Never Enough Tomorrows: A Zombie Apocalypse Novel By Christopher Hugh Mills.

Roland

     Roland thought about his options. There were not a lot of moves for him to make locked inside a prison. Things were getting weirder. Since the incident with Old Man Hall the guards were keeping their distance unless there was an act of actual violence. It seemed like they were waiting for something to happen...a powder keg to blow.

     The other day Roland had been watching television with other cons in the common area when a news alert went out. It was strange because there was no sound but it looked like a prison riot in South America somewhere. There was aerial footage of convicts overrunning the guards. At first Roland and the other cons  cheered and laughed.
     Then it changed. It looked more like cons and guards were trying to fight off and flee other cons and guards who were trying to tear them to pieces. Then all of a sudden the footage vanished and the channel went back to regular programming.

     Keeping his crew close, Roland had them watching in all directions. Everyone seemed tense, even Moochie who talked constantly was quieter than usual.

     The news footage of the riot kept going through Roland's mind. If something like that happened in the 'Hunt' there would be chaos...and a lot of opportunities.

     "Can you feel it?" Roland was jerked back to reality by Creepy Garner's whisper in his ear.

     He grabbed the hunchbacked freak and slammed him down on the bench Roland and his boys were occupying, "what the fuck! You trying to die!"

     Garner only wheezed laughter, "little tense ain't cha?"

     Roland contemplated punching the freak in his good eye but Moochie's warning whisper of, "Boss" stopped him. Several guards were looking in their direction. So he let him up slowly.

     Garner chuckled again and sat up on the bench. Roland's crew all unconsciously distanced themselves a little from him.

     "What the hell you want?" Duke asked Garner. He grimaced as if even talking to Creepy Garner left something distasteful in his mouth.

     "Just makin' my rounds," Creepy wheezed, "see how you boys was doin'."

     "We don't need you checkin' up on us." Roland sneered.

     "You sure about that?" Garner grinned, "thought you might want in on the inside scoop."

     Roland eyeballed Garner with a dangerous look in his grey eyes. It was a look that told him whatever he had to say, better be good.

     Garner wheezed laughter again and slapped his leg as if Roland was making funny faces at him.

     Roland sat down close to him and whispered in his ear, "You wanna keep breathing Creepy? I suggest you spit out what you gotta say and then get."

     Garner turned his dead eye on Roland and each of his crew, still grinning, "the Warden is thinkin' of going on lock down. Something big is comin' on the outside...they don't know what exactly, but the visitation from the feds the other day has the fat man shakin' in his skivvies."

     Lock down? Roland thought, that could narrow all options down.

     "He can't do that," Moochie said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "not without cause."

     "Look around you fatty," Garner wheezed, "don't you see 'Cause' written on every face in here?"

     Moochie started for Garner but Roland threw up a halting hand, "enough. What else do you know?"

     "The guards want riot gear issued," Garner's good eye blinked but the dead eye just stared, "even some talk about live rounds being issued to the guards on the ground."

     That was news. Guards on the ground were issued non-lethal weapons like tasers and bean bag rounds to put down cons, relying on the lethal precision of the guards in the towers and on the walls to put down anybody permanently.

     "What about the news outside?" Porter spoke up for the first time.

     "Crazy shit goin' down," Garner said picking at his dirty finger nails, "and it's gettin' crazier."

     Porter's leg started nervously Jack hammering. Probably thinkin' about his kid sister out there all on her own, Roland thought.

     Garner stood up as if to leave. He had a look of satisfaction on his face that didn't make him any prettier.

     "Garner," Roland said quietly, "you hear anything else you come directly to me...you hear?"

     Garner grinned a greasy smile and nodded, then limped away. The crew watched him go, relieved but also a little unnerved at the news he shared.

     "We ain't listening to that freak now are we?" Duke asked when he was sure Garner was far enough away.

     Roland was quiet before he answered. He felt as if a tsunami was building and headed their way, "I don't know. What I do know is we need to keep our eyes and ears open, play everything cool and watch each other's backs. If shit goes bad in here, there could very well be some big opportunities for us."

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     Dinner time and Roland and his crew sat at their usual spot. Roland eyed the guards walking amongst the feeding convicts. There seemed to be three or four more of them than usual. No riot gear was being displayed, but he wondered if the shotguns they were carrying had lethal rounds or not.

     There wasn't the usual mess hall chatter, just the clatter of utensils scrapping against food trays. Roland's young cell mate had joined his little crew, timid and broken as he was, Roland guessed the boy wanted protection from wherever he could get it. Moochie took an instant liking to him.

     Roland watched as a young Mexican got up from his seat and headed to deposit his dirty tray at the dishwasher station. When he passed another convict at the end of the table, he suddenly dropped his tray and pulled a shive hidden in his pants and jabbed it quickly over and over into the seated convicts neck. Arterial spray went everywhere and the mess hall erupted into chaos.

     The injured con grabbed his neck and fell to the floor while some guards tackled the perpetrator and wrestled him to the ground. The other guards pumped their shotguns and demanded everyone get down. The other cons complied.

     A couple of guards knelt at the fallen con and tried to administer aide but he had already bled out. Roland watched from his place on the ground so he saw when the dead cons eyes snapped open, they were milky white.

     The guards tending to the downed con didn't react fast enough as the thing latched its jaws onto the kneeling guards meaty thigh and tore out a chunk of flesh along with some of the guards pant leg. The guard howled in pain as the other guard hit the dead inmate about his head and shoulder and tried to pry him loose.

     Then it turned into a free for all as convicts screamed and tried to flee the mess hall. The guards were being over whelmed and losing control of the situation quickly. Roland saw Porter start get up to run but quickly smothered him back to the ground.

     The first shot gun blasted sounded and a con was struck in the face with a bean bag round, answering Roland's question on whether they had live rounds or not.

     Reinforcements for the guards arrived quickly and the small riot was put down. Before the dead convict was subdued he bit another guard. The rabid con and the two bitten guards were whisked away and the convict who started everything with the shanking was taken to solitary.

     The remaining convicts were lined up and marched back to their cell block and locked down in their cells. Thanks to one stupid convict and his need to make his bones...the prison was now on lock down.

     Roland sat on his bunk. He imagined the next time the guards asked for riot gear and to have live rounds they would get both. Yeah, the shit was definitely hitting the fan now.