The buzzer sounds, waking us for another day. I wait for everyone to stream down the block to the cafeteria before I drag myself out of bed and grab my shower stuff. When I step into the bathroom, for once, there’s no line. Three of the five shower stalls are taken, so I slip into the empty one on the far end. The guy next to me has a speaker in the shower with him, playing some loud, angry music that seems to vibrate at the resonance of my rage. I strip off my jumpsuit and hang it on the hook on the wall outside the curtain, then step into the water. I crank it hotter and just stand here with my hands braced against the tile wall, feeling the vibration of the music sink into my bones and letting all the shit slide off me and swirl down the drain.
In two weeks I go back out into a world where I have no place. All I’ve got that are in any way useful are my car and a Masters degree in comparative literature that I earned two years ago on my way to my doctorate. I’m sure Dr. Duncan would strip me of it he could, but the best he can do now is keep me from finishing my Ph.D. My dissertation is complete, but I missed my meeting with the board to defend it because I was in jail. If I want to reschedule it I have to appeal to the board, and since Dr. Duncan is the chairman, I’m fairly certain my appeal will be denied.
I know Chris would do anything I asked to help, but the problem is, I don’t know what to ask for. He has been here like clockwork every visiting day. He officially moved in with Taryn last month and I guess they both plan to apply to Sierra State next year. He’s building a life and I’m not going to screw with it.
I’m just reaching for my soap when something crashes through the plastic curtain, tearing it from the rod, and I’m slammed face first up against the wall. My forehead cracks sharply off the tile and I lose my bearings for a second as stars flash in my eyes.
“Hey, loverboy,” a deep voice growls in my ear. Franz. “Since you like to fuck babies, we figured you were fair game.”
My heart slams against the wall so hard I feel my body jerk to the rapid rhythm. Fuck. This can’t be happening.
I struggle against Franz’s grip, but the slick, wet skin of his beer gut is all up my back. He has me pinned to the wall with my right arm twisted behind me, his forearm across the back of my neck, and a knee between my legs.
“You got him?” comes the second voice. Hans. He sounds like he’s on the floor.
“Yeah,” Franz answers. “I got him. You go first.”
A hand clamps around one of my ankles and my leg is ripped out from under me. It stops when my foot slams up against the side wall of the shower. I slip down the wall six inches and would go to the floor like a break dancer doing the splits if Franz wasn’t holding me up. But my legs are now spread eagle and there’s nothing I can do to close them.
“Move over,” Hans says, just behind me now.
Franz shifts off to the side a little, and then a finger slides down my ass crack. “I’ve been watching this tight ass for a while,” Hans says, his finger perched right at my asshole. He shoves it inside and my breath catches. “Fucking sweet. This is prime virgin ass. Everything I hoped it would be.”
I struggle against Franz’s grip as Hans withdraws his finger. His hands spread my ass cheeks and then the head of his goddamn hard-on is pressed up against my asshole. “Ready for me, sweet cheeks?”
On an electric surge of adrenaline, I rotate and bring my left elbow back hard in the direction of Hans’s voice. There’s a satisfying crunch when I feel it connect with bone. He wails from behind me and Franz lets up his grip just enough that, with a hard jerk, I’m out from under him.
Hans is on the floor holding his bleeding nose, but Franz gets his hands on me, trying to wrestle me into a headlock. I swing with an undercut that connects with his jaw. His head jerks back and he staggers. I finish him with a knee to the balls. I kick Hans in the face when he makes a grab for me, then bolt, leaving everything behind.
Two guys shaving at the bathroom mirrors watch me go.
“Thank you very fucking little for the help, assholes,” I call over my shoulder.
When I pass through the gates back into my block at a stiff clip, the guard there looks at me funny then follows me to my cell.
“What’s this about, inmate?” he says, waving a hand at my naked form.
I’m breathing hard as I drop onto my cot. “Thought I might wait until someone’s not trying to rape me to finish showering.”
His hand goes to the butt of his baton as he lifts his radio. “Detail to Block C showers.”
“Roger that,” a disembodied voice comes back.
“Stay here. I’ll find you a towel.” He turns and when he leaves, I hold my head in my hands while the adrenaline charging my blood begins to ebb.
So maybe I was wrong about this not being like in the movies.
“Here,” the guard says a minute later, and a towel lands on the mattress next to my leg.
I shake it open and stand, wrapping it around my waist. “Those fuckers are a piece of work.”
“You just described ninety percent of our population. Exactly which fuckers would those be?”
I shrug. “Don’t know their names, just call them Hans and Franz.”
He cracks a smile but quickly loses it. “If they’re still in there, the detail will take care of them.”
“Broke Hans’s nose, pretty sure,” I say, shaking my hand as pain just starts to register.
He juts his chin and nods. “How much longer you got?”
“Twelve days.”
“I’m Don. I’ll tell the guys to keep an eye on you. And if you point out Hans and Franz, we’ll watch them too. Shit like this doesn’t happen here.”