Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

29

"Morning count for level one," one guard yelled. He made his way over to a set of inmates on the first floor, then began walking the perimeter of them all, saying something we couldn't hear from our level. A different guard came up the metal stairs leading to our level.

"Morning count for level two," he called out to all of us. He began walking down our row when I noticed something.

"Sam," I whispered as quietly as I could. "I'm the only girl here."

"It was an all men's prison," he whispered back.

"Webber," I heard the guard on our level say. I jerked my head over to see Jake at the end of our row of cells.

"Brock," he said next. Colby was standing right next to Jake. They were sharing a cell just like Sam and I were. The guard continued for a minute, never yelling out Scherer.

"Golbach," the guard said, walking in front of Sam. He was holding a clipboard. Sam gave him a stiff nod, and the guard marked something on the paper.

"Atkins," he said. I also nodded. He made another mark on the paper and continued on down the row. Morning count was soon completed, no sign of Corey.

"Alright, newbies," the guard that had done our roll call said, pacing back down our row of cells. "You all arrived here last night. Transferred from temporary holding cells. Each one of you is a convicted felon. This is a maximum security penitentiary, which means we won't take any of your bullshit," he called out. "You will follow orders exactly and immediately. You will stick to your schedule and speak to a guard only when spoken to. If you have any complaints, shut the hell up. We don't want to hear them. My name is Officer Waco. You will refer to me as such. Downstairs is Officer Jinx, the head security guard for this unit. Upstairs is Officer Porter. Don't piss us off, got it? You don't want to know the consequences for stepping out of line. They are brutal and we will not hesitate to use them."

"Level one clear," Jinx yelled from the first level.

"Level two clear," yelled Waco.

"Level three clear," called Porter.

"Breakfast. Go," yelled Jinx. The prisoners around us all relaxed from their rigid posture, then turned to the left and followed Waco down the stairs. We joined the sea of other inmates, headed toward the cafeteria that Jaz had shown us.

Sam grabbed my hand and pulled me with him closer to the front of level two's group, where Colby and Jake were since they were the furthest left cell, closest to the stairs.

"Jake," Sam whispered, tapping him on the lower back. Jake whipped around and his jaw dropped slightly when he saw us.

"Oh, shit," Jake said. "Not you, too," he whispered. Jake turned forward and tugged on the back of Colby's shirt. Colby turned around, having been in front of Jake, and his face completely fell. His eyes went dull and his breathing picked up when he locked vision with me.

"Va—,"

"Hey! Let's go. Keep on moving," Waco yelled. I realized we'd slowed down significantly compared to everyone else. We all quickly shut up and faced forward again, following everyone into the line to get food. Once we were in the cafeteria, everyone started talking. We didn't have to be quiet anymore.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Jake whispered to me and Sam.

"What the fuck are any of us doing here!" replied Sam.