Chapter Thirty-Seven
Disclaimer: I don't own OP.
A/N: Alright, with some help from some sources, I give you this chapter. I know that I'm not getting that many readers anymore and even less reviews but still, I'll write because I'm not finished with this fic. I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON THIS! Anyways, enjoy.
Processed and filed away, Niri and the other prisoners aboard the vessel were towed in line to the island prison. Grey Water was a small island with a huge Marine prison on it. This prison was like most of the prisons on the Blue: big, guards all around, civilians living nearby families of those who worked in the prison. Thrown into a room, many were stripped and given a high pressure wash while others went through a medical filing. Lice, mites, any symptoms of any illness were sent to the washes but those who passed were sent to a different wash. Glaring as they stripped her clothes away, Niri's hands were tied above her head as she felt scalding hot waters on her back before a hard brush scrubbed away layers of dirt and grime as well as skin.
Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes as her hair was brushed through, falling in clumps from lack of washing. They were ripping some from her scalp without caring if it hurt or not. Once they had determined her clean, they untied her and threw a towel over her so she could be given prison wear. Standing in a room with shivering others, Niri pulled the towel around tighter and looked around. All around her, faces were miserable, some women were crying while the men were furious, holding some of the women close to them. Many of the people in the room had matching tattoos which suggested that they were pirates.
Looking away, she walked to a corner and shivered as her hair dripped onto her shoulders, soaking the towel before her head tilted forwards, her hair dripping onto the floor. Shivering, she could tell that without warming up, they'd all get sick. Closing her eyes, she slid down the wall. Freezing, being set in a room with how many others, she might as well be stuck in the cells again. At least this time they don't stink. Holding her knees close, she looked around, seeing many follow her example.
A door opened, pushing in a few others but those who had been in the room the longest were pulled out, sent to another room. Rolling her eyes, Niri's hands rose as she ran a hand through her wet hair. Sighing loudly, she looked down at her restraints. Narrowing her eyes, she began to think of a way to possibly get free. Picking the locks, breaking the chain, breaking her wrists to slip her hands out… When the door opened again, she was hauled to her feet and dragged into a room with a few others.
The cuffs were taken off and thrown into a box, possibly going to be used for another prisoner. After being tosses a couple of sets of clothes, she was thrown into a cell. Looking around, it was a one person cell with a bunk and a half wall hiding what she presumed to be the toilet and a sink near the wall. Looking across the hall, she saw a guy looking at her with his tongue running against his bottom lip. Half disgusted; she knelt by the wall, changing quickly before folding the towel and setting it on the wall.
Sighing, she sat on the cot and looked at the wall across the room, counting the bricks. How long would she be here until her trial comes, until she gets a hearing? As the guards finished making rounds in her section, all of the hollering started. Someone started yelling out numbers, another yelled out colors and one shouted gender. Going to the bars, she put her arms through and looked around. Above her, there were some doing what she was doing, looking at the newest caged people.
Niri sighed before backing away. Lying down on her cot, she rolled over, staring at the wall before closing her eyes. If she's going to be here, she had better get used to it.
-.-.-
"Zolaro." Her eyes snapped open as she sat up, looking at a guard who stopped by her cell, opening it up. "Free time."
Blinking in surprise, she stands and leaves her cell, watching as he shuts the door before pointing where the others were going. As a crowd formed at the entrance and exit of the building, two inmates had their arms crossed, looking at the others. "There is only one rule for you new guys: you don't make a move, you're someone's little pet." As the doors opened, the crowd began to break up into clumps, many moving to the shadow of the wall, others to try and get as close as a corner as they could.
Guards on the high walls and in the walls, at every ten feet, one in each corner, all holding a rifle in their hands. Niri looked around, wanting nothing more than to get all of this cleared up. Those with similar tattoos immediately grouped together, talking amongst themselves as the bigger people looked around, as if daring anyone to try something. Niri just shook her head and sat at a table, looking away from everyone. Resting a head on her hand, she closed her eyes as the sun beat down on her back.
A cold chill crawled up her spine as she turned, watching a group of girls coming towards her. "You're in our spot."
Niri looked at them before looking back at the table, grinning as she looked back up at them. "Don't see your name on it."
The girls looked at each other, some crossing her arms. "Listen, kid, you're in our spot. If you don't want to get beat, I suggest you leave before me and my friends make you."
Niri narrowed her eyes. "Make me then, I'd like to see you try."
One of the girls just laughed and made some gestures with her friends before rushing towards Niri. The former Marine held up a leg and shoved the girl away with it before standing, popping her knuckles. The two stared each other down as a crowd drew near. Both girls rushed at each other, Niri dodging a kick as she twisted around, elbowing the other in the back.
By that time, another came running up to punch Niri, only to have her hand slapped away and her face smacked by Niri's open palm. Her feet no longer shoulder apart, she looked at them from under her eyelashes, ready to strike.
A gunshot rang out through the air, causing most to jump. "Prisoners, on the ground!" Looking around, Niri and a few others saw that those who had been in the prison a long time had dropped face down with their hands behind their heads. Hesitantly, Niri lowered to her knees, never keeping her eyes off of those who had attacked her. As she lowered to her front, she let her chin rest on the ground. As guards reached where the fight was, many stood up and attacked the guards, trying to pull away their weapons but instead, if they weren't beaten by those they were attacking, they were hit with either rubber bullets or a beanbag fired from a rifle.
A guard neared Niri and kicked dust in her eyes. "Listen you, you should know better than to start something, traitor." Picking her up by her hair, the burly Marine glared, his beady little eyes staring at hers. "A fight just gets you more time in here, as if you need any more time. From what I hear, you're getting hung."
-.-.-
Hung. Putting a hand to her neck, she heard the phrase "short drop and sudden stop" ring in her head. If her neck didn't break from the rope and the fall, then her body's weight would turn against her as her body would pull herself closer and closer to the ground, cutting off her breathing until all air would leave her lips forever. Cringing, she stood and kicked the door of solitary confinement. They had locked her and the other two girls up in the same room, away from everyone else.
Screaming loudly in frustration, Niri banged on the door with her hands, her forehead resting on the metal. "Yo, chick, you don't stop, you'll heat this up even more," one of the girls said, her forehead glistening with sweat. "This is a hot box. Not only is it all metal, but it's also in the one place that gets nothing but sun. Sunup to sundown, you sit in this little hellhole and swelter while the temperature rises higher and higher."
Niri looked over at the one talking before rolling her eyes. "That's murder."
The other just shook her head. "Not murder if you aren't in the books already." Turning her head, the former Marine looked with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, little Marine didn't know. What, you never had guard duty?"
"I was a field officer, marksman. Snipers aren't commonly on prison duty," Niri informed. Thinking on it, if she hadn't transferred over to Tristram but to a prison instead, none of this would have happened PLUS, she could easily bust out Axe if he suddenly got caught and thrown in prison.
The two looked at each other. "Whatever. This prison is known for having outdating books."
Niri frowned. "That's impossible. Warden has to update books to send them in to the visiting Vice-Admiral before they're sent to an Admiral. If the warden doesn't present updated books, they get court marshaled."
The two looked at each other again before looking back at her. "So what happened to you? No court marshal?"
Niri looked away from the two. "That's none of your business." Looking up at the metal ceiling, she sighed. "How long until this solitary confinement ends?"
"Usually?" The former Marine nodded. "Who knows. Longest anyone's been in here, was six weeks."
The other of the two looked up, snapping her fingers. "I remember that guy. He was big and fat when he got in, came out skinner than pole."
Her friend nodded. "Shortest was maybe two hours. She…well, let's just say she made a deal with the one on guard at the time."
Niri looked at the metal door and kicked it again. "Is this the only one?"
"Nah, they have cells as well but hardly any one is kept there. Pretty close to the armory." This made Niri's ears perk. In the armory, she could grab her father's gun and Bite of the Shark and leave the island. "You want to be in there, you'd have to do something really bad. I don't think anyone's been in there for all the time I've been here."
Curling her hand in a fist, Niri pounded on the door once more before sitting by a wall. Closing her eyes, she willed her body not to sweat, to ride out the heat as much as she could before she could give in. She began to think of it as training. Don't give in, don't give up, don't let them see the weakness.
A/N: And so a plan begins to form. There's still like…roughly estimating, maybe six more chapters, more or less. Anyways, review!