Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

38

Blaze's face fell and he grabbed my wrist. He dragged me over to the side of the cafeteria and tucked us behind a tall cart of dishes. I looked down to see his fingernails digging into my skin.

                "The fuck did you just say?" he hissed. I swallowed nervously before yanking my arm out of his grasp.

                "You know damn well what I said," I replied. My confidence was completely fake, but Blaze didn't know me well enough to figure that out.

                "You can't just be saying shit like that out in the open, Atkins," he said. "And especially not in front of just anyone."            

                "I didn't say it in front of 'just anyone'. I said it in front of you. Intentionally," I said. Blaze clenched his jaw and peered around. "You want to do it, don't you?" I asked, cracking a smile.

                "What!" he exclaimed.

                "You haven't thrown me under the bus or called me out. You haven't said no," I pointed out. Blaze let out a dry chuckle.

                "Who else?" he asked quietly.

                "Guys I came in with," I said. Blaze nodded. "And Ray."

                "Ray? James? Fucking racist assassin? Hell no," Blaze said. "Deal's off if he's in the picture. Why the fuck do you want to bring him?"

                "Because he knows a way out," I said.

                "Okay, then figure that out and let's go without him," Blaze said.

                "No, we can't," I said.

                "Why the hell not?" he asked.

                "Seven prisoners get out. Five of them didn't physically hurt anyone, and you... you did whatever you did. One of the prisoners committed the murder of the century. You're a police officer or the warden. Who are you going to want to find the most?" I asked. Blaze stared at me for a second until I watched the lightbulb in his head go off.

                "So he gets us out and we part ways so that he'll get caught instead of us," Blaze said.

                "Precisely," I replied.

                "How do you know they'll even find him?" he asked.

                "You're just going to have to trust me on that one," I said.

                "I wish I had a good reason for trusting you, but I don't," he replied. Damn it. I should have waited more than two days to bring up something this big.
                "Good thing I do anyway."

                "Wait, seriously? You're in?" I asked.

                "Possibly. Why me?" he asked.

                "Resources. The mountains and woods out here won't be easy to stay alive in. I figured we could start a small stockpile on the inside and a big stash on the outside," I said. Blaze nodded a few times.

                "I suppose we could figure something out. Ray was really okay with the idea of me coming along?" he asked.

                "Ray doesn't even know that I'm aware he's got a plan yet," I said. "But I'm going to figure this out. He's either leaving with us, or not at all."

                "You are a crazy woman," Blaze said.

                "I think I'm just crazy enough," I said with a smirk. I walked back out from behind the rack and to the table, sitting back down in my spot.

                "Where'd you go?" Colby whispered.

                "Tell you later," I replied.

                Our second round of yard time came after dinner. Big said that we get two yard times in the summer since the sun stayed up longer.

                "Want to play ball again, boys?" Big asked.

                "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up," Blaze said, waving on the other Center guys. Once they were gone, he turned to us. "So. How the hell are you going to convince Ray to do this? And how do you even know he has a plan? Or that it'll work? Or that it's set up to be doable for seven people? How do you—,"

                "Jesus, brother. Chill out," said Jake.

                "Nessa's got it under control," Corey assured him.

                "Not to be a dick or anything, but why do you all trust her so much? One wrong move here and we all go down," said Blaze.

                "Let's just say she knows her stuff," said Colby.

                "She's never wrong," said Sam.

                "That'd better be the truth. I'm good as dead if Big and the guys find out what we're planning and that they're not a part of it," Blaze said.

                "Big reward, big risk," I said.

                "Where the hell did you find her?" Blaze asked, looking over at Colby.

                "In a car," was all Colby said.

                We basically repeated what we'd done earlier in the day with yard time. The guys played ball, and soon enough Ray wandered over to sit with me.

                "The tenth," I said once he was situated on the ground. Ray physically flinched when I said that.

                "Uh...yeah. The tenth. It's the seventh. Tomorrow's the eighth, yesterday was the sixth. What's important about the tenth?" he asked. He looked relatively calm, but his jaw was tense which caused his words to come out strained.

                "Not going to happen on the tenth. Not going with those six guys, either. Don't worry, though. I've got six other guys for you, except one of them is a girl," I said. I didn't look over at him, didn't convey any sense of doubt in my voice.

                "I don't know what you're talking about," Ray said.

                "So you won't mind if I have Red tip off one of the guards that you should be very closely monitored on Monday night?" I asked. Ray angrily bit his bottom lip.

                "Might I ask who planted such an idea in your head?" he asked.

                "No one did. No one snitched on you. No one else knows other than me. But I know exactly what's going to happen," I said.

                "Yeah? And what's that, angel?" he asked with a short laugh. This guy had another thing coming to him if he thought I was really that stupid.

                "Pipes. A yard fight. The eighth guard tower, the seventh occupied with a newspaper," I said. "Did you want me to go into more detail, or...?" I asked.

                "No. Shut the hell up!" he whispered.

                "Take us instead of the others and I won't say a word," I said.

                "You...you can't do this. You don't have any power over me, Atkins," he said angrily.

                "Don't I?" I asked. I gave him a sweet, innocent smile before getting up. "I look forward to discussing the details with you later. Angel," I said, mocking what he always called me. I walked over to the basketball court and sat on the bleachers with Rock to watch the rest of the game.