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Chapter 10

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"You're going back, kid," a guard told Morty as he opened the door and led the boy out of the cell.

"W-Where's Rick?" Morty stuttered.

"He's being held on murder charges," the guard explained. "He shouldn't get the harshest sentence, considering the circumstances, but he was still wrong. We can't allow murderers to live with the other prisoners."

Morty frowned as he felt tears pooling in his eyes. He was scared. He was scared for his grandpa and for himself. Where was Rick going to be sent? Was prison for murder even worse than time prison? Would Rick be okay? And what was Morty going to do without him?

"I-I'm guilty too," Morty stammered. "Let me go with him."

The guard shook his head. "You didn't kill anyone. We saw the footage."

Morty frowned. "So I have to kill somebody now? I can't go with my grandpa unless I kill someone? Is that what you're telling me?"

"No." The guard scowled down at him. "And don't joke about that."

"If I joke about it, can I go with Rick?" Morty wondered.

The guard raised his eyebrows as he looked Morty over. "I don't give a damn about threats, kid. I barely care when someone is actually murdered, considering the scum who are locked up in here. So you can joke about it all you want. I don't act until someone dies, and even then I only do what my job requires. I doubt you're capable of murder."

Morty frowned. The guard was right. Morty didn't think he could kill anyone. He just wanted to be with Rick.

Morty was led back to the place where he and Rick had first been processed when they'd been brought here. "We're gonna let you have a shower even though it's not your scheduled time. Special circumstances, considering you're covered in blood."

"Morty!" The guard who was friends with Rick rushed up to them. "What happened? I can take it from here, Shmark," he told the other guard.

Shmark shrugged and walked off as Zach put his hand lightly on Morty's shoulder and knelt down to eye-level. "What happened, Morty? I heard you and Rick were arrested for murder..."

Morty frowned. "Those guys from before attacked us. Rick killed three of them."

"Oh my god... Are you okay? Is Rick?" Zach frowned. "That's not your or his blood is it?"

"We're both okay," Morty told him. "It's not our blood..."

"Where's Rick?" Zach frowned. "Is he being charged?"

"I think so." Morty pouted. "We were both in a cell together, and then they took him away and never brought him back. Then they brought me back here. He killed them because they were hurting me, Zach. He didn't just murder them for no reason. It's not fair. What did they expect him to do?"

Zach nodded. "I'm working on trying to find a loop-hole to get you guys out of here," he said in a low voice. "Just give me some time. These things are complicated, but I'm going to do what I can. I promise you that. Time prison is strict, but prison for murder is even more strict. This is going to make things more difficult, but I'll do whatever I can."

"Zach, are there other people in the shower this time?" Morty frowned.

"I'll stand guard. Nobody's going to come near you this time," Zach promised.

With shaking hands, Morty got undressed and followed Zach to the showers. Zach stood near the wall while Morty stepped toward a shower head on the edge of the room.

Morty could feel eyes on him, and could sense that they were all looking for different reasons. Some likely were concerned by the blood all over him. Others likely wondered why a fourteen year old was in here with adults. Some had dirty minds and just wanted to look. No matter their reasons for staring, Morty was getting tired of it really fast. He could feel his patience wearing thin.

"Woah, sweet little thing... That's a lot of blood. What did you do?" one of the prisoners laughed as his eyes raked over Morty's body.

"I fucking killed somebody," Morty growled before he could think better of it, as he pulled his hands into fists and stared at the guy.

The other prisoner's smile fell into a frown as he looked Morty over. He turned away and finally stopped looking. Maybe he believed what Morty had said. That was new... Morty didn't realize he had the power to actually get people to respect him in any way. Until now, everyone had just looked at him like he was an easy target - someone they could take advantage of. But not now... He just shut that guy up fast...

"Don't any of you fucking look at me," Morty threatened. "The last guys who looked at me wrong are cut up in an alley in there. You got that?"

"Holy shit..." Morty heard one of the prisoners mutter to himself.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" another whispered.

"He's so little though..." another whispered.

"Sometimes the little ones are the most vicious," one of the prisoners noted in a low voice.

"I can still fucking hear you!" Morty growled. He was on a roll now. He never knew he could actually get people to be frightened of him. It wasn't something he ordinarily enjoyed, but it seemed useful in here. "Stop talking about me. Just shut the fuck up and finish showering! This isn't a fucking middle school. Don't gossip. I've killed for less!"

"Morty-" Zach's low voice pulled him out of the moment. Morty was breathing rather frantic breaths. He had gotten a little too into his lies, but they seemed to be working so well. He couldn't just let that go.

"See? I have to have an actual fucking guard stand here while I shower, because they know I'll fucking kill people for using too much soap. He's here for your own good, fuckers!" Morty continued.

Nobody dared look at Morty at this point, except Zach, who leaned closer so no one else could hear him as he spoke. "You might want to tone it down, Morty."

"Nobody's taken me seriously until now, Zach," Morty spoke in a low voice as he rinsed the dried, crusted blood off of himself. If he didn't have Rick with him here anymore, he was going to have to protect himself, and that meant he couldn't afford to appear weak.

He glanced over at Zach, who stared at him with a frown. He could see the guard's eyes roaming up and down his body, but not in a creepy way. He was taking in all of Morty's injuries. After being attacked three different times, Morty had bruises up and down his arms and legs, over his ribs, and probably everywhere else. "You can report people if they hurt you in here, Morty," Zach told him. "Are all those bruises from the dead guys? You can report anyone left... I can't promise much will happen, but it's worth a shot."

"It's not worth a shot." Morty stared back. He knew Zach meant well, but he was simply wrong. "The guys who threatened me and Rick in here when we first got here - guards actually saw what happened... and they barely got punished. It just made them more angry, so when they attacked us again later, they wanted to hurt us more. I'm not reporting anyone. I'm not telling the guards anything."

Zach continued staring, his eyes roaming over finger-shaped bruises on Morty's arms and legs, bruises from fists on his stomach, back, and sides...

"Stop looking at me, Zach," Morty requested in a small voice. He didn't want to be mean to the guy, but he didn't want him staring either. Acknowledging his injuries wasn't going to make them go away. Zach's sympathetic stare wouldn't make all the dangerous people in this prison disappear.

Zach nodded and looked out over the other prisoners as Morty lathered up some soap in his hands and cleaned himself up.

Other prisoners took a step back as Zach led Morty out of the shower, through the air drier, and into the locker room. Morty got dressed and stared up at Zach.

"How long am I gonna be locked up here?" Morty wondered.

Zach shook his head. "Until I find a loophole. That's the one good thing about all these rules - when all these regulations are written down so meticulously, there's always bound to be a way out of trouble almost as easy as there is a way into it."

Zach led Morty down the sidewalk toward the library. As usual, other prisoners stared. Morty attracted a lot of attention, mostly because he seemed to be the youngest person here. He was also definitely one of the smallest. Even prisoners who weren't looking to take advantage of him being an easy target for their sexual advances were intrigued or amused by his presence.

"Daddy taking you to school, little boy?" A prisoner laughed as they walked past. His friend high-fived him and chuckled.

"He's escorting me so I don't fucking kill anyone!" Morty yelled back.

The two prisoners laughed. "Tough little guy." One of them smirked.

"We'll see how tough he is when Daddy's not here." The other one laughed.

"Fuck you!" Morty screamed. "I'll rip off your fucking face!"

"Morty," Zach hissed. "Stop. You're just pissing people off. It's one thing to talk a good game, but at some point you're gonna have to deliver if you expect people to believe what you're saying. You've gotta tone it down. It doesn't work as well without the blood to back you up. You looked like a crazy monster-child back in the showers. People believed you because you were covered in someone else's blood. You aren't now. Just try to lay low until we can get you out of here."

Morty reluctantly agreed. He wasn't usually so aggressive, but ever since he'd made up that lie in the showers, he'd felt a little more powerful, and a little more in control of the situation... But Zach was right. The prisoners he'd just yelled at didn't look scared. They looked amused. They didn't believe him.

Zach led Morty into the library where Glarcx, Tony, and Martin were playing a board game. They looked up when the other two entered.

"What's going on?" Glarcx frowned. "I heard you and Rick killed some people... Word on the street is that Xirth and two of his goons are dead. What happened?"

"They attacked us. Rick fought back," Morty explained.

"They're holding Rick on murder charges, it seems," Zach added with a frown.

"Are you alright, Morty?" Glarcx frowned down at him.

Morty nodded.

"I suggest you four stay together at all times," Zach noted as he made his way toward the door. "Take good care of him, guys."

Glarcx nodded as Zach left. He put his hand on Morty's arm and led him away from the others. "What exactly happened?" he asked.

"The guys from the shower attacked us." Morty sighed, getting tired of re-telling this story. "Two of them were holding Rick down, two were holding me down, and one was hurting me. Rick had a knife from the cafeteria. He got free and killed three of them. I guess they didn't think it was self-defense enough. They kept Rick. I'm here all alone now."

"You've got us, Morty." Glarcx offered a small smile. "Things usually work out for the best in the end. Everything will be okay."

"You say that." Morty frowned. "But you're here locked in a prison. Things aren't working out well at all..."

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Sorry these past couple chapters have been so short. That's just the way they organically came together. I believe a couple more in the back half of this are going to be much longer. These are kind of little bridge chapters linking the more important ones.