Breakout by Paul Herron (notion reading list .txt) 📕

Castillo holds eye contact with her the entire time. There’s something obscene about it. Something in his expression. I struggle against Ramirez, but he just digs his fingers deeper into my shoulders. Felix glances at me, unsure. I give a small shake of the head. No point in making a move yet. We’ll be killed.

Castillo holds the keys up and examines them. He sees the name tag dangling from the ring. “Sheriff Montoya’s keys,” he says happily. Then he frowns mock seriously at Sawyer. “You shouldn’t have these, young lady. They’re likely to be very dangerous in the wrong hands. Tell you what, I’ll hold on to them. Make sure the sheriff gets them back, okay?”

Sawyer doesn’t respond.

“I said, okay?”

Castillo stares at Sawyer until she nods. It doesn’t seem enough for him, so she clears her throat. “Okay.”

“Good. Glad that’s cleared up. You should actually be thanking me. After all, I’m only doing my civic duty, right, Constantine?”

“They don’t operate the outside doors,” says Sawyer quickly. “You can’t use them to escape.”

“Perhaps. But you know what they can do? They can open the door into the armory.”

Sawyer throws a look of alarm in my direction. Fuck. I hadn’t even thought of that.

Castillo nods, a huge grin on his face. “Yeah? Pretty smart, huh?”

He throws the keys at me. Ramirez lets go of my shoulder and I just manage to catch them. I look at Castillo in surprise.

“Here’s what I want you to do,” he says. “You and Ramirez go to the armory. Bring back everything you can carry. And for fuck’s sake, lock it behind you, okay? I don’t want no one else getting guns.”

“Why the fuck would I do any of that?”

“Because I’m going to keep your friends here until you come back.”

Sawyer’s eyes widen.

“No,” I say. “No chance.”

“You either do it or I slice open both their stomachs right here and you can watch them bleed out. Then I’ll start cutting off parts of your body.”

I hesitate, glancing between Felix and Sawyer. Christ, I’ve got no choice. If I refuse, he’ll just kill us all.

“If I do this, will you let us go?”

Castillo laughs. “You really think you’re in a position to negotiate?”

“Not really. But what good are we to you? You want to settle grudges with guns, that’s your deal. You want to wipe out the other gangs, go for it. We just want to get out of the way and ride out the storm.”

Castillo thinks about it, then nods. “Okay. Sure. You get my guns and maybe I’ll let you go.”

“Nobody touches Sawyer,” I say.

Castillo looks hurt. “My friend, what kind of a degenerate do you take me for? The woman will be safe. As long as you bring the guns back.”

Ramirez grins, showing his tiny teeth again. He gives me a gentle shove, almost sending me on my ass.

“Let’s go, little man.”

I follow him out of the gym, wondering if I’ll see Felix or Sawyer alive again.

Twelve1:30 a.m.

I follow a step or two behind Ramirez, making sure not to crowd him but also not falling so far back that he thinks I’m trying to lose him. There’s something about the guy, a constant low-key buzz of barely suppressed violence that I do not want to be on the receiving end of. I could maybe defend myself, but I have the feeling if I tried to land a punch, this guy could turn my fists into Jell-O by squashing them between two fingers.

He’s resting his meat cleaver casually against his shoulder as he walks. There’s a genuine spring in his step, as if he’s actually having a good time.

He glances back at me with a grin. “I feel like that guy. What’s his name?”

I shake my head. “No idea.”

“You do, man! The guy with the mask.” Ramirez holds the cleaver up in the air.

“Michael Myers?” I venture. “Jason?”

“Yeah! Jason! Him.” He turns and comes at me in a stiff-legged walk, the cleaver raised to strike. I’m proud of myself for not just turning and running, because that sight is pretty fucking terrifying.

He lowers the weapon and chuckles again. “Maybe when we get out of here, I’ll audition. They’re always remaking that shit, you know? Maybe I’ve got a new career ahead of me. It’ll be hard not to hurt the actors, though. You get so used to finishing people off, and then you have to pretend with that shit? Play make-believe? Not gonna be easy.”

We make our way through the prison toward the armory. Normally I’d be ducking between rooms, hiding from sight until other inmates pass by. But we’ve now encountered four or five different groups of prisoners, and they’ve all taken one look at Ramirez and walked the other way. I briefly consider asking him to come with Sawyer, Felix, and myself to the Glasshouse, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. He’ll tell Castillo, and I don’t want to have to deal with that bastard while we try to find our way to safety.

And while I finally get my revenge.

Sawyer’s given me another chance. If she hadn’t let me out of my room in the infirmary, I’d be dead. Wright and Tully would be… well, they’d still be alive. Not sure how long for. But that’s not the point. I have another chance to avenge Amy. To avenge our child.

And maybe I’ll even survive the night. Who knows? Maybe after the storm passes over, I can just walk out of here. I’m sure a lot of the inmates have the same idea, but none of them have Sawyer on their side.

Revenge. Survival. Freedom. Things I never thought I’d get another chance at. The hurricane has brought them all to me. They’re all within my grasp.

I think about outside. Where would I go? I’ve never given it any thought, mainly because I didn’t care. I knew I wasn’t going to see the other side of the prison walls for another ten to fifteen years, but now… now the thought of