The Killer Inside Me

Chapter 1

"Welcome Back To Reality..."

Zavian

Spring 2013

Zavian Alston sat in a moving truck surrounded by his fellow troops. This was the routine he had grown accustomed to. The troops would pile into one big truck and survey Iraq for a sign of some type of enemy they had never seen before. The same old routine was getting old for every soldier in the platoon. Everyday they hoped for some type of action and even a mere glimpse of this foe but everyday they were let down.

"Alston" A dark skinned soldier that went by the name of Ace called out to Zavian and Zavian turned his head to look down the line of soldiers for his face. Once he spotted him at the very end, he nodded his head as if to say, "What's up?" Ace turned to meet his eyes as he continued. "I've been meaning to ask you something, how come I never see you get letters from your mom and father? Y'all ain't cool or something?" Zavian turned his head and focused on the dirt road outside as the truck drove into a small village. He noticed the way people looked at the truck with fear and immediately ran into their homes. The fear in their eyes made his heart ache a little for them. The truck was looked at like some kind of monster. Maybe that's exactly what they were to them; monsters. They'd been in their land for years now, just terrorizing and harassing them for an unknown reason.

"Alston, you ain't gon' answer me, though?" Ace asked with a small chuckle in his voice. "You a mulatto right? Half black, half white, right? Yo-" He was cut off mid sentence by a tall Caucasian male nicknamed, "Red" Everyone gave him the nickname because of his ginger hair and freckles. "Just leave him alone, Ace. You know he doesn't like to talk" He said sternly. "Maaannn, I need some type of entertainment" Ace rose to his feet and stood in the middle of the truck, looking down at everyone. "We done killed that nigga Osama in Pakistan and shit. Why the fuck we still out here? Cause that nigga Barack don't wanna let us go home. So until he do, I'm gonna entertain myself and pick with every one of you mothafuckas and if Red got a problem with that shit, we can handle it"

Red went to stand up when the Lieutenant rose to his feet, staring into Ace's eyes with angry eyes and his nostrils flaring. Lieutenant Samuel was a 6'6 brown-skinned man whose physique demanded attention as well as his deep voice. His upper body was shaped like Ving Rhames while his lower body was smaller. His voice was deeper than Barry White and everyone knew when he got angry, the very thick vein on the right side of his neck would pop out and throb. The sight was a bit disturbing and even disgusting to some.

"Sit. Your. Ass. Down" Lieutenant Samuel said through clenched teeth as he pointed to Ace's seat. Ace didn't waste time taking a seat. He knew as well as everyone else that no one wanted to make him mad. He had a short temper and when people contested him, it only added fuel to the already roaring fire inside of him. "President Barack Obama has sent some troops home. Let's talk about that. Let's be thankful for that. He's doing things that Bush never did. So shut the fuck up about him and everybody else in this truck" He took a moment to glance over at Zavian before he went back to staring Ace down. "Ace, you can learn from Alston. He does everything I ask of him and he doesn't give me bitch ass back talk like you do. He's a well-trained soldier and you're just a jive talking nigga from New York. Shut the fuck up!"

The way Ace held his head down low, made him look like a school boy that just got in trouble in the Principal office. That was Ace. Bad ass one minute and a scared little boy the next. He was the bully of the whole platoon. He would pick on people then turn around and wet his pants when it was time to face Lieutenant Samuel for his actions. That's why no one had respect for him. He was all bark and no bite.