Chapter 4
Tony is escorted in the direction of cell block B where according to his victim count, he'll be housed. Simon Trent's, Tony's, seventeen victim count places him in the cell block with Lewis Matheson.
The prison has five separate cell blocks. The prisoners housed in cell blocks A-C are housed in coordination with their number of victims. Prisoners with ten or less victims are housed in cell block A. Prisoners with eleven to twenty victims are housed in cell block B. Prisoners with twenty-one to thirty victims are housed in cell block C. The final two cell blocks are different. Cell block D houses the prisoners who crimes are so sadistic in nature that they cannot be housed with the general population. As for cell block E, the maximum security block, Apocalypse is housed there all by himself because he's way too dangerous.
Each cell block has extremely limited contacted with other cell blocks. There's nothing the cell blocks do at the same time. The only type of contact the cell blocks have with each other is during weekly fights in the pit; occurring on the weekends. Luckily for Tony, his old enemy Larry Dermont is housed in cell block D. So he'll have absolutely no contact with him what-so-ever in these next two to three days.
The gate to cell block B is opened. As Tony walks into the cell block, all of the prisoners stop what their doing and stare at him. Tony looks for his assigned cell. Unfortunately, none of the cells are labeled which is making it difficult to find where he belongs.
After a couple minutes, Tony steps into one of the cells because five prisoners who looked like they were going to attack him were approaching. Inside the cell, the man working on a popsicle stick house looks up at him.
"From the look on your face, you recently met Apocalypse." The man said as he looks back to his project.
"I'm wondering if John Connor actually exists." Tony commented as he remains standing near the entrance to the cell. "Cause I swear to God that Apocalypse guy is a terminator."
"If John Connor does exist and has a mother named Sarah and a father named Kyle Reese, then we're all screwed." The man stated. "You lost or something?"
"I'm looking for cell 0183 but none of the cells are labeled."
"Luckily for you, you're standing in it." The man said. "You get the top bunk."
Tony enters into the cell as the five prisoners approach. They glare into the cell at the newcomer putting his stuff on the top bunk. The eyes of the man working on his popsicle stick house are drawn to the five prisoners standing at the entrance. He stands up.
"What are you looking at?!" The man shouted.
"Nothing, bro…" One of the men said.
"Than I suggest moving along before I call for the pit." The man stated as he approaches the cell entrance.
"Aight, we moving."
The five men walk away. Tony watches as they leave the area. The man turns around, shakes his head and walks back to his project on the little table in the cell.
"Those guys feel the need to welcome newcomers." The man stated. "Don't worry about them. Well… I shouldn't say you shouldn't worry about them because maybe you should."
"What did you mean by saying; call for the pit?" Tony asked.
"Fighting isn't allowed. It's not tolerated. Not unless you want to be severely disciplined. If you have a problem with someone or just want to fight them, call for the pit. If both parties agree to a match or the Warden grants the request of one, they're taken to the pit to duke it out." The man explained. "I'm Lewis Matheson, by the way." He extends his hand for a hand shake.
"Simon Trent…" Tony introduced himself. He extends his hand. They shake hands. He can hardly believe his luck with being in the same cell as the man he needs to get answers from. Earning trust is the number one priority at this point because contact has already been made.
"Normally, those guys wouldn't walk away."
"Oh…?"
"I'm respected here. Being the undefeated champion of the pit is what earned me respect. The guards setup weekly fights between the cell blocks. It's the only time the cell blocks have any type of contact with each other. Ever since I arrived six years ago, cell block B has always held the title. I won the title from a man who used to live in cell block C. This place may be called, The Last Place on Earth, but here, I'm the Monroe Hutchens of Sweetwater Prison. Though, no Heavyweight World Champions will ever come through here."
"Undisputed… Good movie." Tony said. "You guys never had a rematch?"
"Once…" Lewis said. "After the loss, he was so pissed off that he caused problems in cell block C. The Warden sent him to the pit…"
"And put him against Apocalypse."
"Yeah… So that was the end of him."
"You must have some really good fighting skills." Tony commented. "You have any training?"
"I guess I just have a knack for quickly determining an opponent's weakness then strategically exploiting it." Lewis answered; avoiding the direct answer of saying, I'm an ex Navy SEAL. "It's brains which wins the fight, not brawn."
"Intellect is a valuable weapon. But it takes practice. You must…"
"I never got to see the second X-Men movie." Lewis stated to change the subject. "Was it any good?" He figures Simon is a movie buff and most likely saw it.
"It was better than the first." Tony replied. "They even came out with a third X-Men movie."
"Damn…" Lewis sighed as he slams a popsicle stick on the little table.
"What?"
"I used to love movies. I would go to the theater as often as I could. And I rented movies like crazy."
"You sound like me."
There's a brief moment of silence as Lewis reminisces. Tony is able to read his body language; it's that of a man who missed six years worth of movies when he shouldn't have.
"What did you to become incarcerated in this place?" Tony asked.
"It's not important." Lewis replied with a sigh. "Reasons are reasons which may be false or true, yet mean nothing in this place."
From Lewis' answer and how his body language responded to the question, Tony can tell Lewis is innocent of the crimes he allegedly committed. He's a broken-spirited man with no hope.
There's no telling just how much this prison may have influenced Lewis in the past six years, but Tony just can't talk about Operation: Thunderbolt. Not yet anyways. Lewis is the type of man who has trust issues. What Tony doesn't know is if Lewis believes someone in the Navy is responsible for him being in prison. If Tony says who he is, it's unclear how Lewis will react to it. And Tony certainly doesn't want to be given up to the mercy of the prisoners due to a possible grudge against the Navy. This is a delicate situation. Time should be taken. Tony needs to build the trust of Lewis Matheson before he can proceed with extracting information from the ex Navy SEAL.