King of the Cell (DNF)

Chapter 18: Mess Halls and Plans

George POV.

“Come on, are you feeling hungry?” My eyes fluttered open and I looked up to see Dream sitting on the side of the bed, his hand gently on my shoulder.
“What?” I questioned groggily, wiping the sleep from my eyes as I sat up.
“It’s lunch time,” the blond stated. “Do you want to eat?”

After taking a couple of seconds to process the question I gave a nod. If it was lunch time then it had been almost eighteen hours since I’d last eaten, and I felt hungry and exhausted. Dream gave a small smile as I swung my legs to climb out of bed and went to stand up but stumbled quickly afterwards.

The blond stood up to help me, wrapping his arm around my waist and I happily leaned on him, after all he had stopped what happened to me, and helped me afterwards. He led me to the mess hall while keeping me close to him, and I kept my face pushed into his shoulder as we walked into the crowd of inmates.

It felt weird hearing all the usual noises, because to all of these people it was just another normal lunchtime, on another normal day. However, to me, my entire world had shattered in under twelve hours. Dream seemed to notice my caution and encouraged me to keep moving.

I slowly moved with the blond over to grab a tray of food before allowing him to lead me over to the table, where I could see the whole group just watching me quietly. Nobody knew what to say to me, they all thought of me as a victim, they probably all thought I was weak and pathetic. So I tried to avoid being the centre of attention as I shuffled closer to Dream.

The blond was sitting at the edge of the table with his food with me sitting beside him. Quietly on the other side of the table sat most of the group who all just stared at me silently. Punz, Sapnap, and Quackity were all facing me, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Bad and Skeppy. It was clear they were all examining me cautiously, all probably thinking horrible things about me.

All of the eyes on me made me lower my gaze to the table, instantly losing whatever appetite that I had. Dream gave all of them a warning, basically telling them to give me some space and so they did. None of them said anything, but they all diverted their attention elsewhere.

Because all of my hunger had gone I began just playing with my food, sliding around the mushy peas, corn, and carrots with my fork as I resisted the urge to cry. Dream’s bed had felt safe, and I wanted to go back there and curl up under the covers to hide.

Up until lunch was over Dream kept trying to convince me to eat something, literally anything on my plate, and Bad also joined in trying to get me to have a couple of mouthfuls, but I refused every time. I just sat in my seat, legs shut like a vice, my hands on my lap, my head lowered, and I tried to keep myself as small as possible because I hated being the centre of attention.

We were allowed to leave the mess hall at any time once we’d finished our food, but none of the group did that. They finished eating and then just sat waiting without saying a word or even looking at anyone. Nobody wanted to move until I moved, or at least that was what it felt like, but I didn’t want to move until Dream did, because Dream was safe.

It seemed that he knew this, and after a couple of minutes of waiting to see if I would eat anything he stood up, grabbing his now empty tray to put away. I instantly followed after the blond to put my tray away and to be back where it felt safe. The rest of the group came soon after and Dream headed off to the library, slowing down slightly so I could catch up.

The way he acted towards me, being so caring as he tried his best to look after me made me feel a range of emotions. I was thankful, after what I had been through that he was being nice, but at the same time I was feeling guilty, since he had not acted like this before what happened and so I knew it was probably just pity causing him to act this way.

He led me to the library and settled down in a seat. I knew that I had to work and as much as I wanted to sit safely next to the blond I settled into my desk, with the blond watching me silently. I just stared back at him until footsteps echoed through the room. The rest of the group shuffled into the room, muttering to each other quietly.

When each of them passed me, they stopped to give me a pitying glance before continuing over to where Dream sat. As much as I wanted to go over to be near them I felt more guilt piling up at me. The six of them chatted to each other, seeming much happier as they didn’t have to deal with me. It made me feel even more upset as I buried my face in my arms.

Dream POV.

“How’s George doing?” Quackity asked in a hushed voice as he glanced over at the brunette who seemed to have passed out at the desk.
“Still shaken up,” I responded. “This is the furthest I’ve been from him since what happened, he seems scared that something bad will happen the moment I’m out of arm's reach.”

“I don’t blame him,” Bad said quietly. “That poor muffin has been through something that nobody should ever have to experience.” All of us watched him solemnly for a couple of moments, it took a while for any of us to say anything.

“Sapnap,” I eventually began. “I want you to organise with some of the guys we’ve paid off to have George transferred to a different cell, I don’t think that he’d want to stay in a cell where so much shit has happened to him.” The ravenette nodded, saying he’d do it later.

“So,” I continued, lowering my voice even further, even though the only person in the library aside from our group was George. He however, was busy with his head buried in his arms, probably upset about what was happening. “How far along are we with plans?” I questioned, looking at each member of the group in turn and waiting for them to speak up.

Skeppy began, explaining what progress he had made in the past couple of weeks. “Bad and I have been keeping track of all of the guards' schedules.” He stated proudly.
Bad continued on with him. “I’ve been chatting up the guards and have noted down each other their schedules and change over between shifts.”

It was good that Bad was able to befriend almost anyone, he was able to observe certain personality traits so that he knew how to react around them to get them to let their defences down and build trust. That’s the main way his cult recruited members, and he was easily able to befriend guards and get their information without any of them realising what was happening.

“Good,” I smiled at the pair of them.Punz spoke up next, I turned to glance at him as he explained how his job was going.
“Quackity and I are both getting into contact with people outside the prison. The moment we are out of here we’ll each have new identities and new lives.”

Even with all of the things Quackity had been convicted of he and his political party still had a lot of faithful followers. Just like Bad, he was able to manipulate people easily, not that he needed to. There were so many people who were convinced he was the best leader the country would have, and they would do anything to help him.

“Awesome,” I continued. My smile widened even further, despite the sad morning that this whole group had to witness, the plan was brightening us all up in the afternoon. “And Sapnap?”
“Six guards' uniforms have been hidden for us, each in our size by my partner in crime. When we are ready to go they can be smuggled into our room bundled up in bedsheets.”

When Sapnap had been arrested a couple of months ago, the police hadn’t realised that he had a partner. They also didn’t realise that his partner was a guard at this very prison. Karl and Sapnap had been dating for a few years in secret. I was the only member of the group who knew specifically who the informant was, everyone else thought it was a random staff member.

“Thank your informant for me when you next see him,” I told Sapnap, who nodded, a small grin appearing on his face at the mention of his boyfriend. “I was wondering,” I continued on, looking at each member of the group in turn. “Would we be able to bring George? I don’t want to leave him here alone after what he’s been through?”

It wasn’t even a group discussion, it was a unanimous agreement, and all of the group rushed off to make arrangements for another person to join in the escape. After a moment of waiting, I walked over to George, wanting to check on him and see if he was feeling okay.
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