6 Chapter 6 - Mess Hall Mess

After the revelations of last night, I actually ended up falling asleep. I somehow felt like I got really tired, but I assume it was just the extensive thinking that made me so. This was my first night at my new cell, with an actual cell mate, so I actually was surprised how I managed to sleep so, well, peacefully.

"Get up, swines!" I woke up to a rather rude, and loud remark. The guard, who just passed us, seemed to have made every little bit of effort, that he could muster up, to bang on every single existing steel bar, that's in our windows, and even after that, just for good measure, he also hammered on our doors, for a little bit. "Roll call!" he added.

I'm sure, if this was the military, everyone would have jumped out of bed, headed for the hall, and would've awaited further orders. But, evidently, this was a prison. Murderers, rapists, burglars, gangsters, that sort of people. These folks weren't really the best people on this planet.

I guess that includes me now, huh.

Even though it was unintentional, and sort of an accident, I think I already made peace with it. I'm a murderer. A killer. Seems like I might be pretty good at it as well.

It's not like anyone is expecting anything from me.

I might give it a go. Crime could pay well, once I'm out of here.

We all were required to stand just outside of our cells, while the guards made their inspections, and counted every single one of us, by our numbers. Old Man Halla told me about our schedule before going to sleep, so that I would know what's coming, and when.

Roll Calls only happen in the mornings here, which are quite thorough. After this, we are to do some excersises, take a shower, and line up in the mess hall for breakfast. Through the rest of the day, we have a variety of options, we can either work or study. For the younger inmates, it's usually recommended, to study, and for the older ones (past 25, or so) it's working. Both can still choose either.

I was thinking about studying, so I'll have to sign up for that later on this day, but before that, morning routine.

I followed the Old Man, as he asked me, this way I won't be attacked out of the blue, since apparently a lot of the inmates go to him for advice, thus they repect him somewhat. First, we went to the gym, where he helped me out with creating a basic workout routine for me, that I were to follow for the next year or so, and after that, we'll come up with something new.

I still don't know how long I'll be in here, but I'm getting prepared for the worst.

My workout mainly focused on callisthenics, and cardio. For now, I need to get my stamina up, as well as my strength. I wouldn't wanna be a weak character with low stats, after all.

After about 30 minutes of excercise, we already had to go and take a shower, if we wanted any breakfast.

I hope you don't mind, if I don't explain what goes on in a shower. (No soapy business tho (thankfully))

I noticed upon arriving to the Hall, that we had quite a bit of a queue, so much for arriving early, I though.

"This is early," Halla said.

"I thought you're not reading me anymore," I looked at him, slightly annoyed.

"It's all on your face. Remember? Experience," he laughed.

So we waited. And we waited. It took us about ten minutes, to finally get our meal. The ladies in charge of distributing the food seemed nice enough, but I learned not to trust the staff here.

"Much appreciated, Darling," Halla suddenly said. The lady blushed, and put a little bit more of the mushy peas (ugh) onto the Old Man's plate. I don't know if an well-aged man flirting is more unsettling, or the mushy peas landing on my tray, next to the perfectly fine boiled sausages.

"Thanks," I uttered, with a slightly upset heart.

And with that, we went around to find a table to eat at. Finally, after a bit of a look-around, we found one, and started in that direction.

"You see, a nice smile can help you out," he said.

"Duly noted."

After a short pause, the old man looked at me, with a slightly embarassed expression.

"Would you mind if I left for a minute? My body's not the same as it used to," he said.

"Sure," I replied, fully aware of what's going on. Bladder issues, huh. Hope I'll be more durable in my sixties.

As I was trying to force down my "food", suddenly, I heard - and felt - a huge slam on my table.

"Oi, new-blood. That's my seat," said a bulky man, with a small entourage of bulky men.

"I don't see a problem here?" I replied, forcing down another spoonful of peas.

"You have a big mouth. Mind if I seal to in?" he said. Hope he meant by a fist. I looked behind him, and noticed that one of the bulkymen looked sort of out of place.

"Hey, you," I stared at him, "What's your name?" He looked at me, not understanding why I talked to him, rather than replying to the boss man.

"You ignor-" the Bossman got interrupted.

"Baulder," the out-of-place-bulkyman said.

"Baulder, beat him up, will you?" I looked him in the eye, focus all my [Willpower] on him.

His eyes slowly turned hazy, then purple. He slightly bowed down to me, and then proceeded to grab his ex-boss by the neck, and slammed him into the ground.

For a second it was silence.

And then chaos ensued. Everyone started rioting out of the blue.

I did not expect that. Suddenly, a crowd of people were surrounding me, but surprisingly enough, they were turning their backs to me. Quite absurd. Did I just manage to get rid of the big-bad-wolf of this place?

Without a second thought, I jumped, and climb on top of my new slave, Baulder, for some added protection, and high ground. I wanted to see what was happening.

A bunch of the inmates were punching, biting, or using their powers on others. I was seeing huge muscles, ice, fire, lighting, even the ground breaking.

I think I was in trouble, if the warden were to find out I was the perpetrator. I leaned towards Baulder's ear, and whispered my next order.

"Take me out of here."

He groaned, and started going for the entrance.

Out of nowhere, two of the Bossman's lackies were standing in front of us. They both took a fighting posture, and started runing towards us. Just as suddenly, I felt that my goliath's skin strated to feel strange, almost wood-like.

Because it was truning into wood. Of course, as you do.

For a second, I could see a little bit of hesitation, but they didn't back down. Baulder raised both of his hands as a shield in front of him, and charged right through their attacks. Both were flung back, with an unparalleled strength, and left a crater upon impact.

I don't believe they'll be in moving condition any time soon.

"Quite the [Power] you have there, Baulder," I complimented my giant.

"It's called [Oarshield], Master," he explained.

Master has a nice sound to it.

"What does it do, exactly?" I asked.

"Can cover my body in strong wood, like an oar."

"Is it flammable?" I had to ask this. Would be a disaster, if I didn't, and he caught on fire.

"Never tested, Master," he replied. Master. I really like it.

We continued running towards the door. A bunch of quite tough looking inmates were shielding it, although, to no avail. Baulder ran through all of them, one by one. He sort of reminded me of a certain movie, where the main archeologist dude was running from a boulder. Can't remember the title, it was released almost a century ago, at this point.

The entrance, our exit, was only a few meters away, yet I had a slight feeling, that this won't be this easy. It felt like...

Killing intent!

"Stop! Baulder, stop right now!" I shouted at him, although it seemed I was too late.

He stopped, although not in response to my order. He fell backwards, and I just barely managed to get off of his back unharmed. It seemed like something was seeping out of his mouth, from where I was standing. Some gas?

Poison?!

Silence.

I looked around, and noticed that everyone around me, has suddenly started to drop, one by one. Each and everyone of the inamtes had the same poison gas leave through their body.

Who could have done this?

CLAP

CLAP

"That's enough. You ain't getting any meals today, idiots," said a familiar voice, in a cold tone.

"Russel!" I tried to shout, yet for some weird reason, not a single word left my mouth. Instead, when I opened it, a familiar looking green haze emerged from it.

Poison-

The Vice-Warden walked in through the main door, with a relentless, and somehow very annoying smirk on his face.

"You can't stay put, can you, 999?" he said, as I collapsed on the cold, dirty floor.

And then, everything turned black.