Strangeways

by Matthew Samm

  “Don’t look at me like that, Alix. You know I’ve always been the black sheep of the family. I’ve never fit in. It’s like I’m not really a part of it, somehow. You never got expelled or got into fights like I do. You’re so perfect that it makes me sick. Here, I know that what I do matters to someone. I feel like I have my true family for the first time.”

  Alix gave up, hanging her head. The battle was lost. He truly was one of the no-hopers and she couldn’t save him. The tears pricked again. This time, they finally neared the surface, but Alix didn’t care. Only one managed to escape and trickled from the corner of her tear duct, cutting a groove through the morning’s dirt and falling to the wood below.

  “Good lad, Isy,” Hellcat crooned. “You know you can rely on us. You know we’ll have your back and you’ll never feel like you’re worthless again.”

  Alix raised her chin, the hatred for Hellcat rising in her throat. “Get away from him!” she bellowed, the anger vomiting from her mouth.

  Hellcat didn’t even flinch. She giggled, enjoying the loss of control Alix had suffered. Her arm snaked around Isaac’s shoulders and she hugged him closer, her eyes never leaving Alix’s.

  Alix tried to spring to her feet, but her balance had evaded her, and she stumbled, not quite managing to get her legs under her before they crumpled away again. She landed back on her knees, her head throbbing, the wound inflicted by her brother throbbing painfully and yet hurting far less than his words.

  “I think you’re right, Isy. You’re too good to be part of her family. Too strong. She’s not, is she? Look at her. It’s like she’s checking the floor for ants, isn’t it?” She clapped Isaac on the shoulder and skipped away from him. “Right, my lovelies, I’ve had my fill of you both bickering like little kids and now I want to do something else. I don’t think Jack’s going to come since he ain’t here already, so I reckon we’ll go and see him. Let’s go, shall we?”

  Unseen to Alix, Hellcat nodded to the other two men in the room. They walked over to Alix’s still-life, still on her hands and knees, trying to focus, trying to make the world stop spinning and all the multitudes of pain recede.

  The men didn’t care for that. They grabbed her under her arms and hoisted her to her feet. She didn’t resist, but she didn’t walk either.

  Isaac walked willingly.

  13

  Hellcat and her team dragged Alix a short distance, it could only have been a few hundred meters up a well-worn path. They arrived at a formidable structure that looked far more professional than all the other structures on the island.

  Alix raised her eyes and began scanning the area, like she did with any new place, her Warden training giving her the heads up that she might need in the coming minutes or hours.

  Hellcat and her henchman dragged her through the front gate. Isaac trotted behind. There were no outbuildings to this place, just a compound building, well-constructed with materials that looked out of character for Strangeways. Instead of rusted bits of steel and metal, there were well-crafted building blocks and cement. It was as if someone had taken the building from the city and transplanted it into Strangeways by hovercraft.

  A chain link fence surrounded the building, topped with a garnish of razor wire and a deep dried up moat surrounded the front of the fence. She would not be able to drag herself through there. There would be no weakness to be found.

  They entered the building and felt the warmth from the built-in heating. She was led into a large holding area, with another empty seat at the head of the room. In the centre, there stood a ramshackle ring that might have been used for boxing or training at some point in the past. Sweat stains marked the floor. Someone still used this place either for their own ends or for some other purpose.

  The door slammed shut behind them, the noise echoing down the corridor to fill the entire training room. As the echo died, a deep voice, surprisingly well-spoken came from an off room.

  “I’m not ready for you to be here Maddie,” said the voice.

  Who was Maddie? Alix wondered.

  “Sorry boss,” said Hellcat, looking genuinely contrite for the first time. Alix didn’t know she even had that sort of emotion in her. She seemed devoid of any recognizable humanity, enjoying nothing but the chaos caused by those living on Strangeways.

  “No need to worry. Since you’re here, I’ll be out in a minute. Are you alone?”

  “No, boss, I’ve got a little surprise for you. It involves the new boy from last night.”

  “Excellent. I’ll be out soon, and I can’t wait to hear all about how he’s doing.”

  They remained in silence, hearing movements from the side room. A piece of clothing being put on, or a towel scraping over someone’s body. Then, a cup being picked up, used and put down.

  Finally, the voice’s owner emerged. The tone matched the visual, but that was all. He was enormous. Thick muscles protruded and jutted from odd angles and his abdominal muscles heaved as he breathed in an out, slightly faster than normal. He was only wrapped in a towel, his bald head still had rivulets of moisture plastered to it, an odd placement of shaving foam still lingered around his ear. He’d been shaving his head after showering.

  Alix recognized these civilized behaviors, but they seemed so alien in a place like this. Alix also recognized the man. It was Mad Jack, there was no doubt about it. She’d seen the pictures and witnessed him from afar, but up close, he was more terrifying than she could imagine.

  He walked over to them, owning the room, in total control of himself and everyone else present.

  Alix felt the room compress, cowed by the man striding confidently towards them. Only she held his gaze and refused to flinch as he approached. She wanted to, but she’d failed enough for one day.

  Mad Jack came right up to her and stood a few inches from her face. He had to crouch down a little to get truly eye level. “Alix Venner.” He addressed her by name. He knew her. “What a pleasant surprise to have you.” He paused to towel off the shaving foam. “It does beg the question why you’re here, but I have a few thoughts about that. We’ll come to it later. As for now, I need to have a little chat with Hellcat.” He leaned up and walked slowly over to Hellcat.

  She shrank back, awed by his presence.

  “The boy is doing well, I trust?”

  “Yes, boss. Really well. He’s like…family.” She didn’t look over at Alix, but the barb was clearly meant for her. It was designed to sting, knowing full well Alix would be unable to do anything about it.

  “How did he do with that little task this morning?”

  “Really good, boss. Like a pro. It’s like he’s been doing it for years.”

  “Excellent,” replied Mad Jack.

  Alix knew they could only be talking about one thing. The men who were taken into the forest. It was her brother’s first job as a member of his new ‘family’, and they were very pleased with what he’d done. Alix wondered why. Carrying something, a message into a forest couldn’t be too difficult. She then realized it was the nature of the request that was pleasing to them. Carrying a dead body, one that he’d probably seen created might have been sickening to some. Isaac had excelled, doing it without question, complaint or revulsion. They were pleased because he came across as mad, maybe as mad as Mad Jack.

  Jack moved back to Alix. “Which brings me back to you, Alix. What do you think about your brother’s new career?”

  Alix refused to answer.

  “Come on, Alix, I’m sure you have a few thoughts. I’m sure there’s something to say popping up in that mind of yours.”

  Again, Alix refused to answer.

  “OK, I understand. You’re in a state of shock, your brother is far more comfortable in my shoes than yours. What can you say?”

  Alix felt Hellcat shift with joy. It was like before, she was enjoying this little show and understood the questions were making Alix uneasy.

  “He’s a good lad, your brother. We can find some use for him here and we certainly recognize the
talent he has. Something your father always failed to see, and he has got talent, your brother has.”

  Alix felt the urge to speak. Despite his intimidating visage and presence, she found that she wanted to speak to him. He horrified her, but he also carried an air of approachability.

  She could see how, if you weren’t as wise as she, his men could be lured into thinking he cared about them. “I know he’s got talents,” she said, not daring to call him ‘Mad Jack’, “but they don’t belong in a place like this,” she said, chancing a look into Mad Jack’s eyes. They were engaging, deep pools with no discernible pupils, the iris a very dark brown.

  “Why not?” he returned. “Talents are talents, who cares where they see the light of day. I’ll tell you something, Alix, your dad would never approve of his talents.” He pointed to Isaac as he said this.

  Alix hated it. She could tell that Isaac would be beaming with pride on the inside. He’d never heard such pride from their father. “You don’t know anything about it,” she said, her face spitting fire at his direction. The venom bounced off, never even scratching the surface. “All you know is Strangeways and you think everyone owes you something because you’re the big shot on here.”

  Mad Jack laughed. He wasn’t offended. He didn’t act like anyone who’s sanity was questioned. He seemed almost friendly, and certainly not as fearsome as his reputation foretold. “I understand why you’re confused Alix, but you must understand, I know an awful lot about your father, and I know he doesn’t approve of young Isaac here. I don’t think he’d even care if the worst happened to him. It’s not like he sent an army to get him back, is it? He’s fine with taking life when it’s not his own.” Mad Jack’s eyes darkened and the elephant in the room made itself known. He must still be grieving. Somewhere inside that shaven head of his, an emotional time bomb must be ticking. He’d lost his son the night before and all Alix had been concerned with was her own brother. She suddenly felt very small and insubstantial.

  “I mean, I lose a son and I send a team to remember his name and get some semblance of revenge and what does your father do?”

  Alix paused, thinking about the angle he was pursuing. For once, her Warden abilities seemed to have deserted her. Perhaps it was the realization that he’d lost Robert barely 24 hours ago. She was dealing with a force she couldn’t comprehend. She’d never met anyone alive in the other side of the law; living and thriving in the criminal world. A tsunami of awareness washed her away.

  There were families for every criminal punished in the cells and she’d never once considered them. Neither had her father. Had Isaac? Did he have a point with what he was doing? Alix shook the thought away, refusing to allow it to burrow into her subconscious and fester away, slowly reducing the timber of her mind to a termite infested ruin.

  Mad Jack responded to the stretching silence. “I’ll tell you, Alix. He sent one person, his own daughter. I bet he gave you a good reason didn’t he, probably to do with his damned sponsors or something. He cares about them more than he cares about his own son.” Jack smiled as he said this, certain he was speaking the truth.

  “That’s a lie!” Alix screamed, once again losing control and forcing herself to endure the giggles from Hellcat. For his part, Mad Jack did not laugh. He seemed to take no pleasure in her suffering or her emotional turmoil, he simply knew he was correct.

  He’d pulled the curtain away from her face and showed her the reality of their world. Alix was struggling with understanding. She hated it. It blinded her and left her unknowing of how to progress.

  “You know it’s not, don’t you? How many times has your father spoken to Isaac like a piece of dirt under his boot?”

  More than once, Alix knew. “He cares. He just knows the pressure on his and our shoulders and he pushes us so we excel. We don’t lead ordinary lives, do we? He cares about us, and he wants us to survive in the real world. Not this dump!”

  “If you say so, little girl, but you’re still blinded by your love for him. That’s understandable.” His voice darkened, taking on a more foreboding tone and his deep eyes burned into hers. “I know I’d give anything for my children. I’d walk through hell if it saved my children an ounce of suffering. I’d make sure I never saw them again if it meant that they’d be safe. Your father cares only for certain members of his family. The rest, he couldn’t care less. Believe me, I know.”

  Alix felt the tears blossom again and felt the shame. Why did the words Mad Jack spoke resonate so strongly? Why did she not have the arguments to disagree with him; to beat him?

  “Look, Alix. You’ve done well to get this far, but you’re out of your depth here. You do not know the truth. If you did, you’d understand the monumental betrayal and the insult. You might never know but I’m sure one day you will.”

  Alix didn’t care what he was saying anymore. She’d heard enough and his approachability and charisma stung. It made hating him harder. She allowed the silence to stretch, sensing Hellcat’s disappointment next to her.

  “Anything else you want to say, Alix? Any other words you want to throw at me? Any other pathetic attempts to save your brother, before we move on?”

  Silence again.

  “Very well.” He nodded to the guards who had carted Alix into the staging room. “Let us move on. Do you know where we are, Alix?”

  She looked around. It was a gymnasium of sorts, although a very roughshod one. It had equipment; weights, racks, a running track marked out, but they were all put together with scraps and makeshift tools. In the far left of the room, away from where they currently stood, was marked out a ring of sorts.

  “You recognize this place, don’t you, Isaac?” Mad Jack called over her shoulder.

  Alix didn’t see, but he nodded.

  “Of course, you do, you were only here this morning, weren’t you? This is where you came to, where you met your new family and saw your home for the first time. This is where he decided his future, right here.” Mad Jack had moved away from them, his voice deepening in pitch and raising in authority and terror. “I bring all the new fish here on their first day on my island. It’s one of the perks of being me. I give them a few tests to see what they’re made of and if they’ve got potential, I throw them to Maddie over there to blood them in. How’s he done, Maddie?”

  “Great, boss. He was born for this!” She cackled after she’d finished, sending a chill of fury through Alix’s veins and raising a hatred for Hellcat that almost rivaled her hatred for Mad Jack.

  “Excellent news. He’ll make a damn good recruit, don’t you think?”

  Alix had raised her eyes to Mad Jack, as he prowled around the gym, finally jumping into the centre of the ‘ring’ over to their left.

  Suddenly, the door opened behind them and in walked Domenyck. He marched into the room and stood prominently, yet off to the side, conscious about keeping a subtle distance between them and him. His eyes immediately went to Alix and he saw the look in her face and the victory of his father. Alix looked broken. His father had done it again, broken another one and let the whole island know why he was the leader.

  “Ah! Excellent. My son returns! How are you, son? Were you successful with your mission? You have been a while; I trust you were retrieving for me what I am owed?”

  Dom’s eyes repeatedly flicked to Alix, something his father noticed immediately.

  “I’m afraid, son, that you do not deserve a price of such worth just yet. Perhaps once you are ready to lead, we can celebrate with wine as fresh as this, but not yet. Besides, I have plans for her.”

  The look between Alix and Dom held a telepathic bond that transcended the room and the inhabitants. Isaac had shifted to Mad Jack’s side, but Alix felt Dom had shifted to hers. They were opposites, her brother and Dom. In a perfect world, Dom would have been born in the city, destined to stay there as a law-abiding citizen and Isaac would be the criminal, forced to scratch a living on Strangeways, and he’d have loved it. He was enjoying it now.

  Mad Jack
had forgotten his question, clearly not concerned with the matter. It was a test for his son, just like Alix suffered from her own father; and like Alix, Dom hated them. That much was perfectly clear from their discussions that morning. “No, I have plans for her.”

  Alix felt a bezoar of dread growing in her gut. What plans could he have? She began to feel like a lamb to the slaughter; like she was meant to be here. It was as if Mad Jack had been planning it for months, knowing that this very moment would present itself in the future.

  He was now stood in the centre of the training ring, his bulbous, muscular arms outstretched, the towel gone, revealing his own version of Warden fight gear underneath. His shorts were black and tight fitting, not unlike the training gear Alix wore. “This arena was built to train Strangeways warriors to be the cruelest and mightiest warriors on not just this island, but on the mainland too. We know we could annihilate any warrior the city throws at us!”

  There was a cheer from the men around them and the commotion was beginning to draw more. The door behind was repeatedly opening as word got around what was happening, and that Mad Jack had a mainlander in his possession. Before long, the whole gym was full, the crowd surrounding the ring like a Warden bout.

  “It just so happens that we have one of their finest warriors here now!” His hand opened and gestured towards Alix, the sinews of his shoulders flexing as they moved the colossal arm in her direction.

  There was another cheer.

  “Now, all we need is a crime to punish! Is there anyone out there who knows a criminal?”

  There was an uproar of laughter and a chorus of ‘No!’

  “Don’t worry, I have a perpetrator of the worst crime imaginable, right here in this room!” His eyes drifted over to Alix.

  She felt her legs turn to jelly. She’d wanted this moment. She knew what was about to happen. Mad Jack was going to bring her into the ring, and he was going to fight her. He was going to show the gathered horde that he was the biggest, baddest and meanest savage on this island. She was to be an example. She was to solidify his base.