My territory

11. Danger

Bible doesn't want to think much about how long he's going to be inside prison, he just grinds his teeth and goes back to the library to study day after day. There's a scheme he can join to get an engineering degree and that's his only long term goal at the moment.

Then, a few days later, a guard comes to tell him he's got a visit from a solicitor. It takes some time for Bible to realise it has something to do with Jeff. Sitting at a table on the visitor area, handcuffed, he remembers Jeff's words. So he's sent one of his family's lawyers to see if they can shorten his sentence. For a full minute he sits there in a daze, thinking of Jeff doing this for him, and its implications, an almost imperceptible smile in his mouth.

The solicitor is a middle-aged lady wearing designer clothes, all prim and proper. She asks him to tell her all the events as he remembers them, and a couple of questions about the trial itself, and then she says her goodbyes, shaking his hand reassuringly.

Reluctantly, Bible can't help but start having a little faith in the future.

***

Jeff has been feeling something is going on in prison. 

Something big is brewing and Big and Boss haven't been able to find out exactly what yet. He hates that feeling. In his world this kind of thing can get you killed. Jeff sends them to investigate, and he also asks someone to keep an eye on Bible, in case someone targets his "weakness".

Big and Boss believe the leader is one of the guys dealing with drugs inside prison, he comes from an unrelated lesser family and he's got a small circle of dealers who follow him. They think he is planning to escape. But that's the only information they managed to extract.
They don't know when or how.

***

Bible is in the library when the alarm starts to ring. The megaphone is telling everyone to calmly make their way back to their cells. He starts walking down the stairs, shouts and sounds of objects crashing coming from the lower stories. 

When he arrives to the area leading to his cell he smells the smoke. There's a fire. The sprinklers are making the corridor's floor wet and slippery. But why the fuck are they telling them to go back to the cell when there's a fire? 

Then he starts seeing groups of inmates, there's a fight and no guards can be seen anywhere. So a fire and a mutiny. Suddenly Bible's hair stands up on the back of his neck. Princess. Where is he?

He starts running down to Jeff's cell level, having to dodge some punches. He spots Boss and Big, they are in a group of people fighting with guards who are threatening with using tear gas. 

- Where's Jeff? - shouts Bible over someone's head.

Boss turns around and makes a pained gesture meaning "I don't know". Then he gets elbowed, but Bible has not time to help him.

He breaks his path with his fists and kicks again, and starts running looking for his lover, the adrenaline kicking in telling him there's some sort of imminent danger. 

The canteen door is wide open and there's some muffled sounds coming from inside. Luckily not a big group of inmates fighting there. He runs inside and freezes on the spot, holding his breath. 

He sees the back of a guy  who looks like he's hugging Princess. He can recognise Jeff's hair anywhere. The reflection on the glass of the food display in front of them shows the guy is holding a knife to Jeff's throat. 

Bible's blood feels suddenly cold, almost frozen. 

The guy is talking and talking. It looks like he's holding a grudge with Jeff. "That's it, Jeff, make him talk", thinks Bible. Bible is trying to think fast, he's stealthily approaching them from the side, taking advantage of the guy's blind spot. 

He wishes Jeff could separate himself from the guy, he needs to be very careful with his attack, the knife blade dangerously close. 

The guy seems like he's arriving to the end of the story. No more time to think. 

Bible executes a roundhouse kick with all his might, his shin making contact with the guy's shoulder, probably dislodging the arm through the impact, and his hand drops the knife. 

Jeff is surprised by Bible's sudden appearance, but he reacts quickly, lowering his body to take the knife and getting himself out of the attacker's reach. 

Bible positions himself between the guy and Jeff and starts kicking and punching the guy mercilessly. He's proficient in Muay Thai (Thai boxing) and his punches have an incredible strength, the guy starts bleeding from his mouth in a matter of seconds. Sounds of bones crunching and a loud screech coming from the motherfucker is now filling up the room.

When he has his opponent folded in two on the floor, still screaming and muttering unintelligible words, Bible makes a pause to catch up his breath. His blood is hot as if it had just reached the boiling point, and he can't think clearly. He just hates that piece of shit who dared to put a knife near Jeff's neck.  

At that point, Jeff holds Bible's waist from behind.

- Let's go - he says, bringing Bible back to the present. Coming back from a bad dream, Bible starts noticing all the other awful noises coming from outside, now there's smoke everywhere coming from the corridor.

They leave the guy lying there and run towards the kitchen, trying to put some closed doors in between them and the fire. 

They pass the stoves, the pantry. They exchange a look and then they get inside the refrigerator chamber. 

They enter and carefully close the door but without completely closing the latch. They are now surrounded by undefined packets of food and animal carcasses, and the room has only a dim emergency exit green light over the door. The atmosphere is creepy and the temperature is freezing. 

They hug each other tight. They are both wearing thin clothes and have goose bumps, perhaps because of the previous tension Jeff is the first who starts trembling. Bible delicately touches him all over, looking for wounds. He can only see a burst lip. 

He slowly licks Jeff's sore bottom lip, then starts placing soft kisses all over and around Jeff's mouth. Jeff holds Bible's reddened hands, his knuckles have grazes and dried blood, maybe not all Bible's. He brings Bible's hands with his inside his sweater to warm them up.

They can still hear the muffled sound of the fire alarm coming from outside. They decide to wait as far as they can before opening the door, hoping the situation will get back under control. 

Bible's rational mind starts telling Jeff what to expect, while rubbing Jeff's arms to help his blood circulation and keep him warm.

They find an empty corner to stack their bodies together as two pieces of Tetris, and wait.