Raul, Riker

"We'd already gone a week without food, no running water. No guards. Whole Rikers smelled like a sewer. It's the middle of the night, and it's so dark, you can't see your hand an inch from your face. I'm thinking, I'm gonna die here. And then… click. Don't know who did it or how, but every door in D Block opens.

"For like ten seconds, nobody move. And then, almost like a herd, people are shouting and stampeding for the exits. Falling down stairs, over railings. Heard one dude nose-dive past me and SMACK on the floor below.

"My cellie was too sick to walk, so I tried to carry him out. But someone shoved me, I fell, and then there's a dozen boots on my head, my back, all around. Had to fight to get back up and then I ran with them through a darkness so total it might as well have been space. Ran until I felt the cold air in front of me and then I saw stars and we were free. In the city, you can't see the stars. But that night? Whole city was dark. First time in my life I saw stars over New York.

"I ain't gonna lie. I ride with a hard crew. We hit Midtown and just started takin' over. Like, whatever you want, you just take it. I'm not exactly proud of some things we done. But sometimes I look up and try to see the stars. They remind me of that first night of freedom. Make me feel like this is all temporary, and maybe someday things will get better, and maybe we won't have to pay for the things we done."

Stories of The Division offers an intimate look into the lives of 20 fictional New Yorkers living in the world of Tom Clancy's The Division. These conversations are set during the early stages of the outbreak. This series was written and produced by Studio 61 of CBS Interactive in collaboration with Ubisoft.