Surviving Fox River | Prison Break

Chapter 19

T-bag left the room after Lincoln, and Michael left a little while later, with the same look on his face from earlier. I was curious as to what was bothering him, so I followed and spotted him leaning against the side of the building, his head in his hands. I walked up to him and leaned on the building, my hands in my pockets.

"Mikey, what's wrong?" I asked and he looked up, those piercing blue eyes filled with uncertainty.

"Um, nothing. I just, uh, have a bad headache. Everything's stressing me out. Linc's execution coming up, the plan, the extra people I didn't plan for, the escape, the date, the timing, everything. It's just so stressful." He explained, running his hands over his head. My heart went out to him, knowing how hard it must be for him. But I could tell he was hiding something else.

"What else?" I asked.

"There's nothing else." he said, pushing off the building and walking towards the break room. I rolled my eyes and caught up to him.

"Michael, I've known you my entire life. I know when you're hiding something, so spill it." He sighed and closed his eyes before opening them again.

"When I was in Pope's office, I did the calculations and based on the time it would take to get the bars off the infirmary window and go across the wire, I realized that we have too many people." My eyes widened at the explanation.

"So that means-"

"One person has to go." He finished as we rounded the corner. I stopped in my tracks when I saw C-note leaning against the bricks, his arms crossed over his chest. Michael stopped next to me and by the look in C-note's eyes, he had heard everything we said.

"Mind sharing that with the rest of the class?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. Michael sighed, raising his eyes towards the sky in annoyance. C-note walked inside and we followed after him, not even trying to stop him from telling the others. They were going to find out sooner or later. I closed the door to make sure none of the guards would overhear our conversation.

"Guys, meeting time." I called out. We all stood in a small circle and C-note smirked.

"Fish here says that there are too many clowns in this vehicle. One of us is digging and that seat ain't guaranteed." he told the group. Exclamations were tossed across the room and Sucre dropped his mallet.

"I ain't digging if I ain't going." he said, holding his hands up.

"Somebody has to go." Abruzzi commented, looking around.

"Who is it gonna be?" Westmoreland asked, still holding his mallet. Just then, T-bag walked in and hesitated when he saw all of us in a huddle. He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes.

"Seems like some sort of conspiracy going on here. Care to inform me?" he asked.

"No." We all said in unison, breaking up the group. We ignored him and went back to work, and I knew that all of us would vote for T-bag to be the one to not leave with us. He nodded his head and the door opened and Lincoln walked in with two shovels.

"Give one to T-bag." Michael said and Lincoln shoved the shovel into T-bag's chest, purposely knocking the wind out of him. T-bag coughed and if looks could kill, Linc would be dead from the look T-bag gave him. He started shoveling and I decided to keep an eye on him from now on, in case he did something stupid to secure his spot. I had a feeling he heard what we were talking about and I wasn't going to take any chances.

I bent over to grab mallet when I felt a hand grab my ass. I shot up, ready to knock somebody out and I saw Lincoln wink at me. I smiled and shook my head, getting back to work.

* * *

"Tier time, ladies! Up and at em!" The guard yelled and our cells opened, our temporary freedom from being cooped up for hours. I stood up and walked out my cell and to the railing, eyeing downstairs. I spotted C-note in his cell and he didn't seem to be coming out.

I remembered earlier, when I had my moment with Lincoln and I decided to go down and have a chat with him. I knocked on his cell door and he glanced up, a surprised look on his face when he saw that it was me.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting up. I walked in and slid on the bed next to him and he looked confused, scooting back a little. "Uhh, Melanie, I don't think that we should-" My laugh interrupted him.

"Trust me, Benjamin, I'm only here to talk." I told him and he visibly relaxed.

"So, uh, what do you need?" I leaned back, getting comfortable.

"Earlier, when Lincoln was going crazy over Bellick hurting me, I saw this look in your eyes, as if you could relate to how Linc was reacting."

"I didn't have no look." He protested, frowning. I pursed my lips and arched an eyebrow.

"I know that look like the back of my hand. Lincoln always has that look. Now, who is she? Your wife? Girlfriend?" When he didn't answer, I pressed a little bit more. "Boyfriend?"

"I'm not no fag!" He raised his voice and then caught himself, taking a deep breath through his nose. "It's my wife, okay? I can't do nothin' to protect her while I'm in here and I worry about her everyday." He admitted quietly. "Seeing you and the Sink and how you both in here, I can't even begin to imagine how he's feeling right now."

I thought about what he was saying and by looking at him, I would never have thought he felt that way. "How did you end up in here?" I asked. He looked at me like I was weird.

"Why do you wanna know all this shit?" I shrugged and adjusted my legs.

"Nothing else to do around here so I might as well get to know the person I'll be on the run with." I answered and he smiled slightly.

"Yeah, I guess you right." He shifted a bit before speaking again. "I was deployed in Iraq and my superior always had me smuggling in stuff that we wasn't supposed to have. As long as no one above him found out, everything was cool. One day, a shipment came in and I went down to storage to put it in there and I heard screaming. I don't know why, but I followed the sound and the things I saw-" He took in a sharp breath, closing his eyes at the memory. I placed my hand on his knee for comfort. "I will never be able to unsee what they did to our enemies when they were captured."

"What happened then?" I wondered, drawn into the story. He sighed before continuing.

"I went to my boss and told him I would have to report what I saw. What I didn't know was he had authorized that and since he didn't want to get in trouble, he discharged me for smuggling in illegal goods--goods that he told me to get for him! Now I have 'dishonorable discharge' stamped all over me for the rest of my life." He shook his head, and ran his hand down his face.

"But that's not how you ended up here, is it?" I asked and he shook his head.

"Nah, afterwards, I couldn't tell my wife that I was discharged, so I just told her I was home a for a little while so I could spend time with my daughter. I went to her cousin, asking for work and he told me he had this gig where all I had to do was drive a truck to a certain location and I would get paid handsomely. He promised me that nothing illegal was in there, so I agreed and when I did, I got pulled over. They checked the truck, and what do you know? Illegal shit packed all in there and I went down for it."

My jaw dropped and my eyes searched his. "That's not even fair!" I protested, getting into his story. He chuckled dryly, glancing out his cell, a faraway look in his eyes.

"Yeah, ain't that right. I didn't snitch or nothing. I just told him he's responsible for watching my family till I get out."

"Does your family know?" I asked quietly. C-note's head snapped towards me and a dangerous look came over his face.

"No! And they will never know that I was ever in this hellhole." He semi-yelled. I leaned back a bit, eyes wide at his outburst. He seemed to have realized what he did and he closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry." I nodded, accepting his apology. "What's your story, Mrs. Sink?" He asked, changing the subject. I laughed lightly, looking up at the top bunk. Before I could begin, I heard T-bag's voice.