Chapter 4 – Hard Knock Life
Geoff and Ash were both lying on their couches, their eyes closed but not sleeping. Suddenly the room began to move, up, forward, down, pushing to the left, then forward again. Finally it stopped and the doors opened.
Detective Cole stood in the bay. He looked older, weary, more exhausted than he had just a couple hours ago. "I found you some beds. Come on, transport's waiting." He gestured for them to follow.
Ash and Geoff gathered their bags and followed the detective through the sprawling station, eventually reaching their destined dock.
Cole walked the children out past the gate and onto the loading ramp. Three corrections officers herded a group of convicts onto the transport. Two anonymous officers wearing tinted visors on their helmets stood nearby, but paid no attention to Ash or Geoff. Their superior, a bald black woman, Sergeant Washington, approached. Geoff stared at her head.
"Detective," she acknowledged Cole. "Where to?" she asked glancing at the children.
The Detective handed her the clipboard with the transfer order. "Thirteen."
"What did they do?” she asked.
"Didn't do anything," he replied.
The sergeant looked at Ash and Geoff. "Tough break, kids."
"The toughest," Cole said flatly.
Geoffrey looked up at Detective Cole and back to Ash.
Washington turned to her subordinates, "Get these two in restraints," she instructed.
A corporal nodded, moving toward the children with handcuffs.
The waiting prisoners immediately began taunting Ash and Geoff. The closest two, known only as Rat and Dog stood center stage.
"Hum, yum. I want some," Rat chuckled. He was short, thin, and wiry, his head narrow and his face pointy, named for his most memorable features in a criminally efficient fashion.
"Hey, Zero, lemme see your hole," Dog leered. Big, dumb and clumsy-looking, he had a wide but lightly-muscled frame.
"Shut up, maggot!" the corporal yelled. He placed his stun baton to the side of Dog's head triggered a massive blast of electricity.
The prisoner fell to the ground, reduced to stunned and drooling submission.
Soon, the vehicle was loaded with its prisoners, their hands locked to rails running through the seats. The hatches were sealed
Ash and Geoff sat in the front row, in handcuffs, but unlike the others, their hands were not shackled to the seats.
The remaining corporal turned and stepped out of the prisoner section. Once inside the compartment with the other officers, he shut the hatch. On the other side of the door, he could see everything through the small window, if he happened to be looking.
Rat and Dog leaned over the seat, toward Ash, their faces close.
"Hey, honey. How old are you?" Rat drooled. "Wait, lemme guess. I'm gonna guess your just about... ripe!" he chuckled.
"Bet she ith!" Dog's speech and other basic motor functions still suffered from his recent close-contact with one hundred thousand volts. "Ripe asth a daisthy! Lemme get a tasthe testh, babeh!"
Ash leaned closer to Geoff and whispered, "When I nod, duck."
Geoff nodded.
Ash leaned back.
The guard wasn't looking at the moment, but still faced the window and could glance up at any time.
"We gonna have babies, baby!" Rat pulled himself as close to Ash as he could get. "The moment I saw you, I knew you was for me!! Yeehaw!!" Rat thrust his groin up and down in the air. "I pull it out and put it in your ear! You ever been fucked in the ear, girl? I heard it tickles!"
Ash looked over to Geoff and pulled her cuffs tight across her wrists. She checked to see if the corporal was looking, he was. He looked directly at her; he knew what she had planned. He smiled and slowly turned his back to the door.
Ash nodded to Geoff.
He ducked.
Ash stood and spun, swinging her shackled fists with everything she had. Her metal-bracketed wrists slammed into their faces, one to each, breaking both noses.
Rat and Dog cried and screamed, but the corporal didn't look back and his position blocked anyone else from looking in over his shoulder.
Ash sat and lowered her head.
Geoff stared at his sister, smiling.
Forty minutes later, the transport glided to a landing on the prison. The corporal opened the metal door. Rat and Dog's faces were destroyed, dried blood clumped all down their chests. The corporal walked to the back of the transport and began unlocking the prisoners, silently lining them up to disembark.
Sergeant Washington stood in the open doorway. She said nothing. She followed the human chain off the vehicle and turned them over to the prison officials. No one made any acknowledgment of the newly wounded Rat and Dog.
Once the prisoners offloaded, the transport made preparations to disembark.
Sergeant Washington addressed the corporal, "Uncuff these two,” she said, gesturing to Ash and Geoff. “I think they're safe for the moment."
The corporal nodded and removed their handcuffs.
Ash looked out the window as the transport lifted off.
The guards surrounding the prisoners rushed toward the chained men. With fully charged batons, they beat them to the ground. Their arms worked like pistons, their legs spread wide for sure footing and extra power.
She could practically hear the bones snap.
Blood splashed into the air as a thing alive, leaping both from the batons and the prisoners’ broken bodies. Ash watched the attack until the transport made a turn into traffic, removing the spectacle from her field of vision.
Nearly an hour later, the vehicle moved away from the steady flow of freeway traffic toward District Thirteen - The Angel City Orphanage and Juvenile Detention Facility.
The transport landed and everyone stepped off. The guards stretched their legs and looked around at the old style courtyard.
Sergeant Washington and one of the guards led Ash and Geoff toward a pair of large double doors. "I'm sure someone will be out in a minute."
Ash thought the facility seemed less inviting than the prison, with the exception of a similar reception. She sincerely hoped no one had noticed their presence; perhaps they could go somewhere else. Inevitably the tall front door of the orphanage unlocked and opened.
Two district guards stepped out and approached the sergeant. Their manner seemed both hostile and submissive. Despite the fact that they bore the same rank as Sgt. Washington and her corporals, Washington and her ACPD officers stood taller and prouder than their District 13 counterparts.
The pronounced differences consisted of numerous subtle affectations, individually inconclusive, but taken as a whole, definitive. From District 13, Sergeant Wulfgar and Corporal Harrison were of the Neanderthal variety; both powerfully built, wide and muscular. Their uniforms were rumpled and worn, their faces unshaven, boots scuffed, rough and old. Their unkempt appearance a sharp contrast with the metropolitan officers.
Sergeant Wulfgar silently directed Ash and Geoff toward the gaping entry and then turned to Sergeant Washington. "Documents?" he asked.
Sergeant Washington handed Wulfgar the clipboard. He didn't look at it, he simply turned and re-entered the orphanage without another word. Corporal Harrison following behind and once inside, he closed and locked the huge doors.
A reception counter occupied most of the foyer. At the opposite end; an ornate stairwell lead to the second floor. Young guards lined the walls, standing at attention, perfectly still. Wulfgar stopped just inside the doors and folded his hands behind his back. Ash watched him cautiously. Geoffrey huddled at her side.
"You are now wards of the court," the gruff sergeant stated.
He pointed at Ash, "You are orphan number 2310091503." He emphasized the zeros. He turned to Geoff. "You are number 2310091504. That's today's date, zeros three and four, in case you forget."
"I'm not a number. I'm a free man," Geoffrey said.
"Cute." Wulfgar let the joke slide. "You will attend school,
participate in athletics and if you are very smart, stay as quiet as possible," he directed the last to the young boy.
"Now, if you would be so accommodating as to empty your bags." Wulfgar gestured for them to dump their bags on the floor between them.
They did.
"This facility prohibits certain items." The sergeant pushed the piles of clothing around with his foot. "But you aren't going to kill anyone with t-shirts and underwear, are you? Clean this shit up and follow me," Wulfgar ordered.
Geoff desperately wanted to look at his sister's hand, but he resisted the temptation.
As they walked from the central hall, Geoff watched the guards who remained silent and still. They never once acknowledged the children’s presence.
Sergeant Wulfgar led them across the district, to their dormitory. "While walking or in the presence of the security staff, keep your hands behind your back at all times. Any deviation from this rule will be dealt with in the severest possible terms." The sergeant swung his baton in a low arc for emphasis.
Ash and Geoffrey's hands were full with their bags but they noticed that all the kids they saw put their hands behind their backs once the sergeant came into view.
As they entered the designated dormitory, Wulfgar gestured to a set of bunk beds and lockers. "You're green stripe, Level 3, North Wing, units 315 and 316. These are your lockers. They've already been stocked with your full issue. These are your beds.
"You will eat in the green stripe cafeterias. You will go to school just like everybody else. Learn the rules. If you break them you will regret it. The recreation rooms, video screens and game consoles are through those doors over there. May as well go meet your neighbors and get it over with."
Ash and Geoff didn't move.
"Good luck," Wulfgar said, as he and Harrison left the dorm.
Two heavily carpeted, stair-stepped ledges occupied either side of the recreation room. Twenty to thirty kids of various ages lay scattered across the semi-comfortable platforms, watching a vid stream. Ash and Geoff entered at the back of the room.
In the front, two orphans argued over which program to watch. "Man, I don't want to watch the news!" a lanky boy complained.
A healthy amount of grumbling echoed his lament.
His opponent, Zager, black-haired and sporting a bowl cut, was persistent. "I'm telling you, man, they got pictures!"
Zager stepped up to the display and changed the channel. On the new station, a newscaster sat at her desk in a posh television studio. Over her shoulder, gruesome images emphasized her report.
"We now take you to the Angel City suburb of Eagle Rock, California, where earlier today, the Carlson family was brutally murdered."
Images of bodies, bound and vivisected in gory detail filled the screen. "This is the fourth such case attributed to Angel City's newest serial killer, the Family Man," she said.
A young girl turned away from the display, horrified, "Turn it off!" She waved her hands in emphasis.
She opened her eyes and saw Ash and Geoff, standing at the back of the room. "Who are you?" she asked.
Everyone turned, the newscast instantly forgotten.
One of the bigger kids, Paulie, marched forward.
"Yeah! Who the fuck are you? What the fuck are you doing here? This ain't your stripe!"
Paulie was mostly bald, except for a sharp pointed strip at the crown of his hairline. His upper lip was thin and nearly non-existent below his bulbous nose.
Geoff stepped forward. "Get fucked, ass-face."
Paul hesitated; stunned to be openly insulted by someone he could so easily crush.
Geoff held the floor and continued to mock the older orphan. He walked in a quick little circle, swinging his arms at his sides and sticking out his lower lip, doing a simian monkey impression. "Who the fuck is you? What the fuck? Fuck you two!"
The children gasped, giggled, and laughed.
"Oh, a toddler. I'm scared." Paul grabbed his crotch and stepped forward. "Prepare to get ass-raped, bitches!"
Geoff snapped forward, his fist up.
Paul jumped back, flinching at Geoff's sudden movement.
"Ha, two for flinching," Geoff laughed, stepping up to hit Paul in the shoulder, but Paulie raised a fist, furious.
Ash reached out to Geoff's shoulder, gesturing for him to back off.
Paul glared at Ashley.
She glared back.
No one moved.
Out of nowhere, Ashley punched Paulie in the mouth, chipping his teeth and shredding his lips. Paul went backwards, knocked from his feet.
On the ground, he lifted his hand to his ruined mouth, the fight fully gone out of him.
Silence.
Ash glared at the new faces, looking for other challengers.
Someone giggled. Someone else laughed.
"That was awesome!" Zager said.
Paul struggled up to a sitting position. He tried to get to his feet, but collapsed again.
Someone pointed at him and burst into laughter.
Paul looked humiliated.
Ash turned and walked from the room, taking Geoff with her.
As they returned to the kid-filled dorm, Ash noticed a couple guards at each intersection and doorway. She and Geoff headed to their beds.
Reaching Ashley's locker first, she dug out her bathroom kit. "I'm gonna go brush. You should too."
"I forgot my toothbrush," Geoff said.
Ash pulled Geoff's travel bag from her pack and handed it to him.
He smiled. "Thanks Ash."
She ruffled his hair.
Geoff watched her slip the black stiletto, their father's legacy, into the side pocket of her shower bag.
Ashley entered the bathroom. Several girls stood talking in the sink area. When she entered, they went silent. No one spoke to her as she picked out an open sink to brush her teeth at.
Between the sinks and mirrors, Geoff stood in the center of a ring of older boys.
"Your sister, huh?" Zager asked. "She fucked Paulie up good!"
"Yeah, he got on her bad side," Geoff agreed.
"Bad side?" one of the boys joked, "From where I was standing, it was all good!"
Everyone laughed. Geoff grinned.
A few minutes later, several girls stood clustered around Ash.
"I can't believe you just hit him like that!" Lisa, who hadn't wanted to watch the morbid news story, exclaimed.
"I think she broke his jaw!" a redhead asserted.
"I saw bits of teeth go flying," a dark haired girl said.
"He was all bloody, I heard," Carla said. A brute of a girl, she stepped forward, followed by an even meaner looking friend.
"I fucking hate Paulie!" said Mona, Carla's companion. She resembled an Olympic power lifter, in a muscle shirt with shoulders like a man.
"It was obvious his weak spot was his mouth," Ash humbly observed. A bunch of the girls laughed, but nervously drifted away.
"There are a couple guys, won't go down so easy," Mona said.
"Well, that's the other thing about boys, most of them are really aren't very smart," Ash said.
The few remaining girls giggled nervously. Ash noticed that the more submissive girls were already gone.
The boys leaned in around Geoff, somber and serious. "All I'm saying is, Paulie is a small fry. There are guys here that will break your sister like a twig."
Geoff shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You don't understand. She's Ash; she's never lost a fight."
The guys shook their heads.
Geoff took offense. "You don't believe me? Fine. You go mess with her," he laughed. "I dare you."
"Listen, muy pecuito amigo, we don't have to do anything. But someone will, guaranteed."
"Yeah, well, Paul won't do it again." Geoff grinned.
A bunch of the guys laughed.
Kima had joined Mona and Carla. The three of them cornered Ashley.
Clearly the leader, Kima looked her up and down. "What I'm trying to say is there are
some very heavy hitters in this hell hole."
"I believe you," Ash answered.
Kima leaned in. "Sista, we gotta work together here. We're an all girl gang. No one lays a hand on us, we don't want 'em to," she explained. "We look out for each other, understand?"
Ash didn't move away.
"What I'm trying to say is, you wanna join up with us?"
"Join up with you?" Ash asked.
"Run with our set, posse up with this crew." Kima gestured to the two other girls nearby.
"There's only three of you?" Ash asked.
Suddenly, several other girls, who seemed to not be involved all, stood up straight from where they'd been leaning or sitting and turned to face Ash.
"We're the Leonas," Kima said, gesturing to the room full of fierce-looking teens. There were dozens of them, though few as intent or threatening as Kima.
Ash didn't recognize any of them from her earlier conversation.
"Well, it's something to think about, isn't it?"
Kima leaned forward again, smiling.
"There is one thing, though." Ash raised her hand between them. "I have to take care of my little brother."
"That's exactly why you should join up with us, so he'll be protected," Kima answered.
"But you said you're an all girl gang, right. Could you take boys in your gang?" Ash asked.
"Absolutely not."
"Well, then, what if he joins a different gang? Would I maybe have to fight him, someday?"
Kima leaned back to think about it. "Damn, girl. That's a hard spot."
"That's what I'm saying. Maybe, think about letting boys in."
"Then we'd have to be the Lions. We can't do that. That name's retired on this District."
Ash shrugged and extricated herself from the gang, holding up her toothbrush.
Back in the dorm, Ash met Geoff as they headed back toward their bunks. Geoff looked tired, disconnected.
"I don't want to sleep here, Ash," he said.
"I know. Me neither," she answered.
"Let's jack a ride and break out of this shit hole."
"You want the top bunk or the bottom?"
"Can I sleep with you tonight?"
"Yeah, okay, sure.”
Ten minutes later, at eleven, a bell rang and the lights in the dorm automatically shut off. Geoff fell asleep before Ashley's eyes had even finished adjusting to the darkness.
She listened to the sound of the kids settling to sleep around her.
The guards patrolled the wide aisles of the dorm, their measured footfalls consistent and rhythmic. She heard one nearby and another across the room, while two more walked the distant section of the hall. She closed her eyes and listened. She could hear at least one citizen standing at each of the major doorways. She wasn't sure about the far one until he finally coughed and gave his position away. Ash knew where all of them stood or walked.
Then, as if her listening channels were a collapsing house of cards, her brother whispered in his sleep. "Surprise! Happy Birthday, Ash! Are you surprised? It was a secret…“
Ashley didn't sleep for a long time that night.
She heard all the guards exit the dorm after an hour or so. She listened to the kids cough, move around and eventually she too, drifted off to sleep.
When next she woke, it was morning.