I gritted my teeth and forced down the lump in my throat. The last thing I wanted was to show weakness in front of this man.
“Forget everything you know about prison life up there on the surface,” Captain barked, before leaning so close to me I could feel his breath on the side of my face. “The Institute belongs to the Union. Here, you belong tous.”
It was a threat. Captain got his kicks watching inmates beat the shit out of each other, but something told me the fight club was child’s play compared to what went on down here. Captain’s message was clear. In fight club, there were rules. Here, anything goes. Cellblock 9 was a lawless land where the guards could do whatever they wanted and pit the inmates against each other. The people here had nothing to lose.
Problem was, I wasn’t one of those guys. My friends were still alive, and until each and every one of them was executed, I still had something to fight for. I had to play along, or risk losing them all.
“Girls to the left, guys to the right,” one of the guards growled, before the others dragged us in our respective directions.
“Where does this one belong?” a guard holding Ivy asked, sounding disgusted.
“Hmph,” Captain said as he came forward.
“Get your slimy hands off—” Chancey started, but he gave a heavyoofas a guard punched him in the stomach.
“Leave him alone!” Ivy protested.
“Send him with the boys,” Captain said.
The guards already had me halfway down the hall when I heard the chilling voice of the Warden. “Don’t send this one to her cell just yet. She deserves… aspecial suite.”
My stomach dropped from my abdomen. Panic overcame me, because I knew exactly who he was referring to. I could only imagine what the Warden had in store for Ava, and none of it was good.
“Oh, yeah, you wanna start with me, first? Let’s fucking go!” Ava screamed back. “Go ahead and try to break me, you sick motherfucker. You haven’t done it yet!”
She let out another insane laugh, and the Warden responded dryly, “The point isn’t to break you; it’s to take what you have. Escort her away.”
“Ava? AVA!!!” I screamed, struggling against the guards. Ava gave a wicked screech in reply that I swear shook the walls. I thought I heard Kallie and Marcus screaming for each other as they were pulled in different directions, but I couldn’t be sure what they were saying over my panicked cries for my wife.
I never heard her reply, because someone smashed the end of a weapon into the back of my skull. “Shut the fuck up!” a guard sneered as I fell to the ground.
I caught myself with my hands. My left hand landed in a puddle of water, while my right landed on something soft and warm. Something squealed, and it wiggled out from beneath my hand. Fucking rats!
A shoe landed on my fingers, and Marcus cursed as he tripped over me.
“Get up!” the guards growled as they hauled us both to our feet.
“I can’t see a thing down here!” Marcus protested.
“Get used to it,” Captain snapped as he followed us down the hall. “It ain’t all sunshine where you’re going.”
My head spun from the blow, and I stumbled a few times as I tried to find my bearings. I tried listening for Ava, but I heard nothing. We were far away from the girls by now.
My heart hammered as the guards dragged us into a room far away from the sounds of inmates. A heavy door clanged shut behind us, and I could no longer hear the inmates shouting in the distance. We must’ve been in some sort of boiler room, because I could hear the whirring of equipment. Several inches of water covered the entire floor, deep enough that it seeped through my shoes.
“Strip down,” Captain ordered.
“For what, you sick pervert— ow!” Chancey started, but one of the guards shoved him to the ground. Water splashed around our feet when he landed, and Ivy whimpered from beside him.
“Do as you’re told, Chance,” Ivy whispered.
“You best listen to your girlfriend,” Captain taunted. “Strip down and stand against the wall!”
The four of us follow orders, because what the hell else were we supposed to do? My hands shook as I removed my clothes. The last thing I wanted was to give the Warden reason to hurt Ava any more than he already planned to. It was naive of me to think my good behavior would change his mind, but I knew he’d use her against me if I stepped out of line. I frantically searched our bond for any signs of Ava and Oberi, but these damn inferichite cuffs had completely cut off our connection. I didn’t know what dangers either of them were in, and that terrified me to the very bone.
Apparently, we weren’t moving fast enough, because the guards barked orders, then began tearing our clothes off our bodies. Fabric ripped, and clothes splashed in the water as the guards tossed them aside.
“Against the wall! Now!” Captain barked.
