A Quiet Night in the Cell

Cell 12, that was home now. Cell 12 was one of the better cells in the Molalla Processing Center. It provided an adequate view of the ruins outside, there was even a lone plant that had somehow sprouted from the irradiated dirt, prisoner Syd Nelson liked to watch sway in the wind from time to time. It was something to do when he was being forced to do hard labour at the hands of the Willamette. But right now Syd was lying on a stained mattress that was just comfortable enough to get a night's sleep on.

On the other side of the room was his cellmate, a bad tempered ghoul named Addey. But the two of them got on well enough. As usual Addey stared at the layer of reinforced concrete above them. "How did they treat you today Syd?" Addey asked, his voice was rough and deep.

"Well I didn't manage to piss anyone off today. That was a surprise," Syd replied. For the past few weeks he had been assigned the duties of cracking a nearby bank vault on behalf of the Willamette. It was all part of their scheme of putting prisoners to good use, in their areas of expertise. They'd bring convicted murderers as security, things like that. Syd found it all very strange. "We didn't get any further though. Thing is sealed tight."

"I wouldn't know the first place to start with something like that. Never understood computers or machines," Addey said. The ghoul stood up and stretched his arms, his back ached. "What do you think is inside there?"

"I doubt they would care about the money. I think there's some goods holed up in there. Something valuable in that kind of way."

"Well I hope when you open it up that those bastards find nothing in there. Just an empty vault, that'll show those fucks." Addey despised the Willamette, he believed he didn't deserve to be inside here. He liked to believe that not being a 'smoothskin' is the real reason he got chucked inside. But he had no way of proving it.

"I wouldn't want my time wasted, it's been long enough for it to be for nothing," Syd sighed. He was about to close his eyes when there was a sudden loud bang. Then there was screaming, then gunfire. The two cellmates stood to attention.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I don't know," Syd shook his head quickly. He went to the iron door and looked through the hatch. He couldn't see anything, but the sounds of chaos grew louder. "Is it a raid?" As Syd asked the door sprung open. Addey immediately bolted for the door.

"Come on man, let's get out of this damned place." Addey growled as he looked back at Syd. It was like he was frozen solid, afraid of the repercussions of being captured again. "Move Syd!" Then he moved, sticking closely beside Addey. Every other cell had been opened, prisoners fought with the guards as raiders incited further chaos. "Never thought I would be thankful for raiders but from the look of things that's who's caused all this..." The two of them carefully bypassed all the madness.

Syd picked up a pistol from the ground and held it at his side. "You can never be too careful," he said. Addey agreed. "Well let's cease the moment I guess."

TBC