by side behind me to join the others up ahead.

Calm first chapter. Things will pick up very soon