A jail sentence in Aquaria - known by many as "The Dome" - is a sentence for life. In a sheer stroke of luck, Marcus and Louie find themselves imprisoned in adjacent cells. Their solace is the comfort they can give each other, speaking through the wall.This story contains swearing and depictions of violence.
"Get in there!"
Marcus was tossed into the cell, landing hard against the concrete floor. He ignored the pain in his hands and knees, turning back to see the metal door to the hallway sliding closed. “No!” He screamed, catapulting himself towards it. He had no chance. He hit what was now no better than a wall with a “thud.”
The Enforcer who brought him in peered down from a small, square window in the door. “Calm down, you little shit. You should have known what was waiting for you when you started causing trouble,” he growled before his face was gone and his footsteps could be heard disappearing back down the hall.
“Dumb kid.”
Marcus turned to the source of the noise. In the shadows on the opposite side of the cell, an older man sat sprawled across a small cot. There were three cots in total in the cell, each lined up with the longest end against a concrete wall. The only side of the cell without a bed was the one with the door. On the far end of this wall where it didn't slide, it looked like there was a small seat - what would later prove to be the toilet. The man glared at Marcus a moment more before he rolled over and faced the wall, leaving Marcus to himself.
Tears pricked at his eyes as he retreated to the bed farthest from his new roommate. He curled up in a ball and tried to keep from crying.
There was a muffled rumble - the door to the cell adjacent to them sliding open. An Enforcer yelling some obscenity as he tossed someone in, a similar experience to Marcus’ own.
Slam. The door was shut and the Enforcer left.
In the cell beside Marcus, Louie attempted to push his body from the floor. Unlike Marcus, he arrived with far more damage from the fight that initiated the arrest. His limbs ached in protest, especially a spot in his side where he had been kicked. He grabbed at the area, applying gentle pressure as he heaved himself to his feet. His new cellmates watched him, perched on the beds that were against the middle and right walls. The one on the bed against the far wall stood up, grinning. There was something in that grin that Louie didn’t like.
“Well, well, well. Wondered if they’d ever fill that empty bed. How long’s it been since we lost the last one, Bo?” She looked over at the other who was still seated.
“Too long, Kane,” Bo grunted. Bo didn’t smile at Louie, but glowered at him, never turning his eyes from the new addition, even when his cellmate spoke to him.
Kane seemed pleased with the answer and turned her attention back to Louie. She closed the space between them, so she was nearly pressing up against him. She looked down, being nearly a head taller. Louie had a lot more weight than her, bursting at his own red jumpsuit, but he doubted that would matter. The sleeves on Kane's jumpsuit had been torn off - the only difference that marked hers from what any other prisoner wore - and her arms were taut with muscle. Louie didn’t think he could stand a chance against her, and hoped he never had to try.
“You’re so freaking young. How old are you?”
“S-sixteen…”
“S-s-scared are we?” Kane leaned back and laughed. “Oh, you’re going to be fun. We’ve been so bored, huh Bo?”
“Yeah, bored.” Bo still hadn’t moved, not even his expression had changed. There was something different in his voice this time, some small change that Louie couldn't exactly place, but made him think that on the inside, Bo was grinning wider than Kane.
Kane shoved him, and Louie stumbled backwards, unable to catch himself and landing hard on his butt. His bruised body cried out in protest, and he bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling out, tasting blood.
“Get to your corner,” Kane ordered, pointing toward the empty bed.
Louie didn’t argue, crawling in the indicated direction. When he tried to pull himself onto it, Kane came up from behind and kicked him. “No,” she growled. “Under it.”
Louie turned to her, his eyes wide and pleading. The ground was concrete. The mattress may not have been much, but it was better than sleeping on cold rock.
“Under it,” Kane repeated.
He looked at those muscles on her arms again, that sickening enjoyment in her face at his pain. A knot of anger twisted in his stomach, screaming at the injustice, yet his body slumped. He was overtaken by a wave of weakness. It had been a long day and his body throbbed as the weight of it all crushed down on him. Louie turned his face down and crawled beneath the bed, pressing himself up against the wall and as far from Kane and Bo as he could get.
As he fought back the urge to cry, afraid the sound of the slightest sniffle could instigate his cellmates, Louie noticed a hole at the base of the wall where his head rested. The opening was slightly smaller than his balled fist and made a tunnel through the width of the wall. Louie peered through it and could see the floor of the cell beside him. The more he focused, the more details he could make out. It hurt his head to do it, but when he tried hard enough, he could make out the cot on the opposite side of the room.
There was a creaking sound as the bed that the hole resided under shifted. Someone was on the opposite side of the wall.
Marcus couldn’t hear every word through the concrete. It was the words he could make out that had grabbed his attention. He was certain he had heard the new addition say, “Sixteen.” That was enough to fill him with hope. It was a whole group of them that had been taken at once. There were a couple sixteen year olds among that gang.
He had also heard “under the bed.” If he had any shot at making contact with who he thought might be on the other side, it would be as close to them as possible. He shifted, making the bed frame squeak, and rolled himself off the mattress, lowering his body to the floor. He checked over his shoulder in case his cellmate was questioning what he was doing. He needn’t have bothered. His back was still turned to Marcus. He let out a sigh of relief and slid the rest of the way under the bed. It was only when he turned to face the wall that he noticed the hole - and the eye peering through it.
Marcus clamped his hand over his mouth, stopping the yell of surprise.
“Is that… Marcus?” a familiar voice drifted through the hole.
Marcus’ eyes widened and he nodded before he could bring himself to pull his hand from his mouth and whisper back. “Yes, yes it’s me. Louie?”
“Yes.”
“I - I thought I’d never see you again! Louie, I’m scared and -”
“Shh,” Louie hushed him. Marcus had been letting the volume of his voice get away from him in his excitement.
Marcus reddened. "Sorry," he whispered.
"It's okay. I understand. I'm happy to see you too." He grinned. Marcus missed this. The hole still only allowed a view of one eye. When he was further away from the hole, Louie had a better view of Marcus; but Louie did dare move back so Marcus could get a better view of him.
"Did they hurt you?" Marcus asked, scooting closer to the wall.
"No, they only aggravated what was already hurting. As for the future…" Louie sighed. "Do you have a cellmate in there?"
Marcus nodded, forgetting Louie wouldn't be able to see. "He said two words to me and that's it."
"Not a bad deal."
"I'm so scared, Louie." Marcus sniffed, the tears coming at him harder this time and managing to spill over. Marcus tried to keep his whimpers low. "What about my moms? How will they know what happened? They'll be worried."
"They'll find out, Marcus. A big round up of kids like this? That's not small news."
"They won't let them see us will they? I don't want to never see them again." Marcus choked and had to stop. If he opened his mouth again, he wouldn't be able to keep his sorrow quiet.
"No, they won't let them see us." Louie sighed, racking his brain for anything that might be comforting. He thanked the universe that he of all people had been placed alongside Marcus. He had to appreciate small miracles. If there were anyone Louie would choose to be imprisoned with - or beside - it would have been Marcus Angle.
Von, the leader of their group, had often asked Louie, "Doesn't that clingy pipsqueak bother you?" To which Louie would always smile from ear to ear, picturing Marcus' earnest face, and he would say, "No, I find him cute." This would always earn him a good eye roll from Von.
This reaction never bothered Louie. He could care less what others thought of his choices. He had grown up feeling no matter what he did could please anybody, so why try? Better to do what's best to him and hold those who actually did give a damn close. People like Marcus.
Marcus had been there for years. They lived in the same building, several doors down from one another. The first time they had met, Louie had been ten years old. Marcus' family had just relocated to their building. Louie had stashed himself at the end of the hall near the emergency stairwell. He had been trying to hide his tears. It was in the earlier days of his mother's anger when it was just words. Still, those words cut like a knife and as young as he had been, were enough to reduce him to a crying mess.
"Are you okay?" Marcus had asked, sitting himself down beside him without waiting for permission.
Thus, their bond began. Marcus had an uncanny sense of when Louie needed him and would always manage to find him after he had been particularly hurt - whether Marcus realized it or not.
This was something Louie didn't care to explain to Von. It was easier to let him shake his head, think him strange. Louie was content with his companion as he was, three year age difference and all.
In return for the comfort Marcus gave him, Louie had become Marcus' protector. Though in reality Louie could barely harm a fly, he was big and that was enough to get most off of Marcus' back. The only one bigger than Louie was Von himself.
"Marcus - I know this is a lot. I wish I had more comforting things to say, but you're smart enough to see that our situation isn't the best right now," Louie managed to say before he got too lost within his thoughts.
"I wish we had never started the fight," Marcus hissed before dissolving into sniffles again.
"Me too, Marcus, but what's done is done."
"Why did we do it? We never started trouble like that before," Marcus moaned.
Louie sighed. No, they hadn't done anything like that before. They had been content to hang on the edges of the Dome, maybe hassle a street band here or there. This had been the first time they had sought out Richie territory. Of course, this was also the first time Von had felt the wave of oncoming adulthood pressing forward. He was sixteen now after all, like Louie, which meant that they had mere weeks before they would begin training for the job that would define their existence in the Dome forever more.
Von had wanted to go out with a bang. He had gotten more than that. Now there would be no training, no job at all. Now they would rot. Such as it was in Aquaria.
"Call it a death wish that Von had," Louie sighed.
"Death wish? Did Von die?" Marcus' voice quavered.
"No - no, he didn't die, at least not as far as I know. I just mean… he didn't care what happened to him. He was scared of the future and willing to take bigger risks than normal. Does that make better sense?" Louie explained.
"Yeah, okay that makes sense." Marcus bit his lip. "Louie… can they really keep us in here forever, just like that?"
Louie felt the tears brimming his own eyes now. "Unfortunately, they've done it many times before and gotten away with it, so I'm going to have to say yes."
***
Two Years Later
"Get back here, asshole!" Kane hissed, grabbing at the back of Louie's jumpsuit.
He had lost a lot of weight during his incarceration thus far and they hadn't bothered to give him a new uniform. Instead he swam in the extra fabric, his ankles forever exposed thanks to his gain in height.
Kane used this new tool to her advantage, pulling Louie backwards into her. Yet, Louie had learned a lot in the time that had passed. His clothes may have an extra handhold, but his personal fighting skills had strengthened in opposition. Kane and Bo's constant harassment had served as a form of practice.
He bounced back from Kane before she could lock an arm around him and turned to face her. "I'm done with your fucking beatings Kane. I'm not a punching bag. I've never done anything to you. That's gonna change," he snarled.
Kane threw her head back and laughed. "As if you could take me. You had a better chance when you were heavier. The level of starvation they keep everyone at here keeps most rather weak."
"We'll see about that." Before Kane had a chance to realize what was happening, Louie charged, putting all his force into it. He plowed into his cellmate, pushing her backwards until they crashed into her bed, the screech and clang of the frame fighting against the metal chains that held it in its place echoing around the small concrete space.
"Let go of me!" Kane screamed.
"What? Can't handle it when the tables are turned?" Louie growled, kicking her in the shin before backing away.
Bo appeared behind him, swooping in and crushing Louie into his own body in a death grip.
"You're fucking stupid, you know that?" His voice was low and menacing. He spoke directly into Louie's ear. "Do you know how easy it would be for me to snap your neck? We could end this right now and wipe the slate clean with a new cellmate and get your annoying ass out of our hair."
Louie's forehead had broken out in a sweat. His whole body was quivering. "Please…"
"What was that?" Bo sneered.
"Please, don't kill me. I don't want to die."
Bo grinned and shoved Louie to the floor. "Then crawl back to your hole, little rat, and don't you dare think about fighting back again, you hear me?"
"I hear you," Louie wheezed, scrambling on his hands and knees for his spot under the bed. Bo kicked at his butt as he went, projecting Louie forehead first into his bed frame. He was bleeding from a small cut that had opened up by the time he curled himself up against the wall.
Marcus was already there. "Are you alright? I heard yelling." His voice had deepened, one of the few signs they had of the passage of time besides Louie's own changes, and the physical changes Marcus had endured that Louie couldn't see. Marcus' own height had shot up to match Louie's. He had more of a problem with his jumpsuit being too short. Not having been as large as Louie, he did not have as much excess fabric hanging out, which may have caused him more discomfort in the long run.
"I'm okay, just banged up. They've done worse to me," Louie reassured. "How is your cellmate doing?" He needed to change the subject, anything to get his mind off the headache that was starting to form.
Marcus was quiet at first. "Not well. I… don't think he has much longer."
They both dissolved into silence. Marcus' cellmate had never warmed up to him, but as it turned out, he was in constant pain. The only reason Marcus had figured it out was because he had awoken in the middle of the night several months before to find his cellmate had fallen out of bed. He had been moaning from the pain of the fall and his frustration in being unable to get back up.
Marcus had assisted him back into bed and dragged out the information that his cellmate's name was Hank. Hank had not been feeling well for a long time, yet more recently his condition had sharply declined. He could barely eat, or move. He didn't know what it was, only it felt like his body was giving up.
"There is nothing that can be done, and I don't want any help," Hank insisted and left it at that. Those were the first and probably last words he would ever speak to Marcus. Now, it was merely a question of how long he would last.
The answer was two days. The minute Marcus realized that Hank was no longer breathing, he began to bang on the door for help. The Enforcers would have ignored him had his yelling not caused an uproar among the other inmates trying to get him to shut up - which he assured them would not happen until the Enforcers took care of his deceased cellmate. Grudgingly, they took the body away. There was no word on what may have become of it beyond that.
For all the time they wasted removing Hank, it was barely an hour after they had cleared him out that they managed to fill the empty beds in Marcus' cell. Rather than the shady characters he expected, much to the tune of Louie's cellmates, the Enforcers pushed in a young couple that couldn't have been older than their mid twenties.
The man was quiet and did not resist, only glared daggers at the Enforcers as he was shoved inside. The other was crying at the top of her lungs, "We have a child! You can't do this!"
"Shoulda thought about your child before making the choices you did," one of the Enforcer's snarled before slamming the door in her face. She dissolved into sobs, and the other newcomer pulled her close. She burrowed her face in his chest.
He stroked her hair as he declared, "I regret nothing. My sister will take good care of Lyza I'm sure. She may have her own kids, but she's had a soft spot for our little rascal since the moment she laid eyes on her. It won't take long for Temperance to send Syd to go check on Lyza. News of us being jailed is going to spread like wildfire. Besides, we've been raising our kid to be strong."
It was at this point that the man noticed Marcus watching him from his bed. "Well, hello there," he greeted.
"Hello," Marcus squeaked, spooked by the friendliness.
The woman pulled herself away from the man, so she could look at Marcus as well. She had stopped crying but her eyes were still shiny, her face blotchy and red.
"The name's Jim Carroe," the man went on. "This is my wife, Del."
"Marcus. It's really nice to meet you. My last cellmate didn't talk much." Marcus cleared his throat. "Married, huh? You sure lucked out being put together."
Jim grinned. "One of the Enforcers was actually pretty annoyed about that. No other availability at the moment, I guess, otherwise they would have split us up instantly. It's what they get for overcrowding this place. I mean, shit, how old are you even Marcus?"
Marcus ran a hand through his hair. "Well…"
Del's brow furrowed. "You don't know," she gasped.
"I mean… time sorta blends together in this place after a while. I mean, it's got to have been at least a year…"
"Easier question," Jim cut him off. "How old were you when they threw you in?"
"Thirteen."
Del looked like she was about to faint. "I was aware of this shit; it's exactly what we were fighting against, but it makes the reality no less disgusting," she mused.
"Are fighting against," Jim corrected.
Del frowned. "Jim, how the hell are we supposed to do anything from in here?"
Jim shrugged, but there was a determined glint in his eye. "I'm not sure yet, but I'm gonna find out."
"What are you in here for?" Marcus couldn't hold back his curiosity.
"Trying to make a change." Jim walked closer to Marcus. "This place is fucked, I'm sure you already know that. But it doesn't have to stay that way. Those of us that are being pushed down, there are more of us than them. If we could just realize that and join together… and that's why we're here. We were trying to bring others to a revelation and the wrong people found out. People who understand what we're doing and don't want it to happen. Well, that and even a threat of assassination is a pretty heavy offense." Jim laughed at that. "Someone ratted us out, scared of how serious we were getting apparently. Not a day after the first meeting I even suggest taking Avarice out and Enforcers are at our door."
"I'm sorry, Jim," Marcus squeaked.
Jim's brow furrowed. "You don't need to be sorry. You're just as wronged as we are. A couple years ago now, I think it was, I remember there was nearly a riot when a gang of kids, the eldest no more than sixteen, was tossed into the jails. I remember that's what really started a fire under me. Any chance one of those kids was you?"
Marcus nodded. "And Louie in the cell next door."
"No kidding?"
"He's not as lucky as me on who he has to live with, but we get to talk at least. There's a crack in the wall under my bed," Marcus explained.
Jim put a hand on his shoulder. "We're gonna find a way to make this right."
Over his shoulder, Marcus could see that Del looked doubtful, but she didn't say anything. Marcus looked back at Jim. "But how?"
"Like I said to Del, I don't know yet. But I plan to do my damndest to try."
***
"What the hell is going on over there?" Jim motioned towards the wall that separated their cell from Louie's.
A sudden burst of noise had started coming from Louie's side minutes before. It started with yelling, spare muffled words leaking through the concrete like "shit" and "get up." There had been a rattling, perhaps of Louie's bed frame against the wall, then a hard thump further down the wall a moment later.
Marcus put a hand to the concrete, flinching every time he heard a new bump. "It's probably Kane."
"Kane?"
"I told you, Louie didn't get as lucky with cellmates as I did."
"Are you telling me there's a beating going on over there?" Del fumed.
Marcus couldn't bring himself to look at either of them and directed his nod to the wall. "Every day as long as we've been in here," he whispered. His heart ached for Louie's pain and his own helplessness, only being able to sit by and listen.
How many times had Marcus fantasized himself somehow managing to break through the wall and defend Louie against Kane - who in all his fantasies for some reason was bald with eyes as red as all their jumpsuits? But that was all it was, a fantasy. Marcus couldn't protect Louie, he could barely protect himself. More often than not it was Louie talking Marcus down.
There was a squeeze on Louie's shoulder. He turned to see Del beside him. "You care about Louie, don't you?"
"More than anything. We were close even before we got thrown in here." Marcus hugged his legs to his body.
"How dare you kick me," roared through the walls, the most coherent sentence that had ever broken through, most likely due to sheer volume.
"I think somebody is fighting back," Jim laughed.
There was a hard thump against the wall again.
"It may not have been a good idea." Marcus clung to his legs tighter.
Del gave his shoulder another squeeze. "Louie is strong. He'll get through this." Her voice wasn't convincing enough. Marcus appreciated the effort but Del was just saying words. She didn't know Louie and never would.
"Better hide!" Came through the walls, signaling the end to the fight.
Marcus unfurled from his balled position, scooting for the edge of the bed. If Del or Jim had anything to say about his actions, he didn't hear it.
"Louie!" He cried before he had even checked to see if he was there.
"Yes," Louie wheezed. His eye was at the other end of the hole, half-lidded.
"I want to help you so badly," Marcus moaned.
"I know you do." Louie gave a weak chuckle, but stopped with a hiss of breath as something - or more accurately everything - on his body pained him. "Tell me… tell me about your cellmates."
"They're really nice. They're concerned about you too. They're here because they were trying to kill Avarice and someone ratted them out."
"We weren't trying to kill him, it was a suggestion," was the muffled reply that came from somewhere behind him, followed by a cough and, "sorry, uh… for eavesdropping."
Louie smiled but decided not to comment on the interjection. "I like them already."
"Jim says he still thinks something can be done," Marcus added.
Louie had to think about that one before he could comment. At first, he felt the same skepticism that Marcus had. How would Jim do anything from jail? Then again, maybe what Jim could do was the wrong question to be asking. "Well, if he had enough people on his side before he got arrested, assuming they weren't intimidated by the arrest, it's safe to say that the chance of an uprising isn't really gone."
"Hey now, I hadn't thought of that one. Ya know what, Lou, I like you too!" Another cough. "I'll, uh, just move over to my own bed on my side of the cell now."
Marcus was caught in a fit of giggles he couldn't manage to suppress until Jim had moved on. When he could breathe normally again, he caught Louie's eye again. "I hope they do it. I want out of here, for so many things, but more than anything just to see you again, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Louie sighed. "Yeah, I do. I'm so close I could touch you but… I can't." He was grateful for the wall for that brief moment as Marcus didn't see him blush.
"Yes." Marcus nodded absentmindedly, thinking about how much he too wished he could reach out and touch Louie. If he could even simply hold his hand, intertwine their fingers together, maybe he could feel safer in his place. Not that Louie didn't already make him feel that way, but he missed Louie's warmth. It had radiated from him, when they were sitting side by side. They had never held hands or anything like that before, this was probably the first time Marcus had ever consciously thought of such a thing. But it felt so natural, so right, and made him feel soft and happy inside enough that he had no desire to question it. "Louie, when we get out of here one day, will you let me hold your hand?" Marcus was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely realized he was speaking aloud.
Louie was quiet. Marcus panicked and went beet red, but found his throat had stopped up, making any follow up explanation impossible - not that he had one. In truth, Louie had also gone red, but inside, he was also exploding with happiness at a long held hope now realized.
He had discovered his own feelings for Marcus early on, but Marcus still had been so young. Louie was afraid to make a move for fear of it being too soon or somehow seeming pushy, or the worst possible outcome of all: ruining their friendship.
Besides, Marcus had been close to him, but as Louie had assured himself many times, Marcus could easily see their relationship as more brotherly, a possibility he had to prepare himself to face as disappointing as it might be. Yet this was the first sign that Marcus had ever given him that he might be something more. That, or, he could be overreacting and for Marcus hand holding was completely platonic; but that was an embarrassment he would let himself live down later. This all was merely hypothetical at this point anyway as they were still in jail. "Marcus, if we ever get out of here, you can hold my hand as much as you want."
Marcus, who had been silently panicking the entire time Louie was silent, let out a sigh of relief. Although, the tumbling and fluttering deep in his stomach did not stop.
***
Louie's eyes shot open in the darkness as something clamped around his ankle, dragging him out from under the bed. It was definitely the middle of the night. The light in the cell was off, the only illumination shone in from the hall through the tiny window on the door.
When his ankle was released, Louie flipped over to his back. He looked up and saw a lone strip of light falling across Bo's face. His eyes were dark, dangerous. His face in that same menacing, neutral state it always was. He squatted down, so he was eye to eye with Louie. He was plunged into shadow, yet somehow his eyes still seemed bright. "Do you know what you did?" His voice so low a growl Louie could barely make out the words.
"W-what?" Louie stammered. His body had begun to tremble. He felt frozen to the floor.
"You don't, huh? That's what I get for believing you when you say you understand." Bo pressed himself closer until his face was inches from Louie, the stench of his warm breath blasting Louie's nostrils with each word he spoke. "I told you not to fight back and what would happen if you tried again."
Louie's mouth went dry. He knew what Bo was talking about now. His body shook harder, his heart rate skyrocketing as his brain began to scream, Say something, move, anything! You need to do something and you need to do it now! For all the urgency, Louie's body still felt locked in place. It was like his brain had lost its connection with his limbs.
"Yes. You remember." Bo grinned. Not once, no matter what was happening, had Louie seen Bo's lips as much as twitch his entire time he had been locked up with them. Seeing his mouth spread into a toothy smile now made Louie's blood run cold.
Bo lunged forward just as Louie managed to awake his body from its stupor, rolling off to the side before Bo got hold of him. Louie crawled toward that small window of light, grasping at the cold metal door, using it to help stand himself back up.
He could hear the shuffle of Bo coming back up behind him. His stomach was in his throat. Louie began to work on autopilot. He balled his hands into fists and began to pound on the door, the sound filling the void of silence. "Help!" He screamed. "He's going to kill me! He's-"
A hand clamped over Louie's mouth and pulled him back. Another hand wrapped around his middle, pinning him against the other body. "You little shit. Shut the fuck up!" Bo hissed.
"Wassgoinon?" Kane was sitting up in bed, rubbing at her eyes.
Louie struggled at Bo's grip over head mouth, wriggling his head until he could position his mouth just right and chomp down on Bo's hand.
Bo screamed and loosened his grip in his surprise. Louie was at the door again, banging at it even harder, screaming louder. "He's going to kill me! Please! Help! Some-"
Bo grabbed him again, crushing his hand so hard over Louie's mouth that his fingernails dug into his cheeks. "I said, shut up."
Kane hadn't moved from her bed, though she was sitting on the edge of it now, her legs hanging over the side. "Bo-"
"Either you help me or you sit right there and shut the fuck up too," Bo snapped, whipping his head towards her, his eyes glinting with rage.
There was a banging on the wall beside them, Marcus' side. "You leave that kid alone, you hear me fucker?" That had to be Jim.
"What the fuck are you gonna do about it? Mind your own business!" Bo roared. He turned his attention back to Louie, digging his hand harder into his face, crushing him closer to his body. "Getting rid of you is gonna be so satisfying," he whispered in his ear.
"Enforcers! Somebody! Help! He's trying to murder his cellmate! Help!" Jim's voice cut through Bo's moment.
Bo glowered at the wall. "I wish I could strangle that son of a bitch too," he muttered under his breath. It wasn't low enough for Louie not to hear. He struggled against Bo's grip.
It was no use. The harder Louie fought, the tighter Bo squeezed. That was when it occurred to him that Bo only had a grip on his upper body. Without another moment's hesitation, he lifted his left leg and kicked backward as hard as he could. He didn't take the time to figure out where he was aiming - if at anything.
His heel made direct contact just below Bo's knee. Bo crumbled forward, his grip on Louie releasing as his leg buckled underneath him. Louie didn't waste a beat and scrambled for the door once more, beating on it and screaming. He knew there was precious little time before Bo was upon him again, and he doubted Bo would waste another second this time before finishing the job.
Jim had never stopped yelling, but their two voices together amplified the sound farther, especially when Marcus and Del's voices joined in. Soon, voices were coming from other cells. Most were angry at being woken up by a bunch of yelling, but it didn't matter if they cared what was happening or not. The sound was a wave that traveled fast down the corridors of the jails. It wasn't long before the Enforcers were on the move, searching for the source of the disturbance.
"I'm done with this shit!" Bo roared, his arm wrapping around Louie's neck so his chin was pinned just above Bo's elbow.
Louie clawed at Bo's arm, but it did nothing to make him budge. He couldn't speak, the sounds he made were incoherent croaks and squeaks. He felt like he was floating. His energy began to wane and his arms flopped at his sides, too weak to fight any longer. The edges of his vision were starting to go black.
No! Fight it! he urged himself.
The door slid open, light pouring into the room along with two Enforcers. When they saw Louie, pale and nearly unconscious in Bo's grip, they kicked into gear, pulling the two apart from one another.
Bo didn't fight it as one Enforcer pinned his arms behind his back and pushed him towards the door. He shot one last hateful sneer towards Louie, who managed not to see it, before the Enforcer forced him out of the room. The other Enforcer had laid Louie down on the floor, unsure if he should move him even as far as the bed.
"Can you hear me?"
Louie had never fully passed out. Everything had happened so quickly, he had become so foggy already that it was too much at once. He was beginning to come back now, that awful spinning sense of impending loss of consciousness lifting. "Yes," he wheezed.
"Can you move?"
Louie turned over onto his side. It took a second for his head to catch up with him, but he knew he wouldn't pass out. "Gotta go slow," he coughed after he made it to his hands and knees and had to pause.
"I am going to go get back up to get you to Medical. Don't move too much." The Enforcer turned to Kane and narrowed his eyes. "Do I need to worry about any shady business from you?"
Kane shook her head. "I'll stay here. Won't move. Had nothing to do with anything. Sat here the whole time."
The Enforcer still eyed her as he moved to the door. "If he's not alive or conscious by the time I get back, you better have a damn good explanation for me." He slammed it shut behind him, and they were plunged into darkness.
Kane didn't say a word. Louie heard her bed squeak, the light shuffle of the thin covers as she faced herself to the wall away from Louie. That was more than he could have asked for.
"Louie? Louie?" It was no whisper that called through the hole in the wall now. Why bother?
Louie dragged himself under the bed. "I'm here, Marcus."
"Are you okay?"
"Not sure if 'okay' is the right word for it. Shaken up, sore, maybe bruised in the neck area, but… I'll live."
"What happens now?"
Louie felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "They said they wanted to take me to Medical, but they didn't say anything beyond that. They took Bo away… I don't know if they plan to bring me back or…"
"Or what?" Marcus cried.
Louie bit his lip. He didn't want to put it into words, he feared it so much. "... they might transfer me to a new cell," he whispered, tears at his eyes.
"They can't do that!" Marcus moaned. "They can't! We need each other! They can't take you away from me!" He began to sob, unable to control it.
Del tried to rush forward to crawl under the bed and comfort him, but Jim held her back. "Let them have a moment," he whispered.
"Marcus… if - if I never see you again, there's something you need to know…"
"Please don't talk like that," Marcus wailed. "Please don't talk like that."
"Marcus, please, I have to say this or I'll never forgive myself for not saying it." Louie's voice was soft, but it was enough to catch Marcus' attention. It took him a few moments to get himself under control, but finally his occasional sniffs were easy to talk over.
"W - what is it Louie?"
Louie's mouth went dry, his stomach turning over a few times. If you don't do it now, you never will. "Marcus, I… I love you. I have for a long time. It started before I knew what it was. I love you, and I always will love you. Even if I never see you again, and especially, if I do."
There was a crashing sound as the door to Louie's cell slid open once more.
"Where'd he go?"
"There - the feet under the bed."
Footsteps advanced.
"Marcus - they're here. It's time."
"But -'' Marcus had barely processed what Louie had said, was still floating and trying to figure out what that fluttering was deep in his stomach - they couldn't take Louie away now.
"Stay strong," Louie urged him. "Because you are strong." If he was offended that Marcus hadn't commented on his previous statement, there was no sign of it in his voice and there would be no elaboration. The Enforcers pulled him out from under the bed.
"What were you doing under there? Come on, let's get you to medical."
***
Ten Years Later
The door to the cell clanged open, light pouring in and disrupting the darkness. "Marcus Angle. Get up," an Enforcer yelled through the doorway.
Marcus stirred on his bed, blinking his eyes as he tried to figure out what was going on. He had been asleep, dreaming of something. But already it was slipping from him… someone had been telling him something…. had Louie been there? Already it was gone. And the Enforcer was yelling again.
"Hurry up!"
"I was asleep, gimme a break," he grumbled low enough the Enforcer wouldn't hear as he heaved himself out of the bed, balancing himself on wobbly legs.
"Time to go." The Enforcer grabbed Marcus' arm and dragged him from the cell, not waiting to see if Marcus would walk out of his own volition.
"Where are you taking me?" Marcus was feeling a little more present now. As the Enforcer slid the cell door shut again, the sound didn't come through a fog like it had been since he had opened his eyes. It made this feel less like a dream if only slightly.
They began a march down the hall, but the Enforcer had not answered Marcus' question. "Where are we going?" He pressed.
"You'll see soon enough," the Enforcer grunted.
Marcus knew better than to ask further, it wouldn't go anywhere. His stomach sank, his body going cold as he continued to wake up and the reality of what was happening began to occur to him.
It wasn't a good thing to be taken away without warning. At least with Louie and Bo all those years ago, the fight had been a viable reason to transfer them both. But Marcus hadn't done anything, not even when they'd taken Jim and Del away.
He couldn't get over that. That was when everything had started to go weird in the jails. It was still hard to tell time, but he was sure it hadn't been more than a month since it had happened, maybe even less. Much like this night, they had been woken from sleep to be led off without explanation.
Del had squeezed him tight, telling him everything would be alright. Jim, too, had hugged him. After all the time they had spent together, they may as well have been his second set of parents. "We'll meet again, Marcus, I'm sure of it,'' Jim assured him before the Enforcer pulled him away.
All Marcus wanted to do after that was recede back into himself. So much had been taken from him: his moms, his freedom, Louie, the Carroes… what next? What could he possibly have left to lose?
His new cellmate arrived two days later. While Marcus tried to give off the impression that he had no desire to talk and would be content curled up on his bed staring at the wall, his new cellmate, Cy, wouldn't have it.
"Listen, you, stuff's going down. Don't you wanna know what's coming?"
"How could you possibly have obtained any sort of information," Marcus grunted.
"There's talk."
"Again - how could you talk to anyone? Not like concrete makes it easy unless you want a shouting match." His stomach twisted at the thought of the crack in the wall beneath his own bed, all those long conversations with Louie that made him feel so safe all those years ago. Where was Louie now? Was he still alive? Was he thinking about Marcus as much as he was thinking about him? He was taken from his solemn thoughts by Cy's voice.
"Do you not look around you on shower days? It's not just your own cell that's there. There are people to converse with if you try."
"Okay, fair," Marcus grunted.
"They are going to kill us all."
Marcus rolled over to look at Cy. "What did you say?"
Cy grinned. "Got your attention, now, didn't I? I said that they - as in the powers that control this place, as in Lord Avarice himself - are going to have us all killed to solve the overcrowding issue down here and start fresh."
Marcus sat up, staring off over Cy's shoulder as his mind repeated, Gonna kill us. Gonna kill us. He felt so small, so helpless. He may as well have been that scared little thirteen year old that had been tossed into this cell in the first place.
"Just thought you should know," Cy added before retiring to their chosen bed on the opposite side of the cell.
Marcus scowled across the room at them. "Just what I needed," he muttered. "More things to be upset about."
Now, he was being led away, and he couldn't help but think of that conversation again. Was he being taken away to be killed? Was that what they did to the Carroes? Is that how it was to happen, they would be led off to the slaughter one by one?
Up ahead, there was a group of three other prisoners. They were accompanied by two Enforcers. "Got Angle?" One of them called out.
"I do." The Enforcer beside Marcus confirmed. "Weren't there supposed to be two more?"
"They're on the way. We'll cross paths before we exit."
Marcus was pushed toward the group and one of the other Enforcers stepped forward to greet him with cuffs to secure his hands behind his back - as he now noticed was the case for his companions. He couldn't get a better look at them before a bag was thrown over his head and he was plunged into darkness.
They were marched, blindfolded this way. He heard it when they met up with the others, their progress stopping for a brief moment before the Enforcers got them going again.
Without seeing where they were headed, the path seemed to drag. It gave Marcus too much time to worry. Would they get to see their surroundings ever again or would they die hooded like this? As it turned out, they would not die that night. The bag and cuffs were removed, and Marcus found himself being tossed into a small, solitary room with a flimsy looking bed on wheels.
He did not sleep much that night, but not because of the uncomfortable bed. There were too many questions. Were they going to be killed or what? What else could they possibly be useful for?
***
The next morning, an Enforcer led him through what seemed to be a maze of hallways in some sort of elegant place. There were all sorts of objects on display, things Marcus could put names to that looked like jewelry or statues, but others he could not. They passed by with no chance to stop and gawk. Before Marcus knew it, he was tossed into what looked like a small auditorium with shocking white walls and a domed ceiling. There were seven fold-up chairs that had been lined up before a small stage.
Already there were three prisoners there seated next to one another. For the short glimpse he had caught the night before, Marcus managed to recognize them as the three he had been brought in with.
He joined them in the chairs, leaving an empty one between himself and the closest of them. He did a double-take as he did when he realized that two of the others were twins, only discernible by the fact that one had faded blue tips in her long blonde hair while the other had the remains of pink in hers. The one with blue leaned forward. "Any idea what's going on?"
Marcus shook his head. "Wish I did."
The girl shrugged her shoulders as if it was as much as she expected and said, "I'm Evy, this here is my sister Macy and this is Angelica. We were all just getting to know each other. So - what's your name and what were you in for?"
"What?"
She rolled her eyes. "Macy and I were in a street band. We apparently were too much of a nuisance after a while. Angelica was just about to tell us what she did when you came in."
Marcus opened his mouth to speak when the doors opened again and two others were pushed inside. He watched them for a moment - an older man and a younger one - before deciding it was weird to stare and turning to look at the stage.
The others must have lost interest in him; they were immersed in their own conversation again. Marcus didn't really care to join in.
The younger man chose this moment to plop himself down in the empty chair beside him. When Marcus looked at him in surprise, the man frowned, his voice apologetic. "Sorry, should I not sit here?"
"No. I just wasn't expecting someone next to me so suddenly.
His face lit up with a smile, a warm gesture. His presence, so relaxed, gave off a sense of kindness. He had let a beard grow out on his chin, no more than a couple inches long. His hair was shaggy, pieces falling across his eyes.
Marcus smiled back at the man, instantly liking him. "I'm Marcus. Nice to meet you."
At the sound of his name, the man's eyes grew wide, his smile melting.
Marcus felt his heart sink. What did he say wrong?
"Marcus…" the man repeated. He leaned forward and put a hand on Marcus' shoulder. "Marcus, it's me, Louie." His eyes had lit up, that smile back on his face.
"Louie?" Marcus looked him up and down. He tried to imagine him shorter, a teenager, much heavier, no beard. He looked hard at his face again, at that smile, at those light blue eyes. "Louie!" Marcus gasped. Before he knew what he was doing, he buried himself in Louie's chest, clamping his arms around him. He could feel tears at his eyes.
Louie laughed, his eyes also shiny with tears as he returned the hug. "It's good to see you too."
Marcus pulled back so he could look at Louie again. "Do you know why we're here?"
Louie's smile faltered as he shook his head. "No. But whatever shit this is, I'm happy I'll get to see it through with you."
Marcus felt giddy. He wanted to do something other than stare at Louie, grinning like an idiot, but he was unable to put any other words to his feelings in that moment.
A memory from years past came back to him, warming his heart as he remembered a longing that seemed so far away and was no longer. He reached out for Louie's hand, interlacing their fingers. Louie looked down at it, then back up at Marcus. He gave Marcus' hand a squeeze. "As much as you want," he reminded him.
Marcus would have floated away, but before he could, another thought came to him. "And what about you? If I want to hold your hand, what do you want?"
Louie chuckled, then leaned forward and kissed him.
END
(for this part of their story, that is)
***
As for what happens next for these two and their fellow prisoners who have been rounded up, the answers await in the re-release of Zone-E.
I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did creating it. I had a lot of fun revisiting these characters from another perspective, especially after getting through the initial revision of Zone-E. In fact, this has actually given me some extra ideas for a few more details I would like to sprinkle in.
Fun fact, I actually didn't realize just how close Louie and Marcus were until this new revision of Zone-E (They weren't the only characters that had new revelations for me, in fact). Once I had been shown their relationship, it couldn't be unseen. I felt like I owed it to them to write about it. They go through some awful shit along with the rest of the characters of Zone-E... Perhaps I will give all those characters some more backstory with time, but that is a future endeavor.
Next week, we return from the dystopian future to more modern times with Up on Miner's Point.
BONUS:
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