Prompt #11 Of beatings and bruises; "It builds character."

Beaten Up but not Broken Down

Dennis Nedry was laid up in the prison infirmary.

He had been there for the past hour after getting into a vicious fight with another inmate who had teased him about losing weight. The entire ordeal reminded him that he hated everything about being incarcerated. The stupid inmates. The power-hungry correction officers. The self-righteous prison warden. No privacy. Non-stop noise. The stench of body odor, sweat, semen, feces, and urine. Lack of fresh air. Being stripped of his dignity and humanity. Constantly being told what to do and when to do it. Sheer boredom. Brutal fights. Disgusting food. The strip-searches and the shakedowns. The embarrassment of wearing chains in public whenever he had to be transported outside the facility. The stark loneliness. The twisted honor culture. The overcrowding. Constantly having to look over his shoulder for possible threats. Hearing other inmates give themselves and each other sexual pleasure. And even on occasion, hearing another inmate screaming from being raped, beaten up… Being forced to live in this terrifying hellish place for years on end. The list was endless.

The thin silver lining of this thick dark cloud of his life was that being locked up gave him time to get into shape. He had more energy now, whereas before he would be out of breath if he walked up a flight of stairs. The joint pain, soreness, and fatigue he used to experience daily was slowly lessening. His prison jumpsuits fit him loosely; he had already dropped down three sizes. Nedry was getting there. It was hard work to lose weight, but he had plenty of time on his hands, since Judge Hoskins had sentenced him to serve ten to fifteen years under the Department of Corrections. That was more than enough time to get in the best shape of his life. Green Hills Federal Correctional Institution was a rotten hellhole, but since he had to spend the next decade of his life there, then he had better make the most of it.

Before his confinement, he had been constantly mocked and insulted. Muldoon and Arnold called him a "fat slob" when they thought he couldn't hear them in the control room because he was wearing his headset. Back then, he didn't respond—except for one time when he was in a grouchy mood. When he didn't feel like mouthing off a sarcastic retort, he behaved in a passive aggressive manner by leaving his workstation a complete mess to sift through. Candy wrappers, potato chip bags, empty pizza boxes, and soda cans littered his desk. Everyone hated it—especially Hammond. The more they hated his sloppiness, the more incentive it gave him to keep his area messy.

Prison was a different story. He didn't ignore the insults—he reacted to it.

Today, years of pent-up anger came out in a flurry of clenched fists. The inmate had shoved Nedry after his constant taunts: "what's Big D gonna do? Sit on me? Help! Nerdy's gonna squash me! The idiot inmate didn't expect to have his ass handed to him. Nedry had his own ass handed back to him, but he didn't care. He was elated that he stood up for himself. The satisfaction at seeing the shock in his fellow prisoner's eyes gave him a natural high. He was having so much fun landing those punches in the other man's face that he barely heard the correction officers shouting at him and the other inmate to get down on the ground and put their hands behind their backs. It was either that or get pepper sprayed in the face, so Nedry picked his poison and allowed them to cuff him, snatch him off the floor, and drag him to the prison infirmary. There he was treated by a nurse who looked like she would rather be on an extended vacation at a sunny beach, drinking a martini. You and me both, Missy, Nedry thought as he watched her walk across the infirmary to the inmate he had fought with.

How much longer did he have to stay in the infirmary? He'd rather be sleeping in his cell. Sleep was his only escape these days. Sometimes he found it hard to believe that he went from working at Jurassic Park to being confined in this monstrous facility. From the lush humid jungles of an island theme park to a gray concrete hell. Nedry didn't dwell on it though. He hated everyone associated with Jurassic Park and InGen just as much as he hated everyone at Green Hills—both inmates and staff alike.

It was only a matter of time before he received a disciplinary infraction for getting into a fight with another inmate…for the umpteenth time. He rubbed his jaw that was throbbing with pain. His right eye was stinging and kept tearing up. It didn't matter. He would fight that bastard again if given the chance to do so. His hands were free now, so he was able to move around a bit, although he had to stay right where he was situated. Two correction officers hovered around, monitoring the area. Just then, he made eye contact with the inmate he had the altercation with. The inmate was across the infirmary being tended to by another nurse. He pointed at his bleeding nose and then pointed at Nedry while mouthing something—probably a threat. Nedry was about to spit out a vitriolic remark—and was stopped in the nick of time when someone stepped in front of him, blocking his view.

"Was it worth it?"

Nedry cursed under his breath when he heard the familiar voice. It was Daniel Walker, the prison warden. Officer Johnson was standing next to him. Two men he hated almost as much as he hated Arnold and Muldoon. Arnold and Muldoon had caught him red-handed at the east dock when Nedry had committed his third theft (making a special delivery!), and they gladly testified against him in court. Their day was coming though—Nedry knew he wouldn't be locked up forever. He forced himself to focus on the prison warden and correction officer standing in front of him, but he kept thinking back to his coworkers. Nedry hated Walker because the warden reminded him of Robert Muldoon. That stupid drunk put me here, Nedry thought. Him and Marlboro Man. Nedry chuckled when he pictured Arnold dressed up as a cowboy lighting up a cigarette. Better to be a cowboy wearing that stupid hat than that stupid engineer lab coat, he thought. Then Nedry imagined Arnold riding on a velociraptor that was trying to toss him off, like at a rodeo, and he busted out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Walker asked.

Nedry was never one to hold back. "You are." He pointed at the Walker, who stood over him. "Always trying to save me, when you need to mind your business."

"You are my business." Walker wasn't deterred, nor was he fazed. He had heard Nedry's countless rants about how Robert Muldoon/Ray Arnold/John Hammond/stupid lizards/Mr. Walker/Dr. Morton/the screws (COs) needed to "mind their business". It was just another way for Nedry to play the blame game and avoid accepting responsibility for his own actions. "So, was it worth it?"

Nedry sighed, annoyed. He had to prepare himself to hear one of Walker's boring lectures. About how he wasn't on the outside world anymore, that he was on the inside now, and that fighting with other inmates, and arguing with corrections staff would only make his time behind the walls move slower. Surprisingly enough, the lecture never came.

"Huh?" Nedry was confused. Maybe Walker did lecture him, and he hadn't heard it because he was lost in his thoughts. Or rather, Nedry was minding his own business.

"Was. It. Worth. It?"

Nedry sat up and glared at Walker. "Yes. It. Was."

"Being beaten up and bruised was worth it?" Walker's eyebrows rose.

"It builds character," Nedry said, offering a toothy grin.

It's also practice for when I escape this joint and beat the living shit out of Hammond's Employees of the Month: raptor-lover Robert Muldoon, and begging-for-emphysema Ray Arnold. He cringed: did he really think he'd beat up Muldoon and Arnold? They would call that bully cop from Costa Rica, Antonio Contreras, to come to the island and arrest him again before he even made it to the control room. Oh well, it was worth dreaming about. Then he thought better of it: he could shut down the security systems and let the lizards run loose all over the park. That would keep those bosom buddies on their toes!

"I'm glad you think so. You can continue building your character in solitary confinement for the next thirty days." Walker nodded at Officer Johnson. "Take him down to AdSeg."

"Stand up," Officer Johnson pointed at the adjacent wall. "Feet apart and hands on the wall."

"Only if you pay me." He forced himself to comply while Officer Johnson did a pat down search before cuffing him.

"No one is paying you to break the rules in my prison, Mr. Nedry." Walker was usually patient, but today he was frustrated, and it came out in his angry tone. "The one who paid you to break the law isn't here serving time with you. I thought you would've noticed that by now."

Nedry seethed. How dare that holier-than-thou prison warden throw back in his face that Lewis Dodgson abandoned him to take the fall? He clenched his teeth, willing himself not to respond to that tidbit of truth. Instead, he did what always worked for him—avoid reality and throw his vile attitude on Walker.

"That's it? No longwinded lectures today? You must be losing your touch, Mr. Walker," Nedry said, still facing the wall. "Not only is my character stronger and better than before, but I get awarded my own personal silver bracelets." He wiggled his fingers.

Walker already started exiting the infirmary. He didn't look over his shoulder when he called out to Officer Johnson and Nedry. "Make it sixty days, since he insists on being a wise ass."

He was being difficult on purpose. The entire time he relished seeing the scowl painted across Office Johnson's face and hearing Walker's impatience. He always gave everyone a hard time because it fed into his illusion that he had some semblance of control. Nedry figured if he had to be cooped up in this godawful facility for the next ten to fifteen years of his life serving hard time, he would make everyone's lives more miserable than his. Officer Johnson grabbed Nedry's arm and began escorting him out of the prison infirmary. As they left, he laughed at Officer Johnson.

"See? Now I'm a wise ass! I told you I'm building my character. Better to be a wise ass than a dumb ass—like yourself!"

"Ninety days. I'll let Mr. Walker know you need more time to cool off."

Those were the last words Officer Johnson said to him. His grimace didn't change when Nedry laughed all the way to the administrative segregation unit to be isolated from the rest of the general population for the next three months. Nedry was still laughing by the time the door slammed behind him, and after he had put his hands through the slot for Officer Johnson to remove the cuffs.

"Thank youuuuu…!"