Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

33

Lunch came after yard time, then more work time, then dinner. Big pushed two tables together so the ten of us could all sit with each other, no one daring to even come near the two empty seats.

                "Cell time. Back to your units!" Jinx yelled, strolling into the cafeteria.

                "Well isn't he just a little ray of sunshine," Corey muttered.

                "You have no idea," replied Rock. "Don't fuck with that man. Waco and Porter, whatever. But Jinx? Stay quiet and stay away."

                "Don't have to tell me twice," said Jake. We all got up and put our trays away before walking back to our cells. Corey went with the Center to the first floor of cells, while me and the other trap guys walked up to the second level.

                "Atkins! Where the hell do you think you're going?" Waco yelled from behind me. I jumped when he said that, then slowly turned around.

                "To my cell, sir," I said uneasily.

                "You're in 200 with Brock. Webber is in 209 with Golbach," Waco barked.

                "What?" asked Colby.

                "Don't question me unless you want a bloody nose and a black eye, boy. Those are the orders. Go to your cells now," Waco ordered.

                "Yes sir," I said. I turned around and walked to the end of the row toward Colby's cell, passing Jake on the way as he walked to Sam's. We all got into the cells and a loud buzzing noise rang out a few moments later, triggering all of the cell doors to slam shut with a loud clank.

                "Lights out in one hour!" Jinx yelled from downstairs. I turned away from the bars to face Colby. We just sort of stood there for a second, not really sure what to do or say.

                "Well at least you look good in grey," I said. Colby opened his mouth to say something, but closed it before any sound came out. He simply stepped toward me and wrapped me into a tight hug, holding me against him. I hugged him back and buried my face in the crook of his neck.

                The entire time we'd been in the place so far, we'd been busy. We'd been working or learning or scouting out the place or talking to new people. We hadn't had any time alone with each other, Jake, Sam, and Corey all included. When Colby and I were finally alone, and he had me pulled into that hug, it's like everything became so real. Everything hit me all at once.

                We were stuck here. No memory of what happened before we woke up in these cells, no idea if there were different versions of us existing in this time period that had actually committed these crimes. We didn't know how long we'd be here, didn't know if we'd even be able to get out. We could get hurt in here, we could die in here.

                Even if we escaped, there was no guarantee that things would just pick up where they left off back in our own time. What if we were just permanently stuck in the 70s, forced to live out the rest of our lives in a time period we were born 20 years after?

                I started crying, my shoulders shaking in Colby's arms.

                "I know, baby. I know," he said softly.

                "We need to get out of here," I said with a shaky voice.

                "We will. We might even wake up back in our year, okay?" he said.

                "And if we don't?" I asked. I was pretty damn sure we'd still be here, but I wanted to hold on to one more piece of hope.

                "Then we'll find a way out. Really quick," Colby said. I let out a chuckle through my tears when he said that. "What?" he asked.

                "Baby, this isn't going to be quick. We have to gain Ray's trust, gain Blaze's support on the idea, convince the guards that we aren't a threat that needs to be closely monitored. We need to be experts on the inside if we're ever going to make it to the outside," I said.

                "Oh. How many days will that take? Just as a rough estimate?" he asked.

                "I think you mean weeks. Hell, maybe even months. We've got some power and cred in here, which is the only reason it won't be years," I said.

                "Well when did Ray escape?" Colby asked.

                "The tenth. But if we can bring it to his attention that we're fully aware of the plan, we'll be able to convince him to postpone it as long as it takes. And to tell the rest of the guys he's planning on taking with him that the plan's off," I said.

                "Jesus Christ, we are so lucky you are here," Colby said.

                "What do you mean?" I asked.

                "Well, okay. I wish you weren't here and I'd do anything to get you back to our time where you'll be safe. But that's obviously out of the question. We'd probably die in here without you. Sam could probably figure out a plan, but he doesn't know all of this history stuff and what it was really like here," Colby explained.

                "We're going to need all of us if this is going to work," I said.

                "And that's not a problem. You do have all of us," he replied. "Now come on, let's get some sleep."

                Colby stashed the bottle of whiskey under his pillow in the pillowcase and we tucked our packs of cigarettes under the bottom mattress in the bedframe.

                "Top or bottom?" Colby asked.

                "What now?" I asked.

                "Oh my god. Not like that," he laughed. "Which bed?"

                "Oh! Uh, top. I weigh less anyway," I said.

                "Okay. Sounds good to me," he said. He gave me a kiss before sitting down on his bed. "Goodnight princess. Hopefully we wake up where we went to sleep."

                "Yeah. Hopefully," I said.

                I knew we weren't going to.