Chase endured a sleepless night after the events that had just preceded. He spent the entire night staring at the gritty ceiling attempting to make sense of everything. He was certain that it was the prison guard opening the cell door to let the two convicts in. Chase was wrapping his brain trying to figure out this enigma as to why the prison guard would let them do such a thing. He had heard rumors and conspiracies about the corruption that goes on inside prison walls before but he thought that's all they were, rumors and conspiracies!
Apparently not, he figured. Prison life was about to be a whole lot trickier for Chase without the safety and protection from the prison guards. But at least Chase had his new savior as his cellmate, at least he thought he was. He still didn't know what quite to make of this mysterious man which Chase still only knew as 'inmate 002'.
'Wiz is also in the prison with me, he would have my back if required' Chase thought to himself trying to search for positives out of this bleak situation.
'Grrrrr' Chase's stomach was growling at him. He had not eaten now for over 36 hours. This was long even for Chase's standards as he would often skip meals to avoid being bullied and tormented both at school and the orphanage. Chase eagerly made his way to the canteen but was instantly disappointed when all he received was a small mole hill of gruel on his tray. The food itself had no color to it, a dark musty paste which camouflaged itself in with the aluminum tray it was piled on.
Chase took his food tray and scouted the canteen in the hope that he would spot Wiz. This was proving to be troublesome for Chase as the majority of the convicts towered over Chase therefore making it almost impossible. It was like trying to spot a fly amongst a block of skyscrapers. Chase continued to rummage through the canteen searching through the sea of bodies when all of a sudden out of the corner of his eye he spotted Wiz's spiked blonde hair. This hairstyle was a statement to say the least, therefore made him quite distinguishable despite the large number of people in the canteen.
As Chase approached, he realized that Wiz was already laughing and joking with some of the convicts. It seemed that Wiz had fitted in to prison life already and was already part of some crew. This came to no surprise to Chase as Wiz was a fairly confident individual and already had a large social group back at the academy.
"Wiz" Chase mumbled nervously.
"There you are! Come take a seat with us" Wiz responded with excitement.
"Come and meet the gang! This is Apollo, he got done for assault on his teacher, Drew over here claims he's innocent…."
"Yeah right.. we all are" joked the person sat beside Wiz as the rest of the table laughed in unity.
"ahhh and that is Rocky, my cellmate, he got done for assault but was in self-defense just like us, what a coincidence ayy?" Wiz finished explaining to Chase.
Wiz looked as if he had found a real solid group of guys to rely on inside here. They welcomed Chase in with open arms which eased Chase's fears but he was worried that the news he was about to deliver was going to disrupt the happy and cheerful vibes at the table.
"Sorry to ruin the fun but I have some news which aint too good... I got attacked last night and I think a prison guard had something to do with it" Chase told his new friends nervously.
"NO WAY! ARE YOU OKAY? LETS GET THOSE BASTARDS!" Wiz raged whilst slamming his fists down into table which threw everyone's dinner trays onto the floor.
To Wiz's surprise neither of Rocky, Apollo or Drew had even batted an eyelid in response to what happened to Chase. They were already well accustomed to the way of life inside of the prison, especially regarding 'fresh meat'. They explained to Chase and Wiz that this was a very common occurrence at the prison as prison guards would often gamble on convicts and have a high amount of money invested into certain convicts. It was in the guard's best financial interests to allow the convicts that they have put a wager on to intimidate potential opponents, targeting 'fresh meat' particularly.
Fighting competitions and bootcamps were common practice inside the prison. Colonel Cannon who was in charge of the prison, would lead the bootcamps and training to help prepare inmates for upcoming fight tournaments. He was ex military and did not take any shit from the convicts. It was in these tournaments that the guards would bet on certain fighters which led to the wide scale corruption inside of the prison. Chase realized that this prison was no longer for reeducation purposes but for the amusement of the guards to pass some time.
Whilst Chase was left bemused by the information he had just received, Wiz had a look of excitement on his face.
"Competitions? Bootcamps? Training? Maybe this place won't be so bad after all" chuckled Wiz.
"Don't worry Chase, I will teach you everything I know… well almost everything" said Wiz with a cunning smile.
Chase wondered if he had been offered a life line. His training under the Sensei had halted before it ever got started, but this was a new opportunity and Wiz had trained under Sensei Li's stewardship for years. He knew if he was ever going to survive in this hell hole he would need to learn and learn fast. This was the perfect opportunity and he wasn't about to let it slip.