Page 38 of Hell & Back

Joe jumped up from his cot and backed away. He slid along the concrete wall at the back, holding his hands out to ward them off. “No. Stay back. Whatever you’re going to do, just leave me a lone.” They dropped the food and water to the floor and advanced on Joe. The guy with the keys pulled a syringe out of his pocket. Fuck! They were going to drug the kid again.

Darren’s food forgotten, he moved to the foot of his bed where it didn’t block the bars between his and Joe’s cell. He watched and waited as sandwich man moved closer. He kept his eye on Joe and by doing so, didn’t see how close he’d gotten to Darren. He reached his arms through the bars and when the opportunity presented itself, he grabbed hold of the man and got him in a headlock against the bars.

“Stay the fuck away from the kid!” he shouted and squeezed harder on sandwich man’s neck.

Too tired and too weak, Joe was pinned face first into the wall. The Phantom pulled the cap from the syringe, spit it out and stuck Joe in the arm, and pressed the plunger. Joe roared in anger as he tried to buck them off. Too late. Darren was too fucking late to help him.

Over his shoulder he heard his cell door being thrown open, four Phantoms storming inside. They worked on getting him to loosen his grip on their brother. When that didn’t work, they resorted to punching him in the back and sides. Forced to let go in order to protect his already bruised and beaten body, he started to pull his arms back through the bar, only to come up short. Somehow, the ones in Joe’s cell had grabbed onto his arms and were pulling him up against the bars, holding him in place. That allowed one of the brothers on his side to stick him with a needle in his arm.

“Motherfuckers! I’m going to kill you all!” He struggled to get free, but didn’t make it in time to get his hands on one of the men in his cell. Before the one’s in Joe’s cell could turn him loose, hetook a step backward and yanked them face first into the bar. One ended up with a gash on his forehead and the other busted his nose. It wasn’t nearly enough damage.

The clang of his cell door closing told him they’d all gotten out. His chest was heaving as he turned to face his captures. Crockett stood outside his cell smiling from ear to ear, thoroughly pleased with what just happened.

“God damn it! He broke my fucking nose!” The injured man cupped his hand under his nose and let the other guy with the gash lead him out. “Why the fuck did you break my nose?” The man was a pussy whiner.

“I was trying to fix your ugly face.”

“My face wasn’t ugly!”

“It is now.” Darren felt both sides of his face tip up into a satisfied smile.

Broken nose turned and whined to one of his brothers. “How bad is it?” The other guy said it wasn’t bad and offered to fix it for him. Getting the go ahead, he shoved it back in place.

“What the fuck!” Broken nose yelled, then punched the other guy in his nose. “That hurt.”

Like two five-year-olds fighting over a toy, they went after each other until Crocket sighed, “RIP.”

RIP didn’t need to be told anything else. He grabbed them both by the scruff and shoved them hard down the hall. “Get upstairs. Now!”

“Wow. You got quite the crew there. I’m impressed with your recruiting standards. Or is it your leadership abilities that I’m seeing play out?”

“Boys will be boys.” Crockett didn’t seem too concerned.

“Why the fuck did you give me more of that goddamn drug?” He hated that he asked, but he had to know.

“The first two doses didn’t seem to be affecting you like the others. Figured it was because of your size. Probably didn’t giveyou enough the first couple of times so we gave you a little more this time.” The Phantom president shrugged a shoulder. “Mostly because I can. I wanna see how bad you get before you breakdown and fuck someone.”

“I amnotfucking anyone,” he growled. Shit, he could already feel it moving throughout his blood stream. He had a feeling this one on top of the others was going to be bad. He dropped his ass on his cot and dropped his head in his hands. He wasn’t sure how much they increased the dosage by but he definitely felt a difference this time. “Why the fuck do you have to stick me with a needle? If this is how you plan on selling it, your sales won’t be all that high.”

Crockett stepped closer to the bars. “We sell it in a pill form on the streets.”

Darren’s head rose, his eyes narrowing. “Then why?”

“Would you have taken a pill of your own free will?”

The look he gave Crockett clearly said it all because he laughed and said, “That’s why you got a needle.” He tapped his hands against the bars, then added, “Might wanna eat your sandwich. You’re going to need all your strength in a little while.” He pushed off the bars and led the rest of them away.

As they were walking away, he heard one of them say, “Did you see the size of his dick? What the hell was that thing?”

Darren shook his head against the disorienting effect of the drug. What the fuck just happened?

He looked toward Henry’s cell and saw him curled up against the wall in the corner, trying his best to blend in with the shadows. Darren got up and moved back to the bars between him and Joe. The kid was sitting on the edge of his cot, his head in his hands, rocking back and forth.

“Joe? You good?”

“No, I’m not fucking good! They just shot me up with more of that shit!” His head came up and Darren’s heart broke at thetears and desolation in his eyes. He wished there was something he could do, but he was as much at the mercy of the Phantoms as the kid was.

“What if I end up like Otis or Henry? What if they make me wait a long time like they’ve been doing with you?” He started rocking again. “I just want to go home.”

---