Chapter 8: Welcoming Party

Behind the thick steel walls of the maximum security island prison on Earth, William sat in his barely heated cell. His legs curled up against one another and under a thin blanket to keep as much heat in as possible. He gazed at the guards that passed by, not that they were hard to miss as they made themselves known through the music they created with their batons against the cell bars. In the cell next to his, he could hear some commotion. It's starting again, he pondered as he stood up and gazed to the right to see a stand off. In his time here, he had quickly learned to keep his head low and go unnoticed, at least as stealthily as his widely known reputation would allow for. The prisoner suggestively moved his body closer to the guard, and as the words of insult filled the air of his cell, he pushed the guard out of the cell. But the security officer was not one to take such behaviour sitting down. He reached for his baton quickly and smashed the prisoner's jaw in!

"Someone needs to teach you respect, you bloody waste!", the guard continued to smash the baton against the prisoner's body. With every hit, the cries overtook the insults that were once in the air. "No longer the tough guy, eh?"

The prisoner slowly dragged himself out of the cell at the order of the guard. "Now get the fuck up and make your way to the infirmary."

William watched the prisoner hobble away. Broken and battered both in his body and his ego. The guard looked around and took an unpleasant notice of William's attention on the scene. He smashed his baton against the bars and ordered for him to get back. "Mind your own business William. I will do the same to you if you don't listen!"

Williams quickly understood and retreated back to the comfort of his now cold bed. He reached for the book and opened it to the last known spot he left it off at. "Primitive buffoons, the whole lot of them."

Sometime later, a familiar bell echoed from wall to wall of the prison block. William's ears raised like a lemur's body at a frightening sound. He observed the locks unhinge and slowly the doors slid open of every cell. With sparks in the air, the doors retreated into the other side. He gently rested his book and stepped out to see the masses make way for the cell block exit. William quickly mixed in with the sea of prisoners, however he was not completely hidden as he may have thought himself to be. The guards' scornful glares were duly noted by him. But it was not the guards only he knew he needed to watch his back from. A group of inmates that followed behind him had their eyes fixated on him as well. Being popular certainly has its downsides. The inmates looked to the guard as they passed one. There was no malice in the exchange, instead an understanding.

Outside in the yard, William sat with his back slouched against the warm metallic walls. The sun shone a breath of freedom, but just as quickly it came, it went away with the clouds covering up the ball of light. With the wide view of the court yard, he noticed that the prisoners could easily be split up into two groups instantly, the loners and those who stuck in groups to survive here. Each type could be dangerous in their own right, but rather than the loners, it was the groups he was more wary of. A group of prisoners stood on the other end of the yard, and their eyes were fixed on him. To William, this formation was like that of a mindless mob, fuelled on emotions rather than a just cause. I wonder, is it a mob for me or someone else?

Inside the group of prisoners, one in the middle walked around the other three, as if a Shepard was herding his sheep. "Listen, I got the details all ironed out, you hear me?"

"Is it really necessary, I mean why are we even doing this to that old man to begin with?", asked one of the prisoners. His answer first came in the form of a forceful push with his back echo the tremors it felt against the wall. The leader released his subordinate's collar and looked to the other two. "Anyone else want to interrupt me?"

The silence was answer enough. "Good, then the reason we are doing this is because if we do this, then we are set for favours with Berkin."

"Why would Berkin even want that old man targeted?"

"Apparently the old man sent Berkin's brother to his death," the leader said pushing his subordinates aside as he walked out front to glare in William's direction. "Look, we don't need to worry too much about the details, yeah? All we need to know is that he is a piece of shit. Don't think too much. All we need to do is scare him good, a few broken bones and that should do the trick. You follow?"

One of the prisoners from behind him cracked his knuckles, and the sound was heard by all nearby. He was not a man to be trifled with right now. "Are we doing this with our bare hands or with weapons?"

"Berkins will take care of that. We do this tomorrow morning, together in the shower room," the leader announced as he dispersed the crowd. Williams watched the men go their separate way. Looks like the mob has broken up. A shame, it was quite entertaining watching them rough one another up. William mused to himself with a smirk. His eyes suddenly closed at the glare that shone down onto him. The sun came back with its warm embrace as he then continued his sun bath in peace. Having nearly dozed off, he was kicked awake by one of the guards. "Come with me Derekson."

Forcibly he is picked up, much to his surprise, still somewhat disorientated in his confused state of mind. "What is this?"

"Shut up," the guard pushed him inside. "Now keep on walking."

Outside, the prisoners all had a good laugh to themselves. Those that knew him were the loudest, those that simply knew him as an old man took pleasure in the simple act of yet another prisoner's torture. "He is probably going to get it now."

"He better get used to it," another said. "He is in hell here."

Hours later, William is led out the building he once entered with the guard following close. Under the darkened skies, William felt the chill of the night settle on his skin, and the hairs stood up. From behind he felt the force push him forward much to his irritation. The guard too was becoming agitated with the old man's leisurely pace. In the cell block, William found himself back inside his cell. As the guard motioned for the control tower to lock it up, he pointed to the other bed in the cell and said, "Clean that bed up. You will be getting company soon."

As soon as the guard was out of sight, William heartily breathed out. Just thinking of the guard caused the feeling of being pushed from his back to be so very clear. But more concerning was his meeting that had seemed to drag on for an eternity in that room. He could not help but breathe a simple sigh of relief. That was nerve wrecking. William got up to reach for the book that rested on the other bed, on top of his belongings. The guards here really are rough, he pondered as he stretched his shoulder. With every motion, he felt his muscles loosen. They are exactly what I thought of them to be, primitive buffoons. He sat back up on his bed and opened the pages to his book until his mind drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, William's ears rung with the loud morning shower alarm. He grumbled in a drowsy state as his body slowly arose like a firm wooden plank. He rubbed his eyes to wish the blurriness away and slowly walked over to the mirror. With two quick slaps to his cheeks, he was wide awake. As the sea of prisoners were leaving their cells, William quickly mixed himself in with the others. Step by step, eventually they all reached the usual morning lineup. He looked around as he rubbed his light facial hair. The guards were on edge like always, yet a monstrous glimmer was behind their eyes. Almost as if they are just waiting to get lucky some day and watch a fight break out here. He finally entered the showers. The feel of the cool water awoke all his senses and his blood flowed strongly throughout all parts of his body. He let the water drizzle over his head and down to his neck. He breathed out a sigh of realization. I am still alive, he told himself as he could still feel the very shivers he always got from cold showers.

The group of scheming prisoners entered the showers. The leader prisoner found himself stopped at the doors by the guard Berkin, who handed him his towel. "Don't fuck this up."

"We won't," the prisoner felt the towel and noticed an odd bump in its shape. The others of his gang felt the same. One of them took a peek inside and quickly became wide eyed. "Yo boss, we got this!"

"Yes, let's go, you hear me?", the leader announced as they stripped clean and entered the showers. "Remember to relax and have fun boys, try to be the last ones out, and keep the old man here."

Berkin entered the shower control room, from where they could hold dominion over the various aspects of the shower room. With great, proud strides he walked towards the main control panel. Many prisoners in the shower room felt a sudden surprise as the water increased in temperature. From every water droplet that hit the tiled floor, steam began to rise. The gang leader signalled for his subordinates to enter as soon as the steam completely covered the room. One of them cracked their knuckles and remarked, "I can't wait to feel the rush again, that thrill of seeing red smeared all over my knuckles."

William looked about to make sense of his surroundings as he was just as confused as anyone else in this room. He reached out with his hand for the shower button to try and turn it off. However, no matter the attempts, it all seemed to result in the same failure for he no longer had control. In the camera room of the shower block, the same guard that escorted William to his cell yesterday stared intently at the screens. Damn steam, its fogging up the camera lenses. He kicked the panel case out of sheer frustration. I'm going to have to go down there if I want to keep an eye on him. In the shower room, William looks around him to hardly make out any figures. The heat did not do him any favours either as sweat built up on his body. He turned back to the shower's button and continued to press it in frustration. What the hell are the guards doing, how do they even keep this place running?! He pondered as he finally gave up on his pursuit. William wiped the sweat of his head as he breathed in deeply. The steam did him no favours. Yet that was the least of his concerns for behind him, he felt an overwhelming presence of multiple threats. Slowly, William turned to look at his most undesirable situation. From left, to the front and to the right, he was surrounded by the gang prisoners. "What is this?"

Slowly, he is backed against the wall and every heart beat became all the louder in his ears. The gang leader approached closer as he gently rested a small metal rod in his palm. "Look old man, this isn't anything personal, yeah? It's just the law of the jungle here."

He motioned for his men to approach and William's heart quickly sank. He knew how this would end. He was no fool, but he was no coward either for he raised his fist and swung hard at the first one that came in. His punch missed, but panic was not a shade on his face right now. Instead, only determination was present, determination to survive. As he finally got a good lick into the first prisoner, another swung into William's stomach and all strength faded from the old man's body. William felt his knees give out as another swung onto his back. William held his stomach as it churned in agony, he felt as if his last night's dinner was going to make an emergency evacuation from his body. Screams were evident to the other prisoners, who could only watch fearfully for they knew not to cross paths with this gang. One wrong move against them, and their life could be made more of a living hell than it already is with the guards here. William's voice found no time for rest as it continued to send a painful echo to the ears of others. As the gang continued to beat his still body. The guard from the the camera room quickly entered the shower room when he noticed all the prisoners to be entranced by something. He followed their stares, pushed past a few and finally came upon his answer. Just as another kick was about to make contact, the prisoner stumbled for a moment before collapsing onto the ground. Another of the gang did the same. The gang leader and the remaining gang member looked about till they found the guard amidst the steam. The guard held a sedation gun, firmly in his hands with a strong conviction to use as he had already proven.

Quickly, the prisoners made way for the guard who quickly retrieved his baton. As the gang leader swung, the guard ducked down beneath and bashed the other gang member's jaw in with his baton just before his punch could reach. The prisoner was flung hard against the wall. Another down. The guard was suddenly pushed back by a strong punch, but he felt no pain for his armour absorbed the impact. With a swift kick to the gang leader's groin, he let his arm become the slave to gravity as it swung down the baton hard on the prisoner's head. The final one was down as well. He looked about and shot several glares at the other prisoners. "What are you all staring at? Get out of here!"

He reached for the radio holstered onto his belt as he looked at the bodies all around. The other prisoners were long gone now. "This is Shower block E, I need immediate medical assistance here. Several wounded prisoners, casualties of varying levels."

"Copy that, sending a team your way."

"Understood, and make sure to send stretchers," the guard stored the device away and looked back to Williams with a long, elongated sigh. You are so lucky that you struck that deal yesterday. Even the devil must be sending you some of its luck in here. He reached down to pick William up and rested him back up against the wall. He moved the man's head about from left to right. Looks like your face will take a while to recover, as will the rest of your body probably. The medics arrived on the scene and quickly loaded the prisoners on to the stretchers. They all exited rather fast and hurried to the medical bay.

Strong sounds echoed, like a loud rhythmic beeping. The sharp scent of ethanol, mixed with the rose scented air stung William's nose strongly to wake him up. His eyesight cleared of the initial blur he felt from the sudden light hitting him. He held up an arm, much to his displeasure however, all points on his body ached. The guard that rescued him sat beside his bed. "You are finally awake."

"How long have you been here?"

"The whole time."

"The whole time, why?"

"It's my job," the guard spoke as he paged for a nurse to come check up on William's condition. William tried to sit up, but it was in his stomach and his back that the most pain shot up. The guard pushed the old man back down and said, "You are lucky that you made that deal with us yesterday. Otherwise you would be here with much worse injuries."

"I know," William admitted as he heard additional footsteps in the hallway now. "I maybe locked up in here, but I will deliver on my terms to the Warden. I have several influential contacts on the outside."

"And how do you plan on doing that behind these bars?"

"I have several financial assets on the outside. Many which have been kept off the paper. My team is unwavering, we will make this work."

"Are they loyal?"

"Are they loyal you ask," William closed shut his eyes and felt a hefty laughter escape him. "They will shoot themselves on my command if that is what I wanted."

The guard made way for the nurse to enter and let her do her work. The guard walked around to the other side and said, "That's some blind loyalty you got at work going on there."

"Yes, and now that you know this, be quiet about it, otherwise you won't be losing just your job here."

The nurse just finished and quickly left at the tension she felt in the air. The guard walked towards the door frame all the whilst giving one last piece of thought, "Stay out of trouble William, and behave yourself."

As he left, Berkin entered the room. His eyes were shot up with rage as he hurried over to William's bed. He was so close, he knew it, yet he had to control himself for a loss of control here would destroy everything for him in his life. "I shouldn't have left this up to that trash bag, I should have found some way of doing it myself."

That's nice of the perpetrator to come forward, thought William. He breathed in deep and slowly released. "Can I help you officer?"

"Yes, you can die. That would be of great help to me. I thought that they would be enough to take care of you, but clearly you have been busy in here since the day you arrived. But either way, you are a dead man."

He stepped backwards, and began to walk away. "Better watch your back in here William."

William gazed straight into Berkin's eyes and quickly averted his gaze. Your eyes evoke a sense of sadness. I take it that you lost someone. "Fine, then come at me like a man rather than fight from the shadows like a coward."

Berkin left quietly, and by-effect caused the stronghold on William's lungs to loosen. William looked around the room and nodded to himself. I like this place much better than my dingy cell. He looked towards the door frame and felt his face drop with a much serious thought. A storm is coming. But now is the time to make fast work of this place.

A/N: A shorter chapter this time around and not a whole lot happened in terms of significant progress. But I hope you are enjoying this slower pace. Any constructive feedback is welcomed!

Thank you for reading and your continued support!

~ Monty