The Divide Extra Material

   In every book there are unused things. I wanted to share one passage with you guys today. I couldn’t find a place to fit this in, but it gives you a different perspective on Sarah’s uncle. This backstory will help you understand why he is the man he is. I don’t normally let people see lost chapters or cut material because most of it is crap, but I really loved this. I thought it would enhance the book. I just couldn’t find a place for it. Anyway, it goes without saying that if you haven’t read The Divide you shouldn’t read this. It will be kind of spoilerish.

   On that same night, Jim Leland was sitting in his office and thinking about a memory that had shaped him into the man he was today. He hadn’t always been so heartless toward the outsiders. Sure, some people needed to live outside of the city. There simply wasn’t a way to keep everyone inside, but his motivation grew much more devious thanks to one action.

   It happened roughly four years ago. He and his wife, Judy, were going through their everyday routine. He would take care of everything at the palace. A lot of things required his attention, so he couldn’t be bothered to leave the palace. Judy, on the other hand, made it a point to leave the walls every day to mingle among the people. She had made it her mission in life to get to know the people they were ruling, and more than that, help them in any way she could. She was the head of several organizations to help make life easier for everyone, whether they were on the inside or outside. Sure, she couldn’t do much on the outside, considering that her husband didn’t want her to leave the city walls, but she pleaded with the rich of their city to give credits for relief for the outsiders. Most of her pleas fell on deaf ears, but she had at least done some good. On this particular day, everything would change, however. As she left the palace and made her way onto the street, a man was watching her. This particular person didn’t have good intentions either.

   When Judy stepped into a local restaurant to get some breakfast, the man followed her. At this point in his life, he didn’t feel like he had anything to lose, and this would make a statement like no other. He walked into the restaurant and grabbed a knife off of a vacant table. Then he walked straight up to his target.

   “Can I help you?" Judy asked as she stared at the man in front of her.

   “Can you help me? Are you crazy? Do you know what you and your husband have done to an entire people?”

   “I don’t know who you are, but I assure you that I haven’t done anything to anyone. I . . .” she managed to say before the man lunged at her.

   At that point, the two of them fell to the floor, and the man began to stab her over and over again. It didn’t take long for some of the staff there to pull him off of her, but the damage had been done. Judy Leland was dying. The police imprisoned the man, and Judy was taken to the hospital, but before Jim could even get there, she was gone. Jim was in complete disbelief. His wife was dead, and for what? What could have possibly made someone want to take her life? She had never done anything but help people. Jim needed answers, and he didn’t care about justice. He wanted pure revenge. He grabbed his phone and called the police department.

   “This is Jim Leland, and I need to speak with Josh Golac.”

   “Please hold for one second, sir.”

   After a second, the chief of police came on the line.

   “What can I help you with, Mr. Leland?”

   “I need to talk to the man who killed my wife. You will deliver him to me at the palace gates in fifteen minutes.”

   “Sir, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. This man just took the most important person to you. I don’t think you need to see him right now.”

   “I don’t care what you think. Get him here, or I’ll tear your entire department apart,” Jim said and hung the phone up. Then he started rushing back home.

   After gathering some guards together and walking down to the gate, Jim saw just the person he was looking for. Josh was escorting his wife’s murderer up to the gate. The guards took him off of Josh’s hands, and then Jim had them take him to a room upstairs and tie him up. At that point, he made the guards leave the room.

   “Jim Leland, murderer in chief. I knew I would get your attention this way. How does it feel when the shoe’s on the other foot and you have to see your loved ones suffer or die?” The man asked.

   “First of all, you will tell me exactly what I want to hear, or you’ll suffer in ways that you can’t even imagine. I promise you that. Also, don’t pretend like I don’t know what hardship is,” Jim said as he pulled a knife out of his pocket.

   “What do you want to know?”

   “Who are you, and why did you do this?”

   “My name is Charlie Allen, and I managed to lift a city ID off of some idiot who went slumming. From there, I altered a few things and walked right inside. I had one mission when I came here. That was to kill you. Eventually, I learned something, however. You never leave your palace. I heard that your wife did, though. She was the next best target. Now you know what loss is. You know what we’ve been going through on the outside. I had to bury my son last month. Do you know what he died of? A simple infection that you people could have easily cured. How do you live with yourselves in this paradise when we’re all suffering? You know the pain of loss now. Does it not change something in you? Won’t you hear what the people on the outside are pleading for?”

   “I’ve heard enough from your kind. Now, I’m going to let you experience something that you’ve never known.”

   “What’s that?”

   “Pain.”

   “Oh, I know what pain is. I’ve had plenty of it over my lifetime.”

   “No, you only think you know what pain is,” Jim said and banged on the door.

   Two guards came into the room and started walking toward Charlie. All that could be heard from outside of the room was screams as they tortured him. Before the day was over, Jim would take out all the pent up rage in him on this man. Unfortunately, nothing he did brought his wife back, and by the end of the night, Jim walked into his room and collapsed down to the bed. He needed to shower and wash the blood off of his hands, but in that moment, he couldn’t move. His mind was consumed with grief. Somehow, he thought that he would feel better if he killed that man, but he actually felt worse. As tears started to collect in the corners of his eyes, he heard a knock at the door.

   “I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but there’s trouble at the city gates. A mob of outsiders have started rioting, and they’ve grown violent. These things normally take care of themselves, but we wanted to check with you to see how we should deal with things,” the guard said.

   “Kill every person at that gate. I rule this place alone, and if these people have forgotten that, then we need to remind them.”

   “Sir, are you sure?”

   “I’m positive. From this day forward those savages will get no mercy. My wife tried to show them kindness, and look where that landed us. Kill every person who would dare stand against me.”

   “Yes, sir,” the guard said and walked out. 

   From that day forward, Jim was never the same man. He had never been called kind, but after that, he was never anything more than ruthless.

           

   I hope you enjoyed my extra content. I might share more for my faithful readers in the future. Thanks to everyone who bought The Divide, and to everyone else, what are you waiting on? This is a great book!