Chapter 1

The night was cold and dark. The rain came down in sheets. There was a wind also, a cold wind, blowing the rain into my face. I walked the streets alone tonight. No one to keep me company now. That was all right though; I didn't feel like company tonight. The loneliness caused me to remember. I remembered a night similar to this, several years ago.

It was raining just like it was now, and dark too. I had a girlfriend then. She was pretty. You don't get many like her around here. There's a few. I try to protect them. Most of the time I do. People have learned to treat them right or stay away. No one messes with them now, if they know what's good for them. Safehaven is my home. My domain and I keep it like that. Newcomers obey or pay the consequences.

Safehaven, sounds like a nice place doesn't it? Not this place. Safehaven is the island where every criminal charged with life is sent. Nowadays, in 2008, you can get life for robbing a liquor store. Most countries used the island. There had even been a treaty that made the island its own country.

They had shipped everyone off of Madagascar and renamed if Safehaven. There was a ban on any trespassing on the land but people do it anyways. They weren't just your ordinary tourists either. They're called poachers and they rarely returned to tell about their stay. They hunt animals, which is what the inhabitance of Safehaven had been classified as. I say an encyclopedia once. It showed the people of Safehaven as just above the level of apes, hunched over, knuckles touching the ground.

I'm king now though. I'll tell you how I got here and what happened but you have to promise not to tell. They put me here to shut me up, among other reasons, so don't spread it or I might see you here too.

As I was saying, it was dark and cold...

I was 18 and out for a night with my girlfriend. We had been at the theater, hanging out with some friends when she had wanted to go home. We had parked all the way across the lot. It had been lit earlier but now it looked like the streetlight was out. The car was hidden in shadows. The rain started to pick up as we left the theater. Wrong night to park far away.

I pulled my jacket closer to me and hugged my girlfriend tighter as we walked to the car. The jacket kept the cold out but did little to stop the rain. We had our hoods pulled down, to keep the rain off of out faces. That's why I never saw them until it was to late. There were three of them. Big guys. They looked like they meant business, as if I couldn't tell by the way they grabbed my girl.

I think they figured they would just get rid of me with a quick hit on the head with the crowbar one of them had. I was to smart and fast for that though.

The look on the guy's face when I dodged it was priceless. I hated to ruin it with a punch to the face. I did but being off balance from the jump it was a glancing blow to his eye instead of his nose where I had aimed. Black eye for sure.

The other two realized what was happening as I started beating their dazed companion. They ran toward me. I had no choose but to fight back. My years of fighting lessons kicked in. I backpedaled away from them and moved to one side. Spitting them up was the key. I could only fight one at a time so I made them come at me. I would choose the fights I could win. The two new ones, Thug 2 and 3 I named them, moved to either side of me. Thug 1 was still on the ground holding his face and balls.