"Two inmates died and ten more were seriously injured in that riot." Warden Holden sat behind his desk with a deliberately stern expression as he stared at Axel Vance. "Officer Vance, you really managed to stir up one hell of a mess."
Axel sat calmly in the chair across from him and straightened the front of his prison uniform. He showed no concern about Holden’s interrogation and did not even bother looking up. "Do you actually care about that?"
That single question instantly destroyed Holden’s serious expression. The warden leaned back in his chair and broke into a grin. "Ha! You’re right. Who gives a damn if a few violent scumbags beat each other to death?"
Holden opened a desk drawer and removed an expensive cigar. He clipped the end but did not light it, instead holding it beneath his nose and enjoying the smell for a moment. "Speaking of things that actually matter, Officer Vance, how far have you gotten with the investigation?"
He studied Axel for a moment before adding, "Don’t tell me you’ve gotten comfortable in here. I’d hate to discover that our best undercover officer has decided prison life suits him."
Axel looked confident on the outside, but the question made him slightly uneasy. During the past half month, he had spent nearly all his free time either exercising or quietly observing the inmates and guards. Unfortunately, what he had discovered did not bring him any closer to explaining the mysterious deaths.
To put it simply, most of the inmates in this section were idiots. Some barely understood the crimes that had landed them behind bars, while others could not even remember exactly how much time remained on their sentences. A disturbing number of corrections officers were not much better.
Axel had already discovered guards smuggling cigarettes, alcohol, and other contraband into the prison for money. Security procedures were routinely ignored whenever someone became lazy or careless. During one organized visit from a local high school, an inmate had nearly managed to walk out by blending into the departing group.
The place was so poorly managed that Axel sometimes wondered how it had remained operational this long. Yet the deaths he was investigating appeared deliberate, controlled, and almost impossible under normal circumstances. He found it difficult to believe anyone in the regular population possessed the discipline or intelligence required to carry out something resembling a locked-room murder.
Axel finally raised his eyes toward Holden. "I have a few leads, but there are still some things that don’t make sense."
Holden’s amusement faded slightly. Axel leaned forward and continued, "Are there any other sections of this facility where prisoners are housed separately from the general population?"
Holden’s smile disappeared completely.
Axel immediately noticed the change. For a second, he wondered whether he had pushed too far and accidentally revealed that he knew more than he should. Then Holden lowered his voice and answered with surprising seriousness.
"You’re right. There is another cellblock."
Axel’s attention sharpened immediately. "What kind of prisoners require an entirely separate section?"
Holden hesitated and appeared to choose his words carefully. After several seconds, he placed the unlit cigar on his desk. "Most of Florida’s worst serial offenders eventually pass through here. The ones considered too dangerous for the general population are kept in a separate maximum-security unit."
Axel frowned slightly. "Serial killers?"
"The underground unit has much tighter security than anything you’ve seen upstairs." Holden’s expression remained grim. "If the deaths are connected to someone down there, then this investigation is going to become a lot more complicated."
That answer only increased Axel’s curiosity. "They’re still prisoners. Why does talking about them make you look like you’re expecting something to crawl out of the walls?"
Holden shook his head. "Because many of those men aren’t normal criminals. Some have severe psychiatric problems, some barely behave like human beings anymore, and a few are frighteningly intelligent despite everything they’ve done."
He tapped two fingers against the desk. "A number of them are educated enough to manipulate guards, lawyers, doctors, and other inmates without ever leaving their cells. Sometimes I wonder whether several of them are communicating with each other and planning something bigger than we realize."
Axel remained silent while considering the information. A hidden high-security unit full of dangerous killers was exactly the kind of detail that should have been mentioned when he accepted the undercover operation. Holden apparently had a very flexible understanding of what information an undercover officer needed before entering a prison.
"In a couple of days, I’ll arrange your transfer downstairs," Holden continued. "Officially, you’ll be moved because of your involvement in today’s riot and because several inmates now consider you a target. Unofficially, I need you to investigate that unit and figure out whether any of those prisoners are connected to the deaths."
Axel’s first instinct was to refuse. His assignment had already nearly gotten his predecessor beaten to death, and now Holden wanted to drop him into a section filled with Florida’s most dangerous killers. "Warden Holden, that wasn’t part of our original agreement."
Holden leaned forward. "Neither was your cover getting exposed this badly, but here we are. Your undercover placement was already pushed through using procedures neither of us wants examined too closely, so we’re both invested in solving this before someone outside starts asking questions."
He spread his hands across the desk. "Find the real culprit and this problem disappears for both of us. The department gets its answers, I keep the prison from becoming a statewide scandal, and you walk away with one hell of a career boost."
Axel said nothing for several moments. He appeared to be carefully weighing the danger against the possible reward. Finally, he raised his head and looked directly at Holden.
"I’ll go." Axel paused briefly. "But if you want me to take a bigger risk, I want a bigger reward."
Holden stared at him.
Axel stared back.
The warden finally exhaled through his nose. "Fine. When this operation is over, I’ll personally make sure you receive one hundred thousand dollars."
Axel’s eyebrows rose slightly.
Holden gritted his teeth and continued before Axel could demand more. "I’ll also make a substantial donation to programs connected with your department and speak to the people I know downtown. If you do your job properly, I’ll make damn sure you move up two ranks within the next two years."
One hundred thousand dollars and two promotions.
The tension gradually left Axel’s face. He stood from the chair, walked around the desk, and enthusiastically grabbed Holden’s hand. "Warden, that’s incredibly generous of you. Serving the taxpayers is our sacred duty."
Holden stared at him dryly while Axel vigorously shook his hand. "You weren’t nearly this patriotic thirty seconds ago."
After discussing the transfer and the basic investigation plan, Axel finally left the warden’s office with an excellent mood. A corrections officer waiting outside immediately stepped forward and placed handcuffs around his wrists. To everyone else in the prison, Axel was still nothing more than another troublesome inmate being escorted back to his cell.
When Axel returned unharmed, his cellmate sat up in surprise. Andy had apparently expected a much worse outcome after hearing about the chow-hall riot. "Axel? You’re already back? I figured they’d throw you in solitary for at least a week."
Axel walked inside after the officer removed his cuffs. "This is America, Andy. Our correctional system respects facts and due process."
Andy slowly raised an eyebrow.
"I acted in self-defense," Axel continued with a perfectly serious expression. "Naturally, the administration recognized that I was an innocent victim."
"But you—"
Andy opened his mouth, remembered what Axel had done to Hammer, and stopped himself. After staring at Axel for several seconds, he apparently decided arguing would accomplish nothing. "Forget it."
Axel laughed and patted his cellmate on the shoulder. "Don’t worry about me. You’ll probably be out of here before long anyway."
Andy was the only real friend Axel had made since waking up inside the prison. Before being incarcerated, Andy had worked as a banker and possessed considerably more education than most of the prisoners around them. Axel had never asked exactly what brought him here, but everything he had observed suggested Andy did not belong among the violent criminals filling the cellblocks.
Because Andy was intelligent and easy to speak with, Axel often used their conversations to learn more about the prison. The man seemed to notice details other prisoners ignored and understood how money, paperwork, and administration worked. Axel valued that information far more than the gossip he received from most inmates.
Night eventually settled over the prison.
Andy lay on his bunk while lazily flipping through an old magazine. On the concrete floor nearby, Axel balanced himself on one hand and continued performing one-arm push-ups. Sweat rolled from his forehead and fell onto the floor with every controlled movement.
"Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred."
As Axel completed each repetition, familiar notifications appeared before his eyes.
[Prisoner Fitness: EXP +3]
[EXP +3]
[EXP +3]
...
[Prisoner Fitness Lv. 2 — 414/1000]
[Effect: Physique +0.2]
Axel lowered himself onto the floor after completing the hundredth push-up. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and rested against the side of his bunk while feeling the strength flowing through his body. Nothing reassured him more than knowing that his physical ability was steadily improving.
As Prisoner Fitness increased, the attribute bonus provided by the specialization would rise as well. His stronger body also allowed him to perform more difficult exercises, which meant he could train more efficiently and gain experience faster. It was a simple cycle, but one that could eventually make him far stronger than an ordinary person.
Axel had already experimented with other possibilities. He had borrowed several of Andy’s books and carefully read through them, hoping to trigger another specialization, but the system never reacted. That suggested new specializations could not be gained merely by opening random books.
There had to be specific requirements. Perhaps certain locations, professions, skills, or forms of knowledge were necessary before the system recognized a new specialization. If that theory was correct, the possibilities outside prison were almost endless.
More importantly, fragments of his predecessor’s memories had left Axel with an uncomfortable suspicion about this world. Monsters, demons, and other things that should not exist might actually be real here. He did not yet know how much of that information was reliable, but considering the mysterious deaths occurring inside the prison, dismissing the supernatural would be foolish.
If Axel wanted to survive whatever was waiting for him, becoming stronger was no longer optional. Every useful specialization could become another tool for keeping himself alive. The faster he grew, the better his chances would be when something truly abnormal finally appeared.
A few days later, Holden finished arranging the transfer.
Axel packed the few belongings he possessed and said goodbye to Andy. Several corrections officers then cuffed him and escorted him away from the familiar cellblock. According to the official paperwork, Axel Vance was being transferred into a far more restrictive section of the prison.
The guards led him through one locked steel gate after another. Each checkpoint required another identity check, another set of keys, and another armed officer before they were allowed to continue. The deeper they traveled, the quieter the prison became.
Eventually, they reached a secluded part of the facility Axel had never known existed. Instead of climbing another staircase, the officers took him downward into a reinforced underground section beneath the main prison. Thick concrete walls surrounded the narrow corridor while heavy security doors divided each area from the next.
Axel had not even reached the first cell when a strange laugh drifted through the darkness ahead.
"Hehehe..."
The sound was low and unsettling.
"I smell something fresh."
Another voice followed from farther down the corridor.
"Mom? I want to see my mom..."
More voices began leaking from behind the reinforced cell doors. Some sounded childish, others deranged, while a few were disturbingly calm. The mixture of laughter, whispers, and meaningless muttering created an atmosphere completely different from the ordinary prison above.
Axel’s expression gradually became serious as the guards led him deeper underground. Whatever kind of people Holden had locked away down here, they were nothing like Hammer or the other inmates upstairs.
He needed to raise Prisoner Fitness as quickly as possible.
This place was definitely not normal.
[500 Power Stones → +1 Bonus Chapter]
[10 Reviews → +1 Bonus Chapter]
Enjoyed the Chapter? A review helps a lot.
P1treon: Soulforger (20+advance Chapters)