Chapter Ten:

Skirmish's never fail to amaze me. The fact that the guards and Warden allow them, mainly. But the fact that everything can just end within a second's notice. Especially if someone in charge demands that it ends. In a Skirmish that we had caught the last few seconds of, one of the guys in charge in the Gang demanded that they let the guy go, that he had had enough beating for the day. Everything just ended. The kid was lifted off the ground and taken out of the gym by his friends.

Unfortunately for the new fish that had been red handed when he was just in the latest group of new inmates, Christopher and a few other Skulls were giving him a hard time. It didn't appear that anyone was going to call off the fight early. I just figured it was good that the one they were beating halfway to his death wasn't my new cellmate. I didn't want to have to get involved in the Skirmish, but I figured I'd have to if it had been the cellmate that I had to get. I sat in the gym and watched the Skirmish happen. None of the Guards seemed worried, yet they seemed to know where everyone was going. I wondered what would happen if someone was to die in here. Would they even bother to clean up the place? Send the body back to his family? No, probably not. They'd just let a couple of their dogs loose in here. I looked over at John who was sitting beside me. He watched the Skirmish and didn't take his eyes away from the action. Did he even deserve to be in Furnace? If anyone did, it was him who did. Didn't he say on the first day that we were in here that he actually did do the crime they had charged him for? I looked away from him and looked at the ring. It seemed to be filled with blood from the new inmate now. Nothing of the idea of a Skirmish was fair in my view. But nothing could stop the fights from taking place. Unless everyone got out.

I shook my head and tried to force myself from the subject of escape. It was never going to happen. We were doomed to life here in Furnace. Everyone on the outside thought we were guilty of the crimes we supposedly did, which maybe some of us were. But I definitely wasn't. I didn't do anything to end up in this hellhole. I switched my eyes from the fight to the floor in front of me. The floor had a red tone to it, I wondered if it was originally that way or if the blood that had been from the fights caused the floor to turn to that color. Probably blood. Raising my eyes, I noticed that the new guy was now laying limply on the floor of the ring. Christopher and Randy raised him up and dragged him to the door of the gym. The Skull Guards outside of the room opened the doors and the new inmate was thrown out onto the floor of the rest of the prison. I heard yells coming from the other prisoners at the guy laying on the ground. Christopher walked by us and spit onto the ground at John's feet.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're next, Alien boy." He stated as he continued walking. John went to stand up, but Mohammad and I grabbed onto his arms and yanked him back down into his seat. Jose stood up from his seat across the gym and walked over.

"Enjoy the fight?" He asked, grinning at us all. John nodded.

"Definitely, maybe I could get myself a piece of the action soon, eh?" John suggested. Jose let out a laugh.

"Only if you're looking to get killed kid." Jose said. John nodded and shrugged slightly. "So, how're we gonna get outta here?"

"Look, all we gotta do is get into the elevator. We'll get a free ride up and then we'll just have to figure out a way from there." Will said.

"No, I told you, we aren't doing that plan. We're going to have to figure out a way around the guards and into the chipping rooms. If we can pick through a wall, we might be able to get out." Jack said slowly.

"Pick our way through a wall? You stupid?" Jose asked shaking his head.

"Okay, so how about you all leave the planning to me and Will?" Jack offered. Everyone nodded. I stood up and walked out of the gym, I heard footsteps behind me but I didn't bother looking to see who it was until I was outside. I looked back at Alexander, Stephan, and John. I shook my head at them and started heading up to my cell. Josiah was already inside the cell when I got there. He nodded at me and I returned the nod.

"How was the fight?" He asked after a few seconds. I shrugged.

"It was a fight. One of the kid's who came down with you was in it. Got beat halfway to death. Looked nothing like he use to when he got out of the gym." I explained. Josiah nodded slowly. He jumped up onto the top bunk and I slid down onto the bottom one. I laid down and closed my eyes. After a while I heard the cells lock and could tell when the lights flicked off. I could definitely tell because that's when I slipped into dreams.

Not dreams about all of the horrors of Furnace. No, this time the dreams were good. I was outside of Furnace again and back looking like a normal kid. I was at school with Trey and we were hanging with our old group of friends. Everyone was sat around the school lunch table and eating their own lunches. We were all talking about some new video game. I didn't want to wake up from the dream, since it was a nice change from dreaming about being a Wheezer, or a Guard, or having Matt back in the cell with me.

I was only dragged out of the dream by the sound of sirens. I opened my eyes to find blood red lights around the prison. I heard the bed creek as Josiah sat up.

"Lay back down!" I yelled at him. He laid down quickly. "Just stay down and we'll be okay." I looked over at the cell door and watched as the vault door opened up slowly. The Wheezers all filed out of the door followed by a bunch of Guards. I saw that there was a few Guards that I hadn't seen before. Maybe they had done some recruitting. I kept my eyes on the cell door while the Wheezers went off in search for their newest prey or whatever you wanted to call what they were doing. I moved my gaze from the door to the floor as a Wheezer walked by. After a few seconds I heard the collective scream of the Wheezers, meaning they had found themselves some new inmates to take. I sat up on the bed as I saw the guards walking toward the staircases. I wanted to see the new guards. I stood up as a few of the Guards came walking across my flight of cells. I gasped at the sight that I saw. Muscular, silver eyes, but still recognizable. Matt. He was a Guard now. How? I didn't know. But it was him. Same blond color to his hair. Still looked the same, only slightly more muscular, and silver eyes. What had they done to him.

"Matt!" I yelled out at him. His eyes flickered toward me for a brief second before he continued to walk on down the walk-way. "Matt! It's me! Seth! Seth Slade! Come on!" I heard more footsteps coming up the stairs and I glanced over as more Guards came rushing up the steps. The cell door in front of me slid open after a second. Matt, the Guard, swung a fist into my cell. The fist connected with my face and I fell backwards. I landed on the cell floor and instantly everything went black.

I woke up a long time later. I looked around, only to find myself in a small room. The room was sectioned off by curtains. I let out a moan and sat up slightly. There was a faint sound of beeps coming from what must of been across whatever large room I was in. I laid my head back against the bed. I heard a curtain pull back as soon as my eyes closed. After a second of having them closed, I reopened them.

"Hello there, Seth." A cold voice greeted me. I recognized it though. My eyes went searching for the face to the voice. I found him standing across the room with a smirk on his face. "Surprised to see me?" Matt asked.