The Rift

Chapter Twenty: Monster

Okay so we're more or less halfway through the story but there is much more crazy shit coming.

Boom boom boom.

The stranger overhears a loud knock on the door of the cabin as they stand at the iron stove, putting on a kettle of tea and dressed in their black combat suit.
They step over to the small wooden table, picking up their gas mask and putting it over their head.

The stranger grabs the hatchet and leans against the wall by the locked front door, peering out the window into the woods. Two men stand out on the small porch of the cabin, both armed with automatic weapons, and both of them dressed in orange vests and dark colored pants: hunters' gear.
"Who the fuck is in there?", the shorter and chunkier one asks, a scar running across his left eye. He has reddish brown hair and a thick beard, his face and hands a pinkish color, gripping a hunting rifle.

The other one, a taller and slimmer one has no beard, but almost looks the same as his comrade. He stands behind the shorter hunter, a shotgun hanging from his left hand.

He asks his friend, "We were barely gone a day, Bryan. Who in their right mind would come into our cabin?"

"Don't care, Jack. All I care about is killing the son of a bitch inside. They could have eaten all our fucking food!", the short hunter answers.

Bryan bangs his fist on the door once again. The stranger stands on the other side, their hatchet raised.
"Fuck it, I'm kicking the goddamn door in", Bryan announces, taking a few steps back from the door.
Bryan lifts up his right leg and kicks at the door with a strong force, sending it open.
"Alright, whoever's in there come out here with your hands-", Bryan begins, but is cut off by the stranger springing out from around the corner of the doorway and sinks the blade of the hatchet into his throat.

Blood gushes from the large wound as Jack watches from off the porch, his mouth dropped in shock.
Bryan's face twists in agony and fear, then he collapses to the wooden surface of the porch. 

The stranger yanks the hatchet free, then quickly steps down the porch to get to Jack, where he stands there with his shotgun raised, shaking.
"S-Stay back!", Jack shouts.
The stranger quickly reaches out and grabs Jack by the throat with their right arm, causing him to drop the firearm.
He grabs onto the stranger's arm, afraid. The stranger looks into his eyes through their gas mask, seeing the fear.

For a moment, the stranger feels pitiful for the cowardly grown man.

The stranger then holds the hatchet up to Jack's throat, and slits it open with a quick force.
Red blood pours from the cut, splattering onto the stranger's gas mask. Jack chokes on his own blood, then collapses to his knees, then falls to the forest floor face first.
The stranger stands over their second kill of the day, looking down at the corpse.

They notice a folded paper sticking out of Jack's back pocket, then reaches down and pulls it out.
The stranger unfolds the large paper, discovering that it's a map of this area of Pennsylvania.

They follow a road, the road the stranger has been traveling on, and traces it with their finger 40 miles south to a complex marked with black marker as HAVEN: POSSIBILITY? OVERRUN??

The stranger cocks their head at the discovery.
If this "Haven" place is possibly overrun, then the stranger won't take that chance.
They sigh inside their gas mask, then the stranger hears a rustling from the side of the cabin. The stranger turns and sees a lone walker, dressed in old pajamas. The walker snarls, limping towards the stranger.
The stranger readies their hatchet, then kills the walker when it gets close.

Their work done, stranger slices the heads of the dead hunters, holds onto the map, then walks back inside the cabin just as the tea on the stove hisses.

                       ----------------

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

The leaky water faucet loudly drops water onto the floor below.

I sit on the extremely uncomfortable cot inside the prison cell, my hands still shaking as they grip the edge of the thin bed.
Grace wipes her face with her hand, then folds her arms across her chest and asks me with both anger and fear in her voice, "Have you even begun to think about the consequences of all this?"
A row of panel lights hang above her head.

I don't answer. I stare at the floor, the blood on my hands beginning to feel crusty on my skin.

"David, say something", Grace pleads.

I finally look up at Grace behind the iron bars of the cell.

She really has no idea what happened, and I just beat the shit out of one of my closest friends, so Grace needs to cut me some slack.
"It was Cody...he killed all of those people...It was him this whole time."

Grace gasps, is silent for a few moments and then asks, "And you're positive about this? Because something doesn't add up."

"And what would that be?"

"I talked to Thomas, and he said...he said that Lisbeth left the house when the walkers came through, told Thomas that he couldn't tell anyone..."

I spring to my feet after hearing this information.
I fucking told Lisbeth to stay with Thomas, and then she does this shit.
"Did Thomas at least tell you where she went?", I ask.

Grace nods.
"He says Lisbeth left with a gun...but David...he saw her go into town hall through the back door."

Son of a bitch.

"You don't think...?", I trail off.

"Yes, it could have been her, David. She could have been the one that murdered Matt. But...we don't have enough proof."

"Bullshit, she has to have something to do with this."
I practically shout from behind the bars of the cell, clenching my fists.
"David, you are accusing a 15 year old girl of murder. And you don't really have a say in this considering the position you're in right now. Do you have any idea what might happen to you?"
"I protected myself", I lie.
"You beat Cody senseless until he was unconscious. I would hardly call that 'defending yourself '."

"It was for the right reason-"
"Oh my god, David! Are you even listening to yourself right now?! Cody is in a coma because of you!"

A coma.
He's in a coma because of me. I did that to him.

"What?", I ask, shaking my head side to side.

"He's unconscious, and he might not even wake up. He's at the infirmary where his parents are worried sick about him."
"Because of..me", I mumble, stepping back from the cell door.
"Yes, David. Because of you."

"But he threatened to hurt you."
"What?", Grace asks me.

"Who knows what that son of a bitch could have done to you."

"Is that why you beat the shit out of him?"

"I wanted to protect you, Grace", I argue, "I couldn't afford to make a mistake and lose you-"
"I can protect myself, David! Why do you feel such a need to keep me safe? Huh? Because of Jesse? Because of Anthony?-"

"Don't fucking say his name!", I shout.

Grace backs up from the cell from my anger.
She then reaches behind her neck and unlatches her diamond necklace. The one I gave her. Grace tosses it towards me, the jewelry flying through the bars and landing near my shoes.
"I don't...I don't even know you anymore", Grace says shakily, her bottom lip quivering, "I thought I loved you...I was wrong.You're a...monster."

I watch as she turns around and walks over to the basement.
Grace then swings open the door and walks out.

I lean down and pick up the necklace, the diamond glistening from the light outside of the cell.

I brought this all on myself.

I put the jewelry in the front pocket of my black pants, then sit back down on the cot.
I lean down and bury my face in my hands, praying that this will all be over soon.