Page 1 of The Rat

ChapterOne

Rory leapt off the bed at the sound of ascream. For a minute, he couldn’t remember where he was, let alonework out who the howl of terror was coming from.

He launched back, colliding withanother person, and fell on their neighboring bed.He scuffled with thestranger, and their grunts and mumbles only added to the soundtrackof horror coming from the other side of the room. They both fellsilent with their fists scrunched in each other’s t-shirts. Ifdeath had a sound, they were listening to it.

“Jesus Christ,” Rory mumbled.

“I don’t think he’s gonnahelp.”

The lights came on, and Rory pushed off fromthe body he was clutching. He stared at the man thrashing on thebed, in the midst of a nightmare. A lock clunked, and two guardsrushed into the room. They seemed hesitant, didn’t approach, anddarted panicked looks at each other.

“Benjamin!”

Shoutingthe man’s name had noeffect.

The other guard tried towhisperthename, but it made no difference. No voice could reach the screamingman. He had fallen into the depths of hell, and unbeknownst to him,he was dragging them all down with him. Rory shuddered—he couldn’timagine what was happening inside the man’s head.

It was clear that neither of the guardswanted to approach the man on the bed, and Rory didn’t blame them.He was huge, muscular, tattooed, with tired eyes when they wereopen, but closed, they were framed with angry lines, an expressionof pure agony, and it was terrifying.

“Get against thewall.”

Rory nodded, andhe and hisfellow inmate pressed their backs to the wall and held their handsup. They didn’t dare move or make a sound.

Another prison guard came into theroom, rolled his eyes, and strolled up to the man tossing andturning with terror.

“Captain!”

The howlingstopped. Thetortured prisoner rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.His great chest heaved, and he swiped his hand down hisface.

When Rory had first met him,they’d exchanged names, Captain Benjamin Tracy. Rory had called him Captainfor short, and that earned him a small smile. He decided he wouldalways refer to him as Captain from that moment on.

“You were having anightmare.”

Captainburst out laughing. “A nightmare?Nightmares aren’t real. Everything I saw, the emotions in my mind,the pain in my chest, it’s real.” He lifted his hands above him,and they trembled wildly. “I need a drink.”

“You won’t be having one ofthose for the next five years.”

He laughed again, andRorywatchedthe tears run from his eyes. He sobbed while he laughed, and thesound and sight were hard to watch, and equally hard to look awayfrom. Rory stared down at his feet until a guard grabbed hisforearm and pulled him towards his bed.

“You’ve got one more hour of shuteye.”

Rory lay back down on themattress, butdidn’t get under the sheet. He didn’t want any obstacle trippinghim if he had to launch from the bed again. He felt Captain’s eyeson him, and they made his heart thump. He glanced up and linkedeyes with the strained ones watching him.

“Did I wake you?”

Rory shruggedand looked away. “Iwas half awake anyway.”

Captainsnorted, then rolled over to face thewall. Rory could see the back of his t-shirt was drenched in sweat.His hair was kept military short, and when they went through thebooking in process, his dog tags had been around his neck. He’dbeen forced to place them in a box for his eventualrelease.

“Hey…”

Rory turnedover and looked at the inmate tohis right. With his brain functioning again, he remembered theguy’s name was Ollie. Ollie was in for nine years. Rory didn’t askwhat for, that wasn’t the done thing. Inmates asked about time andworked out the severity of the crime from there.

Rory craned his neck closer to Ollie’sbed, and he did the same.

“What?”

“Hope I’m not sharing acell with him.”

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