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

noticed. Now stop being a little bitch. You’re so tough, you don’t need a gun. I’m sure you can handle anything that comes at us.”

Felix looks at her in shock. I kind of want to laugh, but on the other hand, I agree with Felix. I feel naked again without a weapon, and it sounds like we’re about to walk into a war zone.

We approach the door to the sally port. I pull it open against the rising water, then pause, surprised when the screams and shouts don’t grow much louder. I exchange a puzzled look with the others and pull the door all the way open, revealing the corridor and, at the opposite end, the open door leading into Unit 2.

From what I can see, the entire unit looks deserted.

We move cautiously along the passage and peer inside. Unit 2 is indeed deserted.

But it’s not untouched.

There are bodies everywhere. Floating in the water, draped over the hexagonal tables, even hanging over the second-floor railings.

“Jesus,” mutters Felix.

Most of the bodies seem to be white guys. There are a few darker skins among the dead, but I’d say seventy percent are white. Which means the Woods lost big time.

I step nervously into the rec room and pause, waiting to see if anything happens.

Nothing.

One thing becomes clear, though. The noises we’re hearing are actually coming from Unit 3. And they don’t sound like screams of pain. More like the shouting you’d hear at a sports event.

We wade through the water, skirting around the bodies. I check them out as we pass. Puncture wounds, bruises, slit throats… Some of their faces are so messed up they don’t even look human anymore.

Felix reaches the door ahead of me and opens it a crack. He peers through, then pulls it open all the way. It’s the same as the last two units. An empty corridor with the door into the Unit 3 sally port about ten feet in front of us.

The screaming and shouting is much louder out here. I can hear specific words now, chanted over and over. “Bloods, Bloods, Bloods!”

Same drill. Along the sally port passage and pause outside the door. Felix cracks it slightly. The roars explode into the passage. It reminds me of a boxing match.

He peers through, then moves aside to let me and Sawyer look.

All I can see are the backs of inmates as they jostle and shove each other, trying to catch a glimpse of something happening in the middle of the rec room floor. They’re jeering and shouting, hands raised in the air. There are more inmates leaning on the railings. They’re all staring down, cheering and laughing.

The crowd is so thick that I think we might actually have a chance. If we can circle around the outside of the spectators, maybe we can get to the door on the other side while everyone’s attention is focused on whatever’s going on.

“Are we really going to just walk through that?” whispers Sawyer. She doesn’t even attempt to hide the fear in her voice.

“I’m open to alternatives.”

“There aren’t any,” says Felix. “Okay, here’s what I suggest. I go through first. No offense, but you two kind of stick out. If I’m caught, I’ll holler something so you know not to come. If I don’t, you follow on.”

“What are you going to shout?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Depends on the situation. Maybe something like ‘Why did you stab me, you asshole?’”

He slips through the door and makes his way left around the ring of inmates, disappearing from sight. Sawyer and I wait, straining our ears for his shout.

“You think we’re going to make it?” I ask.

“Do you?”

“If the storm was, like, an hour behind where it is now, maybe. But honestly, I think this building is going to come down before the eye of the hurricane hits.”

“If you think that, why are you still trying?”

“What else am I gonna do? We all need goals, right? Some people want to make CEO by the time they’re thirty. Some people want three kids and a picket fence. I want to kill Wright and Tully with my own hands.”

“That’s it? That’s really what’s keeping you going?”

“That’s it,” I say cheerfully.

“Constantine… are you all right? You’ve been acting weird since you came back from the armory.”

“Weird how?”

“I don’t know. Happy, I suppose. Buzzed.”

“Call it a Zen-like acceptance of what is.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

I shrug. “Just what I said.”

I think Felix must have made it to the other side by now. There’s been no shout of warning, so I think we’re all clear.

“Same rule as Felix,” I say. “I’ll go first. There’s more chance I’ll be seen. Listen out for my shout.”

I head into the rec room. The screams and cheers surge in volume. There’s an animalistic sound to them. A bloodthirstiness that makes them seem barely human.

I keep low as I move around the outskirts of the crowd, keeping close to the wall and trying to stay out of view of those on the second floor of the pod.

There’s no sign of Felix anywhere ahead of me. Which is good news. Well, for him. He blends in.

I wonder what he’ll do if I’m caught. I wouldn’t blame him if he hung back. No point in him being taken down with me. Still, I’d kind of like to know where he stands. Call it curiosity.

The crowd gets denser the farther into the room I go. The press of bodies forces me right up against the wall. I’m jostled and elbowed, but nobody actually turns around to see what they’re hitting and bumping into.

I’m about twenty feet from the door when a huge cheer explodes in the pod and the inmates all start jumping around as if celebrating. I’m shoved up against the wall. An elbow smashes into my head. I instinctively shove back, harder than I mean to. The person I push stumbles forward, then whirls around to fight back.

Shit.

He stares at me in surprise as I slowly straighten up.

“Hey!” he shouts. “Look