King of the Cell (DNF)

Chapter 38: Lockdown #3 (guards)

Karl POV.

My phone was clutched tightly in my hands as I stared at the screens in front of me. I was thankful for the text that Sapnap had sent, telling me that the fight that would trigger the lockdown should be happening tonight. So I sat patiently in the security office, alongside my partner who did as little work as possible, and waited.

Now all I had to do was wait for the alarm to go off and begin the stopwatch which would be loaded up the moment I unlocked my phone. It would tell me how long it took the guards to get into the room, how long it would take for the soldiers from the nearby military base to get into the prison, and how long it would take to get all the prisoners under control.

All of this would be essential information for the escape in a few weeks. Part of our plan was to trigger a lockdown to see how long it took at day, however our escape plan was going to have the inmates escape at night. Thankfully though, it can prove to be more difficult at night sometimes.

If the lockdown alarm went off in the middle of the night then it would wake up the prisoners and piss them off, making them rowdy and uncooperative. Guards would also be more tired at night, and there would be less of them on site since the majority go home at night.

But none of this would matter if the guards in the mess hall right now didn’t press the alarm to set off a lockdown. My breath was bated as I waited patiently, with my eyes lighting up the moment the alarm was hit and I immediately started the stopwatch. It quickly began counting seconds, and then I lowered my phone before turning my attention back to the cameras.

The alarm made the guard beside me jolt awake and he took a moment to keep himself from falling over as he tiredly squinted towards the screen. “What’s going on?” He questioned, attempting to hold down a yawn as he did.

“A fight broke out in the mess hall.” I responded. “They’ve called a lockdown since it grew out of their control. Two whole gangs were involved, along with some violence craving psychos.”
“Good to know. And you won’t tell anyone I’d dozed off, will you?” He asked intrusively.
“Of course not.” I replied. “I’m not a snitch.” The man seemed satisfied by this.

He, along with most of the other guards in this prison, regarded me as a pushover, as someone who would do anything asked of them without complaint, no matter how dangerous or disgusting it was. But I was nothing like that. I only had put on the weak personality so that I would be underestimated when the time came for the escape.

The warden walked into the room after a couple of seconds of silence, surprising both of us as he moved to stand behind the two of us. “What triggered the alarm?” He questioned, watching the screens which showed the inmates beginning to slowly back away.
“Giant fight in the mess hall.” My companion answered quickly and smugly.

“How big was ‘giant’?” The warden asked, leaning in closer while on screen a group of more armoured up guards came bursting in to break up the fight. I glanced at the stopwatch as it happened, it took 90.3 seconds to get the guards into the mess hall. Noted.
“Two entire gangs, but more people joined in after that.” The other guard continued.

If I wasn’t attempting to seem like a pushover then I would have probably glared at the other guard by the way he was acting. With every word he spoke he seemed to be attempting to suck up to the warden, probably an attempt at some spur of the moment pay rise or promotion. I despised those kinds of people more than anything.

The other guard grew even more annoying with his bright, cocky expression widening further when the warden smiled and said ‘thanks for that explanation.’ Warden Sam then went on to ask, “how far out are the military team?” This time the guard seemed stumped, since I obviously hadn’t mentioned that, and he’d never bothered to learn for himself.

“Well it takes three minutes to get the military on the road, and seven minutes for them to drive here at top speed. They are probably only three or four minutes away from here at most.” I said with a smile.
“Thank you Karl.” Sam said. “Although I feel like they are not needed, it seems our own men are getting the inmates under control, and I doubt anybody’s escaped.”

“Better safe than sorry.” I recited which made Sam seem even happier. I couldn’t help but feel proud when I noticed how the other guard got annoyed that he wasn't the centre of attention.
“I like your way of thinking Karl.” The warden smirked. “Maybe one day you can have my job with your view on things.”

“That might be cool.” I responded, before noticing something in one of the cameras. It was one of the external ones, showing the road directly in front of the prison. Four different armoured vehicles were driving towards the electrified and protected gates. There was no mistaking them, it was obvious that these were soldiers from the military base.

“Looks like reinforcements have arrived.” I stated, glancing up at Sam as I did. The cameras in the mess hall showed that the inmates were under control and in the process of being led to their cells. “It honestly doesn’t seem as though we need the military though.”

“Exactly.” The other guard jumped in. “The warden was smart, he’s already said that we didn’t need the military.” I sucked in a breath at how annoying my coworker was being, he was so annoying in fact that in my day to day life I avoided talking to him at all, I didn’t even know his name, referring to him always as ‘you’ or ‘him’ or ‘my coworker’ or just ‘asshole’.

“No need to be rude.” Sam spoke under his breath before standing up properly again. “Now, I need to go get on call with the base commander… some regulations and that kind of thing. But if either of you two notice anything then come to my office and let me know.” He walked out of the room without letting us respond.

I turned my attention to the screens again, noting that the soldiers had quickly moved into formation. My eyes drifted down to my phone and I glanced at what it said on the stopwatch, seeing it had just passed eight minutes. I kept the time in mind, just like the other one for how long it took the guards to get organised and charge the room.

Without being noticed by my partner I took notes down, then sent a text with the information I had so far to both Dream and Sapnap. After I made sure it had been delivered I pocketed my phone again, after making sure that the stopwatch was still working.
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1198 words