Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

56

"Atkins."

Someone shook my shoulder gently, pulling me out of my sleep. I opened my eyes and it took a minute for me to remember where I was, what was happening. All of my muscles were sore and the stinging pain on my torso had turned into a deep burning feeling.

It was Nelly that had woken me up.

"Hi, honey. I need you to wake up. We've been trying to get you up for four days," she said softly.

"Mmm," I groaned, slowly blinking.

"Mr. Brock and Mr. Ray are both alright. So are you," she said.

"Colby," I said. I'd forgotten about what happened and that I didn't know if he was okay or not.

"Yes, Colby. He's in here, too. His bed is right across from yours. He can't get up right now, but if you sit up then you can see him," said Nelly. I nodded my head in response. My throat was dry and scratchy and my eyes still weren't used to the bright lights of the infirmary. "Sit up nice and slow, okay? I have some gauze wrapped around you pretty tightly."

Nelly put one hand on the small of my back and pushed me forward a little bit, helping me slowly ease myself forward. I leaned back against the cold metal bedframe, grimacing with pain every time I moved.

I looked up across the pathway separating the two long rows of hospital beds. My eyes quickly met Colby's bright blue ones. A smile crossed his face. I would have smiled back if I wasn't so distracted by everything else on his face.

He had two black eyes, the area around them tinged a sickeningly dark shade of purple. His bottom lip was split on one of the corners of his mouth and his right bicep was covered in green bruises.

"There she is," Colby said with a hoarse voice. I still didn't smile back, didn't respond, didn't do anything. I just stared at him and his broken face, his bruised body. This was my fault. I shouldn't have been lying to Ray for so long, and I shouldn't have hurt him with Colby. Colby probably would have come at him regardless, though.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay," he said softly.

"I am too, for what it's worth," Ray said, annoyed. I looked a few beds down from Colby to see Ray's face completely bruised, his nose cut, his lips both split, his eyes swollen and dark, a large bump on his forehead and a ring of bruises around his neck.

"It's not worth very much," Colby mumbled.

"I hate you both," Ray said. When he spoke, I saw that he was missing one of his bottom teeth.

"Shut the hell up," Colby said.

"Boys. Stop that already. I've been listening to you two gripe for five days," Nelly scolded.

"They both beat the living shit out of me!" Ray argued.

"You called my girlfriend a lying whore," Colby replied.

"Wait, your girlfriend?" asked Ray. "I thought it was just because you share a cell like you said."

"No, you idiot," said Colby.

"How long have you...?" asked Ray.

"Well it's August now, so... 14 months," said Colby.

"Is she... is she telling the truth about everything? All of the stuff she said earlier?" asked Ray.

"Was she right about your family?" Colby asked.

"Yes," Ray said.

"There you go," Colby replied.

"How the fuck did... just, how?" asked Ray.

"Beats the hell out of me," Colby said.

"Is that why you need to...," Ray said, trailing off as he looked over at Nelly.

"Yeah. We don't know if it'll work, but it's worth a shot," said Colby.

"Well good luck," said Ray.

"What?" I said, finally saying something. Colby and Ray both looked over at me. "You're bailing?"

"You can figure this out on your own. It's not worth it to me anymore," said Ray.

"Are you fucking—,"

"Hey. I don't know what you're arguing about now, but knock it off. You're all difficult enough without all of this bickering. Save it for the jail. I won't have it in here," Nelly interjected.

Ray got let out of the infirmary first. His injuries definitely looked the worst, but they were all superficial. Colby's shoulder was sprained from Waco yanking him off of Ray. I had a big bruise and a shallow scab on my stomach from the rough grip on the bottom of Jinx's boots.

Colby and I didn't talk much while we were in there. We didn't have much to say. We both felt like shit, our bodies aching and our minds exhausted. We were running out of ideas. If Ray wasn't going to come with us, then we had to bring someone else to throw under the bus.

But one day I realized something. We were messing with history. I wasn't sure if this was some sort of hallucination like Jaz had said or if we were really back in the 70s. If we really were back in time, though, were we going to mess things up? It was almost exactly two months after Ray was supposed to have escaped. Had we thrown away the chance for him to even get caught if we did leave? There were a lot of forces at play here and a lot of things I didn't know. One thing I did know, however, was that the longer we were in here, the more dangerous the consequences were going to be if we ever made it back.

Colby got let out of the infirmary two days before I did. I was sort of dreading leaving, honestly. I didn't know if Ray had let out the secret that Colby and I were together. If he had, Colby could be in some deep shit. I also didn't know who had 'taken over' for me when I left. I really hoped I didn't fuck up Center's whole setup with everything. The longer I was stuck in that bed, the more wild my thoughts became and the less I wanted to leave it.

I'd completely run out of ideas. There was no one else I trusted enough for the plan that I would be willing to double cross and ditch after we got out, plus there were very few single people that would be priority to find over six other escaped convicts.

Everyone was counting on me to find a way out. I was their mom, I was supposed to know everything and figure out what to do. But I was at a dead end now. I couldn't help anymore.

"Lunch, Atkins. Let's go. You're going back to your cell tonight," said Waco, walking into the infirmary to lead me out.

an: sorry i'm not posting as much lately, i feel like my writing isn't as good as it should be so i'm a little hesitant to post these chapters. i love you all!!