The Network Inspector

Chapter 5:Solitary Confinement

 A few minutes after leaving the cafeteria, I'm walking through the Network's halls. I look down each hallway as I travel through the corridors. Ricky shouldn't be too difficult to track down. As I'm walking, a laughing boy rushes around a corner and collides with me.

 Me and the boy both hit the ground, causing me to drop my sandwich. He's as tall as Adam with a muscular body, pale skin, and black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He looks like he might be one of the strongest boys here.

 "Sorry, man," the boy says to me, standing up. He grabs my wrist and pulls me to my feet."You're the new guy who came yesterday. My name is Jack, and I'm a Soldier."

 "Soldier?" I ask him."That's a occupation here?"

 He nods."Yeah, Mason made me a Soldier once I started bodybuilding. We're the guards and fighters of this place. Mason sends us in when there's a fight to break up, or-"

 "Hey, Jack!" someone yells, infuriated and interrupting Jack's sentence. He's a few inches shorter than Jack, but still muscular. Beside him is another muscular boy, and he also looks filled with rage."You pranking son of a bitch. You peed in our lemonade, including inside Adam's."

 Jack turns around to face the two angry boys. I see that he has a baton attached to a heavy belt he's wearing.

 "I did it because I'm sick of you guys, and Adam, picking on everyone who's too afraid to snitch!" Jack yells, then laughs. He claps me on the shoulder."My new friend here will help me beat all of your asses."

 Adam's friends clench their fists, prepared for a fight. They step forward, both of them appearing menacing and strong.

 "That's cool, because now we can beat up the new guy as well," one of Adam's friends says-the one who approached Jack first."You guys better not run off!"

 Both of Adam's friends charge towards us. The one who's been talking this whole time, rams into Jack. They both smack into the floor, swinging at each other with their fists. I dodge a punch from the other attacker, causing him to become even more frustrated.

 "Get over here, bitch," my attacker growls, lunging forward. I evade him and send my foot crashing into his leg. He makes a pained noise, but still looks mostly fine. As he rounds on me, a baton is tossed into his back. He whips around to face Ricky-who threw the baton."You shouldn't have done that, Ricky."

 Jack slams his opponent's head into the floor, knocking him unconscious. He stands and crashes into the remaining attacker. Ricky picks up the baton that he threw, then attaches it to a belt that is similar to Jack's. He's a Soldier.

 Jack retrieves his baton, then smacks the attacker in the head with it. The attacker slumps to the ground, unconscious.

 "I didn't know you were a Soldier," I tell Ricky. He pulls out a pair of handcuffs, then gets behind me. I feel betrayed as he places me hands behind my back, then handcuffs me. I thought he was my friend. Now he is arresting me."Really, dude?"

 "Yes, really," he tells me, sounding disappointed. He looks at Jack."Jack, I will report this to Mason. You will face discipline for initiating what started this fight. I'm taking Ricky to solitary confinement."

 "Have fun, new dude!" Jack yells when Ricky is leading me down the hall.

 After two minutes of walking, we reach a small prison cell inside a silent wing of the building. The door doesn't have any bars, instead it has a window, and a panel outside of it that controls its locks. Ricky touches a button on the panel, then the door slides open.

 He shoves me into the cell after relieving me of the handcuffs. I sit on the metallic bench that acts as a bed, then Ricky closes and locks the door. He walks away without saying anything to me.

 My stomach growls loudly. I didn't even get to eat lunch, and I'll miss dinner for today. I lay me head on the pillow of the bench, then close my eyes. I remember the first dream I had here. It was a nightmare that involved Ricky repeatedly banging my head into the floor.

 This time my dream is another nightmare, but it doesn't involve Ricky. I'm running through dimly lit tunnels-the same tunnels that Adam supposedly traveled through. A volley of knives emerge from a wall to my right, impaling my body and causing fatal injuries to myself.

 My eyes open, and I realize I've woken up. I can hear someone approaching my cell. Footsteps are sounding not far from this cell, becoming closer as each second passes. The footsteps stop, the person having arrived outside the cell door.

 The person is Lebron, the leader of the thirteen year old boys. He bends down and opens a slot situated at the lower part of the door. He holds a tray of food out, the tray sticking into my cell. All I have to do is retrieve it.

 "Hey, Danny," Lebron says when I take the tray, greeting me."I heard you were locked up in here, so I got you some food I took from dinner."

 "Thanks," I say, grabbing a piece of chicken. I bite into it, enjoying its taste and the fact that I can now quench my hunger.

 "You're welcome," he replies."Ricky told me everything about you. He also said he will be releasing you in the morning. So don't worry about staying in this cell for too long."

 "That's good," I tell him. I'm beginning to see this kid as another potential friend. After hearing what Adam did to Ricky a few years back, I think it will be a good idea to stay away from Adam whenever I can. If we're able to take up new jobs, then I hope Mason will allow me to leave my job as a Inspector.

 "Yeah, Mason is going easy on you since you're new," he informs me, sounding jealous."Before you, I was the new guy. I came here last week, then became the leader of the other thirteen year olds. I also think we should be friends, since Ricky is the only friend I have who is older."

 "We definitely should be friends," I reply, agreeing with him."Ricky is the only person here who's the closest thing I have to a friend."

 "See you in the morning, man. I'm going to my room," he says, putting a end to our conversation. He leaves the outside of my cell, then I hear a door open and then close seconds later. Now I have no one to talk to.

 In the morning, I'm sitting on the bench when my cell door is opened. Jack and Ricky stand outside the cell door, both of them smirking. I stand and look at them, waiting for their command.

 "You're free to go, Danny," Jack says to me. I scowl at him, remembering how I was placed here because of him in the first place."Chill, man. Sorry for getting you arrested and sent to this cell, but you could have just ran away from the fight. We arrested Adam's friends as well, locked them up in one of the cells that do lock in this place."

 Ricky walks into the cell, and leads me out of it.

 "Today, Adam will be working alone in the underground tunnels. Mason is letting this day be your day off, since you just came out of solitary confinement," Ricky explains. We begin walking towards the exit with Jack following nearby."You can chat with me and Jack as we patrol the halls."

 "Sounds good," I say.