My breath was visible in front of my face. A combination of the October air and the smoke in my lungs. It wouldn't matter if we were in deep snow. They still throw us in the court yard to force us to get out our energy and angst. For some, they just need to get in a small fight and for others, the tongue of another inside their mouth will suffice. I'll take either honestly, but a cigarette works just the same.

Angelo and Chris were sat across from me. When I first came here, they had no problem kissing each other in front of anyone else. Now, they act like their relationship is nonexistent. It's the safer option but it's pathetic to watch. Chris got here because he has an issue with control. As I'm sure you can imagine, not having it drives him insane. His anger will just keep boiling up. I just hope I'm not the one he lets go on. Supposedly we're getting some new meat though. Maybe they can take on some abuse.

Ryan sauntered over, jumping up on the table to take a seat. "You have a light?" He asked me. I nodded and handed him my lighter. He sparked up the smoke in his mouth, taking a drag, "Thank you."

"Yeah," I replied, "You know anything about the newbies?"

He chuckled as he laid back, "Why do you think I would know anything you don't?"

"Because you're you." I responded.

After taking another pull from his cigarette, he said, "Vultures." Ryan pointed up to the sky he was looking up at. It was mostly smog and winter clouds, but there were certainly vultures circling the dim sun.

"Is that the most I'm going to get from you?" I asked as I put out the smoke in my hand. I'm trying to ration but I couldn't help myself today. New people put me on edge. You never know what kind of trouble they'll bring with them.

"It's just two guys anyways. First one is ex-spec ops. He started using his military skills to rob banks. He had accomplices but apparently they're so dangerous together they all had to be sent to different prisons. The other one is a goddamn psychopath. They wanted to send him to the psych ward at John Hopkins but apparently the judge thought it was a waste of resources."

I scoffed, "What a fantastic day for Mike to get out of solitary."

"He'll be back in a week." Chris replied.

He's unfortunately right. Kuza can't seem to stay out of trouble. Speak of the Devil, my head popped up when I heard the gate. Two guards walked him into the courtyard. I needed to stretch my legs anyways, so might as well go greet him. He seemed pleased to see me but he's just a dog looking for a bone. They took the muzzle off of him. I offered my cigarette to him. He took a drag off of it, closing his eyes as he blew the smoke up into the air.

"That feels good." He said, "But your lips would feel better." The guards unlocked his cuffs. He rubbed his wrists where they just were.

"Maybe if you start behaving you can have a kiss." I replied.

He grunted unhappily and began to walk past me to the others. Half the time when he gets out of there, he's dying to see me. The other half, he's not exactly my biggest fan. I followed him back to our table. Ryan sat up and examined Kuza with his eyes. He must see things we don't. Regardless, he just stayed quiet. Everyone did, in fact.

"Where's Josh?" Kuza asked.

"Treatment." Chris responded, "For once, I'd say he's the lucky one. Today's going to be a mess."

"Why?"

His question was answered by the noise of the gate opening again. Two faces new to all of us were escorted into the court yard. I didn't really need to ask which one was the psychopath because it was pretty damn obvious. One of them had black hair, tats, but he carried himself with strength. The other had blonde hair going in fifty different directions and his eyes were void of coherency.

Most inmates have this 'take your lumps' gang attitude. You've got to get beat down to earn respect here. Nearly everyone at this table has had to fight to the point of near death. With the exception of Angelo, that is. Chris would actually bring death to anyone who touches him. Regardless, most prisons are like this. I'm sure they expected to get jumped.

The first one knew how to hold his ground. Ryan did say he was ex-military and it showed. He had tactic in his fighting and he scared off people pretty quickly. The other... He was something else. Someone threw him across the ground. He rolled over on his back, laughing like The Joker. In a weird way, he reminded me of myself. I decided for once to be a decent person and help the poor bastard out.

"Hold this." I told Ryan as I handed him my smokes and my lighter.

"Have fun." He said.

Fun, yeah. We'll see about that. The only downfall of this will be this idiot is going to be known now as the one that had to have the tranny save his ass. Most this prison still is scared shitless of me. He better be goddamn grateful for what I'm about to do. They had throw him onto one of the tables and were taking turns hounding on him. I climbed up on the bench, shaking my head at this foolish boy.

"Ohh, here's a real treat, boys. The princess is going to get her hands dirty!" Luis patronized me, "Where's your attack dog, Mommy?"

"First thing's first, I'm not a princess. I'm a fucking queen. Secondly, Kuza just got out of the hole. Figured I'd give him a break." I replied.

The maniac under me laughed, "I've never been hit by a queen before. Let alone a drag queen."

"Now I know why they made you a punching bag." I muttered.

Luis gestured towards him, "Be my guest. Ladies first."

"Aw, that's sweet of you." I replied a second before decking him.

He fell backwards and his boys caught him. Luis glared at me as he wiped blood from his face. He was just a little Hispanic shit but he's got his own attack dogs. One of them took a swing at me, causing me to fall off the bench I was on. Fortunately, someone caught me. I expected it to me one of the guys. It was actually the other newbie. He's not too bad and he does know how to fight.

I rolled my shoulders back and glared at the rest of the group still hounding around. They've got to test me, don't they? They've seen what I'm capable of yet they still think they can beat me. I winded up my arm and hit the same person who'd knocked me off my standing. Then I grabbed him by his hair and slammed his head down into the table. The crazy-ass jumped back just in time. He perched himself on the edge of the table and watched intently.

The one under my hold started to nod in and out of consciousness. I dropped him to let him crawl away. One of his friends helped him up and the rest scattered like rats on a sinking ship. Typical. They're all big talk but they've got nothing to back it up. It's why they pick on the vulnerable. It makes them feel like real men to be able to beat someone, even if it's an unfair fight.

"They're certainly scared of you." The black haired one said.

"They should be. I hear you're ex-military?" I asked.

Hesitantly, he nodded, "Yeah, that's right."

"Then you probably know how things go in prisons. There's always a group of inmates that controls the population just as much, if not more, than the guards." I replied, "And I'm one of those inmates. You can fight well. I could use you on my side. What's your name?"

"Nikki." He responded.

"Cute." I smiled, "And, uh, what about the Mad Hatter over here?"

"I was stuck in a truck with him for four hours and he never told me his name."

"You never asked!" He said, "My name is Telle, but the papers like to call me the Conneaut Killer."

Nikki raised his eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"Conneaut." He repeated, "It's a lake here. I live in the woods nearby, so I guess they think that's where I killed people."

I rolled my eyes, "Don't tell me you're one of those assholes that's claiming you're innocent."

"I never said that. I said they think I killed people there but I didn't. I killed them somewhere else. I just liked to put the bodies there." He explained. Telle hopped down from the table top, "Thank you for the help, by the way."

"It was a one time deal. Start learning to hold your own."

"Oh, I will. I just need to get a feel for the place before I start throwing punches. I mean, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to pick a fight with you." He said.

"Maybe you're not as helpless as I thought. C'mon, you're both sticking with me." I replied as I began to walk back to our table.

The urgent beeping sounding from the pilot's cabin became alarming. We instantly started to lose altitude. The pilot was trying his damnedest to pull the plane back up but we were going down fast. We were close anyways. In fact, that's probably the reason the plane started to malfunction. The pilot was good at his job, meaning he managed to stick a landing despite us crashing. It was still rough but I mean, we're alive.

"Shit." Ricky muttered as he looked through the fractured window, "It's heading for the prison. If that thing lets out the inmates, it'll be a fucking disaster."

"Which prison?" I asked suspiciously.

He sighed, "I don't know. Reese, check the report to see if it's on there."

She pulled out her phone, scrolling through a list of information. "Wa... Waupun? Is that right?"

A smile lurked on my face and I glanced over at Nikki. He beamed the same excitement, "Oh, yes. Yes it is right."