The Pit was one of the newest of the supermax prisoners dedicated to the worst of the worst, the monsters of this modern age. It was a place where they threw you away and did not expect you to emerge alive. Or at least, to have the systems hooks firmly in you, leashed to the machine. Nobody escaped alive, in either body or soul. The wardens and their eyes made sure of it, electronic lens hidden but everywhere if you knew how to look. Then again, this was a supermax. Anyone stupid enough to assume that you got more privacy than on the outside? They deserved what was coming to them.
But it was time to have the fresh meat talk, to show their bones. We all had ideas of course, because they were thrown into The Pitt with the rest of us. No, these five men? They were nothing as plebian as mere serial rapists, nothing as common and bland as spree or serial killers and nobody was high enough to think a pedophile rated The Pit. Maybe one of the other joints, but not in the dark steel walls, not in the giant open aired coffin to which they were condemned.
So, as they huddled in place, as monsters came from the darkness, hands gripping their shoulders, we asked the question that would start the process of proving themselves. "Welcome to the Pit, for what remains of your miserable and shitty lives. But, we gotta know what brings you to us, what makes you one of the damned? Speak that we can judge you and sort you into your final fraternity."
Yeah, it was a dramatic speech, but Phil had been a drama major and could not just say, 'oi meat, start saying why your hear so we can sort you into the right cellblock' if his fucking life depended on it. At the least he managed to put on a good play every few months. Good entertainment? That was rare as hell to come by, even if they stopped confiscating the dice we carved ourselves. Same for the figurines. They still try and crack down on paper, ink and pens, but we managed. Somehow.
Which is when the first one spoke, tone wavering as he looked on those that have been hardened, those that are watching. "I am Stan McFarly, and I turned a girl down when I had to go outside to get groceries. She didn't even want the date, she was pissed that I turned her down while her friends were watching! According to the judge, after she pepper sprayed me, I'm in for sexual harassment, rape and misogyny."
Yeah, that was more common than you would expect, girl probably had a really high ESG score and had been looking to emotionally crush some Irish guy for some free points.
That was the floodgate, as another guy spoke. "I'm David Volski, a thirty-two year old virgin, tried getting a passport and leaving after I saved up some money, got a degree, but didn't want to get involved in the divorce and child support industry." He took a deep breath. "According to the judge, I'm in for fraud, attempted grand theft and misogyny."
Yeah, another reason why only idiots got legal passports these days. Better to just claim asylum after getting your savings out, or switching to hard assets. Granted, government doesn't like it when a guy tries to run.
Third guy? Now, he seemed to be one of those guys who always look like they were guilty of something and just had some caffeine injected directly into their veins. You know, when they were not on enough weed to mellow out half a township, mind way out past orbit as they dance among the stellar winds. You know, like a good professor who was focused more on their research than the agenda. Even his voice had those caffeinated jitters mixed with some of Mary Janes fine slow drawl somehow. "Mack MacMackrel, apparently pointing out that there are biological, chemical and hormonal differences between the organically produced genders was hate speech, deliberate spread of misinformation and misogyny."
You would think a professor would be smart enough to know that facts mean jack in the face of the party line, and just how fond they are of finding traitors to purge as they purge from victory to victory against ever more specific and narrowly defined dogma.
The fourth? Dude looked like one of those office drones that had been castrated by exposure to office culture. "Dallas Dorsey, my dad was black." Hard to tell, looked like standard bleached bread white boy. "So, I was able to become an HR case worker. But, I did not pay attention to the diversity, equity and inclusion quotas, as I weighted qualifications higher than the checkboxes. So, I'm in for malicious racism, corporate sabotage, a long, long lists of isms and phobias and..." He sighed and slumped. "Misogyny."
Yeah, just another corporate drone that was hired to take falls (he was a white looking guy in an HR department) that fell on the wrong side of DEI policy and actually judging people based on merit instead of their appearance, race or sex. That was never a wise thing to do.
The last seemed calm, collected and amused, lips tugging in a smile. "Shawn Norland. Caught my wife in bed with a black man and a latino. Said she settled for me, but Tyrone and Poncho were three times the man I could ever be. And then she talked about divorce, so I shot all three of them. Pleaded guilty, as I was getting life no matter what I did anyway. So, murder, racism, failure to pay alimony and misogyny."
His tone, even as he shrugged, asking what could he do? There was respect there as Phil nodded. "Very well then. So, the first thing you should know? Sign up for the Wednesday D&D night is over here, and the GURPS campaigns run on Fridays, as we don't get video games in here. We have a basic library, but most of it is shit. If you want to take part ion the seasonal play..."
Yeah, we are the incels, the standard white guys, the minimalists, the guys who tried to leave, to walk away and head to the wilds and off the grid. Turns out? Society will punish you for walking away from a society that says it does not want you, by isolating you and making sure you can't support the system.