The New, The Old, and The Divided

Chapter 1

    I'm lying on my back. The light is fading quickly and pain shoots through my body. But I reach out and hold on. My attacker will know I am strong. I will win. Stephens do not give up. 

     The light has returned, but I'm still on my back. My opponent is standing above me, no doubt laughing. I can sense them to my left, they've let their guard down. Perfect. Before they can sense my plan I hop up, landing on their left. Their reflexes are fast and much quicker than me, but I manage to land a hit to their side. 

"Cayd, I didn't teach you to play dirty," Jay said, the commander put in charge of our training. He is also my father. 

"Must be why I'm so bad at it," I replied, my breath heavy. My arms are still up ready for him to land a hit on me. 

"Playing dirty is lazy, Stephens aren't lazy." He stated. His eyes were as serious as his tone. "We are done for the morning. Why don't you get cleaned up?" He offered. 

     Oh, a test. I see. "No thanks, I'm gonna stay and train longer." I explained. 

"That's my girl." He replied. We both dropped our stances. He walked down the steps of the stairs that led up to the fighting mat. I jumped off the edge, landing softly next to my belongings. "I'll see you later, Cayd. I've got meetings for the rest of the day. Work hard." He called out to me as he left the training facility. And with the click of the metal doors closing, I was alone. 

     I bent down to  grab my towel to wipe myself of the sweat that coated me. Dropping that, I picked up my watch. 4:28 a.m. I look up at the empty training facility, no one is up yet. I wake up every morning at 3:45 a.m. and train with my father. We live in the headquarters of the New Division. Long before I was born, chaos erupted across the world. Countries were destroyed and the people who survived split into 3 different groups. Us, the New Division, who seek to change from our corrupt ways. The Old Division, who bring destruction wherever they go. Last are The Dividers, a group of humans who belong to neither the good or bad side of things. I find it best to avoid all Dividers, no matter their intentions. 

     Since my father is the commander of training he expects me to work just as hard as he does. He's trained me since I was 8. I'm 17 now and old enough to go on missions, though we haven't needed any recently. My father thinks it means the Old Division is planning something big. They have been quiet for far too long. He'll brief me on the meetings he has today, I'm sure of it. But in the meantime I'll train. 

     I go back onto the platform I was previously on and mirror the movements during my father and I's training. It's not the same as actually fighting him but he tells me it builds muscle memory. Next I go for a run, 4 miles today. Endurance is important on a mission, is what my father also says to us while we train. I glance at my watch. 5:52 a.m. Where's Jackson? Jackson Poller is my best friend here, I guess he's really my only friend. And he's late today, so I start working on my core alone. I hook my legs around a bar on the wall and do curls ups. In between sets I just hang there. My eyes closed, but when I opened them a face appeared in front of me. Jackson. 

"Miss me?" He asks.

I roll my eyes, reach up to unhook myself and jump to the ground. "You're late." I told him. 

"Right, I lost track of the time." He replied. 

"We don't have time to 'lose track of time'." I replied, annoyed. 

"I'm gonna get you to have a good time sometime Cayda." He laughed.

"Training is a good time for me," I explained, "but not when my partner is late." I told him, raising my eyebrows.