AN- Yay! I updated quickly! Hope y'all are liking the story so far, I am not going to do much of the jail scene, because I still have a lot of ground to cover. If you want the whole story watch the episode The Riot. It's on YouTube if you don't have the seasons at home. Enjoy!
One of the prisoners stood right by the locked door, looking out the tiny window. The others sat in the Lion's cage, waiting for orders from Cooper. Johnny Plank, one of the more dangerous con men, started making trouble. He had tried to attack Ben Cartwright because he was the one who put him in jail. He wanted to escape, but Cooper refused, only thinking about the needs of the other prisoners.
Plank yelled out, furious, to the other cons, "It's all about you huh? Guns, horses, freedom, for you and your friends! BUT WHAT ABOUT US!" Cooper looked contemptibly down at Plank. He then ordered a table set up in the Lion's Cage, where everyone could hear what he was going to say.
"Four inspections in six years, and you're the only person who ever bothered to look in the corners. If our demands are reasonable, you can sign them, and show them to the governor. We all got a load of years on our backs, most of us can't hope to live long enough to see outside these walls."
"What do you expect of me?"
"Just no lies." With that, Cooper sat down, and began to list everything he could think of.
Warden's office
Joe and Candy had heard of the prison riot, and had run down to the warden's office as soon as possible, they sat there, mulling over every idea they could think of to get the hostages out alive. They were staring at a small version of the prison. Mr. Callhoun, one of the better guards, spoke up, pointing to a small area of the prison.
"The convicts are loose in here, in the main cell, in the kitchen, and in the guard room. Now this door, three inch plank, is the cork in the bottle." He pointed to the outer door in the guard room. "There are sliding iron doors that lock on both sides and both sides are locked. There's no way they can get out, and no way we can get in." they all sat in silence.
The Lion's Cage
Cooper held a piece of paper in his hands, "quiet down!" he yelled at the guards, "I said quiet! Where's Griff?" The latter emerged from the back of the group. "Where've you been?"
"I don know, I was tryin to get…" Cooper cut him off.
"Oh yeah," Cooper realized what he was trying to say. "Donovan," he said, turning back to Ben, "six days in that hellbox, sick. No doctor."
"I told you, I'll tell the governor there should be a doctor here all the time."
"Well don't hurry, he's not hurtin now!" Griff stalked over to Mr. Cartwright, anger plastered all over his face.
"What?" Cooper interjected.
"He's dead." All of the cons muttered, groaned, and shook their heads.
"Griff," Cooper thrust a chair at the boy, "Sit down, do some writing. Write, 'to the governor, demands from the prisoners, in cell block #2. No more hellbox, No more whipping." The convicts clapped voiced their approval.
"We want our letters, and permission to write at least one letter a month."
"What? You don't get your mail here?" Ben was shocked at the injustice.
"Oh, it comes here, but we don't see it."
Griff was writing as fast as he could, he was one of the only literate people in cell block 2. Due to his schooling when he was younger. He shook his head, no use thinking about the past. He'd given up hope when he heard that his sister had died, now it was lingering in the back of his mind, a chance to survive.
Cooper continued, "We want some soap, and a place to wash our clothes, and we want blankets, clean blankets, that don't stink." The con men cheered.
"And write down food, we want the food that the state pays for and we never get."
"You're saying someone's stealing the ration money?"
"I ain't sayin it, but I'll prove it." A prisoner brought in Hizer. "Alright Hizer, tell us who supplies the food, unless you want a taste of your own whip."
"Fine, I buy the food."
"From who?"
"Vanamen."
Ben's eyes widened, Vanamen was one of the inspectors. That's why he was so quick to say that the food was waste.
Cooper was furious, "Bring in the rat."
Two prisoners dragged the balding man from the hellbox, and stood him before Cooper, where he admitted to selling the food to Hizer.
"Hey Cooper," the con at the door yelled, "There's someone out here."
Cooper snatched up Griff's letter, and marched over to the door, where Joe and Calhoun were standing. He slipped the letter through the bars on the tiny window and demanded that they be shown to the governor.
"… might take a while, last I heard, the governor was in Virginia City." Calhoun said.
Then Joe spoke up, "We won't do anything till we see that the prisoners are alive."
Cooper brought Ben to the door. "I'm alright; everyone's alright, just do as they say." Then he was yanked away.
AN- I know I said that I wasn't going to do a lot of prison scenes, but I felt that this was important. Please R&R! It makes me happy!
Reviews:
AureaD- I'm going to try and skim over some stuff, I hope he'll be free in about two chapters. Maybe one.
jolana- Thank you, I'm eager for them to be re-united too.