Chapter 2 (1/2)

[Saki Aida] Deadlock – Chapter 2

Micky invited the two of them to the cafeteria since it was alathered in one place, which et there early, you were forced to wait in a weariso line Once they reached the first floor, Micky called out to a man in the crowd

“Hey, Nathan Good tiuys Yuto Lennix and Matthew Caine They’re in Block A starting today This here is my roommate, Nathan”

“Nathan Clark Pleased toa few books in the crook of one ar out the other hand for a handshake He was around thirty, with straight, shi+ny chestnut hair that drew the eye He was tall and thin, but his broad shoulders kept hi scrawny His narrow nose and thin lipsYet his gentle se off that inified acceptance

“Come to the cafeteria with us,” Micky said

“Sure Give me a minute while I put these books away,” Nathan answered serenely, and slowly ascended the stairs In some peculiar way, he seemed not of this world

While they waited, Micky launched into his life story at no one’s request He had botched a bank robbery, gotten arrested, and had been here for five years now He proudly inforh a unique route that passed under the guard’s radar, andhis wares to a broad clientele

“If you need anything, just let et you anything except ladies”

Yuto inwardly gave a wry s why Micky was so friendly, but now he knew that for Micky, newcomers meant new customers

Nathan returned shortly, and the group of four exited Block A and headed toward the cafeteria Micky whistled to himself as he ambled on ahead Nathan in the rear proceeded to fill in Yuto and Mattheere still clueless, on various things about the prison

The building was divided broadly into four wings enco, and north wing The east and ings consisted of cells; the north wing had a gy, the only one to have a protrusion to make it a T-shape, had the warden’s office, aduards’ station, as well as the control centre – all part of thein the bottom section of the “T” that formed the main core of the prison At the back of the “T” were the cafeteria, recreation room, infirmary, library, and educational facilities

Security checks were conducted by the guards at certain ates Some locations were equipped with metal detectors

“Countless ways to get around those, of course,” Nathan added, flashi+ng a sly smile He explanations were to-the-point and concise Even a short conversation was enough to show that he was an intelligent man

They were frisked at the cafeteria entrance Yuto could see what Nathan ave him a halfhearted pat-down With body checks like these, he wouldn’t havein a small blade or two – in his shoes, under the collar of his shi+rt, behind his belt There were plenty of places to hide one if he felt the need to

In the kitchen, in white aprons worked busily under the scrutinizing eye of the guards Micky and Nathan, followed by Yuto and Matthew, picked up plastic trays and joined a line that was already getting quite long as they waited for their supper to be dished out

The meal consisted of a few iterits in paper cups, and salad Bread was free to take, as well as orange juice and coffee

The spacious cafeteria buzzed with the chatter of swarms of inmates The air was thick with the body odour of led with the smell of food to make for a peculiar mix

A closer look showed that the tables in parts of the rooht, the blacks at the back, and the Latinos on the left side Yuto wondered if certain races had to sit at certain tables, but Micky and Nathan proceeded to take their seats at the same table as Yuto and Matthew near theskin colour were eating together Apparently the middle of the room was a mixed-race zone

The h he hadn’t expected much But appetite didn’t matter; once it was in his stoy Yuto silently forked the food into his mouth with his plastic utensils, his body a machine, the food more like fuel

Occasionally a passing inmate looked at Matthew and blehistle, as if to catcall at a pretty girl

“Heya, Marsh at Matthew in an exaggerated impression

“It’s Matthew,” the boy promptly corrected

“Listen, when you’re finished eating, Marsho to the canteen and buy the latest chastity belt Developed by NASA especially for prisoners You can take a shi+t without taking it off Neat, huh?”

Micky banged the table as he laughed at his own joke, throwing a backward glance at Mattheas sitting there looking taken aback

“But even with a chastity belt, I bet you won’t even last three days I’ll bet three packs of cigarettes”

Matthew gri that Micky was not exaggerating

“You should really be careful The number of homicides doesn’t even compare to the number of rapes that occur in prison Try not to act alone Stay away fros If you get attacked by them, don’t try to retaliate Let theet out alive”

“Get out of what alive, Mr Lawyer?”

Nathan knitted his brow Yuto was sirab his shoulder

“We havin’ fun here? Care to let ed to a blacka wool hat and a silver earring on his right ear It ithout a doubt, the le of rough-looking black men behind him

“Ain’t you gonna introduce this pretty face to et to know hirounds What’s your name? I’ his face close to Yuto’s Yuto looked the other way Another black man tried to peer at his face from the other side

“Hey, BB Forget this one The white boy’s cuter”

“Bullshi+t What’re you gonna get out of a kid who looks like he hasn’t even hit puberty? Learn how to pick your hos”

BB leaned over and brought his nose to Yuto’s neck He inhaled deeply with a look of ecstasy on his face, as if he were s a feast “Ah, you smell like one fine bitch,” he whispered lewdly at his ear Yuto snapped

“Don’t touch me with your filthy hands,” he spat as he brushed BB’s hand away The crowd buzzed with agitation

“You think you can talk like that to BB just ‘cause you’re new, you shi+t?”

“You asking to get killed?”

BB’s boys instantly rose in anger as they surrounded Yuto Onlookers hoping to catch a fight egged them on

“Do it!”

“Get him!”

“…Move out of the way,” a voice said to the roup of black men All eyes were directed to the owner of the voice “Let h I’d like to eat,” the whitea tray He had a balanced,short of beautiful Yuto found his eyes fixed on the man

The ish blond hair tied casually at the back, did not appear to so much as mind the tense atmosphere around hiressive stares, and sat down beside Yuto

“Trenkler! What’re you doing over there? If you’re finished eating, get the hell out!” yelled the guard fro the commotion

“I got it, I got it I was only saying hi to the newcouard With a sly s stare “I like feisty bitches Let’s go on a date soood time ―Hey, Burnford Don’t think you can strut around ‘cause Choker’s got your back”

BB hurled a glare at the allery ofwith bated breath, let out a collective sigh somewhere between relief and disappointment

“Good job attracting the attention of the worst possible guy ever,” babbled Micky “That guy’s Bad Bob, and he’s the leader of the Black Soldiers He let loose with a un and killed four people Got sentenced to a hundred and fifty years in prison Dangerous guy, that one”

“Black Soldiers? That’s kind of la, isn’t it?” said Yuto derisively Micky scowled and shook his head

“It’s nothing to laugh about,ones with the roup Locos Her of whites, ABL Just take et out of here alive, don’t start anything with them”

“Alright, Micky, I get it I suppose I’ll head over to the canteen and get me one of those NASA-made chastity belts, too,” Yuto said, in a joke that wasn’t quite a joke anymore

“It’d be a good idea,” Micky said with a shrug

“dick,” Nathan said, “he’s your new roommate” The man, who had been silently focused on his meal, turned to look expressionlessly at Yuto When Yuto introduced himself, the man did the same

“dick Burnford,” he replied shortly, then went back to eating Yuto discreetly observed his unsociable roommate dick Burnford, to sum up in one word, was handsome

His masculine features were neatly defined and proportionate He was a good-looking ure ell-balanced and toned to perfection His only flaas a proe of his eyebrow, but in prison, a scar on his face probably added a nice touch

But what drew Yuto’s eyescar were dick’s striking blue eyes, rerey nor blue-green, but blue in the truest sense of the word

Blond hair and blue eyes It was not a rare combination, but Caucasians born with blue eyes tended to see thee, like their blond hair In that sense, it was rare to see soree

“How old are you, dick?” Yuto asked, hoping his question would becorasp early on of the person ho in the same cell

“Twenty-nine,” he replied pro at Yuto

“That ht When did you come here?” Yuto kept his tone casual, but dick see to pursue the conversation In short, he see with

“Matthe old’re you?” Micky butted in brightly, as if to mediate the situation Mattheered that he was al for Moot you thrown in here?”

Matthew pushed his grits around with his fork “It’s no big deal,” he mumbled “My buddy and I shoplifted souy My friend said theto worry about But we ended up getting caught and we got into a fight I ended up stabbing the guy with uy fell over from the shock and hit his head Critical condition with a brain contusion I got two years”

“You were unlucky,Matthew on the shoulder A case of shoplifting had ravated theft and assault Not tohiuard Mattheas quite out of luck

“How many years’re you in for, Yuto?”

“Fifteen”

Micky whistled and leaned forward eagerly “So what’d you do?”

“I didn’t do anything”

Micky and Nathan looked at each other, Yuto didn’t care what that made people think of him There was no other way to describe it

“I’m innocent,” Yuto declared firmly

“Ah, well,” Micky said aardly, scratching his cheek “It happens You must’ve been unlucky, too”

Perhaps Micky thought he was funny in the head, but Yuto didn’t care His side of the story had been rejected froations and at court He had been fraator and had been sentenced to fifteen years in prison Compared to the bitterness of that, the idea of a fellow in he’d lost his marbles didn’t hurt one bit

“Hey,” Matthew spoke up to Nathan as if to clear the aard air “You kno that black guy back there called you Mr Lawyer? Were you one before you came here?”

“Nathan volunteers at the law library,” Micky answered for hi “This guy here knows a lot – and I mean a lot – about law He’s submitted written complaints on behalf of inhts violations, unfair treat sentences and cross-referenced laws and precedents to write up and sub Just the other day, he found a loophole in the law and filed a claiot his sentence shortened by ten years Other guys have gotten out on parole You can depend on this guy a lot e to talk directly with Warden Corning”

Micky’s tone of admiration made it clear that he respected his roommate For a number of inmates here, Nathan was probably like the Saviour

“I only get called out by the Warden when he wants to lecture o around causing unnecessary trouble”

“Where did you study law?” Yuto asked

“I studied a bit of it in college,” said Nathan with a set to study criminals first-hand,” he mused There was no self-pity in the way Nathan joked about his situation Yuto felt a strong liking toward him Nathan was not just a man of brains

dick, on the other hand, was unfathomable from their brief interaction He was a man of feords, and hardly initiated any conversation But that didn’t ht; he still smiled at Micky’s stupid jokes and responded to Nathan’s small talk He wasn’t the social type, but still showed an acceptable level of politeness to his friends That was Yuto’s impression so far

Whatever the case, dick made an infinitely better roommate than a rambunctious man like Micky

After dinner, Yuto’s group returned to Block A for their lock-up and roll call at six o’clock All of the inmates walked to their cells en masse like an exodus

Suddenly, an angry voice rose froathered around what appeared to be a fight Loud, enthusiastic insults were hurled in the air

Matthew tried to make his way toward the commotion, but was stopped by Nathan “Don’t,” he warned “Don’t get involved If you’re late for roll call, you’ll have a strict punishment to answer to later”

“Fights happen all the tio,” Micky said, pushi+ng Matthew’s shoulders The boy gave a listless sigh

“Everyone’s irritable because they’re not getting enough calciuain, Yuto tried to follow He had taken only a few steps forhen he was yanked by the arer he was in, it was too late A group of ed him into a nearby washroom They were BB’s cronies who had threatened him in the cafeteria

“fuck hi hied One threw a heavy blow to his sto to the back of his head When Yuto crumpled to the floor from the pain and shock, he was kicked fiercely while he was still down

Yuto knew he could put up a decent fight if he wanted to, but four against one was too e Instead, he curled up to protect his organs, brought up his arms to protect his head, and dedicated himself solely to defence as he waited for the storm to pass

“Next tientle next tio”

Once theyup Yuto, the black men turned swiftly and ran off Nathan and Micky appeared immediately afterwards When they saw Yuto on the floor, they hurried over to him

“Yuto, hang in there Are you alright?”

“damn it, it’s those bastards fro with hatred Nathan ordered hi into the roo him to sit up dick stared into Yuto’s eyes

“Can you see my face?”

“…Yeah Two eyes, one nose, one mouth hello, handsome”

“If you’re well enough to joke, we’ve got nothing to worry about Let’s take him to our cell”

Yuto ed to stand up with the support of Nathan and Micky His chest felt racked with pain whenever he inhaled, no doubt because of the ruthless kicks he had been subjected to

“Walk It’ll be solitary for you if they find out you’ve been fighting Meanwhile, I’ll thank ot a troublemaker from day one” dick’s snide tone struck a nerve