One night startled awake by a dream that left him too restless to remain lying down, the Kid quietly clambered down the ladder and softly paced the few steps to the far wall and back, feeling a need for movement. Unfortunately his footsteps caught one of the guards attention and he came over to the bars with a glare. " 83, you obviously ain't needing to pee, so you know the rules! Get back to bed now!"

The Kid before he thought about it blurted out, "It ain't like I'm bothering anyone! I ain't even woken Jake!"

"Well you're bothering me! So over here now!" The Kid briefly considered saying no and folded his arms over his chest, but the conversation had woken Jake and he shook his head in warning. The Kid gritted his teeth, reminded himself that any resistance was foolish and would possibly have serious consequences for not just him and walked slowly over to the guard. As soon as he was in touching distance, the man grabbed his wrists and handcuffed them to the bars. "Seeing as you don't seem bothered about using the bunk you can spend the rest of the night on your feet."

The man walked away laughing and the Kid leaned his forehead against the cold metal. He was unsurprised that his nose started to itch and he sighed in frustration. He shivered in the cold air. He didn't sleep at all and his back and legs were aching by the time he was released by the morning shift guards. Under the watchful and amused gaze of the guards he tried to unsuccessfully rub the stiffness out of his legs. He was still hobbling when they were marched out to breakfast, made all the worse by his shackled feet.

As he started to eat the grey slop that was laughingly called oatmeal he saw something move. He stopped eating and stared, realising just what it was. Suddenly unable to stomach it he pushed the bowl away as a guard named Dawkins came over to him.

"You better eat that! You know warden don't like food being wasted."

The Kid glared and then purposefully scooped up the thin gruel and indicated the insect squirming in it and shook his head as he put the spoon down with a splash.

"Pick that up and eat it."

"No!" The Kid was so frustrated he forgot what he had once laughingly called the eleventh commandment.

"Well that's two rules you've just broken, make it a hat-trick and you got problems! Eat it."

The Kid shook his head and ignoring the look that the image of Heyes in his head was throwing him and said calmly. "You eat it, cos I ain't!"

The guard bent down and picked up the spoon with the grub still wriggling on it and held it to the Kid's mouth. "You got one last chance."

The Kid shook his head and pushed the spoon away and it flicked up splashing the guard's uniform. "Not touchin' it."

Their confrontation was beginning to draw a lot of attention and Dawkins yanked the Kid to his feet and waved one of other guards over who glanced between them with a grin. "Well ain't this grand? You've earnt yourself a lashing, son!"

The Kid had known as soon as he refused to give in that this was coming, but there was no way in hell he was going to eat insects whatever the consequences.

The punishment post was slap bang in the middle of the prison yard, a prominent warning to behave. The Kid was stripped and tied to it as the other inmates watched. He refused to react despite the prickling of fear that was creeping through his body. He made no sound for the first three lashes, but on the fourth a small whimper of pain escaped him. He could feel warm blood trickling down his back and his legs started to buckle as the sixth blow landed. He was close to unconscious when the punishment was finally ended and as his hands were untied fell to his knees with a groan. He looked up as a man leant over him and patted his cheeks hard but didn't react any further, not even when the guard grinned at him. "Warden says three days of bread and water seeing as you're so fussy about your food." That was the last thing the Kid knew as the pain finally overcame him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

He was dragged back from the darkness only minutes later as he yanked to his feet to be returned to his cell. He lay on his stomach his back throbbing in pain. He finally slept and dreamt that he was riding out in the mountains with Heyes at his side. When he woke the sense of loss and grief was so sharp, it felt as if no time had past since Heyes had died and he'd entered hell.

He must have slept for several hours as Jake was back on his bunk. A strong smell of vinegar assailed the Kid and he moaned at the sting as something was laid on his back.

"Brown paper with vinegar. I can't leave it on too long, but it might help some."

The Kid felt his eyes burn at the unexpected kindness and took a shaky breath before drifting back to sleep.

XXX

Winter drew in quickly and the temperatures plummeted especially at night, making the cells bitterly cold and ensuring that sleep was always a rare commodity for the inmates.

The mass exhaustion just added to the morose and angry atmosphere. The Kid's own nerves were shredded leaving him short-tempered and the guards smelling blood took great pleasure in being heavy handed in their approach to him. Not that he was the only one they were enjoying tormenting. He knew if he didn't crack then someone else would and the whole place could go up.

Jake was struggling more than most with the cold weather which had settled on his chest and was also affecting his hands making him clumsy. Sat at breakfast one morning he knocked his coffee cup over and the tepid liquid spilled onto the prisoner sat on his left. The Kid tensed, ready to defend Jake when the man, who the Kid knew was called Donnelly started to stand, but before the situation could escalate he was shoved back to his seat by one of the watching guards. "Don't start Donnelly!"

The Kid relaxed and surreptitiously patted Jake's knee under the table, which earnt him a small smile.

However as they were being marched back to their cells Jake tripped sending him stumbling into the Kid's back nearly pushing him over. To the Kid's mind there was no doubt as to the reason Jake had lost his balance. Donnelly had no doubt taken his revenge. Frustrated by the pettiness, the Kid's hand tightened instinctively on the shoulder of the man in front of him which earnt him a backwards kick on the shin and he stepped backwards into Jake.

The guards indiscriminate in their discipline hit the Kid hard enough to make his teeth rattle and he stuttered to a stop, causing all the other other prisoners to struggle to keep their balance.

The tension sky rocketed and the Kid was suddenly determined to try to calm things down. He knew that any incident, even if they were the victims in it, would be no good for either him or Jake, especially with Jake's poor health, so he took a deep breath to retain control of his temper. With a huge effort he managed to loosen his grip on the man in front of him, with a whispered apology. As the tension went down a notch, the Kid's eyes flicked to the guards and almost grinned at the look of disappointment on their faces as the crisis eased.

The rest of the march to the cells went without incident, though the Kid's head was thumping from the tension and the effort it'd taken not to react.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to cause no bother." Jake spoke quietly and the Kid's heart ached at just how exhausted he looked.

He replied equally as softly "Weren't your fault. Besides weren't no harm done."

Jake looked relieved, but luckily said nothing else as the guards came to hustle them out to their work detail.

That night the Kid lay awake listening to Jake wheeze and struggle for breath. His cough sounded even worse than it had been in the morning and the wood frame around them was shaking from both that and his shivering.

Being as quiet as he could the Kid rose slowly from his own bunk and carefully descended to the floor. He stretched over to gently lay his blanket over his cellmate. "No, you'll get cold.." Jake's voice though barely above a whisper still sounded loud in the oppressive silence.

"Shh, Jake, it's all right. Just try and sleep." The Kid kept his own voice pitched low and in the slight gleam of light offered by the gas lamps on the corridor wall, he saw Jake nod gratefully and pull the extra blanket tight around him.

Before the Kid had a chance to return to lying down, heavy footsteps come towards their cell and stopped just outside. He turned to look, resigned and steeling himself not to add to his punishment by reacting badly. Depending on which guard he'd been unfortunate to catch the attention of, his fate could range from the lash, to simply being cuffed to the bars for the rest of the night again as a reminder of his place. He was however surprised when a blanket and a small canteen were pushed through the bars instead.

He took both items gratefully as he squinted through the bars into the gloom. He recognised the man as Jenkins, who held a finger to his lips as the Kid started to thank him and merely shook his head before moving away.

Hesitating for a moment, Kid quickly laid the extra blanket on Jake too and opened the canteen carefully and was assailed by the scent of aniseed. Cough medicine. He managed to get some down Jake before carefully storing the canteen under his own pillow.