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One Way Out - Chapter 3

"Hey, wake up you animals!", boomed a large cry originating from the cells, followed by the clanking sounds of pure wooden clubs prodding and smacking the bar cell door. The second I heard this alarming sound, my brain just told me to open my eyes. I immediately shot my eyes to the east of me, and found Kaz ALREADY dressing!

"Hey, lazy snake! GET UP!!!" cried the warden as he noticed Kaz being fully dressed, and me still lying in my bunk, as naked as the day I was born. Upon this point, my senses had come back to me and I nearly jumped down off the bunk and grabbed my jumpsuit in a hurry, worrying that one of those "Dominant" pokémon might be watching...

"That's more like it! Don't be so lazy next time, or I'll kick your ass!" warned the same bizarrely-thin emboar I had the pleasure of meeting last night... And then he walked off, bearing that exact same grin from last night.

"Heheh, morning Vito!" came a certain voice from behind me, and as you might have guessed, I turned around and saw the exact same Samurott that I fantasized about last night. My reply was quick, and sounded like I was hiding something. "Uh, hey Kaz! How ya doing?" and the blue otter just shot me that smile, and exclaimed. "Pretty good, seeing as how I've been asleep for nearly ten hours!" Good Mew, I needed to learn how to make good conversation...

But as soon as Kaz saw my expressionless look, he couldn't but shoot a chuckle in my direction. "You really are one of a kind, Vito. I've never seen a guy who has had many mood swings as you have! You gotta tell me your secret..." He said the last part rather... suggestively. What was this guy hinting at? Wait... did... Did he know about what I did last night?! Damn it... I didn't want him to know.

And so, I left the cell, feeling rather dejected and ashamed at myself for doing that filthy activity... Especially in earshot of the subject of my imagination...

Despite that worried thought, the morning wasn't really that eventful, breakfast just consisted of me sitting alone, trying to avoid all eye contact with any other souls, and I pretty much tried to stomach the near-inedible slush that those prison guys gave me.

However, things started to take a turn towards a more eventful direction when I was sent to perform my day's worth of hard labour. That day, it was going to be just crushing and hammering down rocks into near fine power. I arrived with my group at the quarry outside the prison, and soon a large Hitmonchan appeared in front of us, and seemed to stare down at us, almost as if he was trying to read out minds.

It was about two minutes later when he finally started to speak. "This is the unholy group of lazy runts that I have the HORRIFIC DISPLEASURE of dealing with today?!" His voice had one of high authority to it, and to be honest, he sounded like the sort of guy who'd jump on us from great height if we did so much as breathe.

"ARE YOU ALL FUCKING DEAF!?" he screamed at us, not satisfied with the response that we gave, which was pure silence. But this demand sprung several members into action, and they replied in a slow, almost scared manner: "Yes, sir..."

Upon hearing this, the Hitmonchan burst out laughing and even wiped a tear from his eye. "HA! You don't like it when I shout, do ya! Well, I'm sorry to say that you'll just have to GET USED TO IT! Because in this quarry, your asses belong to me now, and you'll do what I say..." and then the Hitmonchan personally got into the face of a Grumpig - about two or three pokémon to the right-hand side of me - and screamed into his face,"...or you'll be SORRY THAT YOU DIDN'T!"

And the next thing he did stunned every single member of the group. He suddenly nailed the overweight Grumpig in the gut, and when said pokémon doubled over in pain, he ThunderPunched the Manipulate pokémon flying behind us, and we could hear him squeal as he landed in a heap. The officer then reverted his steel-like gaze at us and explained his actions: "Take that fat fuck for an example! If you show ANY signs of insolence, you'll take those shovels there..." And he pointed at a pile of dusty shovels strewn all across the pale brown brick wall. "...and DIG YOUR OWN GRAVES!!!" He barked, and hence took away any last hopes we had of a reasonable term of work vanished.

"Now, move out!" He commanded to us, and we didn't think twice about obeying his orders. Well, except for the Grumpig, who was still on the floor from that ThunderPunch. But as we picked up a pile of hammers that were on the wall adjacent to that of the shovels, we noticed that the Hitmonchan was storming over to the Grumpig, and we could hear his commands from where we stood.

"Do you expect me to carry you, you fucking pig!?" he shouted at the clearly hurt Pyschic type pokémon. But despite the clear state of the Grumpig, it had obviously generated absolutely no sympathy from the Fighting type, as he simply let out an enraged roar as he kicked the uh... rather burly pokémon in the back, and immediately grabbed him by the scruff of his neck afterwards, and dragged him over to us before shoving him into the wall.

"Now, PICK UP THAT HAMMER!" he commanded. The Grumpig tried to pick it up, but the shock wasn't helping him, and he barely managed to hold it. The Hitmonchan just shrugged this off and addressed the rest of us. "The shipment of iron ore has just arrived. What you weaklings are gonna be doing, is smashing it all down into small power, so that we can harvest it into iron, and sell it for a good price. If you don't crush enough rocks today, you'll get more and more the next time you come here. Keep that in mind!" And he then rushed to open the gate as we saw the top part of a truck reverse its way into the courtyard, and soon stopped in the centre of the yard, hence obstructing our view of the brick wall that was ahead of us. The truck door then slowly opened, and out hopped two Machoke.

"Hey boss!" One of the machoke addressed the officer, and asked him: "Should we throw 'em all out? Or one at a time?" The Hitmonchan raised an eyebrow slightly and told the machoke: "Eh, you might as well toss 'em one at a time, it'll be easier to keep track of things." Without saying anything else, the two machoke simply nodded and began tossing out eighteen (One for each of us) large rocks, and each one made a loud thud as it impacted the floor about 3 feet away from us, and kicked up some dust in the process, sending some pokémon into a coughing fit. I didn't cough, I just instead grimaced at the dust stinging my eyes!

But my grimacing was soon interrupted by the ever-so-kind Hitmonchan, who basically told us how long we were supposed to do this for. "Okay, you maggots! If I'm repeating myself, it's because you're probably all too stupid to remember what I said until I say it! But anyways, for the entire morning, you're gonna hammering down these rocks! Your individual objectives are 15 rocks EACH! Every time you finish hammering down one of these rocks into powder, you'll sweep 'em up into that corner over there," and he pointed into the corner to the far left of us, where the gate and building met. "...and if you don't meet your objective for today, you'll get more rocks the next time you come around, and you can expect me to kick your ass if you lack next time! Now, GET ON WITH IT!" and with that, we began.

The first few rocks were quite easy to go through, with me being able level seven into dust within two hours. But soon, me and many other members of the group were starting to get tired. Our arms were aching, our eyes were raw with dust, and our legs were on the brink of falling asleep. The worst one of our group was the Grumpig, who was struggling to hammer through his fourth rock, and keep in mind these were very big rocks! About as big as a Trubbish, but as strong and as sturdy as a Rhydon!

It was about one and a half hours before we were due to break for lunch, and whilst we were struggling to hammer down those rocks, the Hitmonchan was passing the time by trying to bum a cigarette from the two machoke, patrolling back and forth with his baton in paw and just staring at us.

About five minutes before we were due to break for lunch, I was still smashing down rocks, currently on my thirteenth one, and the niggling irritation in my eyes was still lingering. But the Grumpig was still lagging behind, on his eighth rock, and he looked like he was about to pass out. But just as I began to sweep the powdered iron into the bulging corner, the Hitmonchan hopped off the truck and commanded: "Hey! All you animals STOP! That's enough for today!"

And just as I finished sweeping into the powdered corner, the officer began to inspect our work, and needless to say, he kept his aggravated mood on. "Well, needless to say, you've all done a pretty FUCKING PATHETIC JOB!!! Not ONE of you has met your objective! This is NOT acceptable! Next time, you'll all have FIVE more rocks added to your schedule!" And he was interrupted by the Grumpig, who moaned in a rather feminine manner. But this only aggravated the Fighting type furthermore. "STOP FUCKING MOANING. Laziness is NOT allowed in this sector! It never has, and never will be!"

I just stared at the Hitmonchan, slowly getting more and more annoyed with his mood, but I couldn't really show it, as he'd probably ruin my bones for life... But what next send shivers down my spine, "Now before you guys go for lunch, you're gonna be goin' into the showers with the rest of those animals! Good fucking luck!" he then burst out laughing, and it was quite clear that he knew what was going to happen.

Not really facing much of a choice, we all got into a single-file and walked slowly into the building, with a look of fear on most of our faces. What was gonna happen?! I remembered those looks that the "Dominant Group" gave me as I arrived yesterday. Needless to say, I was about to drop dead from sheer fear!

About ten minutes later, we were escorted into the far right sector of the building, and we were led down a very narrow stairwell, so narrow to the point where the Zangoose in front of me had to squint his hands together so that he could get through without getting stuck! But the second We went through that door, it slammed shut just behind me, and I heard a lock turning behind me.

This was it. I was trapped.

We were then led out of the narrow doorway into a rather dank-looking changing room, and it was complete with several rows of wooden benches, but there were no lockers in sight. Just a small radiator was the only bit of eye-candy in the room... I mean, besides the dark green tiles that were half fresh, and half mildew. The first two rows were full, with orange jumpsuits reminiscent to ours hung upon each hook.

"Okay, you freaks! Get your clothes off, and join the beasts in the showers!" barked the warden assigned to guard the door to prevent anyone from running off. Not really having much choice, we were forced to oblige and we slowly began to unbutton our suits, and the second I undid the last one, they slid off instantaneously.

And one by one, we were led out into the large room, and the sight that greeted us was unnerving to say the least... The Haxorus, Aggron, and Feraligatr from yesterday were together at the back of a cell, seemingly washing up. But this was confusing me. Almost as if they were playing innocent with us... or maybe they hadn't noticed yet. I wasn't too sure.

I decided to take the spot next to the Zangoose, as I thought he'd be strong enough to fend them off, but unbeknownst to me, a certain plump Grumpig was to the other side of me, and his back was turned in the direction of the trio. If I had noticed, I would been outta there quicker than a bullet fired from a gun!

Wanting to forget about the fears that were in my mind at that time, I slowly began to relax my muscles against the warm water that greeted me. I slowly began to wash under my arms, and soon my whole body was coated in soap. It felt quite weird, as I hadn't had a shower in over a week, and the soap they had was much more brisk than the one my scales were used to...

But the second I directed my vision forward, my blood turned to ice. The trio were talking to the warden on duty, and he seemed to look over at my direction. I think they were trying to bargain with him. Shit, they must have noticed us!

And soon, my heart begun to beat at a more rapid rate as the warden smirked and shouted: "Have your fun, you sick bastards!" before he began to walk out of the room. The second that he left was the second that my heart entered a state of rapidness from which I had never felt before. The three pokémon then smirked and began walking over towards us, a few pokémon on the end began to back away.

A few more footsteps, and more pokémon backed away, and soon I looked to my left, and the Zangoose was long gone. They were making a beeline for me!

So this... was what Kaz supposedly called "Hell..."