The bus stopped just by the main gate. The metal, heavy-looking door slowly opened up, revealing a short path into the main building. A chained fence separated the path from the prison yard, where inmates were gathering. It was a tradition of sorts - people come in and out of Hedgefield, with a special greeting or farewell by the prople who remain locked away.
It was also the time when many deals were being made.
Once the bus door had opened up, several officers lined up the soon-to-be prisoners and started escorting them to the main door, amongst the cheering and yelling of the crowd gathered on the other side of the fence.
Three inmates looked at the line, but they weren't shouting anything. They merely looked on, observing the new guys. Just then, one of the men broke the silence.
"Booking the first two" said the black-skinned prisoner. "And maybe the one in glasses just by the end of the line. We'll see."
The man he was talking to, a Mexican-looking guy quickly glanced at the men in the procession mentioned by the black prisoner. He slowly nodded without saying anything. His other 'friend', a blonde guy sporting five-o'clock shadow and glasses, just stood there, seemingly not acknowledging the presence of others.
The black prisoner was about to walk away, but only then he noticed something that made him stop. He took another look at the procession. The new guys were almost at the gate.
"Hold on a sec" he murmured. "This dark blonde type. He's going down too. That's it from me."
And then, something he didn't expect happened. The Mexican type furrowed his eyebrows.
"No, Fox."
The black priosner named Fox quickly turned around.
"What do you mean, 'no'?" he hissed.
"It's no becase I said so" Fox heard in return.
Fox was about to protest, even though he was in no position to. He did have an ace up his sleeve, but he wasn't sure whether this was an occasion to use it.
"What the fuck are you talking about, Carlos? We have an agreement!"
Carlos didn't reply to that; instead, the third man, a blonde guy, suddenly turned his attention to Fox. He smiled slightly.
"And we still have" he said in a polite tone and patted Fox on the back. "Unless you want to change that? It's not like we're bound by it forever"
Despite the man's tone, a shiver ran through Fox's spine. He knew that he pushed the line when Rock was forced to say, like, anyting.
The ace. Fox had one last card left to play.
"Sos won't be happy when he hears about this"
Truth be told, Fox hoped that his threat would have a bigger impact on the guys - to be honest, that it would have any kind of impact on them. Tu his surprise, they didn't seem bothered by it.
Carlos almost smiled at Fox. "Do you really think Sos would back you up?" he almost snarled. "The fact that you're running some of his errands does not make you his ally."
Rock was grinning at Fox. "You're not that important in a grand scheme of things. He wouldn't even shed a tear."
Fox knew he lost that battle. He didn't try to fight back - it wasn't worth it.
"Okay, I get it Rock" he replied.
Rock nodded. "Good."
Carlos exhaled. "I guess that's it for today. Fox, do what you have to do. We'll be on our way"
The new guys were already inside the building and the gathering slowly dispersed. The three men, unbeknownst to them, were observed by two other prisoners sitting on the benches nearby.
"So I guess new arrangements were made" said one of them. "Not even remotely curious about them, H?"
'H' didn't seem to really pay attention. "Whatever. I don't have to overhear shit, it'll become apparent who was chosen soon enough, Z."
"I don't think this was another day at the office" countered Z. "Fox seems pissed" he nodded his head in the direction of the prisoner who seemed slightly angry.
"He'll manage with what he has, it's not like they've told him to close down the business. If they wanted that, they'd deal with him right away."
Suddenly, H jumped off the bench. "But you're right, Z. This wasn't just another day in the office. To tell the truth, I think that, starting today, a lot of stuff will change."
Z looked curious. "What do you mean?'
H stretched slightly, deciding to go for a small walk. "Oh, I'll believe we will all notice that pretty soon."
******
"Welcome to Hedgefield!" announced a man in a suit, looking at the new prisoners with an expression of utter disgust, his words far from a welcoming tone. "I'm Admin, a warden of this place. This will be your home for a foreseeable future."
The men didn't really look at him, most of them had their heads down, while others tried to look at anything other than the warden.
"I don't really like to deal with any piece of shit that comes here, to be honest." he continued. "More than anything, I believe that any type of criminal that comes here - be it murderer, rapist, arsonist or any other son of a bitch that comes to mind - does not deserve a second chance from the society. You all should be killed in return, fucked in the ass or set ablaze. Only then you would learn something."
It seemed like he was testing their patience, hoping for any of the new guys to lose patience and disobey, say something - but they all remained quiet.
"You don't deserve a pity. Nothing more than shit stains on the face of community" he spat. "I'll leave you in the capable hands of the man in charge of prison officers here" he pointed at the officer on his side, "Mr Crackman."
With that, he left the room, while Crackman took his place in the center.
"Well then" he started walking back and forth around the room. "It's all simple. Disobey, and consequences will be severe. Just give me a look I won't like and you'll have to answer for that" he said in a calm tone. "Obey... and, well, we'll see whether we can give you a free pass."
The prisoners were all trying not to look at him. Thousands of thoughts ran through their heads, from fear to anger. This was a fucking prison, not a torture palace.
"Allow me..." said the prisoner in a tone none of them liked.
Crackman stopped just by the dark blonde man that Fox and Carlos argued about earlier. He leaned forward.
"Name?"
The man was still looking down. The prison guard made his point clear earlier, so the new prisoner didn't try to cause any trouble.
"Brotato."
Crackman nodded. "Okay, Brotato... See, I'll have to punish you for your disobedience."
Brotato suddenly looked up. "For my wh--?"
Before he could finish, Crackman swung a bat at his head, hitting him hard. Brotato fell to the floor and lost consciousness.
Carlos was sitting on one of the benches. He walked around the yard earlier, looking for that new guy, Brotato. Something was wrong, though. It was late afternoon, the new guys have already arrived, but the blonde guy wasn't among them. Something told Carlos that there would be trouble from the very first day of Brotato's arrival, but he didn't expect them so soon.
He couldn't brush it off. He saw Brotato being walked into the prison with other inmates. He couldn't just disappear into thin air.
Moment later, he saw Rock walking towards him, calm as always.
"Tell me you've got sometihng" Carlos said in a slightly irritated tone.
Rock slowly nodded. He sat next to Carlos, observed the place to see that no officers were around, picked up a cigarette and lit it. He inhaled slowly.
"He's in the infirmary, but will soon be released" Rock said. He glanced at Carlos. "Calm down. You'll be getting your boy soon enough."
"OUR boy" Carlos corrected him.
Rock shrugged. "Please don't drag me into this, okay? I didn't agree to anything. I'll be around, but only because of our 'friendship', if you can call it like this." Rock laughed slightly. "I'd say we tolerate each other in this shithole of a place"
Carlos slightly tugged at his own shirt, bored now that he heard the news. "Call it however you want, we're in this together. Besides, infirmary?" he questioned.
Rock nodded slightly, still smoking. "Turns out our dear Brotato was the lucky guy who got the 'making example out of you' treatment."
Carlos gritted his teeth. "Crack..." He then slammed his fist at the bench, to Rock's surprise.
"Don't be mad now. I told you we should've taken care of the fuck a long time ago."
Carlos turned to face him. "And I'll say what I've said back then - feel free to do that. Just don't complain once you'll have your head splattered on the wall of your cell."
Rock finished his cigarette. "I do love the fact that you remind me of that once in a while, thank you."
He stood up. "Now excuse me for a minute. I know you'd love nothing more to be indulged by me hanging around and have fun with all this worrying about your newest 'Brotato obligation' and I wish I could participate in this borefest, although I don't really want to. So I'll just go and get myself some smokes, okay?"
Carlos didn't seem in a playful mood. "Some days I'm just wondering why am I hanging around with you."
Rock snapped his fingers. "Ironically, sometimes a shared hatred towards something is what binds people together a lot more tightly than, say, things they like" he winked. "As I'm about to showcase, of course."
Rock slowly made it towards one of the prisoners who was lying on a bench nearby. He was reading a book.
"'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley" Rock read from the cover. The prisoner on the bench looked at him from beyond the book with a questioning look. "Wasn't anything interesting to get from the library except an old, shitty book?"
The reading inmate knew who Rock was and was very well aware that it's a tricky business to stand up to him - yet he couldn't resist it this time.
"You may have a reputation of a feared person, but I won't regret telling you know that you should at least familiarize yourself with something before labeling it as 'shitty'." said the reader. "I seriously wouldn't expect you to read anything else than a stickbook."
Rock laughed out loud at this and sat on the bench. "That was a good one, I'll give you that" he playfully shoved the prisoner on the arm "Your little friends Zyphon and Harp aren't around, so it would grant you a smack in the head, but I'll let it slide this time. Anyways..." Rock exhaled.
"I need smokes, Torm. Care to share?"
The reading prisoner, Tormunds - or, as they sometimes called him 'Torm' or 'T' for short - knew this was coming. For the very beginning of his stay in Hedgefield, Rock took his cigarettes from him. At first it was a lot more violent - suffice to say, Tormunds ended up with not just one, but two black eyes, but over time he gave up resisting and simply handed the smokes over at Rock's request. To tell the truth, becoming friends with Harp and Zyphon helped a little, but even they wouldn't risk an open war with Carlos and his clique over something so unimportant.
T reached out to his pocked and handed the pack to Rock.
"Here you are" he said, hoping that he would be left alone to read now, but Rock didn't move. Instead, he lit one cigarette and inhaled the smoke.
"Thanks man, appreciate it" Rock said, but the tone of his voice didn't sound like that. It was more of a 'thanks-for-not-making-me-punch-these-smokes-out-of-you' type of situation. Rock looked at the yard and observed the inmates going on with their everyday business. Some men exchanged stuff that was definitely not allowed on the premises, Fox was standing by the wall with a notepad and writing some stuff down with two men standing next to him, having creepy smiles on their faces; Sos was just by the fence, looking in the distance and not saying anything. Usual stuff... except for one thing that caught his attention.
"Ah, what a fantastic place" Rock said out of sudden. Tormunds sighed, annoyed. He wasn't really sure how to ged rid of Rock.
"What of it?" he asked.
Rock stretched his arms.
"This prison. A place of ever-growing population of the world's finest people" Rock almost stifled a laugh and stood up. "Criminals, rapists, murderers, thieves. This place makes them look all the same. You can't tell anyone apart."
Tormunds raised his eyebrow. "That's a weird way of making yourself feel better, Rock. A small-time thief is nothing in comparison to a serial killer. You can't balance out this one that easy."
Rock turned around for a moment. "Quite ironic of you to say that, since they don't put small-time thieves in this place. Who's trying to make himself feel better, Tormunds?"
There was no answer. Rock stretched his arms once again and looked at the prisoners.
"They're all the same. A grey mass. I know what I'm saying, I've been here for a long time. The only difference is that there's a lot more of them than all these years ago" he snapped his fingers. "Like, for every guy who came here in the past there's ninety six of them coming now." He then started to slowly walk away.
Tormunds shook his head, confused. "Rock the poet? What the fuck are you talking about?"
It was Rock's turn to laugh. Still walking away and not turning back, he shouted at Tormunds. "I thought you were really reading that book, but I guess I was wrong." He clapped his hands, cigarette between his teeth. "But I should've known that once you brought up a stickbook. Fits you better, being a former thief and all that."
Rock didn't hear any response. Laughing all the way, he made it to Carlos and immediately stopped.
"Had your daily dose of bullying?" Carlos said, irritated.
Rock kept on smoking. "Everything has a purpose. And something's going on."
Carlos turned his head to observe him. "What do you mean?"
Rock kicked the nearby stone away. "My reluctant cigarette supplier was alone. And I closely observed everyone on the yard." He furrowed his brows. "Harp and Zyphon aren't here. They've stayed in the building."
Carlos looked in the distance. "So it seems our two friends are making urgent deals right now with the prison staff."
Rock gave him a questioning look. Carlos brushed it off.
"It always happens when they need something from the prison staff. They'll be supposedly dragged to do laundry, even though it's always done a day earlier."
"How can you know that?" asked Rock, suprised.
"I followed them after you tipped me off the last time" Carlos replied absentmindedly. "Zyphon was standing just by the door, Harp came inside followed by two officers. Just that."
Rock sat next to Carlos, processing this information.
"So I guess there's no way to find out what they're doing... except for the knowledge that they're doing SOMETHING?" Rock wondered.
"Yup" Carlos confirmed. "The only thing we can do is to pay close attention."
******
After two days, Brotato was finally released from the infirmary. His head was still bandaged and was supposed to inform anyone from the staff whether he felt dizzy, but was nonetheless okay to start his 'regular' residence at Hedgefield.
He was walked down a courtyard by an officer, but they weren't heading to any of the blocks.
"You have a visitor" the officer announced to him when he came to fetch Brotato.
And now, after he was walked inside the room, Brotato immediately recognized the person on the other side of the glass window. The officer left while Brotato sat just by the window and picked up the phone.
"I didn't expect you so early, Tom" Brotato said, trying to lighten up the situation.
Tom, on the other hand, didn't look pleased. To be honest, he seemed pissed. Brotato had never seen his family's lawyer that angry.
"I tried to reach you on your first day, but I was told that you're under intensive care." Tom said. "After getting that news, I made sure you'll get the best possible treatment. What the hell happened?"
Brotato sighed. "As you said, this was my first day..." he pointed at the bandage. "...and I was a little in over my head."
Tom rubbed his temple. "You're supposed to be the good guy and yet you picked up a fight upon your arrival?"
Brotato seemed slightly tired. "Do you really think I'd pick up a fight?" He sighed. "An offcer hit me in the back of my head. Probably to make me an example for the newbies"
Tom almost slammed his fist at the table, but managed to calm down. "That shit... Do you know his name?"
Brotato tried to recall the events that led to him and the plastic bat getting in a violent relationship, but it was hard. His head was still hurting, even if not as much as earlier.
"He mentioned... It was Crack, I think?" he wondered.
"Okay" said Tom. "Anyways, that's not why I'm here. We're still working on the case, trying to prove your innocence--"
"--but it seems like" Brotato cut him off. "you're not making much of a progress, since I'm still here, am I right?"
Tom huffed. "At least we know you didn't do a thing, your father's men were there." he observed Brotato. "We just need to find evidence. But in the meantime, we need to keep you safe. You know what this place is."
Brotato rubbed his head. "I think I have an idea."
Tom nodded. "As a lawyer, I can try and bend the officials to our will, but you know that's not always possible. Unfortunately, the people in charge of this place are not the easiest to negotiate. To make matters worse, none of the inmates are the men from your father's 'organization'."
Brotato shook his head incredulously. "That's fucking great." He hissed. "I try to stay as far away from... whatever my father's doing, I'm dragged into all of your problems against my will and NOW you're telling me there's no way to help me in this shithole of a place?!" he tried to keep his anger under control. He didn't like that tone in this voice, but the situation didn't really feel too good.
"I tried to secure a better place for you to be held, but the D.A. wouldn't hear any of this!" Tom seemed impatient. "But stop yelling at me and listen to what I have to say. No matter how shitty the situation is, do you really think we would let you be here on your own?!"
Brotato calmed down. He knew his family wouldn't let him down, especially since it was essentially their fault he was here.
"Alright... what is it?"
Tom seemed relieved at Brotato's change of tone.
"Your father made a deal with one of the... organizations on a level a bit smaller than his own--"
"Okay, I don't really want to hear this" Brotato brushed him off. "Get to the point."
Tom seemed irked, but nonetheless continued. "There's a guy from that organization who's been locked up in here. Goes by the name Carlos, looking slightly like your typical Mexican."
"Wears sombrero and likes to take a siesta?" joked Brotato.
"It's not funny" Tom pointed out. "Find him. Or, if he does what he was told, he'll find you."
Brotato hesitated for a moment. "And what did you tell him?"
Tom looked at his watch. "The organization he belongs to will receive certain benefits, as long as he watches over you. The benefits will be granted regularly and Carlos will make sure that none of this" he pointed at Brotato's head, "will happen ever again."
Brotato was taken aback. "You've given me a bodyguard?"
"In a way" Tom replied. "Carlos is said to be among one of those prisoners not to be treated lightly. People won't try to cross paths with you when he's around. It should be alright."
Just then, a prison officer walked inside. "Time's up."
Brotato gave Tom one last glance.
"Take care, kid. I know you'll make it" Tom said.
Brotato shook his head. "No you don't." He smiled lightly.
Tom gave a weak smile. "I'm working my ass off making arrangements for you. See, if you go, I'll go. So do try to make it, okay?"
Brotato smiled in return. "I'll do my best."
******
Crackman waved his bat and a door to a cell opened.
"The hell?" asked Zyphon from his bed.
Crackman smiled - he looked a lot more creepy than usual when he smiled.
"You'll have a new cellmate, Zyphon. Try to behave."
Zyphon shook his head. "Aw, fuck that."
Crackman hit the bars with his bat so hard that the metallic sound reverberated across the hall for several seconds. The entire block must've heard that.
"Language, mister" Crack hissed.
Brotato came forward, escorted by another officer. He walked towards the cell and past Crack.
"Whoa there, lad" Crack laughed at him. "Had an accident or what?"
Brotato didn't say anything, ignoring the fuck. Once he walked inside, the ringing sound was heard and the door closed behind him.
"A little introduction" Crackman grinned from behind bars. "Brotato, Zyphon. Zyphon, Brotato"
Brotato looked at his new cellmate, slightly curious, but Zyphon seemed to be pissed.
"Whatever, I don't give a fuck" he turned on his bed and away from Brotato and Crack.
"Well, now that we have this past us" Crack was still grinning like an idiot, "you can get to know each other better. Just don't get TOO comfortable there, you know what I'm sayin'?" he laughed and walked away.
Brotato thought that this is it. He's in his cell, a place he'll live in for a forseeable future... stuck with a person who seemed to hate the fact that he has a new cellmate. Just great.
But only then, something he didn't expect happened.
Zyphon turned around quickly on his bed and observed whether Crack wasn't there anymore. He then gave a small smile to Brotato.
"Sorry for that harsh meeting, but it had to be done" he winked. "Crack simply doesn't like being left out of anything"
Brotato didn't really comprehend what was said to him. "Left out?"
Zyphon jumped out of his bed. "I knew I'll have a new cellmate. Hell, I knew it would be you. My friend made all the arrangements with other officers. Crack doesn't know about it and it's better it'll stay that way." He extended his hand. "Zyphon".
Absentmindedly, Brotato shook his hand.
He was taken aback. This new guy Zyphon said that 'his friend' arranged specifically for Brotato to be in this cell? Was this friend Tom? It can't be, Tom would've mentioned that to him. Besides, Tom specifically said that some Carlos was supposed to protect him. Too many questions...
"I'm sorry, but what?" asked Brotato. "You have to explain this, 'cause I..."
But Zyphon hopped onto his bed again. "I know, I know, it's confusing, but I'll explain this to you in the morning. They're about to switch off the lights and I'm really tired. See you tommorrow!"
Brotato wanted to ask for more, but he felt that he won't hear anything. He'll have to wait.
He climbed onto the bed and made himself comfortable. Hell, those were crazy three days... and it looked like it will not go back to normal anytime soon.
******
Crackman whistled while driving with Billy Joel on the radio. He would soon be home after a very long shift and felt that the moment he'll walk home he'll crash on the couch and sleep.
He yawned and tried to keep his eyes on the road. The thought of a warm, cozy room kept him going. He was getting ready to sing the chorus when he noticed something in the distance. A bright light...
His mouth was wide open all the way to its source. Without stopping the engine, he walked outside and started at the view in front of him.
His house was on fire, engulfed in flames. His neighbour ran towards him.
"Mr Crack! You're here!" he yelled. "I've already called for the fire department, they're going to be here soon...!"
But Crack wasn't paying attention. Right this moment, part of the rooftop collapsed, making the fire burn a lot brighter.
In the distance, Crack heard the howl of a fire brigade truck. The engine of his car, as well as the radio, was still on.
"
We didn't start the fire... It was always burning, since the world's been turning..." Billy Joel sung on the radio.
END OF EPISODE 1