by JD Dutra
Whitey began to smile as he flicked off the lit tip of the cigarette he was smoking, putting it out. He then tore the filter off, stuck out his infected tongue and placed the length of the cigarette on it. His mouth appeared tainted with something, it had strange shades of white, pink and red. He began to chew.
“This time you pissed off two people that you shouldn’t have, Mr. Danny. I am talking about myself and that muscle head guy who said he knows you. Don’t know how he found me, but he gave me five packs of cigarettes and said he would put me and you back in the yard, if only I were to do to you, how can I say this… Do something I was already going to do, anyway. So I got my cigarettes and here I am, with you again, not even 24 hours after I met him. Now isn’t that something?”
One of the sick inmates got uncomfortably close to Daniel, he noticed the man had dried yellow muck in the corners of his eyes, similar to Willy’s. In a flash of movement, Daniel shoved the man as hard as he could against one of the metal bunk beds and the violent sound the man’s back made when he crashed against the bed pole startled all the others. Only a dislocated spine could sound like that, the man’s deafening scream confirmed it. In that very moment, Daniel leapt through one of the bunk beds and ran as fast as he could towards the meal room.
When Daniel looked back as he ran, there were only four inmates chasing him, Whitey in the front. The remaining one who was shoved against the bed frame was still lying motionless. Daniel looked at one of the guard towers, then the other, but they were still empty. The other inmates who were still alive and moving did nothing to help, but they didn’t look like they wanted to get involved either, no matter the color of their skin.
Daniel felt his mouth dry as he ran and the air he breathed through his nose was disgusting and repugnant, smelling heavily of disease and death. Whitey and the other three were still racing after him, he had almost reached the lunchroom when he heard the chaos happening in there, loud sounds, shouting and things breaking.
Once he stepped inside he found several inmates fighting, while others were kicking the doors or trying to pull the top off of a table. Daniel looked around as he dashed across the room, dodging inmate after inmate, but there was nowhere to hide. He looked back and Whitey and his men were catching their breath, but they were still walking in his direction. Suddenly Daniel realized that his back was against a wall and the four men encircled him again.
Without warning a leg flew in Daniel’s direction then another, his adrenaline was so high he didn’t even feel the pain of their kicks. He punched one of the inmate’s in the face, tried to take a swing at another but was tackled to the floor by one of them. He felt the weight of one man on top of him, then another as his arms were restrained. Daniel was completely out of breath in just a few minutes of trying to fight everyone off, he prayed and regretted not being in better physical shape.
He felt two men holding each of his legs, and two others holding his upper body down, his back pressed against the cold concrete floor. The rancid smell of unwashed bodies joined that of decay as the face of a putrid ghost appeared tall above him, grinning with brown and uneven teeth, framed by a handlebar mustache so blond it was almost white. The head jerked and suddenly Daniel felt a blob of warm tobacco juice washed over his cheek and neck.
“Turn him around and pull his pants down!” Screamed Whitey. He looked angry but his men were laughing like a pack of hyenas.
“Somebody help! Please!” Daniel screamed and began to scramble on the ground as the men attempted to turn him belly down on the concrete floor.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Whitey yelled and Daniel felt a foot stomp on his stomach over and over again. The little air he could breathe was now out of his lungs, and suddenly his limbs felt really heavy and his vision began to blur. The thought of just rolling over and dying entered his mind, but he thought of his children, desperate to survive for them, and sucked air the best his could, forcing the foul air around him deep into his lungs. When he regained his senses, he realized he was on his stomach and his pants were down to his feet, cold concrete was pressed against his skin.
“Hold him down! Yes, hold his legs just like that. Keep him pinned,” said Whitey with real lust now in his voice. “Ya’ll gonna have to turn his face around in just a minute.”
The men holding Daniel laughed hysterically, and suddenly there were more voices around, shadows were all over him as the inmates had formed a circle to witness the spectacle of terror, of which he was the main attraction.
He felt another warm spit of tobacco juice, this time in between his legs on his naked body, and immediately after it wet him, Daniel screamed like he had never done before.
Chapter 29
Tent City Jail, Phoenix, Arizona
Sunday, October 25th, 2020
8:34 A.M.
“Like I told you, Officer Smith, I can do this myself,” said Captain Bryant with a sigh. He was dressed up in full tactical gear, before he put his helmet on.
“You’ve changed my mind. I’m sorry we got into an argument over it Captain.”
Captain Bryant was almost done gearing up with Officer Smith inside the Armory at the Tent City Jail, strapping tear gas grenades, rifle magazines with live rounds in them and back up pistols onto their bodies. The way Captain Bryant acted made Officer Smith uneasy, but maybe it was the anticipation of doing what they were setting out to do.
“You brought all this stuff from home?” Asked Officer Smith, somewhat incredulous.
“Yes, and this ain’t nothing compared to what I got there,” said Captain Bryant.
“You know, I never understood why we had someone who didn’t pay a traffic ticket put in the same jail as someone with a history of violence.”
“A lawbreaker is a lawbreaker, Officer Smith,” said Captain Bryant.
“Well yeah, but there is a difference between those who break laws and commit victimless crimes you know - like a parking ticket or not pulling the weeds in your own yard and someone who robs another person or commits murder, when real people are victims. With that in mind sir, I’m only okay with this if we’re only taking out the bad ones, and letting everyone else go.”
“Sure. That’s fine,” said Captain Bryant, but he didn’t sound particularly sincere. “I can’t let the vermin loose in good conscience, even if there is almost nothing left. The people of Arizona deserve better Officer. Let’s move!”
Both officers began to jog down the long corridor that led to the meal room. The gray metal door that divided them got closer with every step, and so did the loud noises, the screams, the sounds of things breaking. As Officer Smith watched Captain Bryant from behind, something finally snapped in the man as he got closer. He quickened his step, it was as if he longed to be inside the chaos of the meal room.
Captain Bryant stood next to the door, waiting for Officer Smith to catch up and a sick face of a Hispanic inmate appeared behind the riot proof glass, his eyes widened once he saw the two officers fully dressed for combat and holding rifles, he immediately ran out of sight and more heads looked in. Suddenly, shouts of warning came from inside the meal room and when Captain Bryant got the door open, the desperate sounds of men screaming washed over them.
As the two officers entered, the inmates scattered, trampling and shoving each other, anticipating the first shot coming from the tactical rifles. Officer Smith began to look around for faces of the most violent inmates, looking for someone who deserved to be killed so that others could be spared. This task wasn’t as easy as he thought it was going to be, all inmates looked alike amidst the chaos and boiling violence of the room. Shots rang out in quick successions next to him, and when he turned he realized Captain Bryant had opened fire at will, killing inmate after inmate, without any regard for who they were. The room quickly emptied of the inmates that could still move, dozens lay dead and the polished concrete floor began to run red with blood.
“Stop! That’s not the plan! Stop Captain!” Screamed Officer Smith, but his words were eith
er being ignored or not heard. He couldn’t believe his eyes, Captain Bryant was on a cleansing mission. Everyone with a black and white striped uniform was a target. He kept on going, wasting them as they ran before him. The inmates who were on the floor, hurting or ill, were easy shots, they were killed one after another.
Captain Bryant was doing a magazine change when Officer Smith stepped in front of him.
“Are you out of your mind? What the hell are you doing Captain?” Officer Smith screamed with real anger in his voice, the riot mask on his face doing little to muffle the loudness of his voice.
“Doing what has to be done. We can’t just leave them here, but you had to come and play hero. I can’t risk one of them jumping you, grabbing your gear and breaking out of jail. I’ll kill them all before anyone steps out of here with a sentence still on their heads. Now get the hell out of my way!” Captain Bryant yelled, stepping over an inmate’s body and pushing Officer Smith out of his face.
Officer Smith was frozen in place, as he watched the man run out to the tents, rifle at the ready, taking aim and firing shots. Smith raised his rifle and pointed it at the back of the Captain’s head, his finger wrapped around the trigger. As he began to apply pressure he held his breath, but he couldn’t do it and he lowered his rifle instead. He took in a few deep breaths and decided to follow the man out into the tent yard instead.
Shots began to ring outside in the yard, a few seconds passed and then one of the bodies which were lying motionless among the dead sprang to life. Daniel got up quickly, running towards the door that separated the meal room to the rest of the jail, but it was locked. He turned around, there were corpses and blood everywhere. The space where Whitey and his men had him pinned down was empty. As soon as the officers had appeared, Whitey and his men had jumped up and ran. Daniel noticed two among the dead, but Whitey wasn’t among them.
The urge to use the commotion and lack of guards to escape and go to his family clashed with the raw need for revenge. Daniel ran towards the door that led to the Tent city yard and hid behind a wall. Peering over the edge, he saw that there was now only one officer shooting at the inmates, the other lay motionless on the floor, about 20 yards from where Daniel stood.
Daniel couldn’t see his rifle, he crouched and began to move briskly towards the fallen guard. The officer who was still shooting moved from tent to tent, killing anyone who moved. When Daniel got close to the man on the ground, he saw that it was Officer Smith, who had been shot in the back of the neck. The rifle round had almost decapitated him, blood was still pouring from his lifeless corpse. Daniel quickly removed the man’s bullet proof vest, and as he put it on, not caring about the blood on it, his eyes watched the Captain taking aim at other inmates in distance.
Daniel’s hands searched the body for a card or a key that could give access to the outside world. He found a tactical knife, a locker key and a magnetized card which looked like the ones guards used to gain access to other areas of the jail.
A bullet passed too close to Daniel’s ear, the whizzing sound making him duck his head and fall to his stomach immediately. He laid low behind Officer Smith’s body, feeling the man’s blood soaking through his clothes, his cheek almost touching the ground. The dead man’s body jerked and the awful thudding sound of a bullet tearing through flesh filled Daniel’s ears. He was pinned down.
His eyes moved rapidly from side to side, looking for a place to run to and take cover. As someone screamed in the distance and more shots were fired in different directions, Daniel quickly looked up and saw Captain Bryant being jumped by other inmates, some fell as they ran towards him, but others swarmed him and now he was on the ground getting mobbed.
Daniel got up and shoved the locker key into his pocket before putting the magnetized card between his teeth and the knife in his hand. Other inmates who were watching it all from a distance suddenly got up now that the Captain was taken out and started running towards Daniel, apparently having the same idea of looting the fallen officer for a way out.
Daniel ran back inside the lunchroom as fast as he could, being careful not to slip in the pools of blood from the fallen men and praying that the card would work. He could hear the horde of inmates shouting in the distance, begging, threatening him to wait and make sure everyone was let out. He touched the card on the panel and the second that followed was the longest of his life. Some of the inmates were already in the meal room when he heard the lock disengage, he slipped past the door and shut it behind him.
As he moved down a series of corridors, the sounds of angry fists and shouts were left behind. Daniel gazed into every camera, but none of them moved to follow him. He listened attentively and heard no one’s voice or any other sound that indicated there were other people around on this side of the jail. Now the fear that he might be ambushed filled his mind as the anxiety to get to his kids was his only goal.
He tried a few doors, until he touched the magnetic card onto a panel and found what he was looking for - the break room. He stepped in, pulled open a fridge door and grabbed a bottle of water, twisted the cap off and drank as much as he could as he pulled the locker key out of his pocket. He walked along a set of narrow, gray locker doors until he found the number to match that on the key. Within just a few seconds, he had opened it.
From a shelf, he grabbed a wallet, cell phone and car keys and then turned his attention to the officer’s civilian clothes. He was about to get changed, but then he heard men’s voices shouting and yelling, closer than he did before. It didn’t take long for the inmates who’d jumped Captain Bryant to get to his key card.
Daniel ran out of the break room and began sprinting down the hall, away from the sound of the wave of inmates, hoping he was going in the right direction. He read a sign and followed an arrow towards the employees exit and parking lot. The voices were getting louder, the other inmates were heading in the same direction he was.
Daniel found the door he was looking for and when he ran out into the parking lot, the bright morning sun blinded him momentarily. He began to click the button of the remote control in his hand, and suddenly an old white sedan’s doors unlocked, just a few feet away. Daniel jumped in and stuck the key in the ignition, turned it and as he stepped on the gas, the other inmates began to pour out of the door he had just come out of.
He thought he might have to ram the gates, but then he saw a panel for the key card on a wall by the side. Again he held his breath as he waited for the green light, the inmates were dashing towards his car, but soon the gates began to open enough to fit the car through and he floored the gas pedal, leaving a sliver of white paint on the black of the gates. He hit the street he looked at the clock in the car’s dashboard. He’d be home in just over 45 minutes.
Chapter 30
Phoenix’s suburbs, Arizona
Sunday, October 25th, 2020
9: 53 A.M.
Daniel pulled out Officer Smith’s cell phone, wanting to call his daughter, but the screen had a password on it. After trying random numbers, the screen locked on him so he tossed the phone out the window. He looked in the review mirror, waiting for the police sirens to blare, maybe a helicopter to fly above his head, but minutes went by and there was nothing.
He noticed very few people on the street and even for a Sunday morning, the city appeared dead. There were stores that appeared to have been looted, some buildings were burning, cars had crashed, others abandoned, and within the first fifteen minutes of driving, he counted half a dozen people either sleeping or dead on the street.
When he got on the freeway, the abandoned cars became more and more frequent, some had pulled over and others seemed like their owners had passed away at the wheel and they slowly coasted onto the side rails, only to stop in a ditch or when driven into a sign or another car. Some of the vehicles were still on, the heads of the people inside of them were immobile, some slumped over the steering wheel, others against the window.
He got off the freeway and headed towards home, the desola
tion all around him making every mile feel like one hundred. He was beyond anxious to see his children and he prayed they were safe from whatever was killing so many people.
He entered his own neighborhood and in the distance, he saw cars which seemed to have live people behind the wheel. It was a caravan of three SUVs of different types and they were driving on the other lane, heading in the opposite direction he was.
As they got close, the three cars stirred away from Daniel’s vehicle, almost hugging the curb, as an unspoken sign of not wanting any type of contact, and the sounds of their motors and tires getting ever louder. When they passed his car, Daniel saw men, women and children inside the vehicles, they were all wearing gas masks. He also recognized the barrel of long guns of all kinds and sizes resting by the side of the occupants as they drove by. Their cars looked like they were stocked full of what could only be supplies, two of them had trailers behind them, and the third a small boat.
“Summer, Nick… I am so sorry I’m not there,” he said aloud and then prayed again in his heart, hoping they’d be safe and sound waiting for him once he got home. He stepped on the gas a little more, ignoring stop signs and red lights. It was like he was driving through a ghost town.
Once he turned onto his street, his eyes focused on his home immediately. He thought he saw the front door open and he waited to see if anyone were going to come out as he got closer. No one came. Desperation entered his heart and he had barely stopped his car before he got out, with Officer Smith’s tactical knife in hand. He thought about screaming his children’s names, but after the going through so much while in jail his mind immediately made him think of the fear of walking into some type of ambush.