Page 34 of The Freshman

“What—what happensnow?”

Ryan shrugged. “I need to talk to Daveand Mike.”

Ryan reached for his radio, and ithissed back. He asked for Dave and Mike, and they both respondedthey were on the way.

“I punched him in theface.”

“Will you stop sayingthat,” Ryan mumbled.

Alfie snapped his mouth shut andstared down at his restless hands. His plan of resigning wasforgotten. He would be punished, was no worse than some of thelow-level offenders in G-wing. He stared down at his knuckles,curling his hand into a throbbing fist.

Nate had pushed his buttons, had beenplucking at the nerves in his brain since the lights went out, andit accumulated in Alfie lashing out. He hated Nate, but staring athis reddened fist, he hated himself more.

A knock sounded on the door, and Alfieturned slowly toward it.

“Come in!” Ryanyelled.

Dave and Mike walked in the room withmatching wide-eyed expressions. Other than that, they were theopposite of each other. One was small, the other tall, one wide andone thin, one hairless, and one with flowing blond locks tied in abun.

“Rookie said he struckNate,” Ryan said, flashing a look at both men.

The stocky bald man stepped forward,and an amazed breath escaped his lips. Alfie stared at him, notunderstanding the expression until he spoke.

“It was quite the sight,and Nate didn’t see it coming. He was too stunned to do anythingafter. He’s always so calm and collected, and that wiped the smugsmile off his face.”

“Is he all right?” Alfieasked.

The skinny man stepped forward,arranging the knot of hair on the back of his head. “Nate, he’sfine. No worse than the usual in here. The prisoners are alwaysscraping. I’ve had worse shaving.”

“But I’m not a prisoner.I’m supposed to be responsible, not lash out.”

“He was pushing youabout,” the shorter man said. “Both me and Dave saw him. Severaltimes he shoved you out the way. You can’t let him disrespect youlike that.”

Ryan tapped his hand on the desk, andAlfie turned back to him. “From what I heard he had itcoming.”

Alfie frowned and shook his head. “Idon’t understand.”

Ryan huffed and itched at his hairystrip of chin. It sounded like scraping sandpaper, and Alfieshuddered.

“You rushed out of herepretty fast this morning, and I wondered what had spooked you.Henry said you were by Nate when the power went out, and you wereshaken afterward but didn’t say why. I take it that’s why youhaven’t slept, and why you wanted to see me.”

Alfie opened his mouth, but hecouldn’t confirm or deny.

“Did he trysomething?”

Alfie yanked at the collar of hisshirt and shuffled in his chair. He was overly aware of all theeyes on him. His stomach sloshed with guilt, and his face heatedwith the memory of the night before.

“He just said some stuff.Got—got in my face.”

“Threats and posturing,sounds like Nate,” Ryan said. “You can’t let it get toyou.”

“But it did, I hithim.”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, you hit him, butwhat was the alternative? Let him walk all over you, run to gethelp from another officer? If you’d have done that I would’vetalked you into leaving. There’s no room for pushovers here,especially on day shift.”

Alfie didn’t answer, and he turned atthe sound of footsteps.

Dave stepped forward, bumping into theback of Alfie’s chair. His round face continued to look impressed,and he nodded at Alfie, then at Ryan.

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