PR150N

Chapter 8

Solomon had trouble sleeping that night knowing two of his best friends and closest companions were in hospital beds. What haunted him even more was that this attack had been set up by someone else. He had gone through this countless times before but it felt even more personal inside the prison. This prison only held 150 people, it was a trial, everything was new and they were still learning...
Solomon had been lucky to have been such an influential member of society before he was locked up. He'd used this to get himself a good cell and sign himself up as a contact for the governor. With this, it allowed him a little more freedom within the walls of this prison; he was able to challenge decisions, he could speak to the gov about things he didn't like or that he felt needed investigating - like when Lex had been shocked when that guy had attacked her in the showers. He had been there, in the room, when the attack had taken place and he was furious when they took it upon themselves to shock Lex instead. He had stormed straight back to his cell and called for a note to go to the gov. Luckily, they worked quickly and it was sorted on the same day. He would never admit this to Lex though, he didn't need to brag about his power and influence to her. As long as she was safe, and his gang were safe, no one needed to know anything about the agreement. The agreement meant Solomon still had to be treated like a normal prisoner with his attire, his food and the need to be shocked if he acted out but this seemed fair and he was fine with that. He did try to keep himself away from too much trouble, just in case, as this would eventually impact his relationship with the gov who had the option to revoke his special privileges. Solomon's contacts that were still free in the outside world were giving small, inconspicuous payments to the highest people within this prison to try and keep him and his gang as safe as possible. Yes, even the new, high tech prisons were taking bribes. Anywhere that has real people at the wheel will always be able to be bought.

"One minute left." The robotic voice pulled Sol from his thoughts and he realised he'd barely touched his lunch. He hadn't felt hungry enough for breakfast today, so he opted for a bit of toast that he snuck back to his room to eat through the quiet time. Now lunch had come and once again he hadn't eaten it. He picked up the tuna sandwich and took a reluctant bite of it, forcing himself to chew it and swallow it before the table swallowed his plate and all the food that remained on it. This data would go onto the file to let them know he hadn't eaten. If he failed to eat his dinner today, it would set an alert that the guards would have to check on him personally. They would have to work out if he was harming himself, if he was sick or if he was just playing up to try and get himself out of this place.

"Social time. One hour begins now." The robotic voice spoke before the alarm blared. As if it was groundhogs day, everyone got up and silently walked to the door of the place they wanted to go, scanning themselves to get out of the lunch room. Sol begrudgingly stood up, sighing to himself as his mind went to his friends once again. He really, desperately, wanted to see them again but he had to wait for the agreement from the governor. It was weird, this feeling he had, as if there was a black hole growing within him and filling him with sadness and an aching he had not experienced before. Was it guilt because Toby had been hurt so close to him and yet he had not been there to protect him? Was it anger that someone dared to cross him? He didn't understand it. They'd all been in fights before, they'd all been hospitalised at some point and this feeling had never been there before. What was different this time? What had changed?

Sol headed to his room in a daze and slumped down on the chair closest to the door. He knew his friends would soon be here and he'd have to let them in. On time as always, the screen bleeped to show the faces of his friends. He quickly scanned his hand to approve their request. They came in with a happiness that Sol envied, all laughing at a joke one of them must have told at the door. At the sight of Sol's face, their smiles faded.

"That bad, huh?" Ty said, giving him a sympathetic clap on the shoulder as he walked past and threw himself on the sofa. Eddy let out a smirk at his friends.

"Come on, you guys must have realised why he's moping around?" Eddy asked the room, but the friends all shook their heads. Even Sol had his attention focussed on Eddy, who normally would come out with something stupid just like Toby did. They all had a stupidly childish sense of humour, but it worked well to contrast their day to day lives.

"Surprise us." Raj said as he slumped onto the sofa, he rolled his eyes before Eddy even answered. There was a moment of build up, silence enveloping the room as everyone waited with bated breath to hear what he had to say.

"Lex." Eddy said simply. "He's sad because his girlfriend is in hospital." Sol snarled as he leapt to his feet and grabbed Eddy by the scruff of his neck. Anger seemed to have taken over Sol but even he wasn't sure why he had acted like this. He took a deep breath in and out before he released Eddy and patted his shoulder as an apology. The room was filled with awkwardness now, deathly silent as everyone tried desperately to think of something to say to break the tension but also not upset Sol more than he already was.

"Sol, you okay man?" Ty opted for the safe option. Truthfully he wanted to answer with a quick and definite no, but he knew he had to keep his reputation of being level headed and calm in all situations. He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Lex put her life on the line to protect Toby. Speak about her respectfully." Sol began, making sure he made eye contact with every member in the room. The remaining members muttered apologies and nodded in agreement with what he had said. "We need to be focussed right now. Someone, a lady, is convincing people to do her dirty work for her. They targeted Toby specifically and we need to work out why but we also need to stay on guard, any one of us could be next." Once again silence filled the room as everyone exchanged worried glances. The last thing they all wanted was to be beaten up in prison and there was no way to tell who would be doing it. It could be any man or woman in this place. Minus Sol, his gang and Lex, there were 144 prisoners who could attack them at any time of day or night. It was going to be hard to keep this up and to stay alert all the time.
The irony was insane. They thought that this prison, controlled by computers would stop any and all violence within the prison but it still happened on a daily basis. Every person knew of the 10 minute grace period between computer scans. Everyone knew that they would attack anyone in that ten minutes and there was a very slim chance that the real guards would be paying attention enough to the cctv to see the fight and shock them. We all knew it, and that's what made it even worse. No bribe or relationship in the world could stop this from happening. It was how they were designed.

"Look, I don't want to be that asshole... but how do we know Lex isn't the person that is organising all this shit?" Raj asked, as he always did, bluntly and honestly. The room fell silent as all eyes went on Solomon. For a moment he looked furious but he quickly calmed himself down and cleared his throat.

"Raj, I appreciate your question. I have my reasons as to why I don't think it is her... one being that these attacks only started very recently and she has spent nearly all of her time with us. But it's worth keeping an eye on." He answered diplomatically. Once again the room went quiet as everyone tried to work out what to say next.

"So what do we do now, boss?" Raj asked, a solemn expression on his face.

"Just stay in pairs, or as a group, and keep a look out. A woman is at the core of this but she is getting anyone to help her. She must be influential but we cannot rule anyone out. Not the quiet ones, not the lonely ones. Everyone is a possible suspect."