Outlaws (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 2)

Chapter 9

The routine at this prison was a blur, but it was one of pain and misery for Nolun. After meeting with Caligula for the first time, he was sent back to his cell, and told to get some rest. He heard the guards snickering as they walked away and locked him in. He couldn't get any sleep, but as soon as he was drifting off, he heard the door open and the guards rushed in, and beat him with billy clubs and shocked him several times over with their stun batons. He tried to not show any hurt, but he couldn't help but cry out in pain. After several minutes of this, which felt like an eternity to Nolun, they lifted him up and activated his restraints, and then used their batons and clubs to make him walk forwards. As he walked out of the cell, he saw that several other prisoners were being treated the same. They walked towards a shower room, and he found himself being stripped down, and before he knew it, he was against a wall with ice-cold water blasting against his back, freezing him instantly. Afterwards, he was shivering and put into new clothes, and was pushed out into a large room with tables filled with several different convicts, and guards patrolling from the balconies, all of them wielding guns and watching the movement of every prisoner below. Nolun looked upwards and was then pushed into a line filled with prisoners receiving their food from bots. When he reached them, they put some sort of grey goop on his tray. Nolun had seen better gunk in city sewers. As he walked and looked around, he spotted her. Her red hair shone out from across the room. He shuffled over to her quickly and sat down across from her. "You ok?" He whispered, trying to keep his voice down. She moved her hair to the side and nodded, revealing a large bruise on her face. Nolun clenched his fists under the table. When he escaped, he would kill Caligula.

The meal period didn't seem to last long, so the both of them had to talk fast. Andress said that she had gone through the same treatment that Nolun had, and that she couldn't see any possible exploits or exits. She told him that her cell was halfway across the prison from where his was, and there didn't seem to be any sort of general sorting, or maximum security. At least, none that she could see. Nolun bit his thumb in frustration. There had to be a way out. There always was. "You still have any of the distress signals on you?" Andress shook her head. "No. They confiscated everything. They must have searched us when we were knocked out." Nolun stretched his wrists, his bones being cramped by the tight restraints. "They must have a weapons and evidence cache where they put our stuff. If we can get to that, then we could have a chance." Andress sighed. "A chance. That's what we have to go on?" Nolun smirked his trademark smirk. "We've done better with less." Andress suddenly looked behind him, and Nolun saw a very large shadow cast over him. "Well, well. Guess you two are the new meat." A very deep voice said behind him. Nolun turned around and saw a bulky man, almost as big as Bunker, with a bald head, and a very large cut through his head which had been stitched back together crudely. A tattoo across his neck read "Stein" in a gothic font. He was smiling, along with two other smaller, thinner prisoners, one with ratty hair, and the other with dreadlocks. He crossed his arms and looked at Nolun and Andress. "Welcome to Purgatorio." He said and smiled a toothy grin with rotted teeth at Andress, which made her cringe. He walked over to her and looked down at her. "There's a small...tradition for our new prisoners where we welcome them...in our own special way. Interested?" Andress looked up and smiled. "Of course. Come down here and tell me." She gave a sultry look, which made the large prisoner kneel down. As soon as he was at her level, she gave him a devastating headbutt, making him roar in pain and stumble backwards. Before his two friends could react, Nolun quickly stood on one of their feet and swing his wrists at the other one, hitting him in the side of the head with his restraints. He was knocked out instantly, and Nolun tackled the one whose foot he had stood on. Andress thrust her hands into the big one's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Then, in a move that even surprised Nolun, she jumped up and did a backflip, and used her metal anklets to hit the big one's chin, knocking him out. She then landed on all fours, her hair around her face. Nolun was putting the other one in a chokehold, when other guards rushed in and starting shocking everybody, while most of the prisoners watched and cheered. "Solitary! All of you!" One of the guards shouted as he dragged Nolun away.

He threw him into a small, grey area that was barely bigger than a medium-sized wooden crate, so small that Nolun could barely sit upright. The walls and floor seemed to be covered with a foamy material, that was used for padding, and apparently, also acted as a sound-proof material. As Nolun regained his senses, strong and bright lights turned on right in front of his face, blinding him temporarily. He grimaced and put his face down to block out the light, but could still feel the immense heat that was blasting against his face. It filled the room, and was making him out of breath at first, then he began to sweat profusely, until his entire jumpsuit was drenched. His throat felt like it was full of rusty nails, and swallowing was like swallowing glass. After however long, Nolun was unable to tell, the door opened and two guards pulled him out. The hallway was beautifully colder than the hotbox, and he could finally breathe again. They dragged him back to his cell, and threw him in unceremoniously. He began to move again after a few minutes, and leaned back against the wall. His hair was plastered to the sides of his face, and he saw that all of his exposed skin was beginning to chafe. He looked down and breathed heavily. He had never experienced anything like that before in his life. He closed his eyes and imagined Andress going through the same thing. He grit his teeth. He knew he had to get through this for her. Nolun stood up and gripped the side of his bed. As he lay down, he looked up at the ceiling. Then, he saw something that made him look again. He stood up on his bed, and saw a small black dot. He assumed that was the camera that was watching him. But, already he could see several blind spots that he could exploit. He sat back down on the bed. It wasn't much, but it was a start.