“Karl is that you?” Karl heard a familiar surprised voice behind him and he sighed helplessly. Without any response, he walked fast toward the mission display screen in the middle of the hall. The building he was in was one of the two most prestigious organizations in the entire Survival Area, it was the Hunter’s Association.

It was only about thirty years ago when man brought doom upon themselves by messing with nature. And when She fought to fix the problems man had made, man suffered the consequences of their actions, they paid the price with the lives of eighty percent of the human population. It was then, on the brink of extinction that a wonderful technology was invented, a powerful force field strong enough to destroy everything and anything that tried to go through it. It assimilated all kinds of energy to constantly reinforce itself and it could never be turned off only expanded. Humanity came to hide within the Survival Area, the place surrounded by this powerful force field and from within it, they continued to survive.

The Hunter’s Association was as a supervisor for hunters. The explored areas outside the force field contained so many things humans needed, food, crops, herbal plants for manufacturing medicine, special rocks, and antiques from the old times. Hunters searched for all these things within marked explored areas and they sold them to the Association which transferred and sold them to people all over the Survival Area. The Hunter’s Association also monitored the hunters and controlled the way they used firearms ensuring that no hunter took theirs past the Barricade at the only entrance and exit of the Survival Area.

When Karl returned from the Other Side at sixteen, he was so cold and lifeless, he saw people as either prey or predator and considered life like a flickering flame of which going out was inevitable. His views on life and its fragility caused him to distance himself from people and his dead and uninterested eyes somehow managed to captivate the heart of the wealthy heiress April Sanders. Unfortunately, he never reciprocated her feelings and soon married his current wife, Lisa Brooks. However, she was quite persistent even after he married and even once asked him to divorce his wife.

“It is you! I am so surprised to see you here” a beautiful oval face appeared in front of Karl, obstructing his path. Admittedly, April was a very beautiful girl and was not at all lacking physically. Her brown smooth skin glistened in the light of the room, together with her long black hair which she allowed to fall down her shoulders, she was quite a sight to behold. Unfortunately, Karl’s heart was jaded and unmovable as he stared blankly at her.

“Hello Miss Sanders” he greeted.

“Eight years Karl and you still call me Miss” April unreservedly connected her hand with his and led him forward towards the mission table.

Karl knew April was intentionally waiting for him since she knew what time he usually arrived at the Hunter’s Association but he still asked the question he always did.

“Is there a reason you are looking for me, Miss Sanders?”

“Why did you choose her Karl? I met you first, is it because I am black?”

To Karl it was like April was on a loop, with the development of the Survival Area, there was no distinction of race or nationality. Despite the prejudice people had at heart, none of the Survival Area’s governments was influenced by it. Every time April played this ‘is it because I am black’ card, Karl always went helpless and exasperated.

“Please April” he begged.

“That sounds better. Say, April dear and I’ll leave you alone for today” April smiled brightly and stepped in front to obstruct Karl’s path again her arms going down to take his hand in hers.

“April dear, I need to accept a mission” Karl fulfilled her vanity with his bland tone and expression.

“You don’t actually” April let go of Karl’s arm and her whole expression and body language which was previously excited flipped to her natural elegant and arrogant self. Although she seemed like it, April was not a very friendly person nor was she easy to get along with. Being from a wealthy family, she was naturally quite arrogant adding that to her achievement as a Biologist, she had every right to be. Within the Survival Area, April was one of the most prestigious Biologists due to her book which contained the most detailed break down of the most common and a few uncommon mutated animals on the other side. Behavioral traits, identification, ancestry, she included all of those details in her book and it won her many awards. She was however unsatisfied, her ambition continued growing day after day.

“Walk with me” she turned around walking in the direction Karl had come from.

Karl glanced at the distant missions screen and then at the faced-paced April and decided to follow her after some hesitation.

“The Survival Area is expanding quickly. We had trouble adapting to life here in the beginning, but our generation changed all of that Karl. We have come to accept this place as our home and so our parents have no choice but to do the same and work towards its betterment. Man has come a long way” April glanced at Karl, admiring his chiseled chin as she spoke.

Being a biologist, April usually needed many things from the Other Side to study but most of the things she needed were not ordinary and were usually quite dangerous to get to. Her posted missions were thus always ignored after the first three lost their lives accepting it. The Hunter’s Association couldn’t let April’s work stop so they recommended her missions to Karl’s mission screen and he had been accepting and completing all her missions since then. When they first met, neither Karl nor April thought they would come this far, living better and sleeping even better due to each other. Their symbiotic relationship made them have many opportunities to meet but while April was always excited to see him, Karl avoided her, especially after his marriage to Lisa.

April stopped and Karl did too, they stood facing each other. April studied Karl’s eyes and Karl stared blankly into hers. If April could read minds, she would be hurt to know that he wasn’t thinking anything at all as he watched her pupils, his thoughts were as dead as his eyes.

“You should smile more” April said to him with concern in her voice. Her feelings for Karl were something she considered a thrill, a challenge that made her attempt to capture his heart more exciting. She didn’t know what love was since she never felt it, not even from her parents, she didn’t know if she loved Karl but she knew she wanted to always be with him and she cared a lot about him. One thing that worried her the most was that some day he would get bored of life and kill himself, every part of him reflected how dead and damaged his heart was. It would happen to anyone who had to live on the edge for six years, worried about their lives as they watched people die endlessly around them. It would happen to anyone much less a ten year old child.

April continued when she saw he wasn’t going to satisfy her by smiling.

“The Survival Area is expanding, the population is growing and in six to seven years we are going to need a new food source to maintain this growth. I have gone through all available crops with the Explorer Association, we don’t have any source that can be produced on a farm as food. I am assembling a team for the Other Side, we are going past the safe lines and I need your help” April noticed Karl’s eyes lit up and suddenly become sharp. She heard his breathing for the first since she knew him and he seemed alive but it wasn’t from excitement, she could tell he was furious.

Without a word, Karl walked away from her.

“Karl please, you are most familiar with the area among all Explorers and the only normal or at least half normal among the First Explorers alive. Are you really just going to let me go in alone with all those noobs?” April shouted walking quickly after him.

Karl paused for a moment before continuing on. He didn’t want April to get hurt, he didn’t hate her, all he felt for her was tiredness at her persistence but he didn’t see her like he saw other people. Although her efforts hadn’t borne fruit, April was with him when he returned from the Other Side at sixteen and she tried everything she could to bring life back to his eyes. She took him everywhere, fed him, and gave him everything. Maybe at the time, she saw him as a challenge or a toy, but over time she started to truly care about him and he felt the change. She was just a little too playful for him and all he needed at that time was warmth.

Maybe she failed at being soft and warm, but he didn’t feel like she had failed, after all, he didn’t deserve anything he got from her. So despite avoiding her and looking blankly at her, Karl had never hated her neither did was he as impassive as he seemed from his expression. But her request to return to the Other Side was something he didn’t even want to consider. His mind was in so much chaos at the prospect that he taught it best to run and he did just that. He ran away from her.

“Did I just ruin eight years of hard work?” April asked herself with a dejected expression as she watched Karl go. She had never seen him like that, and he had never run away from her. All of a sudden she regretted asking him, maybe he would have thought about her from time to time if she had just left alone. Maybe he would miss her. Thinking up till here, April made up her mind to go without Karl. She wanted someone to remember her and miss her immature smiles and playfulness, she knew her parents wouldn’t and she kept everyone else at arm's length. Perhaps leaving Karl behind would be the wisest decision so they wouldn’t both die if things went wrong.

April left dejectedly, heading for her car and driving off from the Hunter’s Association with her thoughts wandering far and deep.