Discreetly the General's son

Chapter 6 - Cafeteria.

On the way to Orison ward, the warden read his full sentence to him.  He was to spend five years in prison and banishment from Shanty town.

Orsion Ward was an underground prison in Shanty town that housed hardened and dangerous inmates. 

Some from the town and the others from neighboring towns and cities.

It was well known as a place where evil could never escape.

While walking in there, Sawyer did not know this. The wardens there looked tougher than the ones from the solitary confinement at the magistrate court.

He could sense some sort of dark energy from them as he walked in, but he shrugged it off, it was not like there was anything he could do about it.

He was a powerless bum.

“Dusty, you’ve got a roomie.” the warden yelled as he unlocked the cell Sawyer was assigned to.

This cell was a little bigger than the solitary confinement he stayed overnight. 

Weird names, swear words and quotes sprawled across walls and a wet stench came from the room.

“Clean your room or you will get extra work time!” The warden threatened as he shut the door. “Go easy on the new boy.” he added before walking off.

Sawyer had expected more words from the warden, like some rules or instructions since he would be living here for the next five years but he had just hung him out to dry there.

“Are you just going to stand there like a fool?” Dusty hissed.

He didn't seem like a dangerous guy but the look in his eyes was not kind either.

This made Sawyer wonder what sort of offence had brought him in here, was he falsely accused. Did he kill someone?

Sawyer stared at the other side of the room where his assigned bed was. It looked like a mess. 

and the stench was even worse around the area. 

He got to cleaning and his roommate did not speak to him after that.

At the Cafeteria.

Sawyer felt so out of place, he thought his roommate looked fearful but he was nothing compared to the other guys currently in the cafeteria.

Many of them had huge builds, muscles and tattoos.

He was never opportuned to study about the prisons in Baltimore.

Baltimore sprawls across an endless, concrete plateau where the neon horizon never dips, a boundless grid of asphalt and glass that mirrors the unchanging flatness of the ancient, spirit- trapped flats beneath it. 

It would take proper education to learn about the country. 

Sawyer was not privileged to go to school because he wasn’t noble.

In shanty town, scholars venture into the capital and other bigger cities to pursue their political and medicinal dreams. The only school in the town belonged to a family of a noble who specialized in teaching the nobles in that town and others who could afford to pay a hefty amount for education.

His aunty had taught him how to read and write, then she bought fifteen books for him weekly as she could not afford to send him to that school.

The money she earned from slaughtering goats was enough to put food on their table and keep them warm on cold days. External education was not an option for him.

She made him read that amount of books so he cultivated the habit of learning fast. She had emphasized on how knowledge was power.

The twist to that was that he never got to read about the prison. One could barely cover the most important part of Baltimore without attending an academy that has the books that contained information about the prison. 

without this knowledge, he was powerless.

Just as he had been in the magistrate.

All he had spent his life learning about was the military because of his obsession with protecting the weak and defending Baltimore.

Fate had shoved reality in his face, how did he dare to defend his country when he couldn’t defend himself.

Surviving was a little confusing for him because he didn’t know what to do next. 

His aunty has insisted that he stayed alive. 

‘I'm going to stay put, mind my business and stay alive until five years pass.’

he thought to himself as he walked over to the counter to pick his food.

Just as he settled down to eat, someone walked up to his table, and sat opposite him.

he blew a snot out of his nose right into his food.

“Extra protein for the newbie.”

the whole cafeteria burst into laughter. 

Determined to stay out of trouble, Sawyer stood quietly to throw his food away.

“Not so fast.” The snotty inmate tugged at his shirt, causing him to stop. “Who do you think you are ignoring?”

“Cut it out, Xpan. Don’t scare the Sissy, it’s his first day here.” a thick, coarse voice said and the whole hall went silent.

“Yes don.” Xpan replied reluctantly. 

It was clear that Don was in a higher hierarchy than he was.

 Xpan did not seem to be happy with the call Don had made but he could not defy the Don, no one in the Orison Ward dared to do so.

Even the wardens feared and placed him in a high  position. Whenever they needed to subdue stubborn inmates who would not comply, he was the one they called.

With this, he could do no wrong in the eyes of the Wardens. 

Once he was at fault during fights, bullying and extreme times a killing, they would side with him so the inmates either suck up to him or stayed away.

That was the best way to stay alive. Xpan was not going to risk his life over the newbie.

Sawyer looked in his direction, the man was not the biggest on the table he was sitting but if he were to compare the prison to a wolf pack, that man was the Alpha.

His eyes met with Don’s and then he winked at him before looking away.

This made him uncomfortable but he only went back into his cell.