Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

*******Trigger warning for drug use, and graphic depictions of violence.*******

Patrick wakes up on the floor of his cell the next morning. He’s not sure how he got there, though. The last thing he remembers is finding out that Brad was a vampire and him biting his neck and feeding on him. It was terrifying and the pain he experienced was excruciating! He also vaguely remembers someone picking him up and carrying him somewhere. Everything else that had happened yesterday was crystal clear. It was such a whirlwind. William had compelled Andy, the warden, to believe that Patrick was a prisoner and was serving five years for helping Pete escape. He tried his best to convince him otherwise, but he failed. He was assigned a cell, given a lightweight, short-sleeved, orange prison uniform and met his cell mate, Joe. He told Joe, that he was innocent and that someone was trying to frame him. Shortly after that, he was handed a jacket and sent out into the yard for an hour. Spencer had called him away for a medical exam and told him that he would try to get him into protective custody and call his lawyer. Patrick was taken back to the yard, where he ran into Shane Morris, a former patient who was unhappy with his care. Shane and his friends harassed him and twisted his ankle pretty badly. Patrick was taken to sickbay to get his ankle looked at by Spencer, when another inmate named Gabe came in and told Spencer that another inmate named Davis was seizing and needed help. Spencer grabbed his stuff and left Patrick there with Gabe. Gabe then locked the door to sickbay, so no one else could come in. At first, Patrick seriously thought that Gabe was there to kill him, but instead he grabbed the syringe full of morphine for Patrick’s ankle, stuck it into the bottle of morphine, and pulled more out. Patrick isn’t sure exactly how much he measured out, but he knew it was a lot more than it should’ve been. Gabe grabbed his ankle and squeezed hard, causing more pain. What came next was shocking. He offered Patrick protection from all of the terrible people in general population, which he doesn’t usually offer, and that Patrick would be wise to accept. When Patrick didn’t answer because he was so focused on not being there for too long, Gabe took Patrick’s arm and tried to inject him with the needle, but Patrick fought back. Gabe was a lot quicker than him and jumped on top of him catching Patrick’s knee before it made contact with him, and whispering in his ear that he liked it when Patrick screams. While Patrick was distracted, Gabe injected him with the needle into his side. Something was wrong though, because he started feeling the drug’s affects almost immediately. Morphine takes at least five minutes, so he wonders if Gabe somehow switched the bottle with something else. In which case, he has no idea what he was given, but he passed out very quickly afterward.

When he woke up, much later in the day, he was dressed in his normal clothes and he wasn’t sure if what had just happened had been real or not. He tried to take advantage of the situation by resigning, and trying to leave. However, Brad stopped him before he got out, and told him that he couldn’t help himself. He told Patrick that it was a joke, and that Patrick was indeed still a prisoner. After that, he found out that Brad was a vampire and he fed on him until he was barely conscious. It was terrifying!

Patrick tries to stand up, but is overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness and lightheadedness so he grabs the bars of the cell for a minute to stabilize himself. He really doesn’t feel well. He’s really tired and his muscles feel really weak, making it hard for him to do much of anything without if feeling very hard. He’s also really cold. I wonder if I’m feeling this way, because of losing so much blood during Brad’s feeding. I’m probably anemic. He waits for the dizziness and lightheadedness to pass before he tries to move from his location. He looks around the cell and sees that Joe is still sleeping. There isn’t much he can do right now, so he decides to lay down on his bed and try to sleep. He lets go of the bars and heads toward his bed. When he is halfway there, he is hit by another wave of dizziness. He looks for something to grab onto to keep him steady, so he doesn’t fall, but there is nothing near him and he collapses onto the floor, making a lot of noise. He apparently made enough noise that it wakes Joe up. “What the fuck was that?” Joe asks. Patrick turns onto his back on the floor, but he is too dizzy to get up. “Me! That noise was me.” Patrick answers. Joe rolls on his side and sits up on his bed. “Patrick? What happened?” He asks. “Ummm…I’m not exactly sure. I woke up on the floor and when I tried to stand up, I got really dizzy. I had to grab onto the bars so I wouldn’t fall. When the dizziness past, I thought I was ok to walk to my bed. I didn’t quite make it when another wave of dizziness hit me and I fell. Right now, the room is spinning too much for me to try again.” Patrick says. “Do you need some help?” Joe asks. “Yeah. That would be nice.” Patrick answers. Joe stands up and walks over to where Patrick is laying on the floor. He bends down, puts Patrick’s arm over his shoulder, and puts his other arm around Patrick’s body. “Ok. Are you ready? On three. One, two, three.” Joe says as he stands up with Patrick. He helps Patrick over to his bed and they both sit down. Patrick lays down and closes his eyes so the room stops spinning.

“What happened to you? They let us out in the yard and that was the last time I saw you.” Joe asks. “Spencer called me for a medical exam and then sent me back to the yard where I ran into a former patient that was very unhappy with his care, because I cut off his painkillers when he didn’t need them anymore. One of his friends picked me up and held me against a wall, while the former patient grabbed my ankle and twisted it badly. I ended up back in sickbay when a man that I didn’t know walked in and sent Spencer to another inmate that was seizing. Then he locked the door and I thought he was going to kill me. He said his name was Gabe and he offered me protection against all of the bad people in general population. I was so freaked out, thinking that I wouldn’t need that because I wasn’t going to be here that long. He took that as a no and then he took the syringe full of morphine that Spencer was going to give me, grabbed the bottle, stuck the needle in it and drew out more. I tried to fight him, but he was faster than me and injected it into my side. It was strange, though. I felt its effects immediately. Morphine usually takes at least five minutes before working. Whatever he gave me, it wasn’t morphine. I passed out almost immediately and I didn’t wake up until much later in the day. When I woke up, I was in my regular clothes and I wasn’t sure if all of this was real or a dream. I tried to resign and leave when Brad stopped me, telling me I couldn’t leave because I was a prisoner. This next part is going to sound crazy, but I promise you I’m telling the truth. Vampires are real. Pete was one and so was William. Well last night, I found out that Brad is also a vampire. He revealed himself, held me against a bed in sick bay, bit my neck and started drinking my blood. He took so much that I was barely conscious by the time he was done. I remember someone picking me up and dumping me in our cell. That’s also why I’m dizzy, tired, and weak. I’m anemic from the massive blood loss. I know it sounds absolutely insane, but that’s what happened. I can even show you the bite marks on my neck.”

Patrick pulls his shirt over to reveal two holes in his neck that appear to be healing. Joe looks at the two marks and is silent for a minute. “Wow! That’s fucked up man! I’m sorry that all of that happened to you. Wait, what did you say the man’s name was again?” Joe asks. “Um…his name was Gabe.” Patrick answers. Joe’s eyes go wide. Fuck! This just got so much more complicated. “Gabe as in Gabe Saporta?” Joe asks. “Yeah, I think that’s what Spencer said his last name was. Why?” Patrick answers. “He offered you protection? What did he want in return?” Joe asks. “Yeah. He offered me protection. He didn’t mention what he wanted in return.” Patrick answers. “This next part is very important. You said no right?” Joe asks. “I didn’t respond. I was too busy panicking. He seemed to think that I said no.” Patrick answers. “Ok, good. Gabe Saporta is the leader of the Latin Kings prison gang. It is probably the most powerful prison gang here. You don’t want get involved with him in any way and you want to avoid him at all costs. He is a very dangerous man.” Joe says. “Ok. Good to know. Thank you for telling me.” Patrick responds. “Gabe drugged you?” Joe asks. “Yeah. I’m not sure what it was he gave me, but it was definitely not morphine.” Patrick answers. “As far as the vampire thing is concerned, it does sound kind of crazy. I see the marks on your neck and the blood all over your shirt, so I guess it’s possible, but I’m not sure that I believe that part just yet. You said Pete and William were vampires?   That’s funny. I never noticed Pete acting strangely.” Joe says.

“If you had seen him acting strangely, you probably wouldn’t remember it. They can mess with you mind and make you believe something or make you forget things. Trust me. That is how I ended up getting imprisoned here. It’s a long story, but the short version is that William convinced Andy that I had just been sentenced to five years for helping Pete escape. He did the same thing to Spencer and all of the other guards.” Patrick says. Joe seems surprised. “Seriously? Is that why you said someone was trying to frame you?” Joe asks. “Yes. I didn’t do any of that. Pete actually saved me from the inmates that were trying to break into my office and hurt me. I lost a good friend during that riot. Pete and I have this connection that I don’t really understand. When they tried to escape a second time, I was transporting a patient that had been stabbed to the hospital and they begged me to let them come with, so I let them. That patient ended up dying, the ambulance crashed and flipped, and William ended up stabbing Pete. When I woke up after the crash, William was gone. I tried to help Pete with his wound, but I couldn’t stop the bleeding. He said he needed to feed to heal himself, so he fed on the dead patient. I was starting to exhibit signs of hypothermia because it was so cold and snowing outside, but I didn’t want to leave because I felt a duty to my patient. Once Pete was better, he picked me up and snuck us into a motel room to warm me up because I was starting to turn blue and almost passed out. I should’ve stayed with him. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me and he’d keep me safe. Like I said, this connection that we have is complicated and I didn’t really want to accept it at the time. I was in shock. I had just learned that vampires were real, watched Pete feed on someone, and was told that we have this bond that connected us for some reason. I was feeling things for Pete that I couldn’t explain and it scared me. So, I did something stupid. I called Spencer and told him where I was. The police showed up shortly after that. Pete got away and they took me back to the prison, where Spencer treated my wounds from the accident. Once I was released, my coworkers came to see how I was. That is where William showed up and convinced everyone that I was doing five years for aiding and abetting an escaped criminal. I was so stupid! Now I’m stuck here and no one even knows about it! I’m so scared! I can’t survive here on my own and now I have someone who is already trying to prey on me!” Patrick explains. “Jesus Fuck, Patrick! That’s awful! I will try to help protect you as best as I can. I will help you get through this. Ok?” Joe says. Joe opens his arms to give Patrick a hug. Patrick hugs him back. He has tears forming in his eyes and is on the verge of losing it. “Ok. Thank you.” He agrees. Then he finally breaks down and loses it. They stay locked in the hug for quite a while. Joe is rubbing Patrick’s back and slowly rocking him back and forth, trying to soothe him and calm him down. “Shhhh. It’s ok.” Joe keeps repeating. Joe does finally manage to get Patrick calmed down. He’s not crying anymore, but they are still locked in a hug. Joe sees Brad approaching. Son of a bitch!

It is about this time that Brad shows up to collect Patrick for something. “Awwww would you look at that! It’s so cute, that it makes me want to vomit. Let’s go, Stump.” Patrick hadn’t been paying attention to much of anything, but when he hears a familiar voice, he looks up and sees Brad. Patrick’s eyes widen and something breaks inside him. His whole body tenses up and he starts screaming. “Ahhhhhhh! What do you want? You are going to hurt me! Don’t come any closer! Stay the fuck away from me!” It’s like something in Patrick’s brain and body broke. He has no control over the fear and screaming. He stands up and starts backing up until his back is against the concrete wall at the back of his cell. He has flashbacks to the night before and starts reliving it. He trips and falls to the floor. Brad had grabbed him very hard, pushed him back against the medical bed, turned his neck to the side and bit down incredibly hard. The pain of the bite was horrible, but the pain of Brad sucking his blood was even worse. Brad takes so much of his blood. He starts to feel so dizzy, tired, and weak that he can’t hold himself up anymore. Brad’s not even done yet. Then he pushes him further back onto the medical bed. Patrick comes to terms with his mortality, knowing he might not survive this. He is barely conscious and he doesn’t have the energy to move when Brad is done. Patrick feels so helpless. He wants to run and fight, but he can’t. He’s not even sure that he is still alive when he passes out completely. Patrick is still screaming bloody murder when Brad opens their cell door and walks into the cell. “Please no! No, No, No, No! Don’t hurt me! You are going to kill me!” Patrick screams. Brad begins walking toward the back of the cell to grab Patrick and pull him out. He reaches his hand out, and Patrick bites it hard enough to break the skin. Brad slaps Patrick so hard that he slides across to the other side of the cell as he pulls his hand back. Brad crosses the room to about halfway. “Come here you little shit! I can’t believe you just bit me!” Brad says. “No! Stay away from me!” Patrick screams. Brad stops moving toward him for a minute. “You know, I thought this might be an issue this morning after what happened last night. It’s a good thing that I came prepared!” Brad says as he pulls a syringe with some kind of drug in it out of his pocket. Patrick freaks and starts backing himself into a corner. “No! Please, No!” He screams. Once Patrick is completely in the corner with nowhere to go, Brad grabs him and injects him with whatever is in the syringe. Then, he steps back and waits for it to work. Patrick starts to feel really tired, but not enough for him to pass out. His limbs feel very heavy and his brain starts to feel very foggy. He feels like he is very drunk, but still awake and he starts slurring his words because his lips and tongue feel like they are numb. He must’ve given me some kind of sedation or tranquilizer. This feels like Versed. Brad gets close enough to grab him, put Patrick’s arm over his shoulder with his other arm around Patrick’s waist, and hoists him up off of the floor. Patrick’s foggy head is hanging down at his neck. He just doesn’t have enough energy to hold it up himself. “Ok, Stump. Time to go.” Brad says as he is leading Patrick out of the cell.

Joe has been watching this whole situation take place. Patrick is freaking the fuck out screaming and trying to get away. This isn’t a pretty sight. He looks in Patrick’s eyes and sees pure, terrifying fear that is consuming him. He wished he could do more to help, but he really can’t. It appears as if Patrick is having some kind of PTSD moment where he is reliving whatever happened the night before. This is far from a normal reaction to just getting beat up or something. Maybe there was some truth to what Patrick had told him about Brad. Something else was clearly going on to evoke that strong of a reaction. Patrick ends up backing himself into a corner and Joe knows he’s fucked. Then he sees Brad pull out a syringe with a drug in it. Joe stands up and walks back toward the two of them. “What the fuck are you doing Brad? You are going to drug him?” Joe asks. Brad looks back at him. “Stay out of this Trohman. It's none of your concern or your business.” He says. “The fuck it’s not my concern or my business! He’s my cell mate and you are clearly abusing him!” Joe responds. Brad looks back at him. “Back off, if you know what’s good for you.” Brad threatens as he injects the contents of the syringe into Patrick’s shoulder. “What is in the syringe, Brad? What did you just give him?” Joe asks. Brad doesn’t answer. He just stands back and watches it work. “Answer me! What did you give him?” Joe screams. “Fine! It’s just something to calm him down, called Versed. He won’t be unconscious. He will just feel super relaxed and loopy for a while.” Brad answers. “Where are you taking him?” Joe asks. Brad smiles. “That, I don’t have to tell you. He’ll be back later.” Brad says as they walk out of the cell, the cell door closes, and they make their way down the hallway. Joe watches them until they turn the corner and he can no longer see them.

Patrick is basically hanging off of Brad. If this is Versed, Brad gave him a ton of it. His legs and arms feel like jelly and require a lot of effort to move. He is drooling, and it’s hard for him to talk because he is so doped up. He tries anyway. “Where are we going?” He asks, but it comes out slurred. “You have a meeting with your lawyer.” Brad answers. “I don’t have a lawyer.” Patrick says, slurring his words again. “You have a court appointed lawyer as of today.” Brad replies. Patrick’s head is so foggy. How is he supposed to talk to a lawyer when he can barely form words? Making himself sit up is going to be hard. “How am I supposed to talk to a lawyer when I can barely see straight and keep my eyes open?” Patrick asks, slurring his words. Brad looks at him with a sinister smile. “That sounds like a personal problem, Stump. I guess you will have to figure that out on your own.” Brad says. They round the next corner and are at the meeting rooms. Brad brings him into one of the rooms, sits him in a chair, and handcuffs him to the table. “Good luck, Stump! I’ll be waiting just outside the door.” Brad says. Then he closes the door and leaves. This is going to be so much fun! Little does he know that I can also affect humans’ perceptions of various things as one of my unique vampiric powers. I’m going to enjoy this so much; I just wish I had some popcorn!

Patrick is sat in a chair, handcuffed to the table. There is a woman on the other side of the table with long, dark, curly hair. Patrick is having trouble focusing on her. He keeps blinking his eyes hoping that they will focus. “Hello Dr. Stump. My name is Elisa Yao. I’m your court appointed attorney.” She says with a smile. “Hello.” He manages to say, but his speech is very slow and his words are slurred. “Can you tell me a little more about what happened and how you got here?” She asks, but Patrick can’t understand a word she is saying. It’s like she’s speaking in gibberish. “I’m being framed. I didn’t do any of the things they said I did, and I was never sentenced to jail time.” Patrick says slowly slurring his words, but this time, Elisa doesn’t seem to be able to understand him at all. She looks at him, like he has a hole in his head. She continues trying to talk to him, but again, Patrick can’t understand anything. It’s like she’s speaking a foreign language. He is getting frustrated and doesn’t know what to do. He tries to tell her things, but again, she can’t understand him. She is also getting frustrated. Meanwhile, Brad is standing outside their door trying to contain himself from laughing so hard. He is enjoying this way more than he thought he would! It’s like the blind leading the blind! We should probably mess with his head a little more though. We can point out the obvious and it will crush him. Then, out of nowhere, Patrick hears this voice in his head telling him: “keep dreaming Patrick. Give it up! Nothing you say or do and nothing she does or is going to try to do will help you. You will never get out of prison! You will spend the rest of your pitiful life here, being abused and no one even knows you are here! No one is coming to save you!” He looks up at her and she is still talking and obviously asking him questions, but he can’t understand anything. He tries one last time to tell her what is going on, but she doesn’t seem to understand him at all either. “I am going to go ahead and have my assistant submit some of these documents and forms, set a court date and I’ll also have her file to get you into protective custody.” She says as she looks into Dr. Stump’s eyes, and all she sees is frustration, confusion, and fear. He definitely can’t understand anything she is saying, and she can’t understand anything that he is saying, which is very odd. He’s acting like he is really drunk, or he is very doped up on something. He even seems to be having trouble staying awake in between bouts of frustration. All of a sudden, Brad, the guard, barges into to their meeting saying something about how Dr. Stump isn’t feeling well and that he has to remove him for her own safety. “He doesn’t appear to be a threat to anyone. He can’t even stay awake!” She says to Brad. “Uh…that may be so, but that is the prison’s policy. If anything seems to be out of character, or they are deemed a threat to themselves or someone else, we have to remove them.” Elisa looks at him like she knows he is full of shit. “We aren’t finished here.” She says. “I’m the one looking out for your safety, and I say that you are finished for today.” Brad says as he grabs Patrick and begins walking out of the room.

It seems that the effects of the Versed are wearing off, so as soon as they are out of the room and nowhere that anyone can see them, he sets Patrick down on the ground, pulls out the vial of Versed, measures out enough to keep him feeling doped up and even slower for the whole day, grabs him and injects him with more of it. Now Patrick is conscious, but his brain is incredibly foggy now and he is back to hanging on Brad. It’s lunch time, so Brad takes Patrick to the mess hall. At this point, Patrick can barely stand and walk on his own. Brad dumps him in the food line and leaves him to fend for himself while he meets up with Gabe in the far back corner. “Did everything go according to plan?” Gabe asks. “Better! He’s so doped up that he doesn’t even know what planet he is on, and I fucked with him and his lawyer to the point that they couldn’t understand anything the other was saying. It was hilarious! When I pulled him out of his meeting, it appeared that the Versed was starting to wear off, so I gave him enough to fuck him up for the rest of the day at least.” Brad says. “Good! With him being so drugged up, his brain is a foggy mess. When I approach him soon to offer him my protection, he should be more malleable to accepting it.” Gabe says. “We all win then! I have to say, watching him with his lawyer was the best thing I’ve seen in quite a while! I thoroughly enjoyed that!” Brad replies. Gabe has a sinister smile on his face. “You’re welcome. Now go away before he or anyone else figures out that we are working together!” He orders and Brad leaves him to go hang out with the other guards until lunch is over.

Patrick is in the food line alone. How the fuck did I get here? The last thing I remember, I was talking to my lawyer and Brad was dragging me out of the room. He would look for Joe if everything in front of him didn’t have a weird haze around it and it wasn’t spinning. He’s barely able to stand and walk. It’s taking everything in him to focus on those two things. The person ahead of him in line moves forward and Patrick doesn’t notice. The inmate behind him pushes him forward where he trips and lands on the ground. “What the fuck, man?” Patrick says to the inmate behind him in line as he stands up. “You were holding up the line. The guy in front of you moved and you didn’t so I moved you. Pay more attention next time.” The other inmate says. Patrick doesn’t want any trouble so he lets it slide. “Thanks for reminding me.” He says and moves forward. He finally reaches the end of the line, gets his food, and looks for a place to sit. He sees an empty table that he’s pretty sure he can walk to without falling so he heads there and sits down. He stares at his food and it makes him nauseous. It’s not the food that’s doing that though, it’s the Versed. He knows he needs to eat though, so he takes his fork and stabs whatever the “meat” of the day is. He cuts a piece off and puts it in his mouth to chew it. “There you are! I was worried when you were gone for so long.” He looks up and sees Joe sitting down at his table. “What happened? Are you ok?” Joe asks. It takes a second for Patrick’s brain to catch up since it is moving so slow. He begins talking, but it is very slow, like it would be if he was very drunk. “I’m not quite sure what happened and I’m not ok. Brad gave me something to calm me down. I’m pretty sure it was Versed based on the way I am feeling. Then he took me to a meeting room where I met with my court appointed lawyer named Elisa Yao. I don’t know if it was my drug addled brain or what was going on, but after she told me her name, I couldn’t understand anything she was saying. It was like she was speaking a different language, or gibberish. I tried to tell her what happened and then she started looking at me like I had a hole in my head, because she couldn’t understand me either. It was weird and very frustrating. I also heard a voice in my head telling me that no matter what she did, that I would be in prison for the rest of my life. It said that I’m never getting out. Weird too, right? Then, Brad busted in and tells her I’m not feeling well, and he has to remove me for her protection. She said I didn’t look like a threat, that I could barely stay awake. He said it’s the prison’s policy and dragged me out of the room. I think he might have given me more Versed? I don’t know. Then I ended up here and I don’t remember how I got here. I can barely see straight. It took everything in me to focus on standing and walking, and I still fell when someone pushed me.” Patrick tells Joe. “Yeah, I saw that part. You handled it well. It was a good thing that you didn’t fight with him. It would’ve made things worse for you. That shit with your lawyer and that voice in your head sounded pretty fucked up. I hope you don’t really believe that.” Joe says. “I really don’t believe that. In fact, I’m banking on not being here for a long time.” Patrick replies.

They continue eating their food and Patrick is struggling to stay alert. He just wants to sleep. Joe looks up and sees Gabe approaching their table from a bit away. “Fuck!” He yells. Patrick looks up and sees what Joe is seeing. “Fuck, indeed! What am I going to do Joe? I’m so doped up that I can’t even think. How am I supposed to deal with him?” Patrick asks. “Keep your head down and don’t make eye contact with him. Remember. Whatever he asks you or offers you, say fuck no! Got it?” Joe asks. “Yes. I got it. No to everything!” Patrick responds. They continue talking until Gabe finally approaches them. “Hello, Sugar! How are you feeling today?” He asks. “Um…I’ve been better.” Patrick replies, speaking slowly. “Oh! That’s not good! What’s wrong?” Gabe asks. Joe is watching this whole encounter suspiciously. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I woke up feeling like shit and then I freaked out when Brad came to take me to a meeting with my lawyer, and he drugged me.” Patrick explains. “That’s terrible, Sugar! You should report him for that.” Gabe says. “Yeah…I haven’t been here that long Gabe, but even I know that reporting him would go very badly for me, so I’m not doing that.” Patrick tells him. “See it’s times like these, when you have a guard that is drugging you, or another inmate shoves you to the ground that it would nice to have protection against that kind of thing, would it not Sugar?” Gabe asks as he pushes a piece of Patrick’s hair out of his eyes. Patrick shudders at his touch. It appears everyone in the mess hall is now watching this exchange. “What exactly are you getting at Gabe? My brain is pretty messed up right now, so I’m going to need you to spell it out for me.” Patrick asks. “Well Sugar, I am here to offer you my protection in this horrible place with it’s horrible people that do horrible things to each other.” Gabe says as he caresses Patrick’s cheek. Patrick tries not to react when Gabe touches him. Even the thought of it makes him want to vomit. “Think hard about it before you answer, because I will not offer you this opportunity again.” Gabe threatens. It is very clear to Patrick what Gabe wants in return, and that’s not happening. “You have such a delicate, beautiful face Sugar.” Gabe comments. Then he grabs Patrick’s face, brings it to his, and kisses him, hard. Patrick tries to resist him but Gabe is holding his face very tightly. Patrick finally pushes him hard enough to make him release him. Gabe looks up at him with an evil smile. “You’re a fighter! I love it! I’m going to have so much fun with you!” Gabe yells as he is inching closer to Patrick again. Patrick, who is definitely not thinking about how this could affect him, just reacts. He moves back and spits in Gabe’s face. The whole mess hall reacts. Gabe is surprised and shocked by this reaction and uses his hand to wipe the spit off his face. He makes direct eye contact with Patrick. “You are going to regret turning down my offer, Sugar! You will also pay a heavy price for this decision!” Gabe threatens. It takes a minute, but it finally hits Patrick that he just spit in Gabe’s face! He just challenged the most powerful inmate in the entire prison! Oh my God! What the fuck did I just do? He feels incredibly nauseous and runs to the nearest garbage can to puke up his stomach contents. Then Patrick takes off running as far away from the mess hall as he can get. Gabe signals to his four goons to go after him. “Beat him within an inch of his life! Maximum damage!” Gabe yells to them as they pass. Shane looks over his shoulder as he passes. “Yes sir! I’m going to enjoy this!” Shane says. Joe stands up and starts moving toward the door to help Patrick, when he is grabbed from behind, wrestled to the floor, and held down by multiple men. He tries to fight them, but there are too many of them. Joe’s guessing, they are other members of the Latin Kings. “Where do you think you’re going?” Gabe asks. “I was going to try and help my cellmate, so you don’t kill him!” Joe snaps back. “Well, we can’t have that, now, can we?” Gabe asks. “Really. Why is that?” Joe asks. “Because your friend, just made a huge mistake, and now he has to pay the consequence for that mistake. What lesson would he learn, if you just went in there and saved him? This will be good for him. He is new here and needs to learn how it works on the inside.” Gabe states. “Good for him? It’s good for him to be beaten within an inch of his life? Man, you are a piece of work! Besides, how are you going to stop me?” Joe asks. “That’s a great question, Mr. Trohman! How am I going to stop you from helping your friend? Well, since I already have you being held down in place, I guess the next step is to put you out for a little bit. Gentleman, please.” Gabe orders. One of the men holding Joe down pulls out a syringe filled with whatever Gabe is going to use to put Joe out. He fights as hard as he can, but he feels someone stab him in the neck with it and push the plunger down until it is empty. Joe keeps fighting for a minute or two but whatever they gave him, works quickly and he passes out immediately. Once they are sure he is completely out, Gabe orders the men to release him and they leave him there laying on the floor of the mess hall.

Patrick keeps running until he hits a dead end. “Fuck!” He says out loud. He stops to think for a second. Being a doctor in a prison didn’t mean you knew the inside of the prison that well. He also knows that Gabe’s cronies are hot on his trail. He runs out of there, picks a direction at the crossroads and keeps running for his life. The only problem is, that he has asthma, so running for an extended period of time without any rest, has the possibility to set off an asthma attack. He knows he can’t run forever, but pushes his body to its limits until it gives up. He knows he’s slowing down and finds out he is totally fucked, when someone tackles him to the ground. There are four people including Shane who immediately start beating him to a pulp. He tries to fight back, but his reaction time is really messed up from the Versed. When he goes to try and block a punch, he misses by a landslide. Shane has Theodore hold him up so they can do more damage. They kick him and punch him so much that he starts bleeding. One of the others continually knees him in the gut, while another is using his back as a punching bag. Shane even pulls out something sharp and stabs him in the shoulder with it. Patrick cries out in pain. “Ahhh!” He screams. Shane just smiles as he pulls it out and stabs him somewhere else with it. “How do you like that Stump? How does it feel to be in pain, and not have anything to make it better?” Patrick is in too much pain to respond. Theodore finally lets go of him, and he collapses to the ground. He can’t move at this point. He watches as they stomp on his arms and legs to purposefully break bones. One of them grabs his arm and pulls it above him until his shoulder pops out of the socket. “Ahhhh!” he screams. Then they do the same to his other shoulder. Then his elbows, his wrists, his knees and his ankles. They dislocate all of them. Patrick screams as they pop out each one. His eyes are almost swollen shut, his jaw is broken, his cheekbones are broken, his nose is broken and bleeding, all of his joints are sticking out at unnatural angles, he probably has severe internal bleeding, at least one collapsed lung, all of his ribs are broken, and almost every bone in his arms and legs are broken. He has multiple stab wounds and he is slowly bleeding out on the floor. He also has blood coming out of his mouth. He is in so much pain, that it is hard to process it all. They kick him a few more time for good measure and leave him there.  There is a very good chance I won't survive this with all of these injuries. At least it was quick and I won’t have to be imprisoned anymore, because I will be dead. There is so much pain, that Patrick can’t fight it anymore. Knowing that he may not wake up, he makes his peace with it, gives in, and he passes out.

Chapter Text

*******Trigger Warning for drug use and graphic violence.*******

Joe slowly starts waking up from whatever drug they gave him.  He’s currently laying on his back on the floor of the mess hall.  When he is awake enough, he sits up and looks around.  Everyone is gone and he is alone.  His brain is still fuzzy.  I know something happened and I had planned to leave here and help, but I can’t remember what happened and who or why I was leaving to go help.  Come on, Joe.  Think hard!  What happened?  Who were you going after to help and why?  Joe closes his eyes and rubs them with the heels of his hands, trying to jog his memory.  There was some kind of confrontation with someone important.  Then it all hit him like fast moving train.  Patrick!  Fuck!  Gabe had approached their table to offer Patrick his protection.  Patrick was super doped up on, Versed?  He’s pretty sure that is what Patrick called it.  Anyway, Gabe kissed him and Patrick spit in his face in front of everyone.  Then he took off running.  Gabe sent his minions after him and told them to beat him within an inch of his life.  I stood up and tried to leave to help him when I was grabbed from behind, wrestled to the floor and held down.  Gabe didn’t want me going after him so he drugged me and I passed out.  I have to get up and go find him!  He may still be in danger!  He tries to stand up and is overtaken by a wave of dizziness.  He waits until it passes and then he runs out the door of the mess hall to find and help Patrick.  Which way did he go, though?  If it was me, I would get as far away from the mess hall as I could.  So, he runs away from the mess hall in the furthest direction possible.  When he gets close, he hears a commotion and continues in that direction.  He hears Patrick screaming in pain and follows the sound until he comes upon Shane and his friends beating Patrick until he can’t move.  Patrick is on the floor in really bad shape.  They kick him a few more times for good measure, and then they leave him there for dead.  It looks like his arms and legs are sticking out in the wrong directions, there is blood everywhere and he is about to pass out. 

Joe is about to go to him, when he hears someone coming, so he hides behind a large, industrial pillar off to the side of the room.  The footsteps appear to be getting closer, but he can’t see who it is yet.  He holds tight in his hiding spot.  Finally, the footsteps are very close and he takes a peek around the pillar to see who it is.  He is shocked when he sees Brad enter the room.  “I thought I smelled you, Stump!  I was walking down the hall and I smelled this heavenly aroma of strawberries, watermelon, and maraschino cherries.”  Brad says.  Brad then realizes that Patrick is unconscious.  He seems to look around the room to see if anyone is coming.  When he is sure that there was no one around, he straddles Patrick’s body, moves Patrick’s head over to the left, bites down hard on Patrick’s neck, and starts drinking his blood.  Joe watches for a minute in complete and utter terror and shock.  Holy Shit!  Patrick was telling the truth, vampires are real!  Brad is a vampire and he is currently drinking and slurping Patrick’s blood from his neck!  Joe can’t do anything but stay there and watch this horrifying scene play out.  It’s like when everyone stops to look at a car accident, only his whole body is frozen in fear.  He couldn’t move if he tried.  It appears that this is incredibly painful because it is enough for Patrick to wake up and scream from the top of his lungs.  “Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!  Brad!  Please stop!  It hurts so much!!!!!”  He hears Patrick yell, but he still can’t move.  Brad does not stop.  In fact, he continues for a while.  He watches as Patrick is getting weaker and weaker.  Finally, Brad decides he’s done and Patrick is barely awake.  “You are close to death.  If I take any more, I will kill you.”  Brad says.  He leans down again to do something, but his radio goes off.  “Brad, come in.  We have a situation in shower room 5.  There is an altercation and we need your help.”  It says.  “Fuck!”  Brad yells.  Brad looks down at Patrick and says “I’ll be back soon.” As he gets up and heads toward the shower room.  Joe sits on the other side of the pillar trying to process everything he just saw.  What I just saw was real, right?  It must’ve been, because Patrick was reacting to him too.  He was telling the truth!  Vampires are real!  I just witnessed Brad feeding on Patrick.  Now I feel terrible for not believing him.  Joe looks around the pillar again to make sure the coast is clear, when he hears someone else approaching.  This time it is Gabe.  Brad somehow moved Patrick to his right side.  Gabe is now sadistically staring down at Patrick.  “I told you that you would be sorry for not taking my offer, Sugar.  Such a shame!”  Gabe says.  Joe then watches as Gabe swiftly kicks him in the stomach a few times.  Patrick cries out in pain for each one, turning over on his back after the last kick.  Gabe spits on him and then leaves.  Joe waits another few minutes to make sure the coast is clear this time, and runs over to Patrick.  “Patrick!”  Joe says to him.  Patrick’s eyes are pretty much swollen shut, so he can’t see Joe very well.  “Joe?” He asks.  “Yeah Patrick, it’s me.  We need to get you some help!”  Joe grabs Patrick’s arm and tries to pick him up, but Patrick just cries out in pain.  “Ugh!!!!!”  Joe immediately releases Patrick’s arm.  “I’m so sorry!  I didn’t mean to hurt you more.   I just witnessed everything that just happened!  I watched Brad feed on you.” Joe says.  Patrick is barely holding on.  “Now do you believe me?” Patrick manages to ask before he passes out.  Joe is left there feeling horrible for not believing him.  “I’m going to go find help!  I’ll be back soon buddy, then we can get you fixed up.” 

Joe stands up and goes toward the more populated part of the prison and tells the first friendly guard he sees what happened.  Joe looks at his name tag and it says his name is Victor Borgia.  “Excuse me, Guard Borgia?”  He asks.  “Yes?  You can just call me Victor.”  Victor says.  “Ok, Victor I need your help.  My friend was just beaten so badly that he is unconscious and can’t move!  He needs medical attention immediately!  Please, help us!”  Joe explains.  “Of course!  Where is he?  I can have medical staff meet him there.  Show me!”  Victor says.  “Alright, follow me!  Thanks!”  Joe says.  Joe runs toward the room that Patrick is in and Victor follows him.  When they get there, Victor sees the state that Patrick is in.  “Oh my God!”  He comments.  He gets down on his knees to check for a pulse and to see if he is still breathing.  “He’s still alive, but barely.  His breathing sounds terrible.”  Victor comments.  Then, he pulls out his radio to get a medical team there as soon as possible.  “This is Victor.  I need a medical team to my location immediately.  There is a prisoner who was badly beaten and is currently alive, but unconscious.  He’s in really bad shape, so you need to hurry!  You will need to bring a gurney.”  Victor says.  “Roger that, Dr.  Smith and his medical team is en route to your location now.  ETA is ten minutes.”  It responds.  “Thank you, Victor out.”  Victor replies.  “Ok.  Help is on its way.  There’s not much we can do until they get here.  It appears he has a lot of broken and dislocated bones, so we can’t move him without medical help.  Joe lays down next to Patrick.  “Help is coming, Patrick, you just need to hold on a little longer.” Joe says to him.

Dr. Smith and the medical team arrive a few minutes later.  “Everyone, please clear the space around the patient, so that we can assess them as quickly as possible!”  Joe and Victor move away and Spencer sees that it is Patrick.  “Oh my God!  Patrick?  What happened?”  Joe tells him what happened, minus the whole vampire thing.  “I was drugged in the mess hall as I was trying to go help him.  When I woke up, I came looking for him and this is how I found him.  I tried to pick his arm up and he screamed bloody murder, so I went looking for help and found Victor here.”  Joe explains.  “Ok.  Thank you.”  Spencer says as he and his medical team go about assessing Patrick’s condition.  Joe hears all kinds of words he doesn’t understand as Spencer is yelling them to members of the medical team.  He does hear some terms that he recognizes, like broken bones, dislocated joints, collapsed lungs filling up with fluids, and internal bleeding.  They begin trying to stabilize him enough to move him.  They put his neck in a brace and put a board underneath him so they can lift him onto the gurney.  Spencer looks at Joe.  “I don’t want to scare you, but he is in really bad shape.  We will do whatever we can, but it doesn’t look good.  If he survives, he will have a very long recovery ahead of him.”  Spencer says.  Joe was kind of expecting that kind of prognosis, but when Spencer said it out loud, it got real very quickly.  “Do whatever you can.  Thank you for being straight with me.”  Joe says.  Spencer goes back to trying to stabilize Patrick, so they can get him to sick bay.  “Ok, on the count of three we are going to lift him onto the gurney.  One. Two. Three.”  They lift the board that Patrick is laying on up and set it on the gurney.  They hook him up to a bunch of machines and then they start heading back to sickbay.

When Brad is finished diffusing the altercation, he immediately returns to where Patrick was, only he is no longer there.  All that is left is the puddles of blood all over the floor.  “Fuck!  I have to close the bite marks, give him some of my blood so he doesn’t die, and compel him to forget me giving him blood and feeding on him before Gabe finds out!”  Brad yells.  They must be headed to sickbay!  Brad then takes the quickest route to sick bay and stops them en route.  He sees Trohman running next to the gurney.  “Please stop!  What happened here?”  Brad asks.  “He was almost beaten to death!” Trohman says.  He pulls Trohman aside.  “I’m his personal guard and I’m responsible for him.  I’m taking over.  You can return to your cell.”  Brad says.  “Oh, that is so not happening.  I’m not going anywhere.”  Trohman responds.  “Fine, at least let me near him, I need to check a few things.”  Brad says.  Trohman moves away and lets Brad get near Patrick.  Brad leans down and licks the bite marks on Patrick’s neck, which seems to close them.  Trohman runs up ahead, so he is closer to his friend.  Brad brings his wrist to his mouth, bites it, and drips a large amount into Patrick’s mouth, while no one is paying attention.  It isn’t enough to heal him completely, but it’s enough to ensure that he lives and heals a good amount of his injuries.  The only downside is that giving him that much blood it is going to cause Patrick to hallucinate.  Patrick opens his eyes a couple minutes after drinking Brad’s blood so Brad takes his opportunity to compel him to forget the feeding and getting Brad’s blood.  He’s kind of in a hurry though, so he tries to do this quickly, hoping there will be no adverse effects from rushing this process.  Brad makes direct eye contact with him and begins to compel him to forget.  I did not feed on you after your beating and I did not give you any of my blood to help heal you.  He projects this into Patrick’s mind, and hears a voice in Patrick’s mind repeat exactly what he just said.  You will not remember these two events happening.  Do you understand?   The voice in Patrick’s mind repeats the phrase.  It also answers, “yes, I understand.”  As far as Brad is concerned, he accomplished what needed to happen so Gabe wouldn’t find out.  The medical team reaches sick bay and takes Patrick inside.  Brad stands watch outside the door.

*Patrick and Frank are walking through a beautiful garden, hand-in-hand, on a gorgeous summer day in Chicago.  The two of them marvel about all of the beautiful things that they see.  There is an area where there are a few gazebos surrounded by gorgeous, red and white flowers.  The gazebos seem to blend right into the landscape, like they belonged there.  Patrick and Frank decide to take a break and sit in one of the gazebos.  “This place is absolutely beautiful!  It’s hard to imagine that I didn’t even know this place existed.  Thank you for bringing me here, babe.  I love you so much!”  Frank says to Patrick.  Patrick smiles and takes Frank’s hand.  Both of their wedding rings touch and reflect some of the sunlight.  “Aww!  You’re welcome!  I just recently discovered this place.  A friend told me about it and I knew that I wanted to bring you to enjoy it with me.”  Patrick responds.  “That’s so sweet of you, babe.  I love it!”  Frank says as he cups Patrick’s face with his hand and brings him in for a chaste kiss.  “I love you too!  Let’s keep walking!  I wonder what other beautiful places we are going to find here!”  Patrick says, eager to continue.  He grabs Frank’s hand and pulls him along.  In the next part of the park, they find a biodome that is filled with tropical flowers and palm trees.  These types of flowers don’t usually grow in Chicago because of the cold winters.  However, inside a biodome, they can view them year-around.  Patrick is mesmerized by all the different varieties of tropical flowers.  He sees Birds of Paradise, Tropical hibiscus, Plumeria, Begonias, and Bougainvillea.  They also smell amazing!  “Frank, can we just live here?”  Patrick jokingly asks.  “Sure, babe!  I’ll just make some phone calls and then we can stay here forever!”  Frank replies, kidding with Patrick.  Frank comes behind Patrick and wraps his arms around him from behind and nuzzles his face on Patrick’s shoulder.  Patrick turns around and kisses him.  “This has been the perfect day, don’t you think?”  Patrick asks Frank.  “Definitely!  We will have to come back here again, but next time, we should bring some food.  Maybe we could have a picnic in here!”  Frank answers.  “That sounds wonderful!”  Patrick replies.  They continue walking around the park, discovering all kinds of beautiful places. 

This next area of the garden is woodsier.  It’s almost like they are walking through an enchanted forest, like the ones you see in storybooks.  This area is much darker than the other areas were and much quieter.  Frank and Patrick continue walking through the wooded area, admiring the different flora and fauna covering the ground, when they hear what sounds like someone screaming in pain.  “Should we check that out, or should we just continue walking?”  Patrick asks.  “I think we should maybe get out of the forested area, where we can see what is around us.  This is kind of freaking me out.”  Frank answers.  “Ok. How do we get out of here?  Should we just go back the way we came?”  Patrick asks.  “I think so.”  Frank answers.  They both turn around and start heading back.  When they both turn around, there is no path behind them to follow.  “This is weird.”  Frank says.  “Agreed.”  Patrick answers.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, something or someone grabs ahold of Frank and drags him off, deeper into the forest.  Patrick tries to follow them until he hears Frank screaming.  Patrick follows the sound and comes upon an odd site.  A creature is holding Frank up against one of the trees.  It appears that the creature is feeding on Frank.  Frank is crying out in horrid pain.  “Ahhhh!  Please!  Make it stop!  It hurts!”  He screams.  Patrick tries to pull the creature off of Frank, but it pushes him away so hard that he goes flying into a tree.  Patrick continues to hear Frank’s cries.  When he runs back to their location, he sees a terrifying situation.  The creature is now ripping Frank’s body apart limb by limb, devouring each appendage at an alarming rate until Frank is dead.  When Patrick sees that the creature has killed Frank, he takes off running in the other direction.  He doesn’t get very far though before he is tackled by the creature.  The creature bites him in many places and then begins devouring parts of Patrick’s body.  Patrick screams as his body is ripped apart by the creature.  Patrick tries to fight back, but the creature is too strong!  The creature continues ripping Patrick apart until, finally, Patrick succumbs and takes his last breath.  It was such a perfect and beautiful day.  How did it end like this?*

Spencer and the medical team bring Patrick into sick bay, moves his body to one of the medical beds and begin working on fixing as much of the damage as they can, but, before they can start, Patrick starts screaming and reacting as if he is seeing something horrible.  “No!  Frank!  Let go of him!  You are hurting him!  You are ripping him apart!  Let him go!  Frank!  I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you!”  Patrick screams.  Joe looks at Spencer.  “What is he doing?”  He asks.  “He’s hallucinating. It sounds like something terrible is happening.”  Spencer answers.  “Do you know what is causing it?”  Joe asks.  “No.  None of his injuries are consistent with hallucinating, unless he has a head injury that we didn’t catch.  We need to do an MRI on his head to check for head injuries.  Nurse, please add that to his treatment plan.  We will do it after this hallucination passes.”  Spencer says.  Suddenly, Patrick’s heart rate spikes.  “No!  Please!  It hurts so much!  Ahhhhhh!”  Patrick screams as if he’s experiencing immeasurable pain, until, it abruptly stops and he is quiet.  His heart rate returns to normal.  The next thing that Spencer does is work on resetting all of the dislocated joints back to where they should be, takes him for an MRI scan, and checking for internal bleeding.  “His MRI is clear of head injuries.  His jaw, nose and both cheekbones are broken.”  Spencer shares.  He opens Patrick’s mouth, inserts a breathing tube, and hooks him up to the ventilator.  Then he gives Patrick medicine for the pain, and a paralytic and heavy sedative to keep him unconscious, and rush him into surgery to stop the internal bleeding and fix some of the broken bones with screws and plates.  Joe stays there until Spencer finishes and Patrick is out of surgery.  It has been four hours. 

“How is he?”  Joe asks.  “We’ve done what we can do.  He does seem to be improving somehow, but I have no idea how that’s happening.  We put him in a medically induced coma to help him heal quicker.  It’s up to him now.”  Spencer answers.  “Can I see him?”  Joe asks.  “Yes, but understand that he isn’t going to wake up.  We will stop the medication and see if he wakes up and can breathe on his own later tonight.  You will have to return to your cell at some point.  I will tell you as soon as I have more information.  He’s in the private room on the right.”  Spencer says.  “Ok.  I understand.” Joe replies.  He walks into Patrick’s room and sits in a chair next to his bed.  Patrick still looks pretty rough.  He’s hooked up to many different machines including a ventilator, a heart monitor, a blood pressure monitor, and he has something monitoring his oxygen level on his finger.  He also has full casts on both arms and both legs.  Joe holds Patrick’s hand and tries to hold it together before he speaks.  “I’m so sorry this happened to you Patrick.  I wish I could’ve been there to help you!  I know you’ve been through a lot, but I need you to fight!  I need you to fight to recover!  I don’t know how you are improving, but I need you keep doing that.  You have to come out of this!  Please, don’t let Gabe win!  I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but you never deserved this, and I do care about you as your friend.”  Joe says as tears form in his eyes and spill down his cheeks.  What Joe doesn’t know is that Brad’s blood is currently working its way through Patrick’s system and slowly healing him from the inside out, but with all of his injuries, it is going to be slow.  Joe stays by Patrick’s side for two hours, but there is no change.  After that, he is escorted back to his cell.

Gabe decides that he needs to go visit Patrick and see the severity of his injuries before making his plan for later this evening.  When he approaches sick bay, he sees Joe Trohman leaving and obviously being escorted back to his cell by Guard Victor.  He looks pretty upset and Gabe can see tear tracks running down his face, so it is obvious that he has been crying.  Maybe his men were a little too literal when he told them maximum damage.  Gabe smiles.  Ooops!   Once Mr. Trohman and Victor pass him, he sees Brad standing guard outside the door.  “Do you have any update on Sugar’s condition?”  Gabe asks.  “He’s in very bad shape.  I think your men may have taken it a little too far.  I haven’t been inside, because I didn’t want to be in the way.  From what I’ve heard, they reset all of the joints that were dislocated and they did an MRI to check for head wounds but his nose, jaw and two cheekbones are broken.  After that, it appears they took him into surgery to stop the internal bleeding and to repair many of his broken bones with plates and screws.  He’s out of surgery and in a medically induced coma to help him heal faster.  That’s all I know so far.”  Brad informs him.  “Alright.  Thank you.  I am going to go visit him.  I think you will be allowed in the room now that he is out of surgery.  Come with me and keep watch.  If anything about his condition changes, please tell me immediately.”  Gabe orders.  “Yes, sir.”  Brad says and follows Gabe into sick bay.

Dr. Smith is currently in Patrick’s room observing him and making notes in his chart.  Gabe and Brad wait for him to finish and leave his room.  He seems a bit surprised by their presence.  “Hello Brad, Mr. Saporta.  What can I do for you?”  He asks.  Gabe smiles before speaking.  “Hello Doctor.  I heard that an inmate was in a fight this afternoon and was badly injured.  Rumor has it that the patient is Dr. Stump.  He is new here and I was concerned about his welfare.  So, I came here to check on his condition.  I found Brad waiting outside and, knowing that he is Dr. Stump’s personal guard, I thought his presence would be better suited to doing his job in Dr. Stump’s room, protecting him from anyone else that would like to harm him.  How is he doing?”  Gabe asks.  Spencer looks down at his notes.  “He is not doing well.  His injuries were so severe that we weren’t sure if he would survive.  We have done everything we can to fix his injuries and we have stopped all of the internal bleeding.  It did appear that he was somehow improving when we were operating on him, but I don’t know how that’s possible.  He is now in a medically induced coma to help him heal faster.  If he does survive all of this, he will be looking at an extremely long recovery.  We will take him off the medication and see if he wakes up and can breathe on his own later tonight.  There isn’t much more we can do right now.”  Spencer informs them.  “May we visit him?”  Gabe asks.  “Yes, you may.  I will be in my office for the time being.  I will also be back to check on him in about an hour and a half.”  Spencer answers.  “Thank you, Doctor.”  Gabe says as he and Brad enter Patrick’s room.  Gabe is a little shocked at Patrick’s condition when he sees him.  “Hello Sugar.  I came to check on you.  It sounds like you are in pretty dire straits.  Don’t worry Sugar.  I won’t let you die, because I’m not done with you yet.  We still have much to discuss and experience together.”  Gabe says to him. 

Then he turns his attention to Brad.  “Oh Brad, why did Dr. Smith say that he was improving during surgery?  Did you have anything to do with that?  Don’t lie to me.  Lying to me would be very bad for you.”  Gabe asks while starting directly at Brad.  Brad stands there trying not to look guilty, before cracking and answering Gabe.  “Yes.  The smell of his blood attracted me to him.  Once everyone left and I checked to make sure no one would see me, I fed on him, not knowing how bad his condition actually was.  I sensed that he was close to death and I stopped.  Then I was called away to help with an altercation.  When I returned, he was gone.  I figured he was headed to sick bay, so I took the shortest route there.  I distracted them so that I could close the bite marks, and I gave him a lot of my blood so that he wouldn’t die.  I’m sorry!  I couldn’t help myself!  His blood smells and tastes so good!  When I sensed how bad his condition was, I stopped.  I know you wanted your men to beat him and teach him a lesson, but I know you wanted him alive.  If I hadn’t given him my blood, he would’ve died.  I was just trying to help.  I swear!”  Brad explains.  Gabe is silent for a few minutes before he says anything, thinking about what Brad had just told him.  “While I’m not happy that you fed on him and did not consult me before feeding him your blood, I believe you did do the right thing.  Sugar’s condition was dire and you did what you had to in order to keep him alive.  He will most likely need more to heal him.  Do not ever try to lie to me again!  If you do, it will be one of the last things that you do.  Do you understand?” Gabe asks.  Brad looks a little scared.  “Yes.  I understand.”  He says.  “Good.  I will speak with my men later regarding this matter.  You stay here and make sure no one else harms him.  I have a few things to attend to, so I will be back later.  You are authorized to give him more of your blood, as long as no one sees you.”  Gabe says.  He takes one last look at Patrick before he leaves.     

Gabe is out in the yard with his cronies, Shane, Theodore, Ross, and Justin, admiring their work in the beating of Patrick.  “Hello gentleman.  I just came from visiting Sugar.  You all did a great job, although accomplishing your mission, however, you may have taken it a little too far.  He is currently in critical condition and may not survive.  I suppose I should’ve clarified when I told you maximum damage, I did still want him to be alive.  You are all lucky that his friend found him when he did, or I would be punishing each and every one of you right now.  This time I will be completely clear.  Whatever I ask you to do to Sugar, he must still be alive and not in critical condition when you are finished with him.  Do you all understand?”  Gabe asks.  They all look at each other.  “Yes!” each one says in succession.  “Good.  Now we need to discuss the plan for tonight.  We will make sure that he is healed enough so that Brad can take him somewhere that will lead to a dead end.  Then the four of you will jump him and sedate him.  I will make sure that you have what you need to do that.  Once he is fully asleep, you will bring him to my cell where I will begin working on him.  Does everyone know what is going to happen?”  Gabe asks.  They all shake their heads yes.  “Alright.  You are all dismissed.”  Gabe takes the rest of his time in the yard making a list of all the things he will need for tonight.  He smiles an evil smile.  “Sugar is going to rue the day that he turned me down!”  He says while laughing manically.  Once yard time is over, he goes about acquiring the things he needs for tonight.

Chapter Text

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Graphic Violence*******

Brad is currently sitting on a chair in Patrick’s room, guarding him.  It has been two hours and there has been no change that he can see.  His blood is roaring through Patrick’s veins and slowing mending bones and healing other injuries from the inside out, but nothing is observable as of yet.  If he has any chance of being ready for Gabe’s plan tonight, he has to speed this up.  He thinks it’s time to give him more, but he will have to do it in small installments, so that he doesn’t cause to hallucinate.  He really doesn’t need Dr. Smith in here trying to figure out why he is hallucinating again.  Although, Dr. Smith did say that he was in a medically induced coma and they were keeping him unconscious so that his body heals faster, so, maybe he could give him a larger amount of blood.  If he were to hallucinate, he would be unconscious so he wouldn’t be talking out loud or anything.  Brad decides a larger dose is the way to go, but he can’t let anyone see him.  This room is pretty private.  He might have to pull the blinds so that no one can see in.   He goes about doing that.  He closes all the blinds that let others see into the room.  Finally, he locks the only door in and out of the room.  He does one final check to make sure no one can see him and then he approaches Patrick’s bed.  Brad opens Patrick’s mouth, bites his wrist and lets the blood flow down Patrick’s throat, giving him much more blood than before.  This would probably equate to four times what he gave him before.  With this amount, he should start recovering much quicker.  When Brad is done, he licks the bite marks on his wrist to close them and wipes any excess blood off of Patrick’s mouth and the breathing tube and closes Patrick’s mouth to where it was before.  Now he just has to sit back and wait for his blood to do its work.  Brad takes his seat in the chair on the other side of the room.  I wonder what kinds of awful, terrifying things he will see this time!

*Patrick and Joe are sitting in their cell.  They are both trading embarrassing stories.  Joe goes first. 

“So this one time, my family decided it would be a cool idea to go to a Civil War reenactment.  I have no idea why they thought this would be fun, because it was boring as fuck.  There are two camps, one for the Union, and one for the Confederates.  As visitors you go and tour both camps to get an idea of what they were like.  There are even some places where you can get booze, which was the only fun part of it.  Everyone is talking like they did back then so it was a little confusing.  Anyway, while we were touring the Union camp, one of the soldiers put a piece of paper with important stuff written on it in the back pocket of my jeans and I had no idea.  Fast forward to like an hour later, and these Confederate soldiers come up to me and said that they were arresting me for being a Union spy or some shit.  I had no idea what they were talking about.  I just told them that I had visited the Union camp but nothing happened.  They held their guns pointed at me and told me to stand still because they were going to search me.  My parents thought this was fun and I was special or something for getting chosen or some shit.  I don’t really know.  Well, of course, they found this piece of paper that someone had put in my pocket, showing the cannon positions on the Confederate side of the battlefield.  Then they put me in handcuffs and locked me in their jail, until the matter had been thoroughly researched.  An hour later dragged me to a tree where they were going to ‘execute me.’  I was like wtf?  I played along, because I guess that was what I was supposed to do, begging for my life and what not.  They decided to spare me, and once the crowd that had gathered was gone, they released me.  We stayed and watched the battle and then we went home.  The battle was pretty cool.  They were using the cannons and their guns.  I’m not sure how they decided who was supposed to die and who was supposed to live, but yeah.  I mean, how is that supposed to be fun?  Maybe if they had tipped me off as to what was happening, it might have been more fun, but it was kind of traumatizing and embarrassing.  I told my parents that I never wanted to go to one of those ever again, and that was that.  They never dragged me to anything like that ever again.”  Patrick is sitting there trying not to bust out laughing about the whole thing, but fails.  He burst out laughing so hard that his side started to hurt! 

“That’s hilarious!  You almost got killed for being a spy!  I agree though, how did your parents see something like that and think it would be fun?”  Patrick asks. 

Joe starts laughing too.  “I know right?” Joe responds while laughing his ass off. 

“Ok, your turn Patrick.”  Joe says. 

“Alright!  When I was like three or four, my parents took me to this petting zoo.  I should preface this by saying my hair was almost platinum blonde with a little red thrown in when I was that age.  So anyway, my parents took me to this petting zoo where you could feed the animals.  I was having so much fun petting and feeding all the animals, that is until I met the goats.  My parents let me loose in the goat pen with some food to feed them.  I went up to one and gave them my food and it was kind of fun.  Then, all of the goats decided to come visit me, but I’d given the first goat all the food I had.  They surrounded me.  I went to pet one of them, and it started trying to eat my hair!  I don’t know if it thought my hair was hay or something, but then all of the goats started trying to eat my hair.  I ran out of the goat pen screaming:  Mommy, Daddy the goats are trying to eat my hair!  Help me!  My dad picked me up and took me over to a bench to look me over.  I was fine, but I told them I wanted to go home after that.”  Joe is laughing his ass off. 

“I could totally see you with a goat trying to eat your hair! Hahaha!!!!”  They were both laughing so hard, until Patrick saw someone walking up behind Joe with a bucket in their hand.  He couldn’t see any details on the person, which he thought was weird.  When the person got closer, he tried to warn Joe. 

“Hey Joe!  Look out behind you!”  Joe was too busy laughing to notice anything until the person doused him with whatever was in the bucket and ran away.  Joe immediately starts screaming in pain. 

“What the-Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”  Joe screamed. 

The stuff in the bucket was acid and it was burning Joe’s skin. It must’ve been a strong acid too.  Patrick wanted to help him, but there wasn’t anything he could do.  Joe’s skin, muscles, and bones were disintegrating too fast.  Patrick ran to the front of their cell and screamed for help, but none came.  Patrick started crying as he was forced to watch and listen to Joe’s screams as his friend’s body was reduced to a pile of bubbling goo.  That was it, everything that was Joe Trohman was gone in an instant and there was nothing Patrick could’ve done to help him.*

Brad was sitting in Patrick’s room reading the newspaper and scrolling on his phone.  It had been another hour, so Brad looked over at Patrick and saw a decent amount of improvement.  The bruises and cuts all over his face, neck, and chest were almost healed.  If Brad had to guess, he would also say that many of the dislocated joints were healed and some of the smaller breaks, like his ribs had healed too.  Patrick’s jaw, nose and cheekbones all looked normal again, minus the bruises and cuts.  This was good progress!  Hopefully, this continues quickly where he even wakes up!  Gabe would be so happy!   Brad smiled, knowing what Gabe’s plan was for this evening.  Stump doesn’t even know what’s coming, hahaha.  Brad called another guard and gave him a message to be delivered to Gabe, regarding Patrick’s progress.  Then he just sat back and continued reading the newspaper and scrolling on his phone.  Today was an easy day for him and he was going to take advantage of it for as long as he could.

Joe was finally finished with his job duties for the day.  A guard met him there to escort him back to his cell, but Joe really wanted to go check on Patrick.  He didn’t really have much hope in terms of progress, but he felt like he owed it to Patrick to at least visit him, so he isn’t alone.  Joe turned to the guard. 

“Hey.  Instead of going back to my cell, can you take me to sick bay?  My friend was brutally beaten and is in critical condition.  I really want to be there for him.”  Joe asked the guard.  The guard thinks about it for a second and then agrees.  Joe’s eyes light up.  “Thank you!”  He says. 

The guard said, “your welcome” and they started walking toward sick bay.  When they get to sick bay, they go through the doors and see Dr.  Smith checking on Patrick in his room.  They wait outside until he is done.  Dr. Smith walks out of Patrick’s room in absolute shock and disbelief.  Joe is scared of what that means. 

“Is Patrick worse than he was earlier, Doctor?”  Joe asks.  Spencer looks at Joe with a confused look on his face.

 “Umm…no?  I’m not sure how, but he has greatly improved since you were last here Mr. Trohman.  I’m completely shocked!  He was in such bad shape before that I thought he might not survive, but now so many of his injuries have already healed, that he will definitely survive, and I have no idea how it has happened, but I will take it!”  Spencer says. 

He smiles.  That news makes Joe so happy. 

“Can I see him?”  Joe asks. 

“Of course!  We will give it another hour and a half, see where he’s at, and possibly stop the medication keeping him in a coma.  You can talk to him.  He can hear you.”  Spencer answers. 

“Great!”  Joe says as he walks into Patrick’s room. 

Joe stops dead in his tracks when he sees Brad sitting in a chair in the corner. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?”  He asks. 

“I am his personal guard.  I’m guarding him.”  Brad responds.

 Joe suspects more is going on than that, and it almost definitely involves why Patrick is healing so quickly, and Gabe, but Joe lets it go.  He’s here to see and support Patrick, not fight with Brad.  Joe moves toward Patrick’s bed and sits down in the chair next to him.  Patrick looks so much better.  His face is almost back to normal.  He checks his incisions and they are almost fully healed as well.  He grabs Patrick’s hand. 

“Hey Patrick!  It’s me, Joe.  Spencer said that I should talk to you and that you would be able to hear me.  I stayed as long as I was allowed to after they brought you in.  Then I had to go back to my cell and go to work.  I came straight here afterward to check on you.  Spencer says you are greatly improving and healing very quickly.  That’s great news!  He also said he has no idea how it’s happening, but I guess we will take what we can get!  I miss you.  Our cell feels so cold and empty without you there.  Hopefully, you will be healed, released, and back there quickly.”  Joe says. 

Brad is still sitting in the corner with a smug smile on his face. 

“You want me to leave you two alone so you can…”  Brad asks Joe. 

“What?  No!  He’s my friend!  I care about him like you would care for a brother.  Well not you though.  I’m not sure you are capable of loving anyone in any way.”  Joe answers. 

It is obvious that Brad would like to comment on that, but he knows that he can’t fight with him so he doesn’t answer.  Joe wants to ask if he had anything to do with his accelerated healing, but also doesn’t want Brad to know that Joe knows what he is, so he leaves it be.  He pulls out his book and just sits there reading.  As he sits there, he actually watches Patrick’s injuries heal themselves.  It is astonishing!

Spencer returns an hour and a half later, to check on Patrick again.  He seems to be incredibly happy with Patrick’s progress.  He checks all of his vitals, x-rays both arms and legs and tests some of his injuries, only to discover that they are mostly healed.  He’s never seen anything like this!  He wishes he could understand how this is happening, but for now, he is just happy that Patrick is out of the woods and on the road to recovery.  The x-rays show that the broken bones in Patrick’s arms and legs have healed. 

“He doesn’t need the casts on his arms and legs anymore.  Nurse, bring the cast saw over here so we can break the casts open and remove them.”  Spencer orders. 

The nurse walks over with a small saw and hands it to Spencer.  Spencer then uses the saw to cut through the casts on his arms and legs.  Once he is done, he removes the pieces of cast that are on both sides of the cut mark and discards them.  Spencer assesses Patrick’s injuries once. 

“I think we are going to try and stop the medication keeping him asleep.  We need to see if he wakes up and can breathe on his own.  It will take about thirty minutes before the drug wears off, once I stop it.  We will see what happens after that.”  Spencer informs them. 

Spencer goes to Patrick’s IV, disconnects the drug and removes the hanging bag.  Patrick is still receiving other medications through the IV, so Spencer doesn’t remove the IV, only the sedative. 

“Ok.  I will be back in about forty minutes.  Let me know if anything changes between now and then.”  Spencer says as he turns around and leaves Patrick’s room. 

Joe continues to sit by Patrick’s side, holding his hand and reading his book while Brad is still sitting in the corner trolling on his phone.  This continues for about half an hour, when Joe feels Patrick squeeze his hand. 

“He squeezed my hand!  Doctor!”  Joe yells, excited. 

Spencer pokes his head in and asks “Yes?” 

“Patrick squeezed my hand!”  Joe explains. 

Spencer smiles.  “That is a good sign!  Keep me appraised if anything else happens like that.”  He says and leaves the room again.  Shortly afterward, Patrick squeezes Joe’s hand again, harder and more deliberate this time.

 “Patrick?  Can you hear me?  Squeeze my hand again if you can.”  Joe says.  Patrick squeezes Joe’s hand again.  “Alright.  We need you to wake up Patrick.  Can you do that?”  Patrick squeezes Joe’s hand again.

Patrick’s head is so foggy that it is hard for him to tell his muscles what to do.  He doesn’t feel as tired as he did before.  He heard something about Spencer stopping the sedative keeping him unconscious.  He feels someone holding his hand.  He at least manages to squeeze that hand, even if that is all he can do, at the moment.  It takes all of his strength and a lot of energy to do.  Then he thinks he hears Joe talking to him.  He’s telling him to squeeze his hand again, so he does.  Next, he hears Joe tell him to wake up and asking him if he can do it.  He squeezes Joe’s hand again.  He wants to wake up, but he’s not sure his body will cooperate.  It took so much work to even squeeze Joe’s hand.  He focuses on what he wants his body to do and gives it all of his energy and strength.  His head feels less foggy now, so that is good, but he still can’t open his eyes.  He thinks that he is starting to regain some feeling in his appendages.  Most of what he feels is pain, which makes it harder to try and do things.  If he knows it is going to hurt more, then that takes even more strength, energy, and concentration.  You don’t have to move a lot.  You just need to open your eyes!  You don’t need to focus on anything other than that.  So that is what Patrick tries to do.  He imagines opening his eyes and puts everything he has left into opening his eyes.  He surprises himself when he actually opens his eyes and sees Joe looking back at him smiling. 

“Doctor!  Patrick is awake!”  Joe yells. 

Patrick sees Spencer come running into the room “What?”  he asks. 

“Patrick is awake!”  Joe repeats.  Spencer looks over and sees Patrick looking back at him. 

“Oh my God!  Patrick, You’re awake!  I was so worried!”  Spencer says.  “Can you hear me?”  He asks. 

Patrick doesn’t know how to answer.  His brain is still really fuzzy and he can’t move his head and nod, so he squeezes Joe’s hand again.

“He squeezed my hand again.  I think that means yes.”  Joe informs Spencer. 

“Ok.  Do you think you can breathe on your own Patrick?”  Spencer asks. 

To be honest, he’s not sure.  He can tell that he’s intubated and hooked up to a ventilator.  Maybe if he concentrates really hard?  He looks at Spencer with a questioning look. 

“Would you like to try?”  Spencer asks.  Patrick squeezes Joe’s hand again. 

“He says yes.”  Joe responds. 

“Alright.  I’m going to disconnect the ventilator and I want you to try and take a breath, ok?”  Spencer says.  Patrick squeezes Joe’s hand. 

“He says yes.”  Joe relays. 

“Here we go.  One, Two, Three.”  Spencer says as he disconnects the ventilator.  Patrick uses every little bit of energy, strength, and willpower to take a breath and he is able to do it.  He starts breathing on his own.  He’s so proud of himself, but he is really tired again. 

“I’m going to extubate you.  Take a deep breath and as you exhale, I will pull the tube out.  Ready?”  Spencer says.  Patrick squeezes Joe’s hand again. 

“Yes.”  Joe relays. 

“Ok.  Deep breath in.  Now exhale.”  Patrick does as he’s told and Spencer pulls the tube out. 

He starts coughing hard for a minute, but then he is able to breathe.  Everyone in the room looks very happy, except Brad, but he can go fuck himself.  Joe leans down to give him a hug, very cognizant of Patrick’s injures, so he doesn’t hurt him. 

“It’s good to have you back, roomie!”  Joe says. 

Spencer then tells him that he is going to conduct a test for touch sensation.  Spencer uses a soft cloth and a needle to check the feeling in his arms and legs. 

“Close your eyes, Patrick.”   Patrick closes his eyes.  Spencer starts with his arms.  “Can you feel this?”  Spencer asks.  Yes, he feels it, but he doesn’t know how to tell him. 

He tries to speak and manages to get out a very raspy “yes.”  Joe leans down so he can hear Patrick better. 

“He said yes.”  Joe says.  Spencer moves to the bottom of his arm. 

“Can you feel this?”  Spencer asks. 

Patrick grunts out a “yes.” 

“He said yes.”  Joe states.  Spencer moves down to the middle of his hand. 

“Can you feel this?”  Spencer asks. 

“He said yes.”  Joe relays. 

They continue this on his fingers, his other arm, hands and fingers, and on both legs, ankles and toes.  Patrick is able to feel all of it. 

“That’s great, Patrick!  That is all we will do for now so you can rest.  I will be back in a little while so we can try having you move things.”  Spencer says

Patrick is exhausted after working so hard to make his body do all of those things.  Joe can tell he is really tired. 

“Hey Patrick?  Why don’t you try and sleep a bit before Spencer comes back.”  He says. 

Patrick appears to understand him, closes his eyes, and goes to sleep until Spencer returns.  Brad calls another guard to come and meet him in Patrick’s room.  A few minutes later, the other guard arrives.  Brad stands and walks out of the room with the other guard. 

“You need to tell inmate Saporta, that Sugar is awake.  In those exact words.  Do you understand?”  Brad asks the guard. 

The other guard nods his head yes and leaves to go deliver the message.  Brad walks back into the room and sits back in his chair in the corner. 

Joe looks suspicious.  “What was that about, Brad?”  He asks. 

“It was about none of your fucking business.”  Brad responds. 

Joe knows exactly what it was about, but he can’t really fight with Brad right now, so he lets it go.  Joe goes back to reading his book.  Spencer comes back an hour later to do more tests with Patrick.  He is able to move everything that Spencer asks him to move.  Spencer is delighted, but is also at a loss for how this much improvement in a few hours is possible.  Patrick goes back to sleep afterward and Joe is getting hungry.  Joe decides to go eat dinner while Patrick is sleeping. 

“Hey Patrick.  I’m going to go eat dinner.  I will come back when I’m done.” Joe explains. 

Then Joe looks at Brad.  “Can you take me to the mess hall, or can you call another guard to take me?”  Joe asks. 

Brad stands up.  “I’ll take you, but then I’m coming right back, got it?  Another guard will have to bring you back here when you are done.”  He says to Joe. 

“Got it.  Can we go now?”  Joe asks. 

“Fine.”  Brad says as they walk out of Patrick’s room and to the mess hall.

When they get to the mess hall, Joe and Brad part ways.  Joe gets in the food line, and Brad goes to covertly find Gabe.  He spots him at his usual table in the back corner of the room.  Brad walks toward him and nods his head to the right, indicating that he wants to talk to Gabe in private.  Brad then walks out of the mess hall, down the hall, and to the right into the usual room Gabe and Brad meet in. 

“I need to go to the bathroom, guys.  I’ll be back in a bit.”  Gabe says as he stands and walks toward the bathroom, but he goes out the back door and heads to their meeting place.  When he walks in the door, he turns around and locks it. 

“Did you get the messages with the updates on his condition?”  Brad asks. 

“Yes.  I understand he is awake now?”  Gabe asks. 

“He’s sleeping, but yes, he is out of the coma, awake, and breathing on his own.  He’s passed all of Spencer’s tests so far.”  Brad tells him. 

“That’s good to hear!  Will he be ready for later tonight?”  Gabe asks. 

“I hope so.  I think now is a good time to visit him though, while Trohman is here eating dinner.  He seems suspicious of all this and keeps asking questions.”  Brad says.

 “Then by all means, lead the way.”  Gabe responds with an evil smile on his face.  Brad smiles the same evil smile. 

“Well let’s get going then, inmate Saporta.”  Gabe follows Brad out of the room and back to sick bay.  When they enter Patrick’s room, he is still asleep.  Gabe sits in the chair next to his bed. 

“Hello Sugar.  I’m happy to hear that you are healing so quickly.  The doctor said you might even be up and mobile by later this evening.  I hope that is the case.  Just to be safe, we will give you a little more help, to make sure that happens.  Oh!  I almost forgot, Sugar!  I have present for you that will help you with the pain.” Gabe says to him.  Gabe takes the needle, pushes it into Patrick’s side and kisses him on the cheek.  Then he just sits back and watches. 

Patrick is really asleep and dreaming about not being a prisoner, and being a doctor again in his own private clinic.  He vaguely hears someone talking to him, but he is in such a deep sleep that he doesn’t know who it is or what they are saying.  He feels something sliding down his throat for a while, but again, he is too asleep to process what it is.  In his dream, he is currently drinking a vanilla milkshake as part of his lunch in his office of his private practice.  He always takes his lunch break now.  When he worked at the prison, he would usually skip lunch, unless he met a friend at Brendon’s café down the street.  It seemed that whenever he did try to take his lunch break at the prison, he would either be interrupted in sick bay, or the prisoners would yell lewd things at him and make him feel uncomfortable when he tried to eat outside.  In this dream, it was quiet and peaceful.  He didn’t have to worry about lockdowns or riots here.  He just got to do what he loved every day, helping people get better from their various ailments.

Gabe stays there for quite a while, until Brad gets a call on the radio that Trohman was leaving the mess hall and headed back there.  He shares a knowing glance with Brad. 

“I guess I should leave and continue gathering the things I need for tonight.  I just need to ask Dr. Smith for a favor before I leave.  He can help me procure something that I need for later.  Keep me updated on his recovery.  As long as he improves to where we need him to be, the plan is still on for tonight.”  Gabe says before talking to Spencer and leaving sick bay.

*Patrick is sitting at a desk in the warehouse that he and his friends have made the headquarters for the Sixteen Candles Vampire Hunting Agency.  They are a ragtag group made up of Joe, Andy, Pete, and Patrick.  Pete is a vampire who vows revenge on William Beckett, the vampire that turned him.  Andy is the hand-to-hand combat expert, Joe is the weapons maker, and Patrick is the brains of the operation.  Patrick studies Pete and other vampires to learn about any of their weaknesses that they can exploit.  So far, he has found out that there are at least two gangs of vampires that are present in their town, The Dandies and The Vampires of the Hood.  They have been battling each other lately and there are innocent humans getting caught in the crossfire.  It is their job to protect these humans from being preyed upon.  Patrick has recently received footage of this vampire gang war hitting its peak tonight, so he gathers the group together. 

“This vampire gang war is going down tonight.  There are innocent civilians that we need to protect!  Everyone, gather your gear.  We leave as soon as the sun sets.”  Patrick orders. 

Everyone then disperses to get ready for tonight.  After the sun sets and it is safe for Pete to be out, they all get into their car and head downtown.  When they get there, the war has already started.  They all get out of the car and start fighting and killing vampires while trying to save the innocent civilians.  It goes ok for a while, but they are grossly outnumbered.  Andy and Pete are busy fighting other vampires.  Joe and Patrick are losing.  Somehow, they are separated and Joe seems to get away.  Patrick takes a second to catch his breath and thinks he’s in the clear, until he is attacked from behind by five or six vampires.  They wrestle him to the ground and they all bite him and suck his blood.  It is so painful that he can’t fight back.   They are then joined by others who are biting Patrick’s arms, legs, his sides, anywhere there is an open spot and begin sucking more blood from him.  Now Patrick is in so much pain that he can’t even move.  They all keep taking and taking his blood.  He is starting to feel dizzy and very tired.  Oh my God!  This is it!  They are all going to suck me dry!  He tries to use his remaining strength to fight back, but he doesn’t have anything left in the tank.  He’s in so much pain and feels so tired that he can barely keep his eyes open. 

“Someone, please help me!” He screams, no help comes. 

There is so much going on, that no one can hear him.  He’s barely conscious now and begins to accept the inevitable.  I never thought that I would go out like this.  At least it’s somewhat peaceful.  I will fall asleep and die.  There are so many things I wish I had said or done!  Goodbye world.  I will miss you.  Those are his last thoughts before he finally loses consciousness, goes to sleep, and dies from being completely sucked dry of all of his blood.  Andy and Pete finally get a break in the fighting to go meet up with Joe and Patrick, only they are nowhere to be found.  They begin looking for both of them, only to find Joe kneeling next to Patrick’s body, trying to wake him up.  His body is so full of bite marks that there is no way he is still alive. 

Pete kneels down and asks “what happened?” 

“I don’t know!  We were fighting but we were so outnumbered that we split up.  I got away.  I thought he did too but then I found him like this.  He’s dead.”  Joe explains while trying to hold back his tears. 

Andy moves to comfort him.  Pete just sits there and stares at Patrick’s body.

 “He was basically tortured until he was sucked dry.  He died in so much pain, and the worst part is that he died alone.  Poor Patrick!  This wasn’t how you were supposed to go!”  Pete starts to lose it and starts crying. 

Andy, who is trying to be strong for everyone else, says what everyone else is thinking. 

“Pete, you could save him.  He hasn’t been dead that long.”  Andy states.  Pete looks confused. 

“What do you mean, Andy?” Pete asks. 

“Well, I know it’s not ideal, but if you turn him, you could save him.” Andy says. 

“No!  Absolutely not!  You are asking me to turn him into a monster, like me.  I’m sorry.  I can’t do that to him, especially without his consent.”  Pete answers. 

“Yes.  I am asking you to turn him into a vampire, like you.  Like I said, it’s not ideal, but at least he would still be with us.  You could show him the ropes.”  Andy states. 

“He wouldn’t be the same person, being a vampire changes you in ways that you can’t comprehend.  I hate the monster I am now!” Pete says. 

“Look Pete, I’m not going to sugar coat this for you.  This is his only chance and we are running out of time.  Yes, it’s awful.  Yes, it will transform him, but if you do nothing, then he will be gone forever.  If he regrets it later and decides he want to die, I will kill him myself.  He deserves this chance!”  Andy argues. 

Pete thinks about it for a minute.  

“Joe, what do you think?”  Pete asks.   

“I agree with Andy.  I think you should turn him.  Any iteration of Patrick being around is better than him being lost forever.”  Joe answers. 

“Ok.  We need to move him somewhere safe, if I’m going to do this.  We need to get him in the car and back to the warehouse.  Where is the car?”  Pete asks. 

“It is parked around the corner, at least it was.”  Joe answers.  Pete takes a deep breath. 

“Alright.  I’ll grab him while you two get to the car and get it started.” Pete says.  Joe and Andy take off down the street and around the corner while Pete picks up Patrick’s body. 

“I’m so sorry about this Patrick!  I never wanted this for you!  Please forgive me!”  Pete says while he is walking back to the car.  They get him back to the warehouse. 

“Take him down to the basement where no sunlight can get through and chain his arms and legs.  We don’t know how this is going to go when he wakes up.  Better safe than sorry.  Pete sets Patrick down on the floor of the room.  Ok, now I want you guys to lock this door and do not open it, unless I tell you to.  Please bar it as well.  I will turn him and I will stay with him until he wakes up.  When it is safe, I will tell you to unlock the door.”  Pete says. 

Andy and Joe do what they are told.  Pete sits down next to Patrick, bites his wrist and feeds his blood to Patrick.  Now he has to wait until he transforms.  Pete is sitting in a chair by the door.  It has been eight hours when Patrick finally wakes up. 

“Pete?  What happened?  I thought I died.”  Patrick asks. 

Pete gets up and gets closer to Patrick. 

“You did die Patrick.  Andy and Joe begged me to bring you back.”  Pete said.  Patrick looks confused. 

“How?”  He asks.  Pete starts to cry. 

“I had to turn you.  You are now a vampire like me.  I’m so sorry!  It was the only way to bring you back!”  Pete tells him.

“So, if you hadn’t turned me, I’d still be dead?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes.”  Pete says. 

Patrick gets up and wraps Pete in a hug. 

“Thank you!”  He says.  “Why does my thoat feel like it’s on fire?”  Patrick asks. 

“Because you are hungry.”  Pete answers.  I will get you some blood.  Patrick’s eyes turn red. 

“I need it now, or I’m going to die!”  Patrick says. 

Pete calls to Andy and Joe to get him a blood bag.  When they unlock and open the door, Patrick runs out and attacks Andy.  He bites down on his neck and sucks his blood until there is none left.  Then, he goes after Joe.  He bites him and feeds until Joe is dead.  He finally stands back and looks at what he’s done.  No!!!!!!!!!  You killed Joe and Andy!!!!!!  You monster!!!!!  He falls to his knees crying.  What have I done?*

Patrick wakes up with a start.  There are tears running down his face.  “What have I done?  I killed my best friends!”  He screams while crying. 

“Patrick!  Patrick!  Take a deep breath!  It wasn’t real!  You were hallucinating again, but I’m not still not sure why.”  Spencer says while holding him down so he doesn’t thrash. 

Patrick closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.  When he opens his eyes again, Spencer is there holding him so he doesn’t hurt himself, and Joe is by his bedside. 

“Oh, thank God!”  He says as he sits up and hugs Joe.  “You’re alive!”  Joe smiles

“I missed you too!” Joe says.  Patrick lays his head back down and relaxes his body on the bed. 

“What happened?”  Patrick asks. 

“Honestly?  I have no idea.  Joe came to get me when you started hallucinating.  We held you down so you wouldn’t hurt yourself.  Did anything happen while Joe was gone?  Did anyone give you anything?”  Spencer asks. 

“I don’t know!  I was in a very deep sleep and I was having the best dream!  I heard someone talking but I don’t know who it was and I didn’t hear what they said.”  Patrick says.  Joe looks at Brad. 

“Brad, did anyone visit him while I was gone and did, they or you give him anything?” Joe asks.  Brad looks at everyone. 

“I don’t know.  I kind of fell asleep for a bit too.  I didn’t hear or see anyone though.  As far as I know, no one else has been in this room beside Stump, Trohman, myself, and you Doctor.  I didn’t give him anything.”  Brad responds.  Joe looks very suspicious, like he knows Brad is lying but he doesn’t say anything. 

“Patrick, how do you feel?  What is your pain level?”  Spencer asks. 

“I actually feel much better.  I’m not going to say that I’m 100%, but my pain level is way down, it doesn’t hurt to move my arms or legs, and sitting up didn’t hurt.” Patrick answers. 

Spencer smiles.  “That’s great!  I’m at a total loss as to how you have recovered so quickly.  I was not sure you were going to survive, and now you are doing so much better!  I don’t know how that’s possible, but I’m glad that you are improving so quickly.  Do your legs still feel like jelly, or would you like to try to stand and walk?”  Spencer asks. 

“I think I’d like to try to stand.  If I can do that, then I’d like to try to walk.”  Patrick answers. 

“Ok.  Let’s give it a try.  Sit up and swing your legs off the side of the bed.”  Spencer says.  Patrick does this. 

“Joe, I need you to be there if he falls, ok?”  Joe nods his head yes.  Spencer sits down next to Patrick and puts Patrick’s arm over his shoulder. 

“Ready?  One, two, three.”  Spencer says.  On three, Spencer and Patrick stand up together.  “How does this feel?”  Spencer asks. 

“Ok for now.  You need to let go to see what happens.”  Patrick responds. 

Spencer lets go of him, and Patrick is able to stand on his own. 

“I did it!”  Patrick exclaims, obviously very proud of himself. 

“That’s great!”  Spencer says.  “Ok, Patrick.  Now comes the hard part.  I’m going to stand a few steps in front of you and I want you to walk to me.  Joe, please get behind him to catch him if he falls.”  Spencer says.  “Ready?  One, two three.” 

Patrick walks a few steps toward Spencer.  Spencer moves back a bit further and they repeat it until Patrick is walking normally again. 

“Great job, buddy!”  Joe says as he hugs him. 

“Thanks!  I’m pretty tired after all of that.  I think I’m going to go back to sleep for a while.”  Patrick says as he walks back to his bed and lays down. 

“Amazing progress Patrick.  Keep up the good work.”  Spencer says.  Joe sits down next to his bed with his book. 

“Sweet Dreams!”  Joe says. 

“Thanks.  Goodnight.” Patrick says as he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep. 

“Joe?  Can I have a word in private with you?”  Spencer asks.  Joe looks up from his book. 

“Of course.”  He says as he follows Spencer out of the room. 

They walk to Spencer’s office and close the door. 

“What’s up?”  Joe asks. 

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can’t stay here with him all night, especially now that he is no longer in critical condition.  You may stay for an hour more, and then you will need to return to your cell.”  Spencer says. 

“Ok.  I understand.  Was that all?”  Joe answers. 

Spencer takes a deep breath before continuing. 

“What is your take on how quickly Patrick recovered from almost fatal injuries?  I don’t know how this is even possible, but it appears to be the case.”  Spencer asks.  Should I tell him the truth, or should I just say I don’t know?  If I tell him the truth, he’s going to think I’m crazy, just like I did when Patrick told me everything.  I had to actually see it to believe it. 

“I don’t know, Doc.  I agree, it has been incredibly fast and almost impossible, here he is now, almost healed.  Maybe it’s a miracle?  Miracles do happen sometimes, don’t they?”  Joe asks. 

Spencer thinks for a minute.  “Yeah, they do.  I guess we can chalk this one up to the man upstairs.  You can go back to your friend now.”  Spencer says. 

Joe smiles and walks out of Spencer’s office and back into Patrick’s room.  He stays for the hour that he is allowed and then a guard comes to take him back to his cell.  As soon as Joe is gone, Brad calls a guard on their side to come so that he can send a message to Gabe, telling him that Patrick is ready for later.  Brad looks at Patrick with a sinister smile on his face as he is sleeping. 

“Poor bastard.  You have no idea what’s coming.”  He says and then goes back to playing on his phone.

Chapter Text

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Graphic Violence*******

Patrick wakes up in his hospital bed in sick bay several hours later.  Brad is still sitting in the corner of his room.  Joe is gone, and Spencer isn’t in his room either.  I can’t believe I slept that long!  Spencer must’ve sent Joe back to our cell.  I’m not sure where Spencer is though.  He looks around the room and his eyes catch Brad’s.  Brad puts his phone down. 

“Welcome back, sunshine.”  Brad says. 

“What time is it?”  Patrick asks while rubbing his eyes.  Brad looks down at his phone to see. 

“It’s about 8:00 p.m.  You slept for a very long time.”  Brad answers. 

“I know.”  Patrick responds.  As he is laying there, he realizes that all of the fluids they are feeding him through his IV are catching up to him and he has to use the restroom.  He’s not sure where it is though. 

“Brad?  Where is Spencer?”  He asks. 

“He’s in his office.  You need me to call him?”  Brad asks. 

“Yes, please.”  Patrick answers.  Brad gets up and leaves the room for a minute and comes back with Spencer. 

“Hey Patrick, is everything alright?”  Spencer asks. 

“Yes.  I need to use the restroom.  Where is it?”  Patrick answers. 

“I understand.  Go out of your room and take a left.  You will see it on your right.  Can you get there on your own?”  Spencer asks.

 “I think so.  You can follow me to the door, if you’d like.”  Patrick replies. 

“Ok.  I will just follow you to make sure you get there without falling.”  Spencer says. 

Patrick sits up and swings his legs over the side of the bed.  He pushes off the bed and stands up.  He makes sure he is stable before walking.  Then he starts walking and follows Spencer’s directions to the restroom.  He does his business and then comes out of the room and returns to his bed in his room.  Spencer smiles. 

“Great job!  I’m going to order an MRI to just make sure everything is healed correctly.  You will eventually need surgery to remove the plates and screws in your arms and your legs.”  Spencer mentions. 

“Ok.  Are we doing the MRI now?”  Patrick asks. 

“No.  It can wait until morning.  Besides, the MRI technician has already headed home for the night.  Try and rest up tonight and, as long as your MRI is clean, I will release you tomorrow.”  Spencer says. 

“Sounds good.  Thank you, Spencer.”  Patrick responds. 

“No problem, Patrick.”  Spencer answers and then leaves to go back to his office. 

Patrick isn’t really all that tired right now, so he turns the TV on in his room.  All of a sudden, Brad stands.

“I will be back shortly.  Try to not get killed while I’m gone.”  Brad says and exits Patrick’s room and sick bay.  He heads to the room that he and Gabe always meet up in.  Gabe is there waiting for him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________  

“I hear our patient is almost completely healed.”  Gabe states. 

“Yes.  He is even mobile.  He can stand and walk around as if nothing happened to him.”  Brad answers. 

“Good.  Everything is set, everyone is where they are supposed to be and we are waiting for him.  You may bring him any time.  This will take all night.”  Gabe says. 

“I can go get him now, but I need a reason as to where and why I’m taking him that he will buy.”  Brad replies. 

“That’s a good point.  Are there any further tests where the machine is outside of sick bay?”  Gabe asks. 

“There may be, but Spencer just told him that all of the technicians have left for the night.  Got anything else?”  Brad asks.  Gabe thinks for a minute.

 “He knows the warden, right?  How about you tell him that he has a meeting with Andy and that he is so busy most of the time, that this was the only time that he could meet with him.”  Gabe suggests. 

“That sounds good.  Are you ready for him?”  Brad asks.  Gabe smiles and evil smile. 

“Yes.  We are all ready.  Please go fetch him.  If Dr. Smith sees you leaving, he will follow you.  Please compel him to not pay attention.”  Gabe orders.  Brad also smiles and evil smile.  

“Yes sir.  He has no idea what’s coming.  This will be so much fun!  I’m so excited!”  Brad exclaims. 

“I am excited as well.  Now, go get him please.”  Gabe says.  Brad turns and leaves to go get Stump and lead him into this trap.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

When Brad re-enters sick bay, he pays Spencer a visit. 

“Hello Brad.  Is everything ok?”  Spencer asks.  Brad makes direct eye contact with Spencer. 

“Yes, it’s fine.  You are not paying attention to what is about to happen.  You will forget seeing me take Stump out of sick bay and you will not be surprised when he is not in his bed tomorrow morning.  Do you understand?”  Brad asks. 

Spencer has a completely blank look in his eyes, but then he repeats everything Brad just said followed by “Yes.  I understand.” 

“Good!  You will not remember this meeting after I leave the room.”  Brad says.  Spencer repeats the sentence again followed by

“Yes.  I understand.”  Brad turns and leaves Spencer’s office.  Then he enters Patrick’s room.  He is still sitting there watching TV. 

“Alright, Stump. Stand up and get dressed.  You have a meeting to attend.” Brad says.  Patrick looks very suspicious. 

“A meeting with whom?”  He asks. 

“I just spoke with Andy, the warden.  You are going to meet with him to discuss your situation.  Before you ask why now?  He said that he has been incredibly busy recently, so he said that this is the only time he is able to meet with you.  Hurry up.”  Brad informs him. 

Patrick looks like he is very eager to meet with Andy so he stands, gets dressed and is ready to go in a very short time.  Too bad that’s not who he’s meeting.  Patrick looks ready to go, but stops in his tracks. 

“Wait.  What about Spencer?  Won’t he see us gone and be worried?”  Patrick asks. 

“I just checked with him on my way into sick bay and he is aware of it.  He also told me to tell you ‘Good Luck.’  Are you ready to go?”  Brad asks. 

“Yes.  Let’s go.”  Patrick answers. 

“Alright.  Follow me.”  Brad says as he and Patrick walk out of sick bay.  Brad is facing away from Patrick so that he can’t see the huge, dangerous smile on his face.  Here we go!

Patrick is following Brad for what seems like a long time.  He’s never been in this area of the prison before.  It appears to be quieter and more sequestered.  It also seems like an odd place for a meeting, but hey.  Maybe Andy wants to meet somewhere that is more off the beaten path.  They keep walking for a bit longer before they come to a door that looks like it opens into some kind of meeting room.  Once they stop, he is overwhelmed by a feeling of dread.  Something about this feels wrong.  I guess it’s too late now.  I’m here.  I might as well see what Andy has to say.  Brad looks at Patrick. 

“Are you ready?” He asks.  Patrick brushes off his feelings and takes a deep breath. 

“Yes.  I’m ready.”  Brad opens the door to the room.  Brad and Patrick enter the room.  Brad closes the door and locks the door. 

“Um Brad?  I don’t see Andy.”  Patrick says. 

“He’s here.  He’s just at the table at the back of the room.  Keep walking.”  Brad insists. 

This doesn’t feel right…Patrick continues walking toward the back of the room.  It is then that he sees four figures approaching him.  As they get closer to him, he sees who they actually are, Gabe’s cronies. 

“Fuck!!!!”  He screams as he turns around and starts running back toward the front door.  He doesn’t get very far before Theodore tackles him to the ground.  He tries to get up and keep running, but the others catch up to him and he is surrounded. 

“What do you want from me?”  Patrick yells.  Shane is the first one to answer. 

“We don’t want anything.  We are just doing what we were told to do.” Shane replies.   He steps closer to Patrick smiling and punching him in the stomach.  The inertia causes Patrick to fly back onto the floor.  Shane picks him up by his hair. 

“Owww!” Patrick screams.  He’s too preoccupied by Shane holding him up by his hair to notice Ross coming up behind him, grabbing him, stabbing him with a needle in his back and pushing the plunger all the way down. 

“Ahh!  What was that?  What did you just give me?”  Patrick asks. 

Ross and Shane don’t answer as they let go of him and he crumples to the floor.  It takes a minute for whatever they gave him to start working, but then it hits him like a freight train.  He tries to get up but whatever they gave him is really strong and Patrick falls back to the floor unconscious.  Shane tells Theodore to go check and make sure he is actually unconscious.  Theodore walks over to Patrick and kicks him in the side.  When he doesn’t move, Theodore leans down, picks up Patrick’s hand and drops it.  It falls straight back onto the ground. 

“He looks unconscious to me, Shane.”  He says. 

“Ok.  Justin.  Pick him up and throw him over your shoulder.”  Shane orders.  Justin approaches Patrick, picks him up and throws him over his shoulder, and they all meet up with Brad at the front of the room.

 “We’ve got him and he’s unconscious.  Let’s go.”  Shane says.  Brad unlocks the door and they begin walking toward Gabe’s cell.

When they get there, Brad opens the door to Gabe’s cell and everyone piles in. 

“Hello gentleman, I trust he didn’t put up too much of a fight.”  Gabe says as Justin dumps Patrick’s unconscious body on the floor of the cell. 

“Nope.  It was almost too easy!”  Shane answers. 

Gabe smiles.  “Good!”  He says.  Then he looks down at Patrick’s unconscious body. 

“Hello, Sugar.  I know you can’t hear me because we gave you enough ketamine to put down an elephant, but I just wanted to say that you deserve everything that is coming your way tonight.  This is the price you pay for turning me down!”  Gabe laughs manically as the others join in. 

“Now, Let’s get started, shall we?  Tonight, is going to be a very long and painful night for you, Sugar.  I hope you can handle it!” Gabe says to Patrick. 

“Ross, help me take his shirt off.”  Gabe says. 

“You got it, boss!”  Ross says and gets down on the floor to remove Patrick’s shirt. 

“Ok!  I think we are ready.  Let’s get started!”  Gabe says.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick sees himself in a house that he knows he owns.  As he looks around the room, he notices many of his own belongings.  That’s right!  I remember falling in love with this house the moment I stepped foot in it!  It was so cozy and he totally saw himself living there, so he decided to put an offer in on the house.  It turned out that there were multiple offers and there was a bidding war.  He wanted this house so bad though that he outbid everyone else and got it!  This was the perfect house to start their new lives together.  Fast forward a bit and Patrick is having a romantic dinner with Frank.  They talk about each other’s days. 

“Frank, what was your day like today?”  Patrick asks. 

“Oh, you know.  We spent most of the day in the studio working on songs for our new album.  It was really fun!  I’m so excited to share these new songs with the fans!  They are in for a treat!  How about you?  Did anything exciting happen at work today?  By exciting, I mean non-life threatening.”  Frank asks.

 “It was a pretty normal day at the prison.  There were no riots or break-outs or anything like that.  It was mainly the usual.  Stitching up cuts, treating broken bones, prescribing medication for a group of inmates that seem to have a secondary infection after having the flu.  Although, now that I think about it, we did have a patient come in that had been stabbed and we had to do surgery on him to stop the internal bleeding and repair any of the damage caused by the stab wound, so that was fun, I guess.  There is this new inmate that is diabetic, so I have to give him insulin shots every day.  Other than that, nothing else really happened today.”  Patrick answers.

 Frank raises his glass of red wine up and makes a toast.  “To us and our relatively normal days!”  He says. 

Patrick grabs his glass of wine and toasts with Frank.  “Cheers!”  He adds. 

As Patrick looks at Frank’s smile, he sees why they fell in love and got married.  Frank makes him so happy! 

“So, what would you like to do after dinner?”  Frank asks with a twinkle in his eyes. 

“Well, we could start with some ‘dessert’ and see where it goes from there.”  Patrick says. 

Frank flashes him a million-watt smile.  “I like the ‘dessert’ idea.  Are you done with your food?  If so, let’s get this cleaned up and move onto ‘dessert’ in the bedroom.  They get up and clean up their dinner and reconvene in the bedroom, where both of them thoroughly enjoy “dessert.”  

The night ends with him cuddling with Frank while they are watching a movie in bed.  He feels so happy, comfortable, and content.  He looks down at his left hand and sees his wedding ring and smiles.  Wait a minute!  This doesn’t make any sense.  I’ve never been married to anyone, let alone to Frank.  He and Frank were good friends, but that is all they ever amounted to.  They tried dating for a little while, but it never seemed to go anywhere.  I just didn’t really feel that way about Frank.  This is really weird!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick’s brain is so foggy that he can barely think.  It’s like there is a weighted blanket sitting on his brain and dampening his thoughts to where he just can’t even focus.  He just feels exhausted, like he could sleep for a million years, but he can’t remember why he feels this way.  He can’t move any of his appendages.  They feel so heavy, that Patrick isn’t capable of lifting or making them do anything.  He’s even having problems lifting his head.  It’s almost like his whole body is numb, but he his brain is starting to gain a tiny bit of awareness.  His upper body feels a little chilly and his arms, the tops of his hands and his fingers feel sore, but again, he doesn’t know why they feel that way.  Patrick feels like he might be trying to regain consciousness, but something is barring him from doing that.  His brain feels slightly clearer, but not clear enough to do anything or remember what happened previously.  He stays in this state where his is unconscious but is slowly regaining awareness and feeling back into some parts of his body.  His legs still feel like the wide trunks of trees that have fallen on the ground and weigh too much to do anything but sit on the forest’s floor.  Patrick’s arms, hands and fingers are starting to ache more and he feels someone gripping his left arm, holding it straight at an odd angle.  This continues for a while until he feels the grip move down further on his left arm.  As his brain is slowly clearing, he becomes more aware to what is happening around him.  He hears this loud buzzing noise and now he feels something moving across his skin that seems to be poking him a million times.  It kind of feels like a razor blade being dragged across his skin, and it fucking HURTS.  His skin is feeling more and more raw the longer whatever it is, is continually moving across his skin.  Now he feels the grip moving to the top of his left hand.  When this thing starts moving across the skin on the top of his left hand, he is floored by how much it hurts and burns.  If he was conscious right now, he’d probably be screaming his head off.  He feels another layer of fog lifts from his brain, but he still can’t seem to wake himself up. 

He is just lying there feeling this unbelievable pain.  What is happening and why does it hurt so much?  Come on, think Patrick.  What happened before this?  I was supposed to meet someone important in a meeting room.  He keeps pushing the fog away.  When I got there, I couldn’t see the person I was supposed to meet.  Good!  Think harder!  As I moved further into the room, I still couldn’t see them.  When I got to the back of the room, I saw four figures, but I couldn’t see their faces.  Then they started moving toward me, and I recognized them as bad people.  They worked for Gabe.  They chased me and knocked me to the floor.  I fought them until someone grabbed me from behind and pushed a needle full of a really strong drug into my back.  When it hit me, I fell to the floor and passed out.  FUCK!  What are they doing to me?  Wake up Patrick!  You have to wake up!  He concentrates as hard as he can, and the buzzing sound gets louder.  He feels like he’s close to waking up.  This time he gives everything he has and puts it into waking up, but doesn’t quite make it.  Ok, on this one, I’m going to open my eyes.  He fights whatever is keeping him asleep with all of his strength and focuses everything into opening his eyes.  This time it works.  He opens his eyes and looks around the room.  He sees Gabe working very hard on something on the top of his right hand.  Whatever his is doing is incredibly painful! 

“Wha-?”  Patrick asks while trying to pull his hand away from whatever it is that is making it hurt so much.  Gabe looks back at him and sees that he is awake so he starts barking orders at someone.  Patrick can’t see who it is. 

“Sugar is awake!  Please sedate him again!  Make sure you give him enough to keep him unconscious until morning, so this doesn’t happen again!”  Gabe orders. 

Patrick hears a voice say “I thought I had given him enough!  That should have sedated an elephant for a long time.  I will give him a lot more this time.” 

Patrick is trying to struggle against Gabe’s grip.  “Shane, Theodore, and Justin.  Please hold him down until Ross is ready with the sedative.”  Gabe orders. 

Then Patrick feels his body being held down very hard.  He tries to fight it, but they are too strong.  He still hasn’t figured out what the hell Gabe is doing.  He doesn’t really get a chance to look before Ross kneels down and buries the needle deep into his neck.  Patrick is overcome with a feeling of extreme exhaustion and loses consciousness almost immediately.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick is obviously backstage at a My Chemical Romance concert. Frank and the rest of the band are sitting with him in the green room while the stagehands changed the sets and prepared the area for the next part of their show. 

“Are you ready for this, babe?”  Frank asks him. 

“Am I ready for what?”  Patrick asks. 

“You know, the song that you wrote that you are about to perform with Gerard.”  Frank answers. 

Patrick thinks for a second, then suddenly it hits him.  He had written a short song for them and Gerard asked him to perform it with him on stage. 

“I’m pretty nervous, but I am as ready as I’m going to get.  You know I don’t like being the center of attention, so this is way outside of my comfort zone.”  Patrick replies. 

“Don’t worry about it, babe.  You can do this and they will love you out there!”  Frank says.  He gets up and gives Patrick a hug and a small, chaste kiss.  “You are going to be amazing!”  Frank exclaims. 

Gerard comes back into the green room to get Patrick for their song. 

“Ready Patrick?  It’s time.”  Gerard says.  Patrick takes a deep breath to settle himself. 

Then he looks at Gerard and says “Yes.  I’m ready.”  Gerard walks out and introduces him. 

“Ladies and Gentleman, today we have a special treat for you!  Everyone, please, join me in welcoming our dearest friend, you know him as Frank’s adorable little husband,” The crowd screamed and he felt the hairs on his arms rise. “Patrick Stump!”  

Patrick walks onto the stage, meeting up with Gerard and doing a small wave to the audience.  Then he took his spot at the piano.  Patrick starts playing the song as Gerard is singing. He was having so much fun, but he was also nervous and uncomfortable.  He was able to get lost in the music, so his nerves calmed down while he was playing.  However, he does not like doing anything that has him in the spotlight.  He is just happy staying in the background.  Then he kind of zones out for a minute and has a strange feeling like that idea was somehow wrong and questions those thoughts.  He thinks about it and he doesn’t know why he feels that way.  He’s never really thought about being anything more than a doctor, but why shouldn’t he want to shine, even as a doctor?  Then, all of a sudden, the scene flashes to Mikey hypnotizing him telling him, that he is happy living under the radar, and that he doesn’t want any illusions of grandeur. He is very confused.  Why would he have these thoughts and then immediately question them?  He zones back in again.  When they are done with the song, he, and Gerard return to the green room where the rest of the band is waiting.  They all congratulate him and Frank comes right up to him and plants a very dirty kiss on him and says “Great job, babe!  I’m so proud of you!” 

It appears that he and Frank are married. 

This all feels so real, it almost feels like he is experiencing a flashback, but he doesn’t remember any of it ever happening.  What’s going on?  I’m so confused!

Chapter Text

Chapter 22

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

Patrick wakes up suddenly in a lot of pain.  His shoulders, arms, the top of his hands, his wrists, and his fingers are incredibly sore, raw and feel like they are on fire.  He’s covered in sweat, his clothes are stuck to him, and he feels awful.  His head is pounding, he’s dizzy and he is extremely nauseous.  He rubs his hands over his eyes and face.

“Fuck.”  Then he rolls over on his side for a second before trying to push himself up to a sitting position.  When he rolls onto his arm, he almost jumps to the ceiling from the pain he feels radiating up and down his arm, hand and fingers and cries out. 

“Owww!  Fuck!  Why do my arms hurt so bad?”  He pushes himself up to a sitting position.

 He is about to look down at his arms when he immediately feels sick from the sedation and whatever it was that Gabe gave him, and runs to the toilet to puke.  He empties his stomach contents into the toilet multiple times.  His arms are on top of the toilet seat and he rests his head on them between bouts of vomiting.  He pukes a few more times and thinks he may be done.  He’s not even puking up anything but bile now.  It burns his throat coming up.  It feels like the worst heartburn on the planet.  Since it appears he might be almost done, he takes a second and looks at his arms, hands, and fingers and sees words, pictures, and rings.

“What the fuck are these?” He asks.  Before he can inspect them further, he pukes a few more times, the bile burning his throat and mouth. 

“Ugh!  Ok.  Now I think I’m done.”  He says as he sits back to really examine the words, images, and the rings on his arms, hands and fingers. 

Both of his arms are completely covered in images and words from his shoulders down to his wrists.  On his upper right arm, he sees the face of a skull with deep, sunken eyes.  It looks like it is stitched together on the forehead and there are what look like bolts sticking out of it.  Its mouth is hanging open with jagged teeth and its cheeks have vertical fractures from the eye sockets to the bottom of its jaw.  It has chin-length hair and is wearing a crown of thorns.  It takes up most of his upper arm.  It’s kind of terrifying.  The next thing he sees below the skull are the words “Punk” and “Bitch” one below the next written horizontally in a fancy, cursive script.  There is a spider web on the back of his elbow that covers it completely and wraps around the sides of his arm.  Then there are the words “June Bug” and “Prison Pocket” sideways facing out on the top part of his lower arm in the fancy writing.  Below that above and on his right wrist, he sees what appears to be a butterfly. Each of the wings are a skeleton skull down to the neckbone facing in on each side where they connect to the body of the butterfly. When he looks at the inside of his right arm, he sees more.  Starting at the top of the inside of his right arm in his armpit, he sees an odd image.  It appears to be two sticks of dynamite upside down with the part that would be lit on the bottom.  On top of the sticks of dynamite there appears to be round caps with tacks sticking out of them.  The sticks of dynamite are held together in the middle by a metal piece with wings coming out of each side that curl up and around the tops of the dynamite.  The whole outside is surrounded by fire and at the bottom of the parts that would be lit there are the words “Certain” and “Death.”  Next, he sees the words “Gump” above the spiderweb on his elbow and Fuckboy” in the crease of his elbow horizontally facing down, followed by what looks like a steampunk dragon with its wings out on either side.  Its body has a large orb in center of it. Then he sees “Prison-Dime” and “Foo-Foo” on top of each other horizontally.  Finally on the inside of his wrist, he sees two skulls facing forehead to forehead.  One appears to have horns and the bat-like wings of the devil coming out from behind it.  The other has a halo and wings of an angel behind it.  It is facing sideways and down so it is facing him.  On the outside of his lower arm, he finds the word “Ankle-Grabber” facing down and out.  It goes from his outer wrist to his elbow spiderweb.

Then he inspects the top and fingers of his right hand.  On the top of his hand there is a shriveled hand with a metal cuff around its wrist.  The fingers have long, pointed fingernails on them.  Between the thumb and index finger of the hand, it his holding a heart-shaped locket.  The locket is attached to a chain that connects to the metal cuff around the wrist of the shriveled hand.  Above the hand it says: “*Prisoner. *” Between the thumb and the chain connecting the locket to the metal cuff it reads “*Of*” and below the chain, next the locket it says “*Love. *” On the fingers of his right hand he sees a sword that appears to go through his knuckles on the top of his index and pinkie fingers.  On his thumb, middle and fourth fingers he sees rings of Roman Numerals around the bottoms and King’s Crowns around the middle of them. On the outside of his index finger, he finds the word “Peckerwood.”  It takes up the whole side of outside of his right index finger and curls around the space between his index finger and his thumb.

As he looks at the top his left arm, he finds a large skull with open eyes, nose and mouth that appears to be made of smoke.  Around its forehead appears to be a headpiece with the symbol of another skull adorning the middle of the headpiece.  There are wisps of smoke coming off all sides of the figure and the skull is surrounded by smoke.  This takes up most of his upper arm.  Underneath, he sees barbed wire wrapped around his arm all the way down to just above his wrist.  Intertwined with the barbed wire, he sees different words wrapped around his left arm.  From top to bottom he sees “Permanent Pocket,” “Boy,” “Buttboy,” “Goldmine,” “Holding a Pocket,” “Sissy,” “Snowflake,” “Turd-Cutter, and “Whiteboy” in the same fancy script as the others.  Next, he finds the image of a heart with a cross sticking out of the top of it.  The bottom of the heart is wrapped with barbed wire and there are flames coming out of the back of the heart and trailing behind it.   On the outside of his lower left arm from his wrist to his elbow, in huge, fancy letters that face down, it reads “Queen.”  At top of the inside of his left arm, in his armpit he sees a strange image of barbed wire.  At the back is an “X” with barbed wire on each end of the “X.”  At the center of the “X,” is a horizontal oval with barbed wire on the right and left sides of it.  In the center, there is a vertical oval filled with horizontal coils of barbed wire.  On either side of the center, vertical oval, are vertical coils of barbed wire that fill in the center.  There is grey shading around the whole image. On the back of his left elbow, he finds what looks like a monster with green eyes, no nose and sharp teeth protruding out of the monster’s mouth.  Finally, on the inside of his wrist he finds a Raven with its wings protruded.  It is black.  Inside, on the Raven’s back is the top half of a skull in white.  Attached to the top of the skull’s forehead, are what look like wings or horns that follow the curve of the Raven’s shoulders.

Now he examines the top of his left hand and his left fingers.  He starts with the top of his hand.  There are three different heads, two on top and one in the front middle below them.  The head on the top left is the profile of a skull with its mouth full of teeth open and its tongue between both jaws.  The head on the top right appears to be that of a devil or demon.  It has hollow eyes and a mouth full of teeth.  The head in the bottom middle is a monster.  It has dark eyes, a large nose, skin that looks like muscle, and very large, sharp teeth filling out its mouth.  The three heads are joined together with some kind of tribal markings.  Finally, he looks at his left hand.  In the space between the hand and first finger knuckles on his index, middle, fourth, and pinkie fingers he sees the letters ACAB in big letters, one letter for each finger.  The last thing he sees is the word “Dicksucker” on the outside index finger.  It takes up the whole side of his outer index finger and curls around into the space between his index finger and his thumb.

What the fuck is all of this?  They can’t be real.  This must be some kind of joke that Gabe and his goons are playing on me.  He tries to think about what happened last night.  Brad led me to a dead end where Gabe’s goons jumped me and stabbed me with a needle full of sedative.  Then I passed out.  I don’t remember anything after that though.  He sits there for another minute thinking if there was anything that he is missing.  I have a very vague memory of waking up somewhere.  I remember hearing a loud buzzing noise and my hand hurt badly.  I think I tried to start moving and fighting, when Gabe noticed I was awake and ordered someone to give me more sedative, while the others held me down.  I kept fighting until someone stabbed me with the needle.  It took effect very fast and I passed out.  That is the last thing I remember before waking up here.  I’m not even sure if all of that really happened.  It felt like a dream. When he is sure he is done puking, he attempts to stands up.  He feels dizzy and grabs onto the top of the toilet to stabilize himself.  Once he is sure he’s not going to fall, he walks his sink to try to wash them off.  He is scrubbing them very hard, which is very painful, but no matter how much soap he uses and how hard he scrubs, they don’t wash off. 

“What the fuck?”  It takes him a second to realize what is going on. It hits him like a pile of bricks.  His eyes go wide and he starts freaking out when he realizes what is happening.

“Holy Shit!  These are real tattoos!” He breaks down, getting angry and starts crying saying

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!  These are permanent!  I never wanted any tattoos at all, and now I’m stuck with these ugly, scary, degrading tattoos for the rest of my life!”  He tries to calm himself down, but ends up getting very angry instead. 

“When I get my hands on Gabe and his goons, I’m going to fucking kill them!”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Joe wakes to the sound of Patrick puking.  He watches as he examines the words and images covering both his arms, hands, and fingers.  They look like full sleeves of tattoos.  Finally, he watches as Patrick tries to wash them off.  When Patrick starts freaking out, Joe decides he needs to get up.  He climbs down from the top bunk and goes to him to try to console him.  He grabs Patrick by the shoulders to try to steady him.  Patrick flinches from the pain.

“Ahh!” he screams.

“Patrick, Patrick, hey, look at me!  What is going on?”  He asks. 

“I don’t know!  I woke up, I felt really sick and these were just there!”  Patrick says. 

“I just tried to wash them off, thinking they were some kind of joke, and they wouldn’t wash off!  They are real Joe!  They are real tattoos!  They are permanent!  I-I never wanted any and now I have these stuck under my skin forever.  Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!  What the fuck am I going to do?  How did this happen?  I don’t even remember what happened last night!” 

Patrick says as he continues to freak out with this scared, panicked look in his eye.  It kind of looks like a deer in headlights.  Joe takes a deep breath, before talking. 

“Patrick.  Take a deep breath with me.  In and out.  In and out.  One last time in and out.  Look me in the eye.  I know how you are feeling and your feelings are completely valid, but what’s done is done and we can’t change that.  What Gabe did to you was horrible and very permanent.  That is not something that we can do anything about right now.  So, let’s focus on what we can do.  What do you remember about what happened yesterday?” Joe asks.

Patrick keeps taking deep breaths to calm himself down.  “I don’t really remember.  Much of yesterday is a complete blur.   I don’t remember what had happened until later in the day.” Patrick answers. 

“Ok, here is what I remember.  Brad came for him in the morning, you freaked out because of last night’s feeding. I saw Brad inject you with a drug that bombed you out and relaxed you to the point where you could barely walk.  Brad had to put your arm around his shoulder and took you to meet with your lawyer, Elisa.  The next time I saw you was when Brad brought you to the mess hall.  You said that you didn’t know how you had gotten there.  You told me about your horrible and disastrous meeting, how you could barely sit there and stay awake, and that you couldn’t understand anything that she said.  You said you were very frustrated and then Brad said something to Elisa about you being sick and that he needed to take you to sickbay, and instead, brought you to the mess hall.  After that, Gabe came over, sat down next to you and made you his offer for protection again.  You said no and spit in his face in front of everyone.  Gabe got up, said “you are going to regret this” and then left. By the time you processed what happened, you vomited in a garbage can, and ran.  Gabe sent his cronies after you and they beat you so bad that Spencer thought you wouldn’t survive.  They dislocated your shoulders, elbows, wrists and knees.  I found you as they were just about done beating you and they left you there bleeding on the floor.  I was about to come help you when I saw Brad come and start feeding on you.  I was frozen in fear and couldn’t move.  Before I continue, I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry that I didn’t believe you when you told me about the vampires, Patrick.  They are definitely real and I totally believe you now that I saw Brad feed on you!  Ok, back to the story.  Then Brad heard someone coming and got called away.  Then Gabe came and said “I told you that you would be sorry for not taking my offer, Sugar” and he kicked you hard in the stomach and left.  I came to you after all of this and you were in really bad shape.  I went to get help and, after they put you on a stretcher, Brad returned and pushed me away so he could lick the bite marks on your neck, which appeared to close them.  Then I saw Brad bite his hand, open your mouth and drip some blood into your mouth and then left.  It took everything in me to not react to these.  I was so scared!  Then you began hallucinating and Spencer couldn’t figure out why.  I stayed with you as long as I could, but visiting hours were over and I was sent back to our cell.”  Joe says.

“I remember someone injected me with a drug in sickbay, and it wasn’t Spencer.  I couldn’t see who it was though, because it was very dark.  Later that night, I woke up and my injuries were almost fully healed.  Brad left for a little while and then returned shortly after that.  When Brad came back to sickbay, he told me to get up and get dressed.  He said that I had a meeting with Andy to discuss my situation.  He ended up leading me to a dead end where Gabe’s goons were waiting for me.  I tried to run and escape, but they tackled me to the ground.  One of them jumped me from behind and stuck me with a needle full of a very fast acting sedative.  I kept fighting until I passed out.  I don’t know what happened after that.  I have a vague memory of waking up at some point.  I was very groggy.  I heard a very loud buzzing and my arms, one of my hands, and my fingers hurt like a bitch.  It felt like they were on fire and super raw.  I looked down and saw Gabe doing something to my right hand. I was still too out of it see what he was doing, but whatever it was, it was incredibly painful.  I think I remember trying to move and fight him off, but when he realized I was awake, he ordered someone to give me more of the sedative.  He told them to make sure they gave me enough to keep me passed out until this morning.  I fought against them but they held me down and still ended up stabbing me with the needle and pushing the plunger all the way down.  It only took a few minutes, but I lost consciousness soon afterward.  Each time I was unconscious, I experienced something strange.  I had what I thought was a dream, but it felt like a memory that I was reliving.  The strange thing is that I don’t remember any of it ever happening.”  Patrick says. 

Joe sits there for a second taking in everything that Patrick just told him.  “Oh my God!  That is so fucked up, man!  Well, from what you are describing the sound as, it was most likely a tattoo gun.  It would explain why you were in so much pain when you woke up.  Having that many tattoos done at one time would be insanely painful.  You should at least be happy that you weren’t awake for it.  Don’t get me wrong, what he did was so fucked up on so many levels, but at least you didn’t have to feel that amount of pain for hours on end.”  Joe says. 

“They are still pretty painful.  I feel like I’ve been badly burned or something.  It hurts so much that I can barely pick up my arms and if I were to touch them, I might pass out from the pain.”  Patrick says.

“I was asleep when they brought you back, but I do remember seeing Gabe dump you on the ground in the cell, Brad closed the doors, and Gabe walked away.  I got out of my bed and went to check on you.  I tried to wake you up, but I couldn’t.  Then, I noticed blood on your clothes and freshly closed bite marks on your neck, so I knew you had been fed on again.  It must’ve been Brad since he is the only vampire we know of in the prison.  I picked you up and put you in your bed.  I did notice the tattoos, but I didn’t think they were real.  I thought they were a joke that Gabe and his friends were playing on you.  Then I got back up in my bed and went back to sleep.”  Joe replies.

Patrick is calmer, but he is still freaking out and having a mini panic attack about the whole situation.  He starts breathing very quickly and it feels like his heart is beating a million miles per hour.  Joe recognizes that he’s having a panic attack.  He grabs Patrick’s arms more gingerly this time. 

“Hey Patrick.  Look me in the eyes.  You’re having a panic attack.  You need to slow down your breathing.  Follow me.  In for four seconds and out for four seconds.”  Joe instructs. 

Patrick tries to do what Joe is telling him to do.  He breathes in for four seconds and then out for four seconds.  He repeats this for about 10 minutes and his panic attack ends.  Then Patrick breaks down crying.  This is all too much for him and he is sucking at coping with it all so far.  Joe puts his hands around his shoulders and rubs his back until Patrick calms down. 

“It’s ok.  Just let it all out.”  Joe tells him. 

Patrick continues crying for almost an hour. 

He holds up his arms and says “There are all of these words, and I don’t know what half of them even mean!” Patrick exclaims. 

As Joe is holding him, he actually takes a look at the tattoos with wide eyes in more detail, and starts seeing all of the derogatory words.  He knows what all of them mean. 

“Jesus!”  Joe says. 

Patrick doesn’t hear him.  This is so beyond fucked up!  Gabe knew what he was doing and that makes it so much worse.  Revenge is one thing, but Patrick hasn’t done anything wrong other than refuse to accept Gabe’s help and protection.  To tattoo these obscene words on someone permanently for refusing or spurning your advances?  That is awful!  Gabe is so far past being a sadistic psychopath!  I don’t know how I’m going to tell Patrick what all of these words mean.  He’s going to be crushed. 

Once Patrick calms down a bit, he looks Joe straight in the eye and says “you know what all of these words mean, don’t you?”  Joe doesn’t answer because he doesn’t know what to say. 

Finally, he sighs and answers “yes, I do.  I don’t think you want to know what they mean though.”  Patrick thinks about it for a minute and then looks straight into Joe’s eyes again. 

“Joe, I need you to tell me.  I need to know what is written on my skin permanently so that I can deal with whatever repercussions it may bring.”  He speaks. 

Joe looks very uneasy.  “Are you sure?  Once I tell you, there is no taking it back.” He says. 

Patrick takes a deep breath and lets it out.  “Yes.  I need to know.” He answers.

Joe then takes a deep breath.  “This is your last chance.  Are you sure you want to know?”  He asks. 

There are tears forming in Patrick’s eyes threatening to spill down his cheeks. 

“Yes Joe.  I need you to tell me what they mean.” He answers as the tears fall down his face. 

He’s pretty sure he knows what is coming, and it is going to be terrible.  Joe goes to sit on Patrick’s bed and beckons Patrick to sit next to him. 

“Ok.  Where do you want to start?”  Joe asks.  Patrick thinks for a second. 

“I guess, let’s start at the top of my right arm.”  He answers.

“Alright.  A punk is a weaker inmate forced into sexual slavery to a stronger one for protection from other sexually violent inmates.  A bitch is a term discussing an inmate’s femininity, helplessness and sexual submissiveness.  A June Bug is a prisoner that is considered to be a slave to others and a prison pocket refers to someone’s anus.  Gump is what prisoners call a gay man on the inside and a fuckboy is homosexual ‘bottom,’ often a male inmate prostitute.  A Prison-dime is a young, tender usually small and white, inmate considered to be a perfect ‘ten-out-of-ten (a dime) in a homosexual attractiveness and foo-foo is a male anal-dildo.  Peckerwood refers to a white inmate.  Finally, an ankle-grabber is another term for a homosexual ‘bottom.’”  Joe explains. 

Joe waits a few minutes to let them all sink in. 

“Are you ok?”  He asks. 

He looks at Patrick.  His mouth is hanging wide open and it appears he is in shock about what some of the words mean.

 “Um…No?”  Patrick answers as tears roll down his cheeks. 

Joe puts his arm around Patrick’s shoulders and hugs him. 

“I’m so sorry.” Joe says. 

“I mean, I knew it was going to be bad, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite that bad.”  Patrick says while trying to take deep breaths, trying to stop another panic attack from happening.  He leans harder into Joe’s embrace and continues crying. 

“Just breathe.  Do you want me to continue, or do you want to wait a bit?” Joe asks. Patrick waits a minute before answering.  He sits up and looks Joe in the eye. 

“Yes.  I don’t want to, but I need to know.”

“Ok, I’m going to start at the top of your left arm.  A permanent pocket is another term for someone’s anus.  Boy and buttboy are more terms for a homosexual “bottom,” but they also refer to a male prostitute.  Goldmine is another term for someone’s anus and holding a pocket refers to the act of submission to a sexual predator.  Holding another man’s pocket signifies that you are their ‘possession.’  A sissy is a prisoner in a homosexual relationship and a snowflake is a derogatory term for a white prisoner.  Turd-cutter is another word for someone’s ass and whiteboy is another derogatory term for a white prisoner.  It also refers to a cowardly homosexual “bottom.”  Queen is a homosexual inmate and dicksucker is another term for your mouth.  The letters ACAB on the fingers of your left-hand stand for all cops are bastards.  I hope that doesn’t get you in trouble with the other guards.  I think that was what Gabe was shooting for.  That is all of them.  I’m so sorry that Gabe did this to you.  No one deserves this.”  Joe says. 

Patrick looks up at Joe with tears falling down his face. 

“Thank you for telling me.  What the fuck am I going to do?  Now every inmate in the prison is going to be all over me!  I can’t even defend myself!  I don’t even know what to say, except Fuck!!!!!” he yells.  “I’m going to fucking kill him!!!” he screams. 

“Good Patrick!  Get angry!  Get angry and use it against him!  Let your anger fuel your fire to fight him!” Joe exclaims. 

“When I get my hands on Gabe and his goons, I’m going to snap their fucking necks!  I’m so fucking angry!  I’m going to kill them and make their deaths slow and painful!!!”  Patrick screams. 

He wants to keep going, but is interrupted by their cell door opening and Brad standing there to escort them somewhere.  He looks up and down Patrick’s arms, hands and finger with a satisfied smile.

 “Nice ink, Stump.  Those words really do suit you!”  He says as he’s holding back his laughter. 

“Shut the fuck up, Brad!”  Patrick says as he backs away from Brad, thinking that he is there for him.  All of his anger suddenly turned to fear. 

“Let’s go Stump, Trohman!  It is shower time.”  Brad says 

Patrick makes eye contact with Joe, non-verbally asking him if it is safe to go.  Joe steps forward, gathers his shower stuff, and moves toward Brad.  Patrick does the same.  Then they start walking toward the showers.

Before they get there, Patrick whispers to Joe, “what am I going to do with all of these vulgar words tattooed on my arms?  Other inmates are going to attack me!” he asks. 

Joe looks to Brad to make sure he isn’t paying attention. 

“I’ll stay by you and protect you.  Just try to ignore all of the glances and don’t make eye contact with anyone.  You don’t want to draw unwanted attention to yourself.  It will be ok, I promise.”  Joe answers. 

Patrick still looks quite scared. 

“Patrick, you need to try to calm down.  The other inmates can smell your fear.  If they sense it, they are more likely to come after you.  Take a few deep breaths.” Joe says. 

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?  I’m terrified!” Patrick asks. 

“You need to fake it till you make it.  If you appear weak, they will sense it and come after you.”  Joe answers. 

Patrick starts taking deep breaths to try and calm down. 

“Ok.  I can do this.” Patrick says not only to Joe, but also to himself.

It is about this time that they come to the door of the shower rooms.  Patrick stops outside the door.  Ok Patrick, you can do this.  You are a tough motherfucker!  No one messes with you!  Project your strength, toughness, and scariness! 

“Hey!  What’s the hold up?  Get your asses in there!”  Brad exclaims as he pushes them through the door.  “Go on!  Get going!  Time is ticking!”  He says. 

Patrick and Joe go to the locker area.  Patrick is trying to project his toughness, but he notices the looks and stares of the other inmates as they walk past.  Joe tries to find an area in the locker room that doesn’t have as many inmates in it.  When he finds one, they set their shower stuff down, undress, wrap a towel around their hips and move to where the showers are. Immediately, all off the inmates stop what they are doing and stare at Patrick’s arms, then smile sickening smiles at him.  Joe notices the stares too.  Patrick tries to keep his head down and doesn’t make eye contact with anyone.  Joe finds two shower heads next to each other and they begin washing themselves.  When the hot water hits the fresh, irritated tattoos up and down his arms, hands and fingers, it hurts and they feel like they are burning.  He steps out of the water. 

Joe sees this and asks “what’s wrong?”

“The hot water burns on these tattoos.” Patrick answers. 

“You need to add more cold water.  Then you should be ok.  Don’t scrub them hard.  Wash them lightly with your hand and soap.  Don’t use the washcloth.  It will hurt much more.” Joe says.

Patrick does what Joe tells him to do and it’s better.  It still stings, but it’s not as bad.  He continues cleaning himself when he feels someone grab him from behind.  The guy is hard and Patrick feels it pushing into his back.  Joe isn’t paying attention.

The guy licks the back of Patrick’s neck whispers into his ear.  “Don’t scream or I will snap your neck.  You are going to take this and be quiet, like a good little slut.  Understand?” 

Patrick shakes his head yes.  Before the guy can react, Patrick whips his head back and hits the guy in the face.  He immediately lets go and falls to the ground. 

“Joe, Help!” Patrick screams as the guy gets back up and is heading toward Patrick again. 

Joe is there immediately and punches the guy a few times and blocks or avoids the punches as the guy hits back before he flips the guy over his shoulder and wrestles the guy to the ground.  Then he hits the guy on the back of the neck and the guy passes out.  Patrick is staring wide eyed at Joe.

“Where did you learn how to fight like that?” Patrick asks while Joe gets up. 

“I’ll tell you later.”  Joe says.

They both finish up their showers and head back to the locker room to get dressed.  Once they are finished, they meet Brad outside the door and he escorts them back to their cell.  Brad opens the door, Patrick and Joe step into the cell and Brad closes the door behind them. 

“I’ll be back to escort you to breakfast.”  He says. 

Then he turns around and leaves.

Patrick sits down on his bed while Joe sits on a chair. 

“Joe how did you learn to fight like that?”  Joe takes a deep breath before continuing.

“The short answer is that I was a professional boxer and MMA fighter before I went to jail.  I will tell you more about that later.  There is something else that is more important that we need to talk about first, prison gangs.” Joe says. 

“Ok.  Why do I need to know about those?”  Patrick asks. 

“Because, the guy that just attacked you was from one of them and the swords, rings, roman numerals, and crowns on the fingers of your right hand are symbols of the Latin Kings gang.  You need to know about them and understand how they work in order to survive in here.” Joe says. 

Patrick looks at the swords, rings, roman numerals, and crowns on his fingers. 

“Fuck.  Ok, tell me what I need to know.”  Patrick says. 

“This is going to be a lot of information.  Why don’t you grab a piece of paper and take notes.”  Joe says. 

Patrick gets up, finds a piece of paper and something to write with and sits back down on his bed. 

“Ok, here we go.  First off, prison gangs serve a convenient function for the prison establishment and officers.  They help regulate rogue and rebellious elements within the prison population without intervention from prison authorities.  Since it appears that Gabe has already somewhat associated you with the Latin Kings, we will start with them.  The Latin Kings is the largest and most powerful Latino prison gang in the world, as well as, in this prison.  Gabe is the leader, or Inca, of the Latin Kings in this prison.  Their main symbol is a three or five pointed “sacred” crown.  You may also see the letters LK, ALK, ALKN, AKLQN, or the full words written out.  They also use the symbol of a Lion or the King Master.  Their rivals are anyone involved with the Folk Nations gang alliance.  This includes the Nuestra Familia.  The Aryan Brotherhood are also their enemies. 

The Nuestra Familia is another Latino gang in this prison.  They are known to wear red bandanas.  They also use the number 14 or XIV, as the letter N is the fourteenth letter in the English alphabet. You will also find the symbol of a sombrero with a machete.  They are enemies with the Mexican Mafia and the Aryan Brotherhood.  The Almighty Vice Lord Nation is an African-American prison gang.  It is also the second-largest and one of the oldest prison gangs in Chicago.  They use a variety of symbols to identify themselves, including a Playboy bunny wearing a bowtie, as well as, a red and gold, 5-point star.  They will most likely have tattoos of a top hat and a cane, or a champagne glass and a glove on their hand below their thumbs.  Their colors are black, red, and gold.  Their enemies are the Folk Nation, the Gangster Disciples, and the Simon City Royals.  The Aryan Brotherhood is a neo-Nazi prison gang and crime syndicate based in the US.  It is the oldest and most notorious racist prison gang in the US.  They are responsible for a disproportionately large number of prison murders.  These guys are the worst of the worst.  They are beyond ultra-violent.  The Aryan Brotherhood are actually housed on the other side of the prison with the other super-violent offenders.  Their symbols are a green shamrock along with the letters AB and the numbers 666.  They also use Nazi symbolism such as SS, sig runes, and swastikas.  Stay as far away from these guys as you can Patrick.  Their rivals are the Black Guerrilla Family, Black P. Stones, the Bloods, the Crips, the D.C. Blacks, Nuestra Familia, and the Latin Kings.  That is all of them.  Make sure you study your notes so you know who you are dealing with.  Try to stay out of any gang-related stuff as much as possible.  You will thank me for that later.  Do you have any questions?” Joe asks. 

Patrick looks at all of the notes he just took. 

“No, not really.  Why would Gabe put the symbols of the Latin Kings on me?  They are a Latino gang, right?  Why would he mark me with those symbols if all of the members are Latino?” Patrick asks. 

“Honestly, I don’t really know.  It may be a subtle way of claiming you.  He could’ve also put them in a very visible place to cause you trouble with the gang.  Those are my two best guesses.  It’s hard to figure out the reasoning of a sadistic psychopath.”  Joe answers.

Their conversation is interrupted by their cell door opening and Brad standing outside the cell. 

“Time for breakfast.  Let’s go.”  He says. 

Patrick looks at Joe with a terrified look.  Joe gestures that they have to go.  Patrick won’t move.  This isn’t good.  Joe knows if they don’t do as they are told that Brad will get violent with them. 

“Hey!  I said Let’s go!  I don’t have all day!” Brad says.

Joe goes and grabs Patrick’s hand, but Patrick pulls it out of his hand. 

“Patrick, we have to go.  If we don’t, he will get violent and probably feed on us.  You don’t want that right?”  Patrick shakes his head no.  “Ok, then we have to go.”  He grabs Patrick’s hand this time and pulls him out of the cell. 

As they are walking to the mess hall, they have a quiet conversation.  It doesn’t appear that Brad is paying attention. 

“I’m scared shitless Joe!  This is going to be the shower room encounter all over again.”  Patrick says. 

“This is the same thing as the shower room.  You can’t let them see your fear, or they will devour you.  You have to fake it.  Project yourself as tough, fearless, and scary.”  Joe says. 

Patrick rolls his eyes. 

“Yeah, because that worked so well last time.” He comments. 

“Just keep your head and your eyes down.  I will protect you; I promise.  You know I’m very capable of that.”  Joe says. 

Patrick nods as they reach the mess hall.  Ok.  I am tough, fearless and scary!  No one is going to mess with me!  They enter the mess hall.  Patrick tries to keep his head down and not make eye contact with anyone, but it is hard when everyone is staring at him with disgustingly dirty looks.  Some of the prisoners even whistle and yell lewd things at him. 

“Looks like we’ve got some fresh meat” he hears one of them say. 

“I’d love to do all kinds of dirty things to you” says another. 

Patrick tries to cover his arms, hands, and fingers as much as he can. 

They get in the food line and the inmate behind him gets very close and whispers “June Bug, huh?  You can be my good little slave!” They say. 

Patrick tries to ignore it and keep his head down.  The guy backs off for the moment.  They get their food and go find an open table as far away from the other inmates as possible. Once they sit down, Patrick looks around the room and sees other prisoners staring at him and whispering to each other.  Finally, Patrick sees who he’s looking for.  Gabe is standing in the back left corner of the room with a sick smile on his face, just sitting back and watching this all happen.  He’s laughing at me!  He finds this funny!  I’m so going to kill him.  Joe says something that breaks his train of thought.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” He asks Joe. 

“I said just sit and eat your meal and keep your head down.  I know this is scary and super fucked up, but the more you show it, the more people will mess with you.  Especially Gabe.  If you let him see how much this is bothering you, then he will have won.  Don’t give him that satisfaction Patrick.”  Joe responds. 

“Ok.” Says Patrick. 

He focuses on the meal in front of him.  There is a biscuit with some type of gravy over the top of it, some eggs and some sausage links.  He is pretty hungry so he goes about eating his meal.  He gets through three quarters of it and so far, hasn’t had any issues.  Maybe I will make it through this without any incidents.  He looks up at Joe and sees an inmate walking towards them.  Fuck!  I guess I spoke too soon.  The inmate doesn’t ask to sit down, he just sits down next to Patrick, grabs his thigh, and rubs the inside of his thigh, slowly moving down to grab his dick.  Patrick tries to shy away and not make the same mistake he did the day before.  Joe is watching the situation very closely.  When the guy tries to whisper something dirty into his ear while holding his dick, he’s had enough. 

He goes to whisper in the inmate’s ear “If you don’t let go of my dick and back the fuck off, my friend here will hurt you.  Trust me, you don’t want that.” 

The guy looks across the table at Joe, who is scowling at the inmate.  He lets go of Patrick’s dick, stands up and leaves. 

Patrick goes back to eating his food when another inmate sits down next to Patrick, says “Hey baby!  We could have some fun together” then they grab his face and kiss him. 

Patrick sits still and manages to push the guy off him. 

“I’m not interested.”  He says.  The inmate looks disappointed, but he also stands and leaves. 

Gabe is still in the back corner watching and laughing with his goons.  At that point, he is no longer hungry.

“Hey Joe, are you done yet?”  he asks. 

Joe makes eye contact with Patrick and understand what Patrick is asking.

“Let me take a few more bites and then we can go.  Ok?”  Joe asks. 

“Ok.”  Patrick answers. 

Joe gobbles up the last of his food and then they throw out their trays, go find Brad, and leave to go back to their cell.

Chapter Text

Chapter 23

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

When they get back, Joe steps into the cell but Brad puts his hand in front of Patrick so he can’t go back into the cell. 

“Not you, Stump.” He looks at Patrick with a hungry look and licks his lips.  “There is a matter that we need to discuss privately.  You are coming with me.” Brad says. 

Patrick’s eyes go wide with terror.  Fuck!  He is going to feed on me again!  He looks at Joe, hoping he will think of something to help him. 

“What matter are you discussing?” Joe asks Brad. 

Brad smiles at Joe.  “A matter that is none of your fucking business, Trohman.”

 I have to get out of here.  I have to make a run for it.  He’s too strong!  I can’t fight him.  He presses the button and the door to the cell closes.  Patrick takes the distraction Joe gave him and takes off running as fast as he can away from Brad.  He makes it pretty far, thinking he may have lost him, when he is slammed into by a force so hard that it knocks the wind out of him and possibly breaks one of his ribs.  He was already out of breath from running.  Now, he tries to catch his breath, but it hurt to breathe too hard.  He rolls over onto his back still gasping for air.  He tried to take a deep breath and it hurts too much from said broken rib.  He panics, feeling like he can’t breathe or get enough air and it sets of an asthma attack.  He is trying so hard to breathe through the pain, but he can’t seem to get enough air.  He looks up at Brad wheezing, coughing, and gasping.  Brad’s smile turns into something else. 

“What is happening to you?”  He asks Patrick. 

Patrick tries to speak but can’t as he continues wheezing, coughing and gasping for air.  He gestures to his throat and points to his lungs, trying to tell Brad what is happening, but he doesn’t get it.  His skin is starting to have a tinge of blue to it.  He is wheezing, coughing, and gasping much worse now. 

He is able to barely bark out “asthma attack.  Can’t breathe.”  Patrick continues wheezing, coughing and gasping for air, but passes out from lack of oxygen. 

Brad understands enough to pick him up and haul him to sick bay with lightning speed. 

He drops Patrick on a bed and yells “Doc!  Inmate Stump is having an asthma attack.  He couldn’t breathe and passed out.  We need help now!” 

Spencer comes running in from his office.  “Where is he?” he asks. 

Brad points to the bed that he dumped Patrick on.  Spencer runs to his bed where he evaluates him quickly and discovers he’s not breathing. 

“He’s not breathing.  I need to intubate him now!  He grabs the supplies he needs, opens Patrick’s mouth and pushes the tube down his throat.  He hooks it up to a bag and begins squeezing the bag every few seconds. 

“Brad, I need you to squeeze this bag every 5 seconds while I get the drugs that he needs to reduce the inflammation in his lungs, and breathe on his own.  Can you do that?”  Brad nods and grabs the bag, squeezing it every 5 seconds. 

Spencer goes to grab albuterol and levalbuterol. “Ok, keep squeezing the bag, Brad.”

Spencer says as he draws out the amounts of the drugs he needs.  Then Spencer stabs Patrick in the chest with the two different drugs.  It takes a minute, but all of a sudden, Patrick wakes up coughing and fighting the intubation tube. 

“Patrick.  You are in sick bay.  You had a pretty bad asthma attack and you stopped breathing.  I had to intubate you and give you drugs to make your lungs work again.  Do you understand?”

Spencer asks.  Patrick shakes his head yes.  “Ok.  Do you feel like you can breathe on your own?”  Patrick shakes his head yes. 

“Alright.  I’m going to remove the tube.  I need you to take a deep breath and exhale.  Ready? One, Two, Three.”  Patrick takes a deep breath and exhales.  During the exhale, Spencer pulls the tube out.  Patrick coughs a lot but his breathing settles out.  “Patrick, what happened?  What were you doing that set this off?” Spencer asks. 

Patrick can’t really answer truthfully, so he looks at Brad.  “Right, uh he was late for an appointment with his lawyer, so he was running as fast as he could to get there before she left.  Right Stump?”  Patrick nodded yes. 

“Patrick, you should know better than that.” Spencer said. “You are lucky Brad was there to help you, or you would’ve died.”  Patrick nodded yes. 

“So…can he go now?” Brad asks. 

“No, he needs a nebulizer treatment to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Spencer answered. 

“How long will that take?”  He asks. 

“It will take about 15 minutes once we start it.  I have a few things that I need to gather first.” 

Spencer answers and leaves to get what he needs.   While he is gone, Brad has a short conversation with Patrick.

“What the fuck did you think you were doing Stump?”  Brad asks. 

Patrick’s throat is sore and scratchy from the breathing tube. 

“I was trying to get away from you!”  Patrick manages to spit out. 

“Come on, did you really think you could out-run a vampire with super speed?  Even if you could’ve gotten away, I can smell your blood a mile away.  I would’ve found you very quickly.  This isn’t over, just so you know.  You aren’t getting out of this.  You will do your treatment and then we will find a nice, quiet place where I can have my meal.  I’ll even have you back with plenty of time before lunch.”  Brad says. 

“Great.  Will I be conscious?” Patrick squeaks out. 

“I haven’t decided yet.  It will depend on whether you make this easy for me, or if you fight me and make this hard.”  Brad answers with a smile. 

Spencer returns and begins setting up the nebulizer treatment.  He measures out the amounts of the drugs he needs, hooks it up to the machine and then hands Patrick something that looks like a jar with a large straw on top.  Patrick knows what this is and sticks the straw in his mouth as he breathes deeply.  The deeper breaths Patrick takes, the better he starts to feel.  The fog that was sitting on his head and chest from a lack of oxygen start to clear.  His body is exhausted.  He didn’t realize how bad it was until now.  He’s not even sure the has the energy to fight back right now.  He’s been trying to sleep when he can, but he feels like he can never get to the REM stage and actually go to sleep.  The last time he tried, when he wasn’t drugged, he remembers hearing a voice in his head telling him that he is not allowed to sleep, though he has no idea where that came from.  He’s not too sure how many nights he hasn’t slept, but it is starting to get hard for him to function.  The treatment soon ends and Spencer is back to check on Patrick.  He takes his stethoscope, puts the ends in his ears and puts the other end to Patrick’s chest. 

“Take a deep breath for me.”  Spencer says. 

Patrick does it, but it still hurts to breathe deeply. 

“Again.” Spencer says as he moves the end of the stethoscope to a different area.

 Patrick repeats the breath. 

“One last time.”  Spencer says as he moves the stethoscope to one last place.  “Ok.  Your lungs sound good now.  Please be careful for the next few hours and don’t exert yourself too hard.  Once you’ve had one asthma attack, the risk is greater for another one to occur within twenty-four hours.”  Spencer says. 

“Ok.  Thanks Spencer.” Patrick says but his voice still sounds scratchy. 

“Can he go now, Doc?”  Brad asks, tapping his foot impatiently. 

Spencer looks up at Brad and says “Yes.  He can go now.” 

Spencer isn’t quite sure why Brad is so annoyed and wanting to leave so quickly.  It seems odd, but he just shrugs his shoulders and goes back to work in his office.

“Alright Stump.  Time to go.” Brad says to Patrick. 

Patrick is slow to get out of bed, probably since his body just put him through so much.  He sits up, swings his legs around to the side and slides off the table.  He stops for a second and holds onto the table as a wave of lightheadedness hits him.  Once it passes, he lets go of the table.  Brad is there to make sure he can’t run.  Brad grabs Patrick’s arm hard and leads him out of sickbay.  They keep walking for a while and Brad’s grip hasn’t let up.  It is starting to hurt and will probably leave a bruise. 

“Ow!  You are hurting me, Brad.  Are we almost there?”  Patrick asks. 

They turn right around the next corner and Brad brings him into what looks like an empty classroom.  It has no windows, so no one can see what is going on in there.  Brad loosens his grip and pushes Patrick up against one of the walls. 

“I will give you a choice.  Do you want me to do this against the wall, or would you prefer to lie on the floor?  I’m only giving you the choice because you almost died a few minutes ago.”  Brad says. 

Patrick thinks about it for a minute.  The last time he was fed on, he was laying on the ground in a shit ton of pain.  It was very unpleasant. 

“Probably against the wall, I guess?” Patrick answers. 

Brad goes to lock the door before coming back and pushing up Patrick against the wall again.  Brad tears Patrick’s shirt and pushes Patrick’s neck to the side so he has better access to his neck.  Before Patrick has a minute to brace himself for this, Brad bites down hard on his neck. 

“Ahh!” Patrick screams in reaction to the immediate pain that comes with the feeding. 

He feels Brad sucking the blood out as some of it drips down the side of his neck, soiling his shirt.

“Oh my God, Stump!  Your blood tastes so fucking good!  It’s almost heavenly!”  Brad says between slurps.

Why is this so fucking painful?  My neck hurts so bad!  Patrick is starting to feel lightheaded, as he feels Brad drinking more and more of his blood.  This continues for a bit and now Patrick is having a hard time standing.  His arms and legs feel like jelly.  He is only being held up against the wall by Brad.  He’s starting to feel really sleepy now.  Brad’s taking too much!  Patrick can barely stay awake at this point.  He taps Brad on the shoulder, trying to get him to stop before he passes out.  Brad ignores it and keeps drinking.  Patrick can’t fight the urge to pass out any longer.  He closes his eyes and descends into darkness.  Brad finally pulls off and licks the wounds to close the bite marks a few minutes later because he noticed Patrick’s heart rate slowing down very quickly.  When he pulls away, Patrick’s body crashes to the ground with his head bouncing off the floor. 

“Stump, get up.”  Brad says to Patrick, but he doesn’t move.  Brad gets down on his knees next to him and shakes him a little harder. 

“Come on Stump, wake up!”  Patrick doesn’t move.  “Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!  I didn’t think I took that much.  His blood tasted like sweet strawberries, watermelons, and maraschino cherries!  It tasted so good; I just couldn’t stop!”  Brad opens Patrick’s mouth, bites his wrist and lets his blood run into Patrick’s mouth. 

When he’d given him enough, he forced him to swallow it.  Now, the only thing left to do was wait and let it do its job, so Brad pulled a chair away from a table and sat there, waiting.

*Patrick is being escorted somewhere by Brad.  This feels familiar.  I feel like I’ve experienced this before, like I’m having some kind of Deja vu.  Even wherever he’s leading seems like I’ve been here before.  It finally hits Patrick.  Fuck!  This is where he led me when Gabe’s goons jumped and drugged me.  I need to try to get away!  Patrick looks around him to see if there is some kind of distraction he can create or use to escape.  So far, there is nothing.  As they keep walking, he sees a crowd forming around something.  This is his chance. 

“Hey Brad.  What’s going on over there?  It looks like some kind of fight.  I love watching me some fights!  They may need your help!  Let’s go check it out.” He says. 

Brad stops walking, looks over at the group of people, who are cheering for one of the inmates fighting.  It seemed to pique his interest because he started walking over to the group.  There don’t appear to be any other guards around that can deal with this. 

“Stay here, or so help me Stump, I’ll break every bone in your body.  You won’t win.”  Brad says.  Patrick nods his head yes.  Brad then pushes through the group of people watching to break up the fight.   

“Alright, alright!  Everyone break it up!  Break it up!”  Brad yells to the group. 

As soon as Brad is distracted, Patrick takes that as his cue to get away and hide somewhere.  As he rounds the corner, he finds a room with a closet in it.  He is just small enough to fit, so he sits in there being absolutely silent, hoping Brad will give up on finding him. 

After Brad breaks up the fight, he goes back to where he told Patrick to say and finds he is gone. 

“Fuck!  I’m going to kill him!”  Brad screams.  “But first, I have to find him.” 

Brad knows this will be easy for him.  He can smell the strawberries, watermelon, and cherry scent of Patrick’s blood.  He takes a whiff of air and immediately catches the scent.  Then he follows it to a room with a closet.  The smell is strongest in the closet, so that is where Patrick is.  Brad opens the door, grabs Patrick by the hair and drags him to the center of the room and throws him to the floor very hard. 

“Ow!” Patrick screams as he is being dragged by his hair and thrown on the ground.  Brad grabs him by the hair again and turns his head to make eye contact with him. 

“I told you to stay there.  You didn’t comply so now you are going to get what’s coming to you.”  Brad pulls him up to a standing position by his hair again. 

Then he punches him in the face hard enough that it throws Patrick to the ground again.  He continues beating Patrick to a pulp.  Patrick tries to fight back, but he is no match for a vampire.  The blows are so hard that they move him across the floor.  Brad looks at him and smiles. 

“You think this is bad?  Just wait.”  Then Brad takes his arm and pulls it out of the socket at the shoulder. 

“Ahhh!” Patrick screams. 

Then he does the same to his other arm, his wrists, his elbows, knees and ankles.  Patrick is screaming in agony.  There is no way that he can get off the floor or fight back at all now.  He just lays on the floor screaming and crying from all of the pain. 

“Have you had enough?”  Brad asks. 

“Yes.  Please!  I can’t take anymore!”  Patrick says while gritting his teeth from all of the pain. 

“I’m not completely sure that you’ve learned your lesson, and I just had the greatest idea.” Brad replies with an evil smile. 

He picks Patrick up off the floor and throws him over his shoulder.  Then he begins walking toward a place that Patrick had never been.  When he gets to where he's going, Brad sets Patrick down on the ground hard enough, that he’s pretty sure all of his ribs just broke.  Brad unlocks the door to a VERY small space, then grabs Patrick and shoves him in there, and locks the door so he can’t get out.  There is a very small window at the front with bars on it. 

“This is what we call ‘the hole.’  I heard somewhere that you were very claustrophobic in very small spaces, so enjoy your time here!  I’ll be back when I feel like you have learned your lesson.”  With that, Brad turns around and leaves. 

Patrick starts screaming “Noooo!  Please!  Let me out!  I’m sorry!  I’ll never run from you again!” 

Brad ignores him and continues walking. 

“Fuck!”  Patrick doesn’t know how Brad knew about his claustrophobia. 

He’s only told a few people.  Ok, take a deep breath Patrick.  You can deal with this!  It is also completely dark and hot inside of this box.  Patrick wants to feel where the walls are, but he can’t move anything, because they are numb from being dislocated.  He closes his eyes and lays there for a while when he swears he sees the walls closing in on him. 

“Ahhh!”  He screams as he opens his eyes to look.  With his eyes adjusted to the dark, he can see the walls and the feel like they have moved closer to him on both sides, above and below him.  This isn’t real Patrick.  This isn’t happening.  Your eyes are playing tricks on you.  Suddenly, the walls move in closer again. 

“Ahhh!  Please!  Let me out!” He screams again. 

He can feel the walls against his shoulders now and the floor and ceiling have moved closer.  He tries the best he can and tries to roll into a ball on his side.  The pain is debilitating, but he does manage to do it.  Then he feels the side walls close in on him again.  They are now against his back and his knees.  The walls, ceiling and floor continue moving in closer to crush him.  Now he can’t move at all and the walls, ceiling and floor are touching him on all sides. 

“This is it, I guess.  I’m going to be crushed to death.”  He says. 

Everything moves a few more time and it is to the point where they are squishing him pretty badly and causing his injuries a ton of pain.  One last move, and that’s it.  That move happens and he is crushed to death.*

Patrick wakes up with a start and jumps up to a sitting position.  He is breathing heavily, his heart is pounding in his chest, and he is soaked with sweat.  He sees Brad sitting next to him.  Patrick’s eyes go wide.  Am I still hallucinating?  He starts backing away from Brad using his arms and feet, worried that he is going to put him back in “the hole” and he will be crushed to death. 

Brad begins moving toward him and Patrick is terrified and screams “stay away from me” while continuing to back away from Brad. 

Brad is confused. 

“Um, what did you just see Stump?”  he asks. 

“Don’t come any closer!  I won’t let you take me back there!”  Patrick screams. 

Brad stops moving toward Patrick. 

“You need to take a deep breath Stump.  I took too much of your blood and you passed out.  I had to give you a good amount of my blood to bring you back.  It made you hallucinate.  Whatever you saw, it wasn’t real.  It may have felt real, but it wasn’t real.”  Brad says. 

“I can tell you are upset.  Your heart is beating a million miles an hour.  Please take a few deep breaths and try to calm down.  I will even take them with you, even though I don’t actually need to breathe.  Breathe in for four counts and breathe out for four counts.”  Brad does the breathing technique first. 

He gently puts a hand under Patrick’s chin to tip it up enough that they can make eye contact.

“Here we go.  Breathe in, 2, 3, 4 and out, 2, 3, 4.  Good!  Now again.  Keep going.”  Brad helps guide Patrick through the breathing exercise and he notices Patrick’s heart rate is starting to go down. 

They do this for a few minutes until Patrick is able to calm down.  He props himself up so that he is sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. 

When he is ready, he looks at Brad and said “What the fuck, Brad?  I tried to get you to stop before I passed out, but you ignored me and kept going.” 

“I didn’t think I had taken that much!  Your blood tastes so good, it is so hard to stop!” Brad answered. 

Patrick rolls his eyes at him. 

“You need to be more aware and careful, or you are going to kill me!  You can’t have my irresistible blood if I’m dead!”  He yells. 

Brad’s expression changes.  For a minute, it looked like he felt guilty. 

“You are right.  I will be much more careful next time.”  He says, trying to appease Patrick. 

“How long was I out?”  Patrick asks. 

“About 45 minutes.”  Brad answers. 

“45 minutes?  Joe’s going to think you killed me!  I want to go back to my cell now.”  Patrick says. 

“Can you stand and walk?”  Brad asks. 

“I can if you help me.” Patrick answers.  “Ok.  Fine.”  Brad walks around to take Patrick’s arm and puts it over his shoulder and steadies Patrick with his arm around his abdomen. 

Brad counts to three and hoists Patrick up.  Then they head back to Patrick and Joe’s cell.  Brad pushes the button to open their cell door, then steps into the cell and sits Patrick on his bed.  Without another word, Brad steps out, presses the button and leaves.

“What the fuck happened Patrick?  You were gone for a really long time.  I thought that maybe he had killed you!”  Joe asks. 

“I’m ok Joe.”  Patrick answers.  “It’s a long story.  I’ll try to recap it in the shortest way I can.  Brad was going to take me to a place where he could feed on me.  You distracted him for a minute, so I took off running.  I just didn’t want to be fed on again!  It’s so painful!  So anyway, I took off running as fast as I could.  I was doing pretty well.  I thought I’d lost him, so I stopped for a second to catch my breath.  Then I was hit with a force that hit me so hard it knocked me to the floor, bounced my head off the ground and broke some of my ribs.  I panicked and started hyperventilating, which set off an asthma attack.  I couldn’t get enough air and I passed out.  Brad took me to sickbay where Spencer gave me the drugs and treatments, I needed so I could breathe again.  After that, Brad took me to what looked like a classroom and fed on me.  He apparently has an issue with stopping before he almost kills me.  I knew he was taking a lot and I tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn’t so I passed out again.  Apparently, he had to give me a lot of his blood to bring me back, which caused me to hallucinate.  When I woke up, he brought me back here.”  Patrick says.

 Joe is sitting there with wide eyes. 

“I’m so sorry, man.  That is awful!  I’m glad you are ok though.”  Joe commiserates. 

“Yeah.  Me too.  The hallucination I had was terrifying.  When I woke up afterward, I still thought I was hallucinating.  It took some time to realize that I had woken up from the hallucination.”  Patrick says. 

“What did you see?  You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, though.”  Joe asks. 

“It’s ok.  It was pretty close to what had just happened.  Brad was taking me somewhere to feed on me.  We came upon some prisoners fighting and he told me to stay where I was so he could break it up.  Well, I took off and went to hide in a closet.  He found me very quickly and beat me up pretty badly.  He’d found out that I was claustrophobic in small spaces, so he dragged me to a place he called ‘the hole.’  It was a small box with no windows.  He shoved me in there, locked the door, and left me there.  Then the walls started closing in and it crushed me to death.” Patrick says. 

“Holy Shit!  That is so fucked up!”  Joe comments. 

“Yeah.  It was.” Patrick replies. 

“We still have a good amount of time before lunch.  Do you want to try and sleep a little?”  Joe asks. 

“No, I really don’t.  If I close my eyes right now, the only thing I will see is the walls closing in on me and killing me.”  Patrick said. 

“I do have some questions for you though, if you don’t mind answering them.”  Patrick states. 

Joe looks hopeful that he can help distract Patrick from what just happened. 

“Sure, ask away.”  He says. 

“You seem like a pretty good guy.  How did you end up here?”  Patrick asks. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Joe takes a very big breath in and lets it all out before he continues. 

“Ok.  Get comfortable.  This going to take some time.”  Joe says.

“I already told you that I was a boxer and MMA fighter.  What I didn’t tell you was that I was a world-class boxer and MMA fighter.  I was at the height of my career.  I was on the straight and narrow for a very long time.  I’d never done anything illegal, I’d never taken drugs, nothing.  One night, I was out with friends celebrating after my most recent win.  We were all having great time!  I needed to use the bathroom, so I left to do that.  When I came out of the stall, there was a man standing in front of the door to leave.  I didn’t think anything of it, so I washed my hands, dried them with a paper towel, and made for the door to leave.  When I tried to open the door, it was locked.  The man that was standing in front of it asked me if I was the boxer and MMA fighter Joe Trohman.  I thought it was odd for him to be asking me, but I’d had a couple of drinks and thought maybe he was a fan or something, so I said yes.  I was the boxer and MMA fighter Joe Trohman.  He said his name was Barry.  He had no last name, so that should’ve tipped me off that something was wrong, but it didn’t.  Anyway, Barry told me that he’d kidnapped my daughter, Ruby.  I didn’t believe him at first, but then he called someone on FaceTime and showed me.  She was alone in a dark room blindfolded and tied to a chair.  I knew it was her because I saw the birthmark that she’s had since she was born on her neck.  I have a tattoo of her name in the same place that she has the birthmark.  She thought it was ugly, so I got this tattoo to show her that it was beautiful, not ugly.  I sobered up so quickly after seeing that.  Barry said I needed to throw the next fight tomorrow night and let the opponent win.  He said if I didn’t, that he would hurt Ruby.  I was so scared!  I didn’t want them to hurt Ruby, so I threw the fight the next day and I let the opponent win, just like Barry had asked me to do. 

I met up with Barry later that night, hoping that he would return Ruby and that this nightmare was over.  That is now what happened.  Now he wanted ransom money.  He demanded four-million dollars and said if I called the cops, he would kill Ruby.  Now, I made a very good living as a boxer and MMA fighter, but I wasn’t sitting on that kind of money.  I told Barry that I didn’t have that kind of money, that if I did, I’d freely pay it to get my daughter back.  Barry said it was my lucky day.  He said my next opponent, Fabio Garibaldi, owned a four-million-dollar diamond necklace that he wears very frequently, except when he was fighting.  Barry told me that I needed to steal Garibaldi’s necklace before my fight with him.  He also told me that I had to win to the fight with Garibaldi.  Once I’d stolen the necklace and won the fight, I was supposed to meet up with Barry later that night to hand over the necklace.  Barry said once he had the necklace and I’d won the fight, he would release Ruby. 

You have to understand, I’d do anything for my daughter.  I’d kill for her and I’d die for her.  I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, I couldn’t let that happen.  If she was killed because of something I did or didn’t do, I couldn’t live with that.  I had to do anything I could to save her, so I begrudgingly agreed the deal.  I told Barry that I needed to know that she was still alive and that I wanted speak to her directly, before I do this.  He called his accomplice on FaceTime and I saw her.  She hasn’t been harmed.  I asked her how she was doing and she said that she was ok, but that she was really scared and she wanted her daddy to save her.  I lost it after that. I started crying and she asked why I was so sad.  I told her that I loved her and that I would do whatever I had to in order to save her.  She asked when she’d see me again and I told her it would be soon.  I said I had to take care of a few things before I could save be there to save her.  She said that she understood, that she loved me, and that she couldn’t wait for her superhero daddy to come rescue her.  I told her I loved her and that I would be there sometime later tonight.  Then Barry’s accomplice ended the call.  It took a few minutes to get myself together.  Then I told Barry that I would meet him at the rendezvous point at the time we discussed with the necklace, after I’d won the fight.

Two hours before the fight, I waited for Garibaldi to leave his locker room to go practice and warm up.  Once he left, I went through everything he had in there until I found the necklace.  His locker room looked like a bomb had gone off, because I didn’t have time to put everything back where it was.  As soon as I found it, I took it and ran back to my locker room, rolled it up in a towel, and hid it in an open locker and secured it with a combination lock.  Then I had to get ready for the fight.  The fight started like all normal fights do.  I tried to knock the guy out early, but he kept getting up.  The fight continued.  We both took a lot of blows, but the guy kept getting back up.  I knew I had to win this fight to win this fight in order to get Ruby back, so I intensified my fighting more and more.  I didn’t want to hurt the guy, but he still kept getting back up to fight more.  During the last round, I had to do whatever I could to win so I went all in and gave him everything I had.  I finally had hit the guy in the head so many times, that I finally knocked him out and he stayed down.  I was elated that I had won the fight!  I was going to get my daughter back!  When he didn’t get up after a while Garibaldi’s medical team came into the ring to check on him, where they discovered that he was dead.  They started performing CPR until the paramedics got there.  They rushed Garibaldi to the hospital where they were able to bring him back, but it turned out that he had so much brain damage, that he wouldn’t survive.  I was able to get away in enough time to make it to the rendezvous site with the necklace.  Barry was there with Ruby.  I handed him the necklace.  He looked it up and down to make sure I hadn’t switched it with a fake.  Ultimately, he decided it was real and handed Ruby over to me.  I untied her and took off the blindfold.  She ran straight into my arms screaming “Daddy!”  I was crying again, but I picked her up with her arms and legs wrapped around me and spun her around a few times.  She was safe, and I knew I had to hire a bodyguard to watch over my family from now on. 

I put her in the car and we went home. I gave her a bath, put her in her pajamas, and put her to bed.  My wife worked pretty long hours as well so she had just walked in the door when I came downstairs.  I told her about everything that had happened.  She was shocked to say the least.  I told her it was over now, and we could go back to our normal lives.  After we went to bed, I couldn’t sleep because of all the events that had happened, so I went downstairs and turned the T.V. on.  The news station had interrupted the normal program to bring viewers a breaking new story.  It appeared that Garibaldi had died from his injuries.  I felt pretty horrible about inadvertently killing him, but I also didn’t know the state of the guy’s brain before the fight.  His brain could’ve been so scrambled that it wouldn’t have taken much to take him down.  That would also explain why he kept getting up, not knowing when to stay down.  The story said the man was killed in a fight and that his four-million-dollar necklace had been stolen.  I ended up passing out on the couch. 

When I woke up the next morning, the T.V. was still on, however now there seemed to be a large number of outcries from the public and Garabaldi’s family, saying that I had murdered this guy when it was clearly an accident.  I called that morning to hire a body guard for my family.  I had no idea how this was going to go for me, but I wanted to make sure that my family is safe and taken care of.  I guess I wasn’t surprised when the police showed up at my door three weeks later to arrest me for involuntary manslaughter.  I felt horrible that I killed this man.  I felt like I deserved it, but I did tell my lawyer about Barry and my daughter’s abduction.  I confessed to stealing Garibaldi’s necklace, but I told them that I only did it to save my daughter from being killed.  This was all presented to the court and the jury, but in the end, the jury just couldn’t look past the fact that I fought Garibaldi so hard that he died, and I was convicted for theft and involuntary manslaughter.  I was sentenced to 15 years in prison, without the possibility of parole.  That is the whole story.”  Joe says.

Patrick is sitting there listening avidly to Joe’s story.  It was so tragic!  First his daughter was kidnapped and held for ransom and then he is accused of murder when it was an accident?  That was horrible.  When Joe finishes the story, Patrick stares at him with a shocked look on his face.  He was clearly still processing everything that Joe had just told him.  Patrick waited about ten minutes before he said anything. 

“Jesus, Joe!  I don’t even know what to say or how to respond to that.  That’s terrible!”  Patrick says. 

“Yeah.  Now I will never see Ruby grow up.  By the time I’m out of here, she will be almost eighteen.  She will be an adult by then and I will have missed everything.”  Joe says. 

“I’m so sorry Joe.  Do your wife and Ruby visit you often?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes.  They do visit me, but not as much as I would like them to.  They also know the circumstances behind my conviction, so they know it wasn’t my fault.  Everything I did was to save Ruby and killing Garibaldi was an unfortunate accident.  I will have to live with that guilt every day for the rest of my life.”  Joe says. 

“That sucks man.  So, I do have a question.  You told your lawyer and the police everything about Ruby’s abduction, Barry, and his accomplice, right?”  Patrick asks. 

Joe nods his head yes. 

“So, they knew that Barry put you in an impossible situation, and that you really had no other choice than to do what he said, so that he wouldn’t hurt or kill Ruby?” 

Joe nods yes again. 

“Your lawyer informed the family’s lawyer of all of this too, right?”  Patrick asks.

 “Yes, he did.”  Joe answers. 

“Did Garibaldi’s family seem at all compassionate to the situation you were put in?”  Patrick asks. 

“No, they did not.  It seemed like they were out for blood.”  Joe replies. 

“All of this was also presented in court as your defense, right?”  Patrick asks.

 “Yes.” Joe answers. 

“The jury didn’t believe you?  I find that hard to believe.  You just told me everything and I believe you 100%.  This seemed like a case of justifiable theft and accidental death, not murder.”  Patrick says. 

“I agree.  Even if some members of the jury were empathetic to my situation, there weren’t enough of them to sway the jury’s vote in my favor.  Like I said, Garibaldi’s family was out for blood.  Their lawyer tried to discredit my story and made me out to be some kind of unemotional monster.  They had a lot of money and it wouldn’t surprise me if they fixed or rigged the jury, paid others for their silence, and paid off the judge to rule against me.  It’s not even like I could go after the family for jury tampering.  I had no proof, just a hunch.  My lawyer can’t ask for a mistrial.  Garibaldi’s family would do the same thing to make sure I went down for this.  Yes, it is a horrible situation, but it is in the past and I can’t change that.”  Joe says. 

“That is so fucked up!  I wish there was more that I could say or do, but there really isn’t.”  Patrick replies. 

Joe is quiet for a minute before changing the subject and continuing. 

“Let’s focus on what we can change.  I don’t want to add any time to my sentence, since I’m almost done.  What I can do, is teach you how to fight and defend yourself and I can do my best to protect you whenever I can.  Does that sound fair?” Joe asks. 

“Yes. It does.  I completely understand you not wanting to add to your sentence.  I will try to stay out of trouble as best as I can.” Patrick replies. 

“Thanks man.  I appreciate that.”  Joe says. 

Their conversation is suddenly interrupted when Brad shows up outside of their cell with a sick smile on his face.  “Hey Stump!  How are you doing, not that I actually care?” 

Patrick doesn’t bother answering.  Brad presses the button to open their cell door, the door slides back, and Brad is waiting there impatiently.  He’s tapping his foot on the ground. 

“Come on Stump, Trohman.  It’s time for lunch.”  Brad says. 

They’d apparently lost track of time, because they thought they still had another hour.

“Hurry up!  Tick Tock!  I ain’t got all day!”  Brad says. 

They both exit the cell and Brad leads them toward the mess hall.

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Patrick is worried about what might happen during lunch, if breakfast was any indication, but he is really pissed and plans on trying to confront Gabe.  Patrick immediately notices all of the attention that is suddenly focused on him.  Some of the inmates cat-call him, while others make lewd remarks.  Patrick tries covering his arms as best he can, but it’s no use.  All of the words are visible and on display for everyone to see.  Joe and Patrick enter the meal line.  Patrick really doesn’t care what is for lunch.  He’s definitely more worried about the number of inmates that are currently either staring daggers at him, and the others that are yelling and making sexual comments and advances toward him.  He gets his meal, sits down with Joe and begins eating his meal.  He’s still so pissed at Gabe because of what he tattooed onto his arms, hands, and fingers.  He had planned on confronting him during breakfast, but was so distracted by the other inmates’ advances, that he didn’t get a chance to.  Joe is talking about something, but Patrick isn’t paying attention to what he’s saying.  He spots Gabe hanging out at a table in the back, just watching him.  Gabe has a huge predatory smile on his face and appears to be laughing about what he is seeing happening.  Patrick decides it’s time to confront him about the tattoos.  When he is finished eating, he gets rid of his tray and heads in the direction of Gabe, but when he looks again, Gabe and his cronies are gone.  Joe is watching him the whole time.  Patrick gets frustrated and turns around to leave when he bumps into someone twice his size.  Fuck!  He can tell that this guy is in the Nuestra Familia gang from what Joe told him and by looking at the large “N” and “XIV” tattoos this guy has. 

“I’m so sorry.  I didn’t mean to bump into you.”  He says and tries to walk around him, but one of this guy’s goons stop him. 

Patrick freezes in his spot, terrified. 

“Look, I don’t want any trouble.  I’m sorry I bumped into you, now please let me past.”  He says and tries to walk around this guy. 

The guy stops him again and says “my boss, Jesus, would like to meet with you,” looking at all the words on his arms and hands hungrily. 

“Um, no thank you.” Patrick replies.  The guy blocks him again. 

“You don’t have a choice, muchacho.” The big guy says.  Patrick surveys the situation before answering.  He knows this isn’t going to go well for him if he agrees.  He looks up at the guy towering above him. 

“Yes, I do have a choice, and my answer is no.”  This time, he is able to get around him because he is quick and little. 

Patrick goes back to his seat at the table with Joe.  Joe isn’t finished yet.

“What did he say?” Joe asks. 

“He said his boss, Jesus, wanted to meet with me.  He was looking at my arms and hands with this hungry look.  He was almost drooling.  I told him no, that I wasn’t interested.” Patrick says.  Joe looks over toward where Patrick was, and sees that they are unhappy with his answer.

“Patrick, they don’t look very happy.  We should probably go.” Joe says.  He finishes up and they leave together. 

On their way back to their cell, they both get jumped from behind.  Someone hits Joe really hard on the back of his head, and he passes out.  Patrick tries to run but is pushed hard face first into a wall by someone. 

“Remember when I told you that you didn’t have a choice, muchacho?” 

Shit!  He recognizes the voice as that of the guy from the Nuestra Familia gang he ran into. 

“Jesus wasn’t very happy, so he told us drag you back, kicking and screaming. But first, I’d like to take you for a ride.”  He says. 

Fuck!  He’s going to rape me!  I need to fight and try to get away.  Joe is out, so he can’t help me.  This is not happening!  The guy has a pretty good grip on him.  Patrick starts to thrash.  He tries to head butt the guy, but his head isn’t close enough for him to hit him that way. 

“Help!  Someone!  Please help me!”  Patrick screams. 

He feels like he might be able to wiggle free, when he feels more hands holding him against the wall.  This guy must’ve gotten reinforcements.  They hold his arms over his head and pull his pants down. 

“No please!  Please don’t do this!”  He cries and screams. 

“Welcome to prison muchacho!  No one gives a shit about you and there is no one around to help you!  Now you are going to hold still, and take this like the good little June Bug that you are.  Do you understand?”  The guy says. 

“No!  No! No, please!  I’m sorry for whatever I did to piss you off!  I’ll never do that again, I promise!  Please don’t do this!”  Patrick screams. 

The guy leans forward and whispers “Too Bad, Slave.  I will do whatever I want with you!”  The guy follows that up by licking Patrick’s neck from the base, all the way up to his hair line. 

The person is about to enter him when Gabe’s goons show up to fight them off.  Once Patrick is released, he pulls his pants back up, gets some distance between himself and what’s happening and thinks he’s in the clear. It seems odd that Gabe would send his cronies to stop what was about to happen, but Patrick will take what he can get.  He goes over to where Joe is laying and tries to wake him up.  He starts by shaking him.  Joe doesn’t move. 

“Joe, you need to wake up!  We have to get out of here, but I’m not leaving without you!”  Patrick says. 

He continues shaking him hard, when he starts to stir a little.  Patrick is suddenly grabbed from behind and dragged away from Joe. Patrick immediately starts fighting against whoever grabbed him.  When he looks behind him, he sees Gabe’s goons.  What the fuck do they want? 

They throw Patrick to the floor on his stomach, hold him down with his arms behind his back, and Shane whispers “Gabe has a present for you” in his ear.

 He sees the needle out of the corner of his eye, knows what it is, and begins struggling. 

“No please!  Stop!  I don’t want it!  Please don’t!” Patrick cries as he struggles. 

Shane has a big smile on his face.  “Sorry, we don’t work for you, we work for Gabe.  We will be sure to tell him how much you liked his gift though.” Shane says.  “Nighty-night Patrick!” Shane says as he stabs the needle it into his side and pushes the plunger all the way down. 

They leave him there.  He turns over onto his back before his eyes roll back into his head.  It takes a few seconds before Patrick feels a rush of euphoria.  It hits him like a Mack truck.  He instantly feels these feelings of pleasure, excitement, extreme happiness, safety, and an overwhelming sense of well-being.  Patrick enjoys these feelings.  They are a nice escape from the terror he has experienced the last few days.  He is also feeling pain free.  Nothing hurts right now, and he feels amazing!  He likes this feeling and wants to continue feeling this way.  

Chapter Text

Chapter 24

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

In the meantime, Joe is slowing starting to regain consciousness.  Off in the distance he hears Patrick say something to him, but it sounds like his voice is underwater and Joe can’t understand him.  His arms and legs feel very heavy however, he is starting to regain feeling in them.  The next step is to try to open his eyes, but they don’t react.  He’s suddenly very aware that the back of his head really fucking hurts.  In fact, it is pounding to the point that it feels like his brain is exploding.  Oh my God!  My head!  What the fuck happened?  I remember Patrick and I walking out of the mess hall and someone grabbing me from behind, and then nothing.  Joe tries to open his eyes again and is successful this time.  He immediately feels blinded by the light above him and feels very nauseous.  He hears Patrick screaming in the background.  He must be in trouble.  I need to help him!   He tries to roll over onto his side so that he can push himself up.  He is welcomed with a hard wave of nausea and his mouth fills with vomit, which comes spewing out.  Fuck!  I must have a concussion.  He takes a deep breath and pushes himself to a sitting position.  He is welcomed with more nausea and vomit.  He feels incredibly dizzy as well.  I have to stand up and help Patrick.   I can do this.  Come on Joe, push through the pain and nausea.  Patrick needs you!  He manages to get on his knees and stand up.  Once the dizziness subsides a bit, he is walking very slowly toward Patrick’s voice.  He also hears Shane’s voice too, which is weird.  As he gets closer, he watches Shane stab a needle into Patrick’s side and he goes quiet.  Shane and the rest of Gabe’s goons leave him there, lying on the floor.  After they leave, Joe makes his way to where Patrick is laying on the ground.  His skin is warm and flushed.  He’s mumbling something that Joe can’t understand, and he appears to be drifting in and out of consciousness.  He sits there with Patrick for a few minutes.  It appears that he is experiencing the “high” of whatever drug they gave him.  Joe is just sitting there wiping his hair out of his face, when Patrick opens his eyes and smiles.  He is definitely still high because his pupils are huge, but for the moment he seems to be lucid. 

He looks up at Joe and says “hey Joe!  They drugged me again.  Please help get me somewhere safe.” 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

His words are slow and somewhat slurred.  After that, Joe watches as Patrick’s eyes roll back in his head, and he passes out.  Joe looks around to where exactly they are at.  He would usually pick Patrick up, bring him back to their cell and lay him in his bed until he wakes up, but his head hurts so bad that there is no way he can pick him up and walk that far right now.  He can barely stand and walk on his own.  Luckily, he sees a friendly guard walking this way so he flags the guy down. 

“Guard!”  Joe yells.  The guard sees Joe and Patrick and walks over to them. 

“What happened to the two of you?” the guard asks. 

When Joe looks up at him, he has trouble focusing.  He sees the guard but the image is spinning. 

“My friend and I were attacked on our way back to our cell.  Someone jumped me and hit me very hard on the back of my head and I passed out.  I’m not exactly sure what happened to my friend, but when I came to, he was screaming.  As I got closer to him, I saw another inmate stab him with a needle with some kind of drug in it.  Now he is unconscious.  I would usually pick him up and take him back to our cell, but I’m pretty sure I have a concussion and I can barely stand.” Joe says. 

“This has happened to him before?”  the guard asks. 

“Yes, but I’m not going to snitch on anyone.  Could you please take us back to our cell and call Dr. Smith?”  Joe asks. 

“Yes.  Let me call for some backup.  I can’t carry both of you.”  He answers as he steps away to call another guard and Dr. Smith on his radio. 

When he comes back, he says “they will be here shortly and I’m having Dr. Smith meet you at your cell.” 

Joe smiles and says “Thanks.” 

It only takes about ten minutes for the other guard to show up.  Then one guard picks up Patrick and the other picks up Joe and they take them back to their cell.

When they reach their cell, Spencer is already waiting.  The guards set Patrick in his bed and the set Joe down next to the chair he was sitting in previously.  Then the guards close their cell door and leave. 

“Who do I need to look at first?”  Spencer asks. 

“Probably me.  I’m not sure how much you can do for Patrick.  He was drugged.  I don’t know what the drug was, but this has happened before.  Usually, he will wake up in a few hours.”  Joe answers. 

“Ok. Can you tell me what happened?”  Spencer asks. 

“We were walking back to our cell after lunch when we were jumped and grabbed from behind.  Someone hit me really hard on the back of my head and knocked me out.  I’m not exactly sure what happened to Patrick since I was unconscious.  When I woke up, my head was pounding, everything was spinning, the light blinded me, I was very nauseous and vomited several times, and I could barely stand and walk.” Joe informs Spencer.

 “Sit in the chair please.  I’m going to shine a light in your eyes, ok?”  Joe nods yes.

Spencer shines the light in Joe’s eyes and it is almost blinding. 

“Are you having any other vision problems besides being sensitive to light?”  Spencer asks. 

“No.” Joe answers. 

“Follow my finger.” Spencer says. 

Joe does as he’s told. 

“Ok, this next part may hurt.  I’m going to feel around for the bump to see how big it is.”  Spencer says. 

He feels the back of Joe’s head and finds a huge lump. 

“It appears that you have a concussion, Mr. Trohman.  Whoever it was that hit you, did so very hard.  I’m going to need you to come with me to sick bay so we can do an MRI to make sure there is not any bruising or bleeding in your brain.  It won’t take very long.”  Spencer says. 

Joe looks over to Patrick who is still out cold. 

“What about Patrick?  I want to be here when he wakes up.”  Joe asks.

 “You said he will be out for a few hours.  If we go to sick bay now, I’m sure you will be back before he wakes up.”  Spencer answers. 

Joe takes one last look at Patrick and then turns to Spencer and says “Ok.  Let’s go.”  Spencer calls the guard to open the cell door and then they head to sick bay.   

Patrick and Frank are walking around the streets of Paris.  Frank is on tour with My Chemical Romance and they are in Paris for a few days, so Patrick flew out to spend some time with Frank.  He’s never been to Paris before, so he is so excited to see all of the sights!  It doesn’t hurt that he is in the most romantic cities in the world with his husband.  The are standing in front of the Eiffel Tower taking a selfie.  Someone offers to take a better picture of them with the Eiffel Tower in the background.  Then he and Frank ride the elevator all the way up to the top.  The view is amazing!  He wishes he had more than a few days here with Frank, but he will take what he can get.  They visit The Louvre and see all of the amazing and beautiful artwork, The Cathedral of Notre Dame, The Palace of Versailles, Arc de Triomphe and the Mus ée d’Orsay.  He has such a wonderful time that he decides that he wants to come back to Paris with Frank when they have more time and he is not on tour.  Again, none of this feels real.  It feels like a flashback, but he isn’t married to Frank, and has never been to Paris as far as he knows.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick wakes up confused.  Joe is sitting in a chair next to his bed.  Patrick sits up, feels sick again, runs to the toilet and pukes a few more times.  Joe follows him to the toilet and rubs his back while he pukes his guts out.  When he is finished, he sits back on his knees for a minute before standing to wash the vomit off of his hands.  He’s still not used to seeing anything on his skin. 

“Hey, Bud.  How are you doing?”  Joe asks. 

“Better now, I guess.  How long was I out? How are you?” he asks. 

“You were out for about three hours.  I’ve been better.  I have a concussion from being hit so hard on the back of my head.  Spencer gave me some meds to help alleviate the symptoms.  What exactly happened?  I remember walking out of the mess hall and getting jumped, but then everything went dark.”  Joe asks. 

Patrick takes a deep breath. 

“Well, the guys I pissed off at lunch weren’t happy that I wouldn’t go with them.  They attacked us.  They must’ve known you would protect me so they knocked you out.  They dragged me across the hallway and shoved me up against a wall.  The guy I bumped into said his boss wasn’t happy and told them to bring me back kicking and screaming.  But, before they were going to do that, he wanted to take a ride on me.  I struggled as hard as I could, but he just brought more guys to hold me there.  They had my arms above my head and my pants pulled down.  The guy was about to enter me when, all of a sudden, someone was there pulling people off of me and fighting them.  It turned out to be Gabe’s goons, which was weird.  I pulled my pants up and came to try to wake you up.  I thought I was in the clear.  Once they were done fighting the guys off, they grabbed me and dragged me away from you.  Shane said that Gabe had a present for me and it turned out to be drugs.  They held me down, Shane stabbed me with the needle, and then I passed out.”  Patrick says. 

Joe is silent for a minute, processing everything that Patrick had just said. 

“Oh my God Patrick!  Are you ok?  Did he-?” Joe asks. 

“No, he did not.  If Gabe’s cronies hadn’t come to fight them off, he would have.” Patrick answers. 

“How did we get back here? He asks. 

“When I came to, I heard you screaming.  I tried to get to you as soon as possible, but I was having trouble standing and walking without everything spinning.  I got to you eventually, but I knew I couldn’t carry you back to our cell.  A friendly guard came along, got some backup, and they carried us back here.  Spencer met us here.  He examined me and decided I needed and MRI in sick bay, I went with him.  The MRI was clean so he brought me back here in a wheelchair.  I’ve been sitting here waiting for you to wake up since then.” Joe explained. 

They sat and talked for another hour until Brad comes to escort Joe and Patrick to the yard, outside. 

“Stump, Trohman.  It’s yard time.  Let’s go!”  He says. 

Joe and Patrick both stand.  Patrick is still feeling very off from the drugs.  He needs a second to steady himself before he can walk.  Brad presses the button to open the cell door, they both step out, Brad closes the door and they begin walking toward the door to the yard.  

“Joe, I’m going to talk to Shane and the rest of Gabe’s goons.  I need to know why they saved me.  I also plan on asking for a meeting with Gabe.  I’m so fucking angry about what he did to me!  I want to confront him about it.” Patrick says. 

“I understand where you are coming from, but please be careful.  Gabe is a very dangerous man.”  Joe says. 

“I know he is.  I will try to be careful Joe, I promise.”  Patrick answers. 

They have now reached the door to the yard.  Patrick takes a deep breath and gathers his courage before stepping outside.  Joe puts his hand on Patrick’s should for support.  They both step outside and stand against the wall.  Patrick begins looking around for Shane, Theodore, Ross and Justin.  It takes a while, but he spots them hanging out toward the back right of the yard.  Gabe isn’t there.  Patrick points them out to Joe. 

“Do you want me to come with you?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick thinks about it for a second.

“No.  I feel like I need to do this myself.  Please keep an eye on me though just in case something happens.”  Patrick answers.

“Ok.  My head hurts.  I’ll be over there sitting on that bench.  Good luck.” Joe says. 

“Alright.  Here goes nothing.”  Patrick says. 

Then he starts making his way toward the goons.  He’s not sure how to start this conversation, but when he approaches them, he figures he will start with something simple. 

“Hey Shane.  Theodore, Ross, and Justin.”  Shane looks confused but immediately changes it to a taunting smile. 

“Oh, hello Stump!  Did you enjoy Gabe’s present?”  Patrick rolls his eyes. 

“No, not really.  I’m still pretty messed up from it right now.”  He answers.

Shane seems to be enjoying this too much. 

“I’m sorry, Stump.  I’ll be sure to tell Gabe how much you hated it.  Is there something you needed?”  Shane asks. 

“Um yeah.  I can’t believe I’m about to says this, but I wanted to say thank you to you guys for saving me from that situation.” 

They all start laughing. 

“I think your gratitude is misplaced, Stump.”  Shane says while trying to hold back his laughter. 

“Yeah!  The only reason we saved you was because Gabe ordered us to.”  Theodore says, also trying to hold back his laughter. 

“He sent us to save you, because he wants you for himself!”  Said Justin. 

It takes a minute for that to sink in and Patrick begins to get very angry. 

“Seriously?  What the fuck?  First, he sedates me and tattoos lewd, permanent words and pictures all over my arms, hands, and fingers against my will, and now he only sent you to save me is because he wants me for himself?  What kind of psychopath thinks of that?  Haven’t I been through enough today?  Ugh!!!!!!”  Patrick takes a deep breath to focus his thoughts before continuing.

“I want a visit with him TODAY!  Make this happen or I will send Joe after all of you.  Do you understand?” 

All of Gabe’s goons have stopped laughing and now have very serious looks on their faces. 

“I said DO YOU UNDERSTAND?  ANSWER ME!”  Patrick screams at them. 

“Yes!  We will relay the message to him.  You will have your meeting later today.”  Shane answers. 

“Good!” Patrick yells as he turns around to go find join Joe on the bench he’s sitting on. 

He ends up having to dodge a few of the other inmates trying to kiss and do other inappropriate things to him.  He’s definitely not in the mood for them right now and shoves them off of him.  Patrick locates Joe sitting on the bench and returns to his side. 

“So, what did you learn?  You look very angry.”  Joe asked. 

“I’ll tell you when we get back to our cell.”  Patrick says.

Yard time is almost finished by the time he returns so he doesn’t have time to tell Joe what he’s learned.  After the yard, they go back to their cell, Brad opens the door, they step in, and Brad closes the door and then leaves.

Patrick is pacing back and forth in their cell, visibly angry about something.  He watches to make sure Brad is gone before he says anything.  Right now, Patrick kind of looks like a caged animal.  Joe knows something happened during their time in the yard. 

“So, what did they tell you to make you so angry?”  He asks. 

Patrick stops pacing for a minute and takes a deep breath to try and calm himself. 

“They said that the only reason that they saved me was because Gabe ordered them to do it.  Oh wait…it gets better.  The reason that Gabe sent them to stop what was happening was because he wanted me for himself!  What kind of psycho does that?  Isn’t it bad enough that he sedated me and tattooed these horrible things on my arms, hands, and fingers that I will have forever?  Apparently not!  UGHHHHHH!!!!! I’m going to kill him!”  Patrick answers. 

He starts pacing again.  Joe stands and moves so that he is in front of Patrick.  He puts his hands on Patrick’s shoulders to try and steady him. 

“Look at me.  I agree with you 100% that that is the most fucked up reason for saving someone, but you need to calm down before you do something stupid.  Come on.  Take a deep breath.  In 2, 3, 4, out 2, 3, 4.  Again. Repeat it five more times.”  Joe says.

Patrick does as he is told.  Joe watches as the anger melts into fear. 

“Oh my God!  I told them that I wanted a meeting with him sometime today.  I wanted to confront him about the tattoos.  I still do, but what if he’s planning something worse during that meeting now?  I’m sure Shane told him how much I enjoyed my present.  What if he punishes me for that?  What am I going to do Joe?”  Patrick asks. 

He looks terrified of the answer. 

“You are going to do exactly what you said you are going to do.  You are going to confront him like you planned.  If he tries anything else, you are going to fight him like your life depends on it, because it kind of does.  I know you are beyond scared, but you are going to use your anger about all of this to appear strong.  That is all you can do.  Neither of us has any idea what he has planned, so you need to be prepared for anything.”  Joe says. 

“You can’t let him win.  You have to fight fire with fire.  If you come off as weak, he is going to tear you apart.  Do you understand?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick is quiet for a minute, absorbing everything. 

“Yes, I understand.”  He answers. 

“Ok.  Since we have no idea when this meeting will happen today, let’s try to focus on something else until it is time for that.  What else would you like to talk about?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick thinks for a minute. 

“Oh!  I’ve got something.  Every time they drug me, I have these dreams about people and events in what appears to be my life that I have no memory of.  What’s weird is that it feels 100% real, like it’s a memory, not a dream.  It feels like it actually happened, but when I try to remember, my mind is completely blank.”  Patrick says. 

“Alright.  What have you seen in these dreams/memories?”  Joe asks. 

“I see a lot of stuff involving Frank Iero and the Way brothers.  I appear to either be romantically involved with Frank, or I’m married to him.  Which is crazy because we are just friends.  I’ve never been married to anyone.”  Patrick says. 

“And you are sure that these aren’t just extremely vivid dreams?” Joe asks. 

Patrick shakes his head no. 

“I don’t think so.  They feel more like memories of stuff that actually happened.  I’ve had very vivid dreams before, but they felt completely different than this.  I can’t really explain why it feels that way, it just does.”  Patrick says. 

“That does seem very odd.  Most dreams have some basis in reality, but these seem to be different.  I’m not sure what to tell you.  I’ve never really had a dream feel like that.  I have always known that they were dreams.” Joe says. 

They continue talking about various subject matters for another hour.  After that, Joe says his head hurts and he wants to lay down and rest for a while with his eyes closed, but he ends up falling asleep.   Patrick decides that sleep doesn’t sound like a bad idea, so he lays down on his bed, closes his eyes and tries to go to sleep.  While he lays there, he hears a very distant voice saying “you are not allowed to achieve R.E.M. sleep.”  He finds that very strange, but he is really tired from the events of today, so he ignores it and attempts to fall into a deep sleep.  He lays there for a long time.  He is able to rest, but he isn’t able to fully fall asleep.  He decides to just lay there anyway and maybe he would eventually fall asleep.  He never does actually sleep.  He’s not sure why though.  

Patrick is still lying in bed with his eyes closed when Brad comes to collect him.  Brad bangs on the bars of his cell to wake him up. 

“Yo Stump!  Wake up!  You are being summoned.” Brad says. 

This must be it.  Take a deep breath.  Be strong Patrick, you can do this. 

“Who is summoning me?”  Patrick asks. 

“Who do you think?  You asked for a meeting, you are getting your meeting.”  Brad answers. 

Patrick opens his eyes, sits up, swings his legs over the side of his bed and stands up.  Brad presses the button to open the cell door.  Patrick takes one last look up at Joe, who is still sleeping, walks to the door and steps out of the cell.  Brad closes the door behind him. 

“Let’s go!  He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”  Brad informs. 

“Where exactly are we going, like will this be a private meeting?”  Patrick asks. 

“I’m taking you to a more secluded part of the prison where you two can be alone.”  Brad answers. 

Uh-oh.  That doesn’t bode well if things go badly here.  There will be no one around to help me if that situation arises.  Well, I guess I’m committed now.  Here we go.  They continue walking.  It seems like they are going quite a ways away.  Patrick takes a deep breath and swallows to try get the lump in his throat to go down.  After a bit more walking, it appears they are here.  They turn another corner and Patrick finds himself in an unused corridor where Gabe is there waiting for him. 

Gabe looks at Brad and says “Brad, you may go.  We would like privacy.  Please stay relatively close though in case I need you.”  Gabe commands.

Brad does what he’s told and leaves them there alone.  Gabe then turns to Patrick.  He has a huge smile on his face. 

“Hello, Sugar!  It’s so good to see you!  I heard you wanted a meeting with me.” Gabe says.

 Ok Patrick, time to get angry!   

He takes a second to rile himself up before answering.  Finally, he looks up at Gabe and says “Yes.  I did.” 

Patrick is so angry that he is squeezing his hands into fists at his side. 

“Well, what’s going on Sugar?  What did you want to talk about?  Oh! Before I forget, I wanted to ask you if you enjoyed my present.”  Gabe still has a smile on his face. 

He's just playing with Patrick at this point.  That makes Patrick even madder and he is seeing red. 

“Like you don’t fucking know already!  No!  I hated your present!  I don’t particularly like being jumped and drugged.” 

He puts his arms out in front of him and gestures to the tattoos. 

“Gabe, what the fuck are these?  I’ve never wanted any tattoos, let alone two full arm sleeves, hands and fingers tattoos.  These are fucking permanent!  I will have them for the rest of my life!  Oh! And these lewd and degrading words!  What the actual fuck?  Just FYI, Joe told me what all of these words mean.  I fucking hate you!  What did I ever do to you to deserve something like this?  I mean, Fuck!  I just met you two days ago!” 

Gabe’s smile turns more sinister, like he’s happy he’s gotten under Patrick’s skin, both figuratively and literally. 

“Well Sugar, you can’t say I didn’t warn you about how your actions have consequences.  I told you that you’d be sorry for not taking my offer, Sugar.  I had to teach you a lesson.”  Gabe says. 

“A lesson?  That is what you call these?  These are permanent!”  Patrick yells. 

“Yes, they are permanent.  Maybe next time you should think twice before blowing me off.  Besides, you should thank me.  I sedated you!  Many of those tattoos would’ve been incredibly painful had you been awake.”  Gabe continues. 

Patrick is in such disbelief of what he just heard that his eyes almost pop out of his head. 

“Excuse me?  I should thank you?  Why the fuck would I do that?”  Patrick asks, but continues on in a very sarcastic tone.  “Oh! Gee Gabe!  Thanks so much for the tattoos of horrible, lewd words and scary figures that I never wanted!  Thank you so much for permanently marring my skin and thank you so much for sedating me while you did it, so I couldn’t fight back!”  Patrick says. 

“I don’t like your tone, Sugar.  You would be wise to lose it, if you know what’s good for you.  I mean, look on the bright side.  Look how good the tattoos and bruises look against your beautiful white skin.  It really makes the designs pop, don’t you think?  Oh! while we are on the subject of bright sides, you should also thank me for sending my men to save you from the guy that tried to rape you earlier today.  That could’ve gone very badly for you if I hadn’t intervened.  I mean, I did have a good reason for stopping him which was mainly because I wanted you for myself.”  Gabe says, goading Patrick even more.

“I am not thanking you for any of this!  The fact that you saved me, just so you could have me for yourself, is just as horrible!  You are really a piece of work, Gabe!  You actually expect me to thank you for this?  That’s not fucking happening!  What the fuck is wrong with you, you sadistic bastard?  You are a fucking monster and I’d rather die than thank you for anything!”  Patrick screams. 

Patrick begins hitting Gabe while he’s yelling.  He doesn’t even realize what he’s doing, until it is too late. 

“Careful Sugar.  Your death could be arranged, but I think I’d rather keep you alive and torment you until you eventually go insane.”  Gabe says following it up with a maniacal laugh. 

“Why are you fucking laughing?  Is it funny to you that you tattooed me against my will?  Is it funny that I will have these forever?”  Patrick asks. 

Gabe, still laughing, says “like I said before, they were the punishment for turning me down.  I seriously doubt you will make the same mistake again.  Have you learned your lesson?”

Patrick is so angry that if he was a cartoon, you’d see steam coming out of his ears.  Patrick smiles and spits at him.  Gabe seems a bit shocked then uses his hand to wipe the spit from his face.  He’s has had enough now.  He grabs Patrick’s face and pulls it in hard and kisses him rough.  Patrick pushes him away and punches Gabe in the face hard.  Gabe grabs his face and brings him in for another rough kiss. Patrick kicks Gabe in the balls to get him to break the kiss and push him away a second time. 

Patrick smiles a shit eating grin before yelling “Go fuck yourself, Gabe!”   

At that, Gabe decides that he has had it. 

“You little Shit!”  He yells. 

He grabs Patrick and throws him to the floor very hard, harder than any human should be able to.  Upon impact, Patrick feels his shoulder break as he slides across the floor. 

“You have no idea who or what you are dealing with!  Things are about to get so much worse for you, Sugar.”  Gabe yells. 

Then he bears his very sharp fangs, revealing himself as a vampire.  Patrick’s eyes go wide and he tries to back up on the ground, but Gabe jumps on top of him, straddling his torso, so he can’t move.  He bites Patrick on the neck and sucks his blood from the wound.  Patrick is incapacitated by the pain. 

“Ahhhh!” he screams. 

When he sits back and takes a break, Gabe looks down at Patrick with an evil grin.  Patrick feels the blood still flowing out of the wound and down his chest. 

“See, this is why I stopped the other guy from having you.  Now I will take what I want.”  Gabe yells.

He pushes Patrick over on his stomach.  Patrick tries to stop him, but Gabe is just too strong and he fails.  He knows what’s coming next.  Patrick starts freaking out and fighting really hard.

“No!  Please!  Don’t do this!  Please Gabe!  Stop!  I beg of you!” Patrick cries, begging him not to continue. 

Gabe ignores him, holds his hands behind his back, rips Patrick’s pants off and violently rapes him.

Patrick tries to hold his cheeks together as tight as he can, but it doesn’t help.  He feels Gabe violently enter him and he screams out “No!” 

Patrick is overcome with pain and tears as he feels Gabe moving in and out of him, not giving him any time to adjust.  His face and body are getting torn up, and burned from Gabe scraping him back and forth across the rough, pitted concrete floor. He feels wounds open on the right side of his face, his stomach, and his knees and they sting like hell when Patrick’s tears run over them.  Patrick is panicking. 

“Help!  Someone please, help me!  I’m being attacked and raped!”  He screams. 

He fights, cries, and screams for help but no one comes. 

Gabe laughs saying “you know there is a reason why I had Brad bring you to this location.  We are about as remote as you can get while still being inside the prison.  There is no one here, Sugar.  You can scream all you want, but no one’s coming to help you. I do admire your strength and spirit though!  You are such a little spitfire!  I love your fire, especially when you scream!”  Then Gabe bites his neck again and starts to feed on him while he is raping him.  Patrick screams out from the initial pain of the second bite, as well as the pain of the feeding and the raping.

 “Owwwww!” he screams. 

“Your blood tastes so good, Sugar.  It tastes like a mixture of sweet strawberries, watermelons, and maraschino cherries!”  Gabe utters. 

Patrick is overwhelmed with all of the pain he is feeling.  He continues to cry as tears fall down his cheeks.  As Gabe continues to suck more blood from him, he begins to feel lightheaded and sleepy. 

Patrick is barely still conscious when Gabe turns him back over on his back, and licks the blood from the wounds on his face.  Gabe has already licked the two different bite marks on his neck and closed them. 

“You know what?  You don’t look tough enough Sugar.  Let’s change that, shall we?  You need some gnarly scars.  Scars always make people look tougher.  Look what I have here?”  Gabe says as he pulls a knife out of his pocket. 

“Let’s see…where should I deeply cut you to create those scars?  We don’t want to ruin your beautiful face though.”  Gabe says as he looks up and down Patrick’s face, trying to decide where to cut him. 

“I’ve got it!  Your eyebrows! They won’t mess up your face and it will produce the scars I want.”  Gabe decides. 

He then takes the knife and slashes a deep, vertical cut straight through Patrick’s right eyebrow near the end of it. 

“Ahh!”  Patrick cries out. 

Gabe inspects his work, deciding he likes the placement and then slashes another deep, vertical cut straight through his left eyebrow toward the end of it.  Patrick is feeling pretty weak, but he manages to scream

“Ow!” when Gabe cuts his left eyebrow.

The cuts immediately start bleeding quite heavily.  Patrick feels blood running down both sides of his face and into his eyes from the cuts, but he is too weak and too tired to react. Gabe licks a stripe up both sides of his face, lapping up the rush of blood coming from the deep cuts in both of his eyebrows.  Then Gabe makes direct eye contact with him commanding him to open his mouth.  He tries to hold his jaw shut with the little energy he has left.  Even though he’s clenching his jaw shut, he feels himself open his mouth.  It’s almost as if Gabe is controlling his actions.  Gabe bites his wrist and holds it over Patrick’s open mouth.  As the blood is flowing into his mouth, he tastes the iron taste of blood dripping down his throat.   Finally, Gabe holds up the syringe full of heroin. 

Patrick looks into Gabe’s eyes and says “no, please” but Gabe smiles an evil smile. 

He ignores him and doses him with heroin anyway.

“Goodnight, Sugar!  Sweet dreams!”  Gabe says before the drug’s effects hit him. 

Because he has lost a lot of blood, the heroin hits him way harder this time.  Gabe then calls for Brad and they dump Patrick back in his cell. Patrick has his enhanced high, due to the huge blood loss, when they drop him on the floor back to his cell.  He’s so doped up that he doesn’t even feel the hard impact of being dumped on the floor. Gabe leaves to make different arrangements for that night.  Patrick rolls into a ball on his side, his pants still ripped open and his bare ass hanging out before he passes out. 

Frank asks Patrick if he can drive him to work today.  Patrick says “Sure.  I’m off at 6 tonight if you want to grab dinner.”

Frank says “Perfect.  I’m not interviewing today.  I should be there by 5:45 or so.  What should we get?  I’m feeling Italian today.” 

Patrick nodded while getting his things ready for work. 

“Hey, we need to stop at Bren’s on the way.  I need some espresso.” Patrick called after him.

Brendon is a close friend who owns the coffee shop about 10 minutes away.  Patrick stepped outside, locked the door, and got in the car.  They head out to the coffee shop.  Brendon greets them when they walk in.  They make their orders, Frank pays, and then they find a table.  A group of girls run up to Frank and ask for his autograph and pictures with him.  While that is happening, a young boy asks Patrick if Frank is his husband.  Patrick says yes and asks the boy if he wants Frank’s autograph.  The boy says no, that he would rather have Patrick sign his notebook.  Patrick says sure and takes the notebook from the boy to see a diagram of the cardiovascular system with notes scattered on the page. 

“This is amazing.  Did you do this?” 

The boy nodded and said “I read what you did for that one kid with the heart condition.” 

“Yeah?  That was a long time ago.”  Patrick smiled fondly. 

“Yeah, it-I have one of the articles printed in my book.  I have a little brother with a bad heart a-and I want to be just like you!”

Patrick could cry.  They finish their conversation and, once the boy is out of sight, Patrick meets back up with Frank and they get back into the car to head to the prison. 

“Be safe, will you?” Frank says as the pull into the prison parking lot. 

“Of course,” Patrick replied and leaned over to kiss his cheek. 

Only Frank turned and pulled him closer, interlocking their lips in a kiss that Patrick wasn’t really expecting.  He still felt the little spark in his chest with Frank’s lips on his, knowing that Frank loves him and still wants him. 

Patrick groaned “Babe, I have to work.” 

Frank chuckled “Ok, maybe later.” 

“See you tonight.” Patrick blushed and kissed him once more before getting out and pulling out his badge.  Why do I remember some of this happening and some of it not happening?  Why do I keep seeing myself in so many different situations, where I am married to Frank?  We are just friends!  I don’t even feel that way toward him.  He’s like a brother to me.  I’m so confused!

___________________________________________________________________________________

**When Patrick opens his eyes, he appears to be the doctor in a hospital.  Wait a minute!  I remember this place.  It’s where I did my residency in medical school.  I was doing my ER rotation.  It was a very hard night.  There had been some kind of accident where a small plane carrying about thirty people had crashed.  The patients that began piling in, were in really bad shape.  Most of them had one foot in the grave already.  I saw fourteen of them.  I did everything I in my power to try to save them, but I was only able to save five of them.  The rest of the patient’s injuries were so severe, that they either died on the table, or succumbed to their injuries quickly after being brought in.  We tried to make them as comfortable as possible, but in the end, they didn’t make it. There was a huge backlog in the morgue so the patients that had died were stored in one of the large trauma rooms in the ER, until the morgue could catch up.  He’s standing in a large room with many gurneys with dead patients on them were being stored.  Most of these were his patients.  They were the ones he couldn’t save.  He felt guilty for all of the ones he’s lost.  Somewhere, someone’s mother, father, son or daughter hadn’t come home that night.  He knew that they were so far gone by the time he’d gotten to see them, that there was nothing else he could’ve done to save them.  Doctors are capable of a lot of things, but some were just beyond the limits of medical science.  He had had to learn to deal with death as a doctor, but it never got any easier, when you lost a patient.  He walked around the room looking at each of the dead bodies of patients he had treated.  Their faces were burned into his memory forever. 

As he passed each one, he said “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.  I did everything that I could.  I hope you are at peace and are pain free now.” 

He did this for all of the eleven patients he lost.  He knew they couldn’t hear him, but it made him feel a bit better. 

As he came to the last of his eleven dead patients, he recited what he had said to all of them.  Only this time the dead patient’s hand grabbed his arm and wouldn’t let go. 

“What the fuck?”  He screams. 

Then he sees the patient sit up and swing their legs around to the side of the gurney.  Patrick’s eyes go wide and he tries backing up but the dead patient wouldn’t let go of his arm. 

“You are sorry that I died?  You did everything you could?  All you did for me was to give me some pain killers until I kicked the bucket.  That was all you could do huh?” the dead patient asks.  Patrick starts shaking with fear.  He tries to remember which patient this was. 

“What’s the problem Mr. Doctor?  You don’t remember me?”  Now the patient stands up and gets very close to his face. 

“Tell me again how you did everything you could before setting me aside and waiting for me to die!” 

This isn’t happening!  It’s not real!  Dead patients don’t just stand up and berate you. 

“Hello?  I’m waiting for an answer!” The patient screams. 

“I do remember you.  Your injuries were too severe for me to do anything other than keep you comfortable.  I tried to stop all of the bleeding but as soon as I stopped one, another started.  There was nothing else that I could’ve done!  I swear!”  Patrick replies. 

The patient smiles and steps closer to him, squeezing his arm much harder.

“I don’t believe you.  You were able to save five others, why not me?” The patient asks more aggressively. 

“Their injuries weren’t as bad as yours.  I was able to stabilize them enough to send them to surgery.  I’m sorry!”  Patrick answered. 

The patient made direct eye contact with him and said “no you’re not, but you are about to be.  Let’s see how you feel if I injure you and leave you for dead.” 

Patrick tries to run away, but the patient’s grip on his arm is too strong.  Out of nowhere, the patient lurches forward and knocks him on the floor.  They pull out a scalpel and stab him in the side with it. 

“Ahhh!” Patrick screams. 

They pull the scalpel out of his side, rip his shirt open, and begin carving into his chest and abdomen.  Blood begins pouring out of each wound at an alarming rate.  The pain is unbearable.  He tries to fight the patient off of him, but he can’t.  They keep carving him up and stabbing him in many different places. 

As he slowly bleeds out, he uses the last bit of life he has left to ask “why are you doing this?  I treated you to the best of my medical knowledge and ability.” 

The patient smiles and keeps carving him up with the scalpel. 

“You gave up and let me die!  You deserve the same!”  They yell. 

Patrick is down to his last few breaths. 

The patient puts their hand on his chest and says “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.  I did everything I could.  I hope you are at peace now and are pain free!” 

The patient looks down at him with an evil smile on their face.  “I’m sorry doctor, your injuries are too severe.  We’ve done everything we can do.  Here’s some medicine to make you comfortable until you die.  Oh Right!  I don’t have any to give you.  I guess you will just have to suffer until you finally die.” 

Right before Patrick bleeds out, drowns in his own blood, and takes his last breath, the patient looks down at him with a sneer on their face. 

“It’s not so much fun when a doctor gives up and leaves you for dead, is it?” 

Patrick takes his last breath and feels the life flow out of him as he dies.**

Chapter Text

Chapter 25

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Mentions of Rape*******

When Patrick wakes up on the floor of his cell, he feels so sick that he vomits immediately.  He doesn’t even make it to the toilet this time.  That will be a fun mess to clean up.  He looks around his cell and finds that Joe is not there and he is alone.  He must’ve felt well enough to go to his job.  Patrick gets up and runs to the toilet where he empties the contents of his stomach a few times.  When he is done, He stands up and notices that his pants are torn and his bare ass is hanging out.  He decides that he needs to sit down for a second, so he goes to his bed and sits down.  He hisses from the pain.  His ass is still sore from the previous events.  He lays down on his side hugging his pillow for some comfort.  As he lays there, he has flashbacks of what happened.  They are almost more terrifying that when they were actually happening.  Once he has laid there for a while and the flashbacks pass, he decides that he needs to clean himself and wash the dirt from the rape of, but first, he has to change his pants, so his ass isn’t hanging out.  Patrick changes his pants then stands and bangs on the bars of the cell. 

“Guard!”  He yells.  He isn’t surprised that Brad is the one to show up. 

“What do you want, Stump?”  Brad asks. 

“I need to take a shower.”   Patrick answers. 

“You’ve already taken your shower today.”  Brad says. 

Patrick feels his eyes filling up with tears, which start spilling down his cheeks. 

“Please Brad!  You know what he did to me!  You might’ve not been there to watch, but you were definitely within earshot.  I feel so dirty and I smell like him!  Please let me at least shower so I can wash off the dirt and his stench.  I beg you!” 

Brad looks at him for a minute and sees that he is crying.  He’s never been raped, but he does understand why Patrick is asking him to take a shower. 

Brad takes a deep breath and says “Alright, fine.  Get your stuff ready.” 

“Thank you!”  Patrick says before he runs to get his shower stuff, some new boxers, a new prison uniform and a towel, and walks back up to the front of his cell. 

Brad opens the door and Patrick steps out.  Brad leads him to the shower rooms.  Once there, Patrick opens the door and goes in.  Brad follows him in. 

“Um, Brad?  Could I have some privacy?  I promise I won’t do anything stupid, like try to run.  I just feel like, I’ve been on display enough today.”  Patrick asks. 

“Fine.  I will be outside the door.  If you try anything, I swear, I will kill you myself.” Brad says. 

“Thank you.”  Patrick answers. 

Brad turns around and leaves.  Patrick turns the hot water up to as high of a temperature as he can handle.  He undresses, grabs his shower stuff and stands under the water.  The water stings when it hits the deep cuts on his eyebrows.  Everything hits him all of a sudden and he starts crying again.  He sits on the floor under the water, examining all of the bruises and the injuries, rocking back and forth for quite a while.  He hadn’t realized how much time has passed. 

Brad opens the door and says “Everything ok in there, Stump?” 

“Yes!  I need more time.”  Patrick answers. 

“Ok, but not too much longer.”  Brad says. 

“Alright.”  Patrick says. 

After that, he gets up off of the floor and starts cleaning himself.  He scrubs himself so hard, that he scrubs himself raw, (it doesn’t mess up the tattoos though) trying to wash off all of the dirt he’s feeling from being raped.  Patrick feels ashamed that it happened.  That, somehow, it was his fault, even though Gabe was so much stronger and was also feeding on him, which made incredibly weak.  He’s never going to feel fully clean after what happened, but when he decides he’s clean enough, he shuts off the water, wraps his towel around his waist and moves to the locker room, where he dries himself off and gets dressed in a new orange prison uniform.  He sits on the bench for a minute to try and clear his head.  Finally, he stands up, gathers his shower stuff and walks out of the room.  Brad is there waiting for him.  He looks over at Patrick and notices that his skin is bright red and looks pretty raw. 

“Are you ok?”  Brad asks. 

“Um…not really, but this is as good as it’s going to get for now.”  Patrick replies. 

Brad seems to accept that answer and walks him back to his cell, opens the door as Patrick steps in, and closes it behind him and leaves.  Patrick returns to laying on his bed curled in the tightest ball he can make with his body.  He closes his eyes, but is met with flashbacks again, so he just lays there, hugging his pillow, and crying.  He feels the cuts over his eyebrows start bleeding again too.  Great!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Joe returns from his job a little later.  “Hey Patrick?  I’m back.”

He gets no response, so he looks around, finds Patrick on his bed and notices that Patrick has a large wound on his right cheek, both eyebrows both have deep cuts through them and are still bleeding, there are new bite marks on his neck, and that Patrick is curled into a tight ball on his bed.  He sits down next to him on his bed and puts a hand on Patrick’s shoulder.  Patrick recoils from his touch. 

“Please don’t touch me right now.”  He says. 

Patrick’s body language is telling him that something bad has happened and that he is very upset. 

“Patrick, what happened while I was gone?  What’s wrong?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick looks over his shoulder at him for a minute, looking like he is trying so hard to keep it together, but is about to fall apart.  He takes a deep breath before attempting to speak. 

“If I tell you this, you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone,” Patrick says.

Joe nods his head yes.  “Of course!”  Joe answers. 

“I don’t even know where to start.  Brad brought me to see Gabe.  We were in a very remote area of the prison.  I got angry and confronted him about the tattoos.  He just laughed at me.  He told me it was my punishment for not taking his offer of protection.  He also said that I should thank him for sedating me and for saving me from the other guy.  I told him that saving me so he could have me for himself wasn’t any better than the other guy.  I told him I wouldn’t thank him for anything and then I spit in his face.  He got really angry and pulled me into a rough kiss.  I pushed him away and punched him in the face.  He pulled me into another rough kiss.  I kicked him in the balls to get him to release me and I told him to go fuck himself. 

Then he totally lost his shit.  It turns out that Gabe is a vampire too.  He grabbed me and threw me to the floor incredibly hard.  I think it broke my shoulder.  He bit me first and sucked some blood from me.  I tried to get away, but he was too strong.  He turned me over on my stomach, held my hands behind my back and then he-.  Then he-.  Then-he-he.  Then he violently raped me.  I screamed and fought him, but no one came to help me.  He raped me so hard that these wounds opened up from him rubbing me back and forth against the pitted concrete floor.  Towards the end, he bit me again and fed on me to the point where I was barely conscious.  He finally turned me over onto my back, but he wasn’t done.  He said I didn’t look tough enough and that I needed some gnarly scars, so he took a knife and deeply cut me through my eyebrows on both sides.  Then he ordered me to open my mouth.  I clenched my jaw shut, but suddenly I felt myself open my mouth.  It was like he was somehow controlling me.  He bit his wrist and held it over my mouth.  I felt it running down my throat.  Finally, he brought out the needle full of what I’m pretty sure is heroin.  I begged him not to give it to me, but he ignored me and stabbed me with the needle, pushing the plunger all the way down.  It hit me really hard because of all the blood loss, but I didn’t pass out right away.  I remember him calling for Brad, Gabe and Brad picking me up, and dumping me back in my cell on the floor like I was a piece trash.  I was so doped up that I didn’t even feel the impact.  I curled into a tight ball and passed out.  I had another vivid dream like before, and then I had a terrifying hallucination.  When I woke up, I begged Brad to let me take a shower, which he did let me do, and then I came back here and laid on my bed.  I couldn’t close my eyes, because all I saw were flashbacks of it happening.”  Patrick has completely broken-down crying. 

What little composure he had, was now gone.  Joe is sitting with his jaw and his eyes wide open in disbelief.  He definitely wasn’t prepared for what Patrick just told him. 

“Oh my God, Patrick!  I don’t even know what to say.  I’m so sorry that this happened to you, and, of course, I won’t tell anyone.  What a horrible monster!”  Joe says. 

He tries to comfort Patrick as he is bawling his eyes out the best he can. 

“I will always be here for you.  Please let me know what you need, and I will do it!”  Joe says. 

He decides after hearing this, that he is going to start getting more protective of Patrick. 

“I will protect you as best as I can.  I’m also going to teach you how to fight and defend yourself, so that you aren’t an easy mark.  What do you need me to do to help you right now?”  Joe asks. 

“Could you just hold me and comfort me?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes!  Of course, I can.  How would you like me to do that so that I don’t trigger you?”  Joe asks. 

“Just come and lay on my bed facing me.  You can hug me.”   Patrick responds.

Joe does what Patrick asks.  They lay like that for a long time. 

When Patrick is calmed down enough, Joe mentions that the cuts are still bleeding. 

“I’m taking you to sickbay to get the cuts on your eyebrows looked at.”  Joe says. 

“Actually, can you see if Spencer can come here?  I don’t really want to deal with a bunch of people right now.”  Patrick asks. 

Joe looks at him.  He looks so tired.  He has bruises all over him on top of the wounds. 

“Yes.  I will ask the guard.”  Joe responds.  Joe walks to the front of the cell and bangs on the bars. 

“Guard?”  For once, someone other than Brad answers. 

“Could you please call Dr. Smith and have him come here.  My cell mate needs stitches.”  Joe asks. 

“Yes.” The guard moves to the wall where there is a phone. 

He picks it up, dials sick bay, explains the situation, and hangs up the phone. 

“I just spoke with Dr.  Smith.  He is on his way now.”  The guard informs him.  It isn’t long before Spencer shows up and tells the guard to open the door.  He steps in and the door closes behind him. 

“So, what seems to be the problem?”  He asks. 

Joe pulls him aside and speaks to him very softly. 

“Patrick had a very bad incident with another inmate.  The inmate cut him very deeply through his eyebrows on both sides.  Please don’t ask for any more details.  The more you know, the more you have to report.  The more you report, the worse it gets for him.  Do you understand?”  Joe asks. 

“Yes.  I understand.”  Spencer answers. 

“Hello Patrick.  I hear you may need stitches?”  He asks. 

Patrick says “yes.” 

“Ok, let me have a look.” Spencer says as he examines the cuts.  “They are very deep.  You will need stitches.”  Spencer says. 

He gets the stuff he needs out of his bag, injects some novacaine into the area around both eyebrows to numb the area, and goes about stitching the cuts closed. 

“I’m finished now.  Is there anything else I can do for you?”  He asks. 

Patrick shakes his head no. 

“No.  Thanks Spencer.” Patrick says. 

Spencer goes to the front of the cell and calls for the guard to open the door.  He steps out once the door is open and returns to sickbay.

Patrick continues to lay in his bed with Joe comforting him.  Joe looks at the clock and sees that it getting very close to dinner time. 

“Hey Patrick, I know you don’t want to hear this, but we are getting close to dinner time.  How do you want to handle that?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick’s eyes open wide and he starts to panic. 

“I can’t go, Joe.  I can’t face him after what just happened.  My ass is still super sore and it hurts to sit down.  He will probably try to rub it in my face too, in front of everyone.  Could you just grab me some food and bring it back here?  I am pretty hungry.”  Patrick answers. 

“That is one option, I guess.  I think it might be good for you to go.  You can show him how strong you are, after everything.  I will protect you and keep him far away from you.  You don’t have to worry about that.  You are just delaying the inevitable.  If you skip tonight, you will still have to see him for three meals tomorrow.  Wouldn’t you just rather do it now and have it be done and over with?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick looks up a him and seems to consider it for a moment.

 “You will keep him and his goons away from me?  Like, the whole time?  What if he screams something disgusting to me?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes, I will keep him and his goons completely away from you.  If he screams something, he screams something.  Just try to ignore it.  Who knows!  Maybe he will leave you alone.  I doubt it, but it could happen.”  Joe assures him. 

“Ok.  I will go.”  Patrick says. 

They continue to sit there in silence until Brad comes to escort them to the mess hall. 

“Time for dinner Stump, Trohman.”  Brad says. 

He opens the door and they both step out.  Joe stares daggers at Brad, almost daring him to say something bad to Patrick.  However, it seems that Brad understands what happened and doesn’t hassle Patrick, which is a good thing.  They enter the mess hall and walk directly to the food line.  Patrick tries to keep his head down.  He is not in the mood for any inmates bothering him today.  They each grab a tray and make their way down to where food is being served.  Patrick takes a deep breath.  So far, so good.  When their trays are full, they make their way to a secluded table.  Patrick sits down and start gulping his food down.  Joe does the same.  Hopefully, they can eat quickly and leave.  They are in the home stretch, when Joe spots Gabe coming toward their table. 

“I’ll be right back, Patrick.  There is something I need to take care of.”  Joe says. 

He stands and starts walking toward Gabe.  They meet in the middle.  Joe uses his body to block Gabe. 

“Hey Gabe.  What do you think you’re doing?”  Joe asks, even though he knows the answer. 

“Hello Joe.  I was on my way to go talk to Sugar.”  Gabe answers. 

Joe smiles at him.  “No, you’re not.” Joe says. 

Gabe tries to walk around Joe, but he continues blocking Gabe with his body. 

“Yes, I am.” Gabe says. 

“I don’t think you understand what I’m saying.  Here, let me spell it out for you.  You are NOT going to talk to Patrick.  You just violently violated him and then you threw him away like he was a piece of trash.  He’s still sore from that attack.  He is a mess, which I’m sure is what you wanted.  I’m not going to let you go over there and rub it in his face or terrorize him more than he already is.  He didn’t even want to come to dinner because he didn’t want to face you.  So, turn around and go back to your table with your henchmen, and leave him the fuck alone.  Do you understand now?”  Joe asks. 

Gabe looks a bit taken aback. 

“Need I remind you that before I came here, I was a championship boxer and MMA fighter?  Do you really want to do this here?”  Joe asks. 

Gabe looks past Joe at Patrick, whose back is facing him right now. 

“You can’t talk to me like that!  You have no idea who you are dealing with.  If you value your life, you will let me pass.”  Gabe says. 

“See that’s where you’re wrong, Gabe.  I know exactly who and WHAT you are.  I’m not afraid of you.  Now, unless you want everyone in the room including the guards knowing what you and Brad are, I suggest you back the fuck down and go back to your table.”  Joe says. 

Gabe looks around at everyone staring at them.  He obviously doesn’t want everyone knowing what he is and doesn’t want to make a scene. 

“This isn’t over, Trohman!”  Gabe says. 

“I never expected it to be, but it is over for now.”  Joe responds. 

Gabe growls at him before turning around and heading back to his table.  Once Joe sees Gabe sit back at his table, Joe returns and sits down next to Patrick.  Patrick is almost done with his food. 

“What was that all about?  Was he trying to get to me?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes.  I protected you, just like I said I would.”  Joe says and returns to stuffing his face. 

“How did you get him to back down?”  Patrick asks. 

Joe swallows the food in his mouth before answering. 

“Well, I told him that I knew exactly who and what he is, and if he wanted to keep that a secret, he needed to go back to his table.”  Joe answers. 

Patrick looks terrified.  “What the fuck, Joe?  Now he knows that you know what he is.  He will come after you.  He will feed on you.”  Patrick says. 

Joe makes eye contact with him.  “Look at me, Patrick.  I understand what I just did and what the consequences may be.  He was going to find out sooner or later.  I’d rather it be sooner, especially if it can take some of the heat off of you for a bit.”  Joe says. 

Patrick thinks about this for a minute and says “thank you.  I don’t know whether to hug you, or punch you for being an idiot.” 

Joe just smiles at him.  “I’ll take the hug when we get back to our cell.”  He answers. 

They finish up their meal and then call for Brad to take them back to their cell.  Joe doesn’t miss the angry look that Gabe gives him before leaving.  They return to their cell and Patrick gives Joe that hug.   

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Later that night, Brad comes to collect Patrick.  Joe is already asleep. 

“Come on, Stump.  Let’s go.”  Brad says. 

Patrick is frozen in place.  He knows he wants nothing to do with this. 

“Where are we going, Brad?”  Patrick asks. 

“I’m supposed to take you to sick bay.”  He answers. 

“For what?”  Patrick asks. 

“I don’t know.  Look, you are going either way.  You can come willingly, or I will drag you there.  Your choice.” 

Patrick decides to go willingly.  He doesn’t really want to be dragged there by Brad.  He steps out of his cell, and Brad leads him to sickbay where he sees all his best friends and Spencer with a breathing tube.  Uh, what the fuck is this?  None of this looks good.  I need to try to get out here!  He takes off, out the door and down the hall, running as fast as he can.  He thinks he’s lost them, when he gets tackled by Shane and Theodore.  Those fuckers!  He stands up and tries to run again, but they trip him and he falls to the floor.  They grab him and drag him back. 

“No!!! Don’t make me go back there!!! He screams as he fights against them, but their grip is too tight. 

Brad picks him up and slams him down on the table and holds him down.  Patrick is still fighting like crazy even though Brad, Shane, and Theodore are holding him down on the table.  Brad takes out his handcuffs, and cuffs both of Patrick’s wrists to either side of the table.  Now he knows he’s stuck there. 

He’s so frustrated that he screams “Ugh!!!!!!!  Let me go, you fuckers!!!!!”   

Gabe, who has been watching this scene take place, walks around the table where Patrick can see him. 

“Hello Sugar.  You are quite the feisty one tonight, aren’t you?  I love it!  Did you miss me?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick is still struggling. 

“What the fuck do you think Gabe?  No, I didn’t fucking miss you.  I could go for the rest of my life without missing you!  I fucking hate you!”  Patrick screams at him. 

“Oh see, now that hurts my feelings, Sugar.” Gabe responds.

“Yeah right!  You don’t have feelings, you fucking monster!”  Patrick yells. 

“Careful Sugar.  You don’t want to make this any worse for yourself, do you?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick looks at him.  “I don’t even know why I’m here!”  Patrick answers. 

“Well, let me explain.  You didn’t seem to appreciate the fact that I sedated you when I was tattooing you the last time.  So, I’ve decided that you don’t deserve a humane treatment like that.  Tonight, you will be paralyzed, but awake the whole time, so you can feel every bit of pain that I’m about to put you through.”  Gabe answers.

Patrick’s eyes go wide.  He’s scared and he tries to fight again.  Holy shit!  That’s what the breathing tube is for.  If they paralyze me, I won’t be able to breath on my own.  What a sadistic monster!  Patrick looks over at Spencer.  “You’re in on this too?”  He asks. 

Spencer looks back and shakes his head. 

“Don’t worry about the good Doctor, Sugar.  He has been compelled to help me out tonight.  He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”  Gabe answers. 

“Of course, he doesn’t!”  Patrick says. 

“Before we start with the main attractions tonight, I have something special planned for you, Sugar.  I need you to look directly into my eyes, hold still, put your tongue out.”  Gabe commands. 

That’s not fucking happening!  Patrick turns his head and looks away from him.  “Theodore, please grab his face and turn it toward me.”  Gabe commands.

Theodore does exactly that.  He grabs Patrick’s face and points it directly at Gabe and holds it there.  Patrick then squeezes his eyelids shut.

“Shane, please hold his eyelids open.” Gabe commands. 

Shane takes his fingers and holds Patrick’s eyelids open.  No!   As soon as his eyes are looking into Gabe’s, he tries to fight and resist but feels his body doing what Gabe told him to do.  What is happening right now?  Is he controlling me with his mind? 

“Brad, unlock his hand cuffs please.”  Gabe says.  Brad does as he’s told.

“Sit up at the end of the table, Sugar.” Gabe commands. 

Patrick is fighting so hard, but he feels himself sit up and move to the end of the table. 

“Good, now hold still and stick your tongue out for me.” Gabe commands. 

Patrick feels his body doing exactly what Gabe told him to do.  No Patrick!  You need to fight him!  Gabe puts a mark on the middle of Patrick’s tongue as well as a mark on the bottom part of his tongue that lines up with the mark on the other side.  What is he doing?  This definitely doesn’t look good!  Then he grabs Patrick’s tongue with small medical forceps.  There is a hole at the end of them and it lines up with the marks on Patrick’s tongue.  Gabe then grabs a big, extremely thick needle and brings it closer to Patrick’s tongue.  Oh my God!  That big, insanely thick fucking needle is going to go through my tongue!  He’s going to pierce my tongue!  Patrick figures out what is happening with a very panicked look on his face.  He begins trying to move but his body won’t respond. 

“Gabe, stop!  Please don’t do this!  I don’t want this!”  His eyes fill up with tears.   

“I know you don’t, Sugar.  That is the whole point!” Gabe says with an evil smile on his face. 

“Be quiet, Sugar.”  Gabe commands and now Patrick can no longer talk. 

Patrick is scared when he sees the big, extremely thick needle coming toward his tongue.  The tears in his eyes, spill out and roll down his cheeks.  Gabe brings the big, insanely thick needle to the mark that he made directly under Patrick’s tongue, which also lines up with the hole at the end of the forceps, and checks to make sure everything lines up the way it is supposed to.  No! No! No!  

“Ok Sugar, brace yourself.  One, two, three.” Gabe counts. 

Then he pushes the big, extremely thick needle through until it comes completely through the top. Patrick’s eyes light up wide from the pain, which is followed by tears streaming down his cheeks. FUUUUUCK!  Holy shit!  It hurts so bad!  Oh my God!!!!  Owwwww!  He is breathing heavily and can taste the metallic taste of the blood from the wound as it bleeds into his mouth.  There is now a huge fucking crater through his tongue.  Gabe leaves the needle in while he grabs the large, very thick stud with a huge ball on the bottom of it.  He puts the bottom ball of the large, very thick stud, which is connected to the huge fat rod on the needle under Patrick’ s tongue and pulls it through as he pulls the needle out.  Then Gabe grabs the huge, fat, thick rod of the large stud that is currently attached to the huge bottom ball and sticking through his tongue with a different instrument, and screws the huge top ball onto the top of the huge, thick, fat rod until it is tight.  Patrick’s tongue feels so heavy and uncomfortable with this huge tongue stud inside his tongue.  Gabe smells the blood from the wound, kisses Patrick with tongue so he can lap up the blood from the piercing in Patrick’s mouth.  Patrick still can’t move or talk. 

When Gabe is done, he says “you did well, Sugar.  This was your punishment for screaming, fighting back, and talking back to me.  You are not allowed to remove this under any circumstances, unless I command otherwise.  Nod your head yes if you understand.”

Patrick feels his head moving up and down, nodding yes. 

Then Gabe releases him and he screams “OWW…FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!”  Then he looks Gabe straight in the eyes and shouts “go fuck yourself Gabe,” but it comes out of Patrick’s mouth with a lisp and sounds weird because of the tongue piercing and the fact that his tongue is swelling up. 

Gabe smiles and says “Oh!  I do love your fire, Sugar!” and punches him in the face hard enough to make his nose bleed and with enough force to throw him onto his right side. Gabe happily licks that up too.  Patrick starts to fight but he is held down long enough for Spencer to get the IV in and to begin giving him the paralytic.  He is still fighting but is quickly losing control of his body. 

Gabe grabs both of Patrick’s arms, closes his eyes, and then Patrick feels a warmth start at his shoulders and work its way down to his fingers.  When Gabe releases his arms, all of the tattoos from the day before are healed. 

“What did you just do?” Patrick asks, before he can’t talk anymore. 

It comes out with a lisp and kind of garbled. 

“I used another one of my powers, targeted healing.   I can choose what I want to heal and then do it by touch.  It doesn’t require you drinking my blood.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick tries to respond but can’t move his mouth.  He loses feeling in his whole body and falls back on the medical table.  Shane, Theodore and Brad pick him up and reposition him on the table, where he needs to be for what is to follow.  Finally, Brad hand cuffs his arms to the medical table on both sides. 

“Why did I just do that?  Because, I’m about to do way more damage, and your body can only handle so much healing in a certain time period.”  Gabe says, answering Patrick’s question. 

When Patrick is completely paralyzed and starts to have problems breathing, Spencer inserts the breathing tube, which does not go in easily, and hooks him up to the ventilator. 

“I’d like to know more about you, Sugar.  Here is what we are going to do.  I’m going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them by blinking once for yes, and twice for no.  If you don’t answer, or I don’t like the answer, I will hurt you.  Let’s start with this.  Were you born in Illinois?”  Gabe asks.

He doesn’t cooperate at first.  Gabe pulls out a scalpel, removes Patrick’s shoes and socks and cuts deeply into the bottom of his foot. Patrick’s eyes open widely and react to it. Ahhhh! That hurts so much!  The cut is bleeding heavily because it is so deep.  Gabe then begins licking the blood from the wound. 

“Let’s try this again.  Were you born in Illinois?” Gabe asks.  This time Patrick blinks once for yes. 

“Good!  See that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks twice for no. 

“Theodore, I want you to sit on the floor and relay his answers to me once we turn him on his stomach.”  Theodore looks annoyed but moves and sits on the floor in front of Patrick’s bed.

  “Shane, please take his shirt off and shave the bottom part of his neck and the space from his belly button down to the top of his crotch while he is still on his back.” 

Shane removes his shirt and seems to really enjoy doing that, which is weird.  Then he pulls Patrick’s pants down to the top of his crotch in front.  Shane goes to it, shaving the places Gabe told him to shave.  It feels very weird having a part of your neck and belly shaved.  It feels kind of cold, especially the places he’s used to having hair, like his happy trail.  Once Shane is finished, he and Gabe roll him onto his stomach and rock him back and forth and up and down until he is where Gabe obviously wants him.  There is a space at the top of the table where his head can fit in that’s cushioned all around it, kind of like ones on top of a massage table.  

“Shane, now please shave his whole back down to the top of his butthole.  You may push his pants down to that spot.”  Gabe commands. 

Shane begins shaving his back.  This feels incredibly strange.  It’s not like Patrick has a super hairy back, but it feels very cold when the places he does have hair are shaved. 

“Patrick, did you grow up here?”  Patrick blinks once for yes. 

However, Theodore decides to fuck with him a bit and say no.  Gabe already knows the answer to this, so he takes the scalpel and digs it into his foot again.  Ahhhh!  Fuck!  I told you the right answer!  What the fuck, Theodore?  Theodore is looking at him and laughing.  When Shane is done shaving him, he feels a cold liquid being sprayed on his entire back and being wiped down from his hairline, down to right above his asshole.  This isn’t going to be fun if it is going to be that big…  Next, he feels Gabe put what feels like a large piece of paper down and he gently taps it everywhere up the back of his neck and down his whole back.  He leaves it to sit there for a few minutes, before peeling it back.  This must be the stencil.  I wonder what it is.  After deciding he likes the placement, Gabe grabs the ink colors he needs and turns on the machine.

“Are you ready, Sugar?”  He blinks twice for no.  Theodore relays his answer to Gabe. 

“That’s too bad, Sugar.  I bet you’ll will wish that I had sedated you for this.  Here we go.”  Gabe says.

Gabe turns on the machine and starts on the outline. Patrick starts bleeding almost immediately.  Gabe licks up the blood.  Gross!  Patrick is in a TON of pain.  It feels like someone is dragging a razor across his skin.  Holy Shit, this is fucking painful!  It becomes instantly clear why Patrick never got any tattoos, prior to being in prison. 

“Sugar, have you lived here your whole life?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick blinks once for yes.  Theodore relays his answer.  So far, so good.  He didn’t cut me this time.  Whenever Gabe gets close to a bone, the pain doubles, or triples.  They go about this for at least an hour.  Gabe asks Patrick questions while working on the outline of the design.  As long as Gabe likes the answers or knows they are true, Patrick doesn’t get cut.  The longer this goes on though, the more Patrick feels himself almost hitting his pain limit.  Gabe seems to be working around the top of his left shoulder, which really hurts.  I don’t know how much more pain I can take. He feels himself slipping away and passing out into oblivion.  It only takes a moment before Gabe notices, takes a break for a second and cuts Patrick’s foot again.  This jolts Patrick awake again because of the pain.  Oh my God!  Owwwww!  His eyes are wide and filling with tears.  When he blinks, the tears fall down his cheeks.  I have to stay awake, or he will hurt me!  They are now two hours in.  Now Gabe is obviously working on the outline up the back of his neck because it feels like his neck is on fire and the pain is ten trillion times worse.  Patrick tries to breath heavily to deal with the pain, but it isn’t working.  There must also be a lot of detail here because it is taking a long time. 

“Sugar.  Did you go to medical school in Illinois?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick blinks twice for no.  He went to medical school at John Hopkins University.  Theodore relays the answer.  No cut happens.  He takes a deep breath and blows it out.   More time has passed and Gabe is now working on the part on top of his right shoulder.  At one point, Patrick notices a strange feeling throughout his body.  Everything is tingling as he begins to regain control over his body.  I’m getting some feeling back in my body!  He plays it cool until he is sure that he can actually move various parts of his body.  When he feels like he hits that point, he starts trying to move and fight.  Gabe looks up, sees what’s happening and quickly orders Spencer to give Patrick more of the paralytic.  

“Make sure it is enough to keep him paralyzed for the rest of the night, Doc.”  Gabe orders.

Once Spencer measures out more of the drug, which is enough to put down an elephant overnight, he injects the drug into Patrick’s IV, and he starts losing control and is unable to move again. 

“There is some more of that feistiness!  Nice try, Sugar.  Now you are going to pay for that.”  Gabe says. 

Suddenly, Gabe moves and does all of the outlining up and down his spine.  Motherfucker!  This is the worst pain yet!  You have to stay awake Patrick!  Gabe seems to notice the increase in his pain levels and he smiles a sadistic smile.  It has to have been another hour by now.  Gabe stops for a minute to change the needle, since he is done with the outlining and Patrick thinks it’s done.  Oh! Thank God! 

“Now comes the fun part, Sugar.  Shading!”  Gabe taunts.

He is very surprised when Gabe starts up again and begins the shading of whatever it is he’s doing.  Patrick’s pain goes through the roof, especially when he is near a bone.  Holy Fuck! Ahhhhhhh!   He looks over with his eyes, and all he can see is purple ink.  He must be filling everything in now.  I’m not sure I can handle this.  This pain is unbearable!  Patrick manages to stay awake for a while.  His eyes are filling with tears that are immediately pouring down his face.  He makes it as long as he can but he feels himself slipping away again and he passes out.  This time, Shane slaps him so hard, it will most likely leave a black bruise. 

“Gabe, he just passed out again.  I slapped him to wake him up.”  Shane says. 

Gabe stops for a minute and digs the scalpel into the bottom of his foot again.  Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God It hurts so bad!!!!!!  I fucking hate you Shane Morris!!!!!! 

With all of the blood draining out of Patrick’s foot, Brad can’t help himself. 

“Gabe, I need some of his blood. Like Now!” Brad says. 

“You can drink what is coming out of his foot for now.  Don’t take too much!  He’s already been fed on once today.  Doc, please start up those iron infusions.”  Gabe commands.

 Spencer goes to get them, hooks them up to Patrick’s IV and starts them.  Brad moves to the foot of the bed Patrick is on, grabs his foot and sticks it in his mouth and sucks more blood from the wounds.  Great!  Now I get that pain on top of this already horridly painful tattooing!  Lucky me!  You know what, I think I might be at my limit here pretty soon.  Brad has been feeding for a while and Patrick is starting to feel dizzy.  Patrick’s eyes well up and tears stream down his face when he blinks twice (trying to say no) and starts to pass out.  He is only unconscious for a short time before Gabe cuts Patrick’s foot again to wake him up.  Patrick’s eyes widen and more tears appear in his eyes and stream down his face.  This particular cut is bleeding very heavily, and Gabe is licking up all the blood.  He is even letting Brad do the same.  This pattern continues for another few hours.  Towards the end, his whole back feels so sore and raw.  His skin feels like it is burning and it is on fire.  When they are finally done, Patrick is barely conscious, with a few extra cuts on the bottom of his left foot. 

“Ok Sugar.  We are done with this one.”  Gabe says. 

Oh! Thank God! 

“We are definitely not done for tonight though.  You still have a long way to go.  Do you want a quick break?”  Gabe asks.

Patrick blinks once for yes. 

“Ok.  You get ten minutes, starting right now.  Everyone, take a break.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick welcomes the break in the pain, even if it is only for a short time.  He just lays there crying.  His skin is aching and feels very bruised.  As the break is coming to an end, Gabe orders Shane and Theodore to turn Patrick over onto his incredibly sore back.  This is going to hurt so badly! They grab him and push him over onto his raw back and Patrick almost passes out again from the unending pain of having to lay on a brand-new, huge tattoo.  They scoot him around until he is where Gabe wants him for the next part.  Patrick is sure that the table under his back is now smothered in blood and ink.

“Time’s up Sugar.  Where would you like me to start next?  Your choices are your neck, behind your ears, or your belly.  Blink once for neck, twice for behind your ears, and three times for your belly.”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick thinks about it for a second.  They all sound horrible.  He doesn’t know what to choose.  He finally blinks once for his neck.  He knows that is going to be so painful, so he wants to get it over with.  Gabe takes the shoe and sock off of his other foot and digs the scalpel into it.  Ahhhhh!  No, No, No! 

“I’m sorry, Sugar.  The correct answer is behind your ears.  Better luck next time!”  Gabe says. 

“Shane please shave behind his ears and half an inch of his hair above his left ear.”  Gabe orders.

They are going to shave my hair?  What the fuck?  Shane grabs the razor and shaves behind his right ear first.  He seems to be enjoying this a bit too much.  Then he shaves behind his left ear and the small amount of hair directly above his ear.  Patrick sees a small amount of his bleached blond hair fall to the side of his head on the table.  It feels weird.  At least these ones are smaller so they shouldn’t be as painful.  If they are painful, at least it won’t take as long.  Gabe sprays the liquid behind his right ear and wipes it off.  Then he places the stencil behind his earlobe.  Again, I wish I could see what this is.  Gabe grabs the black ink this time, changes the needle he is going to use, starts the machine and begins working on this piece.  Holy Fucknuggets!  This one is pretty awful too!  How am I supposed to stay awake with all of this pain?  Gabe pushes Patrick’s head to the left side so he has better access to the space behind his right ear.  The skin feels like it is exploding.  Patrick’s eyes go wide reacting to the pain and tears start pooling in his eyes again. 

“Sugar, did you always want to be a doctor?”  Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks once for yes.  “You didn’t consider any other field of study before landing on doctor?”  He asks.  Patrick blinks twice for no. “Really?” Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks once for yes. 

He’s never wanted to be anything but a doctor.  His sister had had a congenital heart defect that wasn’t found until she was five when she fell on the playground and her heart started beating really fast.  They took her to the hospital and located the defect.  She had surgery to fix it shortly after.  Patrick was so in awe as to what doctors could do, and decided then that he wanted to be a doctor.  Gabe hit a particularly painful place, which brought him back from memory land. 

His head is starting to hurt.  He looks around the room with his eyes trying to find anything to take his mind off the pain.  With his head turned to the left, he can see the clock on the wall.  Patrick had no idea how much time he’s been here.  The clock said it was 2:00 a.m.  I just want this to be over! 

“Just a few more minutes and I will be finished with this one, Sugar.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick rolls his eyes.  When Gabe got near the bones of his skull, he could feel the drilling and it fucking hurt.  Focus on the clock, Patrick.  Channel the pain into the clock.  That worked for a little while, but then it stopped working. 

“Ok Sugar, I’m done with this one.”  Gabe says as he walks around to the left side and gets ready for the second one. 

He cleans the area with the spray, then applies the stencil in the space that Shane had shaved his hair off.  Gabe moves the things he needs to and grabs black ink again. 

Once he is set up, he looks at Patrick and says “are you ready for me to start this one, Sugar?”  Patrick blinks his eyes twice, saying no. 

“Too bad!  Here we go!” Gabe says while turning Patrick’s head to the right and turning on the machine. 

Oh my God!  This one hurt more than the one on the other side did!  How much longer do I have to endure this?  I’m not sure I can make it much longer.  Gabe seems to notice his discomfort and is enjoying every second of it.  Fucking monster!  The pain feels like his skin is shoving a razor blade into an open wound and turning it around.  Patrick’s eyes go wide and he closes his eyes for a second to muster up some more tolerance for all of this pain.  Right now, Gabe is working on the outline that is above his ear, and it is so fucking painful!  He feels tears in his eyes again.  They spill down his face the second that he blinks. 

“Sugar, do you have any siblings?”  Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks once for yes.  “How many?  You can blink for the number of siblings you have.”  Patrick blinks twice.  “Older or younger? You can blink once for older, twice for younger, and three times for both.”  Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks three times for both. 

“Interesting!  So, you are the middle child?”  Patrick blinks once for yes.  At that, Gabe stops asking questions and continues working on the tattoo.  The closer Gabe gets to his jaw bone, the more it hurts.  I can tolerate this pain, for now, but it is really wearing on me.  The time passes, but he doesn’t know how long, because he can’t see the clock from this angle.   It appears that Gabe might be done with this one soon. 

A few more minutes pass, and Gabe puts the tattoo gun down. 

“Alright Sugar, I’m done with this one now.  Do you want another break?”  Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks once for yes. 

“You get 5 minutes, which is the amount of time it will take me to set up for the next one.”  Gabe says and leaves Patrick alone for a few minutes. 

Patrick welcomes any bit of time he gets with no pain.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t last very long. 

“Time’s up, Sugar.  What area do you want me to do next?  Your choices are lower belly, or your neck.  Blink once for lower belly and twice for your neck.”  Gabe instructs. 

Patrick thinks for a minute and decides on lower belly.  He blinks once.  Gabe grabs the scalpel and digs it into his foot again.  Patrick’s eyes go wide.  Holy Smokes!  The bottom of my foot feels like it is on fire!  It hurts so much!  Why does he keep giving me options if there is only one right answer?  If I could move right now, I’d be punching you in the face, Gabe!   

“Wow, you are really bad at this game, Sugar!  The correct answer was your neck.  Brace yourself.  This will be incredibly painful.”  Gabe says. 

He sprays the cleaning solution on the lower part of his neck, between his Adam’s apple and the hole above his collar bones and wipes the area clean.  Then he applies the stencil.  Ok Patrick, you can do this!  Try to channel the pain into ceiling.  Gabe turns on the machine again and makes contact with Patrick’s skin.  Patrick’s eyes go wide.  I don’t think I can take this.  He wasn’t kidding when he said that this one would be incredibly painful.  This is beyond painful!  I can’t even think of a word to describe it!  The tattoo is so painful that he almost passes out again.  It feels like his skin is on fire while a razor is being dragged across his neck.  It is getting so sore that Patrick doesn’t know how much more he can take.  He is getting very dizzy and feels himself pass out.  Patrick is enjoying oblivion, but it isn’t long before Gabe orders Brad to tase him on the lowest setting to wake him up again.  It feels like he is being electrocuted.  He wakes up immediately taking a huge breath.   What the fuck was that?  Did Gabe make Brad tase me?   Who does that?  Fucking sadistic SOB!  Patrick manages to stay awake for the majority of this one.  He definitely didn’t want to be tased again.  He is crying again.  There is no other way to deal with this amount of pain.  It feels like it has been forever, when Gabe sets the tattoo gun down. 

“I’m done with this one now, Sugar.  I will give you a ten-minute break, since this one was so painful.  Your time starts now.”  Gabe states. 

I’m so glad this one is done!  I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold out without losing consciousness.  I am so beyond my limit of what I can handle, it’s not even funny.  Hopefully this last one isn’t as bad as the others.  

The time seems to fly, because Gabe is back and set up for the next one already. 

“Your break is over, Sugar.  I hope you enjoyed it!  Time to start the next one.”  Gabe remarks. 

He sprays the cleaner in the area between Patrick’s belly button and the top of his crotch and wipes it off.  Gabe applies the stencil between his belly button to right above his crotch.  Patrick hears the machine turn on again and braces himself for the pain.  His skin is so sore and raw at this point, that it feels like all of his nerve endings have been fried.  The gun makes contact with his skin, and he knows he’s totally fucked.  There is no way he will be able to stay awake through this one.  It is about as painful as the one on his neck.  Patrick also feels his skin bleeding.  Gabe sees it and doesn’t hesitate to lick it up.  If Patrick could move right now, he would be recoiling back.  Gabe was pretty close to his crotch on that one and it triggers flashbacks of what happened earlier today.  I can’t take it anymore!  This pain is making me feel really sick to my stomach.  Before he can even mention it, Patrick is in so much pain that he vomits into the breathing tube and his throat feels like it is on fire. 

“Doc!  We need you!”  Gabe yells. 

Spencer walks over to where Patrick is. 

“What seems to be the problem?”  Spencer asks. 

“Sugar just vomited into the breathing tube.  I need you to clean it up so he doesn’t inhale it.”  Gabe explains. 

Spencer nods his head and approaches the ventilator. 

“Patrick, I need you to take the deepest breath you are capable of taking and hold your breath, so that I can clean this out.”  Patrick does what Spencer tells him to do. 

Spencer disconnects the ventilator, sucks all the vomit out of the breathing tube and cleans it out.  Then he reconnects the ventilator and Patrick can breathe again.  Meanwhile, Gabe is still working on this incredibly painful tattoo.  Patrick is holding on as long as he can, but he feels himself slip into unconsciousness again.  He just wants to stay here.  Here, he isn’t in so much pain that his body can’t process it.  He is brought back by the scalpel digging into his foot, and being tased again.  Fuck!!!!!! It hurts so much!!!!!  This one appears to be taking longer than the last three.  It must be bigger.  Patrick lays there for probably two or three hours.  He passes out two more times.  Please be done soon!  I can’t hold on anymore!  He succumbs to the pain once more, before being woken up by the taser. 

“Hang in there just a little bit longer, Sugar.  I’m almost done.” Gabe tells him. 

Patrick is only somewhat conscious when Gabe finishes. 

“Ok, I’m done with this one.  That was the last one for tonight, Sugar, but we aren’t done quite yet.  There are a few matters we need to take care of.  The first of which, is that I’m hungry.”  Gabe taunts.

Fuck!  Gabe grabs his head, tilts it to one side and attacks his neck, biting down very hard.  Patrick feels the blood leaving his body as Gabe sucks it out, feeding on him. Patrick is starting to feel dizzy and lightheaded.  Gabe stops just short of him passing out.  Now Patrick is barely conscious.  Gabe orders Spencer to extubate him.  Spencer disconnects the breathing tube from the ventilator. 

“Ok Patrick, I need you to take a deep breath and exhale.”  As Patrick does this, Spencer pulls the tube out.  His throat is raw and sore.   Gabe bites his wrist and gives Patrick a small amount of his blood (not enough to make him hallucinate).  Then he pulls out the needle full of heroin.  Patrick sees it, and blinks twice for no, even though a part of him wanted it.  He knew that it would make him feel good and kill his pain after such a torturous night.  Gabe sees this, smiles a very sadistic smile and stabs it into Patrick’s side. 

“Goodnight, Sugar!”  Gabe says as his eyes roll back in his head and he is finally allowed to pass out for the night. Gabe doesn’t heal the new tattoos, the tongue piercing, or the cuts on his feet. 

Gabe calls for Brad and they pick him up and dump him on the floor of his cell.  Brad closes the cell door and they both leave.

“I think you should stay home today, love.” Frank said calmly.

He wanted to say this numerous times this morning, but Patrick hasn’t been responsive to much at all, so he’s been holding back.

“Please? Just today. Then you can go back and be the amazing lifesaving sweetheart that you are.”  Frank continues.

Patrick looked up at this, half in disbelief and half in pure rage.

“Lifesaving? Six of the people I worked with are dead and so are twelve of the inmates, my patients, eighteen more are injured.” he roughly shoved himself away from the island and walked over to the sink, sighing heavily.

For a moment, he thought he was going to be sick, remembering receiving the list of tragedies before he was able to leave. Some of them had some notes beside their names about possible causes of death – he’s dreading learning about those causes today.  And truthfully, he was sad about all who died during the riot, especially Dallon, and he’ll for sure be crying over him later, but he was extraordinarily mind boggled about his time crawling around with Pete. Pete was mostly on his mind this morning and it bothered him that he was. Something just felt very wrong. He knew what felt wrong, but he figured he would ask his questions later when he got to work, it was a feeling he’d felt before with the prisoner and passed off as overexertion. He didn’t want to ignore it this time, though. This time, the feeling prolonged and he couldn’t think about anything else. He supposed that was better than thinking about all the deaths within the prison.  Frank walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him back from his thoughts. Patrick didn’t hesitate to lean back into his comforting chest. He stared out their window overlooking the front yard, suddenly missing these moments where he could just be held for no particular reason.

 “I’m so sorry, hon.” Frank lightly kissed his jaw Patrick turned and nuzzled into Frank’s neck, letting his husband soothe him, to hum one of his favorite lullabies in his ear and rub his back.

He tried to ignore his alarm going off in their room. It was time to go to work, but really, he sort of wanted to stay home, safe in Frank’s arms. Safe from some questions he wanted to avoid.  Safe from any and all nasty catcalls. He knew Frank would call Gerard and tell him he had to stay home if Patrick asked.  Patrick remembers when this happened, but Frank wasn’t involved at all.  At least he is pretty sure that Frank wasn’t involved.

Chapter Text

Chapter 26

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

When Patrick wakes up, his throat and tongue hurt and feel like they are on fire. He remembers the tongue piercing last night.  It is super swollen today and it feels heavy with the weight of large balls that are on top and below his tongue.  It hurt so bad!  His back, neck, and lower belly are super sore to the point where it hurts to touch them or move.  Even his clothes hurt.  His feet are aching too.  It feels like there are bandages on them, but the bandages feel warm and wet, so he knows they are still bleeding.  It hurts to put any weight on them.  He crawls to the toilet because he feels sick and starts puking again.  Joe comes to help him, puts a hand on his shoulder and Patrick screams in pain.  Joe pulls his hand back and sees what looks like a snake’s head running all the way up the back of Patrick’s neck to where his hairline starts.  Patrick vomits a few more times until he feels like there is nothing left. 

Joe asks, “are you sure you are done puking?” 

Patrick sits there for a minute.  “Yes.  I’m almost positive I’m done.”  Patrick answers.

 Joe looks at Patrick for a second.  He doesn’t quite sound like himself.  It’s kind of hard to understand him and it sounds like he has a lisp now.  Should I say something?  Probably not. 

“Alright.  Why don’t you stand up and go sit on your bed.”  Joe instructs. 

“Um, there may be a problem, Joe.  I can’t stand right now.”  Patrick says. 

“Ok…why not?  Joe asks. 

“Gabe deeply cut the bottoms of both of my feet with a scalpel any time I didn’t answer a question the way I was supposed to, or if I passed out from the pain.  It hurts to put any weight on them.”  Patrick shows Joe the cuts on both of his feet. 

“Ok.  I will help you to your bed so we can talk more.”  Joe says. 

He picks up Patrick bridal style and places him in a sitting position and then pulls a chair over so he is sitting near Patrick’s bed. 

“Tell me exactly what happened after they took you last night.”  Joe says. 

Patrick hates how hard it is for him to talk.  He talks with a definite lisp now, and Patrick hates the sound of it. 

“Brad came to escort me to wherever we were going.” Patrick says.

I need to say something. 

“Before you continue, you don’t sound like yourself and it is really hard to understand you.  Why?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick takes a deep breath and then he opens up his mouth and shows Joe the tongue piercing.  The stud above and below his tongue are huge and the rod connecting them is also very thick and huge.  It made a humongous hole through his tongue and must’ve been incredibly painful.  His tongue is super swollen around the piercing.  Joe was not expecting that at all. 

“Holy Shit, Patrick!  What the fuck?  Did you let him do that to you?”  Joe asks. 

“Fuck No!  I fought like hell!  He used some kind of mind control when he did it.  He told me to look into his eyes and I turned my head away, so he had Theodore turn my head so it was facing him.  Then I squeezed my eyes shut, and he told Shane to hold my eyelids open.  After that, I found my body doing whatever he told me to do.  I was screaming and fighting like hell in my head and body, but it wouldn’t do what I was telling it to do.  He can control me and my actions and it scares the shit out of me!”  Patrick answers.

“I see.  Why can’t you take the tongue piercing out?” Joe asks. 

Patrick replies “I can’t.  He did some mind control thing and commanded that I am not allowed to take it out, unless he commands otherwise.” Patrick answers. 

He is holding back the tears at this point. 

“Fuck!  That’s terrible!”  Joe comments. 

“Yeah, I hate the sound of my voice now!  It’s really hard for me to talk and now I have a lisp that is constantly there!”  He cries. 

Joe goes to sit next to Patrick on his bed and put his arm around his shoulders.  Patrick almost jumps to the ceiling when Joe touches him

“Owwww!!  Fuck!!  Please don’t touch me right now!  I know you are trying to help, but it just hurts too much!”  Patrick is getting more upset now. 

Joe removes his arm immediately. 

“What hurts Patrick?  Let me see what Gabe did to you.  Show me.”  Joe responds. 

“I don’t even know what he did.  He had Spencer paralyze me with a paralytic drug and intubate me.  Spencer shoved a tube down my throat, very roughly I might add, and he hooked me up to a ventilator.  I was awake the whole time and I felt EVERYTHING, but I couldn’t move at all!  The only thing I could do was blink my eyes!  It was so painful Joe!  I tried my hardest to stay awake, but there was so much pain, that I couldn’t stop myself!”  He says. 

Patrick’s eyes fill up with tears again.  It’s almost as if he feels ashamed that this happened.  Joe is completely dumbfounded.  His eyes were open wide and his jaw was hanging open.  It takes him a minute to process all of this. 

“Oh my God!  I’m so sorry, Patrick!  That borders on inhumane!”  Joe says.  He seems to be getting angry. 

“Please show me Patrick.  I will tell you what he did.  I will even help you to the mirror so you can see for yourself.”  Joe says. 

Patrick takes a deep breath before saying “ok.” 

He starts unbuttoning his shirt and slowly peeling it off since it is stuck to his back.  This causes him immense pain and he screams while doing it.

“Ahhhh!” He screams. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Joe tries to contain his anger when he sees all of it.  His whole back is covered with a giant purple cobra with yellow eyes and a red tongue.  It completely covers his whole back and goes up the back of his neck, all the way to his hairline.  The cobra’s head is on the back of his neck.  In the small space next to the cobra, he sees the words “Property of the Cobra.”  When Patrick turns around, Joe sees a barcode in the space between his collar bones and his Adam’s Apple.  Underneath the barcode is the word “Slave.”  The next ones Joe sees are the ones behind his ears.  On the right side, there are two guns with the barrels crossing each other.  On the left side, there is a scorpion whose claws curl around the bottom of his earlobe and the tail curling around the top of his ear.  The stinger is directly above his ear.  It appears they shaved a small amount of his hair for that part.  Finally, Patrick rolls down his pants to right above his crotch and Joe sees the large crown.  It starts right underneath his belly button and goes all the way to the top of his crotch with the letters A.L.K.N. right above the space where his lower belly meets his crotch. 

Joe can’t imagine how painful this was for Patrick.  Usually, you would do the back piece in several sittings and the others would have been done at different times.  The fact that Gabe made him sit through all of these in one night and expect him to deal with that much pain, is unconscionable. 

“He made you sit through all of these last night, and cut you when you lost consciousness?”  Joe asks. 

“Yes.  He tased me a few times too.”  Patrick answers. 

Joe takes a deep breath to try and contain his anger for Gabe.  I’m going to kill him!  I know he’s a vampire, but I will find a way to kill him!  Joe describes all of them to Patrick, telling him that Gabe has claimed him with the Cobra and that he had been marked as a member of the Latin Kings because of the crown and the letters beneath it on his lower belly and the rings and crown tattoos on his fingers.  Patrick is shocked and takes a few minutes to really understand what Joe is telling him. 

“I trust you Joe, but I need to see these for myself.  Could you help me to the mirror please?”  Patrick asks. 

“Of course.  Can I put your arm over my shoulder, or will that hurt too much?  If so, I can carry you and hold you up when we get there.” Joe answers. 

“You can put my arm over your shoulder.”  Patrick responds. 

Joe puts Patrick’s arm over his shoulder, stands up and helps Patrick over to the mirror. 

“Which do you want to see first?”  Joe asks. 

“I guess the ones in front since I’m already facing that way.”  Patrick answers. 

Joe puts his arms underneath Patrick’s armpits and holds him up.  “Ok, look.”  Joe says. 

Patrick’s eyes bug out when he sees his reflection. 

“Oh my God!”  He says as his eyes start filling up with water again and running down his cheeks again.  “That fucking bastard!  I’m going to kill him!”  He yells.  “Turn me around, Joe.”  He says. 

Joe turns him around.  Patrick looks over his shoulder to see exactly what Joe described. 

“I’m his property?  I’m a person, not someone’s property!  What the fuck?”  

He’s so overwhelmed right now, that he just loses it.  Joe takes him back and sits him on his bed again.  They sit there for a while until Patrick is calmed down enough to actually talk about it. 

“How can I be a member of a Latin gang?  Don’t I have to be Latin?  I’m as white as they come!”  Patrick asks. 

Joe looks at him.  “Sometimes gang members will mark someone with their gangs’ symbol to either mark and claim them, or protect them.  I think he did this to claim you and let everyone else know that they are to leave you alone.  The Cobra?  That is definitely to claim you and to make that known to everyone.  It is sick and horribly twisted, but that is the only reason I can think of that he would do that.  You know, besides being an evil, sadistic vampire that loves to see you suffer.”  Joe explains. 

It doesn’t really make Patrick feel any better. 

“Now, Let’s get those feet looked at.  You may need stitches” says Joe. 

He walks to the front of their cell and calls for the guard. 

“Guard!”  Thankfully Brad doesn’t show up.  It is a different guard that comes. 

“Yes?”  the guard asks.  “I need to take my friend to sick bay.  He has very deep cuts on the bottoms of his feet that need stitches.”  Joe says. 

“Ok.  I will escort you two.”  The guard responds and presses the button to open their cell door. 

Joe goes and picks up Patrick and takes him to sick bay.  Spencer takes off the bandages and looks at the cuts on Patrick’s feet when they get there. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“They are very deep and Patrick will indeed need stitches.”  Spencer says. 

He numbs Patrick’s feet with Novocaine, and stitches the cuts closed. 

“Patrick, how did you get these deep cuts?”  Spencer asks. 

Patrick looks at him like he has a hole in his head. 

“Seriously?  You were there!  You paralyzed me, shoved a breathing tube down my throat, and hooked me up to a ventilator.  You stood there doing nothing while Gabe tattooed me for hours.  Gabe asked me questions and if I didn’t answer them correctly or passed out from the pain, he’d cut me on my feet and lick the blood from the wounds.  Other times, Shane slapped me, or Brad used the taser on me.  Do you not remember any of that?”  Patrick asks. 

Spencer says “You are kind of hard to understand, Patrick, but no, I don’t remember any of that.” 

Patrick showed him the tongue piercing.  “I don’t suppose you remember this either?”  Patrick asks as he sticks his tongue out at Spencer. 

Spencer shakes his head no. 

“You need to watch that though; it could get infected.  It looks really swollen.” 

Again, Patrick gives Spencer a look that could kill someone.  It is then that it occurs to Patrick and Joe, that Spencer must have been compelled to forget everything.  Spencer finishes the stitches, bandages the wounds, gives Patrick some pain pills and some crutches and tells Patrick and Joe that they can return to their cell.  The guard is waiting outside and takes them back to their cell when Patrick is released.

Once they are back in their cell, Patrick lays on his bed and attempts to sleep, but again sleep alludes him.  He went to breakfast with Joe, but he didn’t eat anything because his tongue hurt too badly and his stomach was still messed up from the drugs from the night before.  His stomach is growling and it is getting close to lunch time.  His tongue is so swollen that he can barely talk, so he is wondering how he is going to eat.  He imagines what it will feel like if he bites his tongue or the ball of the barbell, which he is pretty sure will make him jump up to the ceiling in pain.  Patrick and Joe go to lunch, get their food and sit down at one of the tables.  Another inmate approaches their table shortly after they sit down and asks if he can join them.  Patrick doesn’t know him and is afraid he might want something from Patrick like the others did yesterday.  He looks like he saw a ghost.  Then Joe looks up and smiles. 

“Hey Dan!  Of course, you can join us!” 

Dan sits down at the table and Joe introduces him. 

“Patrick this is one of my good friends.  His name is Dan and we met at our job maintaining the prison grounds.”  Patrick looks up at him and waves. 

He tries to say hi, but with his tongue being so swollen, it was kind hard to understand.  Joe tells Dan what happened and why Patrick can’t really talk. 

“Wow!  That’s rough man.  I’m sorry that happened to you.” Dan replies.  Patrick nods.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

   Meanwhile, Gabe is sitting at the table in the back left corner where he usually hangs out with his goons.  He is watching Patrick and notices that he isn’t eating and didn’t eat anything for breakfast.  This will not do! He needs Patrick to stay healthy so his blood keeps tasting good and he can continue feeding on him.  He devises a plan where he will approach Patrick and his goons will hold him down and force feed him hard stuff.

“Listen up!  I’ve been watching Sugar and he hasn’t eaten anything today.  That is not healthy so here is what we are going to do.  We are going to approach him and his friend, Joe.  Then you guys are going to hold him down while I force feed him.  Eating a balanced meal is integral for good health.  Since he isn’t eating, I feel like we need to step in.  Everyone understand?”  Gabe explains. 

He looks around to each of his cronies and waits until they all nod yes.  They wait for the new guy to finish up and leave. 

“Alright.  Let’s go!”  Gabe says.  They all get up and move to Patrick’s table.  Gabe sits on one side of Patrick, while the others stand behind him and sit on the other side of Patrick.  Patrick is instantly nervous.  Oh Fuck!  What now?  Joe is still sitting across from them. 

“Why aren’t you eating Sugar?” he asks. 

Patrick gives him a dirty look, but doesn’t say anything. 

“Aren’t you hungry?  You’d think you would be after all that happened yesterday and last night.”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick shakes his head no. 

“Well, here is the problem, Sugar.  You need to eat, keep your strength up, and get the nutrients you need.  Will you please eat a little something for me?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick shakes his head no.  Joe sees all of this happening, knows where this is going, but is afraid to intervene, especially publicly since he knows who Gabe is and what he’s capable of. 

“Uh, Patrick…maybe you should eat something small.” Joe says as he is looking back and forth between Patrick and Gabe. 

“Your friend is right.  You should eat something.  Please?  For me?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick looks at him and shakes his head no, again. 

“This is your last chance to do this peacefully.  If you don’t agree, I’m afraid I will have to intervene, for your own safety and health.”  Says Gabe.

Joe sees what is about to happen and says “Come on Patrick!  Just a little bit.” 

Once again, Patrick looks at Gabe and says “No!  Fuck you!” 

Gabe calls Brad over, says something into his ear, and then Brad comes over to Patrick and shocks him with the taser on the lowest setting.   Patrick tenses up and screams in pain as he bites his tongue. 

“Ahhhhh!!!!” He screams. 

“Last chance to do this yourself Sugar.” Gabe says. 

Patrick shakes his head no again.  Gabe looks at Brad and he tases Patrick again.  This time Patrick screams again in pain, bites the ball and almost breaks a tooth. 

“Ahhhhh!”  He screams. 

Gabe signals his cronies to hold him down, open his mouth, and force feed him.  Shane holds him from behind, while Theodore forces his mouth open.  Ross and Justin are holding each of his arms down hard.  They start with the hard stuff because they know that will hurt the worst.  They open his mouth, drop the food in, and put a hand over his mouth so he can’t spit it out.  

“Now chew and swallow like a good boy.” Gabe antagonizes him. 

Patrick starts chewing.  He keeps biting his tongue and the ball and it hurts so bad!  He has tears in his eyes as they stuff more food in his mouth.  The tears start rolling down his face, replaced by new ones.  He swallows.  He cries out when he bites his tongue again after the next round of food is stuffed in his mouth. 

“Owwwww!”  He screams. 

The tears start flowing again as he keeps chewing and bites the ball again.  This continues for quite a while until Gabe is satisfied that he has eaten enough. 

“See, that wasn’t so hard, now, was it?”  Patrick looks at Gabe and shakes his head no. 

Gabe comes around and whispers in his ear. “I have a good reward for a being such a good boy.” 

Patrick’s eyes widen when he realizes it’s drugs. 

He looks at Gabe and says “No!  I don’t want a reward!  I promise I will eat from now on!” 

Gabe puts his arm around him from behind and uses the other hand to inject the drugs into his back. 

“Ah!”  Patrick says when he feels the needle go into his back.  It hurts a lot more than normal since he is being injected into the inflamed, sore, raw, tattooed skin.

 “Too bad!” Gabe says. 

He lets go of Patrick and Patrick falls to the floor while he is having his high.  Gabe and his cronies get up and leave him there on the floor.  Joe runs to him and picks up his head just as he passes out again. 

“What did you give him?” he calls to Gabe. 

Gabe looks at him, laughs and continues walking out of the mess hall.  Joe picks up Patrick, takes him back to their cell and lays him on his bed.  He stays with him as long as he can.  He is hoping he wakes up before he has to leave for his job.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“You look so adorable. And hot, but adorable with that little hat of yours, you should keep it on,” Frank says, wrapping an arm around him and kissing his cheek.

“Are you sure you want to go? You don’t have to. I can–.” Frank asks.

“No, you’re not canceling your appearance. I’m okay.” Patrick smiled, turning to kiss him properly. He leaned back into him and allowed himself to enjoy the moment.

Frank’s band had a concert he’d forgotten about and his husband’s been asking if he’d rather stay home, offering to stay with him if he wanted. He was usually working during their concerts, but he had today off, figured he’d go to support the one time he was able. He liked their music and enjoyed Gerard’s voice. And a lot of the time he would watch Frank in awe, watching him perform always felt like a one in a lifetime experience, he loved seeing him so carefree and, seemingly, at peace. Frank’s band made him happy and that was all it took to make Patrick happy, really. To make him forget about all the other things prodding his mind.  Frank began peppering his cheek and neck with ticklish kisses and he couldn’t help giggling and trying to get out of the hold. He was unsuccessful. 

“Well, we can be a little late to sound check.” Frank murmured in his ear, turning him around and lifting him onto the counter. 

Patrick squealed in response, not quite wanting this to stop but he should try to be responsible for their sake. Except he was already pulling Frank close and pushing his arms around his neck, instinctively spreading his legs and wrapping them around his husband’s waist.

“Honey, we shouldn’t be late again.”  Patrick comments.

Frank only chuckled as their lips met, placing his hands on Patrick’s hips and moving to suck on that sensitive spot-on Patrick’s neck that produces the most beautiful sounds, grinding oh so pleasantly against him. 

“Maybe we should wait until after.” Patrick breathed, Frank was still sucking on that soft spot, he was sure there would be a mark.

A part of him didn’t care, another part of him thought about the judgments and…things some inmates would yell at him.  It’s fine. He needs to stop denying himself like an idiot, he’ll just grab his turtleneck in the morning. He tangled his fingers in Frank’s beautiful, short black hair and held him closer, begging him for more.  What is happening right now?  I’m not attracted to Frank, so this is really weird.  We are just friends.  He is good looking, he’s just not my type, at least that is what I thought before this vision came along.

Patrick wakes up laying on his bed in his cell.  How did I get here?  The last time he was conscious, he was in the mess hall.  He sits up and looks around the cell.  Joe isn’t there.  He must be at his job.  He tries to stand up, but his feet hurt to too much to put any weight on and is immediately dizzy and sick from the drugs.  He grabs his crutches from earlier and manages to make it to the toilet before he pukes, making his throat and tongue burn even more, as if acid had been thrown on them.  He has a couple bouts of puking before he is done.  He gets back up with his crutches and starts looking for the pain pills Spencer gave him.  He finds them on the floor under his bunk.  He tries to get down on the ground again without using his feet, which turns out to be pretty hard.  He grabs the pills, sets them on his bed, and uses the bedframe to pull himself up to a standing position.  Then he hobbles over to the sink, with his crutches to take one of the pills.  He returns to his bed to try and sleep a bit.  He is getting so tired!  He has lost track of how long it has been since he actually slept, but it is starting to take its toll.  Everything is getting harder to do, even just functioning is hard.  His reaction time is much slower and he’s having vision problems too.  He closes his eyes, hoping to actually fall asleep when Brad starts banging on the door to his cell. 

He sits up and looks at Brad. “What?” He asks. 

“I’m supposed to take you to a job interview.” 

Patrick rolls his eyes and then swings his legs over the side of the bed, grabs his crutches, and makes his way toward the door of the cell.  Brad opens the cell door and Patrick steps out.  When they are more out-of-the-way, Brad pushes Patrick against the wall hard. 

“What was that for?  I didn’t do anything.”  Patrick asks. 

Brad bares his fangs and says “I’m hungry.  Your blood tasted so good last night and I want some right now.”

Patrick asks “Aren’t we supposed to be going to a job interview right now?”

“I left time for this before we have to be there.” He says. 

“Fuck!  What about the blood and the bite marks?  I can’t have them at a job interview!” Patrick yells. 

Brad grabs him and pushes him up against the wall again, while pushing his head to the side so he had good access to his neck. 

“Don’t worry, I will be as careful and clean as I can be.  I brought you a towel to use for anything afterward.  I will close the bite marks before we go in.”  Brad informs him. 

Patrick is looking up at Brad with terror in his eyes.  Brad feeds off the terror and bites down hard on Patrick’s neck.  The pain is unbearable!  Brad slurps a lot of blood from him and he is beginning to feel weak and is having trouble standing.  Patrick taps Brad on his shoulder, and Brad stops feeding for a second. 

“What?” he asks. 

“If you take any more, I won’t be able to talk to anyone.  I’m already feeling really weak and my legs feel like jelly.”  Patrick informs him. 

Brad pulls off and licks the bite marks to close them. 

“This isn’t over.  We will continue this when you are done.” Brad says. 

He licks up all of the blood on Patrick’s neck, gives him the towel to wipe the rest off, and lets go of Patrick.  Patrick tries to stay standing, but can’t and falls on the ground. 

“Stand up!” Brad yells. 

“I can’t!   You took too much!” Patrick says. 

“Fuck!” Brad says as he bites his wrist and tells Patrick to open his mouth.  Patrick opens his mouth and Brad drops three drops of blood into his mouth (it’s not enough to make him hallucinate). 

“Now we will wait a few minutes and you should be ok.”  Brad says. 

When Patrick feels like he can stand and walk, they continue to the office where his job interview will be held.

They enter the Office of Prison Employment, meet with the interviewer, and it is decided that Patrick will work in the mess hall, preparing food, serving food, and washing dishes.  On their way back, Brad stops and grabs him to finish his feeding.  He doesn’t take as much this time.  When he is done, he closes the bite marks, and smiles at Patrick with a dangerous look in his eye.  Patrick’s eyes widen. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He asks. 

Brad continues staring at him for a moment before speaking. 

“Since you have had some of my blood and are stronger, I think it is time you learn about one of my other powers.” He says. 

“What would that be?” Patrick asks as he is trying to squirm away from Brad. 

“It is hard to explain, so let me just show you.”  Brad says.

Patrick tries to back away and run, but Brad is too fast for him, knocks him down on the ground and straddles Patrick’s legs.  Patrick thinks he might be about to be raped again, when Brad rips his shirt open and places his hand over Patrick’s heart.  Then Patrick is in more pain than he has ever felt in his life.  It feels like Brad is literally sucking the lifeforce out of his body.  He starts to scream out because it hurts so bad. 

“Ahhhhh!” He screams. 

It’s an odd feeling, but Patrick feels like his body is aging somehow.  His muscles, joints and bones feel older and hurt much more.  His vision is going too.  He looks at his hand and it has dark spots all over it and his hair and facial hair is gray.  He feels the life leaving his body when finally, his heart stops and he is dead.  Then, all of a sudden, he feels the life being brought back into his body, he can breathe again, his heart is beating again, and the age spots are disappearing.  He seems to be back to the age he was when he started, and finally Brad releases him.  Patrick is in shock.  The pain is still ripping through him and he is taking very deep breaths trying to figure out what happened to him.  His body is exhausted.  He couldn’t move if he tried. 

When he finally catches his breath, he looks up at Brad and says “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO TO ME?” 

Brad smiles and looks down at him.  “I have the power to feed on your lifeforce.  I can strip away years of your life to the point of death, and then I can bring you back if I choose to.  I have heard that it causes humans immense pain.” Brad says. 

Still out of breath, Patrick asks “why would you do this to someone?” 

“Because I enjoy causing humans immeasurable pain and making them suffer.  It is fun!” Brad answers. 

Patrick looks at him “Fun?  What the fuck?  You are such a sadistic bastard!” He yells. 

“That’s right!” Brad responds.  “Now, let’s get you back to your cell so you can rest up for tonight.”  Brad says. 

“I can’t move.  Everything hurts and I can barely breathe.” Patrick says.  Brad picks him up, and the pain from whatever just happened is enough that Patrick can’t stay conscious.  Brad opens Patrick’s cell and drops him on the floor.  He bites his wrist again and drips a lot more blood than before into Patrick’s mouth, closes his cell and leaves.

*Patrick is sleeping.  He wakes up and rolls over to find Pete in bed with him.  Pete is cuddled up close to him.  Patrick watches Pete sleep for a bit, when Pete wakes up. 

“Good morning sunshine!”  Patrick says.

Pete looks at him and gives him one of his million-dollar smiles.

“I love waking up next to you every morning” Pete says. 

Patrick smiles and plants a kiss on Pete’s mouth. 

“Ready for that already huh?”  Pete asks. 

Patrick looks at him and rolls his eyes.  “Sure!  Let’s do this” Patrick replies trying so hard to hold back a laugh. 

He stares at Pete straight in the eye and they both crack up laughing at the same time.  Patrick loves these little moments with Pete.  He can really feel how much Pete loves him through their bond. 

“You promised me breakfast last night.  I want pancakes.” Pete says. 

Patrick groans and then drags himself out of bed, grabs some pants and a shirt and heads to the kitchen to make Pete the pancake breakfast he promised.  While Patrick is making the pancakes, Pete comes up behind him and puts his arms around and Patrick leans back into him and the rocks back and forth a little. 

“It smells so good!  I love you so much Patrick!”  Pete says.

Patrick turns around, puts his arms around Pete and kisses him hard, with a need for more. 

“I love you too Pete!  You are my soulmate.”  Patrick says.

“Whoa, slow down there, tiger.  Breakfast first, then sex.  You know how important a full stomach is for good love making.”  Pete says.  Patrick laughs and gives him a look as if he is saying “Really?”  Pete kisses Patrick once more before Patrick turns around and continues cooking the pancakes.  When they are done, Patrick puts them all on a plate, grabs the syrup, and sits down at the table.  Pete takes a few pancakes and puts them on his plate.  Then he covers the entire plate in maple syrup. 

Patrick watches this with a big smile saying “you are such a child!” 

Pete returns the look and says, “your just jealous that I took most of the syrup.”

Pete flashes a smile at Patrick.  Both are loving this domestic bliss.  After they finish and clean up breakfast, they both look at each other for a second before they crash into each other in a puddle of heavy kissing and some slight disrobing. 

Patrick pulls back and says “bedroom?”  

Pete agrees “bedroom.” 

They work their way there and Patrick falls over on the bed.  Pete is about to join him when he stops immediately, cries out in pain and collapses on the floor.  Patrick sits up to see what happened. He doesn’t believe what he sees.  Brad, William, and Gabe are in the doorway behind Pete and there is a stake in Pete’s back that goes through his heart.  Patrick runs to him crying over him. 

Pete looks up at him, caresses his face and manages to say “I love you, Patrick.”

Pete’s hand then falls limply off Patrick’s face as he dies. 

“Nooooooo!  Pete, please don’t leave me!” Patrick screams through tears running down his cheeks over Pete’s dead body. 

Brad, William, and Gabe grab Patrick from behind and drag him away kicking and screaming.  They knock him unconscious, tie him up and throw him into the trunk of their car. 

When he wakes up, his head hurts and he finds that it is really dark and damp, he is naked and his wrists are chained above his head and his ankles are chained to the wall.  He starts screaming and pulling on the chains to try and get out of them, but that doesn’t work.  His screaming is heard upstairs and a door opens.  He sees Gabe, William, and Brad coming down the stairs.  Patrick is terrified! 

“Well look who’s finally awake?”  Gabe says.  “I trust you made the trip ok?” 

“Where am I, why am I here, and why did you kill Pete?” Patrick says as he is still pulling at the chains trying to escape. 

“The answers to your questions are that you are in the basement of our lair.  We killed Pete because he was in the way of us getting what we wanted, and you are here to be our slave for the rest of your pitiful life, Sugar.” answers Gabe. 

“You will be our living blood bag, our sex slave, and our toy for whatever else we see fit.” Gabe adds. 

“You killed Pete to make me your blood bag and sex slave?”  Patrick asks.

 Gabe shakes his head yes. 

“YOU MURDERERS!  I HATE ALL OF YOU!” Patrick screams and yanks on the chains more. 

“Careful Patrick, there are two ways this can go.  You can accept your fate and make this easier for yourself, or you can continue to fight, and you will be punished via various means of torture.”  Gabe threatens. 

He gets in Patrick’s face and Patrick spits at him. 

“Ok.  Torture it is!” Gabe replies.  “Brad, do you mind handing me the whip?”  Gabe asks. 

Brad grabs the whip and hands it to Gabe.  Gabe turns him around so that his back is facing him.  “Last chance, Sugar.”  Says Gabe. 

Patrick looks him dead in the eye and says “Go to hell Gabe! I hope they fuck you on your way there!” 

Gabe brings the whip up and strikes Patrick’s back more times that he can count.  He cries out in pain.  His back feels raw.  Then William takes over for a while, so that Gabe can feed on him and rape him while he is being whipped.  They finally stop.  It felt like hours.  Patrick is barely conscious.  Gabe grabs his face, looks at him, and hits him hard enough for him to lose consciousness.  He is left hanging there naked and in the dark with blood streaming down his back.  The next morning, he wakes up and is brought a small amount of water and food.  It’s probably just enough to keep him alive.  The door opens again to reveal William. 

“How are you feeling today, Patrick?  He asks. 

“Like you don’t already know!  What do you want William?” Patrick asks. 

“Well, I’m hungry and Gabe and Brad have told me that your blood tastes like no other human they have ever fed from, so I’m here to see for myself.” 

Then William attacks Patrick and begins sucking so much blood that he feels like he might be close to death.  He starts to feel weak, dizzy and is on the verge of passing out.  William finally stops and says

“They were right!  No wonder they wanted you so bad!”

He looks at Patrick one more time and then leaves him there to pass out.  This is my life now.  I think I’d rather be dead.  The door opens again, but Patrick doesn’t have the strength to move and look at who it might be.  It turns out to be Brad, who Patrick is very afraid of.  If he does that life sucking thing on me right now, I will probably die.  It turns out Brad only wants to rape him and he does.  Patrick is too weak to fight or say anything.  Brad notices that Patrick is pretty close to death from blood loss so he bites his wrist, opens Patrick’s mouth and drips a few drops of his blood into Patrick’s mouth.  I wish he would’ve just let me die!*

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Joe returns to his cell after working his shift in prison maintenance.  He finds Patrick lying on the floor unconscious, screaming something about Pete dying. 

“No! Please don’t leave me” Patrick screams. 

Joe tries to wake him up, thinking he is having a nightmare, but he can’t wake him. 

“He must be hallucinating” Joe says to himself. 

He doesn’t really know what to do.  He picks Patrick up and puts him in his bed. 

“You killed Pete to make me your living blood bag and sex slave?” he hears Patrick say. 

The next thing he knows, Patrick is screaming “Murderers!  I hate all of you!” as it appears Patrick is trying to escape some form of captivity. 

Then he spits at something, actually spitting on himself since no one is really there, and says “Go to Hell Gabe!  I hope they fuck you on the way there.” 

Then Patrick is screaming in pain and acting as if he is being whipped, fed on and violated.  He stops screaming and his body goes still for a bit. 

“What do you want William?” Joe hears Patrick say.  Patrick is reacting like he is being attacked and fed on.  Patrick opens his mouth and swallows like something is dripping into his mouth.  Patrick’s body goes still again for a few minutes before he wakes with a start.  His eyes are wide, he is covered in sweat, breathing hard, and he is crying. 

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?” he says softly. 

Joe taps his shoulder and Patrick spins around to look at him.  “You were hallucinating like you were after the fight a few days ago.” Joe tells him. 

“It felt so real!”  Patrick says. 

“What happened?”  Joe asks. 

“When I woke up after the mess hall, I was trying to sleep when Brad came and said he was supposed to take me to a job interview.  Before we got there though, he pushed me against a wall and fed on me.  He took too much blood.  I was at the point where I was really weak and my legs felt like jelly.  When he let go of me, I fell to the ground and I couldn’t get up.  He gave me a few drops of his blood and then I was able to stand and go to the interview.  On the way back, he finished his feeding and then said something about how I needed to learn about his other power.  I was laying on the floor.  He straddled me, ripped my shirt, put his hand on my chest, then I was in the worst pain I have ever known.  He told me that he has the power to feed on my life force, stripping years off my life until I died, and then he brought me back.  He said he does it because it is fun and he likes seeing humans in immeasurable pain.  I could barely breathe and I was in so much pain that I couldn’t move and I passed out.  That’s all I remember.” Patrick explained. 

“When I came back, you were on the floor screaming and hallucinating.  I tried to wake you up, but I couldn’t, so I picked you up and put you on your bed.  What did you see?” Joe asks. 

“I woke up in bed with Pete.  We talked and cuddled for a bit.  I could feel how much he loved me, and I loved him.  Then I got up and made Pete pancakes for breakfast.  After we were done eating and cleaned everything up, things got kind of heavy and we were on our way to the bedroom, when Pete was staked in the back through his heart by Gabe, William, and Brad.  They dragged me away, knocked me unconscious, tied me up and threw me in the trunk of a car.  When I woke up, I was chained to the ceiling and wall, I was naked, and I was in a basement.  Then they came down and told me that they killed Pete because they wanted me as their slave.  It was just all abuse after that.  I just wanted to die.” Patrick said. 

“Man, that is fucked up!” Joe comments.

Patrick nodded.  “We were so happy, and then it took this terrifying turn.  The worst thing was that it all felt completely real.” Patrick said. 

“Do you know what Brad gave you to make you hallucinate?” Joe asks. 

Patrick shakes his head no. 

“Nothing.  Unless he gave me something while I was passed out.” Patrick answers. 

“Are you ok?” asks Joe. 

Patrick thinks about it for a minute.  “I think so.  It wasn’t real, even though it felt totally real.” 

“How do your feet feel?  Can you stand now?” asks Joe. 

“Yeah, they seem to be completely healed.  Why?” Patrick answers. 

“I think now would be a good time for me to start teaching you how to fight.” Joe answers. 

“Ok.  Give me a few minutes and then we can start.” Patrick says. 

Patrick sits there for a bit, trying to gain his composure.  Then he gets up, facing Joe. 

“How do we do this?” he asks. 

“We are going to start with the basics.  In order to be truly effective at self-defense, you need to be proactive and not reactive.  You need to have the proper mindset and think quickly on your feet.  We are going to start with striking.  This is where you practice throwing punches.  I’m going to grab the pillow off my bed and then we will get started.  Ok, I’m going to hold this pillow at chest level.  I want to bring your hands up in fighting position in front of your chest.  Slowly rotate your right forearm as you extend it forward at head height.  At the end of the punch, your arm is straight with your palm facing the floor and the wrist straight. Stand sideways in front of me so I can watch your form.” 

Patrick does as he is told. 

“Good!  Now I am going to hold this pillow at head height.  I want you to hit the pillow as hard as you can.” Joe says. 

Patrick hits the pillow, but not very hard. 

“That was good, but I want you hit the pillow as hard as you can.” Joe says. 

Patrick tries again.  This time he hits the pillow harder. 

“You need to hit it harder Patrick.  I know you are afraid you are going to hurt me, but don’t be.  I’m a professional.  You won’t hurt me.  Now again as hard as you can.  Use your whole body to deliver the punch.  You can also use your anger to focus the force of the punch.”  Says Joe.   Patrick pictures the pillow as Gabe’s face and hits the pillow much harder.

“That was good!  Now let’s keep practicing that.” Joe says. 

Patrick repeats the action repeatedly until he feels like he has got the hang of it.  He does it a few more times, but then is too tired to continue. 

“Alright.  This was a good first lesson.  We will practice this every day and I will slowly add in more details as I feel you are ready for them.”  Says Joe. 

Patrick nods his head yes.  He is very tired and out of breath so he goes to sit down on his bed. 

“Do you really think I will be able to defend myself against Gabe’s goons?” Patrick asks. 

“Of course!  It will just take some time.  I will see if I can book us some gym time so we can use real equipment sometime this week.”  Joe says. 

“Ok.” Answers Patrick. 

Patrick takes some time to lay down and try to sleep.  He is exhausted from fighting so, surely, he will be able to sleep now.  He lays down and closes his eyes.  He lays there for 45 minutes, tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable because all of the tattoos are incredibly sore now, but he still can’t fall asleep.  He decides to just lay there and rest for a little while.  After another hour of not sleeping, Brad shows up to take him somewhere.  Patrick is pretty terrified when he sees Brad. 

“Gabe wants to see you.”  He says. 

“What if I don’t want to see him?”  Patrick asks. 

“You don’t have a choice, but I will be sure to tell Gabe you didn’t want to come.  I’m sure he will have a good punishment for that.”  Brad says as he opens the cell door, grabs Patrick’s arms hard and drags him out of the cell. 

“Owww!  You are hurting me!” Patrick cries. 

“You want to see pain?  I’ll show you pain.” Brad says as he slaps Patrick’s back and lower belly very hard and presses hard on the barcode. 

“FUUUUUUCK!” Patrick screams. 

“Are you going to resist some more, or can we go?” Brad asks. 

Patrick shakes his head no and is dragged away by Brad.

Patrick has no idea where Brad is taking him, until he sees the room he is being brought to.  This was the room where he confronted Gabe yesterday about the tattoos, and where Gabe brutally raped him.  Brad throws him into the room so hard that he trips and falls, face first on the ground. 

“He said he didn’t want to see you and did not come willingly.  I had to slap him on all of the tattoos from last night before he would come.”  Brad tells Gabe. 

Gabe looks down at Patrick with a sick smile.  “You put up a fight huh?  We will have to punish that behavior.  Thanks for telling me Brad.  You may go.” 

Brad turns around and leaves. 

“Hello Sugar.  You didn’t want to come to see me?” Gabe asks.

Patrick stands up, looks straight into Gabe’s eyes and says “No, I did not.  I’m sure you understand why.”  He says. 

“That’s too bad.  I was going to be a little nicer this time, but since you didn’t come willingly, I guess I need to punish you some more.” Gabe says. 

Patrick is pretty sure he knows what is coming and challenges Gabe. 

“You know what?  Fine!  Go ahead!  I highly doubt you were going to be gentler this time.”  Patrick says as he gets in Gabe’s face. 

Gabe tries to kiss him and Patrick headbutts him.  Gabe recoils back, surprised. 

“This is not the way to get on my good side, Sugar.” He says. 

“I don’t want to be on your good side!  I hate you!”  Patrick says. 

Gabe walks up to Patrick, grabs his face, kisses him first, and then punches him in the face.  He hits Patrick so hard that he falls to the floor and his eye is already starting to turn black.  He’s pretty sure that Gabe broke his cheekbone, and it fucking hurts!   

“You were right though, Sugar!  I had no plans on making this easier for you, especially after that.  I do love that you are such a fighter, though.  It kind of turns me on.”  Gabe looks at Patrick like he is a piece of meat, licking his lips.  “Time to give you some more bruises and scraping wounds that I will enjoy licking the blood from when I’m done.”  Patrick tries to get up, but Gabe attacks him, pushing him back onto the floor.  Patrick fights him as he tries to turn him on his stomach again, but Gabe is just too strong.  Gabe holds his hands behind his back, rips his pants off and savagely violates him again.  Just before he is done, Gabe bites his neck and starts feeding on him.  He sucks more and more blood and Patrick is too weak to fight back.  Patrick is barely awake and has new bleeding wounds on his face, knees, and stomach that Gabe doesn’t hesitate slurping up from.  Once Gabe finishes and turns him around on his back, Patrick lets out a yelp.  He pulls out the heroin and Patrick shakes his head no, but Gabe sticks him in his side. 

“Ah!” he cries. 

“Sweet Dreams Sugar!  I’ll see you later tonight.  I’ve got something special planned.” Gabe says as Patrick passes out. 

Gabe calls Brad to collect Patrick and take him back to his cell.  Brad opens the cell door and dumps Patrick hard on the floor.  Joe is there and gives Brad a dirty look, when he sees that Patrick’s pants are ripped and his bare ass is hanging out.  He also notices more wounds on his face, knees and stomach, the black eye, and the new bite marks that are newly healed, so he knows he’s been fed on again.  Joe is absolutely livid with Gabe!  Like Patrick hasn’t been through enough today!  He was force fed food, fed on by Brad, had his life force sucked out of him until he died and then was brought back, was given something that made him hallucinate some terrible shit, and now he has obviously been fed on and raped again by Gabe.  Joe takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.  He picks up Patrick and puts him on his bed, takes the ripped pants off and replaces them with a new pair.  There really isn’t much else to do but wait the drugs out and support him when Patrick wakes up.  At least he’s not hallucinating this time.     

The club was loud, ringing in your ears loud, he doesn’t remember clubs being quite as loud. Or maybe his job is getting the best of him and causing him to age faster, he couldn’t be sure. There weren’t even many people here, the majority of the fans were outside waiting in line to rush in. It would be a meet and greet for a couple of hours with the openers and his husband’s band, though Frank and the rest of the guys were hanging out at the bar before their fans were in. They typically say a drink or two wouldn’t hurt before a show, and, this time, it was 21+ only so that was good.  He was grateful for the dark lighting clubs were known for though, no one appeared to notice his ever so small limp in his walk. His cheeks reddened at the thought, oh man, he was quite embarrassed. 

“Hey, looking good doc. Buy you a drink?” Mikey slung an arm around Patrick, a faint smell of whiskey from his breath.

He tried not to think about Mikey possibly noticing.  He smiled and shook his head, raising his bottled water.

“No, thanks. How are you? Love the blonde!” Patrick says.

  “You’re so boring! Have a drink with us! And thank you very much,” he turned to Ray, keeping his arm around Patrick and dragging him a little. “I told you we blondes have to stick together!” 

Ray shook his head, raised his own drink and then nodded to Patrick.

“I think he looks ridiculous.”  Patrick laughed. 

“Pfft, ignore him. He doesn’t understand. By the way,” Mikey’s voice lowered and he set his drink on the bar. “How are you? After…”  He knows they usually don’t like asking him about the prison, it really just makes everyone uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. 

“I’m alright. I’m alive.” He shrugged. 

“Yeah, but–”

“Patrick!” Gerard practically shoved Mikey off and snatched Patrick up into a tight embrace, squeezing the everlasting air from his lungs. He struggled to hug back and breathe properly.

“Are you okay?! I know we haven’t been able to reach out, I’m sorry, but since you’re here. Talk to me!”

He pulled him towards a table and away from the others. Which was something he liked, he enjoyed being able to talk to Gerard about anything – he doesn’t think he was silently asking for privacy this time, but he appreciated it nonetheless. Gerard knows him well enough to spot any moments of anxiety and sometimes notices before Patrick himself realizes he’s about to freak out. 

“I’m okay, Gee, really! I promise. Thank you for asking.” He took a seat across the red-haired angel. 

“Are you sure? I know you hate it when we bring it up but I can connect you with someone–”

“No.” He looked down at the table.

“I like my job, Gee. I can’t just leave it.” 

Gerard watched him play with the sleeve of his jacket, eventually he reached across the table and held Patrick’s hand. Patrick smiled and changed the subject. He wasn’t going to think about work tonight. No, tonight was about their music and some fun.

“Do you still get nervous before you go on?”  Patrick asks. 

“Me? Of course. You should join us sometime. I miss your company!” Gerard answered.

Patrick was going to respond when Frank slid into the seat next to him, returning a kiss instead. 

“Now, now, Gerard, don’t try to steal him from me.” Frank joked. “Or…you know, replace me with him.”  Patrick laughed and playfully punched his husband’s arm. 

“Oh, I could replace you with him and a piano any day. I’m sure the fans would love it.”  Gerard chides. 

“I think they’d love him a little too much, don’t do that. I don’t want to share.”  Frank answers. 

Where are all of these thoughts coming from?  They feel like memories, but I don’t remember this ever happening.  They feel so real!  What is going on?

Chapter Text

Chapter 27

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, Gore, and Mentions of Rape.*******

Patrick wakes up two hours later in his bed in his cell.  His ass and back are throbbing from his ordeal with Gabe.  His head and eye were also pounding from where Gabe punched him.  He might have a broken cheek bone and a mild concussion.  Joe is by his side immediately. 

“Hey.  How do you feel?” Joe asks.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Before he can answer, he feels pretty sick from the blow to his head and the drugs.  He shoves Joe out of the way and barely makes it to the toilet before he pukes. 

“That bad, huh?” Joe jokes.  Patrick looks up at him and immediately breaks down in tears. 

“It happened again, Joe.  He-, He-, He-.”  Patrick says.  “I know, Patrick.  You don’t have to say it out loud.”  Joe cuts in.

“I feel so dirty and powerless. I tried to fight back, but he was just too strong.  I did headbutt him when he tried to kiss me so, maybe I deserved it this time.” Patrick responds.

That just crushed Joe, making him even madder at Gabe for making Patrick think that this is somehow his fault.  Joe looked Patrick dead in the eye. 

“Patrick, I need you to listen to what I’m about to say.  None of this is your fault!  Gabe is a sadistic predator, so is Brad for that matter.  He is praying on you because he wants something from you.  You are very strong and you will get through this.  You didn’t ask for this and you definitely don’t deserve any of this treatment from him.  Do you understand me?” 

Patrick blinks some more tears down his cheeks but he shakes his nods his head yes. 

“Good.  Now let’s see if Brad will let you take a shower, to wash off the filth and then we will take you to sickbay to get some of those iron infusions, since you have been fed on twice today and you will most likely be fed on again when they take you tonight.” Says Joe. 

“I’m scared, Joe.  He said he had something special planned for tonight, so that means either another piercing, which really fucking hurt by the way, or something worse than that.” Patrick says.

“Let’s worry about one thing at a time for right now, ok?” Joe answers. 

“Ok.” Patrick says. 

Joe calls Brad over. 

“What do you want?”  Brad asks. 

“Patrick would like to take a shower after his ordeal with Gabe.  Is that possible?”  Joe asks.  Brad thinks about it for a minute, then agrees and opens the cell door. 

“Get his shower stuff.”  Brad says. 

Joe gets it and gives it to Patrick.  Then, he grabs Patrick’s arm and leads him toward the showers.  Joe attempts to follow but Brad stops him before Joe steps out of the cell. 

“Where the fuck do you think you are going?”  He asks.

“I thought I was going with him.” Joe answers.

 “No, you are not.” Brad replies.  “I will take him, he will do what he needs to do, and then I will bring him back.  You will stay here, got it?” 

Joe nods and goes to sit back on his bed. 

When Brad brings Patrick back, his skin is all red, and looks like it has been rubbed raw.

 “Patrick what happened?” Joe asks. 

“I had to get the filth and the dirt off, so I kept scrubbing until I felt like I washed it off.” Patrick answers. 

Brad pushes him into his cell and closes the door. 

“I will be back for you later.  You better not fight me this time.” Brad says. 

He closes the cell door and leaves. 

“Great.  I can’t wait.” says Patrick with almost no feeling or emotion. 

“I guess we just sit back and wait?” Patrick asks. 

“No, now we are taking you to sick bay for those iron infusions, when they are finished, we will eat dinner in the mess hall.  After that we will practice the fighting techniques we worked on earlier today.  They will probably come to take you after that.  Now come on.  Let’s go to sick bay.” Joe says as he calls for Brad to open the door again to escort them to sick bay. 

Patrick nods and follows him.

Brad, Joe, and Patrick enter sickbay.  Spencer greets them. 

“Hello Joe.  Hello Patrick.  What can I do for you?”  He asks. 

“Hello Spencer, Patrick seems to have lost a lot of blood suddenly.  I think he may need some of those iron infusions.” Joe says. 

“Ok let me run a quick anemia test and we can get those started.  Patrick, have a seat on the bed.”  Spencer replies. 

Patrick does as he is told.  Spencer has him hold his arm out so he can take some blood.  He ties the elastic around his arm and waits for the vein to pop up.  Then he takes a needle and punctures the vein as the bottle fills up with blood.  When Patrick sees the needle, he recoils back and is visually uncomfortable. 

Spencer senses this, thinks it is odd, and says “Just a few more seconds and we should have what we need.” 

With the bottle full, he unties the elastic, puts a cap on the small vial of blood and says “Ok.  Let me go run this test.  It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to get the results.” 

He turns around and goes into the back room and puts the vial of blood in a machine that runs the test.  After about fifteen minutes, Spencer returns with the results. 

“You are indeed very anemic.  I can do the iron infusions, but you probably also need a blood transfusion.” Spencer says. 

“No, no blood transfusions!” Brad reacts loudly.

Patrick, Joe, and Spencer look at Brad with a questioning look.  Brad panics. 

“Uhhh…isn’t it better for his body to make his own blood, rather than mixing it with someone else’s blood?” Brad says while looking straight into Spencer’s eyes deeply.

Spencer freezes for a minute then replies almost robotically. 

“Yes.  The iron infusions should take care of it.  I don’t think we need the blood transfusion right now.” 

Patrick looks at Joe and whispers “He’s being compelled to think that by Brad.  Spencer won’t remember this after we leave.” 

Spencer gathers the supplies to do the iron infusions.  He starts with putting an IV into the vein on top of Patrick’s hand.  Patrick looks away from the needle.  Then Spencer hooks up the Iron infusions to his IV and they get started. 

“Each bag will take 30 mins.  You will need five bags, so the treatment will last 2.5 hours.  It should finish just in time for dinner.  Joe, you may stay with him.  Would you like to turn on the TV to help pass the time?” 

Patrick nods yes. 

“Ok.  Here is the remote.” Spencer says while handing him the remote. 

“Brad, you probably don’t need to stay here.  I can keep an eye on them.  If you would like, you can check in on them every hour.” Says Spencer. 

“Ok, I will be back in an hour.” Brad says and then turns around and leaves.                        

Patrick and Joe sit on the beds in sickbay watching TV.  Spencer comes every thirty minutes to change the bags.  At one point, Spencer sits down at the end of Patrick’s bed.  He looks really serious. 

“You have been to sickbay very frequently with a wide variety of injuries.  Is someone abusing you?  How did you lose all that blood?  I don’t know why it is taking so long to get you in protective custody.  I will submit the forms again.” Spencer asks. 

Patrick goes wide eyed and looks at Joe.  He knows he can’t tell Spencer the truth, or it will get much worse for him. 

“Uh…. no.  I’ve just been really clumsy lately.”  He says. 

Then Joe adds “I’ve been teaching him how to fight so he can better defend himself.  Sometimes we end up taking it a little too far and he ends up with minor injuries.  I’m sorry.  We will be more careful from now on.  Thanks for looking out for us, Doc.”

“Ok.  Please know you can tell me anything in confidence and I cannot tell anyone due to Doctor to Patient confidentiality.” Spencer says. 

“Will do, Doc!  Are we done?  Can we go to dinner now?”  Joe asks. 

“Yes, the treatment is complete.  You may report to the mess hall for dinner.  I will call a guard to take you there.” Spencer answers. 

Brad shows up a few minutes later to take them to the mess hall. 

“You didn’t tell him anything he didn’t need to know, right Stump?” Brad asks. 

“No, I did not.  Even if I did, I’m sure you would compel him to forget it anyway.”  Patrick answers.

_________________________________________________________________________________________  

Dinner seemed to go off without a hitch other than some dirty looks and quiet conversations about said dirty looks, but no one actually approached Patrick this time.  He wondered if people saw the Cobra head sticking out the top of his clothes up his neck or the Latin Kings tattoos and decided to leave him alone for the moment.  Patrick was relieved.  Today has been a terrifying and physically exhausting day.  They meet up with Dan again and have a very easy conversation about their days, at least the parts that they can tell Dan about without him thinking they were crazy.  Once they finished, they headed back to their cell and practiced the self-defense stuff that Joe had shown him earlier that day.  Then Patrick tried to lay down and get some sleep before Brad came to take him for whatever horrifying events that would occur.  Again, he lays there for a while with his eyes closed, but doesn’t actually fall asleep.  What the fuck is the problem here?  He’s exhausted to the point that he can barely function, but every time he tries to sleep, he can’t.  Patrick’s brain is getting a little clumsy after three? Four? Five? Days without any sleep.  He knows why he’s not sleeping, but the synapses in his brain aren’t connecting enough for him see the answer.  His thoughts are interrupted by the cell door opening and Brad there ready to collect him for tonight’s house of horrors. 

“Come on, Stump.  Time to go.”  Brad says.

He gets up and follows him out of the cell.  Brad closes the cell door and then leads him to wherever they are going.  When they round the corner and Patrick sees he’s being led to sickbay, he stops in his tracks.  He doesn’t want to go in there.  Bad things will happen to him in there.  If he just stays here, he won’t have to think about how much pain tonight is going to cause him.  He tries to bolt, but Brad grabs him before he can even get past him.  Brad throws him over his shoulder and walks into sickbay.  He sets Patrick down on one of the beds, cuffs both of his hands to the bed, and holds him there so he can’t escape.  Patrick panics and tries to fight him, but he is too strong. 

“Get the fuck off of me Brad!”  he screams as he struggles, trying to think of any way that he could get away. 

He looks around and sees all of his best friends, as well as Spencer holding the breathing tube. 

“Help!  I don’t want this!  Please, don’t hurt me!”  Patrick screams, hoping someone outside of sickbay would hear and come to his rescue. 

“Hello Sugar!  That’s a lot of screaming.  You know how much I love hearing you scream.  It really turns me on.”  Gabe looks at him with a vicious smile that makes Patrick want to vomit. 

“You can scream all you want, Sugar.  No one is coming to save you.  I have compelled Mr. Hurley, the prison warden, and all of the guards on this side of the prison to stay away from sick bay.  I told them that there is a patient that was exposed to a virulent strain of anthrax, that the patient needs to be quarantined, and no one is to enter sick bay except Dr. Smith here, until the patient is transported to the hospital tomorrow morning.  So, as you can see, there is no one to hear your screams for help!” Says Gabe with a sick grin on his face. 

Patrick looks around at everyone again and then back at Gabe as he is still thrashing around under Brad’s body. 

“FUUUUUUUCK!”  he screams. 

“Let’s get started, shall we?  First, we need to calm you down a bit.  Look deeply into my eyes, Sugar.”  Says Gabe. 

Patrick turns his head away and squeezes his eyes shut again, knowing that something bad is coming. 

“Theodore, Shane, do you mind helping him do what he was told?”  Gabe asks.  “You definitely don’t need to be gentle either.”  Gabe adds. 

Theodore grabs his face and turns it toward Gabe, while Shane holds his eyelids open again so he can see straight in to Gabe’s eyes. 

“I need you to calm down a bit, Sugar.  Can you please stop moving?” He commands. 

Patrick is still fighting like hell.  He’s even trying to close his eyes so Gabe can’t control him, but Shane is holding them open very roughly to the point that his eyelids hurt.  Patrick, again, feels his body obeying Gabe’s instructions, no matter how hard he fights.  His body is now completely calm and he can’t move anything. 

“Stop!  No!  Why are you doing this to me?  I have never done anything to you!”  Patrick screams. 

Gabe seems to ponder this question for a minute before smiling and answering.  “Because you are my property, and I want to improve the curb appeal of my property.  I also really do enjoy seeing you in so much pain and suffering, Sugar.” Gabe answers. 

“You are such a sadistic bastard.  I am not your property!  You do not own me!”  Patrick screams. 

“Careful Sugar, that’s not what the huge Cobra tattoo that covers your entire back and neck says.”  Gabe mentions. 

Patrick looks like he is about to disagree with Gabe, but instead continues yelling at him. 

“I am growing tired of your voice.  You can be silent now.”  Gabe commands and Patrick can no longer talk. 

He tries to say something, but his voice won’t work.  Gabe laughs and looks at Patrick. 

“See?  Much better!  Now, I command you to sit up on the end of the bed.  You will not attempt to run away.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks

Patrick nods his head yes. 

“Brad, unlock his hand cuffs.”  Gabe orders.

Patrick does as he is told. 

“Good.  Now do you remember when I told you earlier that I had something fun planned for tonight?”  Gabe continues. 

Patrick nods his head yes again.  Oh Fuck!  Here it comes!  I hope it’s nothing too horrible. 

“Well, we are going to start with that.  Theodore, do you mind rolling that small surgical table over here?”  Theodore rolls the table over.  “Great.  Now we can begin.  Sugar, I want you to rest your face on the ledge of my hand, where your chin is resting on the outside of my hand.”  Patrick does as he is told. 

Gabe then wipes and cleans the outside of and inside of Patrick’s right nostril.  He picks up a marker, grabs his right nostril with the forceps, and places a mark on the outside of Patrick’s right nostril.  Gabe inspects the place where he made the mark, to decide if he likes the placement.  He decides that he is happy with the placement and lines the mark up with the hole in the forceps.  When Patrick realizes what is going to happen, his eyes go wide.  Shit!  He’s going to pierce my nose!  I don’t want that!  I need to fight this!  He tries to fight and scream, but his body won’t react.  He sees Gabe pick up the piercing needle again and places it on top of the mark.  This needle is much smaller than the one Gabe used to pierce his tongue. 

“This will hurt and make your eyes water.” He says. 

“Brace yourself.  On the count of three.  One.  Two.  Three.” Gabe adds as he pushes the needle halfway through Patrick’s right nostril. 

Ugh!!!!!!  That fucking hurts and stings!  I hate him so much!  Patrick reacts with his eyes going wide and watering, tears going down his face and breathing deeply, since he can’t move or say anything.  Gabe leaves the needle in his nostril. 

“Now lay down on the bed.” He instructs. 

“Brad, you may cuff his hands again.”  Gabe orders. 

Patrick does as he’s told. 

Gabe pulls the needle all the way through and grabs a silver, medium-sized thick ring with a ball on it with the smaller instrument he used yesterday and puts it through the hole in Patrick’s nostril.  Patrick seizes up because it hurts as he is moving it through the new hole.  Ah!!!  I’m going to kill you very slowly and painfully some day!  His eyes well up and empty in tracks down his cheeks when he blinks.  When Gabe finally has the ring in place, he puts the smaller instrument down and admires his work. 

“There we go, Beautiful!  It definitely improves the curb appeal.  It makes you look like more of a bad ass, and I do love me a bad ass.  What do you think, Sugar?”  Gabe asks.

Patrick gives him a dirty look with his eyes, since that is the only part of his body that he has control of right now. 

“Oh, that’s right!  You can’t move or talk.  Look me straight in the eyes again.  I am also commanding to you that you will not remove this piercing, unless you have a direct order from me.  This is your punishment you get for headbutting me in the face.  You really brought this one on yourself, Sugar.  Perhaps you will soon learn that your actions will have very painful consequences, and fighting me will only make things worse for you.  You’d be quick to learn that lesson sooner rather than later.”  Gabe explains. 

Gabe finally releases Patrick and he rolls over on his left side cradling his nostril, but not touching it because it hurts. 

“Owwww!  Fuck!  That fucking hurts!” he screams. 

“That was the point, Sugar.”  Gabe responds. 

When Patrick looks at his nose, he sees the thick ring with a ball on it sticking out and he gets angry. 

He turns back around to Gabe, grabs his shirt, pulls him closer and screams “You can do whatever you want to me and my body.  You can rape me, poke holes in me, tattoo me, cut me, and beat me, but make no mistake, I will fight you forever, you son of a bitch!  You won’t break me!” 

Patrick releases Gabe’s shirt.  Gabe flashes Patrick a wicked, almost evil smile and says “oh, but I will Sugar, and I will enjoy every single minute of watching you fall apart and descend into madness!  Oh, and one more thing.  I have another surprise in store for you sometime tomorrow.” Gabe informs him. 

Patrick rolls his eyes.  “Great!  I can’t fucking wait!”  He says. 

“I wanted to tell you now so that you remember it, you know before you are too weak and drugged-up later to remember.” Gabe replies.

During this conversation, Patrick hasn’t been paying attention and didn’t see Spencer coming around with the needle to insert the IV.  All of a sudden, he feels the prick of the needle going into his vein on the top of his hand.  He looks over and sees Spencer inject a medication, probably the paralytic, into the IV. 

“What the fuck, Spencer?” he asks. 

He tries to move and fight, but he is slowly losing control of his body again.  So yeah, definitely the paralytic then.  Once Patrick is completely paralyzed, Spencer roughly shoves the breathing tube down his throat again.  It hurts because he is trying to do it too quickly.  Then he hooks it up to the ventilator.  Gabe uses his targeted healing to heal the tattoos from last night, but he doesn’t heal the tongue piercing, because he wants Patrick to suffer with that one a bit longer. 

“Can you hear me, Sugar?” Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks his eyes once. 

“Oh good!  You do remember how this works.  Answer my questions to my satisfaction and I won’t hurt you.  Got it?” 

Patrick doesn’t cooperate at first and looks away with his eyes. 

“Really Sugar?  This is how you want today to start?” Gabe asks.  Patrick looks away again.  “All right, I did warn you.” Gabe replies. 

He grabs a scalpel, takes off Patrick’s shoes and socks, and cuts a deep wound right through the stitches from the day before.  Patrick’s eyes go wide and fill with tears.  Fucking Hell!  Ugh!!!!  It starts bleeding profusely and Gabe is lapping it all up.  Then Brad comes over to lick some of it, but Gabe tells him to back off, that he can have the next cut.  Brad takes a step back, growling.  Gabe shoots him a “try me” look and Brad backs down. 

“Where should we start tonight, Sugar?”  Gabe asks.

Patrick doesn’t react.  Gabe carves another deep cut through the stitches into the bottom of his foot.  Patrick’s eyes go wide again and tears run down his cheeks.  Owwww! 

“Let’s try that again.  Where should we start tonight, Sugar?  You have three options.  Blink once for right ribs and side, twice for left ribs and side, or three times for your upper chest.”  Patrick thinks for a minute, trying to decide which is less painful, but they all sound awful.  Patrick blinks three times for his chest.  Gabe cuts deep into the bottom of his foot again.  Ahhhh!  He motions to Brad, that he could come lick the blood from this wound.  Brad is there almost immediately lapping up the blood from all three cuts. 

“I’m sorry, Sugar.  The correct answer was left side and ribs.  Oh, and I forgot, we also have some art for the rest of your neck.  We will do those tomorrow.” 

Gabe looks down at him with a maniacal smile and laughs a bit.  Patrick tries to move his body in defiance, but he can’t.  He can only just sit there while they maim his body.

“This is going to be a very rough night for you, Sugar.  Theodore, Shane, please roll him over so his left side is facing us, remove his shirt, and pull his pants down to his knees.”  They do as they are told.  “Now shave his entire left side from the back of his shoulder, under his armpit, and down to his thigh.” 

Again, they do as they are told. Once they are done, Gabe cleans the area and puts the stencil on. 

“Are you ready, Sugar?” Gabe asks, taunting him. 

Patrick blinks twice for no. 

“Too bad.  Here we go!” Gabe answers and starts with the part on his ribs.

Patrick feels his skin punctured and he is bleeding.  Gabe sucks up the blood.  Oh my God!  Fuuuuuck!  This is probably the most painful one so far.  It feels like Gabe is dragging a razor blade across his skin.  It stings, burns, and hurts worse than anything so far!  This one might be more painful than the barcode on his neck was.  It hurts to breathe!  Every time he does, his ribcage and the skin above it moves, intensifying the already severe pain.  He’s not sure if he is going to be able to stay conscious for this one, and it just started.  Fuck my life!  This is excruciating!  It is also incredibly detailed from what he can see, so it is going to take a long time.  He is starting to feel nauseous.  Hopefully he won’t throw up in the ventilator this time.  His foot is also still bleeding heavily, and it feels like he has lost a good amount of blood, so he is feeling weaker than normal.  When Gabe is working on top of his ribcage bones, he can actually feel the needle hitting each of the bones, intensifying the pain to the point where he is starting to pass out.  This is more pain than he can take!  He feels himself slowly slipping away from the pain and the blood loss.

Gabe starts to notice that Patrick is passing out from the pain.  Gabe tries slapping him to wake him up, but that does not work, so he cuts another crater into the bottom of his foot, not even paying attention to how much blood he is losing from all to the cuts as his feet bleed in puddles all over the floor.  Brad is there licking it off the floor to the point that he is sated for the time being.  Patrick wakes up with wide eyes. 

“Welcome back, Sugar!  I told you tonight was going to be very bad for you! Try to stay awake!” Gabe says, as tears start to roll down Patrick’s cheeks. 

This goes on for hours.  Patrick tries his best to stay awake, but he is feeling worse and worse.  When Gabe gets to the shading and detail of the tattoo, that is where Patrick loses it.  He vomits in the ventilator again and passes out completely. 

“Doc!  We need you!”  Gabe says.  Spencer appears from his office. 

“What is going on?” He asks. 

“He vomited into the ventilator again.  Please clean the vomit from the ventilator, so he doesn’t inhale it and end up with pneumonia.”  Gabe orders. 

“Right!”  Spencer responds.  On his way there, Spencer slips and falls in the huge puddle of blood below Patrick’s feet.  As he looks around, Spencer realizes how much blood Patrick has actually lost.  Gabe has Brad tase Patrick on a low setting to try to wake him up, but even that doesn’t work. 

“Doc, he’s not waking up this time.” Gabe says. 

Spencer speaks up. 

“Uh, Gabe, he has lost a TON of blood from the wounds on his feet.  I just slipped and fell in it.  That is probably why he isn’t waking up, because his body is in shock.  He needs a blood transfusion to replace all of the blood he is losing.” 

Gabe looks down at the floor and sees all of the blood. 

“No blood transfusions, Doc.” Gabe commands. 

“He will most likely die without one!” Spencer responds. 

“You can give him the iron infusions.”  Gabe orders. 

“That won’t be enough!  His body can’t make new blood fast enough!  He is about a pint of blood away from flatlining.  What good will he be to you if he is dead?”  Spencer objects. 

Gabe stops for a minute, looks at the situation and says “No blood transfusions!  There is another way.”

“How?” Spencer asks. 

Gabe brings his wrist up to his mouth and takes a deep bite.  Then he pries open Patrick’s mouth and holds his bleeding wrist over his mouth.  He makes Patrick swallow the blood and continues to do so until Patrick wakes up again. 

“Hey Sugar, you gave us kind of a scare, don’t do that again.  Blink once if you agree.” Gabe says to him. 

Patrick feels very dizzy and the room is spinning.  He hears Gabe tell him to blink once, so he does.  Gabe then picks up the tattoo gun and continues until he is finished with the piece on Patrick’s left side.

*Patrick finds himself standing on the roof of a very tall building looking over the edge.  He feels immediately sick and he starts panicking.  He tries to back away from the edge until he is standing in the middle of the roof.  He is insanely afraid of heights!  Why is he here and standing and looking over the edge for that matter?  He tries to find the door that he must’ve used to walk up here.  He is starting to feel dizzy and the scene starts spinning.  He sits down on the ground, covering his ears and trying to take deeps breaths to calm himself down so he can at least see straight and find the door to get down.  It takes a few minutes, but he is at least able to think somewhat rationally again.  He stands up and begins looking for the door.  He locates it, but it is at the edge of the building.  He tries to breathe as he walks toward it.  He tries to keep his eyes up and focused on the door so that he doesn’t look down.  When he is finally able to reach the door, he turns the knob and it is locked.

“Fuck!”  He screams. 

He backs up and looks around for anything that might help him get the door unlocked.  He finds a fire axe, grabs it, and goes back to the door, all while trying not to look down.  He swings that axe and hits the door knob hard, but it does nothing.  It should have broken the door knob!  He tries again a few times and it won’t break the door knob.  Patrick starts panicking again and starts hitting the door with axe. Rather than breaking the door, it just bounces off it, like it was rubber.  He hits it again and again until he is not able to anymore. 

“Fuck!  Why does it appear that the laws of physics don’t seem to be occurring here?” 

The more he tries to open the door, the more impossible it gets!  He goes looking for something else to try to use on the door when he stops in his tracks.  He sees Gabe standing right there.  How did he miss him being up here?  Why is he up here in the first place? 

“There you are!  I’ve been worried sick!  I’ve looked everywhere for you.  How did you get up here?” Gabe says. 

“I don’t know!  When I opened my eyes, I was standing here looking over the edge.” Patrick replies.  My best guess would be that door, but it is locked and even hitting it multiple times with a fire axe didn’t touch it.  Wait, how did you get up here?  Why were you looking for me anyway and why were you worried?” He asks.

 Gabe gives him a sobering look. 

“There was a shooter in the building.  Everyone was told to evacuate as soon as they could.  I couldn’t leave without finding you.  You are my best friend and I love you.  I had to look for you and make sure you were ok.” He replied. 

All of a sudden, Patrick feels this rush of feelings and memories hit him like a train.  He remembered being friends, sometimes more than friends with Gabe.  He felt like he could trust this man with his life. 

“Ok, so how do we get out of here?  It’s only a matter of time before the shooter finds his way up here and kills us both?”  Patrick asks.

“Maybe if both of us try the door?” Gabe suggests. 

“No! If there is a shooter still in the building, he will try to use the door to come up on the roof.  We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.  We have to build a barricade against the door so that it can’t be opened.”  Patrick says. 

“Ok, I agree with that, but how are we going to get down?” Gabe asks. 

“That doesn’t matter right now.  Once we are safe, we can call for help later.” Patrick responds.  “Let’s go work on the barricade.” He says. 

So, they begin gathering what they can to bar the door so the shooter can’t come up there.  They work for an hour on the barricade until it is done. 

“Now what?” Gabe asks. 

“Now we hide and we wait.  You can look down at the street and see if things are back to normal down there.  I’m going to find someplace to hide in the middle of the roof.”  Patrick instructs. 

“Why don’t you come look with me?” Gabe asks. 

“You already know, dude.  I’m really afraid of heights and this is the tallest building in the city.  If I so much as look over the edge, I will begin vomiting and panicking immediately.”  Patrick says. 

“Right!  Ok, I will go look.” Gabe says. 

Gabe walks to the edge to see if all of the police and emergency services were still there.  They have not left yet.  Meanwhile, Patrick wonders to himself, how Gabe could’ve forgotten something about his incapacitating fear of heights, if they were such good friends, and sometimes, more than friends.  That’s something you generally don’t forget.  He sees Gabe walking back towards him. 

“All of the emergency services are still there.” Gabe says as he sits down, next to Patrick. 

Patrick pulls out his phone to try and call for help.  He has no reception, so he can’t contact anyone. 

“Gabe, do you have your phone, so we can call for help?  Mine doesn’t have any signal.”  Patrick asks. 

Gabe takes out his phone and looks at it.

“Mine isn’t working either.” He says. 

Patrick got a look at it over his shoulder before Gabe put it away.  It was working just fine.  Now there were two odd things happening.  If they were best friends, they would remember someone being afraid of heights, and they would want to call for help so they could get down from the top of the building.  Patrick was beginning to question this whole situation. 

“Hey Gabe, what floor was the shooter on?  Had they gotten in contact with the police and were they negotiating the hostages yet?” 

Gabe takes a second to answer, probably because all of this is a huge lie. 

“Uh they were on the fifth floor.  I’m not sure if they made contact with the police yet.” He replied. 

“We work on the fifth floor.  How did you get away?” Patrick asks Gabe. 

Again, it takes a minute for him to answer. 

“Uh…I climbed into a ventilation shaft that led me to the sixth floor.  Then I went looking for you.” He responded. 

“Yes, but how did you get up here?  The door is locked and jammed remember?  It won’t work going in or out.  How long have we been best friends Gabe?” Patrick asks. 

“Like fifteen years!  We met in the hardcore scene in Chicago when we were younger.” Gabe answers. 

That is where Patrick catches him in the lie.  Patrick was much younger than Gabe and he didn’t enter the hardcore scene in Chicago until ten years ago, because he wasn’t old enough.  Patrick looks at Gabe. 

“There was no active shooter, was there Gabe?  Your details aren’t really adding up.  You didn’t remember that I was afraid of heights or that I didn’t enter the hardcore Chicago scene until five years after you.  Your phone is working just fine.  I saw it over your shoulder.  You hesitated in answering my questions as if you were making something up instead of telling me the truth.”  Gabe looked at Patrick with a sadistic smile and began clapping. 

“Good Job, Sugar!  I didn’t expect you to figure it out so quickly, especially when I sent that wave of memories and feelings at you.  You are correct!  There was no shooter!  I brought both of us up here and broke the door so that you couldn’t get down and I manufactured this whole story to keep you up here.” 

Patrick hears the name Sugar and it makes him want to vomit.  He stands up and begins to back away from Gabe. 

“So why are we up here then?  What was the point of all of this?” Patrick asks. 

“It’s simple really, you lost too much blood from the cuts on your feet.  I gave you my blood and now you are hallucinating.  There is just one more part to this.” Gabe answers. 

Patrick has backed up enough that he is at the edge of the building. 

“What is that?” Patrick asks. 

“Well, we are on top of Willis Tower, the tallest building in Chicago and you are afraid of heights.” Gabe says. 

By the time Patrick figures it out, Gabe has used his speed to get close enough to Patrick to grab him and is holding him over the edge by his neck. 

“Goodbye Sugar!  I’ll see you in a little bit.  Make sure to see all the sites on your way down!”  Gabe lets go of Patrick’s neck. 

Patrick is screaming his lungs out as he falls to his death and crashes into the pavement below, dying instantly.*

Patrick wakes up with a start, but since he is paralyzed, his body doesn’t do anything. 

“There he is!  Did you have a good trip, Sugar?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick blinks twice for no. 

“Oh.  That’s too bad!  Well, we almost finished the piece on your left side while you were out.”  Gabe informs him. 

Patrick can feel it.  That whole side feels like it is on fire.  Gabe has a few things to finish up on it and the pain is excruciating.  It feels like there are a million tiny cuts that you are opening up and filling them with hot ash, and then you are poking those tiny cuts again.  If he could scream in agony right now, he would.  He wouldn’t care if Gabe saw it.  The last little bit takes another hour.  He’s almost passed out a few more times, but he is trying to fight it, because if he passes out again, he will either get cut, or tased.  His feet still hurt pretty bad but it appears that Gabe’s blood has stopped them from bleeding heavily.  He does feel better than before.  He was so weak that he couldn’t stay awake. 

“Alright.  We are done with this piece.  It looks beautiful!  We are definitely continuing to improve that curb appeal.  Now you’re starting to look like a prisoner who belongs here Sugar!”  Gabe says. 

He looks at Patrick with an evil look.  “Theodore, Shane, please turn him on his other side, so that his right side is facing up.” Gabe commands.

They very roughly turn him over, so that he lands hard on the left side and the pain runs up the left side of his body.  It stings and burns so badly, it hurts to breathe, and now he has to lay on it, for the whole time while they are doing the other side.  I bet they planned that to cause me more misery. 

“Now shave his whole right side from under his armpit down to his thigh.” Gabe commands. 

They do as they are told.  By the time they are done with all of these tattoos, I’m not going to have any hair left on my body.

Patrick is kind of panicking at this point.  How is he going to make it through another round of tattoos on this side?  The other side was probably the most pain he has ever been in, aside from whatever Brad did to him earlier.  How is he going to stay conscious?  Gabe cleans the area, applies the stencil and gets ready to proceed. 

“Are you going to be a good boy this time and stay awake, Sugar?” Gabe asks.

Patrick blinks once to say yes.  He will try his hardest.  Maybe this side won’t be as bad as the other side.  Gabe starts up the machine and begins working.  Patrick’s eyes go wide.  If it’s possible, this side is worse than the other side was!  Of course, he starts on the ribs, because that is the most painful spot. 

“Is this side any better Sugar?” Gabe asks him. 

Patrick blinks twice for no. 

“Is it worse?” Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks once for yes as tears start falling out of the corners of his eyes. Gabe smiles at this. 

“Good!” he comments. 

Patrick is able to deal with the pain for about an hour before he feels himself fading.  He tries to keep himself awake, but the amount of pain he is in is beyond his limit and he passes out.  Gabe doesn’t notice right away.  When he looks up, he sees he’s passed out again.  He takes the other foot this time and stabs the scalpel into the bottom of it.  Patrick immediately wakes up.  Ahhhh!  Oh my God!  It hurts so bad!  Gabe sucks on the blood that is running out.  This continues for another few hours before Gabe is done with this piece.  Patrick vomits into the ventilator again. 

“Doc, go clean that out.”  Gabe orders. 

Spencer does as he’s told.  He also tries to stop the bleeding from his other foot so Patrick doesn’t bleed to death.  Patrick is barely conscious when Gabe completes this piece. 

“We are done with this piece, Sugar.  You are slowly beginning to look rougher and tougher, which is what I love!  Do you need a short break, Sugar?”  Gabe asks.

Patrick blinks once for yes.  He just lays there for a few minutes feeling like his nerve endings on both sides have been burned.  Immeasurable pain is running up and down both sides of his body.  He can barely breathe.  He feels like he is starting to wheeze because of his asthma.  This scares the shit out of him and he panics.  He starts to breathe irregularly, feeling like he can’t get enough air, which sets off an asthma attack.

 “Doc, what is happening?”  Gabe asks. 

“He’s having an asthma attack.  Get out of the way.  He needs albuterol and steroids to stop it.” 

He pulls the drugs and inject them into Patrick’s IV.  It takes a few minutes, but it works and Patrick’s breathing returns to normal. 

“Wow!  This has been an eventful night tonight huh, Sugar.” Gabe asks. 

Patrick blinks once for yes. 

“The best part is that it’s not near over yet.  We need to start the next one.  Time is ticking, Sugar.” Gabe taunts. 

Patrick blinks twice for no.  “Theodore, Shane please roll him onto his back so his chest is facing up and shave him all the way down to his belly button.” Gabe orders.

As they are doing this, Patrick just cries.  This is some kind of torture!  I can’t take much more of this!  Once they are done shaving his chest, Gabe cleans the area and puts the stencil on.  This one appears to be pretty big.  Patrick can’t see what it is because he can’t move his head or neck.  Judging by the last ones, they are probably scary, ugly, demeaning, or gang related.

“Are you ready, Sugar?” he asks. 

Patrick makes eye contact with him before blinking twice for no. 

“Here we go.” He says as he starts.  Patrick feels the needle puncture his skin a million times as Gabe works on the design.  This one is still horribly painful, but maybe slightly better than the last two.  Patrick starts bleeding and Gabe licks up the blood.  This goes on for hours and hours without any breaks.  Patrick has managed to stay awake longer but, again, he is reaching his limit.  The shading on this one is the worst and causes him the most pain.  Patrick is trying so hard to stay conscious, that Gabe asks him a few questions that he doesn’t hear and doesn’t answer, so Gabe cuts his feet a few more times.  Patrick is wondering how he is even going to be able to walk tomorrow.  At one point, Brad can’t help himself and starts feeding on him while they are still working on this one. 

“Take it easy Brad.  That’s enough.  If you want more, go lick the blood off the floor from his feet.” Gabe warns. 

Brad looks up and growls at Gabe. 

“Do that again Brad, and it will be the last time you do anything.” Gabe threatens. 

Brad backs off.  Patrick is conscious but it starting to feel dizzy, weak, and the room is starting to spin.  That at least it helps with the pain.  Gabe finally finishes this one on his chest.  Again, it feels like his skin is on fire.  Now it’s Gabe’s turn to feed on Patrick.  He rips into Patrick’s neck, and seems to be taking a lot.  Ugh!!!!!  Why is this always so painful?  Patrick is barely conscious when Gabe pulls out the drugs.  He blinks twice for no, but Gabe jabs the needle into his side, causing Patrick’s eyes to widen and fill with tears.  He would never admit it to anyone, but after tonight, he welcomes any pain relief that this might bring him and he passes out.  Before Gabe brings him back to his cell, he bites his wrist again, opens Patrick’s mouth and gives him a decent amount of blood.  This will not heal the tattoos, but it will help him to not be anemic, since he has been fed on multiple times today and he almost bled out today. 

Gabe picks up Patrick bridal style and says “Come on Sugar.  You’ve had a rough night.  Time for bed.  Sweet dreams!  I’m sure they will be terrifying!” 

He laughs a sadistic laugh knowing his blood will cause Patrick to hallucinate again.  He calls for Brad who opens Patrick’s cell door.  Gabe dumps him on the ground, turns around and leaves Brad to close the cell door.  The sound wakes Joe who gets to Patrick after Gabe and Brad have already left.  He notices a new nose ring in his right nostril. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh Patrick.”  He says as he picks him up and puts him in his bed, thinking he’s passed out for the next few hours.  It is not long though before Joe hears him screaming and writhing in agony.  Joe knows he’s hallucinating again.  The hard part is that there is nothing he can do to help him or bring him out of it.  He tries to lightly hold him so he doesn’t fall off the bed. 

“I wonder what he is seeing.  It must be terrifying.” Joe says. 

He is there with Patrick the whole time, until he wakes up the next morning.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

*Patrick is walking down the sidewalk of a suburban street in a neighborhood holding some kind of briefcase that appears to be handcuffed to his wrist.  He’s not sure why, but he knows he has to protect this briefcase at all costs.  He looks back behind him to make sure no one is following him.  He passes a few driveways where there are children playing in their driveways.  He smiles at that.  He looks behind him again, to make sure no one is trailing him.  When he gets to the end of the road, he sees a child on his bike pedaling towards him.  The kid comes to a stop in front of him, which Patrick thinks is kind of odd.  Patrick smiles at the kid and the kid smiles back.  Then he feels someone put their arm around his chest, pulling him backward, trying to put him in some kind of choke hold.  He fights against it calling for help, but none of the children he saw previously are there now.  He wants to know who he is fighting against, but before he gets the chance to see who it is, they tase him on his neck on a high setting and he collapses on the ground.

Patrick wakes up with a bag on his head in a dark room tied to a chair.  He manages to shake the bag off of his head and starts fighting immediately and screaming for help, trying to loosen the restraints.  He looks over and his left hand with the handcuffed briefcase connected to it and notices that it isn’t tied to the chair like his other arm is.  It is sitting on a table with the briefcase sitting on a shelf below.

 “This can’t be good,” he says to himself while he is banging around in the chair trying to get free. 

There is a bright light shining in his face so he can’t see anything beyond that. 

He hears a voice respond to his comment “No, this is not good, especially for you.” 

The voice sounds familiar, but he’s not sure whose voice it is. 

“What’s going on?  Where am I?  Why am I restrained?” He asks. 

The voice responds, saying “All in due time.  First there is a matter we need to take care of before we proceed.” 

Staying in the shadows, the voice explains.

“You are in possession of a briefcase that is currently handcuffed to your left hand.  We need it, but how are we going to get it off your wrist?” 

Patrick remembers that he has to protect the briefcase at all costs.  He starts fighting and thrashing again, trying to get free. 

“Oh!  I know!  Ladies, please detach him from the briefcase any way you see fit.”  Before Patrick even knows it’s coming, he sees a meat cleaver raised high above his wrist by a woman dressed all in black.  The next thing he knows, she brings it down right through his wrist, chopping his left hand off.  Patrick screams in agony.  There is a non-stop flow of blood coming from his wrist.  It feels like the nerve endings are on fire.  The woman then removes his hand from the handcuff, leaving his bloody wrist on the table, grabs the briefcase and leaves the room.  Patrick is in shock and passes out from the pain.

When Patrick wakes up again, he is back in the sick bay of the prison.  He is now tied to an operating table and the stump on his left wrist has been wrapped up, but is still bleeding through the bandages.  The voice from before speaks again. 

“Welcome back Dr. Stump!”  It says. 

“How do you know I’m a doctor?” He asks the voice. 

“Because we work together.” The voice responds. 

Patrick still doesn’t understand because he is still in shock.  The voice suddenly walks out of the shadows to reveal none other than

“Spencer?” Patrick gasps. 

He looks at Spencer horrified. 

“Why would you do this?  Why did you cut off my hand?  Why am I tied to an operating table?  Are you being coerced?”  Patrick asks.

Spencer walks around to the side of the bed. 

“We did really need the briefcase, doing it that way was just plain fun, and no, I am not being coerced.”  He says. 

Patrick is still in so much pain that he is having trouble absorbing all of this.  Spencer is a good man.  He would never intentionally harm someone.  It’s his duty to “do no harm.”  At least that is what Patrick thought.  Come to think of it, Spencer has been doing some pretty awful things to Patrick recently.  Maybe he shouldn’t trust Spencer as much as he has in the past.  Before he can continue that line of thinking, he feels something cutting into his chest.  He looks up and sees Spencer with a scalpel in his hand, making a very big incision.  Patrick screams from the pain of it.  He feels Spencer reach into the incision, grab an organ, and pull it out.  Spencer reaches back into the incision to pull another organ out. 

“What are you doing?” he cries. 

“Oh, well I am removing some of those pesky organs of yours.”  Spencer cuts him again, this time over his lungs, reaches in and pulls out one of his lungs, then the other. 

Patrick doesn’t even understand how he is still alive.  This continues for two hours, until Spencer has pulled all of his organs out and sewn him back up.  It is the worst pain he has ever felt in his lifetime.  He is barely conscious at this point.  When he passes out, he is sure it will be for good, and he will be dead.

Imagine his surprise, when he wakes up tied to a fancier chair at the head of a small dinner table.   When he moves his hand, he sees there is an IV in it.  He doesn’t know what he was given, but he feels pretty dopey happy and that explains why it feels like everything is moving in slow motion.  He sees a feast on the table.  He is pretty hungry.  It’s been a while since he has had a good meal.  Spencer walks out of the dark and approaches him. 

“Hello Patrick! Are you hungry?” Spencer asks.

 Patrick smiles and shakes his head yes. 

“Well then!  Let me help you!”  Spencer picks up something off the table and stuffs it in Patrick’s mouth.  It tastes delicious!  Spencer stuffs more in his mouth.  He keeps feeding him until Patrick can’t eat anymore. 

“Did you enjoy your feast, Patrick?” Spencer asks.

“Yes! It was very good!”  Patrick responds.  Then Spencer smiles an evil smile at him and says “I’m glad you enjoyed it, since it came from you!” 

Patrick is confused by Spencer’s statement.  “Think hard Patrick, where were you and what was happening before you found yourself here?” 

Patrick thinks about it.  The drugs are clouding his brain, but he is pretty sure he remembers being on an operating table, and Spencer was removing his organs.  Did Patrick just eat his own organs as a feast? 

“Oh My God!  You just force-fed me my own organs!”  Patrick looks around at the “food” that is left on the platters on the table and sees what he feared.  There were organs left on the plates.  The drugs must have made him see something else.  He looks up at Spencer, who is just standing there smiling and maniacally laughing. 

“Why?”  He screamed. 

The only answer he gets is “Because it was fun torturing you!”*

Chapter Text

Chapter 28

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

Joe is still there trying to keep Patrick safe the next morning.  Patrick hasn’t woken up yet.  His body is calmer and he is mumbling things to whomever he is talking to in his hallucination.  He thinks he heard him say Spencer and wonders what that is all about.  All of a sudden, Patrick vomits all over himself.  Joe runs to grab something to wipe his mouth off with, finds a towel and runs back to Patrick to clean up the vomit.  He also opens Patrick’s mouth and wipes it out so that he can’t inhale it and turns him on his side.  His whole body is now shaking and he is breathing very hard.  Joe doesn’t think he’s having a seizure, so he just sits there and waits for Patrick to wake up.  Brad walks past their cell, sees that Patrick is still passed out and hallucinating, smiles a vicious smile and starts laughing. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Brad?  Why are you laughing at this?” Joe asks him. 

“Nothing, it is just that he had an extremely rough night last night.  It felt so good to see him suffering so badly!”  Brad replies. 

Joe looks at him with a horrified look, which only made Brad laugh more.

 “You are one sadistic son of a bitch.”  Says Joe. 

“I know!  It is awesome right?” Brad replies. 

Joe doesn’t even bother answering that question.  Brad takes another almost hungry look at Patrick and keeps walking.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

               Patrick finally wakes up an hour later, screaming and shoots right to a sitting position breathing heavily.  He is very disoriented and dizzy and not sure what just happened, but he sees Joe right there next to him. 

“Hey.  Take it easy.  You’ve been passed out and hallucinating all night.” Joe says while rubbing his back. 

Patrick looks at Joe and says “Thanks. Man.” 

Patrick hates how his voice sounds when he talks now.  It looks like he will be speaking with a lisp for the foreseeable future because of that stupid tongue piercing that he can’t take out.  His voice sounds scratchy and strained, probably from all the screaming and the breathing tube that they pulled out. 

“How are you feeling?” Joe asks. 

He looks at Patrick’s face, and he looks a like he is about to vomit again.  Patrick pushes him out to the way on a bee line to the toilet to completely empty his stomach contents.  He sits there laying his head on his arms when another few bouts comes up.  When he is finished, he lays down on his bed on his side, facing Joe.  He almost jumps to the ceiling before he remembers what happened last night.  He turns on his back. 

“I’m in a lot of pain today.  It is almost debilitating.  My throat hurts and I had the most disturbing and sickening “trip,” I guess you would call it.  Why do I smell like vomit?” He replies. 

“You vomited on yourself before you woke up.  I tried to clean it up as best as I could.  What happened?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick tells him about what had happened last night.  Joe points to Patrick’s nose ring. 

“That is new.” He says. 

“Yeah.  That was a nice, painful addition to get the night started off.  It still hurts.  He said it was for head butting him when he was about to rape me again.” 

He tells Joe about the tattoos, how painful they were, how he almost bled out from the cuts on his feet, had another weird hallucination, woke up and proceeded to have an asthma attack, all while being fed on by both Brad and Gabe. 

“Fuck!  You almost died?”  He asks. 

“Yes.”  Patrick answers.  “When I was losing blood so quickly, Spencer was begging Gabe to give me a blood transfusion, but Gabe said no.  He said there was another way.  He bit his wrist and fed me his blood.  After that, I had the first hallucination.  Then he fed on me too.  I was so weak and barely conscious, so I’m not sure, but I think he gave me his blood a second time.  That’s probably why I was hallucinating for so long.” Patrick tells Joe. 

“What did you see the second time, when you were screaming in agony?”  Joe asks. 

“I was walking in a neighborhood and had some briefcase handcuffed to my left hand.  I knew it was important.  Then someone jumped me and tased me.  I woke up in a very dark room tied to a chair.  There was a voice speaking to me that sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.  Well, they wanted this briefcase and chopped my left hand off to get it.  Then I woke up in an operating room here at the prison where I was tied to the table.  The voice began talking to me and it turned out that it was Spencer, but not normal Spencer.  Psychopathic, sadistic Spencer who was cutting into me and pulling my organs out.  I passed out again and thought I wouldn’t wake up because, how can you be alive without any organs?  Well then, I woke up tied to a chair at a dining table.  I’d been given some pretty heavy drugs so I saw a delicious feast and I was hungry.  It turned out that Spencer was force-feeding me my organs.  That is probably why I vomited on myself before I woke up.”  Patrick explained. 

Joe is looking back him in absolute horror.  “That is so fucked up!” He responds. 

“The worst part of it, is that it felt 100% real.  I felt all of the pain, probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt.  The “food” also tasted delicious until I really saw what was on the plates.  Then I just felt sick and very disturbed.” Patrick says. 

“Wow.  I just don’t know what to say.” Replies Joe.

 “Let’s get your clothes changed so you don’t smell like vomit anymore and then we can go have some real food for breakfast.” Joe suggests. 

“I am actually pretty hungry.” Patrick says. 

Joe brings him another set of prison uniforms. 

“Ah!” Patrick says. 

His shirt is stuck to his skin and it hurts when he tries to peel off his shirt.  Once Patrick has his shirt off, Joe sees the new tattoos.  There are ones covering his whole left and right sides down to the top of his thigh and a huge one in the middle of his upper chest.  

“Oh my God!  You had to sit through all of those last night?  I can’t imagine the pain you felt with all of them.”  Joe says. 

Patrick turns to him with a very sad look and tears in his eyes.  He hadn’t even seen what they had done yet.  He walks over to the mirror to look.  The first thing he sees is the one on his upper chest.  It was the top part of a skull that looked like the bottom was dripping down his pecs and the space between them.  It went from below his collar bones, down his pecs and the area between his pecs.  Then he decides to look at his right side.  This one had the top part of a skull surrounded by what looks like the architecture of a church above it.  It has a triangle in the middle of its forehead.  Underneath it, were what appeared to be some kind of tentacles surrounding a red opening that contains something that is rotting.  Finally, he turned to look at his left side.  It showed a full skeleton with a sword and shield standing next to a devil sitting on a throne with bars on the back of it.  There is a dragon sitting around the top of the throne.  It is chained to the floor on both sides.  In the upper left corner, there is another skull looking onto the scene.  Joe can tell Patrick is trying so hard to hold it together, but he loses it and starts crying. 

“They were so painful!  I didn’t even know how to process that much pain at once.  I felt like I might actually die from all of the pain.  Then, every time I passed out, he kept cutting my foot to the point where I almost bled to death.  I don’t know how much more of this I can take, Joe.  I know he is trying to break me and I’m trying so hard to not let him do that.  I’ve been strong and constantly fight him, but I have a limit.”  Patrick says. 

Joe looks at Patrick and hugs him, careful not to touch any of the new ink. 

“Keep fighting Patrick!  You can do this!  Don’t let him win!  I will teach you more fighting later today during our break.  I will also try to stay as close to you as I can to try to help fend him off.  I will fight for you as long as I can and I will be there for you to support you when I can’t help you.  Now let’s go have some breakfast.  You need to keep your strength up.”  Joe says. 

Patrick nods his head, finishes changing, and Brad comes to take them to the mess hall.

They both go through the food line and then find an empty table to sit at.  They begin eating their meals when Dan comes and sits down with them to talk.  It is beginning to feel like their normal routine when they come to eat.  Patrick enjoys talking to Dan.  It is nice to have another friend in a place where almost everyone else is your enemy.  Patrick looks around the room to make sure there won’t be any problems.  The guys from the Nuestra Familia gang are eyeing him from across the room.  It appears they are talking about him too as they gesture towards him.  He hopes they aren’t planning anything.  He continues looking around the room and sees Gabe’s goons.  It doesn’t appear that Gabe is around, or maybe Patrick just can’t see him right now.  What he does see is Shane staring at him with a hungry, dangerous look.  He is talking to the rest of the goons, almost like he is making a plan.  That is definitely not good.  Joe and Dan are talking about the different plants and flowers that they will be planting today.  Patrick nudges Joe to look in the direction of Shane and the rest of the goons. 

“Joe, do you see the way that Shane is looking at me?  Please tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.”  Patrick asks. 

“Ummm, I’d love to tell you I don’t, but yeah, I see what you are saying.  That is definitely not a good look and it appears he is discussing something with the others.”  Joe replies. 

“I see it too Patrick.” Says Dan. 

“Fuck!  This is so not good!” Patrick says as he tries to make himself smaller. 

“What do you think they are talking about?” Dan asks. 

“If I had to guess, I’d say they are making a plan to do something to Patrick.”  Joe says. 

“Great!  That’s the last thing I need right now.” Patrick comments as he is starting to panic. 

“Patrick, I will stay glued to you as much as I can for the next few days.  They are a lot less likely to come after you, if you are not alone.  When we get back to our cell, I’ll give you another lesson in fighting.”  Joe says. 

“I can try and help you too.” Says Dan.  “I know our paths don’t cross much during the day, but I will help you any way I can.” 

Patrick smiles.  “Thanks Dan.  I appreciate it.” 

It makes Patrick feel a little better knowing he has allies.  Patrick looks at his food and decides he is done. 

“Let’s get that lesson started Joe.  I’m not hungry anymore.  I just feel sick to my stomach.” 

Joe looks down at Patrick’s plate to see he hasn’t eaten much. 

“Eat a bit more Patrick.  You need your strength and you don’t want Gabe to come and force feed you again.”  Joe points out.

Patrick agrees and eats half of his plate.

 “Ok, now we can go.  Have a great day Dan.  I’ll see you later.”  Joe says. 

“Thanks.”  Says Dan. 

Patrick and Joe get up, put their plates in the garbage and then start walking back to their cell. 

It appears they are all in the clear, until someone grabs Joe from behind and throws him on the floor.  Joe looks up and sees Theodore.  He gets up and fights back.  Joe is not only trained in boxing but also mixed martial arts.  Theodore gets in a few good blows, but Joe goes into fighting mode and starts kicking Theodore’s ass.  Theodore is putting up a good fight, but Joe is better than he is.  He is making good headway and almost winning when Ross grabs him from behind and stabs him with a needle.  Joe pushes that guy off of him and knocks that guy out.  He stands there for a second.  He is feeling very tired and dizzy all of a sudden and the room is spinning.  His movements are starting to feel slow and very hard.  He blocks a few more shots before Theodore gets in a few more punches.  Joe falls to his knees, loses consciousness, and falls to the ground.  Theodore and Ross grab Joe and pull him off to the side and restrain him.

Meanwhile, Patrick is watching all of this happen.  He wants to help but doesn’t know how to without getting hurt himself.  He watches Joe try to defend himself.  He’s doing so well until he sees Ross grab him from behind and inject him with some sort of sedative. 

“No!” he screams. 

He runs toward Joe but is also grabbed from behind and put in a choke hold.  He is having trouble breathing but he still fights against the person behind him.  He looks back, sees Shane, and feels something poke into the back of his neck.  It appears Shane injected him with something. 

He hears Shane whisper “Uh, Uh, Uh, Patrick.  No being the hero this time.  You’ve got bigger problems right now” into his ear.

That is the last thing he hears or sees before he passes out.

When he starts to wake up, his side hurts from laying on it, from the fresh tattoos.  He opens his eyes and the room is still spinning. He is really disoriented and his brain is still very foggy from the drugs.  It is really hard for him to keep his eyes open.  It appears he is on the ground laying on his side.  His hands are tied behind his back, there is a gag over his mouth, and his feet are bound.  He doesn’t know where he is, but he vaguely remembers seeing Joe fighting someone and somehow lost.  He also remembers someone whispering something in his ear.  The voice sounded familiar but he doesn’t remember who it was.  He lifts his head and looks around the room.  He is still somewhere in the prison.  Lifting his head was a bad idea.  Now his head is pounding.  He lays his head back down on the floor and closes his eyes again.  He tries to remember what happened and how he got here.  He forces himself to think, even though doing so makes his head pound harder.  He was sitting in the mess hall at breakfast looking around the room when he saw Shane looking at him with a terrible look.  He looked like he was mentally undressing Patrick.  There was a sinister smile on his face.  His face looked like was he hungry for Patrick.  Patrick asked Joe and Dan to look at him to make sure he was seeing this right.  They said they saw it too.  Flash forward to Patrick and Joe returning to their cell when someone grabbed Joe from behind throwing him to the floor.  It turned out to be Theodore.  Joe was fighting back and winning when someone else grabbed him from behind and stabbed him with a needle and he passed out.  Patrick saw them drag him somewhere and restrain him.  He was about to go to Joe’s aid when he was grabbed from behind by Shane, injected with something too, and he lost consciousness.  Patrick’s head is hurting so bad that he curls in a ball.  He hasn’t had a migraine like this in a long time.  He forces his eyes open and his head up, even though it hurts, to get a better look around the room.  This time, he sees a pair of big feet standing near him.  They kneel down next to him, grab his head by the hair and pulls his head up so he can see who it is.  It hurts. 

“Hello Patrick.  Did you have a nice nap?”  Shane asks condescendingly. 

Patrick gives him an annoyed look, knowing he can’t respond because of the gag in his mouth. 

Shane smiles and continues.  “Oh yes, you can’t respond.  I’d remove the gag, but I know you would start screaming bloody murder, so that’s not happening.  Let me tell you why you are here.  We have been seeing a lot of each other lately during your nightly visits.  I have to say, I have enjoyed seeing you so helpless and in such a huge amount of pain.  I do love all of the tattoos you’ve been given.  You also seem to have quite the rebellious spirit, which I love.  I have been thinking about you in a much different way lately.  First, I had to separate you from your boxing friend.  I knew Theodore couldn’t take him, so I arranged to have him taken out in a different way.  Don’t worry, he is ok.  He’s just taking a long nap so he can’t get in the way.  Anyways, I know Gabe has claimed you, but I thought to myself, maybe I can have you just once and it would be our little secret.  Would you like that?” 

Patrick looks up at him in horror and shakes his head no.  He immediately starts fighting against the ropes, making them dig deeper into his hands and feet, trying to escape.  He manages to move away from Shane, but is still bound and gagged. 

“Nice try Patrick.  I do appreciate you trying to get away though, but it’s not going to stop me.” 

Shane kneels down to pick him up when Patrick headbutts him, making Shane’s nose bleed. 

“Owww!  Fuck!  You little shit!  That’s going to cost you.”  Shane says. 

He picks up Patrick by his hair and drags him back to the room they were in before and throws him onto the ground where he slides and crashes into the wall.  Patrick’s head hits the wall hard enough to stun him.  Shane kicks him hard in the stomach, then pulls him to a sitting position and punches him in the eye.  That is almost enough head trauma to make him pass out, but he knows if he does, Shane will rape him while he is unconscious.  Shane gets in a few more hits in before he decides he’s done.  Even through all of the head trauma and the beating, Patrick is formulating a plan to get away. 

“That’s enough!  Here is how this is going to work.  You are going to be a good little boy and take what’s coming to you, and you will NEVER tell Gabe about this.  If you do, I will kill you.  Do you understand?”  Shane threatens.

Patrick looks up at him, tries to focus on him, and nods his head yes.  The room is starting to spin from all the blows to his head and he feels like he is going to vomit, but he has to overcome all of that if his plan is going to work. 

“Good boy.  I’d like you to face me while we are doing this so that I get to see how humiliating, painful and demoralizing this is for you.  That will give me great pleasure.” 

He turns Patrick on his back.  Patrick’s hands are still bound behind his back and it really hurts to lay on them.  Shane comes at him with a knife.  Patrick is very scared of what he plans to do with it.  Shane surprises him when he uses the knife to cut the ropes around his ankles. 

“This will make for easier access.  If I remove the gag, do you promise to be a good boy and not scream?  I’d really like to be able to play with that tongue piercing.”  Patrick nods yes.  Shane sets the knife on the floor right next to him.  Patrick thinks if he can wiggle close enough, he could use it to cut the ropes around his wrists.  Shane removes the gag.  The first thing Patrick says is

“If you remove the ropes around my wrists, you can have all that you want from me.  I’ll even participate to make sure you get the experience you want.  Hell!  I’ll even return the favor, but I need my hands to do that.”  Patrick says.

Shane thinks about it for a second.  While he is thinking, Patrick wiggles closer to the knife.  He is almost there when Shane says “As tempting as that is, I don’t trust you so we are going to do this my way.” 

Patrick wiggles even closer to the knife. 

“Alright Shane, Your loss.  I have been told that I am a God at giving head.  That is something I haven’t even done for Gabe yet.”  He says. 

Patrick finally reaches the knife while Shane is distracted.  He turns himself onto his side so he can get the knife where he needs it to be.  Once he’s got it, he turns back over onto his back and starts working on cutting the ropes around his wrists. 

“You haven’t done that for Gabe and you want to do that to me?”  Shane asks. 

Patrick knew that would work. 

“Absolutely!  I hate Gabe!  Why would I do something nice like that for him?  Think about it.  You would be getting something that Gabe hasn’t already taken.”  Patrick responds. 

Patrick is sawing the ropes as quickly as he can, but he is also cutting his hands and arms in the process.  The longer he can drag this out, the better chance he has at getting away.  He watches the gears moving and working in Shane’s head as he works through this conundrum. 

“Ok, but I’m not cutting the ropes on your hands until we have already done what I want.  After that, I will untie your hands so you can repay the favor.  Deal?”  Shane asks. 

Patrick looks him straight in the eye.  “Deal.”  Patrick responds. 

He is about halfway through cutting the ropes.

“How do you want to start this?  You want any foreplay, or are we just getting to it?” Patrick asks looking up at Shane and seeing that vicious, hungry look again. 

Shane’s pupils are already dilated and he is breathing hard just looking at him. 

“Some foreplay sounds fun to start with.  What did you have in mind?” Shane asks. 

“Well, I figured we could start with some kissing followed by some petting.  That way you can play with my tongue piercing.  You may touch me however you wish.  If you want my shirt off, you will have to take it off yourself.”  Patrick says, feeding into Shane’s fantasy. 

Meanwhile, he is three quarters through the rope. 

“Ok.  That sounds good.”  Shane replies. 

He removes his own shirt, then straddles Patrick on the floor and starts by kissing him.  Patrick kisses back using his tongue, acting like he is really into this.  Shane responds to this by twirling his tongue around Patrick’s, playing with the tongue piercing.  That seems to keep Shane occupied for a while.  Patrick is almost through the ropes. 

“Take my shirt off!  I want to feel your body on my skin!”  Patrick says pretending to moan at the thought of it. 

Shane rips his shirt in half and pushes it off Patrick’s shoulders. 

Patrick fake moans “Oh yes!  Your body feels so strong against my wimpy one!  Please explore my body with your hands!  I want to feel your strong hands all over my body!” 

Shane does as he’s told and Patrick can tell that it is having the desired effect.  He begins to kiss down Patrick’s chest, but he stops short at his pants for now.  He starts outlining the tattoos on Patrick’s neck, sides, and chest with his tongue. 

“Oh!  That feels so good baby!  More! Please!”  Patrick says, continuing to goad Shane. 

He finally breaks through the ropes and his hands are free! 

“You know what really drives me crazy baby?” Patrick asks Shane. 

“What?  Tell me and I will do it!”  Shane replies. 

His pupils are blown, he is hard and he is breathing hard.  Patrick thinks for a second.  He doesn’t want to give away that his hands are free quite yet. 

“I want you to lick me below my belly button.  I want you to follow my happy trail all the way down and tease me by licking a stripe under my dick from the base to the tip.  That will drive me wild and bring me very close to the edge!  Please baby?” 

Patrick starts breathing hard, moaning, and acting like he is close to the edge, even though he definitely is not.  Shane doesn’t need to know that though. 

“Ok! I can’t wait to see you fall apart!”  Shane replies and moves down to the area Patrick told him to pay attention to. 

While he is busy doing that, Patrick pulls his hands free, but keeps them behind his back so when Shane looks up at him, he doesn’t suspect anything. 

“Oh my God!  Yes!  Punish me you tease!  Oh!  Right there!  It feels so good baby!  Do it again!”  Patrick screams. 

While Shane is distracted, Patrick starts enacting his plan to get out of this. 

“Now come back up here and kiss me baby.  I want to see how I taste!”  Shane finishes up and works his way back to Patrick’s mouth. 

“Mmm.  So good baby!”  Patrick shouts. 

Now Patrick uses both his hands and feet to roll them over with Patrick on top.  Shane is completely disoriented and Patrick takes that time to punch him in the face and take the knife and stab him in the side with it and pull it back out.  Shane screams and goes to nurse the wound.  Patrick stands up, kicks him in the side where the wound is and says “If you ever touch me like that again, I will kill you.  Or, better yet, I’ll tell Gabe and he will kill you.  Do you understand me?” 

Shane looks up at Patrick completely dumbfounded.  Patrick takes the knife and stabs him again. 

“Do you understand me?”  He asks again. 

“Yes!  I understand you! Please don’t tell Gabe!”  Shane responds.  “I won’t tell him, but only because it is in my best interest. I could care less about yours.”  Patrick says and starts to walk away, only for Joe to come running in, to save him. 

“I’m good Joe.  Let’s go back to our cell.  I need to shower after that.”  Joe looks at him and looks at Shane. 

“Ok.”  He says and they go back to their cell, leaving Shane bleeding on the floor.

“What happened back there Patrick?  I remember fighting Theodore and almost winning when Ross stabbed me with a needle and I passed out.  When I came to, I was bound and gagged.  My feet were bound very loosely.  Theodore, Ross, and Justin were looking at me with this smug smile.  When Theodore bent down to talk to me, I kicked him in the chest with my feet still bound.  He went flying across the room.  It didn’t take very long to get the ropes off my ankles.  Then I hopped over my arms and brought my hands forward.  Ross saw this and came over.  I was able to fight him off with my feet and my bound hands.  Then I ran to find a nice guard, told him what happened, and he cut the ropes on my wrists.  Then I came looking for you.”  Joe says. 

“Shane tried to make a move on me and have his way with me.”  Patrick responds. 

“Did he-?” Joe asks. 

“No.  No more than I let him do.  He said that that was happening.  Since I was tied up, I couldn’t do much.  He said he wanted me to face him so he could see how much this hurt me.  He decided to cut the ropes on my ankles with a knife and remove the gag so he could play with my tongue piercing.  I had managed to move over enough to grab the knife so I could cut the ropes on my wrists.  I had to waste enough time to do that, so I fed into his fantasy, offering to do whatever he wanted and to be into it too.  That gave me enough time to saw through the ropes.  You saw how that ended.”  Patrick explained. 

“You have some pretty bad bruises and a black eye and I see some cuts on your hands and arms.  Do you need to go to sick bay?”  Joe asks. 

“No!” Patrick says abruptly, even though his head was still pounding. 

“I’ve spent enough time there recently and I’m pretty sure I will end up there again tonight.”  He adds. 

They make it back to their cell and the guard closes the doors. 

“What are you going to tell Gabe when he asks what happened?”  Joe asks. 

“I was just going to say that I got in a fight with another prisoner.”  Patrick answers. 

“Do you think he is going to buy that?” Joe asks. 

“I sure hope so.  If he finds out what really happened, he will probably punish me.”  Patrick replies. 

He goes to their sink to try and clean up the wounds on his hands, arms, and face as best he can.  “I need to take as shower though.  I have to wash Shane’s stench off of me.  Brad!”  He calls out. 

Brad walks up to their cell.  “What?” he asks. 

“I missed shower time today.  Can I please go take a shower?”  Patrick asks. 

Brad looks him up and down.  “What happened to you?”  he asks. 

“I got in a fight with another prisoner.  I’d really like to wash the blood off.” Patrick responds.  Brad thinks for a second. 

“Fine.  Open the door.” He yells to the other guard. 

“Make this quick, Doc.”  Brad grabs him and takes him to the showers.

They enter the shower room.  Before Brad releases him, he pushes him up against the wall.  “I’m hungry!  Since I’m doing you a favor, you get to do one for me.  Stand still.”  Brad moves Patrick’s head to the side, baring his neck and bites Patrick’s neck.  Patrick lets out a pained cry.  This is so fucking painful.  Brad continues slurping his blood.  It seems like he is taking a lot.  Patrick is starting to feel dizzy.  He taps Brad on the shoulder, trying to get him to stop.  Brad takes a break and looks at Patrick. 

“What?” he asks. 

“You are taking too much. I’m really dizzy.  If you keep going, I won’t be able to stand or shower.” Patrick says. 

“I’m done when I say I’m done, Slave.  Now shut up and let me finish my meal.”  He responds. 

He goes back to draining the blood from Patrick’s neck.  Patrick is starting to feel very tired and his limbs feel like jelly.  Brad keeps going and Patrick is barely conscious when he finally pulls off and licks the bite marks to close the wounds.  He lets go of Patrick and Patrick collapses onto the floor. 

“Now, I’m done.  Go take your shower.” 

Patrick doesn’t even have enough energy to talk or move, let alone stand and shower. 

“Get up!” Brad yells. 

Patrick’s eyes roll back into his head and he passes out.  Brad leans down to shake him. 

“Wake up!”  Patrick doesn’t move.  “Fuck!  I didn’t think he was that close to passing out.” 

Brad bites his wrist, opens Patrick’s mouth and lets a few drops of blood drip into his mouth.  (Not enough for him to hallucinate) Then Brad just sits there and waits for it to take effect.

Patrick wakes up on the floor of the shower room.  He feels much better than he did a while ago.  He looks over to his side and sees Brad sitting on the ground next to him. 

“Welcome back, sunshine.”  He says. 

Patrick moves himself to a sitting position and rests his head against the wall. 

“How long was I out?”  Patrick asks. 

“About an hour.” Brad replies. 

“I’ve been gone for an hour?  Joe is going to be worried sick!”  Patrick says. 

“Which is why you should take your shower so we can get you back.  Can you do that now?” Brad responds. 

“Yes.”  Patrick says while moving to a standing position.  “I will be quick.  Could you give me some privacy please?” he asks. 

“Yeah, ok.  I will be standing at the door.” Brad answers.

Patrick turns the hot water on and proceeds to scrub all of Shane’s stench off of him.  When he is done, he gets dressed in his old clothes that now have blood on them, and goes to meet Brad at the door. 

“I’m done.  You can take me back now.” Patrick says. 

Brad opens the door and leads him back to his cell.  Joe is waiting for him, looking very concerned. 

“You were gone for a really long time.”  Joe says. 

“I know.  Brad fed on me.  He took too much and I passed out.  I think he gave me some of his blood, because I felt much better after I woke up.  I didn’t hallucinate though, so it must not have been that much.”  Patrick answers. 

“Well, I’m glad you’re back.  We don’t have too much time left until lunch.”  Joe says. 

“I know.  I’m going to see if I can get a little sleep.  This has been a rough day and it isn’t even lunch time yet.  Wake me up when it is time to go to lunch.” Patrick says as he goes to lay down in his bed. 

“Will do!” Joe responds. 

Patrick lays on his back, because both of his sides hurt.  His head is still pounding.  He closes his eyes and waits for the sweet embrace of sleep to wash over him.  The problem is, that it never happens.  He’s so exhausted, but he still can’t sleep.  This is getting very annoying.  He needs sleep to function and he hasn’t slept for at least 4 or 5 days, other than when he is drugged, hallucinating or passed out. 

He feels Joe nudge him on the shoulder.  It must be time for lunch.  Patrick opens his eyes to see Joe looking down at him. 

“Did you have a good nap?”  He asks. 

“No.  I couldn’t sleep again.  I think Gabe may have done something to stop me from sleeping.  I haven’t slept in at least 4 days.”  Patrick answers. 

“That’s fucked up man.” Joe says. 

Patrick nods “yeah it is very fucked up.  Yet another reason why I hate that man or vampire, whatever the fuck he is.” 

Brad comes to the door of their cell to escort them to lunch.  The door is opened and they step out and walk to the mess hall.

They grab their meal and find a place to sit.  Patrick sees Gabe, Shane, Theodore, Ross, and Justin at a table in the back corner talking.  Patrick begins eating his food.  It is getting easier to eat as his tongue piercing heals, but it still hurts like hell.   Dan comes and joins them again. 

“What happened to your face Patrick?”  He asks. 

“Do you want the truth or the cover story?”  Patrick asks.

 “Both, I guess?”  Dan responds. 

“You know how Shane was starting at me during breakfast?  Well, he and his henchman jumped us on our way back to our cell.  Joe fought Theodore and was winning until Ross grabbed him from behind and stabbed him with a needle full of sedative.  When I went to help, Shane grabbed me from behind and stuck me with a needle that had the same sedative.  When I woke up, I was bound and gagged.  He kneeled down next to me and told me he wanted to have his way with me.  I tried to fight back and headbutted him, then he punched me.  He decided he wanted me to face him and cut the ropes on my feet with a knife.  I got ahold of the knife and cut my wrists free while he was busy with foreplay.  Then, I turned us over and stabbed him with the knife.  Joe came running in at the end to rescue me, but I was fine.  The cover story is that I got into a fight with another prisoner, so that I don’t somehow get punished by Gabe.”  Patrick says.

“Wow.  I wish I could’ve been there to help.  He didn’t-? Dan asks. 

“No.” Patrick answered.  They continue eating and talking when Patrick notices that Gabe is staring at him from across the room.  He tries to ignore it until he sees Gabe stand up and work his way over to their table. 

“Hello, Sugar!  What happened to you?  I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” He asks. 

Patrick looks up at him. “Hi Gabe.  I got into a fight with another prisoner earlier today.  I’m ok though.”  Patrick responds.

Gabe is looking him up and down, assessing his injuries. 

“What caused the fight?”  He asks. 

“I wasn’t paying attention and crashed into someone and knocked them over.  He was angry and started a fight with me.”  Patrick replies, hoping Gabe doesn’t notice that he is lying through his teeth. 

“I see.  May I ask who it was?” Gabe asks. 

“I don’t know his name.  I’ve never met him before.”  Patrick answers. 

Gabe grabs Patrick’s face and pulls it up so he can examine his injuries.  He ends up pressing on a sore part of Patrick’s temple where he hit the wall and he yelps. 

“Ow!”  Patrick yelps. 

The bruise goes around to the back of his head. 

“Are you ok?  Did you hit your head?”  Gabe asks. 

“Yeah.  When the guy knocked me down to the floor, my head bounced off the ground.  It’s fine though.  It’s just a small bump.” Patrick answers. 

Gabe pulls a small flashlight out of his pocket. 

“Look up at me, Sugar.”  Patrick does as he’s told. 

Gabe shines the flashlight into one eye and pulls it away, looking at how his pupils are dilating.  He does it to the other eye too. 

“What are you doing Gabe?” Patrick asks. 

“I’m checking you for a concussion Sugar.” Gabe answers.  “Now follow my finger.”

Patrick follows Gabe’s finger. 

“That is what I thought.  You have a mild concussion.  Your pupils are way bigger than normal and they are a different size in your left eye.” Gabe says. 

“Wait, how do you know what to look for in a concussion?  I’m a doctor, so I know what to look for.”  Patrick asks Gabe. 

“When you’ve been in here as long as I have, you start to learn things, like when a member of your gang is lying about not having a head injury.” He responds. 

“You need to go to sick bay and have it looked at.”  Gabe says. 

“No!  I’m fine.” Patrick says abruptly. 

Then Joe speaks up. 

“Um Patrick, maybe you should go to sickbay.  Concussions are no joke.”  Patrick looks at Joe, then at Gabe. 

“Ok fine.  Joe will take me after lunch.”  Patrick says. 

“Uh Patrick, I have to go to work after lunch, so I can’t take you.”  Joe says. 

“That works out then.  I’ll take you Sugar.  Are you done eating?” Gabe asks. 

Patrick looks back down at his food.  He really doesn’t want to go with Gabe, but he is done eating. 

“Yes.  I guess we can go.” Patrick replies. 

“Perfect.  Brad!”  Gabe yells.  Brad shows up.  “I have to take Sugar to sickbay.  He has a concussion.  Will you please escort us?”  Gabe asks.

Brad, Gabe, and Patrick leave and head towards sick bay.  They take a different way than they usually do.  Gabe says something to Brad and he goes up a little further and waits.  Oh shit!  I knew this was a bad idea!  Gabe stops, grabs him, and pulls him close.  Then he starts sniffing Patrick like a dog.  The next thing he knows, Gabe is holding him up against the wall with his hand around Patrick’s neck.  Patrick starts struggling against him, but he’s having trouble breathing. 

“Here is what is going to happen, Sugar.  You are going to tell me the truth about who you were in a fight with earlier.  No more lying!” Gabe says. 

Patrick is afraid to tell him. 

“Here’s the thing.  You might have showered after whatever happened, but you reek of Shane.  I can smell him all over your skin and I’m pretty sure something happened between the two of you.  He has been acting strangely all morning, he smells like you and I noticed that he is favoring his left side to counter some injury.”  Gabe tightens his grip on Patrick’s neck. 

Patrick is gasping for breath.  His face is starting to have a blue tinge to it. 

“Now.  Tell me what happened, and I will release you.” Gabe says. 

“Ok.” Patrick manages to get out.  Gabe releases him and he collapses on the floor.  He is still gasping for breath and coughing hard, and wheezing.  He thinks he’s having an asthma attack.  He feels light headed. 

“I need an inhaler.  I’m having an asthma attack” he says between coughs, wheezes, and gasps. 

Gabe orders Brad to go get the inhaler he needs from sick bay and bring it back here.  Brad is back very quickly with an inhaler in his hand.  He hands it to Patrick, who is pretty close to passing out, and Patrick holds it to his lips, squeezes the inhaler and breathes in holding his breath.  He exhales but is still coughing, wheezing, and gasping and drops the inhaler.  Gabe see this, picks it up and does what he saw Patrick do. 

“Sugar, I need you to inhale this.  One, two, three.”  Gabe squeezes the inhaler and Patrick inhales again and holds his breath. 

It appears to work this time.  Patrick’s breathing slows down, much closer to normal.  He is still coughing hard, but he isn’t gasping anymore.  He lays down on the ground for a few minutes to catch his breath.  Gabe is on his knees next to Patrick. 

Once he can breathe normally again, he sits up and looks at Gabe. 

“I saw Shane staring at me with this look of want and need this morning at breakfast.  Joe and Dan saw it too.  I wasn’t hungry after that so Joe and I left to go back to our cell.  Then we got jumped by Theodore, Ross, Justin, and Shane.  They separated us.  Theodore was fighting Joe and Joe was winning when Ross grabbed him from behind and stabbed him with a needle full of sedative.  Joe tried to keep fighting, but he passed out and I saw Theodore, Ross, and Justin drag him away to be restrained.  I tried to go after him when Shane grabbed me from behind and injected me with sedative.  I passed out.  When I came to, I was bound and gagged.  Shane said he was seeing me in a different way lately.  He knew that you claimed me, but wanted to have me once and it would be our little secret.  He said if I told you, that he would kill me.  I tried to fight but he slammed me into a wall and my head bounced off it.  I succumbed because I couldn’t move.  He decided he wanted to do this with me facing him.  He cut the ropes on my ankles with a knife.  When he was distracted, I got the knife and started to saw the ropes around my wrists.  I needed time to do that, so I offered to do some stuff to him and I acted like I wanted it.  We started with foreplay and he was all over me.  I was shouting things for him to do and acting like I was into it.  That gave me enough time to cut the ropes.  Then I rolled us over with me on top and I stabbed him in the side with the knife.  I told him that if he ever touched me like that again, I would kill him.  I made sure he understood by stabbing him again and then I stood up and was on my way out when Joe came in to rescue me.  I told him I was fine and we left Shane there bleeding on the floor.  I felt nasty after that so I showered.  That’s everything, I swear!”  Patrick looks up at Gabe with fear. 

Gabe looks emotionless. 

“Thank you for telling me, Sugar.  I will make sure that the four of them are punished accordingly.  Especially that piece of shit, Shane.  He’s going to find out that I’m not human and it will be incredibly painful.  Let me look at you in more detail.”  He grabs Patrick’s face and feels along his head gently to feel the bumps. 

He sees all of the cuts on his hands and arms and finally really looks at his face. 

“I’m sorry that this happened to you.” Gabe says.  “I will make sure that this does not happen again.  You have my word.” He adds.   

Gabe slaps Patrick around and to the floor a few times.  “As for you, if you EVER lie to me again, you won’t get off as easy.  Do you understand?” Patrick is very confused but he nods yes.

He was expecting some sort of punishment worse than that.  He definitely didn’t expect any form of kindness or understanding.  He’ll take what he can get, but he knows something might be coming later.  There is no way he gets out of this with a few slaps to the face. 

“Now let’s get you to sick bay to get these wounds and your concussion treated.”  Gabe says. 

He helps Patrick up, calls ahead to Brad, and they go to sick bay.

Chapter Text

Chapter 29

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, Gore, and Rape*******

Spencer is working on running a blood test when they come in.  He looks at Patrick and sees all of his injuries.

“Patrick?  Brad just came running in asking for an emergency inhaler.  Are you ok?  What happened?” he asks. 

Gabe answers “He was involved in an altercation with Shane Morris.  He has many cuts, a possible broken cheek bone, and he has a mild concussion.  I trust that he will be in good hands with you Dr. Smith.  If you will excuse me, I have some business I need to attend to.  He can stay as long as he needs to.  Brad, stay with him and make sure he stays out of trouble for the rest of the day.  Oh, and give him one of those iron infusions.  I will see you later, Sugar.  Goodbye gentleman.” 

With that, Gabe turns around and leaves sick bay. 

“What happened to you Patrick?  Let me take a better look at you.” Spencer asks. 

“What Gabe said pretty much summed it up.” Patrick answers. 

Spencer examines the cuts on his hands and arms from the knife.  He also sees the rope burn on his wrists. 

“You are lucky.  None of these cuts are very deep and they should heal on their own.  Let me see your cheek.  Please turn your head so your cheek is facing me.”  Spencer says. 

He examines the cheekbone on his right side. 

“You took a hard blow, but your cheekbone isn’t broken.  I bet it hurts a lot though.” Spencer informs him.  Patrick nods yes. 

“Now I’m going to check you for a concussion.  I am going shine a bright light into your eye. Please tell me if you are sensitive to the light.”  Spencer shines the light into his right eye. 

“It is painfully bright, Spencer.”  Patrick says.

“Your pupils are huge and are a different size in your left eye.  Are you having any blurred vision?” Spencer asks. 

“A little, yes.”  Patrick answers. 

“Any ringing in your ears, dizziness, fatigue, or a bad headache?”  Spencer asks. 

“No ringing in my ears, I’m very dizzy and tired and I have a very bad headache.  It feels like someone is cutting into my skull with a knife.”  Patrick responds. 

“Ok.  Now follow my finger.”  Spencer says. 

Patrick follows Spencer’s finger with his eyes. 

“Alright.  Gabe was correct.  You have a mid-grade concussion.  How hard did you hit your head?” Spencer asks. 

“Pretty hard.  I headbutted him and he picked me up by my hair, dragged me to another room, and threw me on the ground so hard the I slid and crashed into the wall.  My head bounced off the wall.  I was stunned.”  Patrick answers. 

“Sounds like you are lucky the concussion isn’t worse.  There isn’t much I can do for you.  Here is some extra strength Tylenol.  Try to take it easy for the next couple of days.  Only do what you need to do and rest when you aren’t do that.  I will give you a note to get you off work for a few days.” Spencer says. 

“I will go and get the iron infusion set up.  Once we start it, each bag will take 30 minutes to complete.  You will need two bags this time.  You can stay here until it is done.”  Spencer says. 

He turns around and goes to get the stuff set up.  Brad joins him next to his hospital bed. 

“How long is this going to take?”  He asks. 

“Last time it was 30 minutes per bag.  I think he said an hour total.”  Patrick answers. 

“I will have a different guard posted outside of sick bay to take you back to your cell when you are done.  I need to go “help” Gabe with his “business.”  I will come get you for your personal time with Gabe later.” Brad says.

Patrick nods his head yes and Brad turns and leaves.

Once Patrick is finished with the iron infusions, another guard escorts him back to his cell.  Joe is there waiting. 

“Well?”  he asks. 

“Spencer said I was lucky.  I have a mid-grade concussion.  He gave me Tylenol for my headache and told me to take it easy for the next few days.  He also gave me a doctor’s note, getting me out of work for a couple of days.  There isn’t much more he can do for me.”  Patrick answers. 

“So…no fighting training for a few days?” Joe asks. 

“Yeah, no.”  Patrick responds. 

“Spencer also told me to sleep as much as I could, but we both know that’s not going to happen.” Patrick says. 

“That sucks.  I’m sorry.  Do you think they will still take you tonight?”  Joe asks.

“Yes.  Brad already mentioned coming to get me for my private time with Gabe later, so, yay for that.  Gabe made me tell him what happened.  He grabbed me by my neck, and held me up against a wall.  He choked me to the point that I couldn’t breathe had an asthma attack.  He said that I reeked of Shane and that Shane had been acting strangely all morning, so I told him what happened.  It was weird.  He slapped me around for a bit for lying to him, but otherwise he sympathized with me.  I didn’t ever know he was capable of anything other than being sadistic and angry.  He said he was sorry that happened to me and that he would make sure that would never happen again.  I’m not sure exactly what that means, but he took me to sick bay and left to take care of some “business.”  I’m just hoping that a bigger punishment isn’t coming.”  Patrick explains. 

“I’ll be there for you, no matter what happens.”  Joe says. 

“Thanks man.  I appreciate it.  I really do.  I’m going to try and rest for a bit, since we both know I won’t be able to sleep.”  Patrick states. 

He goes and lays down on his back in his bed and closes his eyes. 

He lays there for about two hours, not sleeping but at least he is resting like he was told to do.  It is about that time that Brad comes to collect him for his “personal time” with Gabe aka the daily raping.  Patrick stands up, looks over at Joe and walks out of the cell.  They both know what is about to happen.  Brad leads him to an area that is out of the way where Gabe is waiting.  Brad leaves them alone together.

“Hello Sugar!  It’s so good to see you!  What did Spencer say about your injuries?”  Gabe asks. 

“He said I have a mid-grade concussion, that the cuts will heal themselves and my cheekbone isn’t broken.  There isn’t much he can do for me.  He gave me some Tylenol for my pounding headache and told me to get a good amount of sleep and rest.  I’m sure you know I haven’t been able to actually sleep in days.”  Patrick answers. 

“I’m sure we can do better than that later.”  Gabe says. 

“Did you punish all of them?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes, and I made sure it will never happen, again as I promised.”  Gabe answers. 

“You didn’t kill Shane, did you?  I mean, I hate him for what he has done to me, but he didn’t deserve to die.”  Patrick asks. 

“Do you really want to know the answer to that?”  Gabe asks. 

“Yes.” Patrick answers. 

“I didn’t kill him.  I beat him pretty badly, revealed myself as a vampire, and fed on him a good amount, but I didn’t kill him.  He is scared enough now to know not to cross that line ever again.” Gabe informs him. 

“Ok.” Patrick responds. 

“Should we get down to business now Sugar? I mean, it’s not like you have a choice.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick looks at him and starts to back away from him.  He knows what’s coming, but he’ll be damned if he is going to do it willingly.  He is about to run, when Gabe grabs his face and kisses him full on, with tongue.  Patrick pushes him off of him, punches him, and spits in his face.  Gabe takes the hit and wipes the spit off of his face. 

“You know I love it when you fight me.  I’m so turned on right now.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick tries to run but doesn’t get very far when Gabe jumps on him and wrestles him to the floor.  Patrick tries to crawl away, only to be pulled back. 

“You can’t escape this, Sugar.  I am much stronger than you.  Besides, you deserve this, after asking for it and letting that piece of shit Shane touch you, when you know you are mine.  You brought this upon yourself and it is totally your own fault.  How could you let someone like Shane capture you and let him kiss and touch your body?  You definitely had this coming.” Gabe asks. 

Patrick is still fighting underneath him. 

“I told you.  I didn’t have a choice.  He drugged me and restrained me.  You’re lucky he didn’t get further.  If it hadn’t been for me, he would’ve succeeded!”  Patrick yells. 

This just makes Gabe angrier.  He punches Patrick on the other side of his face, making his nose bleed. 

“This was your fault, Sugar.  You somehow enticed him.  Now lay down and take your punishment, or things will get much worse for you.” Gabe threatens. 

“No!  I will not submit to you!”  Patrick screams. 

“Fine!  I was going to go a little easier on you this time because you’ve had a bad day, but that is definitely not going to happen now.  Fight me all you want!  You are just delaying the inevitable and making your life more difficult.”  Gabe says. 

He rolls Patrick onto his stomach, holding his hands tightly behind his back.  Patrick is still fighting and screaming for help.  Gabe rips his pants off, and violently pushes himself into Patrick. 

“Time for some more scrapes.”  Gabe says as he starts to rock Patrick back and forth across the rough concrete floor.  He is being particularly rough this time and making sure that he pushes Patrick’s face and knees into the ground hard to guarantee some good scrapes.  Right before he is done, Gabe tears into Patrick’s neck, making sure it is very painful.

“Ahhhhh!” Patrick screams. 

Gabe takes a lot of blood, but not as much as usual, because he has recently fed on Shane.  Patrick is barely conscious when he hears Gabe call for Brad to go get something ready.  He doesn’t need it, but Gabe bites his wrist and drips a good amount of blood into Patrick’s mouth.  Patrick tries to keep his mouth shut, but Gabe pries it open. 

“Happy hallucinating Sugar!  I hope it is horrifying!”  Gabe says as Patrick is starting to lose consciousness.

*Patrick wakes up in sickbay.  He feels very sick, like there is an elephant sitting on his chest, and he is having a lot of trouble breathing.  He feels very hot and is sweating through the clothes and sheets of whatever bed he is in.  He is restrained and can’t move.  His necks hurts and it is hard to lift his head.  He manages to look up and see Gabe conspiring with Spencer.  When they notice that Patrick is awake, Spencer comes over with an evil grin on his face. 

“What’s going on?  Why am I here, why am I restrained and why are you looking at me like that?”  Patrick asks.

Spencer looks at him with an evil look. 

“I have infected you with a very aggressive and quick acting mixture of pneumonia and meningitis.  You will be dead within the day.”  Spencer says. 

“What do you mean I will be dead within the day?”  Patrick asks as he is starting to panic. 

He notices that he is having a lot of trouble breathing because of his asthma. 

“I mean exactly what I said.  Between the mixture of viruses combined with your asthma, you will be dead soon.  Oh, and it will be an incredibly painful death.” Spencer explains. 

Patrick looks at Spencer, horrified. 

“Why would you do this?”  Patrick asks.

Spencer looks at Patrick with vicious look on his face. 

“Well, first off, I would enjoy watching you die and being helpless to do anything about it.  Secondly, Gabe came to me the other day asking if I would help him kill you because he really wants to turn you, so you two can be together for eternity.  The only catch is that he needs you to either be very close to death or dead.  I told him that this is right up my alley and that yes, I would help him kill you.  Gabe also said that he wants to see you to suffer before you died.  I told him I had the perfect mixtures of viruses to do just that, so we decided that this was the way to do it relatively quickly and will also accomplish the suffering Gabe wanted you to feel before you died.  By the way, you are pretty close to dying and death will take you soon.  The pneumonia will cause your lungs to fill up with fluid, so you will not be able to breathe and you will basically drown in your own fluids.  The meningitis will make your fever so high that it will fry your brain.” Spencer explains. 

Gabe looks at him with a sadistic smile and says “when you are dead or close to death, I will turn you.”   

Patrick looks at Gabe and Spencer completely shocked at what he is hearing. 

“What is wrong with you?  This isn’t right?”  He coughs really hard. 

“Spencer, you are a good man.  This isn’t you!  The Spencer I know took a Hippocratic oath, the same as I did to DO NO HARM.  How could you justify what you are doing to me?”  Patrick asks.  

He tries to struggle, but he is too sick, he feels himself get hotter, and his chest hurts really bad. 

“I am not sure who you are talking about.  That does not describe me one bit.  I’m actually enjoying watching you die.”  Spencer responds. 

He looks at Patrick, then at Gabe and both start laughing manically.  Patrick can’t believe what he’s hearing.  This is so wrong!  He is getting weaker and weaker, he can barely breath, he feels like he is on fire and he is sure he doesn’t have much time left.  He gives everything he has left for one final plea. 

“Please!  I don’t want this!  I don’t want to be a sadistic monster like he is!”  He starts gasping for air and then he finally passes out. 

“He is moments away from death.”  Spencer says. 

He flatlines shortly after, his body just couldn’t hold on anymore. 

“Time of Death 23:40.”  Spencer announces. 

He looks at Gabe and says “you may proceed now.”  

Then Gabe open his mouth.  Gabe bites his wrist and lets the blood drain into Patrick’s mouth.  After that, Gabe bites Patrick on the neck and drains him until he is dry. Now, they wait for the venom to invade Patrick’s body and transform him into a vampire. 

When Patrick wakes up, his throat is burning.  He runs his tongue over his teeth and is very surprised to find that he has very sharp fangs.  Fuck!  Gabe did turn him when he died.  Patrick feels an unquenchable thirst and is consumed by this feeling.  He looks over and sees Gabe sitting next to his bed. 

“Hello Sugar.  How are you feeling?”  Gabe asks. 

“I’m so hungry!  I feel like I am going to die if I don’t eat something.  Please!  I’m starving.”  Patrick answers. 

Gabe nods to Spencer to bring in the human. 

“Go ahead and eat Sugar.”  Gabe instructs. 

Patrick’s eyes turn red and he is on the human immediately.   He hesitates for a minute before biting and completely draining the human.  It happened so fast.  One minute the human was alive and now they are dead.  It helped a little, but it’s not enough.  He is immediately thirsty again and feels like this urge is so powerful.  “More!  I need more!  This isn’t enough!” He cries.  Gabe brings in human after human. 

“I’m still starving!” He cries.  

He goes through 25 humans and it still isn’t enough.  Patrick then catches himself thinking that humans are only food, vampires are superior to humans and that humans should be enslaved to provide an endless amount of food.  These thoughts scare the shit out of him.  Oh my God!  I’m turning into a sadistic, arrogant monster just like Gabe.  

“I’m still hungry!  Gabe, when will it stop?”  Patrick asks. 

“It should have stopped when you were full.  You aren’t full yet?”  Gabe asks. 

“No!  It is never ending and all consuming.”  Patrick answers. 

He starts to panic and worries his bloodlust will never be sated.  He looks to Gabe. 

“You made me this monster!  Now tell me how I’m supposed to live like this!  How do I stop this hunger?”  Patrick asks. 

“It shouldn’t be this bad, even for a new vampire.” Gabe says. 

“Well it is!  What the fuck are you going to do about it?”  Patrick screams. 

Spencer brings him another 10 humans that Patrick drains immediately.  He is still hungry.  Finally, Spencer brings in an incredibly weakened Pete.  Patrick looks at him and can’t control himself.  He feels like he is in a trance or something.  Pete’s blood smells heavenly.  He must have it all.  He grabs Pete and drains him dry until he is dead.  The trance breaks after that.  Patrick looks at the floor and realizes what he has done. 

“Oh my God Pete!  No!” 

He falls to his knees, and cries over his body. 

“Pete, please wake up!  Please don’t leave me!  I’m so sorry!  Please forgive me!”

He is shaking Pete’s body trying to get him to wake up, but nothing happens.  Gabe kneels beside him. 

“Gabe, please tell me you can save him!”  Patrick begs. 

“I’m sorry, Sugar.  It’s too late.  He was too weak to handle your attack.  He’s gone.”  Gabe says.  Patrick looks at him with a broken look. 

“No!!!!!!!” he screams as he collapses on top of Pete’s body. 

Gabe stays by his side, rubbing Patrick’s back in an attempt to calm him.  Patrick looks up at Gabe. 

“Don’t touch me!  You did this!  I never wanted this!  I killed the man I love!  This is your fault!  I will never see him again now because of you!” 

He is bawling his eyes out, but instead of real tears, he finds blood dripping down his face.  The worst part all of this is, he still isn’t sated.*

Patrick wakes up on a bed in sick bay.  His hands are handcuffed to the bed on each side.  What the fuck?  Is this hallucination not over?  He is crying (real tears this time), out of breath and panicking. 

“Welcome back, Sugar!  Did you have a bad trip?”  Gabe says while standing next to his bed. 

“You know it was.  It was terrifying.  But you knew that when you pried my mouth open and forced me to drink your blood, didn’t you.  That was the whole fucking point, wasn’t it?  You knew I didn’t need your blood, but you gave it to me anyway to make me have a horrifying hallucination.  Was this part of my punishment for fighting back against you?”  Patrick asked. 

“You see, that is one thing I love about you Sugar.  You are so intelligent and astute that you figure things out incredibly quickly.  Yes, I was angry that you fought back, especially since I did you a favor by taking care of Shane and his friends.” Gabe responds. 

“Oh Please!  You took care of that problem to assert your dominance and to make sure that you are the only one that gets to have me.”  Patrick spits back. 

“You are correct again.  Good job Sugar!”  Gabe does the slow clap thing and Patrick rolls his eyes. 

“Why am I here?  Was me getting drugged, attacked, getting a concussion, Brad feeding on me, and you beating, raping, and feeding on me not enough for you today?”  Patrick asks. 

“I have a special surprise for you Sugar.  You must feel pretty nasty after all of today’s events, so I’ve arranged for you to have a bath.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick doesn’t trust him, or Spencer for that matter. 

“Why am I having a bath in sick bay?  That seems like an odd place for a bath.”  Patrick asks.

“This is where I could make that happen.  It’s not like there are bathtubs in the shower rooms.”  Gabe answers. 

“It’s not like I have a choice.”  Patrick states. 

“That’s right Sugar, you don’t!” Gabe replies. 

“I can’t go anywhere chained to the bed, Gabe.”  Patrick says. 

“Oh, that’s right.  We wouldn’t want you to try and run off or escape, would we?  Let’s get Brad just to make sure you can’t go anywhere.  Brad!”  Gabe calls out. 

Brad appears next Gabe. 

“Yes?” he asks. 

“Please detach him from the bed, escort him into the next room and strip him of his clothes.” Gabe orders.  Brad does what he’s told.

When Patrick enters the next room, he sees Spencer standing in front of two bath tubs. That is odd, he thinks.  Is there someone taking a bath with me?  

“Hey Patrick!  Are you ready for your bath?”  He asks.

Of course, Spencer is involved.  Patrick is starting to lose his trust in Spencer lately.  He just sits there either doing something bad to Patrick, or he is sitting there watching while other people do bad things to him.  Maybe his hallucinations are correct and he needs to stop trusting Spencer.  He’s had enough.  Patrick looks at Spencer waiting for an answer. 

“Sorry.  Um I guess.” Patrick responds. 

Brad comes up to Patrick and starts trying to remove his clothes. 

“Knock it off Brad, I can undress myself.  Can I have some privacy please?”  Patrick asks. 

Spencer and Brad turn around. 

“Why are there two bathtubs?  How many people are going to be in here with me?” he asks. 

“I’m not sure why Gabe asked for two bathtubs.  You, Gabe, Brad, and myself will be here.  We will give you privacy though.”  Spencer answered. 

“Great…”  Patrick responds. 

Gabe enters from the other room with a devilish smile on his face. 

“It looks like everything is ready Sugar.  Hop in!”  Gabe says. 

Patrick is very suspicious of this whole situation.  He can’t get away though and if he fights, it will be worse for him.  He finishes removing his clothes and gets into the bathtub on the right and sits down.  Brad hand cuffs him to the handle on the bathtub.  The water is just the right temperature.  Maybe this isn’t going to be so bad.  He takes a deep breath and lets it out, closing his eyes, trying to relax.  He was just violated, so at least he can get clean without scrubbing his skin off.  He takes another deep breath and submerges himself under the water for a few seconds.  When he comes back up, it feels like the water is getting warmer.  Maybe he is just imagining it.  He sits there for a minute or two and decides that, yes, the water is definitely warmer than it was when he got in. 

Gabe peeks in from around the corner with an evil look and asks, “how is the bath going, Sugar?  Is the water a good temperature?” 

“Yes Gabe.  It’s fine.”  He answers. 

The water is warmer now than it was a minute ago.  What the fuck is going on?  I’m not crazy.  This water is getting hotter.  By now the water is about the temperature of a hot tub.  It is warm, but not uncomfortable quite yet.  Something doesn’t feel right about this.  The water temperature is getting uncomfortable.  If he wasn’t chained to the bathtub handle, he would step out for a few minutes, but he can’t.  Now the water is getting to the point where his skin is starting to turn red.  He bites and decides to ask what’s going on. 

“Um…Gabe?  Why is the water getting progressively hotter?” 

Gabe walks into the room this time with that same evil look on his face. 

“I’m sorry Sugar.  I don’t know what you are talking about.” He says. 

Gabe is definitely enjoying this.  Now the water is to the point where it is burning him.  He tries to stand up and get out, but the handcuff chain isn’t long enough. 

“Bullshit Gabe!  What the fuck is going on?”  he asks. 

He is starting to get blisters on his arms and legs, but the water keeps getting hotter. 

“You didn’t think that this was going to be pleasant or relaxing right?  You didn’t think that I would do something nice for you after you cheated on me by letting Shane touch you and then fought me during our intimate time, did you?”  Gabe asked. 

Patrick looks at him straight in the eye.  “I didn’t cheat on you!  I was drugged, restrained, and had a concussion!  Letting him touch me made me want to vomit, but I had no other choice!  I needed time to cut through the ropes!  Nothing happened!” 

Gabe walks over to the faucet and turns the temperature up more.  “I am definitely glad that nothing happened.  If it had, this would be much worse for you.  I hadn’t actually planned on punishing you too much for this.  When I was somewhat kind to you, and you fought me tooth and nail, that is when I decided you needed a harsher punishment.” 

Patrick’s whole body is now covered in blisters as the water keeps getting hotter.  He tries to get out again, but this time Brad comes and holds his body under the water.  Only his face is above water.  Gabe turns the temperature up to 120 degrees.  The water is literally burning Patrick’s skin. 

“Ahhhhhhhh!”  he screams. 

This just makes Gabe smile more, the fucking sadistic bastard.  Patrick is held in this 120-degree water for over thirty minutes.  He is writhing in pain.  It hurts so bad. 

He looks up at Gabe with tears in his eyes “Please!  Stop this! I feel like I’m being burned alive!”  Patrick says, his voice hoarse from screaming in pain. 

“That was the point, Sugar.” Gabe responds laughing at Patrick’s pain. 

“This will ruin all the tattoos you’ve given me!” Patrick screams in a last-ditch effort to get through to Gabe. 

Gabe walks up to him, grabs his face and pulls it close to his “not if I give you my blood, it won’t. Your skin would completely heal and you would wake up looking like your normal self.” He says. 

Gabe lets go of his face. 

“Take a deep breath Sugar.” He says as he pushes Patrick’s head completely under the water. 

Patrick’s face immediately burns and blisters.  His scalp even burns and blisters.  Gabe holds him down for about 45 seconds and then lets go, causing Patrick to surface.  He is coughing, gasping for air.  He is crying and screaming in absolute agony.  The blisters on his face have burst and are leaking pus all over his face. 

“I told you to take a deep breath Sugar.  Can’t hold your breath that long?” He asks. 

Patrick looks at him, defeated.  He can barely talk from all of the screaming. 

“Enough Gabe!  I can’t take much more of this.  Please let me out!” 

Gabe smiles, knowing he won this battle. 

“Very well.  Brad, fill up the other tub like I told you to.”  Gabe orders.

Brad stands up and starts the water on second bathtub.  It appears this bath will be in cold water.  Patrick is in too much pain to see what is about to happen.  His body is going into shock and is fading pretty quickly.  When the other tub is full, Spencer begins bringing in several big bags of ice and emptying them into the second bathtub. Spencer lets the ice sit in the water for a few minutes to make sure the water is super cold, potentially hypothermia inducing.  He nods to Gabe when it hits the desired temperature. 

“Brad, unlock his handcuff, pick him up and put him in the second bathtub.  Handcuff him to that tub.”  Gabe commands.

Brad does as he’s told.  Patrick is barely conscious and doesn’t understand what is happening when Brad picks him up.  His whole body is covered in broken blisters and probably second-degree burns.  In fact, he has blisters on top of the existing blisters.  Brad walks over to the other bathtub and sets Patrick down into it.  Patrick wakes up right away, screaming.  The ice feels good on his burns and blisters, but the cold water is making his skin dry out and more painful. After the sudden change in temperature, he is gasping for air and can’t seem to take a breath.  Fuck!  He’s having an asthma attack.  Spencer races to him with an oxygen mask and puts it over his mouth.  It’s not enough.  Patrick feels like he is close to passing out.  Spencer shouts orders to someone to bring him albuterol.  Then Patrick feels something stab him in his arm.  A few minutes later, his breathing seems to start normalizing.  He opens his eyes and sees Gabe and Spencer standing in front of him.  Of course, Spencer is involved with this.  He also lied when he said he didn’t know what the second bathtub was for Patrick thinks.  I’m done trusting him!  His skin still feels hot, but now he is shivering in the ice-cold water.  He stays in the cold water for at least ten minutes. 

He starts to feel tired and wants to go to sleep.  When Spencer sees him about to pass out, he shakes him to keep him awake. 

“Gabe, he is starting to show signs of hypothermia.  You need to pull him now.”  Spencer says. 

Gabe looks at Spencer and then Patrick, whose whole body is turning blue and says “Do It.” 

Brad pulls Patrick’s body from the cold water and puts him on a hospital bed.  They turn the heat on the bed on and they cover him with blankets to try to warm him up.  He is in so much pain from everything, that he feels himself slip away.  That is until someone is shaking him to wake him up. 

“Patrick, you are hypothermic.  We are trying to warm you up without making your burns worse.  You have to stay awake.  You can’t go to sleep.” Spencer says. 

“It hurts so bad!”  he is barely able to say. 

No shit, Sherlock!  What did they think was going to happen?  He is so done with trusting Spencer, or anyone but Joe for that matter.  Once he has warmed up a bit and is no longer hypothermic, Gabe makes him lay there longer, to make him suffer more.  Patrick is in so much pain!  When the heating or air conditioning turns on, the wind over his wounds is unbearable. It feels like he must be dying, only if he was dead, the pain would stop.  His skin is raw, aching, and weeping.  It’s pretty disgusting.   Spencer is starting to address Patrick’s burns when Gabe says “there is no need for that Doc.  I will give him my blood once I feel he has suffered enough.”  Patrick lays there for at least another hour writhing in pain and agony.  His breathing is shallow and short, trying to deal with the outrageous amount of pain he is in.  Finally, Gabe approaches his bed with a needle in his hand.  Patrick won’t admit it to anyone but he is especially grateful for the pain relief whatever Gabe was giving him would bring. 

“I told you we could do better than Tylenol.  Nighty-night Sugar.”  Gabe says.  Then he stabs the needle into his side, right through a broken blister and a burn. 

“Ahhhh!”  Patrick responds before he has his high and passes out. 

Gabe waits for the heroin to take effect.  Once he sees that Patrick is past his high and totally passed out, he bites his wrist, opens Patrick’s mouth, and gives him a lot of blood.  It will take a lot to fix all the damage before they take him tonight. 

“Brad, get him dressed and take him back to his cell.  Make sure his cellmate sees what we’ve done to him!”  Gabe orders and starts to laugh maniacally.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s not like I plan on going up there, like, ever!” Patrick had to shout, the music blasting through the speakers seemed to be getting louder, he took a sip of his water. 

Gerard pouted. “Oh, come on! Do one song with us, I’m sure we could squeeze it in! You have such an amazing voice. Please!” 

Oh man, he was literally begging and he knows Patrick has a hard time denying him of many things, especially if it involves a piano. And he could feel Frank’s smug little grin because they’ve been asking him to perform with them at least once for the last few years – he knows a lot of their songs on piano so…he supposes it could work. He’s almost annoyed at himself for playing on his keyboard when he thought they were sleeping that one time. That was his mistake, really. 

“Fine.” He sighed, tried not to react to Gerard actually jumping up and clapping his hands. 

God, he was only a pushover for these dweebs. 

“Perfect! I’ve been wanting to play our favorite on piano and I think it will be the best interlude. Come on, we have to get you dressed.”

Gerard grabbed Patrick’s hand and forced him out of his seat. 

“What do you mean dressed– I am dressed?!” Patrick comments.

  “Oh, you silly little thing. You look great but…” Gerard dusted his shirt off. “But a little too professional? You look just dapper, but we should dress you down a little. Come on.”  Gerard says.

He fondly, fondly – because that should be made very clear with Gerard in the vicinity – rolled his eyes and followed him to the dressing rooms. What did he just get himself into? If he messes anything up tonight, in front of people he possibly comes across daily, he’ll cry for six days and wear sunglasses to work. He’s played with them before for shits and giggles, but never in front of an audience. 

Patrick was very confused.  He knew he was friends with Frank and the Ways, but he didn’t ever perform with them on stage, did he?  Before he could even think about answering that question, the scene changes completely.

               *Patrick is backstage at a My Chemical Romance concert hanging out with everyone.  It’s time for him to perform the song with them, which he is very nervous about.  He’s afraid that he will mess up and embarrass himself and Frank.  Frank can see the wheels turning in his husband’s head. 

“Hey Babe, you need to chill and calm down.  You can do this!  Don’t worry about making mistakes or embarrassing anyone.  If it helps, just look at the piano and pretend the audience isn’t there.  You’ve got this!  I have total faith in you.”  Frank tells him.  Patrick loves how in tune Frank is to his moods and thoughts.  He’s so good at identifying the biggest thing that’s bothering him and, and doing everything he can to help him through it.  It’s one of the reasons he fell in love with him.  Gerard comes back stage, having overheard Patrick and Frank’s conversation. 

“I’m with Frank on this one, Patrick.  You are such a talented musician!  I’ve been wanting you to perform a song with us for a long time.  You can do this!  If it helps, focus on me the whole time.  I’m the only one you are singing to.  I know this isn’t something you normally do, but I just know when you get out there and start playing the song, your fears will melt away and you will actually enjoy this.  I hope this helped, because it is time.”  Gerard informs him.

Gerard takes one last look at Patrick before he moves to the place he needs to be.  Patrick takes a deep breath, looks back at Frank and then moves to his place.  He goes and sings his song with them and the audience loved it!  Patrick actually had a lot of fun.  Afterward, he comes back to the green room.  Frank is right there waiting to receive him.   

“Hey Babe!  I’m so proud of you!” Frank says as he pulls Patrick in for a tight hug and a not so chaste kiss.  Gerard and the rest of the band are finishing up on stage, so Patrick and Frank are taking advantage of there being very few people in the room.  Patrick and Frank are cuddling on the couch, spending some time together.  When Gerard and the rest of the band are finished, they join the others in the green room. 

“That was such a great show!”  Gerard says. 

He turns to Patrick and says “Patrick, the audience loved you!  You should perform with us again sometime.” 

Patrick isn’t so sure.  He just knows that being in the limelight is something he really isn’t interested in.  He’s always been happy being in the background, doing the things he loves, and not having any ideas of grandeur. 

“Thanks for the offer, Gerard, but I think I’m going to pass.  While I did well, I was still scared shitless!  This isn’t the life for me.”  Patrick says. 

“Ok Patrick.  I get it, the offer does still stand though, if you change your mind.”  Gerard says while smiling at Patrick. 

“I appreciate it.  Thanks Gerard.”  Patrick replies.

The conversations among the band members and Ryan, the bartender continue for a while.  Patrick is happy just sitting there and listening.  Everything is going great for quite a while, but then the conversation starts to take a very weird turn.  Gerard and Mikey look straight at Patrick and Mikey asks

“Hey Patrick.  This might seem like a very weird question, but do you believe in vampires?” 

Patrick is taken aback.  He’s heard all about it from movies and television, but never really even thought about whether they really existed.  What a strange question. 

“Like for real?  In real life?  Aside from what you see in the movies and on TV?  No.  They are creatures of the supernatural that don’t really exist in the real world.  This is a joke, right?  Are you trying to Punk me?”  Patrick asks. 

He looks back to Gerard and Mikey.  The look on their faces makes him question whether he is right, that vampires don’t exist in the real world. 

“Ok.  Let me rephrase Mikey’s question.  If you had concrete evidence to show you that vampires are real and exist in the real world, would you believe in vampires?”  Gerard asks. 

Patrick looks at Frank before he answers. 

“I mean, if there was real, tangible, and direct evidence that proved their existence in the real world, I guess it could be possible.”  Patrick responds. 

He doesn’t like where this is going.  He has a giant knot in his stomach, and something feels wrong. 

“What exactly would you need to see?”  Mikey asks. 

“I don’t know, Mikey.  Probably some undeniable proof.  Maybe like someone showing their fangs and proving they are real, not just ones bought from a store.  I’d also probably need to see the person feed on a human.  Why?” Patrick answers. 

“No reason.  I was just curious.”  Mikey replies. 

“Hypothetically, if vampires are real, would you see them as superior beings to humans, or would you see them as equals to humans?”  Mikey asks. 

“I don’t know, it would depend on what information you are using to make that determination.  Are they both living beings?  Then yes for equals.  Are they stronger than humans? Then yes for superior.  See what I’m saying?”  Patrick asks. 

This time, Gerard asks the question. 

“Let’s say that everything you know about vampires is true.  Would you still consider them equals?”

 Patrick doesn’t know what to say.  Again, this doesn’t feel like it is going in a good direction.  He looks at Frank.  He can sense his nervousness too.  He holds his hand tighter than normal. 

“By that logic, then no.  Vampires would be superior.  Where are you going with this?”  Patrick asks. 

He looks Gerard in the eye. 

“Nowhere really.  So, you could see how fragile and weak the humans are and how vampires could be seen as superior beings then.  One last question and then I will leave it alone.  If vampires are the superior beings, should humans be subservient to vampires?” Gerard asks. 

He looks completely serious. 

“No!  No species should enslave another no matter if they are superior beings or not.”  Patrick says. 

Gerard and Mikey look at each other.  Apparently, that was the wrong answer. Gerard, Mikey and the rest of the band stand up and encircle all of the humans in the room.  All at once.  Their eyes turn red, their fangs come down and they look at the humans like they are food. 

“Fuck!  They are all vampires!”  Patrick screams. 

“Frank, Ryan, and any other humans in this room, RUN!”

All of the humans take off in different directions.  Patrick stays with Frank.  They make an attempt to get to the door before the Ways grab them and feed on them until they are close to death.  The process is incredibly painful!  Gerard and Mikey pull off for a second.  They both look at Patrick and Frank, who are now barely conscious, but they are still holding hands tightly. 

“That was the wrong answer, Patrick.  Vampires will always be superior to humans!  Humans deserve to be our slaves!”  Gerard screams. 

Then, they violently rip them apart until they are dead.*

Chapter Text

Chapter 30

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Gore, Mentions of Rape and Graphic Violence*******

               Joe hears the cell door open and sees Patrick dumped on the floor.  His clothes are on, but look like they have been ripped off of him, so Joe knows what happened.  When he takes a closer look, there are burst blisters and burns all over his face and body.  It looks like he is in agony!  Joe looks up at Brad.  He is pretty pissed. 

“What did you do to him?  Where did all of these burns and blisters come from?”  Joe asks. 

Brad smiles and says “Oh nothing!  Gabe just gave him a bath after he fucked him.  A nice, boiling hot bath.  Then he put him in a cold tub filled with ice.  His body didn’t really like that very much and he had an asthma attack, but he’s fine now.” 

Joe feels his blood close to boiling. 

“Why?  Why would he do that?”  Joe asks. 

“He was pissed about the Shane thing, and then he was pissed when Patrick tried to fight back during sex.”  Brad answers. 

Joe has to try to control his temper, or he might lash out at Brad. 

“Rape is not sex!”  He yells. 

Brad smiles.  “Sure, it is!  It’s just fun sex for one person and unpleasant sex for the other.” Brad says as he turns to leave. 

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine in a few hours, he might start hallucinating though.”  Brad informs him.

Joe looks down at Patrick again.  He looks so fragile and he must be in horrible pain.  Joe’s afraid to touch him, so he tries to pick him up as carefully as possible, puts him in his bed, and pulls the blanket up over him.  If he wasn’t passed out, he’d probably be writhing in pain.  This is horrible!  If this continues, Gabe is going to end up killing him.  Should I tell Andy what is happening?  I know that it would probably make things worse for Patrick, but at least he would have a reprieve for the time that Gabe is punished.  Joe decides to keep an eye on it for the time being.  He goes back to what he was doing while Patrick sleeps.  It hasn’t been long before Patrick starts hallucinating.  The beginning of it isn’t so bad, but when the bad part hits, Patrick is screaming about people being vampires and to run.  Patrick’s voice seems like it is almost gone, probably from screaming when they were cooking him to death.  The screams and obvious pain he’s in get much worse.  Whatever is happening to him, it sounds incredibly painful.  He walks over to Patrick’s bed.  When he looks down at him, some of the blisters and burns are starting to heal, not a lot, but some.  Gabe must’ve given him his blood.  I guess it is important to keep the person you are torturing alive.  Joe is so frustrated and angered by all of this, especially today.  There has to be a way that he can help.  Maybe he could take one of the attacks?  He doesn’t know, but he is not letting Patrick out of his sight while he is around.

Joe keeps checking on Patrick as often as he can.  More of the blisters and burns have healed.  Patrick hasn’t woken up yet, which worries Joe.  Gabe did a lot of damage this time around, he thinks.  I guess that is going to take more time to heal and Patrick will be unconscious for longer.  I really hope they don’t take him tonight too, but knowing those sadistic bastards, they probably will.  Patrick wakes up about three hours later. 

“Hey Patrick, I’m here buddy.”  Joe says. 

Patrick starts to cry instantly, but the tears sting instantly when they touch the open blisters and the burns.  He starts breathing in short breaths in an attempt to deal with the pain. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Ahhhh!  Oh my God!  Joe, it hurts so bad!”  He says quietly with what little voice he has left from all of the screaming. 

Many of the blisters and burns have healed, but still, a large amount of them haven’t and he is still in a ton of pain. 

“I’m so sorry buddy.  I wish there was something I could do to help.  I could take you to sick bay to see if Spencer could give you something for the pain.  Do you want to do that?”  Joe asks. 

“It hurts too much for me to move, even if you carry me.” Patrick replies.  “Uh!” he cries out when he tries to pick his head up.  “Plus, I’m not so sure I trust Spencer anymore.  He has either been the one doing bad things to me, or he is sitting by watching other people do bad things to me.  I know he is under Gabe’s control during those times, but I’m having trouble moving past it.  I am in shit ton of pain though.  I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”  Patrick says. 

“I’m so sorry.  If it helps, you are looking better.  More of the burns and blisters have healed.  Brad said Gabe gave you a lot of his blood.  He said you would be fine in a few hours.” Joe says. 

Patrick looks over at Joe. 

“Well, that’s something to look forward to, I guess.  I know he gave me blood.  It made me hallucinate.  He also forced me to drink some after today’s daily raping.”  He shares. 

Patrick tries to sit up a little and screams from the pain. 

“Ahhh!”  He screams. 

He immediately lays back down, breathing short breaths again.  It even hurts to breathe. 

“You know what?  Fuck it!  I can’t take this anymore.  Every time I try to move, I end up in excruciating pain.  Joe, could you please call Spencer and ask him to come here?  I’m starting to feel really sick to my stomach from the pain.  Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t remember being a part of this.”  Patrick responds. 

“Of course.  Guard!” Joe yells. 

For once, it’s not Brad who answers.  The guard is standing outside their cell. 

“Could you please see if Doctor Smith could come here?  Patrick is in a fuck ton of pain.” Joe asks. 

The guard looks at Patrick laying on the bed. 

“Oh my God!  What happened to him?  I will call sick bay and have him come.  I will tell him it is urgent and to bring some painkillers.” Says the guard. 

“Thanks!” Joe says as the guard leaves to call sick bay. 

Joe turns back to Patrick and says “He should be here soon Patrick.” 

“Thanks, Joe.  Could you stay by me and keep me company?”  Patrick asks. 

“Sure.  No problem.”  Joe answers as he moves back to Patrick’s bed. 

He grabs a chair, sets it next to him and sits down. 

“How is your head doing?  Do you feel like Gabe’s blood healed your concussion?”  Joe asks. 

“Aside from all of the blisters and burns, my head actually feels much better.  I think his blood did actually help, and I think my concussion is gone.”  Patrick answers. 

“Well, that is at least good.” Joe replies. 

They continue to talk for a few more minutes. 

It isn’t long before Spencer is there.  He looks at Patrick laying on his bed and his eyes go wide. 

“Guard, open the door!” He orders. 

The guard opens the door to the cell and Spencer rushes to Patrick’s side. 

“Patrick, you look awful.  What happened?  Where did you get all of these blisters and burns?”  Patrick figured that Gabe compelled him to forget everything.  He looks at Spencer and then looks at Joe.  They both know what happened. 

“It doesn’t matter how I got them.  The only thing that matters is that I’m in so much pain that it is getting hard for me to stay awake.  The pain is also upsetting my stomach.  I feel like I want to barf.”  Patrick says. 

Spencer begins examining his blisters and burns.  He sees scars from the ones that have already healed, which seems odd to him. 

“You shouldn’t be here; you should be in sick bay where I can properly address and care for your wounds.” Spencer answers. 

Patrick makes direct eye contact with him so Spencer can see the pain in his eyes. 

“I’m in too much fucking pain.  I can’t move.  If you try to pick me up, I will probably die.  Please just leave me here and give me some pain medicine.”  Patrick begs. 

Spencer looks up and down Patrick’s body with horror. 

“Yes, of course!  Do you have a preference?”  Spencer asks. 

Patrick shakes his head no. 

“Just give me something that is really strong and might make me sleep!”  Patrick says. 

“Ok.  I will give you a higher dose of morphine and some Zofran to help settle your stomach.  Is there anything else I can do?” Spencer asks as he is rummaging through his bag. 

“No.  Not really.  I’d just really like to be unconscious right now.”  Patrick answers. 

“Ok.  This should do it.” Spencer answers while pulling the dose he wants out of the morphine vial with a needle. 

He injects Patrick in the arm and gives him a Zofran tablet that will dissolve on his tongue.  It hits Patrick almost immediately and he starts to feel drowsy and finally passes out.  Spencer looks at Joe.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“If he gets worse, you need to bring him to sick bay immediately or have us come with a stretcher.  He should be in sick bay.  I don’t know why he is insisting on staying here.  Please keep an eye on him.  I will be back later when it is time for more morphine.”  Spencer says. 

“I have been keeping an eye on him since he got here.  However, I can’t control what happens to him when I’m not here.  I will definitely call you if he gets worse.  Thanks Doc.”  Joe answers. 

Spencer nods and then calls for the guard to open the cell door.  The guard opens the door to their cell and Spencer leaves.  Joe goes back to Patrick’s side. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Don’t worry Patrick, I will watch over you.  I will keep you as safe as I can.” Joe says to Patrick. 

He gets up to grab a book then sits back down in the chair, waiting for Patrick to wake up.  He is going to be here for a while.  He opens his book and begins reading.

It has been three hours since Spencer left.  Patrick is still unconscious, but he looks much better.  A lot of the blisters and burns have healed, leaving scars on Patrick’s body.  There are still a good amount left, but even those have started healing.  Joe wonders when Patrick is going to wake up.  He hopes that when Patrick awakens again, that most of the pain is behind him.  Joe had to leave him for about two hours for his work detail.  He had come back immediately though.  He also had to leave for time in the yard, which was about an hour.  Gabe had approached him in the yard, asking about Patrick and how he was doing.  It took everything Joe had in him to not lose his cool and start beating him. 

Joe had mainly looked Gabe straight in the eye and said “You know what you did to him, and you know how he is doing.” 

Then he left Gabe and went to find someone else to hang out with until yard time was over.  He came back to their cell directly after that.  He grabs his book, sits down and begins reading again.  Patrick wakes up an hour after that.  Joe hears some movement and looks over at Patrick to see he is awake. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Joe?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yeah.  I’m here Patrick.  I have been here most of the time you were out.”  Joe answers. 

“How long was I out?”  He asks. 

“About four hours.  How are you feeling?  Is the pain any better?”  Joe responds. 

Patrick tries to move his hands and wiggle his toes.  There is still pain, but it is tolerable. 

“I feel better.  I am still in pain, but it is much less than before.  Let me see if I can sit up.”  Patrick says. 

Joe puts a hand on his shoulder.  “Woah!  Take it easy Patrick.  That bath did a lot of damage.  You don’t want to hurt yourself more.” 

Patrick brings his tattooed arms and hands up and sees that most of the blisters and burns have healed.  There are still some there, but it appears Gabe’s blood is healing him. 

“I appreciate your concern Joe, but I want to try to sit up.  Could you help me?”  Patrick asks. 

Joe looks at him and says “Sure.  What do you want me to do?  Does it hurt if I touch you?” 

Patrick brings up his hands again. 

“Take my hands and pull forward.” 

Joe does just that and Patrick makes it to a sitting position.  It looks like it was somewhat painful, but now that he isn’t moving it looks like it is better.  Patrick pulls up his shirt to see how much damage is left on his chest and torso.  Then he does the same to inspect his legs. 

“Does it still look really bad?”  he asks Joe. 

“No.  It looks much better than when Brad dumped you back in here a few hours ago.  I was pretty worried then.” Joe answers. 

Since he is sitting, Patrick tries to swing his legs off the bed.  He is still grinding his teeth through the pain. 

“Joe, I want to try to stand up.  Put my arm over your shoulder and support me so I don’t fall.”  Patrick says. 

“Are you sure you want to try this so soon?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick thinks about it for a second and then answers “Yes.” 

Joe puts Patrick’s arm around his neck and grabs him under his armpit on the other side. 

“Ok Ready?  One, two, three.”  Joe hoists Patrick up to a standing position. 

He looks over at Patrick.  He looks like this hurts a lot. 

“Do you want to try and stand on your own?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick shakes his head yes. 

“Ok, here we go.” Joe says and lets go for a second.  Patrick does stand for a minute but then starts to collapse.  Joe catches him before he falls and sits him back down on his bed.  Patrick looks frustrated. 

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he yells. 

Joe sits down in the chair next to his bed. 

“Why are you pushing yourself so hard?”  Joe asks.  “Look I know you are pissed about what happened and what he did to you, but you are still alive.  Most humans would’ve died with those kinds of injuries.” 

Patrick looks down at the floor. 

“I don’t want him to see me like this when they come to take me later.  I’m afraid if he does, I won’t be able to fight him anymore.  He will know he has won.  This whole thing was the punishment because he was pissed about what happened with Shane, even though nothing happened.  He said I reeked of Shane and he was mad that I didn’t tell him about it.  When we left at lunch to go to sick bay, he held me up by my neck, choking me until I told him what happened.  I’m really scared Joe.  I’m fighting him as hard as I can, but it is hard for me to fight when I’m really afraid of what might happen when I do.  What if he comes up with something worse than this?”  He asks.  He looks down at the floor again.  “It doesn’t help when everyone one else and their brother either wants to kill me, rape me, beat me, feed on me, or suck my life force from me.  I’m only one person and I can only fight for so long.” Patrick states. 

Joe puts his finger under Patrick’s chin and brings it back up so he is looking at him.  “Look at me Patrick.  I will stand in front of him with you.  I will teach you how to fight.  I will do everything in my power to protect you.  I know you are scared, but you need to keep fighting.  When you stop fighting, then he wins.  That is when he has broken you.  We will fight all of them together from now on.  You hear me?  Together, we are twice the force.  You won’t bear the brunt of it all anymore.”  Joe says. 

Patrick looks at him conflicted.  “I don’t know if I can ask you to do that Joe.  You will be fed on, have your life force sucked away, beaten, possibly worse.  I don’t feel right pulling you into this too.”  He says. 

“Well, that’s good because you didn’t ask me.  I have decided this for myself.  I know the risks, but I can’t sit around and do nothing anymore.  I can’t sit here at your bedside day after day knowing that I have done nothing to try and help you.  I will talk to some of the other prisoners I know and see if we could make some kind of small network so that others can watch you when I’m not around.”  Joe replies. 

“Are you sure about this?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes.  100%.” Joe answers.  “Now you rest and let Gabe’s blood do its job.  If you fall asleep, I will wake you up at dinner time.” Joe says. 

“Ok.” Patrick says as he lays back down on his bed. 

He has to admit, it does feel better knowing he’s not alone anymore.

               Patrick is still unable to sleep.  Now he’s almost 100% sure that Gabe has done something to him, and now he isn’t ever able to sleep.  He does, however lay there for an hour and rest.  Joe is still sitting at his bedside reading his book.  Patrick raises his arms to see how the burns and blisters are doing.  It appears that they are healing and there aren’t very many left in the areas he can see.  He lifts his shirt and examines the skin underneath.  There are still a few left, but it looks much better than the last time he checked.  His feet still have some of the blisters and burns on them and they are still throbbing.  It will make it harder for him to stand and walk.  He’s getting pretty bored and doesn’t really want sit around anymore so he gets himself to a sitting position. 

He looks over at Joe and says “I want to try and stand again.  Will you help me?” 

Joe sets his book down.  “Of course.”  He answers. 

Patrick swings his legs over the side of the bed with his feet on the floor.  When his feet hit the floor, they send pain messages up his legs.  He pushes through it as best as he can.  Joe sits down next to him, puts his arm across Patrick’s shoulders, and puts Patrick’s arm around his neck. 

He looks at Patrick and says “Ready?  One, two, three.” 

Joe and Patrick try to stand together.  When Patrick puts his whole body’s weight onto his feet, he is able to stand, but his feet are killing him and it is pretty obvious on his face. 

“Ugh!!!  Fuck!!”  Patrick yells.

Joe looks at him. “Are you ok?” he asks. 

“Yes, there are just a lot of burns and blisters left on my feet and it hurts like a motherfucker to stand on them.  I need you to let go so I can see if I can stand on my own.”  Patrick says. 

“Are you sure?” Joe asks.  Patrick nods his head yes.  “Ok. Here we go.” 

Joe lets go of Patrick and he is able to stand on his own without falling.  Then he tries to take a step, which doesn’t go so well.  His aching feet give out and he goes crashing to the ground.  Joe tries to catch him, but he misses this time.  Patrick ends up on his back.  He is so frustrated that he hits the floor with his fist. 

“Fuck!” he yells. 

Joe sits down next to him. 

“This was better than last time.  At least you can stand by yourself.” He says. 

“I know.  How am I supposed to go anywhere if I can’t even walk?” Patrick asks. 

Joe thinks for a second.  “We still have your crutches from when your feet were all cut up.  You can use those until your feet heal more.” He says. 

He gets up and goes over to the corner of their cell to grab them.  He brings them over to Patrick and hands them to him.  Patrick manages to stand up and puts the crutches under his arms. 

“I hate this!  I look so weak.” He exclaims. 

“It’s just until your feet are better.  It shouldn’t take too long, judging by how fast the other blisters and burns have healed.  I’d bet that by tomorrow morning, you will be back to normal.”  Joe says. 

“Yeah, as long as he doesn’t do anything worse to me before then.”  Patrick says. 

“I think you will be ok tonight.  It shouldn’t be worse than any of the other nights, given you are still healing from earlier.”  Joe answers. 

It is then that the door opens and Brad is waiting to escort them to the mess hall for dinner.  Joe looks at Patrick and then they both step out.  Brad looks Patrick up and down.  The look on his face makes Patrick sick to his stomach. 

“You’re looking better.”  Brad comments. 

“Yes.  I am better, can we go now?”  Patrick responds. 

“Sure.”  He answers. 

He closes the door to the cell and they head to the mess hall.

 When they enter the mess hall, many of the prisoners look up from what they are doing to look at Joe and Patrick.  Patrick feels really uncomfortable, but his body needs food to heal.  They head toward the food line and wait their turn.  One of the prisoners that is standing next to them stare at Patrick. 

“What happened to you?” he asks.  Patrick looks at Joe, unsure how to answer.  “I hurt my feet.”  Patrick says and hopes it ends there. 

The prisoner looks down at his feet seeing the blisters and burns.  “That looks serious.  Maybe you should have them looked at.”  He says. 

“I’ve already seen Dr. Smith about it.”  Patrick answers. 

He just wants to get his food, sit down, and eat.  He’s been through enough today.  He doesn’t really need another prisoner harping on him about it.  Especially since the other prisoner is assessing him, trying to determine if he is an easy target. They finally reach the end of the line where you can actually grab food.  Joe grabs two trays.  They get through the line, get their food and then look for an empty table.  They sit down and are soon joined by Dan.  Dan looks at Patrick and his eyes go wide. 

“What happened?”  he asks. 

Joe answers for him. 

“Gabe put him in a boiling bath tub, followed by an ice bath where he got so cold, he was hypothermic. The boiling water caused bad burns and blisters.  That is why he wasn’t here for lunch.” 

Dan looks at Patrick again. 

“Oh my God!  That’s awful!  Wait, how come it looks mostly healed if it happened earlier today?” he asks. 

Joe and Patrick share a look, having a non-verbal conversation.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 Joe takes a deep breath and continues. 

“Dan, you are going to think we are crazy for what we are about to tell you.  I can assure you; it is 100% real.  I’ve watched it happen several times.  Vampires are real.  Gabe and Brad aren’t just sadistic psychopaths, they are vampires.  My former cell mate, Pete, was one as well.  I didn’t believe it at first when Patrick told me about it, but then I actually watched Brad bite him and feed on him.  Gabe has also fed on Patrick many times.  The short answer to your question is that Gabe made Patrick drink a significant amount of his blood after his ordeal before dumping him back in our cell.  Vampire blood can help speed up healing in humans.  It also makes them have terrifying hallucinations.  I’ve witnessed Patrick having horrifying hallucinations.  That is why his injuries are healing very fast.  Earlier today, his whole body was covered in blisters and burns.  Many of the blisters had ruptured and were oozing pus.  He was in so much pain and I thought he was going to die.  I know all of this sounds impossible, but it isn’t.  Patrick here is in real danger every day.  Do you believe us?”  Joe asks. 

Dan is sitting there looking dumbfounded.  It takes him a few minutes to process all of this information.  When he is finished, he takes a deep breath.  “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but yes, I do believe you.  I’ve heard and seen some very strange and unexplainable things happening recently.  I’ve heard of other prisoners waking up with bite marks in their necks, but they don’t remember how they got them. Once, when I was returning from my work detail, I felt like I was being followed.  When I stopped to look behind me, I didn’t see anyone, but I swear I heard some strange sounds coming from somewhere really close to me.  It freaked me out, so I left.  Another time, I saw someone mangle some of the bars of one of the cells with super human strength, in an attempt to escape.”  Dan explains.

Joe and Patrick share another glance before responding. 

“I’m glad to hear you believe us, because I wanted to discuss something with you.  Gabe has claimed and marked Patrick and is continually abusing him.  I can’t be around all of the time to protect him.  I am teaching him to fight, so he can defend himself, but that only goes so far when you are dealing with vampires.  After this latest punishment, I can’t just sit around and do nothing.  I want to try and form a collective of prisoners that will help keep an eye on Patrick and protect him if needed.  I was wondering if you would be a part of this.  Before you answer, please consider that this does come with a good amount of risk.  You could be fed on, beaten, or worse.  What do you think?” Joe says. 

Dan takes a minute to weight the pros and cons. 

Then he looks up and says “I’m in.  Gabe has done some horrific things to Patrick and I too can’t just stand and watch it happen without doing something.” 

Patrick looks at Dan. 

“Are you sure about this?”  he asks. 

“Yes.” Dan answers. 

Patrick finds a smile gracing his face.  Now he has one other person around to help him. 

“Dan, can I hug you?”  He asks. 

“Sure, but let me come to you so you don’t have to move.”  Dan comes around the table and gives Patrick a hug. 

“I promise, you aren’t alone anymore.”  Dan says. 

“Thanks Dan.  I am trying to recruit a few others. I know a guy named Alex.  He is usually on the other side of the prison, but I’ve seen him on this side many times.  Do you know any that you trust enough to talk about this?”  Joe asks. 

“I will have to think about it, but if I know someone, I will let you know.”  He answers. 

They spend the rest of dinner time talking and trying to work out how this is going to work.  Patrick is happy that they have recruited Dan and that Joe is going to talk to another guy named Alex. 

Just as they are finishing up, Patrick sees Gabe approaching them. 

He rolls his eyes.  “Fuck!” he yells. 

Joe and Dan look up and see what Patrick is upset about.  Gabe comes up behind Patrick, grabs his shoulders, and squeezes them.  Patrick seizes up from the pain, but doesn’t show it on his face. 

“Hello Sugar!  How are you doing?  I was happy to see you at dinner.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick looks back at him.  “How the fuck do you think I’m doing?  You boiled, blistered, and burned my skin off!  I also haven’t slept in quite a few days, which I know is because of something you did to me.” Patrick yells at him. 

“I’m sensing some anger from you Sugar.  I just wanted to check on you and see how you are healing.” Gabe responds. 

Patrick looks him in the eye.  “You’re damn right I’m angry.  I literally thought I was going to die. I didn’t even do anything to deserve this one.  I told you everything when you tried to choke me to death.  Yet you still decided to punish me when nothing happened.  This has been one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced.  I prayed for death!  You love seeing me suffer though, don’t you?  You made me lay on that hospital bed for at least an hour before you dumped me back in my cell!”  Patrick yells. 

“Careful Sugar, you don’t want me to get angrier, do you?  And yes, you did deserve the punishment.  Shane may have kidnapped you both, but you tempted him somehow to start it all off.  Besides, it looks like you are almost healed,” Gabe says as he grabs his shoulders and squeezes them hard again. 

Patrick tries to not react to the pain.  Even though he is seeing red and wants rip Gabe apart, he knows he needs to back down.  He takes a deep breath to center himself and calm down. 

Once he’s done that, he looks at Gabe and says “No, I don’t want you to get angrier.  Yes, the majority of the blisters and burns have healed so thank you for that.”  Gabe softens a bit at that. 

“That’s better, Sugar!  I’m glad that you are healing quickly.  I’ll see you later tonight.”  At that, he turns around and walks away. 

Patrick feels a chill run down his body.  He looks up at Joe and Dan. 

“I’m not hungry anymore.  Can we go back to our cell now?”  Joe can see that he is exhausted.  “Yeah.  Let’s go.  Thank you, Dan.  We will be in touch.”  Joe says.

 Joe helps Patrick up, takes his tray, empties it in the garbage and they leave to go back to their cell.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick collapses on his bed when they get back. 

“I don’t know how much more pain I can deal with tonight.  I am so wiped and exhausted.  I feel like my brain and nerve endings are fried.  I have been up for at least 4 days.  I don’t know what the fuck Gabe did, but if I can’t sleep sometime soon, I think I’m going to go insane.”  He states. 

Joe makes eye contact with him.  “I would hope they don’t do anything more painful than what has already happened, but I don’t know.  For right now, let’s focus on the things we can control, rather than the things we can’t.  Hopefully, you will be fully healed by tomorrow and we can continue our training.  Until then, please just rest as much as you can.” 

Joe gets up, goes over to his bed, kneels on the floor and reaches for something beneath his bed.  He pulls out a book and gives it to Patrick.  “Here, this will keep you busy for a while.”  Joe says.

Patrick looks at the book.  “The Dark Tower, by Stephen King” he reads aloud. 

“It is a really good story!”  Joe says.  He looks up at Joe and smiles. 

“Thanks man.” He replies. 

“No problem.”  Joe answers. 

Patrick opens the book and begins reading it.  It doesn’t feel like it has been a long time, but when he looks up at the clock two hours had past and it was about the time when they come take him for whatever Gabe has planned that night.  He almost thinks that maybe they aren’t coming for him, since it is later than usual.  His hopes are squashed when he sees the door open and Brad is standing there waiting for him. 

“Come on, Stump.  Time to go.”  Brad informs him. 

Patrick sets the book down and swings his legs over the side of his bed.  When his feet hit the ground, he still feels the pain from before, but it is slightly less.  He tries to stand up and is able to, but when he tries to take a step, he collapses onto the ground.  He crawls back up to his knees to grab his crutches, but falls before he can grab them.  Brad is watching this whole situation happen and decides he’s done watching it.  He goes over to Patrick and picks him up off the ground. 

“You can’t walk yet?” He asks. 

“No.  The blisters and burns on my feet are still pretty bad.  I can’t put much weight on them without falling.” Patrick answers. 

“Ok.  I’ll just carry you then.  This actually works out better for me.  Now you can’t run away.”  Brad says smirking. 

Patrick looks down at the floor, knowing he is right.  Whatever they do to him tonight, he can’t run from it.  He wants to fight so hard, but he just doesn’t have the energy to do it tonight.  He feels so weak and useless.  He really doesn’t want Gabe to see him this way.  The whole being boiled alive thing and healing from it has taken a lot out of him and he doesn’t have much left to give.  He resigns himself to being carried bridal style to sick bay, like some powerless damsel in distress.

When they enter sick bay, he sees what looks like the normal set up.  Spencer has the breathing tube, the tattoo stuff is all set up off to the side of one of the hospital beds, and Gabe is standing there with a big stupid smile on his big stupid face. 

“Hello Sugar!  I’m so happy to see you!  Are you ready for some more fun?”  Gabe asks.

When he sees that Brad is carrying him, Patrick sees a very small reaction.  It’s almost like some kind of remorse, or sadness that Patrick hadn’t healed as quickly as he should have.  It only happened for a second, but it was long enough for Patrick to see it.  There was a small break in his normal soulless behavior.  He doesn’t really know how he feels about that. 

He’s also too tired to fight back at this point so he says “I guess so.  It can’t be much worse than what I’ve already been through today.  I’m still in a good amount to pain too and I’m really exhausted so let’s just cut the shit and do what we came here to do.”  Patrick says. 

Gabe seems somewhat taken aback by this. 

“Where are you still having pain?  Why did Brad have to carry you here?”  He asks. 

“My pain is still all over my body.  Brad had to carry me here because the blisters and burns on my feet are still especially bad.  I can stand, but if I put any weight on them, I fall.” Patrick says as Brad lays him on the hospital bed. 

Gabe walks around to the other side of the hospital bed, assessing what is left of the damage he did earlier.  He almost looks like he is proud of himself, which is super fucked up. 

“I have good news and bad news Sugar.  Which would you like to hear first?”  Gabe asks. 

“I really don’t give a flying fuck Gabe.  You decide.” Patrick answers. 

Gabe doesn’t seem happy with that answer.  “It appears you don’t want to participate in the game tonight, Sugar.  Do you need some convincing?”  Gabe asks. 

Patrick recoils at that.  “No, I don’t need convincing.  Fine, what is the good news?”  Patrick asks.

Gabe seems happier with this answer. 

“That’s better Sugar.  The good news is I can heal what’s left of your burns and blisters without having you drink more of my blood.  The bad news is that your pain will be worse from what we plan on doing tonight.”  Gabe looks at him with an evil look and he laughs a bit. 

Patrick tries to keep the fear he is feeling from showing on his face. 

He just looks Gabe straight in the eye and says “Great.  That’s something to look forward to.  Can we start with the healing first?  I’ll be able to handle more pain tonight if you heal me now.  I’m still in quite a bit of pain from all of the blisters and burns.  Please?” Patrick asks.

Gabe seems to consider that for a minute before answering. 

“Well, since you asked so nicely Sugar, ok.  I will heal you now instead of later.  You better not try anything after I do, otherwise you will be punished.  Deal?”  Gabe asks.

“Deal.”  Patrick replies.  If I get the chance, I’m so going to run for it.  He’s going to hurt me anyway, so I might as well try if the opportunity presents itself.

Gabe walks around to the back of the table where Patrick’s head is.  Patrick feels Gabe put his hands on either side of his face.  He closes his eyes and seems to focus really hard on something.  Suddenly, he feels waves coming from between Gabe’s hands.  Then the waves begin radiating up and down his body.  As these waves pass through his head and upper body, he feels the blisters and burns heal themselves.  Gabe then places his hands on either side of his ribs and the waves begin radiating up and down the rest of his body.  This continues for a few minutes and seems to require a great deal of concentration from Gabe.  Finally, he feels the last of the blisters and burns heal up and the waves stop.  Gabe opens his eyes and removes his hands from Patrick’s body.  Gabe looks over Patrick’s body, admiring his work.

“How do you feel now, Sugar?”  He asks.

“Much better.  Thank you.”  Patrick answers. 

“I was going to start the tattooing next, but I was just thinking and I had the most wonderful idea for two things that would look amazing on you!  Justin, come here.”  Gabe commands.

Awesome!  I can’t fucking wait!

Justin does as he’s told and approaches Gabe.  Gabe leans down and whispers “prepare the piercing needles and jewelry for a labret and eyebrow piercing.”

“Ok, boss.”  Justin says and leaves to go get that ready.

Justin returns a few minutes later with what Gabe asked for.

Patrick is not paying attention to what was going on.  He kind of zoned out after Gabe said he had an idea.  He was too busy worrying about what horrible things those two things that Gabe has dreamed up could be.  He sees Justin leave for a few minutes and come back with something, but he didn’t know what it was.  His thoughts are interrupted by Gabe saying something.

“Ok, Sugar.  Before we start the tattoos tonight, we are going to do something else first.”  Gabe says.

“Do I want to know what that is?”  Patrick asks, getting more nervous with every word that Gabe says.

“Probably not, but it’s not like you have a choice in the matter.  Look into my eyes, Sugar.”  Gabe commands.

Fuck!  He’s probably going to do more piercings that I don’t want tonight!  Patrick closes his eyes and turns his head away from Gabe.  Then he starts thrashing with all of the energy he has left.  He also remembers that Brad didn’t cuff him to the bed tonight.  He tries to roll off the table and make a run for it when Gabe is distracted.  He manages to get off the bed and almost makes it to the door, when Ross tackles him.  Fuck you, Ross!  I will make you pay for this one day!  Justin joins Ross to help pull him off the ground and drag him back to the medical bed.  Brad then picks him up and slams him down on the table hard enough that it knocks the wind out of him.  Then Brad hand cuffs both hands to either side of the bed. 

“Try running away now, you little fucker!”  Brad says while smiling at him.

Patrick is still thrashing and struggling against the cuffs.  “Let me go!  Get off of me!”  he screams. 

Gabe has a wicked smile on his face.  “There’s some of that feistiness that I love so much!  I didn’t think I was going to see any of it tonight!  You want to do this the hard way, huh Sugar?   Alright!  Brad, hold him down please.  Justin, turn his head so it is facing me.  Ross, hold his eyelids open.”  Gabe orders.

Patrick tries to fight them but they are too strong and he finds himself gazing into Gabe’s eyes.

“Sugar, you need to calm down.  Could you relax for me and stop moving?”  Gabe commands.

Patrick is fighting hard inside his body, but again, he finds his body doing whatever Gabe says.

“Stop!  I don’t want this Gabe!  Please!  Haven’t I been through enough today?  Fuck!  I know that there is more pain coming, but please, I don’t want this.”  Patrick begs.

Gabe smiles an evil smile before saying anything.  “Oh Sugar, you can beg all you want.  It won’t change anything.  Besides, you deserve this for trying to run away when you promised me you wouldn’t.  Trust me!  These will look good!  I know you have been through a lot today.  That is why I picked things that weren’t super painful.  You know, since the tattoos will be bad.”

“No!  Please Gabe, No!”  Patrick shouts.

“Please be quiet, Sugar.”  Gabe orders and now Patrick can’t talk anymore.

“Since you are already laying down, we will start with the less painful one.”  Gabe says.

Gabe cleans the area above and below his left eyebrow first.  Then he takes a marker and makes a mark slightly under his left eyebrow, right next to the scar that he made a few days ago.  Next, he makes a mark above his left eyebrow.

“Yes!  This will definitely highlight the scar that I already made there!  It’s going to look so good and add to your edginess, Sugar.”

Next, he grabs the needle and lines it up with the two marks.

“Are you ready, Sugar?  Oh, that’s right!  You can’t talk!”  Gabe remarks.

Patrick gives him a look that could kill.  This is going to hurt so much!  I fucking hate you Gabe!

“Here we go!” Gabe says as he pushes the needle through the first mark and angles the needle up to go through the second mark.  He leaves the needle there.

Holy Shit!  Motherfucker!  Ugh!!!!!!!  It hurts!  Patrick squeezes his eyes shut, his whole body tenses up inside, and he starts breathing heavily in order to deal with the pain.  When he opens his eyes, they fill with tears that fall down his cheeks when he blinks. 

Now Gabe takes the bottom spike attached to the thread of the curved barbell and puts them onto the end of the needle.  Then he pulls the needle through completely, bringing the bottom spike attached to the thread of the barbell through.  Then he takes the smaller instrument he’s used before to hold the thread while he screws the top spike on until it is tight.  Patrick feels a small amount of blood run down the side of his face.  Gabe makes quick work of it and licks the blood up.

“All done, Sugar.  It looks amazing!  It definitely adds to your edge and makes you look like more of a bad ass.  Mmm…I love me a badass, Sugar.  That wasn’t so bad, was it?”  Gabe says. 

Patrick just gives him a pissed off look.

“Alright.  Are we ready for the next one?”  Gabe asks with a sinister smile.

Patrick can only stare daggers at him. 

“Brad, please uncuff both of his hands so that he can sit up.”  Gabe commands. 

Brad does as he is told.

“Sit up Sugar and scoot down to the bottom of the bed.”  Gabe orders.

Patrick tries to struggle, but it’s no use.  He feels his body sitting up and scooting down to the end of the bed.

Gabe starts out by cleaning the area underneath his lower lip.  Oh Fuck!  He’s going to pierce my lip!  This is so not good!  Gabe makes a mark slightly under the center of his lower lip and above his chin.  Gabe sits back and looks to make sure he likes the placement.  Then he grabs Patrick’s lower lip with the forceps that have a small opening in them that lines up with the mark on the outside.  He makes a small mark on the inside under the center of Patrick’s lower lip.  Gabe makes sure the marks line up with the small hole in the front of the forceps.

“Ready Sugar?”  Gabe asks as he grabs the needle.

Patrick just stares daggers at him.  This is going to hurt so much!  He looks angry, but his eyes are telling a different story.  They are pleading with Gabe to not do this.  They fill up with water and spill over down his cheeks.  Gabe takes that as a yes, bends his lower lip forward with the forceps, lines up the needle on the mark at the end of the forceps, makes sure it lines up with the mark inside, and then pushes the needle through at a slight angle.  Patrick’s eyes go wide when the needle goes through, his body seizes up inside, and he is breathing heavily from the pain.  Jesus Christ Monkey Balls!  Ugh!!!!  Fuck!  Fuck! Fuck!  The pain is pretty horrible!  It went quickly, but now it is throbbing non-stop.  Gabe puts the flat end attached to the thread on the needle inside his mouth, and pulls it through the new hole.  Then he grabs it with the smaller tool and screws the front spike onto the thread until it is tight.

“There we go!  All done Sugar!  It looks great!  Mmm…so sexy!  It didn’t hurt too bad right?”  Gabe asks.

Patrick blinks his eyes once for yes as more tears are streaming down his face.  Gabe finally releases him and he rolls over on his left side cradling his mouth and his eyebrow, which was now starting to throb too.  While he is laying down. Brad comes to handcuff his hands to either side of the bed again.

“Owwwww!!!  Fuuuuuuuck!  It hurts so bad!!!!!”  Patrick screams.

The labret feels very weird inside his mouth and apparently, there is a spike now sticking out of his lower lip.  He touches it with his tongue, feels the hole there now, and decides he doesn’t like it at all.  I wonder if this going to fuck with the way I talk too.  The hole is bleeding into his mouth quite a bit, so he isn’t surprised when Gabe grabs his face and kisses him with tongue to lap up the blood.  When he is done, he pulls away but leaves his hands on both sides of Patrick’s head. 

He stares into his eyes and says “You are not allowed to remove these piercings, unless I command otherwise.  Do you understand?  You may speak now.”  Gabe asks.

“Yes, I understand.”  Patrick answers.

At that, Gabe summons Spencer to come and put the IV into one of Patrick’s veins.  Patrick summons what little energy he has left and tries to struggle while Spencer is trying to place the IV, he is moving his arms and legs and thrashing around.  He may be handcuffed to the bed on both sides, but he can definitely make it difficult for Spencer to do this. 

“Hold still Patrick, or this will get worse for you.” Spencer whispers in his ear. 

Patrick looks over at Spencer and says “it’s already worse, don’t you see that?” 

He continues to struggle until Gabe has had enough and orders Ross and Justin to hold him down so Spencer can get the IV in.  As soon as it is in, Spencer gives him the paralytic and almost immediately Patrick starts to lose control of his movements.  Then Spencer shoves the breathing tube down his throat and hooks him up to the ventilator. 

Patrick is paralyzed and can’t move anything but his eyes. 

“What do you think, Sugar?”  Gabe taunts him more.  “Oh, that’s right.  You can’t move or talk.  I do like this version of you much better.  Sometimes I tire of hearing your voice.  Do you like your new piercings?  Blink once for yes and twice for no.” 

He looks at Patrick who blinks twice for no.  Gabe pats him on the head like he is a dog. 

“Good boy, Sugar!  Now that that is taken care of, let’s get started, shall we?” 

Patrick blinks twice for no. 

“Sorry Sugar.  You don’t get a say in this.  I need to continue improving the curb appeal of my property!” 

Patrick blinks twice for no again. 

“Since you are on your back, we will start with one on the front.”  Gabe says.  “Ross, Justin, please shave the rest of his neck and his upper chest.” 

They do as they are told.  They pull his shirt off to shave the rest of his upper chest.  Patrick feels cold and shivers a bit.  He knows he has lost some weight.  His body breaks out in goosebumps. 

Gabe notices this and asks “You are shivering.  Are you cold, Sugar?” 

Patrick blinks once for yes. 

“Spencer, please get him a blanket to cover him.  It will be a while before we get to those.”  Gabe orders. 

Spencer disappears and comes back with a warm blanket, which he covers Patrick with. 

“Is that better Sugar?”  Gabe asks.  Patrick blinks once for yes.  “Good.  We wouldn’t want you freezing and in pain at the same time, considering what you have already been through today.”

Gabe gets a few things together, and prepares the skin on his neck above his Adam’s apple. 

“Ross help me tip his head back so that his neck is better exposed.”  Gabe orders. 

Ross tips Patrick’s neck back a bit. Gabe also gets set up for the ones on either side of his neck.  He starts with the one on the front of Patrick’s neck.  He cleans the area first.  Then he puts the stencil on, and is ready to begin. 

“Ready Sugar?  This one is going to hurt a lot.”  Patrick blinks twice for no.  “Too bad!  Here we go!” Gabe says as he turns the machine on. 

He pushes down on the pedal and begins.  When the needle penetrates his skin, he starts bleeding and his eyes go wide.  Gabe licks up the blood. 

“Oh Sugar!  Your blood tastes heavenly!”  He exclaims. 

Patrick doesn’t really care.  He is more focused on the pain.  Holy Shit!  This is one of the most painful ones so far!  I’ve already been through so much pain today.  I’m not sure how much of this I can take!  How am I going to sit through this without passing out? Patrick thinks to himself.  Then Gabe begins asking him those stupid questions again.  Patrick is definitely not in the mood to answer questions, but if he doesn’t, Gabe will hurt him.  He tries really hard to answer the questions, but the pain is getting the best of him, making his brain stumble and it isn’t long before Gabe grabs a scalpel and cuts deeply into the bottom of his foot.  FUCK!  It hurts!  Then Gabe begins lapping up the blood dripping from his foot.  Brads looks at Gabe, waiting for his turn.  He doesn’t get it quite yet.  When Gabe is done this time however, he licks the cut, closing it.  That seems odd.  Why would he do that?  Did something happen that I don’t remember in previous sessions that would cause him to change his behavior?  Think hard Patrick.  What happened last time?  I remember having an asthma attack and getting really tired, but I don’t remember much after that.  Maybe I passed out?  I got nothing.  He thinks.  His train of thought is broken when Gabe gets near his neck bone.  His eyes go wide again.  Ah!  FUCK!  Oh my God!  I can’t deal with this today and we’ve only just started.  He thinks. 

Then he realizes that Gabe has been asking him questions and he was too preoccupied with the pain to answer.  Patrick feels the scalpel dig into his foot twice.  Ow!  It hurts so bad!  He feels his foot bleeding a lot followed by Gabe sucking on his foot to drink the blood coming out. 

Brad speaks up this time.  “Gabe, I am actually pretty hungry.  Can I have some?” 

Gabe looks up with Patrick’s foot still in his mouth.  His eyes are red. 

“Excuse me?”  He asks Brad. 

“I said that I’m pretty hungry. When is it my turn?” Brad replies. 

Gabe smiles and says “Later.  Your turn will be later.” 

Brad seems pretty pissed about this, but he doesn’t say anything else to provoke Gabe.  Gabe continues sucking on Patrick’s foot for a bit longer and then licks the cuts to close them.  Then he continues working on the tattoo.  Patrick is getting very close to his limit on the pain and is very close to passing out.  He fights it as long as he can, but eventually succumbs and passes out.  When Gabe notices, he slaps him very hard in the face to wake him up.  Patrick opens his eyes again.  Gabe grabs his face and makes him look directly at him. 

“You need to stay awake, Sugar.  Next time, I will not be as nice.  Do you understand?”  Patrick blinks once for yes.  “Good.”  Gabe says and continues what he is doing. 

This continues for a while and Patrick really struggles to stay conscious.  Soon Gabe sets the gun down and seems to be changing the type of needle he is using.  Patrick is happy for the reprieve. 

Gabe looks down at him with a sadistic smile.  “Now it’s time for the fun part, Sugar.  Shading!  If you thought that the last part was bad, this will be 10x worse.  Are you ready?”  Patrick blinks twice for no.  “Well, that’s too bad, Sugar!  I am definitely going to enjoy this part.  You should too!” Gabe replies while laughing manically. 

Patrick is worried.  He doesn’t really have time to process what is about to happen before Gabe starts abruptly.  There is blood dripping down his neck onto the blanket covering his chest.  It isn’t long before Gabe is licking it up.  He was right!  It hurts so much more!  Oh my God!   I think I might die tonight.  Please God, make it quick and painless!  Patrick feels tears in his eyes and when he blinks, they start streaming down his cheeks and down his neck.  When the tears hit the raw skin from the tattoo, Patrick almost loses it.  He’d be jumping to the ceiling if he could actually move and react.  This causes more tears to form and do the same thing.  He keeps struggling to stay awake and answer Gabe’s questions, but he is failing miserably.  The pain is just too much.  He is on the verge of passing out again when he feels the scalpel dig into his foot again.  He must’ve missed a question.  Gabe looks at Brad this time and says that he can drink from this wound.  Brad is there immediately grabbing Patrick’s foot and gulping the steady stream of blood coming from it.  As Patrick’s blood is starting to clot and the stream is starting to slow down, Brad decides he’s not done yet and bites Patrick’s foot to continue feeding.  Ugh!!!!  My whole foot and leg feel like they are on fire, burning, and there is pain shooting up my leg and back down to my foot.  Why is this so painful?  He thinks. Gabe hasn’t noticed yet and continues the shading.  Patrick is now starting to feel very dizzy and tired from the blood loss and the pain.  He can’t fight it anymore.  He gives in and passes out again.  It takes Gabe a few minutes to notice.  When he does, he slaps Patrick’s face again.  Only this time, he doesn’t wake up.  Gabe stops what he is doing to try again. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Wake up, Sugar!”  he yells and slaps Patrick’s face harder. 

Patrick doesn’t move.  It is then that Gabe notices Brad still feeding from Patrick’s foot.  He walks to the end of the hospital bed, where it appears that Brad has bitten and is still sucking blood from Patrick’s foot.  He is angry, grabs Brad, and throws him against the wall. 

“What the fuck are you doing Brad?  I told you that you could drink from the wound.”  Gabe yells. 

Brad looks up at Gabe.  “The wound started clotting and I was still hungry.  I couldn’t help myself!  His blood tastes so good!” Brad says. 

“You selfish idiot!  You took too much, and now I can’t wake him up.  Why can’t you just do what you are told and control yourself?”  Gabe asks.  “You are forbidden from feeding on him any more tonight.  Do you understand me?  If you disobey me, I will kill you!” 

Brad gets up off the floor and looks at Gabe.  He is clearly pissed that he couldn’t finish. 

“Why are you hogging him for yourself?”  Brad challenges. 

Gabe stops whatever he was doing immediately “Excuse me?  Are you challenging me?” he asks. 

Gabe laughs before, grabbing Brad’s face and looks directly into his eyes. 

“I’m sorry.  Are you the oldest and most powerful vampire here?  Are you the leader of the Latin Kings, one of the most feared prison gangs in the world?”  Brad doesn’t answer.  “Did you claim him as your own?  Is your name and symbol tattooed permanently on his back?”  Brad doesn’t answer again.  “That’s what I thought.  If I were you, I wouldn’t upset the distribution of power we have here, or you won’t like what will happen to you.  To answer your question, I’m ‘hogging’ him because he is mine, not yours.  I will do what I please with him.  If I choose to share him with you, I will.  You aren’t to touch him except for feeding otherwise.  If you do, and I will find out if you do because I have spies everywhere in this prison, you will face my wrath and the consequences for your actions.  Are we clear?”  Brad doesn’t answer right away. 

Gabe punches him so hard that he flies across the room. 

“Let’s try that again.  Are we clear?  Answer me!” Gabe commands. 

Brad snarls at him, obviously pissed.  “Yes!”  Brad answers.  “Good.  One more thing.  If you ever challenge me again, it will be the last thing you ever do.  Now give me your taser.”  Brad hands his taser to Gabe.  “Now go stand in the corner until I need you.”  Brad does as he is told. 

Gabe moves back to Patrick and tries to wake him again. 

“Sugar, I need you to wake up” he says as he is shaking him and slapping his face again. 

Nothing happens.  “Fuck!  Doc!  We need you in here.” 

Spencer enters from his office.  “What seems to be the problem Gabe?”  he asks. 

“Well, my good friend Brad here was offered the opportunity to drink from the wound on Sugar’s foot.  He decided that it wasn’t enough, bit him on his foot, and took too much blood.  Now he won’t wake up.  Is there anything you can do for him besides a blood transfusion?”  Gabe asks. 

“How much blood has he lost?”  Spencer asks. 

“A lot.  Like probably at least ¾ of it.”  Gabe answers. 

“I see.  I can give him the iron infusions, but his body won’t be able to make enough that quickly.  A blood transfusion is the only other option.”  Spencer says. 

“Ok.  Thanks Doc.  You may go now.”  Gabe says. 

Spencer turns around and heads back into his office. 

“I’m sorry Sugar.  I didn’t want to do this more than I already have today, but we don’t have any other option, thanks to Brad.”  Gabe says to him. 

Gabe brings his wrist to his mouth and bites it.  He opens Patrick’s mouth and lets the blood flow down his throat for at least fifteen minutes.  Once he is done, he continues working on the tattoo shading, knowing Patrick will wake up after his trip.

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*Patrick wakes up strapped to a chair by thick leather straps around his abdomen, lower arms, and around both of his ankles.  His left wrist is incredibly painful and throbbing.  When he looks down at his wrist, he notices that his left hand is missing and there is just a bloody, raw, extremely painful stump. 

“Where the fuck did my hand go?  It looks like someone chopped it off.  I guess that explains the intolerable pain I’m feeling.”  He says. 

Then he notices there are different wires connected to some sort of electrode pads attached to his forehead, his arms, and his abdomen.  He has no idea how he got here or what has happened prior to this but he feels terrible.  Aside from his missing hand and horribly painful wrist/stump, he feels like he is going to puke, his head is really foggy almost like he was given some drugs and it appears he has incisions all over his abdomen and back that are incredibly painful and have been sewn up.  The leather straps that are holding him to the chair are very tight and making the incisions more painful.  He looks around the room.  It looks like he is in a chapel, since there are stained glass windows around the room.  There are all kinds of different machines that he is apparently hooked up to.  What the fuck is happening right now?  How did he get here?  Why does he have sewn up incisions?  His thoughts are interrupted by an electric shock going through his entire body.  His whole body seizes up in pain. 

“Ahhhhhh!”  He screams. 

When it is over, he finds himself keeled over, breathing very heavily to deal with the pain and his eyes are squeezed shut. 

He sits there for a minute when he hears footsteps heading in his direction. 

“Hello Patrick.  We are happy you are here.” 

Patrick opens his eyes and lifts his head to look at the voice.  He sees two women dressed in black from head to toe.  Patrick begins firing off questions.

“Who are you?  What do you want?  Why am I hooked up to all of these machines?  What happened to my hand?  Why do I have incisions that appear to have been sewn up?”  He asks. 

Both of the women look to each other and smile before looking back at him.  One of them comes around the side of the chair he is tied to and grabs his face hard, squishing his cheeks with her fingers. 

“We can’t tell you who we are.  You can refer to us as The Vixens.  We want some information from you and we will do whatever we have to in order to get that information.  You are hooked up to these machines to aid us in extracting this information and for other reasons that we can’t tell you about.  Your hand and the incisions?  Oh right!  You’ve had run-ins with other members of our group before you were brought here.  You fought them very hard, and were quite difficult.  They knew you were withholding information from them, so they cut off your hand in an attempt to make you more willing to cooperate.  When you continued fighting them, they decided to try a more drastic form of torture.  They began removing your organs while you were awake.  Don’t you remember?”  Vixen 1 asks.

She is playing with an orange coral snake. 

“Maybe my friend here can help you.”  Vixen 1 says as she sets it down on the floor and it begins slithering over his boots and around his leg. 

All of a sudden, flashes of memories hit him hard, like he got hit by a train.  He remembers all of this.  He had a briefcase handcuffed to his left wrist when he was hit with a taser and passed out.  When he woke up, he was in a dark room tied to a chair.  His left hand (with the handcuff on it) was sitting on a table next to him.  He struggled to escape from the chair.  There were two different women that were dressed the same as the women here.  One of them had a meat cleaver and chopped off his hand to release the briefcase.  He passed out from the pain and blood loss.  Then he woke up strapped to an operating table and the women (I guess they were vixens) were cutting him open and removing organs from his body.  It was almost as painful as it was when they chopped off his hand.  He’s not quite sure how he is still alive if they removed his organs.

Patrick opens his eyes with a start, breathing heavily from reliving the pain from previously. 

“Oh my God!  What the fuck is wrong with you?  You got the briefcase already!  What else could you possibly need from me?  I don’t know anything!”  He asks. 

“That remains to be seen.  Shall we get started?”  Vixen 1 asks. 

Patrick starts to panic and starts fighting against the restraints.  “No!”  Vixen 1 looks to Vixen 2. 

“Please make sure his restraints are as tight as you can get them.” Vixen 1 says.

Vixen 2 walks around the other side of the chair and pulls the leather straps even tighter making them pull tighter on his injuries. 

“Ugh!” Patrick screams. 

Vixen 1 presses a button and his whole body seizes up from another electric shock. 

“Ahhhh!”  He screams.  He is breathing heavily again once the shock is over. 

“Where are your friends hiding out?” she asks. 

Patrick doesn’t know who she is talking about. 

“Who?  What other friends?” he asks. 

She presses the button again and Patrick’s body gets shocked again. 

“Ahhh!”  he screams.  He looks up at her.  “Please!  I don’t understand!  I don’t know who you are talking about.” He says. 

She shocks him again and he screams again. 

“Where are your friends hiding out?”  Vixen 1 asks.

Patrick’s body takes a little longer to come down from that one.  Vixen 1 and Vixen 2 start beating him. 

“Please stop!  You need to be more specific.  Who exactly are you talking about, because I only remember me being a part of this?  I don’t have many friends.  What are their names?”  Patrick asks. 

They continue beating him to the point that the chair almost falls over.  “The other three people you were with when you found the briefcase!”  Vixen 1 says as she pushes the button again, shocking him. 

“Ahhh!” he screams. 

When the shock is over this time, he’s absolutely exhausted.  He’s not sure he can take another shock and stay conscious. 

“I don’t know!  I don’t remember!  The first thing I remember was walking down the street with briefcase attached to my wrist!”  He screams. 

“Think harder.”  She says. 

She grabs the orange coral snake, pulls the neck of his shirt away from him and puts the snake down the front of his shirt.  He can feel it slithering around on his chest until suddenly, the snake bites him.  Immediately, he remembers being in a dark room with Pete, Joe, and Andy.  They open the briefcase and ogle at its contents.  They all look at each other and decide that it is very important and must be kept safe.  It is decided that Patrick will take it to a safe place, so they handcuff the briefcase to his left hand.  They agree to reconvene once the briefcase is secure.  That never happens though because Patrick was tasered and kidnapped before he could get it to its secure location.  There is also a brief flash of them all sitting around a table tied to the chairs, drugged, and blindfolded.

Patrick makes direct eye contact with Vixen 1, who smiles at him. 

“Do you remember now?” She asks. 

“Yes.  I know who you are talking about now. Is this snake bite going to kill me?” he asks. 

Both of the Vixens share an evil look together. 

“Not immediately.  Now tell me.  Where are your friends hiding out?” Vixen 1 asks again. 

Patrick laughs.  “You already know where they are.  You kidnapped all of them.  I remember all of us being tied to chairs around a large table, being drugged and blindfolded.  I was the only one who wasn’t blindfolded.  I guess that is why my brain is so foggy then?  If I had to guess, I’d say they are most likely in this building somewhere, and I’m sure you are torturing them too.”  He answers. 

She hits the button again and shocks him for longer this time and he screams. 

“Good job.  You figured it out.  They are all here.”  She says. 

Patrick is breathing very heavily at this point. 

“So what is the deal then?  Why are you torturing me?  Why don’t you cut the bullshit and tell me why you are continuously shocking me?” he asks between breaths. 

The two Vixens share another look.  Vixen 1 continues as Vixen 2 is turning up the power on the machines.  

“We are trying to bring out a part of you that will help us achieve our goals.  Once we access that part of you, you will do our bidding.” She says as she presses the button again and shocks him much harder and for longer. 

Patrick feels like his nerves are exploding and his brain is frying.  He is losing control.  She shocks him again, and this time, a huge wave of rage invades him and takes over.  He’s never felt anger like this.  All he wants to do is kill and destroy and he will stop at nothing to fulfill that urge.  It’s like he has been possessed by a rage demon.  He tries to push through it, but it is too strong.  He looks up and everything he is seeing is clearer, but has a yellow tinge to it.  The anger and rage are consuming him.  He’s fighting so hard inside but the demon is stronger than he is at this point.  He has no control over his bodily functions.  He can’t move his arms or legs.  The only thing he can do is to sit back and watch, like he is a prisoner in his own body. 

“We’ve done it!  I knew this one would be different!  Make sure we monitor him.  The last one died within less than a day.”  Vixen 1 says. 

“We aren’t seeing the immediate level of deterioration that we saw with the last subject.  He may be the one we have been looking for!”  Vixen 2 says.

“Ok let’s turn the power up and see what he’s capable of and how long we can keep him in this state!”  Vixen 1 says as Vixen 2 turns the power of the machines up. 

Vixen 1 presses the button and shocks him again.  It only makes the demon stronger and more blood thirsty.  Patrick can do nothing but sit back and watch all of this happen.  He cries out for help, but no one can hear him.  The demon controls everything.*

Chapter Text

Chapter 31

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Graphic Violence*******

Patrick feels himself slowly regaining consciousness.  He wonders how long he was out.  When he opens his eyes, he is laying on his right side and it appears Gabe is working on another tattoo on the right side of his neck.  This one doesn’t hurt quite as much as the one on the front did, at least for now.  He feels like he is still reliving the electric shocks, and they were way worse than this. 

Gabe notices that he is awake and smiles at him.  “Welcome back, Sugar!  We almost lost you there.  Do you feel better now?” 

Patrick tries to answer but he remembers he is paralyzed and can’t do anything but blink his eyes.  He blinks once for yes. 

“Oh good!  You want to know what happened right?” he asks. 

Patrick blinks once for yes.  He sees Gabe shoot a death glare at Brad. 

“Well, you see, I told Brad that he could feed off of the wound on your foot.  He decided that wasn’t good enough and proceeded to bite your foot and drain you of ¾ of your blood.  I didn’t want to give you more of my blood today, but I had to, or you would’ve died.  He has been dealt with and I assure you, it won’t happen again, right Brad?” he asks as he gives Brad the stink-eye. 

“Yes.  It won’t happen again.” Brad replies. 

Patrick’s eyes go wide.  He almost died?  What the fuck?  Gabe notices that Patrick is still a bit foggy from his trip. 

“I’ll give you a half-hour reprieve to get your head together before we start the questions again.” He says and then continues working on the tattoo. 

Patrick is glad for this.  His head is still very foggy from the blood loss and the trip.  He lays there for a bit as his brain seems to come back to him.  The pain is getting much worse on his neck.  It feels so raw and sore as Gabe adds more to it.  My body has been through so much today, both in real life and in my trip.  I don’t know how much more I can take.  The questions begin again and he is still having problems focusing on anything other than the pain that he is feeling.  He must answer some correctly though, because Gabe hasn’t stabbed him in the foot with a scalpel yet.  His whole body feels restless and fried at the same time.  It must be time for shading now, because the pain at least triples.  He’s fighting to stay awake again soon enough.  The human body wasn’t meant to process this much pain in a day, whether it was given vampire blood or not.  He lays there for what seems like a long time, but he can’t fight it anymore and passes out again.  Gabe hasn’t noticed yet, but soon enough, Patrick feels an electric shock like the one in his hallucination and is jolted back to being awake.  He sees Gabe holding the taser and smiling at him. 

“Stay awake, Sugar.  Otherwise, not so pleasant things happen to you.”  He says and goes back to what he was doing. 

Patrick feels tears form in his eyes and they roll down his cheeks when he blinks.  The saltwater burns when it hits the raw skin that Gabe is working on and his eyes go wide.  He’d be jumping out of his skin if he could move right now.  Then he misses a question and feels Gabe stab him in the foot again, but this time he licks it and it closes.  Patrick lays there for what feels like hours, fighting to stay conscious when Gabe stops. 

“Alright Sugar, we are done with this one.  Do you need a break?”  Patrick blinks once for yes.  Thank God!  If he could talk right now, he would be begging for some reprieve.  “Ok.  Justin, help me move him over to his left side.” Gabe orders.  Justin comes and grabs Patrick’s legs and pushes them over to the other side.  Then he does the same with his upper body.  Now Patrick is laying on his left side dreading the pain that is coming next.  He starts to cry.  Please God, kill me now!  I can’t take any more of this!  My poor body has been kidnapped, almost sexually assaulted, burned, blistered, shocked, stabbed, fed on, almost died and raped.  Please end this for me now!  Of course, nothing happens, but a guy can dream right? 

Gabe starts setting up for the next one.  Patrick is guessing it is going on the left side of his neck. 

“Time’s up, Sugar.  We are going to start the next one now.”  He says. 

Patrick blinks twice for no, but Gabe ignores him.  He figures out exactly where to place it, puts the stencil on and begins.  This one is just as painful as the other two.  Patrick is screaming, crying and resisting inside his head and body.  He wants to try to get away, but no matter how much he tries, he can’t move anything.  He feels like he did during his hallucination.  He is a prisoner in his own body and there is nothing he can do to change that.  Fuck Spencer for helping Gabe paralyze me and jamming a breathing tube down my throat every night!  Fuck Gabe for being a sadistic asshole and tattooing, piercing, and raping me every day!  Why can’t everyone just leave me to rot in this godforsaken place?  I just want to be left alone!  He feels himself getting angrier and angrier.  Focusing on the anger does help him deal with the pain a little easier.  He continues to focus on the anger for a while, since he has plenty of it.  Eventually though, he does calm down and his thoughts seem to start focusing on all of the terrible things that have happened to him.  Maybe all of this is somehow his fault.  That is what Gabe keeps telling him.  Gabe tells him every day that he had this coming because of his actions or because of how he reacts to certain situations.  Did he somehow invite Shane to develop these feelings he has for him?  He doesn’t think so, but Gabe seems to.  Gabe says he deserves everything that he is doing to him. Gabe seems to hit a particularly painful area, which breaks Patrick out of these negative thoughts.  AHHHH!  FUCK!  Please, I just want this to be over!  I can’t take this anymore!  It’s too much pain!  Once he is focused on the pain again, he realizes how much pain he is actually in.  He starts to feel really nauseous all of a sudden.  He can feel the vomit burning his stomach.  He tries to hold it back, but he can’t.  Up it comes.  Not just once, but three times. 

“Doc! He vomited again.  We need you to come clean up the breathing tube.” Gabe calls to Spencer. 

Patrick is smiling on the inside.  Haha!  Take that Spencer!  I’m glad I am making this nice and disgusting for you and Gabe!  That feeling is short-lived though as all of the pain that he has been ignoring hits him super hard, like a semitruck.  He feels really sick, but manages not to vomit again.  He feels himself starting to slip away again.  He is trying to force himself to stay awake, but his body is protesting, very hard.  Then he feels the scalpel dig into his foot again, which kind of wakes him up.  He must’ve missed another question.  He doesn’t really even care at this point.  Gabe lets it bleed for a little bit as he licks up all of the blood, but then he licks it and closes the wound.  Patrick is breathing quite heavily at that point, in an attempt to deal with the pain.  He is failing miserably though.  He is able to hold on for a little longer, but then gives into what his body wants and passes out again.  It takes Gabe a good amount of time before he notices that Patrick is out again.  He is very focused on this part.  It’s actually Brad that points it out this time, trying to gain some favor back from Gabe. 

“Uh Gabe…he’s unconscious again.”  Brad says. 

Gabe stops what he is doing and looks down at Patrick.  He is indeed out cold. 

Gabe smiles an evil smile.  “Leave him be for now.  That way it will be so much worse when I tase him out of what he thinks is peace.” 

Brad smiles too.  “Great idea, Boss!” 

Gabe scowls at him.  “Shut up Brad!  I still haven’t forgotten what you did earlier.  You need to be seen and not heard.”

Meanwhile, Patrick has managed to stay unconscious for a while.  He is just settling into a nice, peaceful dream/memory when he feels a shock throughout his whole body again and he is jolted awake.  He wakes up quickly and is breathing hard.  He looks over to see Gabe smiling at him evilly with the taser in his hand. 

“Surprise, Sugar!  You thought you were going to be allowed to stay unconscious for a while, huh?  You thought wrong.  Now stay awake, or next time, I will injure you to wake you up.  Understand?” Gabe asks. 

Patrick is pretty pissed about this, but blinks once for yes. 

“Good.  We are almost done.  We have maybe two hours left.” Gabe says. 

Two hours is going to feel like an eternity and he knows that there is no way he is going to be able to stay conscious for that long.  Not with everything else that has happened to him today. 

“Just remember Sugar. You asked for this by fighting me earlier.  All of the pain you are feeling from tonight is your punishment.  You did this to yourself.” Gabe tells him. 

Patrick’s so tired right now that he doesn’t have the energy to disagree with him at this point, so he gives up.  Yes.  It’s my fault.  I asked for this.  I deserve to be punished.  I’ll try to do better next time.  With that, he manages to stay awake for a while, but it isn’t long before his eyes feel heavy and close as he drifts into unconsciousness.  Gabe doesn’t notice again for quite a while.  When he is pretty much done, he glances at Patrick and sees he’s unconscious.  Gabe finishes up and then grabs Patrick’s left arm, brings it above his head rotates it and yanks it really hard, popping it out of the shoulder socket.  Patrick wakes immediately.  What the Fuck!  My shoulder feels like it just exploded!  Fuck!  This is almost as painful as the burns were!  He is crying and breathing heavily, since he can’t do anything else.  He looks down his left arm and sees that it is sticking out at the wrong angle.  He looks at Gabe, who is grinning ear to ear. 

“Wakey, Wakey, Sugar!  I told you I’d injure you the next time you passed out.  I dislocated your left shoulder and I’m not going to heal it tonight.  Let that be a lesson to you.  I make good on ALL of my threats.  Congratulations!  We are done for tonight.”  Gabe says. 

Patrick looks at him with a horrified look.  What an evil fucking monster! 

Gabe turns away for a moment to grab something off one of the tables.  It looks like a drug bottle and a needle. 

“Oh!  I almost forgot!  I’m going to give you a bigger dose tonight, Sugar.  It’s a shame it will only last a few hours and then you will be in excruciating pain for the rest of the night and tomorrow.” Gabe goads.  Patrick blinks twice for no as Gabe puts the needle into the bottle, turns it upside down and pulls more of the drug than usual.  Gabe smiles at him and then jabs it hard into his side and pushes the plunger all the way down. 

“Good night, Sugar!  Sweet dreams, at least for a little while anyway.”  He says with a sadistic smile.

Patrick is almost positive that Gabe has been giving him heroin all of this time.  This strain of heroin is really strong, and more is definitely not a good thing.  Patrick is worried he might not wake up tomorrow.  He’s not going to lie.  There is a part of him that wishes he won’t wake up and this whole horrifying ordeal will be over.  If he does wake up, he knows he’s going to be so much sicker than normal.  He doesn’t have much time to think any more about it as his eyes roll back in his head and the darkness takes him.  Once he is completely out, Gabe grabs Patrick’s mangled arm and twists it, pulling it even further out of the shoulder socket and tearing his rotator cuff muscles. 

Gabe laughs an evil laugh before saying “He is going to need surgery to fix that if I don’t heal him.  The recovery from that surgery is a few months.” 

Everyone in the room seems to enjoy that thought and laughs along with Gabe.  Then he calls Brad to take Patrick back to his cell.  Brad picks him up bridal style with his left arm still sticking out at a very unnatural angle and starts walking back toward Patrick’s cell.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Joe is awakened when the door to his cell opens.  Brad is standing there with Patrick in his arms.  Patrick’s left arm looks like it is sticking out at a very unnatural angle.  Brad dumps Patrick on the floor right onto his injured shoulder.  Patrick doesn’t move or react to it.  Gabe must’ve given him something, because he is pretty sure that the pain from it would wake up an unconscious person.  Joe climbs down from the top bunk and goes to Patrick.  He looks him over for any other injuries and immediately notices the new piercings, before looking up at Brad and asking “What the hell happened?  Why is his shoulder messed up? Did Gabe drug him again?”  Joe asks. 

Brad smiles.  “Gabe was working on the new tattoos and he couldn’t stay awake.  Gabe tried various ways of waking him up, but towards the end, he just couldn’t stay awake because of the pain.  Gabe warned him that if he fell asleep again that he would injure him.  Gabe made good on his threat, dislocated his shoulder, and tore his rotator cuff muscles.  When he woke up, it was clear that he was in a fuck ton of pain.  Gabe refused to heal it until at least tomorrow.  Then Gabe gave him a much higher dose of whatever drug he’s been giving him, because of all the pain.  Gabe wants him to suffer once the drug wears off tonight and into tomorrow.”  Brad explains.

Joe looks up at Brad with a horrified look. 

“Jesus Christ!  Hasn’t he suffered enough today?  Gabe boiled him in a bathtub that left him with burns and blisters all over his body to the point that he couldn’t even sit or walk.  That was the most pain I’ve ever seen him in!  That wasn’t enough?  Sadistic fuck!” Joe yells. 

Brad still looks like he is enjoying this. 

“He’s going to be hurting once the drug wears off.  Have fun with that!” He says as he is turning around to leave. 

Then he closes the cell door and walks away.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“I love you so much.” Frank rolls over, his weight pressing Patrick into the mattress.

Patrick smiles and leans up, pressing a gentle kiss to Frank’s lips.  “I love you too.” 

“Mm.” Frank hums, pushing him back down and laying his head on Patrick’s chest, tucking his arms under Patrick.

Patrick runs his hand through Frank’s hair and stares up at the ceiling. He could lie here all day if time allowed. They rarely get to spend time together like this, rarely get to just cuddle and enjoy one another’s presence. This is one of those golden days Patrick doesn’t have to work in the prison and Frank isn’t expected to be in the studio or in a meeting. It’s possibly been a month since they’ve been able to wake up to each other and not have to shove each other away to get ready for some work. 

“Would you ever want to get married again?” Frank asks, voice muffled both from Patrick’s chest and his lack of energy.

They had just barely woken up for the day and it sounds like they’re about to have some sort of raging conversation.

 “What do you mean?” Patrick pauses, feeling an ache in his heart.

They haven’t had all too much trouble with their relationship, Frank’s just been expressing some concerning sentiments lately. Each day they have more than a four-word conversation, Frank sounds as if he’s torn and second guessing himself, he sounds as if he’s…just not enough. He sounds incredibly and unbearably insecure in ways Patrick never thought he would ever sound.  Because that's not exactly who Frank has ever been. He's always been the charming and charismatic, devious guy Patrick has always known. It's alarming the second he expresses any form of insecurity; it often has Patrick wondering if he's doing anything wrong. 

“Nevermind. It’s— it’s nothing.” Frank shakes his head, managing to scoot closer to him and bury his face in Patrick’s sternum like a cat. 

“Frank,” Patrick gently pushes him up, leaning up on his elbows again. “What do you mean? You can’t just ask me that and then—”

“It’s nothing, babe. Sorry, ‘m still tired and I was drifting.” Frank says.

“It’s not nothing. Why would I–” He’s interrupted by Frank’s lips, he refuses to be annoyed as he kisses back.

They shouldn’t start their day negatively. It’s fine. He’ll bring this up later and try to ease Frank’s discomfort.  What the fuck is happening?  Frank and I were never together!  Why do I keep seeing these?

Chapter Text

Chapter 32

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, and Mentions of Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

When Patrick wakes up the next morning, he is in so much pain!  Oh my God!  I think I’m going to die!  His left shoulder feels like it exploded and is on fire and he can’t move his left arm or fingers at all.  He tries to use his other hand to roll over and push himself into a sitting position.  It takes a few tries, but he is able to do it.  Now he can actually look at his other arm and see what’s going on.  He looks at his left shoulder and sees that his entire left arm has been dislocated at his shoulder, the rotator cuff has been torn in several places, and his left arm is sticking out in an unnatural direction.  Well, that would explain the pain.  I’m so going to kill Gabe today when it is time for my daily raping.  If he thought it hurt when he was laying down, now his pain is amplified ten-fold with him sitting up and he cries out. 

“Ughhhhh!”  He screams. 

The worst part is that all the pain from this is making him very nauseous.  It hits him like a huge wave.  He knows he’s going to vomit, but he can’t get up off the floor to get to the toilet fast enough and he vomits all over himself and the floor in front of him.  He doesn’t just vomit once; he vomits six times before he is done.  Fuck My Life!  This is because Gabe gave me a much higher dose of heroin last night.  As if on cue, he feels another wave of nausea hit him and he pukes five more times.  He's not sure which is worse at this point.  The pain is almost debilitating, but the drugs are making him so sick.  He might need fluids after this. 

All of the commotion wakes Joe up just in time to see Patrick vomit all over himself and the floor.  It appears he is done for now. 

“Patrick?  Are you ok?”  He asks. 

Patrick is about to answer, when he throws up five more times. 

“No!  I’m not ok, Joe.  My left shoulder is dislocated, and the muscles and ligaments are torn, so I’m in a ton of pain.  I can’t move my left arm, hand or fingers and Gabe gave me a higher dose of heroin last night, so I’m incredibly sick.  I might need some fluids after all of this puking, and I can’t get off the floor without help.  Could you please come help me?”  Patrick informs him. 

“Of course!  I’ll be right there!”  Joe answers. 

He pushes back his covers, climbs down, and heads over to where Patrick is, near the front of their cell.  Joe was afraid to move him last night because of his injury.  He didn’t want to make it any worse, so he grabbed him a pillow and a blanket and covered him with it where Brad had left him. 

“Ok.  I’m here.  Do you want to get up first or get cleaned up?”  Joe asks. 

“Help me up and then I can get cleaned up.”  Patrick responds. 

“Um…how do I do that without making your injury worse?”  Joe asks. 

“Take my right arm and put it over your shoulder.  Then you can hoist me up.”  Patrick instructs him. 

Joe does what Patrick says and hoists him up off the floor. 

“Do you want to go to a chair, or your bed?”  Joe asks. 

“Probably a chair.  I don’t want my bed smelling like puke.”  Patrick answers. 

Joe leads him to the chair that is still sitting next to Patrick’s bed and sets him down. 

“I will work on cleaning all of that up.”  Joe says. 

“Wait!  That is a big enough mess that the Janitor needs to clean it up.  Call for the guard.”  Patrick suggests. 

“Ok.  The less I have to clean, the better.  Guard!”  Joe calls. 

The overnight guard approaches their cell. 

“Yes?  What can I do for you?”  He asks. 

“My friend woke up pretty sick and vomited all over himself and the floor several times.  I would clean it myself, but I don’t have enough rags to do it.”  Joe tells him. 

“Got it.  I will call the janitor.  Is your friend alright?  Do I need to call sick bay?”  He asks. 

“Hang on, let me ask him.”  Joe walks over to Patrick.  “Hey, do you want the guard to call sick bay?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick looks up at him and Joe sees pain in his eyes.  He can tell that Patrick is trying to hold it together but he sees tears forming in his eyes as he nods yes. 

“Ok.”  Joe answers.  He walks back to the front of the cell. 

“Yes, please call sick bay and have Dr. Smith come here.”  Joe instructs. 

“Alright.  They should be here soon.”  The guard says. 

“Thank you.”  Joe says.  He walks back to the chair Patrick is sitting in. 

“They will be here soon.  Do you want me to help you change or do you want to wait until it is shower time?”  Joe asks. 

“I don’t know.  I don’t think you can help me change my shirt with my shoulder like this.”  Patrick answers. 

“Tell you what, I will get you new pants and boxers and we will wait until Spencer gets here before we worry about your shirt.”  Joe suggests. 

Patrick nods his head yes.  Joe goes to grab some new pants and boxers and brings them back to Patrick.  Then he begins helping Patrick change. 

Within fifteen minutes, the janitor and Spencer arrived. 

“Guard, open the door.”  Spencer says. 

They both step in.  The janitor goes about cleaning up all the vomit while Spencer finds Patrick sitting in a chair by his bed. 

“Oh my God, Patrick!  What happened?”  Spencer asks. 

“I think it’s best if you didn’t know.  Please don’t make things worse for me than they already are.”  Patrick begs. 

“I understand.  You seem to have dislocated your shoulder very badly and the rotator cuff and ligaments have been torn.  Do you want me to reset it here, or do you want to come to sick bay?”  Spencer asks. 

“Can we just do it here, and then you could give me some good painkillers and I will rest?”  Patrick answers. 

“Yes.  You may stay in the chair.  Please put your hand on my shoulder.  This is going to be incredibly painful.”  Spencer says. 

“I know.”  Patrick responds. 

“Are you ready?  On three.  One, two, three.” Spencer says as he maneuvers Patrick’s shoulder back into the socket. 

“Ahhhhhh!!!!”  Patrick screams. 

Patrick is breathing heavily to deal with the pain.  Spencer grabs a shoulder sling and carefully places Patrick’s left arm into it. 

“You will need to wear this for a few days and rest your arm as much as you can, ok?  We will see how it heals before we determine if you need surgery to repair the torn rotator cuff and ligaments.  Would you like a shot of morphine, or do you want pain pills?”  Spencer informs him. 

“I would like a shot of morphine.  I’m too afraid people will attack me and steal my pain pills.”  Patrick answers. 

“Alright.”  Spencer says as he measures out the correct amount of morphine and injects it into Patrick’s shoulder. 

“This should last for four hours.  I will return later to give you more.”  Spencer says.  “Is there anything else?”  he asks. 

“I vomited quite a bit when I woke up.  Do I need some IV fluids?  Could I also have some Zofran for my stomach?”  Patrick asks. 

Spencer examines Patrick for signs of dehydration. Then digs in his bag and pulls out the Zofran.  He unwraps the pill and places it in Patrick’s hand.  Patrick puts it in his mouth.

“Are your muscles feeling seized up or cramping a lot?”  Spencer asks.

 “Not at the moment.  That doesn’t mean that they won’t though.”  Patrick answers.

“Ok.  I will start an IV and give you a bag of fluids.”  Spencer answers as he digs the fluid bag out of his travel bag.

He puts an elastic around Patrick’s right arm, waits until the vein pops up, and then punctures the vein with the IV needle.  Then he hangs the bag on the bed.

“Anything else?”  Spencer asks.

“No that was it.  Thanks Spencer.”  Patrick says. 

Spencer smiles and walks to the front of their cell. 

“You’re welcome.  Guard!  Open the door!”  The door opens, Spencer steps out, the door closes, and he returns to sick bay.

Joe then goes about helping clean Patrick up the best he can until it is shower time. 

“I have a new shirt for you.  What is the best way to do this?”  Joe asks. 

“Let’s start with getting the right arm out of the sleeve and then we can try the left arm.”  Patrick suggests. 

Joe holds the shirt while Patrick pulls his right arm out of the sleeve, then it goes over Patrick’s head.  The last little piece is to get it off his left arm. 

“Joe, you will need to take my arm out of the sling, pull the shirt off carefully, and put the new shirt on.  I will hold my arm.”  Patrick informs. 

Joe does what Patrick says to do. 

“Ready?”  Joe asks. 

Patrick takes a deep breath and shakes his head yes. 

“Ok, here we go.”  Joe takes Patrick’s arm out of the sling and removes the sling. 

He can tell that this is obviously painful just by looking at Patrick’s face.  Patrick holds his left arm while Joe slips the soiled shirt off. 

“Alright, now for the new shirt.  Ready?” Joe asks.

Patrick is in pain and breathing heavily but nods his head yes.  Joe slips the new shirt over Patrick’s left arm and then over his head.  Then he gets the sling, puts it over Patrick’s head and carefully places Patrick’s injured arm back in the sling as Patrick pushes his right arm through the sleeve hole. 

“That was awful and very painful.  Now I’m exhausted.  What time is it?”  Patrick asks. 

Joe looks at the clock on the wall outside their cell. 

“It is 7:30 a.m.  They should be coming to get us for shower time soon and then breakfast after that.”  Joe informs him. 

“So, we have to do all of that again twice relatively soon?  Great!  I can’t fucking wait.”  Patrick says as he sits on his bed. 

His whole neck is still incredibly raw and painful from last night.  His lower lip is also throbbing around the spike that is sticking out.  His eyebrow is throbbing too.  Patrick was so preoccupied by this injury, that it kind of slipped his mind.  He stands, grabs his IV bag, and walks over to the mirror to look at what Gabe did last night.  The pain from them was so bad that it was hard to process it all.  Joe sees him heading to the mirror and stops him before he gets there. 

“Are you sure you want to see that right now?”  Joe asks. 

“Uh, no, I really wish I didn’t have to look at these forever, but that is beside the point.  Why?  Are they really bad?”  Patrick asks. 

“No.  No worse than the rest.  The eyebrow and labret piercings are new.”  Joe replies. 

“Yeah, I know.  They hurt like a bitch and the labret? Is that what it’s called?”  Joe nods his head yes.  “It feels really weird and is going to make eating fun today.  I hope Gabe doesn’t force feed me again.  The new tattoos?  Awesome! They were super fun to sit through.”  Patrick says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes and walks over to the mirror.

The first thing he sees is the new piercings.  There are spikes on either side of his left eyebrow, as well as another spike sticking out of a new hole that is centered and slightly below his lower lip and above his chin.  He brings his hand up to touch it but stops himself, so it won’t get infected.  I guess that is what it is called, a labret?  I’m not up to date on the names of all these piercings that I never wanted.  God, I fucking hate Gabe!  Then he turns his attention to the new tattoo on the front of his neck, above his Adam’s apple.  It is a skull with black wings on both sides, that wrap around both sides of his neck just below his chin.  He turns his neck to the right and finds a human heart with feathered wings on either side and a dagger stabbed through it vertically.  The dagger also stabs through a placard that says “Nothing is Sacred” below the heart.  On the front of the heart, there are two additional human hearts that are held on by barbed wire that wraps around the larger heart.  There are several rays of clouds coming out of the heart diagonally and vertically.  Finally, he turns his neck to the left and finds another skull holding what appears to be a crystal ball with the face of another skull inside it.  There are flames of fire radiating up from behind the image.  This is awful!  I never wanted any of these and now I’m starting to look like a fucking thug.  I’m so going to kill Gabe as slowly and painfully as possible somehow someday. 

Patrick takes a deep breath to resign himself, turns around, grabs his IV bag and walks over to sit on his bed.  He hangs the IV bag from the top bunk and puts his head in his hands, being careful not to touch the new tattoos or piercings, because they still really hurt.  Joe comes over and sits in the chair next to Patrick. 

“Well?”  Joe asks. 

“I hate them as much as the others.  These were probably the most painful ones to date.  The pain was all consuming.  I couldn’t focus on anything but that.  It was so beyond any pain I’ve felt before.  I tried so hard to stay awake, but I just couldn’t no matter how hard I tried.  Gabe keeps saying that he is improving the curb appeal of his property.  I fucking hate him!  I’m a person damn it, not property!  If I had a means to kill him right now, I would.”  Patrick says. 

Joe looks at him.  “I completely understand your anger.  Hell, if there was a way to kill him, I’d fucking help you kill him!”  Patrick smiles at him. 

“Thanks, Joe.”  He says. 

“No problem, buddy.”  Joe responds.

Joe and Patrick sit down and read their books during the time it takes Patrick’s IV fluids to finish.  Once it is done, Patrick removes the IV needle and puts a band-aid on the puncture wound.

It is then that Brad comes to bang on the bars of their cell. 

“Good morning campers.  It’s shower time.  Grab your shit!” Brad yells. 

They both get their shower stuff and then walk to the front of the cell.  Brad takes a look at Patrick and smiles a devious smile. 

“Hey, Stump.  What happened to your arm?  Were you in a ton of pain this morning?”  Brad asks. 

Patrick is so not in the mood for this.  “You know what happened and yes, I was in a lot of pain this morning.  I’m much better now that Spencer reset it for me and gave me a shot of morphine though.  Thanks for asking!”  Patrick says rather cheerfully because he knows it will bother Brad. 

It’s Patrick’s turn to flash Brad a somewhat devious smile as Brad opens their cell and they step out.  Take that, you fucker! 

“Aww, you’re no fun, Stump.”  Brad says and begins leading them to the shower room.

Once they get to the shower room, they both enter, find lockers for their stuff, grab towels, and Joe gets undressed, wrapping a towel around his waist.  Then Joe slowly and carefully helps Patrick undress and wraps a towel around his waist.  They grab their shower stuff and try to find a group of showers where they have a little privacy. 

“I will help you shower, since you need to use your other hand to hold your left arm.”  Joe says. 

The best they could do was one with three other people in there with them.  Joe quickly washes himself.  When he is done, he walks over to Patrick to help him.  One of the inmates in there with them notice Patrick nursing his left arm and smiles. 

“What happened to your arm, Stump?”  The inmate asks. 

Patrick tries to ignore them. 

“How come Trohman gets to help you bathe?  I’d totally help you.  I can guarantee that I can make your injury feel better.”  The inmate says while staring at Patrick and licking his lips. 

Joe flashes the inmate a death stare and warns them.  “Back the fuck off!  Now!”  Joe simply says. 

The inmate is obviously not too bright because he doesn’t listen.  He actually walks toward them and gets close enough to squeeze Patrick’s left shoulder. 

Patrick cries out in pain, “Ughhh!”

“I’m warning you.  I may not look like much, but I assure you, looks can be deceiving.”  Joe warns.

 The inmate, who is clearly very stupid, looks at Joe, challenging him. 

“What are you going to do if I don’t?”  the inmate asks. 

Joe looks at Patrick for a minute.  “I can finish the rest by myself.  Go kick that dude’s ass!”  Patrick says quietly. 

Joe smiles.  “With pleasure!” He says. 

Joe approaches the guy and looks him up and down, assessing his opponent.  The other inmate charges him, thinking it will catch Joe off guard.  Joe catches the guy and immediately decks him.  Then he gets on top of the guy and begins punching him.  MMA-mode commence!  The stupid inmate then gets back up and tries to fight Joe.  Joe blocks all his punches, flips him around his arm and body slams him to the floor.  Just a few more punches and the guy is out, like a light.  Joe stands, kicks the guy in the stomach and spits on him, and then turns to Patrick.  He is slightly out of breath. 

“You ready?”  He asks Patrick as the other two inmates are staring at Joe in awe. 

“What the fuck?”  One of them says. 

Joe looks at them and says “hey, I warned him.  Come on Patrick.  Let’s go.” 

They both walk back to the locker room.  Joe dresses quickly and then he carefully helps Patrick get dressed.  They walk out the door and Brad is there to take them back to their cell until breakfast.

Patrick decides to lay down on his bed for a bit after they get back from showering.  He knows he won’t sleep, but he is supposed to be resting his arm, so he lays there until breakfast.  It had been about an hour when Brad shows up to take them to breakfast. 

“Stump, Trohman.  Time for breakfast!  Let’s go!”  Brad calls. 

Patrick tries to get up from a lying position but is having trouble because of his arm.  Joe sees this and helps him get up.  Then they both walk to the front of their cell.  Brad opens the door, and they step out.  They enter the mess hall and get into the food line immediately.  As Patrick looks around the mess hall, he observes the various positions of anyone he has had an issue with.  Gabe and his goons are in the far back left corner, where they usually sit.  He shouldn’t have any problems avoiding them until later.  Then he sees where the members of the Nuestra Familia are hanging out.  They are all looking at him, staring daggers and discussing something.  Patrick feels wary of them after what happened a few days ago.  He didn’t feel like the matter was closed with them, and that there was a good chance that he would have to deal with them again.  Once Joe had both of their trays, they went to sit down and eat.  Dan joins them shortly after they sit down.  Patrick is kind of zoning out while trying to eat, watching different scenarios play out in his head on how this could go down.  He just had this bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was going to be attacked by them again.  He is mostly pushing the food around on his plate, since that new piercing hurts like a motherfucker. 

“Patrick?  What is going on in that head of yours?” Joe asks after waiving his hand in front of Patrick’s face to get him to zone back in. 

“Oh!  Sorry.  I was just thinking about something.”  Patrick says. 

“Yeah.  We could tell.  What were you thinking about?”  Dan asks. 

“Well, you remember a few days ago when I bumped into some of the members of the Nuestra Familia gang, and they attacked me on our way back to our cell?”  Patrick asks. 

“Yes.  They attacked me too, remember?” Joe states. 

“I do.  I don’t know why, but for the past few days, I’ve had this feeling that it’s not over with them and they are going to attack me again.  Every time I look over there, I see them staring daggers at me and then talking about me to the rest of their group.  I’m not trying to be paranoid, but I just have a really bad feeling.”  Patrick informs them. 

“You have every right to feel that way.  I wish your shoulder wasn’t screwed up so we could do another fighting lesson.”  Joe replies. 

“Do you think I’m nuts to think that?”  Patrick asks. 

“Absolutely not!  I’d even venture to say that you are probably right.  Dan and I will keep an eye on them.  I haven’t had a chance to talk to my friend Alex yet, but I will as soon as I get the chance to.  I promise.”  Joe answers. 

“Is there anything you are supposed to be doing today, other than resting your arm?” Dan asks. 

Patrick thinks for a second. 

“I don’t think so.  That’s not to say that something might come up though.” Patrick answers. 

“That’s true.  Try to stay away from everyone if you can.  It decreases the risk that you might get cornered or something.”  Joe says. 

“I will do my best.  I’m full if you guys are ready to leave.”  Patrick responds. 

Joe takes another few bites before he decides he’s done. 

“Ok.  I’m ready to go.  See you at work, Dan.” 

Dan smiles.  “Definitely!” 

They get up, get rid of their trays, meet up with Brad and begin walking back to their cell.

Chapter Text

Chapter 33

*******Trigger Warning for Graphic Violence*******

               Andy wakes up nice and early on a beautiful, sunny morning.  He rolls over on his side to see his beautiful wife, Meredith, still sleeping.  He scoots over to her, being the big spoon, and puts his arm around her waist cuddling her.  He breathes in her scent and closes his eyes, basking in their domestic bliss.  They lay there for quite a while until Meredith wakes up.  She turns over onto her back and smiles at him. 

“Good morning, beautiful!”  Andy says.

“Good morning, big, sexy man!”  She says.

They both look at each other trying to hold back a laugh, until Meredith loses it and busts out laughing.  Andy can’t hold back anymore either and starts laughing too.  They both continue to laugh for a bit.

“Big, sexy man, huh?”  Andy asks, which just makes both of them laugh even harder. 

When they are both calmed down, Andy leans down and gives her a kiss, and of course, she kisses back.  They both lay there in bed cuddled together enjoying each other’s company.  Andy looks at the clock and sees that he has to get up to get ready for work. 

“I have to get up and get ready for work.  Even though I’d much rather stay here with you in bed all day.”  Andy tells her.

She smiles at him and gives him another peck on the lips.

“I know.  I’d much rather stay here in bed with you too, but I have to get to the salon and get everything ready for my first client.”  She shares.

Andy just gazes into her beautiful eyes for a moment longer.  “I love you so much!  Have a great day!”

“I love you too!  I hope your day goes smoothly.  You never know what to expect when you are dealing with prisoners.”  She replies.

They kiss once more before they both get out of bed and begin getting ready for their various jobs.  Andy hops in the shower and is in the middle of washing himself when Meredith peeks her head in asking if he wanted company.  There was no way he was going to turn that down.  So, what if their shower took a little longer than it usually does.  It saved water and was much more enjoyable having company.  They get out of the shower, Andy gets dressed, and Meredith goes about getting herself ready for work.  Andy is always ready first and he still wants a little time to stop at the coffee shop before he goes to work for the day.  He pulls Meredith into his arms, and they passionately kiss for a moment.

“I need to stop at the coffee shop on my way into work, so I’m going leave.  I love you so much and it pains me to be away from you all day.  Have a wonderful day, and I will see you tonight.”  Andy says.

“That’s so sweet!  I love you too and I agree, it is hard to be away from you all day.  Have a nice, normal day honey.  I’ll see you later tonight.”

With that Andy packs up his stuff, gets in the car and drives to the coffee shop.  He turns on the radio to his heavy metal channel and rocks out to some Pantera, Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden on his way there.  He parks his car and walks into the coffee shop.  Brendon sees him enter.

“Hey Andy!  How are you today? Do you want your usual?”  He asks.

“Hey Brendon!  I’m good.  Yes.  I’ll take my usual.  Can I get an extra shot of vegan espresso today?  Meredith and I were up kind of late last night.  We went to one of her emo nights and we didn’t get home until really late.  I feel like I need a little more to get me started this morning.”

“Sure!  No problem.  I haven’t seen you here as much lately.  Everything ok?”  Brendon asks.

Andy looks around the coffee shop.  He wants to make sure that no one is around to hear all of this.  Luckily, he’s the only one there at the moment, so he feels more comfortable sharing this with Brendon.

“Yeah.  Everything’s fine.  Work has just been keeping me really busy, so I can’t get away for lunch most days.  Remember the incident I told you about a week ago?  The one where one of our doctors was transporting a patient who had been stabbed to the hospital?  Well two prisoners snuck onto the ambulance and escaped after it crashed, and I’ve been dealing with the aftermath of that.  We have a new prisoner that came in right after that incident.  It’s kind of a sad situation actually, he used to be one of our doctors in sick bay.  A few days ago, he came in and was convicted for aiding and abetting both of the inmates that escaped.  He was tried very quickly, and he was sentenced to five years in prison.  I’m not sure how he was tried so quickly, but the guard that brought him in presented all of the correct paperwork.  It’s kind of hard to believe that he would do something like that.  I kind of feel bad for him.  He was one of my good friends there and I haven’t seen him since he was booked into custody.  He won’t have an easy time on the inside either.  There are a lot of his previous patients that hold grudges against him.”  Andy explains.

“Wow!  That is so sad!  Do you remember which doctor it was?”  Brendon asks.

Andy lowers his voice and looks around to make sure no one else has come in.  “Well, you didn’t hear this from me, but it was Dr. Stump.  You can’t tell anyone, ok?  If you do, I’ll lose my job.”

“Oh my God!  Really?  I wondered why he hasn’t been in lately!  You’re right, I can’t really see him helping two inmates escape.  That just seems really out of character for him.  No worries, Andy.  I won’t tell anyone.”  Brendon says.

“I know, right?  It’s really hard to believe that he would be capable of this, and that he would actually go through with it.  I never saw any of the evidence that was presented, but a sentence is a sentence.  I must follow through and enforce it.  I don’t want to, and I’m pretty sure he was framed, but that isn’t my decision to make.  I must enforce whatever his sentence says according to the law.”  Andy says.

“Yeah, that’s a tough position to be in.  Patrick was both of our friends.  I don’t envy you at all.”  Brendon responds.

“Honestly, I think I have been using that as an excuse so that I don’t have to meet him face to face.  Hey quick question.  You would know this better than me.  Didn’t Dr. Stump dabble in music?  I know he never liked being in the spotlight or anything, so I know he would never actually perform on stage.  I’ve heard that he would write songs in the background though.”  Andy asks.

“Actually, now that you mention it, yeah.  I think he told me that he had written a few songs, but that he would never perform them.  He even let me hear one of them.  It was VERY good.  Why?”  Brendon asks.

“I may have a small side project for him to work on.  My wife and I have been together coming up on ten years now.  We have been married for almost five years.  I was thinking of what I could do for her on our fifth wedding anniversary that is coming up in a few weeks.  We aren’t really into giving big gifts for small things like anniversaries. Meredith really loves music, and I can’t write music or anything.  I thought it would be nice if I had a song written for her, well for us, that I could play for her on our anniversary, and it would always be hers.”  Andy explains.

Brendon is looking very intently at Andy.  “Oh my God, Andy!  That is one of the most romantic things I’ve ever heard of!  I wish someone could do that for me!  I would feel so special and loved!”  Brendon yells while fanning his face, trying not to cry.

Andy smiles.  “So…good idea?” 

“Fuck yeah, better than good!  Great!  Amazing!  Romantic!  Best idea!  I wish I had thought of that.  I’m so happy for you two!  You guys are soul mates and deserve each other.”  Brendon answers.

Andy looks down at his watch and realizes how long he has been there.  “Fuck!  I’ve got to go!  Is my order ready yet?”

Brendon checks the window and, sure enough, Andy’s order is sitting there waiting to be picked up.  “Yup!  Here you go!  Let me know how this idea works out!  Have a great day, Andy!”  Brendon says

“Thanks, and I will let you know if I can get him to do it and if I can, how it goes.”  Andy says as he grabs his order and runs out to his car, pulls away and finishes his drive down the street to work.

Andy arrives at the prison, parks his car and proceeds to the security checkpoint with his order in hand.  He sets his order down, empties his pockets, shows his prison ID, walks through the metal detector, holds his arms out to his side so he can be patted down, and finally picks up his order on the other side and proceeds to his office.  He sits down, eats his vegan food and enjoys his vegan coffee with the extra shot of vegan espresso.  He does a lot of paperwork before having to return a few phone calls.  Before he knows it, it is lunch time.  He calls for one of the guards. 

“Please have inmate/Doctor Stump brought here when he returns from lunch.”

“Yes, sir.”  The guard says and leaves to relay the orders to Stump’s guards.

Brad escorts Patrick and Joe back to their cell, opens the door, and lets Joe back in.  He grabs Patrick’s right arm to stop him from entering. 

“Not you, Stump.  You are staying with me for a bit longer.”  Brad informs him. 

All the color from Patrick’s face drains away and he is left with a look of pure fear.  He would totally take off if Brad didn’t have a death grip on his arm.  Fuck!  I know what’s going to happen!  I’m hoping and praying that it is just a feeding and not the other thing.  I’m not sure if I can survive the other thing.  Not after everything yesterday.  Brad closes the door to their cell and drags him off to the room that he had fed on him in a few days ago.  Once they are inside, Brad locks the door, and pulls the shades down on the windows, so no one can see in.  Then Brad pushes Patrick up against the wall very hard.

“Owwww!  What the fuck, Brad?”  Patrick asks.

“I’m hungry and your blood is almost irresistible.  So, I’m going to have my meal, and then I will take you back to your cell, got it? Brad explains.

“Yeah, I figured that was what this was going to be.  Is there a reason that you are being super rough with me today?”   Patrick responds.

 “I’m still mad about last night.”  Brad tells him.

“Alright, I get that, but why are you taking it out on me?”  Patrick asks.

“Because I can’t take it out on who I really want to take it out on.  Sorry Stump, you are just collateral damage.”  Brad informs.

“Great!  This should be fun.”  Patrick says.

Patrick barely has the words out of his mouth before Brad slams him into the wall and his head bounces off it.  Brad bites his neck very hard, through the irritated, new tattoos, which really fucking hurt, and for some reason, the pain from the feeding is so much worse than normal.  Maybe because he’s mad?  It almost feels like Brad is continuing to bite him deeper with each suck on his neck.  Patrick starts screaming because it hurts so much more.

“Ughhhhhhhh!!!!!!!  Fuck!  It hurts!!!  Please, make it stop!!!”  He screams.

Brad pulls off for a second, hears Patrick screaming, then covers Patrick’s mouth with his hand, and he presses down really hard.  It will probably leave a bruise.

“You need to be quieter, Stump, or someone is going to hear us.  The louder you scream, the more painful I will make this for you.  Do you understand?”  Brad threatens.

“It hurts so much more than normal, Brad.  Yes, I understand.”  Patrick says.

Brad then goes back to drinking his blood.  Patrick tries to stay quiet, but it feels like someone is sticking a burning dagger into his neck, rotating the dagger in the wound, and then pushing it deeper.  He cries out from the pain.

“Owwwwwww!”  He screams with Brad’s hand over his mouth.

On his next draw of blood, the pain amplifies times ten.  Patrick can’t control what’s coming out of his mouth at this point, because the pain is so bad.  Tears collect in his eyes and roll down his face as Brad continues.  He apparently amplified the pain again because Patrick is now beyond his pain limit.  He is starting to feel very dizzy, and the room starts spinning.  He tries to tap Brad on the shoulder to stop him, but Brad continues and amplifies the pain again.  Patrick can’t feel his arms or legs and he starts to slide down the wall.  He screams again, much louder this time with tears streaming down his cheeks.  Brad’s hand is still over his mouth pressing down hard.  He’s seeing white now and feels his eyes rolling back into his head.  He can’t handle this much pain anymore and passes out, falling on the floor.  Brad just continues drinking until he senses that Patrick is close to death and finally pulls off.  When he looks down, he sees the massive crater he made in Patrick’s neck, that is still bleeding all down his neck, soiling his clothes.  He leans down and licks the massive holes in Patrick’s neck until they finally closed.  He already knows he took way too much, so he bites his wrist, pries Patrick’s mouth open and lets his wrist bleed down his throat for a good twenty minutes.  He sits down in one of the chairs around the table, takes out his phone and starts scrolling.  He knows it will be a while before Patrick wakes up.

*When Patrick wakes up, he is still in the chapel with the Vixens, and they are still doing tests on him.  Everything he sees has a yellow tinge to it and the murderous demon is still in control over his body.  He is just a helpless prisoner that can only watch what is happening.  From what he can tell, they are conditioning him to music as a means to trigger the demon inside of him to take over and do their bidding.  Obviously, they have been successful, since he is no longer in control of his body.  He is still tied to the chair, and he feels his body fighting hard against the restraints.  He feels this overwhelming need to attack and kill anyone and everyone that is a fan of music.  The Vixens see the demon fighting hard against the restraints, completely ready to go on a murderous rampage.  In this state, the demon cannot focus on anything except killing.  He can’t even hear what the Vixens are talking about.

“Well, none of the other subjects survived to this point.  We need to test him to make sure we have control over him.”  Vixen 1 says.

“How are we going to do that?”  Vixen 2 asks. 

Vixen 1 flashes Vixen 2 and evil look.

“I just had the greatest idea!  Let’s test him on his friends.  First, we turn him back, so his friends think he is fine.  Then we bring in each of his friends, one by one, play the music, and release the demon and then we let him kill all of them.”  Vixen 1 conspires.

“I love it!  Which one should we start with?”  Vixen 2 says.

“Let’s start with the one with the curly hair.”  Vixen 1 says.

“First, we have to turn him back.  Let’s get to it!”  Vixen 2 suggests.

Patrick can feel this demon is out for blood.  Both of the Vixens surround him.  They slowly turn off all of the machines that he is hooked up to.  As each one shuts off, he feels a step closer to having control of his body back, his vision returns to normal, and he feels the demon going dormant.  The last thing they turn off is the music that has been playing the whole time he has been here.  Patrick feels the demon go completely dormant and he has total control of his body back! 

“Hello Patrick.  You are back.  Would you like to see one of your friends?”  Vixen 1 asks.

“What did you do to me?”  Patrick asks.

“We brought out the creature that will help us achieve our goals, as well as do our bidding.  You are lucky.  None of the other subjects survived.  You’ve been through a lot today.  How about we bring in one of your friends for you to talk to?”  Vixen 1 offers.

“No!  I don’t trust you!”  He screams.

“You don’t have to trust us; we are just offering you a chance to see your friends again.”  Vixen 1 informs as she undoes his restraints.  Then she looks over to Vixen 2 and shouts “Bring the first one in.”

Vixen 2 pushes Joe into the room.  His hands are bound behind his back, and he trips and falls on the floor.  When he looks up, he is overjoyed.

“Patrick!  Oh!  Thank God you are alive!  What happened to your left hand?”  Joe asks.

“Joe, you need to get as far away from me as you can.”  Patrick says.

“Why?”  He asks.

“Because they did something to me and now, they are going to test it on you.  You have to get out of here, now!”

Before Joe can even move, music is pumped through the speakers into the room.  Patrick collapses and appears to be in pain.  Joe goes to help him get up, sees Patrick’s yellow eyes and sees the murderous look on his face and takes off in the other direction.  Patrick is so much faster now.  It doesn’t take long for Patrick to catch him and start choking Joe to death.  Joe is trying to get Patrick to let go, but he actually squeezes harder.  Joe is kicking his legs until Patrick chokes him to death and he stops moving.  Patrick lets go and Joe’s lifeless blue eyes are wide open.  Patrick feels himself changing back.  When he does, he looks down and sees what he just did.

“Noooooooo!  Joe, please wake up!”

Patrick falls to his knees and starts crying over Joe’s dead body.  Vixen 1 grabs him from behind and pulls him away, sitting him back in the chair.  Vixen 2 pulls Joe’s dead body out of the room and fetches the next one.

“Bring in the next one!”  Vixen 1 orders.

Vixen 2 pushes Pete into the room next.  His hands are bound behind his back too.  He looks up and sees Patrick back to normal.

“Patrick!  You’re you again!”  Pete cries.

Then he comes running up to him embracing him in a big hug.  Patrick hugs him back.

“Pete, you have to get out of here.  Run!  Get as far away from me as you can.”  Patrick tells him.

“I don’t understand, Patrick.”  Pete says, very confused.

“You know the monster you just saw?  Well, they are about to release it and it will make me kill you.”

Suddenly, the music starts up again.  Patrick collapses on the floor for a minute, but when he gets up, his eyes are yellow again and the demon is in control.  Pete takes off running out the side door of the chapel and the demon goes after him.  At one point, Pete trips and that is when it is over.  Patrick catches up with him and begins stabbing him with the hook over and over, until Pete takes his last breath.  The demon appears sated, and Patrick returns to himself again.  He looks down and he is covered in blood.  He sees Pete’s bloody body and starts crying.

“No!  I can’t lose you too!  I love you, Pete!  I’m so sorry!”  He screams as he throws himself over Pete’s body.  He is allowed to stay there for a minute before he is dragged back into the chapel.  The Vixens make him kill all of his friends.  Dan is the next one followed by Andy.  When he has killed everyone and returned to himself, he decides he can’t live with the fact that he was forced to kill all of his friends. 

He looks at Vixen 1 and says “I will no longer be your weapon of destruction.  You will no longer use me for your nefarious purposes.” 

Vixen 2 looks at him.  “How are you going to stop us from doing that?” 

Patrick looks down at where his left hand should be to see the hook now attached to his wrist.

“This way!  I’m so sorry Joe, Pete, Dan, and Andy!  I will hopefully see you soon.”  He yells. 

He raises his hand with the hook on it above his head and starts repeatedly stabbing himself in the chest and abdomen with it until he collapses on the floor, bleeds out, and dies. *

Patrick wakes up inhaling a very deep breath, like he was surprised.  He continues breathing heavily for a minute or two.  When he sits up, he sees Brad sitting on a desk chair scrolling through his phone. 

“Welcome back, Stump.”  Brad says.

“What the fuck happened, Brad?  It’s bad enough that you made that experience more painful than some of the tattoo sessions.  I can barely feel my hands and feet.  What did you do?”  Patrick asks.

“Yes, I did make it incredibly painful for you.  When us vampires get angry and feed on someone, the amount of pain they feel is amplified depending on how mad we are.  To answer your other question, I took way too much of your blood.  When I sensed that you were close to death, I stopped.  I knew I had gone too far, so I just gave you a ton of my blood and waited for it to work.”  Brad confesses.

“You almost killed me?  What the fuck?  This seems to be a pattern between you and me.  You can’t ever seem to stop before my life is in danger.  How long will it be before you actually kill me?  How long was I out?”  Patrick asked.

“About two hours.”  Brad answers.

“Fuck!  I need to get back to my cell!  Joe is going to be so worried!  He will probably think you killed me!  Take me back, Brad.  Now!”  Patrick shouts.

“Ok.  Can you stand and walk yet?”  Brad asks.

“I’m not sure.  Let me try.”  Patrick responds.

Patrick is starting to get the feeling back in his arms, hands, legs and feet, uses the wall as a guide, and manages to get to a standing position.  He still feels very weak and dizzy.  He takes his hand off the wall and attempts to take a step.  He manages to do it, but with the next step, he crumbles to the ground.

“I can stand.  You are going to have to help me walk.”  Patrick informs him.

Patrick gets back into a standing position, holding onto the wall.  Brad comes and takes his left arm, which appears to be completely healed now, and puts it over his shoulder.  Then he hoists Patrick up, and for a minute, Patrick feels very dizzy, and his head is pounding.  He waits for it to pass and then they begin walking back to Patrick’s cell. 

When they get there, Joe is immediately at the front of his cell and sees Patrick almost hanging off Brad.

“Where have you been?  It’s been over two hours!  I thought he had killed you!”  Joe yells.

“What the fuck did you do, Brad?”  Joe asks Brad.

“I fed on him, but I took way too much of his blood, so I had to give him a lot of my blood, so that he wouldn’t die.  Then we had to wait for it to do its job before I could bring him back.”  Brad says as he pushes the button to open their cell door. 

He walks Patrick over and sits him down on his bed.

Joe’s eyes almost bug out of his head.  “Excuse me?  You brought him that close to death?”  Joe screams at him.

“I didn’t mean to.  His blood tastes so good that it is hard for me to stop, once I start feeding.”  Brad admits.

“That’s no excuse!  One day you are going to kill him!”  Joe yells.

“I will try to be more careful next time.  I’ll be back in an hour to take you to lunch.”  Brad says as he steps out of the cell, presses the button to close the door, and leaves.

Joe immediately walks back to Patrick, who is still sitting on his bed.

“Are you ok?”  Joe asks.

“I’m not great, but I’m ok, I guess.  At least my arm is healed, so we should be ok to have another fighting lesson later.”  Patrick replies, struggling to stay upright from the dizziness and his head pounding like a church bell.

“What happened?”  Joe asks.

“He dragged me away from our cell, brought me into a meeting room, locked all the doors and closed all the shades, and then pushed me against the wall very hard and started feeding on me.  This wasn’t like normal though.  The pain was intensified by like 100.”  Patrick states.

“Why?”  Joe asks.

“Um…apparently Brad and Gabe got into a fight over me last night.  Gabe told him that he could drink from one of the wounds on my feet, so he did.  However, once the wound started clotting, he decided he wasn’t done, so he bit my foot and started feeding on me.  I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I heard Brad challenging Gabe about why Gabe is hogging me for himself.  Gabe said that I was his property, and he was only sharing me with him.  Brad backed down after that.  So fast forward to this morning, and Brad was still pissed about what had happened last night.  Well, apparently when a vampire is angry and feeding on someone it amplifies the pain the person feels.  He was still pretty mad and knew he couldn’t take it out on Gabe, so he took his anger out on me and kept increasing the intensity of the pain until I passed out.”  Patrick explains.

“Jesus!  That is so fucked up!  I’m sorry you had to endure that.”  Joe says.

“Yeah, it sucked.”  Patrick responds, deciding he needs to lay down on his bed.

“Do you think you need to go to sick bay?”  Joe asks.

“No!  I don’t want to go back there unless I have to!  I feel like if I just wait until his blood does its job, I’ll be fine.”  Patrick states

“Alright.  Are you sure?”  Joe asks.

“Yes.  I think I’m going to sit here and read for a bit, since we both know I won’t be able to sleep.”  Patrick answers.

“Ok, if you nod off, I’ll wake you when Brad returns.”  Joe says.

“Sounds good.”  Patrick says as he takes out the book, finds where he stopped, and continues reading.

Patrick really gets into the story and loses track of time, because Brad is there banging on the bars again.

“Time for lunch!  Let’s go Stump, Trohman.”  Brad says.

Joe climbs down from his bunk and Patrick tries to stand and walk.  He can do that without falling, so they shuffle to the front of the cell, the door opens, they step out, and the door closes.  While they are walking there, they have a soft conversation.

“Joe, I can’t stop thinking of the way the members of the Nuestra Familia gang were staring at me at breakfast.  I’m really scared that they are going to try something soon.”  Patrick says.

“I understand your fear.  I wish I hadn’t seen the same thing you had this morning.  I will stay by your side whenever I can.  When I can’t, try to keep a low profile and stay away from everyone as much as you can.  Don’t go anywhere you don’t have to and don’t go anywhere alone.  If you must go somewhere, make sure a guard is with you at all times.  Ok?”  Joe asks.

“Yeah.  I’m still on leave from starting my job training because of my arm this morning.  I wasn’t planning on going anywhere else, you know except when Brad comes and gets me for my daily raping and whatever they have planned for me tonight.”  Patrick states.

“That’s good!”  Joe says as they enter the mess hall and get into the food line.

They both manage to stay out of trouble in line, get their food and go sit down.  Dan joins them shortly after they sit.  Patrick is eating his food, still getting used to this labret piercing in his lip.  It still hurts a lot, and it feels really weird, but he tries to push past it, because he needs food to heal.  Between bites, he takes his tongue and feels around the metal and the hole that is now there.  Aside from the pain, it feels so strange.  There is now a hole through the space between his lower lip and his chin with a spike sticking out of it.  He loves it about as much as he loves the giant tongue piercing, but at least this one doesn’t fuck up how he talks anymore that it already is.  He hates the way he talks with a fucking lisp now and he hates Gabe so much for doing it.  Now he has two foreign things in his mouth to deal with.  At one point, he bites down on the thread and the flat back in his mouth, and it almost sends him shooting to the ceiling.  He decides that he needs to slow down after that.  Joe and Dan are talking about something, and Patrick looks around the room.  It isn’t long before he sees the Nuestra Familia members, he pissed off a few days ago.  They are staring daggers at him.  It also appears that they are talking about him.  FUCK!  I guess I just have to watch my back as much as I can from now on. 

“Patrick!”  He hears Joe yell at him, and it brings him out of his head.

“What are you thinking about?”  Dan asks.

“Nothing, I was just looking around the room and I saw the guys from breakfast staring at me, and then discussing it with their friends.  I’m sorry, I just have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that something really bad is going to happen involving them sometime soon.” He says.

“Patrick let’s try and focus on the things we can change and not dwell on what we can’t.  I know you are really scared, but you can’t keep thinking about it all of the time, otherwise, it will consume you.  We all live in danger here every day.  The difference is that we choose not to dwell on that fact.  I’m not saying don’t watch your back, but you need to try and put it aside.”  Joe says.

“Ok.”  Patrick answers. 

He finishes eating while Joe and Dan continue their conversation.  When they finish their meals, they all go to put their trays away. 

“I’ll see you in a little bit, Dan!”  Joe says.

“Ok.  Sounds good!”  Dan responds.

Joe and Patrick find Brad, and he escorts them back to their cell.

Chapter Text

Chapter 34

*******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

Once they get back to their cell, Joe gets ready to leave for his job.

“I’m going to work for a while.  Are you going to be ok without me for the next few hours?”  Joe asks.

“Yes.  My plan is to not leave our cell while you are gone, you know except for when they take me for my private time with Gabe later.”  Patrick answers.

“Ok.  I’ll see you later then.”  Joe says as the door opens, he steps out and the door closes again as he is escorted to his job.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick returns to reading his book.  It is short-lived though because a different guard shows up, banging on the bars of his cell.  Patrick looks up and is delighted to see that it isn’t Brad, for once.

“Who are you?”  Patrick asks.

“My name is Hunter.  I was told to collect you and take you to a meeting when you returned from lunch.”  He says.

“Ok…who am I meeting with?”  Patrick asks.

“The Warden wants to talk to you.”  Hunter replies.

“Is this for real?  I was already told I had a meeting with the Warden a few nights ago, and it didn’t turn out well for me.”  Patrick asks.

“Yes.  He specifically told me to come get you and bring you to his office after lunch.”  Hunter says.

Patrick is very suspicious but stands up and walks to the front of the cell.   Hunter opens the door, Patrick steps out, and they start walking toward Andy’s office.

“Did he give you any indication of what he wants to talk to me about?”  Patrick asks.

“No, he just asked me to escort you to his office.  I’m sorry I don’t know any more than that.”  Hunter says.

“It’s ok.”  Patrick replies.

They continue walking in silence after that.  Patrick is hopeful that maybe William’s compulsion has worn off and Andy knows that he isn’t supposed to be here anymore.  He knows that is wishful thinking but, a guy can dream, right?  Try not to get your hopes up too much.  You’ve never seen a compulsion from a vampire wear off.  Odds are, this is for something completely different.  They continue walking for a while until they get to Andy’s office.  There appears to be someone in his office that he is talking to.  Hunter knocks on the door.

“Yes?”  Andy says.

Hunter pokes his head in.  “Sorry to bother you, sir.  I have inmate Stump here, just as you asked.”  He says.

“Thank you.  I will see him after I finish my meeting here.  Please stand or sit on the bench outside my office with him, until we are done.”  Andy instructs.

“Yes, sir.”  Hunter replies and closes the door.  “Please sit on the bench right there, Stump.  He will be with you after he is done with his meeting.”  He says.

“Ok.”  Patrick responds and sits on the bench outside of Andy’s office.

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               Earnesto has been trailing this inmate that Jesus wants to meet with for days now, looking for an opportunity to take him and finish what he started a few days ago.  So far, he hasn’t been in a situation where he could do that.  The inmate is always with his cellmate, the boxer and MMA fighter, or his personal guard.  Today he followed the inmate and a different guard, one that doesn’t look too hard to take down, to the Warden’s office and they are currently waiting outside.  He and his friends can’t take him right now, but he’s pretty sure this is his chance to finish what he started and bring him to Jesus.  They should be able to ambush them on their way back to the inmate’s cell.  He leaves and makes his way back to the meeting place for the rest of the Nuestra Familia gang to share this information with them.

               “Jesus!  You know that inmate you have been having me follow so we can finish what we started?”  Earnesto asks.

               “Yes.  What about him?”  Jesus asks.

               “I just followed him and a different guard to the Warden’s office.  This guard doesn’t look like he would be hard to take down so that we can grab the inmate and bring him to you.  I feel like this is our chance to ambush him and the guard when they are on the way back to his cell.  I don’t know how long he will be meeting with the Warden, but I think, if we move fast, we can organize it and be ready when they leave.”  Earnesto informs him.

               “That’s fantastic news!  Everyone, please get what you need and take up your positions.”  Jesus takes out a map of the prison.  “We will ambush them here.  Move out!”  Jesus orders.

               The whole gang disburses to gather their things and move to their positions.

               “Earnesto.  A word please?”  Jesus asks.

               “Yes?”  He asks.

               “You all may have fun with him, as your right-hand-man suggested, before you bring him to me.  That stupid little gringo really pissed me off and deserves whatever you feel like giving him.  He needs to be taught a very hard lesson about how it works here.  Leave the rest to me, though.”  Jesus tells him, smiling a sinister smile.

               “Yes, sir.  Thank you, sir.  I’m sure the men will appreciate your kindness.  Is that all?”  Earnesto replies.

               “Yes.  You may go.”  Jesus answers.

               Earnesto goes and gathers the men he will need for this job, and they take up their positions.  Now all they must do is wait.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               It has been over an hour and Patrick is still sitting on the bench outside of Andy’s office with Hunter.  It’s not like he has anything better to do, but he’s getting pretty bored of just sitting there.  He looks around the hallway to see if there is anything interesting to look at.  He doesn’t find much.  This part of the prison is usually pretty quiet.  Currently, there isn’t anything to look at and nothing is happening, contributing to his boredom.  Patrick looks at the clock again and sees that they are getting close to the time where Brad comes and gets him for his daily rape fest.  If he’s not there, Brad will be pissed, and Gabe will be really pissed.  Gabe doesn’t like being made to wait, and if Patrick isn’t there when he is supposed to be, Gabe will probably punish him.  After the previous punishments, he’s afraid of what that might look like, and whether he will survive it.  He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself.  There is really nothing he can do about it though, so he decides to close his eyes, even though he knows he won’t sleep.  He sits like that for another thirty minutes before he sees the person Andy was having a meeting with leave.  Hunter waits about ten minutes before he knocks on the door.

               “Yes?”  Andy asks.

               Hunter peeks his head in.  “Hello, sir.  Inmate Stump is still sitting out here.  Should I bring him in?”  Hunter asks.

               “Oh shit!  Yes!  Please bring him in.”  Andy orders.

               Hunter goes over to Patrick and tells him to enter, so Patrick stands up and walks to the door.  Hunter opens the door for him and follows him in.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Andy looks up from his desk and doesn’t recognize the person he sees.  The person he sees has two full-arm sleeves of tattoos of different pictures and words all over them.  There are also tattoos on the top of his hands and his fingers.  His neck is covered in tattoos too.  On the front of his neck he sees a barcode that says “slave” underneath it, and a skull with black wings coming out of each side above his Adam’s apple.  On the sides he sees one with a skull and one with a heart with a knife through it with wings and it is wrapped in barbed wire.  He even has tattoos behind his ears.  One of them is a scorpion with its claws under his left ear and its tail and stinger curling around the top of his ear to a place above it on his scalp where it looks like someone shaved some of his hair. He also sees a giant upper chest tattoo and something on his back that goes over his shoulders in some places that he can see where his uniform comes down to a V.  He is sure there are more that he can’t see.  This person also has quite a few piercings.  It appears that his left eyebrow, right nostril, and lower lip have been pierced.  The labret and the eyebrow piercings have a spike sticking out of it.  His nostril has a thick ring going through the hole with a ball on the end of it.  His eyes go wide when he realizes that he is actually looking at Patrick.  Andy is at a loss for words.

               “Oh My God!  Is that you, Patrick?  What the fuck happened to you?”  Andy asks, still in shock.

               “Yes, Andy.  It’s me, Patrick.  To answer your question, prison.  Prison happened to me.”  Patrick answers.  His new lisp is very prominent.

               Andy still appears to be in shock.  “But you’ve only been in there for a few days.  Why are you talking differently?  Who did this to you?”  He asks.

               “It’s been six days, Andy.  Six horror-filled, incredibly painful, and demoralizing days to be exact.  I’ve been drugged, attacked, stabbed, burned, raped, beaten, tattooed against my will, been given several piercings that I didn’t want, maimed, and I’ve been close to death more times than I’d like to admit in those six days.  I haven’t been there long, but I have learned quite a few things very quickly, because I have had to.  The first and biggest thing is that you don’t snitch on people, because it will make your life ten trillion times worse.  You know I can’t tell you who did this to me.  If I do, they will most likely kill me, if they don’t, then I will be horribly punished to the point where I may not survive it.  Please, don’t ask for any more details.”  Patrick explains. 

Patrick opens his mouth and shows Andy the huge crater through his tongue and the huge, thick tongue piercing with the ginormous silver balls that are sticking out above and below his tongue. 

“This is why it’s so hard to understand me now.  I hate it and I hate the way my voice sounds now.  I have a fucking lisp all the time.”  Patrick states.

Andy looks horrified at what he sees.

“Did you sit for any of the tattoos or piercings willingly?”  He asks.

“Fuck No!  I have either been sedated, paralyzed, or just held down while they do them.  The pain was unbearable!  That’s all I’m going to tell you.  Please, do NOT try to help me, it will only make things worse for me.”  Patrick explains.

Andy is completely dumbfounded and is at a total loss for words.

“I could get you into protective custody.”  Andy mentions.

 Patrick laughs.  “Haha!  Good luck with that!  Spencer has already tried many times.  My lawyer has too.  It appears that the paperwork “gets lost” every time and is never filed.  Besides, if you do that, they will still find me and continue abusing me.  Just leave me alone, please.  Unless you can get my charges dropped and my sentence erased, I’m not interested.  It’s not worth the risk.  Just let me rot in there for the next five years.  I will figure out how to survive.”

Andy can feel Patrick’s anger, frustration, pain, fear, and suffering radiating off him.  Patrick takes a deep breath to calm himself down.

“I’m so sorry that is happening to you, Patrick.  I wish there was more that I could do.  I don’t want to be enforcing this sentence any more than you want to be serving it.  My hands are tied.  You committed a crime when you helped Pete and William escape and now you have to suffer the consequences of that decision.  If your lawyer can prove that you didn’t do it, then we can talk.  Until that happens though, you are still a prisoner serving your sentence, just like everyone else here.”  Andy says.

Patrick laughs again.  “Are you fucking serious right now?  Andy, you know that I didn’t do anything.  These charges are fucking bogus, and you know it.  I mean, think about it.  I was in an accident in the ambulance.  I was injured and I almost froze to death.  Pete almost died after William stabbed him in his gut.  How did I help them escape?  William was gone before I ever regained consciousness after the accident.  I mean, Fuck!  Pete tried to save me from freezing to death because I was turning blue and couldn’t stay awake, and what did I do?  I fucking called you to bring me back.  When during that time, did I have time to help them escape?  How was I tried and sentenced so quickly?  I’m innocent and you fucking know it!”  Patrick yells.

Andy thinks about it, but apparently William’s compulsion is too strong, and it isn’t allowing him to see the truth.

“Why am I here Andy?  Why did you have the guard bring me to your office if we aren’t going to discuss my case?”  Patrick asks very loudly.  He takes a couple of deep breaths to try and calm down.

“Please have a seat, Patrick.”  Andy says and gestures to the chair in front of his desk.

Patrick looks at the chair and thinks about it for a minute before he decides to take a seat.  As Patrick turns around, Andy sees what looks like a giant cobra’s head going all the way up the back of Patrick’s neck to his hairline.  I can’t believe that all of this has happened to him in six days!  I feel horrible!  I can’t even imagine the pain he has been put through with all those tattoos and piercings.  He isn’t even the same person anymore.  His personality and his physical appearance have definitely changed.  I guess mine would too if I’d been through everything he has.  Andy sits down at his desk and tries to take a few meditative breaths to clear his head.

“I’ve heard rumors that you dabbled in music before you were imprisoned.  Is that true?”  Andy asks.

“Yes, I have.  I actually wrote a few songs for my friends in My Chemical Romance.  I even performed one with Gerard Way on stage once.”  Patrick answers.  “Why?”  he asks.

“Well as you know, Meredith and I have been married for almost five years.  We’ve been together almost ten years.  Our five-year wedding anniversary and our ten-year anniversary of us being together are coming up in two months.”  Andy explains.

“Ok…”  Patrick comments.

“Meredith and I aren’t really into expensive gifts, vacations, that sort of thing.  Since this anniversary is special for us, I wanted to do something special for her.  She is an avid music lover, so I thought maybe I’d have a song written for the occasion that I could give to her and would be unique to us and our story.  Here’s the thing though.  I don’t write songs or read music for that matter.  This is where you come in.  I was wondering if you would be willing write her a song for our anniversary.”  Andy states.

Patrick thinks about it for a minute and smiles.  “That has to be one of the most romantic things I’ve heard of in a quite a while.” 

“Thank you.  Will you, do it?”  Andy asks.

“Yes, however, I have some stipulations.  If I do this for you, what are you going to do for me in return?”  Patrick asks.

“Well, that depends.  What is it you want?”  Andy asks.

“I would want a safe place to work on this.  The conditions that I deal with every day make it very hard for me to get into a creative mindset.  That happens when you have to watch your back all the time and you are being abused daily.  So, what I would need is a room that is quiet where I can think more creatively, with a lock on the door and several guards posted outside to protect me for maybe two or three hours a day.  It would be best if it was in the morning after breakfast, before I’ve been terrorized too much.  I would also need access to a Mac Book with recording software on it, and a keyboard, guitar, and a drum kit.  Oh!  I’d also really like some coffee from Brendon’s café the whole time that I’m working on this.  The coffee inside is terrible.  It tastes like rocket fuel that burns going down.  You can ask him about what I like.  If I come up with anything else, I’ll let you know.  Can you do that?”  Patrick asks.

Andy smiles.  “Those don’t appear to be outrageous demands.  I can make all of those happen.  Would you like a guard stationed in the room with you as well?”  Andy asks.

“That depends, are they nice guards or are they corrupt guards?  If they are going to try and fuck with me, then no.  I’d rather be alone in the room.  I would also need to have another conversation with you about what kind of music she likes, what you are looking for, and some ideas for lyrics.  I’m good with music, but I’m not so good with lyrics.  Maybe there is a poem that you both like and speaks to you?”  Patrick informs.

“I’d like to think that all my guards are good and not corrupt, but I know what you are saying.  I will personally interview and pick out the guards that I know are nice.  Do we have a deal?”  Andy asks.

“Yes.  When would you like me to start?”  Patrick asks.

“Give me a few days to get everything you need set up.  I will let you know when that happens.” Andy replies.

“One more thing, I have to be back in my cell at around two or three in the afternoon.  If I’m not, I will be punished severely.”  Patrick states. 

He glances at the clock and sees that he may not make it back to his cell on time.  That is not going to go well for me.  I hope Gabe understands, but he probably won’t and will use it as an excuse to hurt me more.

“Do I want to know why?”  Andy asks.

“No, you definitely do not want to know why.  Are we clear?”  Patrick asks.

“Yes.”  Andy answers.

Andy notices Patrick looking at the clock and it is making him nervous.

“Can I go now?”  Patrick asks.

“Yes.  You are dismissed.  I will contact you when I have everything in place.  Guard!”  Andy yells.

Hunter sticks his head into the office.  “Yes, sir?” 

“Please take inmate Stump back to his cell.  Do it quickly if you can.”  Andy orders.

“Yes, sir.” Hunter says.  He looks at Patrick.  “Shall we go then?” 

Patrick nods his head yes and follows Hunter out the door.

The walk back to Patrick’s cell has been quiet and, so far, uneventful.  Maybe he will get back in time.

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Earnesto and his other gang members are ready, in position, and waiting at the ambush point.  He has even stationed a few other members at places along the way there, so they are 100% ready when the inmate and the guard reach the location of the ambush.  One of them has sent a scout back to inform them of their current location.  Now all they have to do is wait and enjoy the spoils of their labors.  Another scout from the second position checks in and tells them that they have passed that position.  Only one more location left before the inmate and his guard reach them.  Ten minutes later, the scout from the third location informs them that they have passed that position and they will reach the ambush point in about five minutes.

“Everyone, take your positions and keep your eyes out!  We can’t fail this mission!  The target must be acquired and taken back to Jesus.  He disrespected us and needs to be punished!  He needs to be alive, so don’t beat him too hard.  Jesus has said that we can have our fun with him before we bring him there!  They will be here in about two minutes.” Earnesto shouts to the group.

Two minutes later, the target and his guard are there, and the attack commences.

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Patrick and Hunter are walking back to his cell when, out of nowhere, about thirty men come running out of the darkness and begin fighting them.  They attack Hunter first, beating him to a pulp until he is unconscious.  Patrick is frozen in fear and can’t move even though he wants to run.  He looks over at Hunter and isn’t even sure if he is still alive.  He sees a lot of blood.  Then they begin attacking him.  Some are punching him while others are kicking him.  He tries to use the training Joe gave him to fight back, but there are just too many of them and they overwhelm him.  They finally wrestle him to the ground and turn him to his stomach, when he feels someone pulling his hands behind him and hand cuffing them together.  The person kneels and whispers in his ear.

“Remember me, muchacho?”  They ask.

Patrick’s eyes go wide, and all the color drops out of his face.  He does remember him.  Fuck!  It’s the guy from a few days ago!  I knew they were up to something and that it was coming soon!  Patrick starts thrashing around and trying to throw as many of them off him as possible.

“Jesus was pretty pissed about the other day, muchacho.  He’s been having me tail you for days, trying to find the perfect time and place that we could take you back to him, and finish what we started.  You disrespected us, muchacho.  It’s time to pay the price for that.  Before we drag you back kicking and screaming to Jesus though, he told us to teach you a lesson however we see fit.  You remember what happened before, well this is going to be a million times worse, muchacho.”  Earnesto informs him.

“No!  Please!  I didn’t mean to disrespect you!  I’m sorry!  Please, just let me go, and I won’t bother you or any of the rest of the members of your gang again.”  Patrick pleads with them.

“Sorry muchacho, there is no getting out of this.”  Earnesto answers.

Patrick starts struggling as hard as he can, trying to turn himself over, get up and run.  While the guy from a few days ago is talking, the others are slightly distracted.  This is his chance!  He manages to turn himself over, get up to his knees and stand up.  Then he takes off running as fast as he can in the direction of his cell.

“Everyone!  After him!”  Earnesto yells.

“Someone please, help me!  I’m being attacked and I’m about to be raped!”  Patrick screams as loud as he can, hoping someone will hear him, but no one comes. 

He keeps running until the others catch up with him, grab him, and slam him incredibly hard into a wall face first.  He tries thrashing some more, but more and more men keep coming and hold him against the wall.

“You are starting to get on my nerves, muchacho.  Did you really think you could run back to your cell without us catching you first?  You are vastly outnumbered, muchacho.  Now here’s what is going to happen.  My men are going to throw you on the ground and hold you down while each of us gets a turn with you, and you are going to sit there and take it like the good little June bug you are.  Even if you try to scream, no one will hear you here.  That is why we picked this spot to ambush you.”  Earnesto says.

Patrick tries pleading once more.  “No!  Please don’t do this!  Please don’t hurt me!”

“That’s definitely not happening, muchacho.  You pissed off the wrong gang and now it is time to pay!  Men!  Grab him, throw him on the ground on his stomach, and hold him down so he can’t move!”  Earnesto orders.

The men do as they are told, throwing Patrick on the ground so hard that his cheek bounces off the ground.  Then there are so many holding him down, that no matter what he does, he can’t move.  His hands are still cuffed behind his back.  He feels someone mount him from behind and pull his pants down.  The guy whispers in his ears.

“I get to go first, Slave.  Welcome to prison!  It’s time for you to learn how things work on the inside, muchacho!”  Earnesto says with an evil laugh.

Patrick keeps fighting, but eventually gives up because there are too many men holding him down.  He starts crying knowing he is about to get gangbanged.  The next thing Patrick feels is someone grinding his face very hard into the floor and violently entering him.  Earnesto doesn’t give him any time to adjust and immediately begins dragging him back and forth very hard over the concrete floor, opening wounds everywhere.  Patrick is in so much pain that he screams! 

“Ughhhhhh!!!!!”

He feels like he is tearing apart inside.  It also doesn’t help that Earnesto is being incredibly violent.  Patrick can tell he is getting close, when suddenly Earnesto puts his hands around Patrick’s neck and starts choking him.  Earnesto squeezes harder and harder to the point where Patrick might faint until he finally hits his climax and releases his hands.  Patrick starts coughing very hard for a minute until he can breathe again.  He knows he is going to have bruises around his neck from that.  Before Earnesto gets off him, he whispers something else in Patrick’s ear.

“I hope you liked that, Slave, because it is about to happen about thirty-one more times!  It will be interesting to see what is left of you when this is over!”  Earnesto yells.

Patrick doesn’t even respond, accepting his fate.  He just hopes he doesn’t die because of this.  The next person starts, which is followed by the next and the next and the next.  Each person explores their fantasies with him.  Some like to choke him, some like to bite him, some like to beat him, some like to ride him like a horse and expect him to play along, while others want him to call them daddy and beg.  If he doesn’t do what they ask, they beat him more.  He screams out in pain so many times, he has lost count.  This goes on for two and a half hours, until the last one finishes and gets off him.  Patrick is in so much pain and he’s pretty sure he’s bleeding out his asshole.  His body is bruised and beaten to the point that he can’t move anything, everything hurts, and his voice is completely gone from screaming so much.  There is a part of him that wants some of the heroin Gabe has been giving him just to make the pain go away.

They leave him there for a few minutes after the last one is done.  Then, they all encircle him, spit on him, and give him a few more kicks in the gut for good measure.  Those pretty much do him in.  He can’t take this much pain anymore and loses consciousness.  Before he is completely out, he does feel someone pull his pants back up, pick him up and take him somewhere, but he’s not sure where and he really doesn’t give a shit, so long as no one is raping him anymore.  Then he fully drifts off into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Chapter 35

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Depictions of Violence, and Rape. *******

Alex is returning from a meeting of the gang he is there to infiltrate, The Simon City Royals.  He is an undercover FBI agent.  He is also a vampire, which no one knows about.  His mission is to get close to the leader of the Simon City Royals, who is responsible for all kinds of horrible things inside of the prison and on the outside in Chicago and report his findings back to the FBI.  The FBI is working on a case that requires incredibly detailed information from the leader, who is currently serving a sixty-year sentence for murder, drug trafficking, human trafficking, robbery, and burglary.  The FBI has currently hit a dead end in the case, so they placed Alex in prison to gain vital intel from the leader, Sawyer.  Alex has successfully infiltrated the gang and has worked his way up to being Sawyer’s first-hand man.  He’s already been able to provide the FBI with enough info to get the case moving in the right direction.  The only person in the prison that knows his true identity, is the Warden, Andy Hurley.  Since the Simon City Royals have members on both sides of the prison, Andy has provided him with a cell without a cell mate on both sides of the prison, so that he can properly move around, monitor the gang’s activity, and gain the intel that the FBI needs to further their case.

               When he was first placed there, he was informed of his cover story.  If anyone asked about his crimes or how he got there, he was told to tell them that he was a violent serial killer who had murdered a bunch of people in cold blood.  He was also told to act like a psychopath who doesn’t feel remorse for anything, so that he would fit in well with the gang and get close to Sawyer.

               Alex usually stays on the side where the more violent offenders are because that is where Sawyer is housed.  Today, however, Sawyer has ordered him and a few other men to beat up a few members on the other side, for being greedy and hoarding some of the new drugs that have come in for themselves, thinking that no one would miss them or find out about it.  Well, a member on the less violent side of the prison caught them and reported them to Sawyer immediately.  Alex really dislikes having to discipline inmates, or treat them badly in general, but he must in order to keep his cover.

               On his way over to the other side, he runs into a friend of his, Joe Trohman.  Joe is on his way outside for his job working on landscaping and prison maintenance.  Joe stops him for a minute to discuss something with him.

               “Hey Alex!  I was hoping I would run into you.  Do you have a minute?”  Joe asks.

               “Sure.  What’s up?”  Alex asked.  “Hey, why don’t the rest of you guys go on ahead, and I will catch up to you in a few minutes.”  Alex says to the others.

               “Ok, boss.”  One of them says and they all continue toward wherever they were headed.

               Once they are far enough away, they continue their conversation.

               “So, what did you need, Joe?”  Alex asks.

               “Well, I’m not sure where to start.  My new cell mate has inadvertently gotten himself into some trouble.  His name is Patrick, and he has caught the attention of a really bad person who has been horribly abusing him since he got here.  I’m in the process of teaching him how to fight, but we haven’t gotten very far because of all the various injuries he has had.  I have been at his side through all of it and am kind of being his bodyguard when I can.  However, there are times like now when I can’t keep an eye on him.  For those times, I’ve been trying to form a small network of other prisoners around him to keep the bad person from getting to him.  So far, the only people I’ve talked to about this are you and Dan.  Dan says he’s in.  Would you be willing to watch over him when you can and protect him if need be?”  Joe asks.

               Alex thinks about it for a moment before he answers.  He could probably help, as long as it doesn’t blow his cover. 

               “Sure.  I can help when I’m over here, but when I’m not, there is nothing I can do.  What does he look like?”  Alex asks.

               “I’m pretty sure you know him.  Dr. Stump.”  Joe says.

               “Wait, what?  Dr. Stump is in prison?  What did he do?”  Alex asks.

               “He’s been framed for helping two prisoners escape last week after the ambulance he was transporting his patient in crashed.”  Joe states.

               “Fuck!  That sucks!  Of course, I will keep an eye out for him.  I’ll ask around to see if there is anyone else that might be willing to help.  I’ll send them your way if I find anyone.”  Alex says.

“One last question, Joe.  Who has he gotten messed up with?  I won’t tell anyone; I just need to know what I’m dealing with.” Alex asks.

Joe takes a deep breath.  “Gabe Saporta.”

“Holy shit!  As in Gabe Saporta, the leader of the Latin Kings?  How did that happen?” Alex asks.

“I can’t tell you too much, but when Patrick first arrived here in the prison, Gabe offered him his protection against anyone who might try to hurt him.  Patrick turned him down and Gabe and his crew have been abusing him ever since.  He’s actually almost killed Patrick a few times.”  Joe explains.

“That is fucked up!  I will do whatever I can to help protect him.”  Alex says.

“Thanks, man.”  Joe says.

“You’re welcome.  Was that all?  I kind of need to get back to what I was going to do.”  Alex asks.

“Yeah.  Go ahead.  I’ll see you around, man.”  Joe says.

“Sounds good!  Bye Joe!”  Alex says as he continues in the direction of the other gang members.

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               Earnesto and his men drag an unconscious Patrick back to the Nuestra Familia’s lair.  His hands are still cuffed behind his back, only now, his ankles are cuffed together too, so he couldn’t run if he tried.  As they pass the other members of the gang, they are calling out and cheering Earnesto and his crew for kidnapping Patrick and teaching him a lesson.  Some of them kick, punch, or spit on Patrick as he passes them.  Earnesto and his crew are loving all the attention, but they still continue dragging him until they get Jesus’s “office,” where they drop him on the floor very hard and leave him there.  Patrick’s body is bloodied, bruised, and battered to the point that he doesn’t move when they drop him onto the hard floor.

               “Yo!  Jesus!  We got your guy!  He is cuffed and unconscious in your office!”  Earnesto yells.

               “That is wonderful!  I will be there in a few minutes.  Did you and your men teach him a valuable lesson?”  Jesus asks.

               “Yes, sir!  We did just as you ordered.”  Earnesto answers.

               “Great!  Please place a guard on the prisoner in case he wakes up.”  Jesus orders.

               “Yes, sir!  Come on men, you heard the man!”  Earnesto yells.

               Earnesto chooses two guards to stay with the prisoner, although he doubts that they will be needed, especially after what just happened.  Then he goes to celebrate their victory with his men.  About an hour later, Jesus returns to his office, but the prisoner is still unconscious.  Jesus makes use of the time handling a few other matters and discussing any other gang-related business with those who oversee it.  It has been another hour when Jesus hears some movement and sound coming from the prisoner in the corner.  He appears to be regaining consciousness.  Earnesto’s men had dropped him very hard on the floor on his side.  His head bounced off the floor a few times before coming to rest where he is now.  Jesus looked at him with a sinister smile.  He looked like hell.  Earnesto’s men had done a good job teaching him a lesson.  Now it was his turn, and he had all kinds of fun things planned for him.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Patrick was slowly regaining consciousness, and with that came all the pain from the attack.  His whole body hurt to the point that he couldn’t move, and he felt awful everywhere else.  He felt like he had the worst migraine on the planet; it felt like his head wanted to explode, which made him feel sick and very nauseous.  The back of his underwear and his pants felt warm and very wet.  He must still be bleeding very hard out of his asshole.  As his head started getting slightly clearer, he noticed that wherever he was, it was quite a bit colder and more damp.  Maybe he was in a basement?  I’m only going to find out where I am if I open my eyes.  Focus Patrick.  Open your eyes.  He puts everything he’s got left into it and is very surprised when he manages to open his eyes.  He instantly feels sick and can’t control himself as he vomits all over himself and the floor in front of him.  He’s so dizzy and the room is spinning, making it harder to see.  From what he can tell, he is in a darker room with brick walls and a brick floor.  That is why he feels cold.  He’s on his left side right now.  He tries to turn over, but he finds that his hands and ankles are cuffed behind him, making it very hard for him to move.  When he looks up, he sees a Hispanic man staring down at him with a very troubling smile on his face.

               “Well, well!  Look who’s finally awake!  Do you have a name, or should I just call you gringo?”  The man asks.

               Patrick opens his mouth to say his name, but no sound comes out.  Wait, should I even tell this guy my real name?  His voice is gone from all the screaming during the attack.  He decides that he is going to make up a name to give them.  It might even save him some pain if there are disgruntled patients around.  He looks a lot different now, so he should be able to pull it off.  He tries again and is able to spit out the name “Lucas.”

               “Hello, Lucas.  I am Jesus, the leader of the Nuestra Familia gang here in this prison.  You have been quite a thorn in my side recently.  First you disrespect one of my members by almost knocking him over, then when he wants you to meet me, you disrespect him again by saying no and climbing around him, and then you fight back when I send him and his men to bring you back, kicking and screaming.  Finally, you send for someone else to come save you by beating all his men to a pulp.”  He states. 

Jesus grabs Patrick by the face and brings him up to a sitting position.  Then he grabs him by the hair and drags him across the room and pushes him up against the wall, holding him by his neck.   

"Where do you get off, thinking that you have that kind of power, huh?  This is prison!  Individuals don’t have power unless they are the leader of a gang.  I’ve had Earnesto tailing you for days, trying to find the right time to kidnap you and teach you a lesson about disrespecting members of the Nuestra Familia gang.  Your boxer cell mate has been at your side constantly.  We did try to take him out too but decided it would be better to just wait until you were with someone that could easily be knocked out or beaten.  Your visit to the Warden’s office today was the perfect time.  I trust Earnesto and his men have taught you a valuable lesson before bringing you back here?”  Jesus asks.

               Jesus squeezes his neck harder, making it very hard for Patrick to breath.  He starts coughing and grabbing at Jesus’ fingers to try and loosen his grip.  Jesus smiles at his suffering and squeezes even harder to the point that Patrick’s face is starting to turn blue.  He holds him for another minute like that and Patrick starts to see stars in front of him, before he punches Patrick in the face, bouncing his head off the wall again and releasing him.  Patrick collapses to the ground coughing very hard trying to catch his breath.  Jesus takes a step back and notices choking marks on his neck, bites all over the parts of his body that he can see and bruises and hickeys everywhere.  He is suddenly very proud of what Earnesto, and his men did, when they gangbanged him.  Jesus is actually surprised that Lucas (Patrick) even survived that.  He must be very strong and resilient. 

               Once Patrick is able to catch his breath, he tries to say something.  “I’m sorry I disrespected you or any of the members of your gang.  It was not my intent.  I was scared and I just wanted to get away from the situation.  I didn’t send or call for the others to save me and beat your men.”  It comes out all raspy, with a lisp, and barely above a whisper.

               “I appreciate the apology, Lucas (Patrick), but that isn’t going to get you out of your punishment.  I know you have already been through a lot today, but we are just getting started.  Now it is my turn, and you are going to suffer so much that you will wish that you were dead.”  Jesus starts laughing maniacally. 

               “Let’s start with something familiar to you, shall we, Lucas (Patrick)?”  Jesus asks.

               He grabs Patrick by the hair again and throws him to the ground on his stomach and straddles him.  Patrick starts violently thrashing to try and get Jesus off him.  Jesus is only one guy and he’s not a vampire, so he should be able to fight him.  He just wishes he could use his hands and feet, but he will try and improvise.  He feels like he almost has it when he feels something sharp stab him in the side.  Then he starts feeling tired and weak, suddenly.  Whatever drug it is, it’s not enough to put him out, but it is enough to stop him from thrashing and flailing and makes his muscles and appendages feel relaxed and very heavy almost immediately.  Fuck!  I guess Gabe isn’t the only one who uses drugging in his bag of tricks.  Now he knows he is totally and utterly fucked.  His body feels too tired to fight this guy.

               “There.  That’s better isn’t it, Lucas (Patrick).  Now you can’t fight anymore and I’m going to enjoy this so much more, knowing that you are helpless to do anything about it.”  Jesus states.

               Patrick is pretty pissed off, but Jesus is right.  He can’t do anything but lay there.  He feels Jesus pull his blood-soaked, wet pants down to his knees and then he braces himself for what he knows is coming.  The next thing he feels, is Jesus forcing himself inside him and violently raping him.  The pain is almost more than he can bear, seeing as he has already been fucked thirty-two times today.  He feels like his insides are on fire and he knows he is bleeding again.  Jesus makes it a point to shove his face, knees, and legs down very hard so that new wounds open.  He also takes his time so he can make this torture last longer.  Patrick is screaming out in pain, blowing whatever is left of his voice.  This just seems to make Jesus more excited, and he rides him rougher than anyone has before, just to make it more painful for him.  The hand cuffs on his wrists and ankles are cutting deeply into his skin and bleeding down his hands and feet.  At one point, Jesus chokes him again, and bites him anywhere there is exposed skin.  Patrick can’t see what’s happening, but he feels Jesus get off him for a minute to grab something off his desk.  Then he feels something hard hit his back, that stings, and causes immense pain.  It feels like he is being hit with a tree branch and then being dragged across a carpet at the same time.  He hears the crack of the whip a few more times before Jesus decided he’s had enough.  Then Jesus enters him violently again and finally finishes inside him.  Jesus collapses on top of him for two minutes afterward.  Patrick is still stuck there.  He is still sedated enough that he can’t move.  Jesus finally sits back to admire his handiwork, when he notices ink lines on the top of Patrick’s ass that seem to go further up his back.

               “Well, what do we have here, Lucas (Patrick)?  It appears you’ve been holding out on me.  I saw the ink on your arms, your hands, your fingers, your neck, and your chest where your uniform v’s down, but I definitely didn’t see this one.  What is it?  Do you have more that I can’t see?”  Jesus asks.

               Patrick doesn’t answer.  Jesus punches him hard in the lower back twice and Patrick cries out in pain.

               “Lucas (Patrick), you’re not very good at this game.  Let’s try this again, shall we?  Do you have more ink that I can’t see right now?”  Jesus asks as he punches him hard in the lower back a few times.  Patrick cries out again from the pain.

               “Ahhhhh!  Fine, yes!  All up my back and neck, my right and left ribs, and below my belly button!”  Patrick yells.  Again, it comes out raspy, with a lisp, and barely above a whisper.

               “That’s better, Lucas (Patrick).  I’d like to take a look.”  Jesus smiles, licking his lips and almost drooling at the thought of seeing them.

               He rips the back of Patrick’s shirt in half little by little showing him little pieces of it, as if he is opening a present.  Eventually though, he gets impatient and rips the rest of his shirt off him.  He stares in wonder at first at the pieces on his right and left sides and the giant, purple cobra with words off to the side that say “Property of the Cobra” but then his wonder turns to horror when he realizes what it actually is and what it actually means.

               “It’s a giant, purple cobra and it says “Property of the Cobra” next to it!  Fuck!  You have already been marked and claimed by Gabe Saporta and my gang just gangbanged his property!  Fuck! Fuck!  Fuck!  What am I going to do?”  Jesus says while having a nervous breakdown.

               Patrick, who still can’t move, smiles, finding the irony in all of this.  “Jesus, you may want to look at the other one too.” His voice was still wrecked from the attacks.

               Jesus turns him over onto his back, tears the rest of his shirt off and pulls his pants down to just under the top of his crotch, where he finds the five-point crown of the Latin Kings Gang with the letters A.L.K.N. underneath it at the very top of his crotch.

               “Oh my God!  Fuck!  Fuck!  Fuck!!!  He is going to kill me and come after the rest of us!!!  Holy Shit!!!!”  Jesus screams as he continues freaking out.

               Patrick just lays there and smiles at him since he can’t do anything else.  He feels like he deserves this one, even though he knows Gabe will be punishing him horribly for letting this happen.  For now, though, Patrick is going to bask in his happiness.  He actually starts laughing out loud at the irony of all of this.  Go figure!  The tattoos that I didn’t want are actually coming in handy!  Jesus is still freaking out when he looks at one of the guards.

               “Please bring Earnesto to me right now.  It is very important.”  He yells at the guards.

               The guards leave and shortly after, they return with Earnesto, who looks like he was sleeping.  Patrick is just sitting back and watching this happen with a huge smile on his face.

               “What did you need sir?”  Earnesto asks around a large yawn.

               “Earnesto, I need to show you something.”  Jesus says as he grabs Earnesto’s hand very hard and drags him over to where Patrick is. 

He grabs Patrick and flips him over on his stomach again.  When Earnesto looks down at the giant cobra all over his back and neck, his eyes go wide, and he looks over at Jesus.

“Oh, it gets better.”  Jesus says while flipping Patrick over onto his back again, which hurt like a bitch, by the way.

Earnesto sees the Latin Kings Crown and starts freaking out as much as Jesus did.

“Fuck!  Fuck!  Fuck!”  Earnesto yells.

“Did you know that he was marked and claimed when you first attacked him?”  Jesus asks Earnesto.

“No!  I swear!  If I had, I would’ve left him alone!  In my defense, I didn’t get far enough to see any of these if he had them then.”  Earnesto replies.

Patrick knows he didn’t have them yet, but he decides to chime in on this and lie so that Earnesto gets in more trouble.  He deserves it after what just happened.  “Oh, I had them that day.  They were actually fresh from the night before.  You know, just for your information.”

“Earnesto, you fucking idiot!  Did you not think to even check before you attacked him, failed, and brought it to us?”  Jesus asks.

“No, sir!  It didn’t even occur to me!  I thought he was just some bumbling new prisoner who disrespected us and needed to learn how it works on the inside.  O dios mio!  What the fuck are we going to do?”  Earnesto asks.

“I’m not sure.  Once he finds out about this, he will most likely start a gang war and try to decimate us.  If he doesn’t do that, he will most likely kill me, you, and your men, Earnesto.  For Fuck’s sake!  How could you have been so careless?  You brought this to our front door now and all of us are going to pay for your stupid decision!”  Jesus yells at him while continuing to freak out himself.

               Patrick is just sitting there watching this whole exchange happen.  Jesus punches Earnesto in the face a few times, knees him in the gut and sends him flying to the floor near where Patrick is laying. Patrick looks over at him and smiles while Jesus is busy pacing back and forth.  He knows he shouldn’t poke the bear, but he can’t help himself.

               “Que pasa Earnesto?  This is quite the situation that you’ve gotten us into.  I hope it was all worth it!”  Patrick goads, while trying not to laugh. 

               Earnesto turns to Patrick, jumps on top of him and begins beating him.

               “You!  This is all your fault!  If you hadn’t bumped into me in the first place, none of this would’ve happened!  I’m going to fucking kill you!”  Earnesto threatens.

               Earnesto continues beating him, choking him, and banging his head off the floor.  The room is starting to spin, and Patrick feels very nauseous again.  Before he knows it, he is vomiting all over himself and Earnesto.  He’s going to have one hell of a concussion from this.  Earnesto doesn’t seem happy about this and gives up beating him for choking him very hard.  Patrick wants to grab at Earnesto’s fingers and loosen his grip on his neck, but his hands are still handcuffed behind his back and Earnesto just chokes him even harder.  Patrick can’t breathe at all and is beginning to turn blue, when Jesus orders the guards to pull Earnesto off him.  He finally releases his grip and Patrick begins coughing so hard, gasping for air.  Please don’t start an asthma attack!  If I have one, I will most likely not survive.  They won’t have the medicine I need to stop it.  Slow, deep breaths, Patrick.  He is still coughing super hard and wheezing, but for now, it looks like he’s going to be ok.  He keeps breathing deeply and is starting to feel better. 

“See Earnesto, this is what I’m talking about!  You never think!  You always just react!  Did it occur to you that if you killed him, it would enrage Saporta even more and his payback would be infinitely worse?  No!  Of course not!  You fucking idiot!”  Jesus yells as he gives Earnesto a swift kick in the gut.

Jesus kneels next to him.  Patrick is still hacking his lungs up, his head is spinning, and he’s having trouble staying awake.  His body has just been through too much today.

               “Are you ok, Lucas (Patrick)?”  Jesus asks.

               “No!”  He manages to spit out before his eyes roll back in his head and he passes out.

               “Fuck!  God damn it, Earnesto!  Now what are we going to do?  We don’t have the things we need to treat him here!”  Jesus yells.

               “I’m so sorry, Jesus!  I never meant to get us all into this mess!”  Earnesto cries.

               “It doesn’t matter if you meant to or not.  You made a foolish decision, you fucking moron, and now the rest of us now have to pay for it.  You will pay dearly for this Earnesto.  If Saporta doesn’t kill you, then I will.  Guards take him away.  Oh!  And beat him badly so that he is in a lot of pain.  Do not kill him yet. Return here when you are done.”  Jesus orders.

               “Nooooooo!!!!” Earnesto screams as the guards grab him and drag him away.

               Once he is gone, Jesus turns his attention back to Patrick.  He kneels next to him, pushes his hair out of his face, and shakes him to wake him up.  He doesn’t move.

               “What am I going to do with you, Lucas (Patrick)?”  Jesus asks.

               He sits there next to Patrick for at least another hour, trying to figure out how the hell to deal with this horrible mess.  The guards return thirty minutes later, and Jesus has made his decision.  Lucas (Patrick) is still unconscious.  Jesus stands up, takes a deep breath and then addresses the guards.

“What would you like us to do with him, boss?”  One of the guards asks.

               Before he answers, he grabs a knife off the top of his desk.

               “Lift him up for me.” Jesus says.

               The guards do as they are told and lift him up.

               “I’m sorry Lucas (Patrick).  I didn’t want to have to do this, but I need it to look like you were randomly attacked and stabbed a few times.  If Saporta thinks it was a random hit, he might not come after us.”  Jesus informs him.

               Then he takes the knife and plunges it into Patrick’s gut, pulls it out and stabs him four more times.  Patrick cries out from each stab but remains unconscious.  Blood starts pouring out of the wounds.

               “Dump him in a well-trafficked area so that he will be found quickly.  Now hurry, before he bleeds out.”  Jesus orders.

               “Yes, sir.”  One of the guards says as they get a better grip on Patrick’s body and then leave to do what they were told to do.

               The guards take Patrick back toward his cell.  They find a relatively well-trafficked area over in that part of the prison where he should be found, dump his bleeding, battered, and shirtless body face down on the ground, and then get out of there as quickly as possible, so that no one sees them.  A large puddle of blood begins to accumulate underneath Patrick’s body as he begins to slowly bleed out.

Chapter Text

Chapter 36

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Mentions of Rape*******

!!!!!!!!  Reader’s Note:  We are going to back up a few hours.  This is meant to be happening simultaneously as what has previously happened above, we are just going to change POVs!!!!!!!

               Brad is on his way to go get Stump for his personal time with Gabe.  Overall, it has been a pretty busy day, so Brad hasn’t had as much time to fuck with him as much as he usually does.  Everything has run relatively smoothly and there haven’t been any problems.  That is about to change very quickly.  As he approaches Stump’s cell, he starts banging on the bars like he usually does.  When he doesn’t see any movement or hear any snarky comments from Stump, he takes a closer look to see if he is sleeping or something.  What he finds though, is that Stump isn’t currently in his cell, which is very odd.  Brad knew his schedule for every day, and he didn’t remember there being something where Stump wouldn’t be in his cell at this time.  He opens the cell door, walks in, and looks around, finding no one in the cell.  Brad takes his radio out and calls the guards to see if he was taken somewhere by accident.

               “Guard Brad to dispatch.”  Brad says.

               “This is dispatch, go ahead.”  They answer.

               “I came to pick up Dr. Stump for an appointment that he has.  However, when I got here, the prisoner was not in his cell like he should be and there didn’t seem to be signs of a struggle or escape.  Was there a meeting that I wasn’t aware of at this time?  Did a different guard take him there?”  Brad explains.

               “Hang on and we will ask.  As far as we know, he wasn’t.  He should be there.  Give us a moment to get this sorted out.”  They say.

               It takes a minute for dispatch to get back to him.    

               “Dispatch to Guard Brad.”  They reply.

               “Go ahead dispatch.”  Brad responds.

               “It appears that the Warden wanted to meet with him after inmate Stump returned from lunch.  You were busy, so another guard named Hunter was sent to his cell and escorted him to the Warden’s office.  The meeting ended hours ago, though.  He should be back in his cell by now.  Do we need to sound the alarm?”  They ask.

               “No.  Not yet.  I will take a walk and see if I can find him myself first.  I’ll alert you if I need further assistance.  Thanks.”  Brad tells them.

               “Alright.  Dispatch out.”  They say.

               “Well, what the fuck?  Where is he?  It shouldn’t have taken that long for him to be escorted back to his cell.  This is so not good.  I must tell Gabe.”  Brad states as he is closing the door to the cell.

               Brad leaves and immediately goes to Gabe and Stump’s meeting place for their personal time.

               “Hello Brad, where is Sugar?”  Gabe asks.

               “Um…boss?  We may have a problem.”  Brad informs.

               “The only problem I see right now is that you were supposed to bring Sugar here for our personal time and he isn’t here.”  Gabe states.

               “See, that is the problem.  I went to his cell to collect him and bring him to you, and he wasn’t there.  I talked to dispatch.  They said the Warden wanted a meeting with him after lunch, so they sent a different guard to go get him and take him to the meeting.  They also said the meeting ended hours ago and that he should be back in his cell by now, but he isn’t.  I didn’t know what to do, so I came to you first.”  Brad explains.

               “That is strange, isn’t it?  I wouldn’t expect Sugar to try and run or hide, except maybe from us.  That means something has happened to him.  Gather up some guards that you trust and go look for him.  I will contact members of my gang and have them start looking too.  Let me know as soon as you find something. Talk to his cell mate as well.  See if he has seen him recently.”  Gabe orders.

               “Ok boss.”  Brad says as he is turning to leave.

               Gabe calls an emergency meeting of his gang members, which is about to start soon.  He leaves and heads to their meeting area.  Once some of them have gathered, Gabe begins talking.

               “I hereby declare this meeting of the Latin Kings to order.  I’m sorry to have to call this emergency meeting.  As you all know, I have claimed and marked Dr. Stump.  He is now my property.  Earlier today, it appeared that he went for a meeting with the Warden, and he has not been seen since.  I need many of you to begin searching for him.  There is a good chance he has been attacked, and that he is being held against his will somewhere. There is a lot of ground to cover in this prison, which is why I need so many of you.  Who will join in the search with me?”  Gabe asks.

               Gabe ends up with a group of forty men, which he is happy with.  He splits them into separate groups and assigns each group a part of the prison to search.  Then he sends them on their way.  Gabe takes his group and heads to the area that he is supposed to search.

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               Joe returns to his cell after work. 

“Hey Patrick, I’m back!”  When he doesn’t get a response, he looks around the cell for him only to find it empty.  That’s weird.  Patrick said he was planning on staying here all day.  Why would he leave, especially since he was worried about payback from the Nuestra Familia guys he pissed off a few days ago?  Maybe he had a meeting or something.  This is about the time Brad comes to get him for his personal time with Gabe.  Maybe he is with him.  Joe goes about putting his work stuff away and sits down with his book while he waits for Patrick to come back.  He is interrupted by yelling and sees a bunch of guards running down the hall.  I wonder what that’s all about.  Just when he is about to go back to reading, Brad is there banging on the bars.  Joe gets up and walks toward the front of his cell.

“Hey Trohman.  Have you seen your cell mate recently?”  Brad asks.

“No.  I saw him a few hours ago before I left for my work detail, but he wasn’t there when I got back.  I thought he was with you or Gabe.  Why?  What’s going on?”  Joe asks.

“Fuck!”  Brad says.

“Fuck, what?  You are starting to scare me, Brad.  What happened?  Where is he?”  Joe demands.

“As of right now, we don’t know where he is.  I came to get him for his private time with Gabe and he wasn’t here.  Dispatch said that the Warden wanted to meet with him after lunch, but that the meeting was over hours ago and he should be back in his cell by now.  I told Gabe and now we are looking for him.”  Brad explains.

“You lost him?  How does that even happen in a prison?”  Joe asks.

“I didn’t lose him.  He just never returned from that meeting.  Gabe seems to think something happened to him, like maybe he was attacked or something.  We are searching the prison as fast as we can.  So far, we haven’t found him.”

Joe lets all this info sink in for a minute before responding.  Then it hits him like a bus.  His eyes go wide.  Patrick was worried about being attacked by the members of the Nuestra Familia gang again.  That’s probably who has him.  Joe had told him to put it aside and not worry about it.  Now he feels terrible and somewhat responsible for this.

“Fuck!!!!!!”  Joe screams.

“Ok….”  Brad says.

“I know who attacked him!  A few days ago, Patrick bumped into some guys by accident in the food line.  He tried to handle it diplomatically, but apparently that wasn’t enough.  They wanted to take him to meet the head of their gang and he refused.  After we left, they jumped us.  They knocked me out and tried to rape him.  They were really close to doing it when Gabe sent Shane, Theodore, Justin, and Ross to save him, so he could have him for himself.  Since then, they have been giving him death stares and they seemed to be planning something.  Patrick was worried that they were going to try to attack him again, to finish the job.  He mentioned it multiple times and I didn’t listen.  I should’ve known that this was coming and protected him!  Now he is missing and might even be dead!”  Joe explains.

“Take it easy, Trohman.  We will find him, that I promise you.  What gang was he in trouble with?”  Brad asks.

“The Nuestra Familia gang.”  Joe answers.

“Great!  Thanks for the info!”  Brad says.

Brad collects his guards to share the new information with them.  Then he goes to inform Gabe.  When he finds Gabe and his search group, he relays the information.

“Gabe!  I think I have a way to narrow down the search area.  I was talking to Trohman, and apparently Stump had a run in with some members of the Nuestra Familia gang in the food line a few days ago.  They tried to attack him after that, and they failed.  Since then, they appeared to be planning something.  Trohman said he is almost 100% sure that they attacked him.”  Brad informs.

“Good work, Brad.  Contact all the teams and tell them to focus their search in the areas where the Nuestra Familia gang hang out.” Gabe says.

  “New plan, men.  We are going to search the area where the Nuestra Familia hang out.  Let’s go!  I swear, if they even harmed a hair on his head, they will pay dearly for it.”  Gabe threatens.

Brad leaves to relay the information to the other groups.  The search continues for hours, and they still haven’t found him, which is not good.

“Don’t give up!  Keep looking!”  Brad orders.

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!!!!!!!!Reader’s Note: Now we are caught up in real time.  This will take place after Patrick’s body is dumped!!!!!!!!

               Alex and Sawyer’s men have completed the business that they were supposed to take care of.  They beat up the guys that were hoarding the drugs pretty badly and taught them a lesson.  The men that he was previously with had already returned to the more violent side of the prison for the evening.  Alex decided he needed a break from all the violence, so he decided to stay on the less violent side of the prison that night.  Having to continually play a psychopathic, sadistic killer every day from the time he wakes up until the time he goes to bed is a lot and occasionally he needs to take nights off from it.  Alex had a few things to tie up with Sawyer though, before he could return to his cell on the less violent side of the prison for the evening.  He had touched base with Sawyer and discussed the plans for tomorrow and now he was on his way back to the other side of the prison for the night.  Once he reached that side, it was close to dinner time and he was pretty hungry, so instead of going straight to his cell, he decides to stop in the mess hall and eat dinner.  All those plans change immediately when he turns the corner and sees a bloody body lying on its stomach, dumped on the floor laying in a pool of blood.  The body’s shirt had been ripped in half on both sides and was just hanging on its shoulders and there was a lot of blood on the back of its pants. 

“Holy Shit!”  He says and immediately runs toward the body.

The first thing he checks for is a pulse.  He feels one, but it’s faint.  Then he checks to see if the person is breathing, which he appears to be, but barely.  He turns the person over onto their back and is stunned by what he sees.

“Oh My God!  Dr. Stump?  Fuck!”  Alex exclaims.

He has many more tattoos and piercings, but it is definitely him and he looks like he is in terrible shape.  His hands are cuffed behind his back and appear to have made wounds around his wrists, which were bleeding down his hands and fingers.  His ankles are also cuffed together, and they are cutting into his legs as well, bleeding down on his feet.  He has been badly beaten and is covered in bruises.  There are also marks around his neck from being choked pretty hard.  The worst thing he sees though, is that he has been stabbed multiple times and is bleeding heavily from the wounds.  Alex takes off his shirt and stuffs it into the stab wounds to try and stop the bleeding.  Then he looks around to see if there are any guards close by.  He doesn’t see any, and if he takes the time to find one, Dr. Stump will bleed out before help can get there.  He knows he shouldn’t move him, but he has no choice.  So, he picks him up, looks to make sure there is no one around to see him, and decides it’s safe to run Dr. Stump to sick bay with his super speed.

­­­­­­­­­­­­__________________________________________________________________________________________________

When he gets there, he walks through the door with Dr. Stump hanging in his arms, leaving a blood trail on the floor and sets him onto one of the medical beds.

“Hey!  I need some help immediately!”  Alex yells.

Spencer comes running out of his office to evaluate the patient.  He is shocked when he finds it’s Patrick.

“Oh my God!  Patrick?  What happened?”  Spencer asks.

“I don’t know.  I’m not a doctor.  I found him crumpled on the floor lying face down in a huge pool of blood when I was on my way to the mess hall for dinner.  He’s breathing and he has a faint pulse.  He’s been beaten and stabbed several times.  I took off my shirt and stuffed it into the stab wounds to try and stop the bleeding.  He looked pretty horrible, and I wasn’t sure he would make it, if I had waited for help so I picked him up as carefully as I could and I ran here.”  Alex informs him.

“You did the right thing.  Nurse!  I need everyone on deck here!”  Spencer yells.

All the nurses currently on call are there at Spencer’s side within seconds.  Spencer immediately goes to work on closing the stab wounds and stopping the bleeding.  Now that he can get a good look at them, he sees that Patrick is very lucky.  It doesn’t appear that the stab wounds hit anything major.  He will still need surgery, but they can stop the bleeding in the short term.  Once the bleeding is stopped, Spencer begins evaluating the rest of Patrick’s body.  He has several lumps on his head, so he most likely has a nasty concussion.  He also has bruises around his neck from being choked very badly.  Spencer checks to see if his windpipe is broken, but it doesn’t appear to be.  Then he notices the cuffs around his wrists and ankles that have dug wounds into his skin.

“Can you call a guard here to unlock these and get them off of him?”  Spencer asks Alex.

“Sure.”  Alex answers and calls for a guard to come to sick bay.

A few minutes later, Brad enters sick bay. 

“You rang?”  He asks.

“Could you please unlock the handcuffs on his wrists and ankles?”  Spencer asks.

“Ok.”  Brad says as he takes out his key.

Spencer turns him to his side so that Brad can unlock the cuffs.

“Holy shit!  Is that Stump?  We’ve been looking for him for hours!  Where did you find him?”  Brad asks.

“I found him while I was on my way to the mess hall for dinner.”  Alex says.

“Is he ok?”  Brad asks.

“Not really.  He’s been stabbed several times, and it also appears he has been beaten, savagely choked, and he likely has a bad concussion.  He has lost a lot of blood from the stab wounds.  I will know more when I’m done assessing his injuries.”  Spencer says.

“I need to step out to make a few calls.  I will be outside if you need me.”  Brad says as he steps outside of sick bay.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Guard Brad to dispatch.”  He says.

“This is dispatch, go ahead.”  They reply.

“We found inmate Stump.  He is in sick bay now being treated.  Please call off all search teams.”  He informs them.

“Will do, dispatch out.”  They say.

Brad then leaves to go tell Gabe.  He knows Gabe won’t be happy at all.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back in sick bay, Spencer and his team have stabilized Patrick for the time being.  Spencer thought he saw something when they rolled Patrick on his side, that he wanted to take a closer look at.

“Can you help me turn him over onto his stomach?”  He asks the nurse.

They turn him to his stomach and that is when Spencer notices the large amount of fresh blood on the back of what’s left of Patrick’s shirt and pants.  First, he lifts the remnants of Patrick’s shirt and sees evidence of him being whipped.  That’s not the worst thing he finds though.  When he examines Patrick’s back end, he sees that he has been raped multiple times.  The pattern of the injuries suggests that he was raped by multiple people for a long period of time.  He can’t imagine the kind of pain Patrick was in the whole time.  Spencer takes a deep breath, not wanting to ask for the next thing he needs.

“Nurse, please bring me a rape kit and clear all non-essential staff and personnel from sick bay.  He deserves privacy while we do this.  We owe him that much.”  Spencer says, not wanting it to be true.

This definitely complicates things.  The nurse brings him the rape kit and Spencer begins the grueling, four-hour process of collecting evidence from Patrick’s body, his clothes, and his shoes.  This breaks Spencer’s heart.  He was very happy that Patrick was not awake for this.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Alex leaves when all the non-essential personnel have been cleared from sick bay.  I feel so bad for him!  I wish there was more I could do.  Dr. Stump is a good person!  He didn’t deserve any of this!  I wonder if Joe knew he was missing or that they found him in bad shape.  I imagine he doesn’t know anything, and no one will tell him anything.  I think I’ll stop by his cell or meet up with him at dinner and tell him what I know.  He looks at the time and sees that it is dinner time.  Joe will most likely be in the mess hall eating dinner.  With that, Alex heads to the mess hall, gets his food, and locates Joe sitting with another inmate.  Alex heads over to their table.

               “Do you mind if I join you two?”  He asks.

               Joe looks up, sees it’s Alex and gestures for him to sit down.

               “Please have a seat, Alex.  Alex, this is Dan.  We work together.” Joe says.

               “Hello Alex.  Nice to meet you.”  Dan says.

               “Nice to meet you too.”  Alex responds.

               “Joe, did you know Dr. Stump was missing?”  Alex asked.

               Dan was in the middle of drinking some milk when he was surprised and spits it out.  “Wait.  What?  Patrick is missing?  Why didn’t you tell me?  He asks.

               Joe looks so guilty.  “Yes.  Brad came to our cell to ask me if I’d seen him.  I told him that he was there when I left to go to work, but he was not there when I returned.  I thought he might be somewhere with Brad or Gabe, as it was about the right time for that.  Apparently, the Warden asked for a meeting with him, and he was taken there by a guard named Hunter.  He never made it back to his cell after that.  Gabe thought he might have been attacked, so they searched the prison for hours.  It took a minute, but I remembered Patrick saying that he was worried that the Nuestra Familia guys he pissed off were going to attack him.  Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.  That is who attacked him!  I told Brad who also told Gabe and they have been looking for him for hours without success.  I feel horrible!  I told him to put it aside!  I wasn’t there to protect him!”  Joe states.

               “Well, do you want the good news, or the bad news?”  Alex asks.

               “The good news first and then the bad news.”  Joe answers.

               “I have an update on him, the bad news is that it’s not good.”  Alex says.

               “What do you mean?”  Joe asks.

               “He has been found and is being treated in sick bay.  He was not in good shape.  I know because I’m the one that found him.  I was walking to the mess hall for dinner when I turned the corner and saw a bloody body crumpled on its stomach on the floor laying in a pool of blood.  I ran to it immediately and checked his pulse and breathing.  He was alive and breathing.  Then I turned him over and saw it was Dr. Stump.  He looked pretty rough.  He’d been beaten badly, choked, and stabbed several times in the gut.  There was no one around, so I picked him up and ran to sick bay.  Spencer is working on him.  Patrick is stabilized for right now.”  Alex informs them.

               “He was alive though?  That’s wonderful!  Can we see him?”  Joe asks.

               “Unfortunately, no.  Not right now.  Spencer found some evidence of rape from multiple people.  He asked for a rape kit and then cleared everyone out of sick bay, except essential personnel.”  Alex states.

               “So, he was gangbanged?  Oh My God!  Fuck!  This is my fault.  I should have been watching over him!”  Joe cries.

               Dan finally speaks up.  “Joe, you can’t be with him all the time.  That is why you are forming that net of prisoners to watch him.  It sounds like this attack was calculated.  They had probably been tailing him for a few days and were waiting for just the right time to attack.  They most likely wanted to do it when you weren’t around so you couldn’t stop them, so they waited until Patrick was with a guard that was easier to take down than you.  This isn’t your fault!  We knew they were planning something.  It was only a matter of time before they enacted their plan.”  He says.

               “Yeah Joe.  It wasn’t your fault.  There was nothing you could’ve done because you were at work.  If you hadn’t gone to work, you wouldn’t have run into me, and I wouldn’t have known who to look for.  Let Spencer treat him for now, and you can visit him later.  He’s not even conscious right now.  He’s in good hands, though.”  Alex adds.

               “Ok.  Thank you for telling me, Alex.”  Joe says.

               “No problem!  I mean what I said earlier today.  I will keep an eye out for him, and I will see if there are any others that would like to help.”  Alex says.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Brad heads to the mess hall, where he knows he will find Gabe.  Gabe is sitting at his usual table in the back left corner of the room.  Brad makes eye contact with him and gestures to the room they usually meet in to let him know that he has an update.  Brad then goes to their meeting room and waits for Gabe.

               Gabe acknowledges Brad and then waits for an excuse to leave.  It doesn’t appear that a break in the conversation is coming any time soon, as Shane is babbling on about something stupid.  So, he stands up, makes an excuse, and leaves to meet up with Brad.

               “Tell me you have news, Brad.”  Gabe says.

               “Yes.  I have news.  Another prisoner found him on his way to the mess hall and took him to sick bay to be treated.  He had been dumped on his stomach, on the floor, and was lying in a pool of his own blood.  He is in rough shape, but he is alive.  He was beaten, choked, bitten, stabbed in the gut multiple times, has a nasty concussion, he was whipped on his back, and it appears he was raped by at least one person, probably more.  Spencer made all of us leave when he discovered the rape evidence.  It kind of sounded like he might have been beaten and gangbanged.”  Brad informs him.

               Gabe was so mad, his face was turning red.  If he was a cartoon, there would be steam coming out of his ears and his head would explode.  His eyes actually turned red for a few minutes, like he was going to attack or feed on someone.  He seems to settle himself after that.

               “They will pay a very heavy price for harming and violating my property!  We will bring fire down upon the Nuestra Familia!  They will rue the day that they ever touched him!  This is war!  Thank you for informing me of all of this, Brad.  May I visit him?”  Gabe asks.

               “I don’t think you can right now, but you should be able to later.  I’ll let you know when they let us back in sick bay.”  Brad says.

               “You said that you learned about the gang attack from Mr. Trohman, correct?”  Gabe asks.

               “Yeah, why?”  Brad asks.

               “It seems I may owe him a debt.  Without that information, we wouldn’t know who did this.  They obviously wanted to make it look like a random hit, probably so that I wouldn’t come after them.  Since we know who it was, the correct people can be punished and disciplined now.  Please keep me up to date on Sugar’s condition.  That is all.  You may go.”  Gabe orders.

               Brad turns around, unlocks the door, checks to make sure no one can see him, and leaves to head back to sick bay.

               Gabe waits fifteen minutes, safely leaves, and returns to his table.

Chapter Text

Chapter 37

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Depictions of Violence, and Rape*******

               Spencer has finally finished the exam and the rape kit is finished.  It will be sent off to the lab to try and identify the prisoners that raped him, so they can be properly dealt with.  Patrick is still unconscious, and all of the color is gone from his skin.  Since all the evidence has been taken, now they can try to clean him up a bit and see the extent of the damage that was done.  He reeks of vomit and is still covered in blood. 

               “Nurse, would you please clean him up as best as you can?”  Spencer asks.

               “Yes, doctor.”  They respond.

               While they are doing that, Spencer orders an MRI of Patrick’s head and back end, as well as a battery of other tests, schedules a surgery to repair the damage from the rape, and sets up the surgery to repair the stab wounds.  Call it what it was, Spencer.  He was gangbanged.  It didn’t appear that Patrick had any internal bleeding this time around.  Spencer doesn’t want to say that he was lucky this time, considering the whole gangbang thing, but the stab wounds could’ve been so much worse.

               When the nurse wheels Patrick’s bed back into the room, he can really see a lot more bruises, signs from being choked, and bite marks than he could before.  Patrick has been changed into a hospital gown and smells much better.  They have placed pillows under his bottom to make him more comfortable.

               “Nurse, please place an IV, so that we can give him some pain medication, and antibiotics, just in case one of the people that raped him had an STI (sexually transmitted infection).  Please catharize him and empty his bladder as well, so we can keep an eye on his urine production.  Once that is finished, I have an MRI set up for his head and bottom, so that we can see the extent of the damage.  You will need to remove all of his piercings before doing the MRI of his head.  There is also one through his tongue.  Try to reinsert them when that part is finished.  I don't want him to get in trouble for removing them.  Please take him there for that.”  Spencer tells them.

               “Yes, doctor.”  They reply.

               When the MRI results come back, Spencer looks over them.  There were many bumps on Patrick’s head when he came in, so he was expecting to see signs of a bad concussion, and he was right.  There is a lot of swelling inside Patrick’s head, but not enough to cause any brain damage.  He will just feel awful after he wakes up.  The MRI of Patrick’s bottom, however, showed a lot more damage than he had expected.  Spencer is actually surprised that Patrick survived the attack at all after looking at the damage.  Patrick will need a much more involved surgery to repair that.  He had basically been torn apart on the inside.  Spencer decides that this is outside of his wheelhouse, so he contacts a specialist for this surgery.  It turns out that the specialist can perform the surgery tomorrow morning at the prison.  Spencer will assist him.  He can’t even imagine the amount of pain that Patrick was in while the attack was happening.  Hell, he’s probably still in a ton of pain from all the damage!  Spencer will make sure that he gets a good amount of pain medication to make him comfortable.  After all that he has been through, he deserves that, at least.  Since Patrick is stable for now and the specialist isn’t available until tomorrow morning, Spencer decides they can wait until morning before they begin the surgeries.  Patrick is placed into one of the private rooms so that they can monitor his condition.  It has been hours, and he hasn’t regained consciousness yet, which concerns Spencer a bit.  His body has been through absolute hell, so it makes sense that he may be unconscious longer than normal.  Truth be told, Spencer has no idea when he is going to wake up.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Brad decides that he is going to check in with Spencer in sick bay and find out if he is going to allow visitors back in yet.  He knows Gabe is chomping at the bit to visit so that he can see how bad Stump’s condition is for himself.  Brad heads toward sick bay and when he gets there, he pokes his head in.

               “Hey Doc?  Are visitors allowed back inside sick bay now?”  Brad asks.

               “Hello, Brad.  Yes. Visitors are allowed in again.  I found some evidence and had to conduct a thorough exam without any outside intervention.  Things have calmed down now, so yes.  People can visit now.  Patrick isn’t awake yet though.”  Spencer informs.

               “How is he doing?” Brad asks.

               “About as well as you can expect, given the situation.  He’s stable and we’ve stopped the bleeding for now, but he will need two surgeries tomorrow.  We did an MRI of his head and his bottom.  The MRI of his head showed what I expected.  He has a VERY bad concussion.  The MRI of his bottom showed that there is a lot more damage than I thought, and he will need a more in-depth surgery to repair the damage.  I’ve called in a specialist, and he will be here tomorrow to do the surgery.  Honestly, he was very lucky this time, besides the whole rape thing.  The places he was stabbed didn’t hit anything important and given the amount he was beaten, I was expecting internal bleeding, but I haven’t found anything.  He was definitely savagely violated and abused.  If I had to guess, I’d say he was raped by at least ten people, maybe more.  I guess we will find out more when he wakes up.  His body is covered in bruises, choke marks, and bite marks among other things.  He suffered so much and to be honest, I’m really surprised that he even survived the attack.  The pain he must have experienced would’ve been off the charts.  Do you by chance know who did it?”  Spencer asks.

               “We know the gang that was responsible, but we don’t know which members actually did it.  We will find out more in the coming days.  Don’t worry, those responsible will be punished severely.  I can’t tell you any more than that.”  Brad says.

               Spencer flashes Brad a satisfied smile.  “Good.  I hope they suffer as much as Patrick did.  I’m not usually one to promote violence, but in this case, I hope they suffer so much.”  Spencer says.

               “Don’t worry, Doc.  It will be taken care of, and those responsible will suffer horribly.  I can guarantee you that.  If you’ll excuse me, there are several people that would like to visit Stump, so I need to tell them that they are able to now.  I will be back later to keep an eye on him.”  Brad says. 

               “Alright.  Goodbye.”  Spencer says and then heads back into his office.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Brad leaves sick bay and goes straight to Gabe to inform him of what he knows.  He finds Gabe in his cell.  He hits the button to open the door and Gabe steps out.  Then they both head to their meeting room, careful to make sure no one sees them.  They close the door and lock it.

               “Tell me what’s happening, Brad.”  Gabe says.

               “I came straight from sick bay.  Dr. Smith is allowing visitors back in now, so you can go see him.  The Doc confirmed he was raped by many people, so obviously the members of the Nuestra Familia beat him and gangbanged him.  He is stable right now, but the Doc said he would need two surgeries tomorrow.  One to fix the damage from the stab wounds, and another, more in-depth one to repair the damage to Stump’s ass.  Spencer said that the damage there was a lot worse than he was expecting.  Spencer also said that he was surprised that Stump even survived the attack at all, considering the amount of damage that he found.  He even called in a specialist who will be here tomorrow to do that surgery.  He said that Stump has a VERY bad concussion and that his body was covered in bruises, choke marks, and bite marks.  He said that he was savagely violated and abused, that Stump suffered greatly, and the pain he must’ve experienced would have been excruciating.  Overall, though, he said that Stump was lucky this time.  The places where he was stabbed didn’t hit anything major and he was expecting internal bleeding from the beatings, but he hadn’t found any.  He also expressed his enthusiasm for making whoever did this suffer as much as Stump did.”  Brad states             

               “Interesting.  Sounds like the Doctor is expressing the need for some biblical revenge.  That’s good to know.  I’m sure we can make that happen!  They did an MRI to confirm his injuries?  We should probably inform Mr. Trohman that he can visit as well."  Gabe says while smiling. 

               "Yes.  They did do an MRI on his head and rear end.  Why?"  Brad answers.

               "Because they would've needed to remove all of his piercings to do an MRI of his head.  I will need to punish him for that later.  I would like to visit Sugar.  Please take me to sick bay, guard.”  Gabe orders.

               “Alright, inmate Saporta.  Let’s go!”  Brad responds.

               They both laugh for a minute, and then proceed to sick bay.  They walk inside sick bay and Spencer comes out of his office. 

               “Hello, Gentleman.  What can I do for you?”  Spencer asks.

               “Hello, Doctor.  I am here to visit Sugar.  Brad gave me an update on his condition, but I’d like to see it for myself.  Where is he?”  Gabe asks.

               “He’s in private room one.  I’ll take you to him.  There hasn’t been any change.  He is still unconscious.  He can still hear you though if you’d like to talk to him.”  Spencer tells him.

               Spencer walks toward the private rooms and opens the door to room one.  Inside they all see Patrick laying still in the bed.  He is breathing on his own, so that is at least positive. 

Gabe notices that his piercings have been removed and have not been placed back in when they finished the MRI.

               “Where are his piercings, Doctor?” Gabe asks.

               “We had to remove them to do the MRI of his head.  I told the nurse to reinsert them afterward, but she said that his face was so swollen from the beatings that she couldn’t get them back in, except the one in his tongue.  She was able to put that one back in.  She set them aside in a container that is on the table, next to his bed.  Perhaps once the swelling goes down, you will be able to reinsert them where they are supposed to go.”  Spencer explains.

               Gabe is not happy about this at all.  He told Sugar to never remove these without permission from him.  Technically he didn’t remove them, but nonetheless, they were removed without his permission.  He will definitely be punishing Sugar after he is released from sick bay.  There’s no way that Gabe is going to pass on an opportunity to teach Sugar a lesson.  By the time the swelling goes down, the new holes will have already closed.  He will have to pierce them again, which Gabe will be doing immediately after Sugar is released.  Doing them all at once might be a fun way to punish Sugar on top of whatever I plan to do to teach him a lesson.  Gabe smiles a sadistic smile at that thought.  He turns his attention back to Spencer.

               “Thank you, Doctor.”  Gabe says as he sits in a chair next to Patrick’s bed.

               “You’re welcome.  I’ll be in my office if you need me.”  Spencer says and then turns and leaves.

               Once the door is closed, Gabe begins assessing the extent of Sugar’s injuries, now that he has been cleaned up and he can see them in more detail.  What he finds, he is not happy about.  Every inch of Sugar’s skin that is exposed is covered with bruises, hickeys, and bite marks.  There are large, dark bruises on his neck from where many of the men had choked him, and he could see some of the bumps on his head.  He pulls Sugar’s gown up and sees the stab wounds that have stopped bleeding for the moment.  The more Gabe sees, the angrier he becomes.  The Doctor was right.  Sugar had been savagely beaten and violated.  He is still visibly in a lot of pain.  It looks as though, the men that did this were striving for the maximum amount of pain and suffering, which enraged him.  His eyes turned red again, his entire body felt hot as if it was on fire, and he felt his body shaking with anger.

               He turns to Brad and yells “he is in much worse shape than I thought.  The Nuestra Familia will wish and pray for death when we are done with them.  Not only did they kidnap my property, but they beat and violated it multiple times.  We will make them pay for what they did to Sugar!  Make no mistake!  When we find out the people that did it, they will suffer even more than the others!  They will experience pain like they have never known before, they will be tortured, raped repeatedly, and will pay for this with their lives!  They will be begging us for death!”

               Brad looks as if he is slightly afraid of Gabe at this moment.  Gabe takes a minute to calm himself down.  Now he appears more collected on the outside, but below the surface there is a river of fire flowing through his veins and he is seeing red.  As Gabe seems to settle down, Brad decides that he can now put in his two cents.

               “Yes!  Pain, suffering, misery, and death to them all!”  Brad adds.

Gabe wanted to know more details on what happened, but he wouldn’t get them unless Sugar was awake.  He decides to give him a small amount of his blood to get him to wake up, but not enough to make him hallucinate.  He’s been through enough today.  Gabe bites his wrist, opens Patrick’s mouth, and lets his blood slide down Patrick’s throat for a few minutes.  He may need more than that, but Gabe must do it in small proportions so that he won’t hallucinate.  Then he sits back and waits for it to do its job.             

“Brad, this is going to take a while to work, because I must give him small amounts to keep him from hallucinating.  Why don’t you go and inform Mr. Trohman that he is allowed to visit Sugar now.  If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have known where to look and who was responsible for this.”  Gabe orders.

“Ok, boss.”  Brad says as he turns and leaves Patrick’s room and sick bay to go get Joe.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               After Joe had finished eating in the mess hall, he was returned to his cell.  Joe sat in the chair next to Patrick’s bed, put his head in his hands, and began berating himself.  I know this wasn’t totally my fault, but I just feel terrible about what happened.  He was kidnapped, beaten, and gangbanged all because I told him not to worry about it!  Joe feels tears collect in his eyes and spill down his cheeks.  I can’t imagine how much pain he experienced.  Especially since he was stabbed a few times too.  Poor guy!  He didn’t deserve that!  He hasn’t deserved anything that has happened to him in the short time he has been here!

               Joe is brought out of his head by someone pounding on the bars.  When he looks up, he sees Brad.  Great!  This is totally what I need right now.

               “Yo Trohman!  Time to take a walk!”  Brad yells.

“What the fuck do you want, Brad?  Are you here to rub Patrick’s condition in my face a bit more and make me feel worse than I already do?  I’m really not in the mood for your games right now.”  Joe asks.

               “Actually, I’m here to let you know that visitors are allowed back in sick bay now.  Gabe told me to come get you so that you can see your friend.”

               Joe is taken aback by this.

               “Seriously?  Why would the two of you help me?”  Joe asks.

               “Because without you telling me who attacked him, we wouldn’t have known where to look or who is responsible.  They tried to make it look like a random attack by stabbing him and dumping him somewhere that he would’ve been found.  Gabe thinks they did that in the hopes that he wouldn’t know who it was, so that he wouldn’t come after them.”  Brad explains.

               “How can I trust that you aren’t leading me into a trap?”  Joe asks.

               Brad smiles for a minute.

               “You can’t.  You are just going to have to trust me.  Look, do you want to see Stump or not?”  Brad asks.        

               Joe looks up, nods his head yes, and wipes the tears off his face.  He decides that it is worth the risk, so he stands up and walks to the front of the cell.  Brad pushes the button to open the door and Joe steps out.  Brad closes the door and starts walking.

               “Follow me.”  Brad says.

               As it turns out, Brad is leading him to sick bay, like he said he would.  Joe still doesn’t trust him farther than he could throw him though.  They walk in silence until they get to the door that leads into sick bay.  Joe takes a deep breath to try and center himself and lets it out slowly.

               “Are you ready?”  Brad asks.

               “Yes.”  Joe answers.

               They both walk into sick bay, and it is a buzz.  Brad leads him to Patrick’s private room, where Spencer is checking his vitals.  They wait for him to finish and leave before they enter the room.  Joe wasn’t expecting Gabe to be there too.  Now he was going to have to control himself.  Gabe looks up from the chair next to Patrick’s bed when he hears the door open.

               “Hello Mr. Trohman!  Would you like to pull up a chair?  Sugar isn’t awake yet, but I gave him small amounts of my blood in multiple rounds, so that he wouldn’t hallucinate.  Once that takes effect, he should wake up.”  Gabe states.

               Joe is standing there in shock when he sees Patrick’s condition, so he doesn’t really hear what Gabe said.  Patrick looks horrible and he is visibly in pain!  He kind of wished that he had prepared himself more on what to expect when he got here.  He slowly comes back out of his head.

               “I’m sorry, were you saying something?”  Joe asks Gabe.

               “Yes.  I asked if you’d like to pull up a chair and told you that I had given Sugar small amounts of my blood in small increments so that he wouldn’t hallucinate.  Once it starts working, he should wake up.”  Gabe answers.

               “What all did Spencer say was wrong with him?  I just wasn’t expecting him to be in such bad shape.” Joe asks.

               “Yes.  I wasn’t expecting that either, so we were both surprised.  Brad, you heard it directly from the doctor.  Why don’t you enlighten us?”  Gabe asks.

               “Ok.  The Doc confirmed he was raped by many people, so obviously the members of the Nuestra Familia beat him and gangbanged him.  He is stable right now, but the Doc said he would need two surgeries tomorrow.  One to fix the damage from the stab wounds, and another, more in-depth one to repair the damage to Stump’s ass.  Spencer said that the damage there was a lot worse than he was expecting, and that he was surprised that Stump even survived the attack with these injuries.  He even called in a specialist who will be here tomorrow to do that surgery.  He said that Stump has a VERY bad concussion and that his body was covered in bruises, hickeys, choke marks, and bite marks.  He said that he was savagely violated and abused, that Stump suffered greatly, and the pain he must’ve experienced would have been excruciating.  Overall, though, he said that Stump was lucky this time.  The places where he was stabbed didn’t hit anything major and he was expecting internal bleeding from the beatings, but that he hadn’t found any.” Brad explained.

               Joe is wide eyed and immediately moves to Patrick’s bed.

               “Oh my God!  I’m so sorry Patrick!  I wish I could’ve been there to save you from this!  Please!  Forgive me!” Joe cries as more tears are running down his face and he leans over Patrick’s chest.

“We both wish we could’ve saved him from this, Mr. Trohman.”  Gabe says as he is pulling a chair up to sit on the other side of Patrick’s bed for Joe to sit on.

Joe sits on the chair and holds Patrick’s hand while softly crying.  Gabe sees this and decides that he and Brad could give them a little time alone together. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

              “Brad.  Could I have a word with you outside of sick bay?”  Gabe asks.

              “Sure.”  Brad answers as they both leave the room and congregate outside the doors of sick bay.

              “What was that all about, Boss?”  Brad asks.

              “Mr. Trohman was having a moment and I decided to give them a little privacy.  He is taking this very hard, almost as if he feels that this is his fault.  I’m hoping I can use that to my advantage sometime soon.”  Gabe answers.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

             Joe appreciates that he has been left alone with Patrick for a bit.  He looks down at him and sees some of the bruises and bite marks healing.  He is happy about that, but he is still very sad and angry about what happened to Patrick.  He also notices that his piercings are missing, which he knows that Gabe will be pissed off about.  

            He looks down at him again and says “Please wake up Patrick!  I know it is going to be very painful for you with the concussion and all, but we need more information about what happened.  I need to know you are ok!”

            Joe lays his head on Patrick’s chest, hoping he isn’t causing him more pain as he continues crying.  He stays there for a few minutes like that, when he hears someone call his name in an incredibly wrecked and very soft voice.

           “Joe?”  Patrick asks.

            Joe immediately lifts his head off Patrick’s chest, sees Patrick’s eyes open, smiles, and envelopes him in a hug that he hopes isn’t too painful.

            “Patrick!  You’re awake!”  Joe yells, somewhat in awe of what he just witnessed.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

            Patrick looks around the room with his eyes.  His head is pounding so hard that it is hard to keep his eyes open and focus on anything.  The whole room is spinning, and he is having trouble seeing things. 

            He grabs his forehead and says in his wrecked voice. “Ugh!  My head!”

            Joe smiles. “I’m going to go get Spencer.  I’ll be right back!”

            Joe is so excited that he runs out the door and straight to Spencer’s office.

            “Hey Dr. Smith.  Patrick is awake.  I thought you’d want to know!”  Joe says.

            “That’s excellent news!”  Spencer says as he stands up and heads to Patrick’s room.

            Sure enough, Patrick is awake, but he appeared to be in a lot of pain.  He hadn’t moved from his position where he was lying down.

            “Hey Patrick!  How are you doing?”  Spencer asks.

            “Not very good.  My head is pounding so hard, and the room is spinning.  I can’t really focus on anything without seeing a halo around it.  My wrists and ankles hurt too.  It hurts too much for me to do anything other than lay here.”  Patrick answers.

            “That is to be expected, Patrick.  You have a VERY bad concussion.  It’s not enough to cause brain damage, but it is still really bad.”  Spencer comments.

            “I’m in a fuck ton of pain.  It hurts everywhere, but the worst part is my lower abdomen.”  Patrick states.

            “The pain is from your attack.  Your lower abdomen hurts because you were stabbed five times down there.” Spencer answers.

            “What?  I was stabbed?”  Patrick asks, confused.

            “Yes, you were.  Five times.”  Spencer answers.

            “Aside from the attack and the pain and damage from it, you were incredibly lucky this time.  The stab wounds didn’t hit anything major.  I was also expecting to find internal bleeding, but I haven’t found any, except in your rectum.  When I did an MRI of your bottom, I found the damage to be much worse than I was expecting.  You were basically torn apart from the inside out.  I’m honestly surprised that you survived the attack given the amount of damage I saw.  I have a specialist coming tomorrow to perform surgery to repair the damage.  I will go get you some pain medication.  We are also giving you antibiotics just to be safe.”  Spencer says.

            “Fuck!”  Patrick cries.

            “What happened, Patrick?”  Joe asks.

            “Um, I’m having trouble focusing on anything but the pain right now.  I’ll tell you after Spencer gives me something to take the edge off.”  Patrick replies.

            “Ok.  That’s fair.”  Joe says.

            Spencer returns with a bottle of morphine.

            “We need to interview you before I can give you the full amount that you need to be comfortable.  I will give you some to take the edge off now and I will give you the rest later.”  Spencer says as he is measuring out the correct dose.

           Then he injects it into Patrick’s IV and waits a few minutes for it to work.  Patrick starts to feel it working and it is taking the edge off the pain for now.  He relaxes and sits back.

           “Who is going to interview me?”  Patrick asks.

           “I will grab a guard to take your statement.  Hang on.”  Spencer says.

           Spencer leaves Patrick’s room and calls dispatch to have a guard come and take Patrick’s statement.  Dispatch informs him that there aren’t currently any guards free to do that, except for Brad.  Patrick is so not going to be happy about this.  He calls Brad on the radio and asks him to come to sick bay with whatever he needs to take Patrick’s statement.  Brad enters sick bay shortly after this.  Gabe is also in tow.  Patrick is definitely going to be pissed.  They both enter Patrick’s room.  Once Patrick sees Gabe, he starts freaking out.  The heart monitor he is connected to starts beeping much faster than it was before Gabe entered the room, and it was continuing to beep faster and faster.

           “What is he doing here?  Does he know what happened?  Get out!  Stay away from me!  Please don’t hurt me!  I promise, I didn’t ask for this one!  Please don’t punish me!  You almost killed me last time!”  He screams with what little voice he has left.

           “Sugar!  Calm down!  Yes, I know about this, but it wasn’t your fault!  I’m not going to hurt you!  Mr. Trohman told us about your run-in with the Nuestra Familia gang.  He also said you were convinced that they were going to come after you again.  I’m only here to find out more information, such as who in the gang did this to you, so that they can be properly punished.  I’m not going to punish you.  You have my word.”  Gabe says.

           “I don’t believe you!  You told me that you weren’t going to punish me last time and you burned my skin off!”  Patrick screams.

           “I swear that I will not punish you for this.  You need to calm down, Sugar.  You are going to have a stroke.  I don’t want to make you calm down.  You’ve been through enough today.  I’d rather you do it on your own.  Come on!  Deep breaths!”  Gabe says.

           Patrick starts taking slow deep breaths to try and calm himself down.  In, 2, 3, 4.  Out, 2, 3, 4.  Repeat it!  Again, and again!  It takes a while, but Patrick does manage to calm down and the heart monitor returns to normal.

           “Can we please just get this over with?  I feel extremely awful and I’m still in a ton of pain.”  Patrick asks.        

           “I’m almost done getting what I need together.  It will be like five more minutes.”  Brad says.

           Everyone sits and waits for five minutes until Brad is ready to go.

          “This is the statement of inmate Dr. Patrick Stump regarding the attack he was involved in on Sunday June 10^th, 2023 at approximately 2:30 p.m.  Ok, Stump.  You may begin.” Brad says while turning on a recording device.

          “Where do you want me to start?”  Patrick asks.

          “How about you start after I left for work.”  Joe suggests.

          That sounds about as good a place as any to start, so Patrick starts there.

          “After you left for work, I went to lay down and read my book, since I didn’t have any plans to leave my cell until yard or dinner time.  I had just sat down when I heard someone banging on the bars of our cell.  I stood up and walked to the front where I saw a different guard standing there.  I asked who he was, and he told me his name was Hunter, and that Andy had sent him to take me to his office when I returned from lunch.  He unlocked the cell, and I followed him to Andy’s office.  The walk there was pretty uneventful.  When we got there, Andy was in a meeting, so Hunter told me to sit on the bench outside of his office until he was ready for me.  It was another hour until he was finished with this meeting and the person left.  Then Hunter sent me into his office where we talked about my case as well as a small side job that he asked me to do for him.  I kept looking at the time because I knew I was getting close to when Brad comes and gets me for personal time with Gabe.  I was afraid that if I wasn’t there when Brad came to get me, that I would be punished severely.  We finished our conversation and Andy ordered Hunter to take me back to my cell as quickly as he could. 

          We left and headed back to my cell.  The walk back was uneventful, until we were ambushed by about thirty-two men from the Nuestra Familia gang.  They took out Hunter very quickly.  I wanted to run, but I was frozen in fear.  After they beat the shit out of Hunter, then they began attacking me.  Some punched me, others kicked me.  I tried to fight back, but there were too many of them.  They wrestled me to the ground and turned me on my stomach.  Then the person who tried to attack me before cuffed my hands behind my back.  He told me that the gang leader, Jesus, was pissed about what happened the other day and that Jesus was having him tail me for the past couple of days.  They were looking for the perfect time and place to ambush me and take me back to their leader because I disrespected them, but before they did that, he said that Jesus told him and his men to teach me a lesson in any way they saw fit.  He asked me if I remembered what happened last time and I said yes.  He said that this was going to be a million times worse than that.  I begged him not to do this and I said that I was sorry that I disrespected them.  He told me there was no way I was getting out of this, so I started thrashing and fighting back on the ground trying to get people off me while they were distracted.  It worked.  I managed to roll myself over, kneel, and then stand up, so I took off running back to my cell as fast as I could.  I tried calling for help, but no one came.  They finally caught up with me, grabbed me, and slammed me up against a wall very hard.  I tried thrashing around again to see if I could get free, but more and more men were there holding me there.  The head guy caught up and told me that they were going to throw me on the ground, hold me down, and not let me go until every one of his men had had their turn with me.  He told me that I was going to lay there and take it like the good June Bug that I was.  He also told me if I screamed, that no one would hear me, and it was for that reason that they chose this place to attack me.  Then he ordered his men to throw me on the ground and hold me down.  They threw me down so hard that my cheek bounced off the ground.  There were too many people holding me down for me to try to get away.  Then I felt someone mount me from behind and pull my pants down. The head guy of the group leaned down and whispered in my ear that he got to go first and that he would do whatever he wanted to me, calling me a slave.”

          Patrick feels himself getting more and more emotional.  He was trying very hard to do this without his emotions getting in the way, but he was failing miserably.  He feels the tears in his eyes spill down his cheeks.  He takes a deep breath to try and center himself.  It helps calm him down, but it’s not helping with his emotions.  He takes another deep breath and continues, his voice quivering as more tears fell down his face.

          “I fought as hard as I could because I knew I was about to be gangbanged.  The next thing I felt was someone grinding my face very hard into the floor and violently entering me.  The head guy began dragging me back and forth over the concrete floor, opening wounds everywhere.  I was in so much pain that I screamed, but it didn’t do anything.  I felt like I was being torn apart from the inside out.  It didn’t help that he was being extremely rough and violent with me.  I could tell he was close and thought it was over, but then he started choking me.  He squeezed harder and harder to the point that I thought I was going to pass out, but then he hit his climax and released me.  I was coughing very hard for a few minutes before I could breathe again.  Then he said that he hoped that I liked that because he said it was going to happen another thirty-two times before this would be over.  I didn’t even respond.  The next person started, followed by the next and the next and the next.  The pain was so far beyond the worst I’ve ever felt.  Each person explored their fantasies with me.  Some choked me, some bit me, some beat me, and some tried to ride me like a horse and expected me to play along.  If I didn’t, they would beat me more.  One even made me call him Daddy and made me beg.  I screamed out in pain so many times that I lost count.  It was excruciating!  I also screamed so loud that I lost my voice. This continued for two and a half hours.  I was pretty sure that I was bleeding out of my asshole.  They left me there for a few minutes after the last one was done.  Then they all encircled me, spit on me, and gave me a few more kicks.  I couldn’t take it anymore after that. I was in such an insane amount of pain that finally I passed out.  Before I was fully out, I felt someone pull my pants back up, pick me up and take me somewhere.  After that, I drifted into unconsciousness.”

          Patrick is telling this all through almost uncontrollable tears.  He feels like he is reliving all of this while he is telling everyone.  His emotions are off the charts.  He tries taking a few deep breaths before continuing.

          “When I started to regain consciousness, all the pain from the attack came back.  My whole body hurt so much that I couldn’t move.  My head felt like it was going to explode, like I had the worst migraine on the planet.  I think my head may have bounced off the floor a few times when they threw me down.  I felt very sick and nauseous.  When I finally opened my eyes, I felt so sick that I vomited all over myself and the floor.  The room was spinning, and I felt so dizzy that it was hard for me to even see.  I was lying on my left side and my ankles were now cuffed too.  When I looked up, I saw a Hispanic man staring down at me.  He asked me what my name was, and I was afraid to tell him my real name, so I choked out “Lucas.”  He introduced himself as Jesus, the leader of the Nuestra Familia gang.  He said that I had been a thorn in his side and that I disrespected one of his members.  Then he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me across the room and pushed me up against the wall holding me up by my neck.  He asked me where I got off thinking that I had any kind of power and that individuals don’t have power in prison unless they are the leader of a gang.  He also said he’d had Earnesto (head guy) tailing me for days trying to find the right time to kidnap me and teach me a lesson.  He said they were waiting for me to be with someone who was easily knocked out or beaten and my trip to the warden’s office was the perfect time.  Then he squeezed my neck harder, making it very hard for me to breathe.  I started coughing and grabbing at his hands, but he just squeezed even harder until I started turning blue and seeing stars in front of my eyes.  Then he punched me in the face and bounced my head off the wall again before releasing me.  I collapsed on the floor coughing very hard, trying to catch my breath praying to God that it wouldn’t trigger an asthma attack because it would most likely kill me if it did.  Once I could breathe again, I told him that I was sorry for disrespecting him or any of his men, that I was scared, and I wanted to get away from the situation.  He said he appreciated it, but it was not going to get me out of my punishment.  Then he grabbed me by the hair again and threw me on the ground on my stomach and straddled me.  I started fighting and thrashing to try to get him off me.  I almost had it when I felt something sharp stab me in the side.  He drugged me.  Everything felt tired and weak, and my muscles relaxed immediately.  It wasn’t enough to put me out, but it was enough to stop me from fighting.  Then I knew that I was fucked.  My muscles were too tired to fight this guy.  He said that he was going to enjoy this more knowing that I was helpless to do anything.”

          “I felt him pull my bloody pants down.  Then he forced himself inside me and began violently raping me.  The pain was almost more than I could handle, especially since I’d been raped thirty-two times already today.  My insides felt like they were on fire, and I knew I was bleeding again.  Jesus also made it a point of shoving me hard on the ground so more wounds would open.  He also took his time to torture me longer.  I screamed out in pain, but it just seemed to make Jesus more excited, and he rode me rougher than anyone had so far, just to make it more painful for me.  The hand cuffs on my wrists and ankles were cutting deeply into my skin and bled down my hands and feet.  Then he choked me again and bit me several times.  At one point toward the end, I felt him get off me to grab something from his desk.  Then I felt something hard hit my back.  It stung and caused me immense pain.  He whipped me a few more times, then he violently entered me again and finished.  I was sedated enough that I couldn’t move.  Then he saw some of the ink lines above my ass that went further up.  He asked me what it was and if I had more that he couldn’t see.  I didn’t answer him, and he punched me very hard twice on my lower back and I cried out in pain.  He asked me again and I didn’t answer so he punched me very hard again in my lower back.  I screamed and finally told him where they were.  He decided to take a look, almost drooling over the idea of them.  He ripped my shirt in half and saw the pieces on my right and left sides before he saw the cobra and read what was next to it.  Then he freaked out, saying that I had already been marked and claimed by Gabe and that he and his gang had just gangbanged Gabe’s property.  I saw the humor in this and smiled, since I couldn’t move.  I told him to look at the other one on my lower belly too.  He turned me over, ripped the rest of my shirt off, and pulled my pants down to just above my crotch when he saw the Latin King’s crown.  He freaked out even more after that and had the guards bring Earnesto to him.  I just laid there laughing since I couldn’t do anything else.”

          “When they brought Earnesto to Jesus, he grabbed him and dragged him over to where I was lying.  He turned me over on my stomach to show him the cobra and then he turned me over on my back to show him the other one.  Jesus asked Earnesto if he knew that Lucas (Patrick) was claimed and marked when he first attacked me.  Earnesto said no, that he would’ve left me alone if he had, but that he didn’t really get far enough the first time to see.  At that point, I was pretty pissed, my head hurt, and I was in a fuck ton of pain, so I lied and told them that I had them when he attacked me the first time, hoping he would get in more trouble because of it.  They continued freaking out, worrying about what Gabe would do when he found out.  I just laid there watching the whole exchange happen.  Jesus punched Earnesto in the face a few times asking how he could’ve been so careless to not check before attacking me and bringing it back to the gang when he failed.  Jesus kneed him in the gut and sent him flying.  He landed right next to me.  I still couldn’t move and knew I shouldn’t poke the bear, but I couldn’t help myself.  I commented on how he had gotten all of us into quite the situation and that I hoped it was all worth it.  It kind of backfired though, because then he blamed it all on me, straddled me and started beating me.  He started choking me again and bouncing my head off the floor several times.  The room started spinning and I felt very nauseous.  Before I knew it, I vomited all over myself and Earnesto.  That pissed him off so he started choking me again until I couldn’t breathe, and I was turning blue.  Then Jesus ordered the guards to pull him off me.  I started coughing really hard and gasping for air, hoping I wouldn’t have an asthma attack because I probably would’ve died if I had.  It turned out that I was ok though.  Jesus yelled at Earnesto telling him he always reacts and doesn’t think about anything.  He said that Gabe would be even more enraged if he had killed me.  Then Jesus kneeled next to me and asked if I was ok.  I managed to spit out “No!” before I passed out.  That is the last thing I remember before waking up here.”  Patrick explains.

Chapter Text

Chapter 38

*******Trigger Warning for Graphic Depictions of Violence and Mentions of Rape*******

               When he is finished talking, Patrick looks at everyone around the room.  Everyone appears to be dumbfounded and shocked by his story.  Even Gabe and Brad looked shocked by it.  It is really quiet for a few minutes.  Patrick sees looks of shock, awe, guilt, anger, and even some pity regarding what had happened to him.  He can’t really blame them.  It was a horrid, scary, painful, and degrading experience.  He’s honestly not sure how he is still alive after all of it.  Patrick is an emotional mess after describing everything.  He was exhausted after all of that, and his pain was getting worse by the minute.  He looks up at Brad through the endless tears forming in his eyes and falling down his cheeks.

               “Are we done now?  There is nothing more to tell you.  I’m exhausted after reliving all of that, my head is pounding, the room is spinning, I feel nauseous, and I’m in so much pain, that I can barely stay awake.  Please tell me we are done now.”  Patrick states.

               Brad turns off the recording device, makes some notes on the paperwork, and then looks up at Patrick.

               "Yes.  We are done.  Thank you for telling us.  I know it wasn’t easy.”  Brad says.

               “No, it wasn’t.  Spencer, can I have the rest of my pain medication now and anything else I might need to make me comfortable?”  Patrick asks through the tears running down his face.

               “Yes, of course.  Just give me a moment.  I will be right back.”  Spencer answers and goes to get the morphine and the other drugs that he needs.

               Patrick is still visibly uncomfortable.  He keeps shifting around trying to get somewhat comfortable.  Pretty much everyone is still sitting there completely shocked at what happened.

               Spencer returns a few minutes later with everything.  He measures out the amount of morphine and injects it into Patrick’s IV along with whatever else he was giving him.  Patrick starts to feel the effects of the morphine and he feels the pain mostly go away.  It is also enough to make him sleepy.  He closes his eyes and drifts off into dreamland, hoping it isn’t full of flashbacks of what happened.

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               Once he is unconscious, people start coming out of their stupors.  Spencer is the first person to say something.

               “That was a horrible ordeal!  I can’t even imagine what that felt like!  No wonder he is in so much pain, after being raped thirty-three times!  I’m surprised he is still alive after something like that.  It also explains why there is so much damage!  I don’t even know what to say after that!”  Spencer says loudly.

               Joe is the next to speak.

               “Jesus!  He was raped thirty-three times?  Fuck!  The poor guy!  He didn’t deserve any of that!  I can’t imagine what he is feeling right now.  He even apologized and they still did that to him?  What monsters!  I feel so guilty!  I wish I could’ve been there to save him!”  He says through the tears streaming down his face.

               Joe feels someone put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.  When he looks up, he sees that it’s Gabe.  I’m not sure how I feel about that, but for right now, I guess it is ok.     

               “We all wish we could’ve saved him from this, Mr. Trohman.  At least we have more details of exactly who was involved so that those people can be dealt with.  Make no mistake!  They will be severely punished for what they did to him!  The Nuestra Familia gang has gone too far!  They stole, beat, and gangbanged my precious Sugar.  They will pray for death by the time we are done with them.  You have my word on this.”  Gabe says.

               “That’s right!  We will fuck them up!”  Brad adds.

               Spencer is standing there smiling about this.  Good!  I hope they kill the guys!  I usually don’t promote violence, but in this case, I will let it slide.  What they did to Patrick was unconscionable!  They deserve everything that is coming to them and more.

               Joe doesn’t really know how to react to this.  Part of him knows that violence isn’t the answer, but he is really angry about what happened to Patrick.  Another part of him is glad that those that did this to him will be punished.  He decides that he isn’t going to ask questions, he is just going to let the situation play out the way it is supposed to.  If those responsible get tortured, beaten, or killed, so be it.  Patrick deserves that much.  This is prison.  This is the one time where knowing someone with power in a gang might actually work in his and Patrick’s favor and he is totally ok with that.

               Once the tension in the room has been broken, everyone returns to what they were doing before Patrick woke up.  Joe goes back to sitting in the chair on the left of Patrick’s bed, wiping tears off his face as they fall, holding Patrick’s hand.  Gabe is sitting on the right side of Patrick’s bed deep in thought, thinking of ideas of what to do to those responsible and how to go about doing that.  Brad returns to his chair in the corner across from Patrick’s bed scrolling through his phone. 

               They all stay until the visiting hours are over.  Then Joe and Gabe are escorted back to their cells by Brad.  Joe gets dropped off first.  Brad pushes the button to open Joe’s cell door, Joe steps in and Brad closes the door behind him and leaves to take Gabe to his cell.  Joe is so exhausted after all of that, that he just walks to his bed, climbs up and passes out for the remainder of the night.

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               Brad then takes Gabe back to his cell for the evening. 

               “Do you want me to close the door, or are you going to need me to “forget” to close it?”  Brad asks.

               “You can close it.  I can always make another guard open it if I need to leave for some reason.  I’m still thinking about how we are going to strike back at the Nuestra Familia.  I don’t really want to start an all-out gang war, but I will if I must, in order to avenge Sugar’s attack.  I will think more about it tonight and jot down my thoughts and ideas.  We will come up with more of a plan tomorrow.  We will strike back swiftly though.  I will see to that.  Now, I want you to return to sickbay and watch over Sugar for the rest of the time he is there, which sounds like it may be a few days.  We don’t want one of the Nuestra Familia coming back to finish the job.  One of us can give him more of our blood to help him heal faster, but since we can’t give him enough to make him hallucinate, he will probably still require the surgeries Dr. Smith mentioned.  It does sound like Sugar will be in surgery for a good portion of the morning, possibly into the afternoon.  If his friends would like to visit, allow them to.”  Gabe orders.

               “Ok, Boss.  When I submit his statement and the paperwork, the warden will find out about the attack.  I think it’s still important that he at least knows about it.  He will most likely let the gangs handle retribution on their own, like he usually does.”  Brad said.

               “That’s a good point, Brad.  Submit the paperwork and his statement through the normal channels.  If the warden chooses to punish some of those responsible, which I would be very surprised if he did, we will tweak our plans accordingly.  Now get your ass back to sick bay and make sure no more harm comes to Sugar.”  Gabe commands.

               “Yes, sir.  I will protect him, make sure no one harms him, and watch over him.”  Brad says as he turns and heads back to sick bay.

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               When Patrick wakes up early the next morning, all the pain comes flooding back.  His head is still pounding and feels like it is going to explode, the room is still spinning, and his body hurts so much that he can barely move.  He’s not sure, but he thinks he may feel a very tiny bit better.  He’s still a little foggy and confused from the drugs, so he doesn’t immediately remember why he is in so much pain.  As the fog lifts though, he remembers everything and that makes him want to vomit.  He is able to stop himself from puking though.  He runs his hands over his face and notices that all his piercings are missing.  He still feels the one in his tongue, but the rest are gone.  Once that sinks in, Patrick kind of panics.  Fuck!  They probably had to remove them to do the MRI of my head.  Why didn’t they put them back in?  Gabe ordered and compelled me to not remove them!  He’s going to punish me for taking them out!  Patrick hears the heart monitor that he is hooked up to begin to beep faster and faster and alarms go off.  His breathing picked up and he felt pain and tightness in his chest.  I’m having a panic attack and I need to calm down.  Deep breaths Patrick.  It takes a minute, but he but he manages to calm down, his heart rate begins to return to normal, the alarms stop and the beeping returns to normal.  He takes a deep breath before making eye contact with the nurse that is currently checking his vitals and she seems a little concerned, but she smiles at him.  Patrick smiles back as best he can.

               “Nurse, would you mind getting Dr. Smith for me?”  He asks her.

               “Yes, of course.”  She says as she leaves to go get Spencer.

               Spencer walks in shortly after that.

               “Good morning, Patrick!  I’m glad you are awake.  Are you ok?  The nurse said that your heart rate and breathing just spiked and set off the alarms.”  Spencer asks.

               “Um…yeah about that.  Where did my piercings go?  I mean, I hate them, but I was specifically ordered to not remove them without his permission.  If he catches me without them, I will be    horribly punished when I get out of here!”  Patrick asks as his heart rate starts to pick up again.

               “As I’m sure you know, we had to remove them to do the MRI of your head.  I instructed the nurse to put them back in afterward, but she said that your face was so swollen that she couldn’t get them back in, except the one in your tongue.  She placed them in a small container next to your bed.”  Spencer explains.

               “Has he seen me without them?  Yesterday was kind of a whirlwind and I was in so much pain that I didn’t even notice it then.”  Patrick asks.

               “Yes, he has.  He asked about them as well.”  Spencer answers.

               “Fuck!  He’s going to punish me so much for this!  What am I going to do?  He burned my skin off with the last punishment.  If this one is worse, I may not survive it!”  Patrick comments as his breathing and heart rate continue increasing and set off the alarms again and the pain and tightness in his chest returns.

               “Patrick, you’re having a panic attack, and you need to calm down.  I know you are scared, but you are going to have a stroke.  If you can’t calm down, I will need to sedate you.  Come on.  Deep breaths.  In and out, in and out, again, again.”  Spencer coaches.

               Patrick concentrates on his breathing and is able to calm himself down.  His breathing and heart rate returned to normal, and the chest pain and tightness were gone.

               “I take it that was what you were thinking about when your heart rate went nuts before?  You panicked?”  Spencer asks.

               “Yeah.”  Patrick replies.

               “I know I’m not the one experiencing these things, but just know that you are safe here.  He can’t harm you here.  Try not to think about it right now.  You need to focus on healing and getting better.  Speaking of which, we will be doing two surgeries today.  How are you feeling otherwise?”  Spencer asks.

               “Absolutely awful.  The second I woke up all the pain came back.  My head doesn’t feel any better either.  Can you give me some more pain medication?”  Patrick asks.

               “I can give you a small amount.  You need to be prepped for surgery.  We will do the less complicated surgery first to repair the damage from the stab wounds.  It shouldn’t take more than three hours.  After that, we will wake you up to make sure that you are good.  Once the specialist gets here, we will be doing the second, much more complicated surgery to repair the damage on the inside of your anus.  You will be in surgery for most of the day.”  Spencer answers. 

               “So that means no food or drink right now, right?”  Patrick asks.

               “Yes.  Let me grab the morphine and give you enough to take the edge off.  I will give you a much larger dose when we are finished with the surgeries.  Nurse, please prepare Patrick for surgery.  We will begin as soon as I am ready.”  Spencer says.

               “Yes, doctor.”  She replies.

               She goes about prepping Patrick for surgery.  They go over his medical history, any medications he is on, and change him into a clean gown.  Then the Anesthesiologist comes to discuss any previous issues he might have had in the past.  Patrick tells him that the last time he had surgery, the anesthesia made him sick, so the Anesthesiologist makes that note, to adjust the amount to counteract this.  Spencer finally comes in to discuss what he will be doing during the first surgery.  After that, they wheel Patrick’s bed into the Operating Room, help him get onto the surgical table, put him to sleep and intubate him.  Spencer then begins the first surgery.

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               Andy is sitting at his desk the morning after Patrick’s attack, eating his breakfast from Brendon’s shop.  After he is finished, he starts going over some of the paperwork that is sitting on his desk.  He really hates paperwork, but it needs to be done so he continues going through it for a while.  He is about to take a break when he comes across what appears to be an official document discussing an attack that happened to an inmate yesterday.  He also has the recording of the inmate’s statement that was emailed to him today.  Things might’ve just gotten more interesting today.  He starts reading the document in greater detail.  It appears that it was a brutal attack done as some kind of punishment for disrespecting some members of the Nuestra Familia.  Great!  The things that happen with that particular gang are generally very violent!  Yay for me!   As he reads more of the details, he becomes increasingly more horrified by the amount of violence and force used on the inmate that was involved.  Who was the inmate that was involved?  He appears to have glossed over that part when he was reading the report.  He goes back to the beginning of the report, looking for the place where it states who was involved.  When he finds it, he reads the name and is in absolute shock.  The name reads Inmate Dr. Patrick Stump.  Oh my God!  It lists some other names of the gang members involved, but Andy isn’t interested in them right now.  He is too busy focusing on and hoping that he read the wrong name.  He checks it again, and the inmate involved was Dr. Stump.  Fuck!!!!!!  It said that he and Guard Hunter were ambushed on their way back to Patrick’s cell from Andy’s office.  He begins reading the report over again and in much greater detail than before.  He is horrified by what he reads.  Poor Patrick!  He didn’t deserve that kind of punishment!  He continues reading only to find that after the attack, he went missing for many hours.  When Alex found him, he was in really bad shape.  He had bruises from head to toe, there were bite marks all over him, his wrists and ankles were cuffed together and causing bleeding wounds, he had been stabbed several times, and he was lying in a puddle of his own blood, barely alive. 

               Holy Shit!  It wasn’t until after he was taken to sick bay that the true extent of his injuries was found.  He had a massive concussion, he had been terribly and brutally beaten, and apparently, he had been raped, probably by multiple people.  Dr. Smith even had to do a rape kit on him.  Once an MRI of his bottom was done, Dr. Smith found massive amounts of damage to his insides.  Andy found himself getting very angry about this.  He knows that he must stay as impartial as he can, but dammit, Patrick was his friend!  Now, he had to do the part that he’s been dreading the most since finding out the victim was Patrick.  He must listen to his statement.  He takes a few deep breaths to center himself before he brings up the file on his computer.  He finds it and opens the file.  He tried to prepare himself for what he was about to hear, but he knew it would be awful.  He takes a deep breath and presses play on the recording.

                He listens to the whole thing, with Patrick’s wrecked voice crying and struggling to get through it.  It makes him both very angry, disturbed, and sad.  He feels the tears in his eyes flow down his cheeks, and by the end, he grabs his garbage can near his desk and vomits in it.  He was not prepared for what he just heard.  Jesus!  Poor Patrick was raped thirty-three times for over almost three hours?  I can’t imagine the amount of pain that he went through!  Actually, there was a word for that that he didn’t ever want to say in regard to Patrick.  He was gangbanged, all because Patrick had run into them by accident.  This just made him angrier, while he was crying at the same time.  He hadn’t felt anything like this in quite a while, so he decided to take the time and feel all those feelings.  He feels the bile coming up again, grabs the garbage can and vomits in it again.  He sat there for probably at least an hour going between extreme anger and horrible sadness before he felt calmed down enough to function again.

               The first thing he thought of was to go visit Patrick, so he called sick bay to ask if it was a good time, and the nurse said that both Patrick and Dr. Smith were in surgery to fix the damage from the stab wounds.  They also said that there was a second, more involved surgery scheduled with a specialist for later this afternoon to fix the huge amount of damage to his anus, but that they planned to wake him up in between.  He asked to please be called when he is awake between surgeries, so that he could visit him, before he leaves to go home for the day.  The nurse said that they would inform him when he was awake.  He hangs up the phone with more force than he probably needed.  He is upset and frustrated.  He takes a second to calm down.

              The next thing he must focus on was how he was going to handle this.  He usually just lets the gangs take care of punishments and payback among each other.  Should he just do that?  He isn’t sure.  If it was any other inmate, other than Patrick, that is what he would do.  This time, he wanted to make them suffer for hurting his friend.  It sounds like from the report, that the Nuestra Familia would have to deal with the Latin Kings, and a gang war between them could get ugly.  He resolves to take some more time and think about this one.  He couldn’t possibly put all thirty-three men in solitary or the hole.  Maybe he just punishes this Earnesto guy and the leader, Jesus?  He takes a deep breath and decides that he isn’t in a clear enough headspace to make this decision right now.  Right now, he would act on his emotions instead of fully thinking it through.  He agrees that he needs to step away from this, go visit Patrick, and come back to it with a clear head, so he chooses to continue with the massive amount of paperwork that is sitting on his desk for the time being.

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               Gabe is still sitting on his bed in his cell the next morning.  He has made many notes about how he wants to proceed in punishing the Nuestra Familia gang for hurting Sugar.  His first thoughts are that he plans to torture Earnesto and Jesus to the point that they suffer as much as Sugar did.  He doesn’t have that completely figured out yet though.  He has a wonderful idea that would be very satisfying, he just needs to see if someone is willing to help him.  Then he plans to kill them both.  He also has a plan for severely punishing the men that were part of Earnesto’s group.  He decided that he would round up all the vampires in the prison that he knows of and release them on the men.  They would be instructed to use whatever powers they had to make it as painful as possible and then feeding on them, but they must keep them alive.  He knew Brad would enjoy that, since he can suck the life force of a human.  He might even instruct the vampires to rape the men, just as they had raped Sugar.  As far as the rest of the gang that wasn’t completely involved, he hadn’t come up with a plan for them just yet.  He would call a gang meeting to discuss this and invite their ideas.  He has decided that he is not going to start an all-out gang war.  He is simply going to show them the same courtesy that they showed Sugar and make them suffer a good amount of pain, among other things.  He doesn’t plan on decimating the gang.  Since they are already expecting him, he will be the one to torture Earnesto and Jesus and eventually kill them.  He finds that idea very satisfying.  He LOVES torturing people and has some amazing ideas on how he will go about it!

               His thoughts are broken by Brad arriving to open the cell door, so they can talk somewhere more privately.  It will be a quick meeting though because he wants Brad back in sick bay with Sugar.

               “Morning Gabe!”  Brad says.

               “Morning Brad.  We have a lot to discuss.”  Gabe answers.

Gabe nods his head in the direction of their meeting room.  Brad seems to get the message.

              “Inmate Saporta.  I have been asked to take you to a meeting with your lawyer.”  Brad states.

              Gabe smiles, knows that he doesn’t have a lawyer, but he appreciates the effort.

              “Lead the way, Guard Brad.”  Gabe says.

              Brad pushes the button to close Gabe’s cell door, and then they turn to leave, heading toward their meeting room.

              When they get there, Brad unlocks the door, lets Gabe in and then closes and locks the door behind him.  There are no windows in this room, so they don’t have to worry about being seen together.

               “What is the latest news with Sugar?”  Gabe asks.

               “He woke up this morning in a ton of pain.  Stump noticed that his piercings were gone, and he freaked out because he was worried that you would punish him for removing them.  His heart rate spiked, and it appeared he was having a panic attack.  He was able to calm down, but it took a while.  When Spencer asked him about it, he panicked again.  His breathing and heart rate spiked to the point that Spencer said if he couldn’t calm down, that he would have to sedate him.  Spencer coached him through the panic attack and calmed him down.  Then he asked Stump how he felt. He said that his head was pounding so much that it felt like it was going to explode, the room was still spinning, and he was having trouble focusing on things because he kept seeing halos around everything.  Dr. Smith gave him enough pain medication to take the edge off before having the nurse prepare him for the first surgery to fix the damage that the stab wounds had caused.  They are both in surgery right now.  I overheard a phone call with a nurse and most likely Andy asking when it would be a good time to visit Stump.  They said he was in surgery right now, but they planned to wake him up after this surgery for a bit while they clean the Operating Room and prepare it for the next surgery.  They are also still waiting for the specialist to come.  They can’t do the second surgery without them.  I would say that Andy is going to visit him then.  I can tell you when he leaves if you would like to visit him as well.”  Brad informs.

             “He has every right to worry about that.  I do plan to pierce them all again at the same time on top of punishing him for removing them.  I'm just not sure what that punishment will be quite yet though.  I would like to visit him to see how he is doing.  You may also ask Mr. Trohman to come at that time if he would like.  Which reminds me.  I need to discuss something with Mr. Trohman privately.  You are allowed to be there, but no one else and we need a room to meet in.  Can you take care of that?”  Gabe asks.

             “Yes.  I can take him to a room after shower time if you would like.  Or I can bring him after breakfast, whichever is better for you.  I did have a question for you, Gabe.  Since Stump is in sick bay recovering and he isn’t available for feedings, how would you like to handle that?  You and I still must feed.  Should we just choose someone else for the time being, or did you have a plan?”  Brad asks.

             Gabe thinks for a second before he answers.

             “I don’t currently have a plan in place for that, so I would say, go feed on someone else whose blood tastes the way you want it to.  Do compel them to forget though!  We don’t need any extra attention right now, especially since we will be going after the Nuestra Familia gang.”  Gabe responds.

             “Ok.  I will boss.  You don’t need to worry about that.  Have you come up with a plan for how we are going to retaliate yet?”  Brad asks.

             “I have plans for most of it, but I am open to ideas.  I will tell you what I have first and then you can include any ideas that you might have.  First off, I plan on torturing Earnesto and Jesus.  I will draw it out and make it as painful as possible, so they suffer like Sugar did.  Once I feel like they have sufficiently suffered, then I will kill them both.”  Gabe states.

             “Oooo!  Before you continue, can I help with that part?  When I use my power of sucking a human’s life force, it is incredibly painful to the human.  If I do it while I’m angry, it will be even more painful!  I can even do it a few times to each one to help prolong their suffering.  Please?”  Brad asks.

             “Would you also be ok with raping them both multiple times, because that is part of the plan for them as well?”  Gabe asks.

             “I don’t see why not!  Would we tag-team it?”  Brad asks.

             “Most likely, yes, but we could also switch off.”  Gabe answers.

             “That sounds like so much fun!!!!  I’m so in!!!!”  Brad says with a sinister smile on his face.

             “Alright.  I may also need your help with other things I have planned.  For the men that were part of Earnesto’s team, and raped Sugar, my thought was to round up all the vampires we know of in the prison and release them on those men.  They would be instructed to use whatever vampiric powers they have to cause them immense pain, including feeding on them, and raping them, but they must be kept alive, and compel them to forget that they are vampires.  They will leave all other memories of the tortures they suffer alone.  We must protect ourselves though.  I haven’t decided if I want to kill all the men just yet.  They were following orders, so that is a topic that is open for discussion.  Finally, for the other members of the gang that were not directly involved in Sugar’s attack, I also haven’t decided what I would like to do with them yet.  That is another topic that is open for discussion.  I plan to call a gang meeting later this afternoon to go over my plans with them.  I do not want to start an all-out gang war.  That is why we are doing things this way, instead of just declaring war and decimating the gang to nothing.”  Gabe informs.

             “That all sounds great, Gabe.  I did have one other question.  When I’m rounding up the vampires in the prison, if we don’t have enough to handle that many men, would you be ok if I brought some in from the outside and dressed them as inmates?  We would pay those vampires.”  Brad asks.

             “That’s a very good question, Brad!  Let’s start with rounding up the vampires in prison and see how many we have first.  If it turns out we don’t have enough, then I will consider having you bring in some from the outside.  Now, I want you to get back to sick bay and watch over Sugar as much as you can.  You may work on these other things while he is in surgery.  I will also let you know when and where the gang meeting is and when it will be so that you can attend.  Do you have any further questions?”  Gabe explains.

             “Not really.  You said that one or both of us can feed Stump our blood in small amounts to help him heal faster, right?  What about the heroin you’ve been giving him?”  Brad asks.

             “Yes, but be discreet.  Make sure no one sees you.  I can’t give him the heroin right now while he is on high-dose painkillers.  If I do, it might cause him to overdose, so we will wait until he isn’t on such a high dose of morphine.”  Gabe replies.

             “Ok boss.  Do you want me to return you to your cell, so no one suspects anything?”  Brad asks.

             Gabe thinks about it for a minute.

             “Yes, that would probably be best.  I expect updates on Sugar’s condition, when he is awake, and on your progress with the other plans.”  Gabe says.

             “Yes boss.  Let me unlock the door and then I will escort you back to your cell after your meeting with your lawyer.”  Brad says.

             Brad unlocks the door, then grabs Gabe’s arm, and leads him back to his cell.  He presses the button to open the door, Gabe steps in, and then he presses the button again to close the door.  Finally, he leaves and heads back to sick bay.

Chapter Text

Chapter 39

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Mentions of Rape*******

               Spencer walks out of the Operating Room.  The surgery was a success!  The damage from the stab wounds turned out to be a bit worse than he was expecting, but he was able to repair everything.  Patrick is going to be in even more pain from it for a while though.  Once Patrick is brought out of the anesthesia, Spencer will give him a much higher dose of morphine, so he is more comfortable between surgeries.  Patrick is moved from the surgical table to a mobile bed and is taken to the recovery room.  Spencer changes his scrubs, orders the nurses to clean and set up the OR for the next surgery, and returns to his office.  The nurse informs him that the warden called, and he’d like to visit Patrick once he is awake.  He must’ve read the report of the attack and listened to Patrick’s statement.  It was probably hard for him to hear.  He was good friends with Patrick before he was imprisoned.  He will call him once Patrick is awake.  Besides, he is still waiting for the specialist to arrive.  He checks his phone for any messages from him.  There is one from his nurse that said that Dr. Franz got held up in emergency surgery at the hospital, so he will be at least two hours later than he was supposed to be there.  It also says that they will send updates as they get them.  Spencer puts his phone away after that.  That’s ok.  We aren’t on a specific time schedule.  This will give Patrick more time to recover from this surgery before they start the second, much longer, and much more involved surgery.  

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               Patrick is in the recovery room after his surgery.  The Anesthesiologist is there with him.  They just injected the medication to wake him up into his IV.  It will take a few minutes before he wakes up.

               Patrick feels super foggy and super tired.  He feels like there is a weighted blanket sitting on top of his brain, weighing his whole body down.  He’s felt this feeling before.  He knows he must be waking up from the surgery or he is slowly regaining consciousness.  He waits a few minutes, and a layer of the super heavy fog seems to lift.  He remembers where he is and some of what is happening, but he’s still too tired to wake up.  Another few minutes pass, and another layer of fog lifts.  He feels himself one step closer to waking up, but he isn’t quite there yet.  His appendages still feel too heavy to lift, so he waits a little longer.  Another layer of fog lifts, then another.  He feels like he is getting closer to waking up.  He just needs a little more time and a few more layers of fog to lift before he can start trying to open his eyes.  He has no concept of time in this state, but it feels like a good amount of time has passed and his brain is much clearer.  He feels tingling in his appendages, which means they are regaining feeling.  He’s almost there, just a few more minutes!  He finally feels the last layer of fog lift and decides he needs to try and open his eyes.  He puts half of his strength into opening his eyes, but they don’t open.  He waits for what feels like a few more minutes and then puts everything he has into opening his eyes.  He is surprised when his eyes open and he is staring at the ceiling.  He turns his head to the right and sees a nurse sitting next to him.

               “Welcome back, Patrick!  How do you feel?”  She asks.

               Patrick thinks for a second.  He really hasn’t been paying attention to how he feels, he was just trying to wake up.  All the pain comes roaring back, but there is a lot of new pain in his lower abdomen.  He’s not sure why.  Then he remembers that he just had surgery in that area because he had been stabbed several times.  He doesn’t feel like he has a ton of control over his mouth and speaking just yet.

               “It hurts!”  Patrick spits out.

               “You just had surgery.  I will go get Dr. Smith.”  She says.

               She stands up and walks out of the recovery room into Spencer’s office.

               “Dr. Smith, Patrick is awake.  The first thing he said was ‘it hurts’.”  She informs him.

               “Alright, Clara.  Let’s go see him.”  Spencer says as he grabs his white coat and walks to the recovery room.

               Patrick is indeed awake, and he is visibly in a lot of pain.

               “Hey Patrick.  The surgery was a success.  The damage was a little worse than I expected, but I was able to repair everything.  How do you feel?”  Spencer asks.

               “It hurts!”  Patrick responds.

               “Ok.  Where does it hurt?”  Spencer asks.

               “Everywhere.  More pain in my lower abdomen.”  Patrick replies.

               “Yes.  The damage was worse than we thought.  You will be in more pain for a few days while you heal.”  Spencer says.

               “Meds, please?”  Patrick asks.

               “What is your pain number on a scale of 1-10?  10 being the worst pain you’ve ever felt.”  Spencer asks.

               “9.5.”  Patrick answers.

               “Ok.  I will be right back.”  Spencer says as he walks out of the room.

               He comes back with the bottle of morphine.

               “There are some people that would like to see you, so I can’t give you the full dose because you will fall asleep.  I will give you about a third of it, and I will give you the rest once they leave.”  Spencer states.

               “Ok.”  Patrick says.

               Spencer measures out the correct dose and injects it into Patrick’s IV.  It takes a few minutes, but Patrick starts to feel it working.  His pain is getting better.  It is also making him a bit loopy. 

               “Clara, please keep an eye on him.  Make sure he is producing urine in his catheter bag and drinks a few sips of water without vomiting before returning him to his room.  He can’t have any food though since we must do another surgery today.  He can eat after that one.  Once he can do those things, you may return him to his room.”  Spencer orders.

               “Yes, doctor.”  Clara responds.

               She steps out of the room and goes to grab a small glass of water.  It’s not much, just a small dixie cup of water, but he can’t have too many liquids because of the second surgery.  Then she returns to Patrick’s bedside in the recovery room and sets it on the table that fits over the top of the bed.

               “Patrick, Dr. Smith would like you to take a few small sips of water to see how it sits.  Can you sit up a little bit yet?  I just don’t want you to choke on it because you are lying down.”   Clara says. 

               Patrick tries to scoot up a little on the recovery bed, but it is too painful for him to sit up fully.

               “No.  It hurts too much.  Is the back of this bed adjustable at all?”  He asks.

               “Yes, but it only has three settings.  Do you want to try the lowest setting?”  She asks.

               “We can try it.”  Patrick answers.

               Clara calls for another nurse to help her make the adjustment.

               “Ok.  I need you to hold Sebastien’s hands and he is going to pull you up enough that I can make the adjustment.  This is going to hurt while he does this.”  Clara explains.

               Patrick shakes his head yes, even though it just makes his head hurt more.

               “Ready?  On three.  One, two, three!”  She says as Sebastien pulls him up and forward.

               “Ugh!!!!!!”  Patrick screams.

               It is over quickly, and he is allowed to lay back down.  Clara pushes the table over his bed and hands him the small cup of water.

               “Take a few small sips.  We need to see how that sits with you.  We can’t give you too much since you are having another surgery later today.  I’m going to check your catheter bag to make sure you are producing urine.”  She instructs.

               Patrick takes three small sips of water and sets the cup down on the table in front of him.  The morphine is helping quite a bit, but he is still very sore.  He looks down at his arms and notices that some of the bruises and bite marks are gone.  I wonder if Brad or Gabe gave me small amounts of their blood to help me heal faster.  There are still plenty of bruises, bite marks, and choke marks left though.  Patrick lays back on his bed and turns on the TV in the recovery room for a while. 

               “How is the water sitting with you?  Do you feel sick or nauseous?”  Sebastien asks.

               “Fine.  I feel sick and nauseous, but that’s from the massive concussion I have.”  Patrick answers.

               “Alright.  Let me ask Clara, but I’m pretty sure we can return you to your room and you can have visitors.”  He says as he goes to find the female nurse he was working with.

               He comes back shortly after leaving with a smile on his face.

               “I have good news!  You can return to your room now.  I will wheel you back on this bed and then help you get into yours.”  Sebastien says as he takes the brakes off the bed and begins moving it toward Patrick’s private room.

               Patrick just lays there while Sebastien moves him back to his room.  When they get there, Sebastien lines up the bed he is currently in with the bed in the room, which appears to have been cleaned, the sheets were changed, and there were fresh pillows where his butt would lay.

               “Ok Patrick.  Do you think you can sit up, stand, and move to the other bed if I help you?”  He asks.

               “I think so.  I might scream when you lift me up, though.”  Patrick replies.

               “That’s totally fine.  I can’t imagine how much pain you are in right now.”  Sebastien comments.

               He puts the brakes on in his current bed.  Then Sebastien pulls the covers off him, swings his legs around, helps him get to a sitting position, then sits, and puts Patrick’s arm over his shoulder again.  He counts to three and then stands up. 

               “Ahhh!”  Patrick screams.

               Sebastien gives him a minute before walking him over to the bed and sitting him down on the bed in Patrick’s room.  Then he picks up Patrick’s legs and swings them around so Patrick can lay down.

               “Is that comfortable enough for you?”  He asks.

               “It’s about as good as it’s going to get for now.  Thank you.”  Patrick responds.

               “You’re welcome.  Do you need anything else?”  Sebastien asks.

               Patrick smiles.  “No, I think I’m good for now.  I will press the button if I need something.”  He says.

               “Ok.  I’m just a button press away.”  He says and leaves the room.

               Patrick is absolutely exhausted, and still in a ton of pain.  He feels like he could sleep for a year and still be tired.  He turns on the TV in his room and watches it in his semi-drugged state.

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               Sebastien walks into Spencer’s office.

               “Hello Doctor. Patrick is now resting in his bed in his private room.”  He says.

               “Thank you, Sebastien.  Do you think he is ready for visitors?  Dr. Franz got held up in emergency surgery at the hospital and will be a few hours late.  The warden asked that we inform him when Patrick is awake and ready for visitors.”  Spencer asks.

               “I think it is about as good as it is going to be.  He’s still in a lot of pain.  He’s only going to get more tired as the day goes on.  I’d say have his visitors come early so he can rest until the next surgery.” Sebastien answers.

               “Alright.  That sounds good.  Please excuse me now.  I need to call the warden.”  Spencer states.

               “Yes, doctor.”  Sebastien says and leaves the room.

               Spencer dials the number for Andy’s office.  It rings a few times before his secretary answers the phone.

               “Warden’s office.  How may I direct your call?”  She asks.

               “Hello Wendy.  This is Dr. Smith.  Is Andy available?”  Spencer says.

               “Hello Spencer.  Hang on, let me check.  I’m going to put you on hold for a minute, ok?”  Wendy says.

               Spencer just sits and waits on the other line.  Wendy came back a few minutes later.

               “Are you still there, Spencer?  He was on a call, but now he is available.  I’ll transfer you now.”  Wendy informs. 

               It rings a few times before Andy picks up.

               “Warden Hurley.”  Andy says when he picks up.

               “Hello Andy, it’s Spencer.”  Spencer says.

               “Hey Spencer, what’s up?”  Andy asks.

               “I got a message saying that you wanted to know when Patrick was out of surgery and awake.  I’m calling to tell you that he is awake and resting in his room until Dr. Franz arrives and we are ready to do the second surgery he is scheduled for.  You may come see him now.  He’s still in a lot of pain and is getting more tired, so I would suggest you come earlier rather than later.”  Spencer tells him.

               “Ok. Thank you for letting me know.  I will be there shortly.  We can discuss his condition more when I get there.”  Andy says.

               “Ok.  That sounds good.  See you in a little while.”  Spencer says and hangs up the phone.

               Then he goes back to reading more about the surgery that he and Dr. Franz will be doing later today.

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               Andy hangs up the phone.  It’s time to go see him.  He tries to prepare himself for what he is about to see, but he honestly doesn’t know what to expect.  He takes a deep breath and lets it out.  Then he stands, grabs his taser just in case, and steps out of his office.

               “Wendy, if you need me, I will be in sick bay.  I have my phone if you need to get in touch with me.  I will return in an hour.”  Andy tells Wendy.

               “Sounds good.  I will text you if anything important comes up that can’t wait.”  She says with a smile.

               “Thanks, Wendy.”  He says as he walks out the door of his office.

               There is a different guard standing there since Hunter was out on medical leave for his injuries from the attack.

               “Hello, guard.  What is your name?”  Andy asks.

               “Hello, sir.  My name is Daniel.”  Daniel answers.

               “Hello, Daniel.  Would you mind escorting me to sick bay?”  Andy asks.

               “No, sir.  Are you ready to go now?”  Daniel asks.

               “Yes.  Please proceed and lead the way.”   Andy replies.

               “Yes, sir.”  Daniel answers.

               Daniel begins walking in the direction of sick bay.  It is a mostly quiet walk.

               “Is there someone in sick bay you plan on visiting?”  Daniel asks.

               “Yes.  An inmate was brutally attacked yesterday, so I’m going to visit him.”  Andy responds.

               “That is very nice of you, sir.”  Daniel comments.

               “I kind of owe him that much.”  Andy says.

               They continue walking there in silence.  It isn’t long before they reach the doors of sick bay.

               “You may wait for me out here, Daniel.”  Andy says before he enters sick bay.

               “Yes, sir.  I will wait here.” Daniel comments.

               Andy smiles at him and enters sick bay.  He then goes directly to Spencer’s office and closes the door. 

               “How is he?”  Andy asks.

               “He is in very rough shape.  His whole body is covered with bruises, bite marks and there are choke marks around his neck where some of the men choked him while raping him.  I’m guessing you read the report and listened to his statement already.  It was a savage and brutal attack.  They went for maximum pain and suffering.  I can’t even imagine how much pain he felt.  It must’ve been off the charts.  Especially after seeing the MRI of his anus.  They basically tore him apart from the inside out.  I’m actually surprised he survived that, to be honest.  He was raped by thirty-three people in the course of a few hours.  He was stabbed five times in the lower abdomen.  I fixed the damage from them this morning.  When I went in, the damage was worse than I thought, but we were able to repair it.  He also has a massive concussion.  It’s not enough to cause brain damage, but it is still very bad.  We are just waiting on Dr. Franz to do the second, longer and much more involved and invasive surgery.  If I were you, I would prepare yourself before you go into his room.  It is not a sight, that you ever wanted to see poor Patrick in.”  Spencer informs him.

               Andy is listening to Spencer explain Patrick’s condition to him and it is taking everything he has in him not to break down and cry.  Especially when he said the last part about preparing himself before he entered the room.  He is still very angry about what happened to his friend under his watch.  He feels somewhat responsible because if he hadn’t called Patrick to his office that day, this attack wouldn’t have happened.  When Spencer stops talking, he knows he needs to say something.

               “I’m going to level with you, Spencer.  I’m angry, sad, and frustrated.  How could this have happened, under my watch?  I didn’t even find out about it until this morning.  He was kidnapped, gangbanged, beaten, drugged, stabbed, and left for dead, in a pool of his own blood, and I didn’t even find out about it until today.  He could have died!  Thank God that Alex found him when he did!  I’ve been thinking about this all day, and I don’t even know how to handle this.  Patrick told me not to help him in any way.  He said it would make things a billion times worse for him if I did.  Then this happens, and I’m so angry about it.  I feel like I can’t even make a good decision.  I’m too close to this.  If I made a decision right now, I would be acting on my emotions, not logical thought, but there is no one else to make this decision.  What should I do, Spencer?”  Andy asks.

               “First off, I agree.  You are way too close to this to make an informed decision.  Secondly, considering everything that happened, he was very lucky.  I found no internal bleeding except in his ass, which I was expecting to find given how badly he was beaten and raped, and the stab wounds didn’t hit anything super important.  Yes, he could’ve died.  I’m actually quite surprised he survived that kind of brutal attack.  However, it isn’t the first or even the last time that he has had brushes with death in here.  It’s prison Andy!  There are so many terrible people here that have done unspeakable things and will continue to act on those instincts.  You don’t get to experience these things first-hand.  I do!  As far as how you handle this, Patrick is right.  The more you interfere, trying to help him, the worse it will get for him on the inside.  He’s already been through A LOT in the six days he’s been here.  Patrick has been claimed and marked by someone in the Latin Kings gang.  If it were me, I would sit back and let the gangs handle whatever kind of justice, retribution, and punishments they see fit for something like this, but that is just me.”  Spencer says.

               “Those are very good points, Spencer.  I will take them into consideration.  May I see Patrick now?”  Andy asks.

               “Yes.  He is in private room one.  Would you like me to accompany you?  I do need to check on him, since it has been a while.  Spencer asks.

               “Sure.  What exactly should I prepare myself to see?  Andy asks.

               “Well, you have already seen him recently, so you have seen all the tattoos and piercings.  We did have to remove the piercings so that we could do an MRI of his head and the nurse couldn’t get them back in, except the one through his tongue, because his face was too swollen.  Imagine him black and blue from head to toe.  There are bite marks all over his body too.  Just prepare yourself for the worst, and it will be close enough.  Are you ready?”  Spencer asks.

               “As ready as I’m going to be, I guess.  Lead the way.”  Andy says.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Patrick is feeling pretty loopy from all of the drugs he’s been given.  He’s sitting there watching some kid’s cartoon on the Disney Channel called Spidey and his Amazing Friends, and he is thoroughly enjoying it.  He kind of feels like he’s moderately drunk, but super happy and silly drunk, which is making this cartoon even more entertaining!  The bad guys are so cliché and over the top, it’s hilarious!  He’s just laughing his ass off.  That is, until Spencer pokes his head in.

               “Hey Patrick.  How are feeling?”  Spencer asks.

               “Pretty horrible, but I feel pretty happy from all of the drugs!”  Patrick answers speaking slowly with the lisp and slurring his words from the drugs and the concussion.

               Hey!  At least he’s honest.

               “There is someone here to see you.  Do you feel up for having visitors?”  Spencer asks.

               “That depends on who it is.  If it’s Gabe or Brad, then no, probably not.  If it’s Joe or Dan, then yes.  Please don’t kill my buzz!”  Patrick says.

               “It’s not Gabe or Brad.  I will tell them to come in.”  Spencer says.

               Patrick hopes he isn’t lying.  He’s really not in the mood for that right now.  He is very surprised though when Andy walks in.

               “Andy?  What are you doing here?”  Patrick asks.

               “Hey Patrick.  I heard about your attack, and I wanted to come and see how you were doing.”  Andy says.

               “You read the report, and listened to my statement?”  Patrick asks.

               “Yes.  It was horrible and disturbing to say the least.  I’m so sorry this happened to you!  No one deserves what you went through.  I can’t even imagine how much pain and suffering that you endured.  I feel partially responsible too.  If I hadn’t called you to my office that day, this wouldn’t have happened.  I feel terrible and I’m so angry right now that I would go kill those guys myself for you, but you know I can’t do that.”  Andy responds.

               Patrick panics and his eyes go wide.  “No!  Please don’t do anything!  I beg you!  This has been horrible enough!  Please don’t make it worse for me!  I will have a target on my back if you do!  Please just let the gangs handle this internally!” He screams.

               “Calm down, Patrick.  I heard you when you told me not to help you.  I really wish I could, but I won’t be responsible for causing you more pain and suffering.  So how are you feeling?”  Andy asks.

               “Awful!  My head hurts and feels like it is going to explode, the room is spinning, everything has a halo around it, I’m really sensitive to light, my neck hurts from being choked so many times, and I’m in a fuck ton of pain from everything that happened.  Right now, though, I feel pretty loopy and happy from all the drugs, so that is nice!”  Patrick smiles.

               “Well, I’m glad you are happy right now.  I wish you good luck on your upcoming surgery and your recovery.  I’m glad you are alive and still kicking.  I’m so sorry this happened.  I hope you can forgive me.”  Andy says.

               “This wasn’t your fault, Andy.  It was going to happen either way.  They were planning this, and I knew it was coming.  If it hadn’t happened on my way back from your office, it would’ve happened somewhere else.  There was no way that they were going to let me off the hook for disrespecting them.  They were just waiting until I was not with Joe or Brad.  They saw the opportunity and took it.  It’s as simple as that.”  Patrick informed him.

               Andy smiles.  “I just wish it hadn’t happened at all.  You didn’t deserve this for any reason.  No matter what they said.”  He is starting to lose his composure.

               “I know.”  Patrick says.

               “Well, I will let you rest up for your next surgery.  I will try and visit you tomorrow for a bit longer, ok?”  Andy says as tears are forming in his eyes.

               “Ok.  Thanks for coming to visit me.”  Patrick says.

               “You’re most welcome, Patrick.  It was the least I could do.  Goodbye.”  Andy says as the tears start streaming down his face.

               “Goodbye!”  Patrick says.

               Andy then turns and walks out of the room as quickly as he can before he completely loses it.  Spencer follows him out.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Once he is outside Patrick’s room and safe in Spencer’s office with the door closed, Andy just gives up and falls apart.

               “Oh my God!  He looked horrible and you could tell he was visibly in pain!  All those bruises and bite marks!  That’s not even mentioning the stab wounds and the fact that he almost bled to death!  Jesus!  He looked so sad and helpless!  I can’t believe he was raped so many times and survived!  Now, the poor boy must go through another very long, complicated, and invasive surgery just to fix him!  I feel so bad for him!  This shouldn’t have happened!  Poor Patrick!”  Andy says while crying.

               Spencer comes and embraces him in a hug to comfort him.

               “It’s ok, Andy.  Let it all out.  You are always so strong for everyone.  You don’t have to be strong here.  What happened to him was terrible!  No one should have to go through that, let alone Patrick.  Especially for something as stupid as disrespecting someone.  Don’t worry, Andy.  From the whisperings I have heard, those that did this will be swiftly and painfully dealt with.  Patrick’s attack will be avenged.”  Spencer says.

               Andy sits in Spencer’s office for an hour before he can calm himself down enough to return to work.  He thanks Spencer and then leaves sick bay to find Daniel waiting there for him.  Andy tries to wipe the tears off his face before speaking.

               “Thank you for waiting so long for me.  We can go back to my office now.”  Andy replies.

               “You’re welcome.  Is the inmate, ok?”  Daniel asks.

               “Yes.  He’s ok.  He’s in very rough shape, but he is ok.  Please alter your schedule to take me to sick bay tomorrow.”  Andy states.

               “Yes, sir.  Will do!”  Daniel responds.

               The rest of the walk back to Andy’s office is silent.

               When Andy walks into his office, he sees Wendy sitting at her desk on the phone.  She seems confused.  She puts the person on hold for a minute, looking Andy up and down and seeing he is clearly upset about something.

               “Hello Andy, are you ok?  You look like you’ve been crying.”  Wendy asks.

               Andy almost loses it again but manages to control it for now.

               “Yes.  I just visited an inmate in sick bay, and he was in much worse condition than I was expecting.  Hold my calls for the next half-hour, please.”  Andy says before retreating into his office.

Chapter Text

Chapter 40

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Mentions of Rape*******

               Once Brad sees the warden leave Patrick’s room and sick bay, he called another guard to sick bay to take his place so that he can relay the information to Gabe.  The new guard shows up, Brad orders him to always stay with Stump and protect him if need be.  Then he leaves sick bay, looks at the time, and knows Gabe will be at breakfast in the mess hall.  Before he goes there though, he decides he will go to Trohman’s cell and escort him there, so it looks like he is doing his job and not just going to see Gabe.  When Brad gets there, he bangs on the bars of the cell.

                “Yo!  Trohman!  It’s time for breakfast.  Let’s go!”  Brad yells.

                Trohman hears this and heads toward the front of the cell.  It is obvious that he has been crying for quite a while.  Brad presses the button to open the cell, Trohman steps out, and then he presses the button to close the cell.  Trohman appears to be going through the motions.  His mind is somewhere else entirely.  They walk in silence for most of the way there.  Brad decides to break the awkward tension.

                “I have good news, Trohman.  Your cell mate had one surgery this morning.  Now he is awake and accepting visitors until the specialist comes to perform the second surgery.  Would you like to see him after breakfast?”  Brad asks.

                Trohman looks up at Brad, trying to decide if he is telling the truth.

                “If that is really the case, then yes.  I would like to see him.  If you are just fucking with me just so you can rub it in my face, then no.”  Trohman answers.

                “I’m not fucking with you.  He is awake and taking visitors.  In fact, the Warden just left from there.”  Brad says.

                “Ok.  Yes, I would like to visit him after breakfast.  Can Dan come too?”  Trohman asks.

                 “I don’t see why not.”  Brad replies.

                They continue walking until they reach the mess hall.  Trohman heads to the food line, so Brad goes looking for Gabe.  He looks in the back left corner where Gabe usually hangs out, and he is there talking to his men.  If Brad had to guess, Gabe is explaining his plan for revenge to them.  Brad makes eye contact with Gabe and nods his head in the direction of their meeting room.  Gabe acknowledges Brad, so he heads toward the meeting room.  He will meet Gabe there.  A few minutes later, Gabe enters the room.  Brad closes and locks the door.

                “I’m guessing that you have news about Sugar.”  Gabe says.

                “Yes.  His first surgery went well.  It took a bit longer because when they went in, the damage was worse than Dr. Smith thought there was.  From what I understand, he was able to fix all the damage, but he did say that Stump would be in more pain because of this, as it heals.  Stump is awake and taking visitors.  The Warden visited him earlier.  He seemed pretty broken up about Stump’s condition.  He spent an hour in Dr. Smith’s office before he finally left sick bay to go back to his office.  Now they are waiting for the specialist, Dr. Franz, to show up and then they will do the second surgery.  He got hung up in an emergency surgery at the hospital, so Dr. Smith is estimating that he will be four hours late.  You have until then to visit him.  I also informed Trohman of this and he wants to visit him after breakfast.  He asked if he could bring his friend Dan with him, and I said yes.”  Brad informs him.

                “That’s great news, Brad!  I too would like to visit him after breakfast.  You may escort all of us to sick bay after breakfast.  I want to give him more of my blood in small doses to help him recover quicker.  I’m sure you can find a way to make that happen.”  Gabe says.

                “Yes, boss.  I saw you talking to your men.  Was it about your plan for justice?”  Brad asks.

                “Yes.  I don’t have all the details ironed out yet, but we were discussing their place in those plans.  I will call a gang meeting later today to help finalize everything.  Have you had a chance to figure out how many vampires are currently in the prison?”  Gabe asks.

                “No, not yet.  This second surgery is scheduled to be much longer and more involved than the one this morning.  I will be able to do more research while he is in surgery.”  Brad explains.

                “Alright.  See that you do as soon as possible.  I will let you know when and where the gang meeting will be.  Report back to me when you have more information.  Understood?”  Gabe asks.

                “Yes.  Understood.”  Brad answers.

                “Good.  You’re dismissed.”  Gabe states.

                Brad unlocks the door and leaves the meeting room to go hang out with the other guards.  Gabe waits about fifteen minutes and then leaves and closes the door to the meeting room.  Then he heads back to his table in the back left corner.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                Joe gets his food from the food line and then looks for an empty table.  He really misses Patrick, but it isn’t long before Dan joins him.  Dan looks like he is eager to get any update about Patrick.

                “Hey Joe!  Have you heard any updates on Patrick’s condition?  I feel so terrible about what happened to him.”  Dan asks.

                “I don’t know much.  He was awake and alert last night.  Brad took his statement, and he went back to sleep after Spencer gave him the rest of his pain medication.  He’s in really rough shape.  He was gangbanged by thirty-three people in the gang including, a higher up named Earnesto and the gang leader, Jesus, over the course of a few hours.  They went for maximum pain and suffering.  I can’t imagine how much pain he went through!  When Jesus, the leader, saw the tattoos on his back, neck, and belly and figured out that Patrick had been marked and claimed by Gabe, he lost his shit.  He had Earnesto brought before him to confront him about this.  Earnesto said he had no idea, but Patrick lied and said he had them the day they attacked me and him for the first time.  Then Jesus was trying to figure out what to do with Patrick, who he had drugged and couldn’t move.  Earnesto got mad at Patrick and started beating him more, bouncing his head off the ground several times.  Jesus decided he wanted Patrick’s attack to look random, so he had his guards lift him up while he was unconscious, and he stabbed him five times in the lower abdomen.  Then he had his men dump Patrick in a well-trafficked area where he would be found.  He looks horrible, Dan.  He has a massive concussion; his skin is covered from head to toe in bruises and bite marks.  Some of them even choked him while they had their turn with him, so he has dark bruises around his neck.  The worst part though, is that when Spencer did an MRI on his back side, he found internal bleeding and massive damage to his insides.  They literally tore him apart from the inside out.  He’s in so much pain!  Brad told me he already had one surgery today to fix the damage the stab wounds caused.  They are still waiting on the specialist, Dr. Franz, to get here, so they can start the second surgery.  He also told me that Patrick is awake, and visitors are allowed to visit, so I plan on going right after breakfast.  Brad said you can come too if you want.”  Joe explains.

                Dan looks pretty shocked after hearing more details about what happened.  He doesn’t even know how to comment on that.  The more details he hears, the worse he feels about what happened.

                “Thirty-three times?  How did he survive that?” Dan asks.

                “I don’t know.  Spencer seemed surprised that he survived it too.  He said most people would’ve died from something like that.”  Joe answers.

                “I want to come see him after breakfast too.”  Dan says. 

                “Ok.  You need to prepare yourself for what you are going to see.  You just need to expect the worst.  Then you won’t be surprised.”  Joe instructs.

                “Alright.” Dan says.

               They finished their food, put their trays away and waited for Brad to escort them to sick bay.  A few minutes pass, before they see Brad coming toward them with Gabe in tow.

               “Is everyone ready for their field trip to sick bay?”  Brad asks.

               Joe looks at Dan and rolls his eyes.

               “What is Gabe doing here?”  Joe asks.

               “I’m here because I would like to visit Sugar and see how he’s doing.”  Gabe states.

               “Ok.  Let’s go.”  Brad says and begins escorting them to sick bay.

               While they are walking, Gabe hangs back a bit to try and speak with Joe.

               “I would like to discuss something with you in private at some point today.  When is a good time for you?”  Gabe asks Joe.

               “Well, that depends on what we will be discussing.  I mean, I don’t really know.  I have some time between breakfast and lunch, but then I work in the afternoon.”  Joe says.

               Gabe smiles.  “I’m sure we can find a time that works.  I will send Brad to come get you.”  He informs him.

               “Ok.  Whatever.  This doesn’t sound like a trap at all, by the way.”  Joe responds.

               “It is not a trap, Mr. Trohman.  I would like to discuss some things with you involving payback for Sugar’s attack.”  Gabe says.

               “It doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice, do I?”  Joe asks.

               “No, you really don’t.  Be ready for some time between breakfast and lunch.”  Gabe orders.

               Joe rolls his eyes again, clearly annoyed. 

               “Fine.”  Joe says and begins walking faster to catch up with Dan.

               Once they reach sick bay, they all enter, and Brad leads them to Patrick’s room.  He is awake and watching some kid’s show on his T.V.  Joe notices that a large amount of the bruises and bite marks are gone.  Either Brad or Gabe must’ve given him their blood, but not enough to make him hallucinate.  He still sees the marks around his neck though.  Joe can tell that he is still in a lot of pain, and by the look in his eyes, he has been given something very strong.  He looks like he’s loopy from the drugs.  Patrick looks away from the T.V. when he hears the door open.  He looks happy to see them, until Brad and Gabe walk in.

               “Hi!  Joe, Dan!  This show is hilarious!”  Patrick says, speaking slowly and slurring his words from the drugs and the concussion.

               “Hey Patrick!  How are you feeling today?”  Joe asks.

               “Pretty awful, but I feel happy from the drugs!”  Patrick responds, slurring his words again.

               “I’m glad you are happy!  We just wanted to come and see you while you were still awake.  Do you mind if we sit here with you for a while?”  Joe asks.

               “Sure!  Then you can watch this silly cartoon with me!”  Patrick answers.

               “That sounds awesome, Patrick!  Explain what’s happening in it to us.”  Joe states as he moves to sit in the chair that is on Patrick’s left side.

               Dan looks for a chair, finds one, and pulls it over to the left side of Patrick’s bed.  He is still absorbing all this information and he is a bit shocked at how bad Patrick looks.  He keeps it to himself though.          

               “So, the cliché bad guy is holding some of Spidey’s friend’s hostage.  Spidey is working on trying to get his friends back, but the cliché bad guy is making it really hard for him.  The bad guy is also kind of stupid and doesn’t realize that he left a big hole in his security fence that allows Spidey to get in and rescue his friends.”  Patrick explains.

               “That’s awesome!  Why is it so funny?  I don’t get it.”  Joe asks.

               “Because the bad guy is super cliché and stupid!”  Patrick states.

               Joe doesn’t really understand, but Patrick is happy so he will just go along with it.

               “Oh!  Gotcha!  That is pretty funny, right Dan?”  Joe comments while laughing.

               “Yes!  Hilarious!”  Dan says as he plays along. 

               Patrick looks over to his right side and he sees Gabe sitting next to his bed.  He rolls his eyes pretty hard.

               “Why are you here, Gabe?  Here to torture me some more?”  Patrick asks.

               “I wanted to see how you were doing after your first surgery.  I already told you Sugar.  I’m not going to punish you for what happened.  You had no control over that, and you have suffered enough.  We are currently working on a plan for retaliation.  We just have a few more bugs to work out before we can proceed.”  Gabe informs.

               Patrick is looking at Gabe as he is speaking but doesn’t appear to really understand him.  He’s too drugged up right now.  He just looks at Gabe with his glossed-over eyes and his ecstatic look and laughs.

               “You are killing my buzz, buzz killington.”  Patrick says and laughs.

               Gabe knows he is super drugged up and doesn’t really know what planet he is on right now, so he looks at Brad and they join in on the laughter.  They all stay for about an hour and a half until Spencer comes to inform them that Dr. Franz is out of surgery at the hospital and is on his way to the prison.

               “I’m afraid I need you all to leave.  Patrick needs to be prepped for surgery.  This will be a long and involved surgery, so you may be able to visit him later tonight if we finish and he is awake before visiting hours are over.”  Spencer orders.

               Gabe brings Brad close, so he can whisper something into his ear.

               “Make sure you give him more blood before he goes into surgery.  You should have the opportunity.”  Gabe says.

               Brad whispers “Yes, boss.” Back to Gabe before they separate.

               “Hey Patrick, your other doctor will be here soon, so we must leave, but I will definitely be back after your surgery, If I’m allowed.  If not, I will swing by tomorrow to visit you.  It was great seeing you so happy!”  Joe says as he hugs Patrick very gently, so he doesn’t hurt him.

               “Ok.  I will see you later then.  Bye Joe!  Bye Dan!”  Patrick says.

               “I will also be back to see you after your surgery if there is time, Sugar.  Please be a good patient for the doctors.”  Gabe states.

               “I will.  Bye Gabe.”  Patrick replies as they all gather at the door and start exiting one by one.

               Once they are all outside of sick bay, Brad escorts everyone back to their cells.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               “I will be back for you later, Trohman.”  Brad says as he closes the door to his cell.

               Brad then takes Dan back to his cell and finally ends with taking Gabe back to his cell.  As he presses the button to open the door, Brad gives Gabe a knowing look.  He closes the door. 

               “When do you want me to bring Trohman to the meeting room?”  Brad asks.

               “Leave him there for an hour.  Sugar should be in surgery by then, so you can leave.  Make sure someone replaces you before you leave.  Oh!  And please find out how many vampires we have inside the prison as soon as possible.  I will be calling the gang meeting after Yard time today to firm up our plans.”  Gabe responds.

               “Sounds good, Boss.  This might seem like a stupid question, but how exactly do I acquire the information you seek?”  Brad asks.

               “It’s not a stupid question.  I would start by looking at the inmate’s profiles on the computer.  Then I would narrow it down by cross checking those with the vampires you already know about.  Then you will have to go and observe the inmates on your short list.  If that doesn’t get you anywhere, I know there is a list of all the known vampires in the prison in a file deep in the Warden’s filing cabinet.  He doesn’t know about vampires, so he doesn’t even know it is there.  We planted it there so in case there was ever an uprising and vampires took over, we would know who all the vampires were.  You could go and compel him to leave his office or forget that you were there looking for the file.  See how far that gets you.  Please be discreet.  We don’t need any extra attention right now.”  Gabe instructs.

               “I understand.  I will get started with that after you meet with Trohman.”  Brad says.

               “Good.  Now go back to sickbay and watch over Sugar until he goes into surgery.”  Gabe orders.

               “Yes, sir.”  Brad says as he turns and leaves to head back to sick bay.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Nurses Clara and Sebastien are in the process of preparing Patrick for the second surgery when the Anesthesiologist visits him. 

               “How did you feel after you woke up after the first surgery?  Did you feel sick or nauseous?”  They ask.

               “No.  I felt fine.”  Patrick answers.

               “Ok good.  This surgery will be much longer than the first one, so you will be out for much longer.  With that comes the higher chances of side effects from the anesthesia, so you may feel sicker after waking up from this one.  I will do what I can to stop that from happening, but there is still a risk of side effects.  Do you understand?”  They ask.

               “Yes.  I understand.  It’s not like I have much choice.”  Patrick remarks.

               “That’s true.  I wish you did.”  They reply.

               The Anesthesiologist then goes to get the medications they will need.  Next, Spencer comes in to explain a little about the surgery that he and Dr. Franz will perform.  Finally, Dr. Franz comes to introduce himself.

               “Hello Patrick.  I’m Dr. Franz, the Proctologist, that will be performing your surgery.  Has Dr. Smith already discussed with you the extensive damage that was caused by your attack?”  He asks.

               “Yes.  He has also explained to me what you will be doing to fix it.  It doesn’t sound very pleasant.”  Patrick states.

               “No, it is not, but you will be sedated, so you won’t feel anything until you wake up.  Don’t worry Patrick, you are in good hands.  Do you have any questions before we get started?”  He asks.

               “No.  I just don’t want to be in so much pain anymore.”  Patrick responds.

               “Once we are finished, the pain should somewhat subside in the next few days.”  Dr. Franz says.

               Then he is off to join Spencer, doing last minute preparations and scrubbing in before the surgery.  It only takes another twenty minutes before Clara and Sebastien come to get him with the mobile bed.  Getting onto it is incredibly painful.  Then they wheeled him into the Operating Room, where they move him onto the operating table on his stomach and move him into the place where they needed him to be with his head facing down in a padded cradle, which was also incredibly painful.  Finally, the Anesthesiologist gives him the drugs to put him under, he goes to sleep, they intubate him and hook him up to the ventilator, and Dr. Franz and Spencer begin the surgery.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________  

               Brad watches as the nurses wheel Stump into the Operating Room for surgery.  He did get a chance to give Stump several rounds of his blood before they came in to prepare him for surgery.  He calls another guard on the radio to come and replace him and they show up a short time later.  He gives the guard instructions on what to do, and then leaves sick bay to go and fetch Trohman from his cell and take him to the meeting room where he will meet with Gabe.

               Brad bangs on the bars of the cell when he reaches Trohman’s cell.

               “Hey Trohman!  It’s time for your meeting!”  Brad yells.

               He sees Trohman walking to the front of the cell with a somewhat annoyed face.

               “What meeting?”  He asks.

               “The meeting with Gabe.”  Brad responds.

               “Oh.  Right.  That.  Open the door so we can get this over with as soon as possible.  I swear, if you lead me into some kind of trap, there will be nowhere in this prison that you can hide from me!”  Trohman threatens.

               “Don’t worry.  It isn’t a trap.  Gabe just thought you might like to have a hand in our plot for revenge.”  Brad assures him.

               “Great.  Are you going to open the door?”  Trohman asks, annoyed.

               Brad presses the button to open the door, Trohman steps out, and Brad presses the button to close the door.

               “Follow me please.”  Brad says as he begins walking.

                The walk to the meeting room is pretty much silent.  Trohman seems incredibly disinterested in this.  He is obviously only coming because, if he doesn’t Gabe will punish him or Stump for it.  They continue walking for what feels like a long time but is really only a few minutes.  When they get there, Brad unlocks the door, and Trohman steps in.  Then Brad steps out and locks the door behind him.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Joe steps into the meeting room and looks around.  There are no windows and only one door in and out of the room.  He sees Gabe sitting at the table waiting for him, so he goes and sits in one of the chairs across the table from him.

               “Hello, Mr. Trohman.  May I call you Joe?”  Gabe asks.

               “I don’t really give a flying fuck what you call me.  Why am I here?”  Joe asks.

               “It seems we are skipping the pleasantries then, are we?  Alright.  Let me start by asking you this.  Joe, are you angry about what happened to your cellmate, Sugar?”  Gabe asks.

               “What kind of question is that?  Of course, I’m angry about what happened to him!  Nobody deserved what happened to him!  I watched the whole interaction with those gang members happen that day in the mess hall.  All he did was bump into one of them by accident causing them to trip and fall.  He said he was sorry and that he didn’t mean for it to happen.  There really wasn’t anything else he could’ve done other than go with the gang to meet Jesus, the gang leader, and we both know what would’ve happened if he had gone with them.  For them to react by gangbanging him thirty-two times over the course of several hours just because he accidentally ran into one of them, is so beyond overkill!  They saw it as him disrespecting them somehow.  Fuck!  He even apologized to the gang leader, and he was still raped for the thirty-third time, beaten, bit, choked, had his head bounced off the floor and walls several times, and drugged too!  I should’ve been there to protect him, and I wasn’t!  I feel terrible about what happened to him!”  Joe screams.

               “Your feelings are incredibly valid, Joe.  Even I was disturbed by what happened to him, especially when I found out the extent of the damage that was done.  You should know that I fed him my blood in many short doses, so that he would recover faster and so that he wouldn’t hallucinate.”  Gabe states.        

               “Yeah.  I figured that out when I saw him today and a good amount of the bruises and bite marks were gone.”  Joe comments.

               “I have also instructed Brad to do the same before Sugar went into the second surgery.  At this point, that is all we can do for now.  Wouldn’t you like the chance to hurt some of those involved in the attack?”  Gabe asks.

               “Um, in my head, yeah.  In a perfect world, I would beat those fuckers to death.  Well maybe not to death, but I would fuck them up to the point that they were in severe pain, and I’d prolong that pain for as long as I could so that they could feel a taste of what they did to him.  However, I know that I can’t do that in real life.”  Joe answers.

               “Why not?  What if I told you that I had a plan where you could do as you like to those involved?”  Gabe asks.

               “As much as I’d like revenge, I can’t participate, Gabe.  I can’t risk adding any more time to my sentence.  I’m almost done, and I want to be able to see my wife and daughter face to face, instead of behind a piece of bullet-proof glass, holding a telephone so they can hear me, or being put in chains from head to toe and tethered to the table and the floor.”  Joe says.

               “I understand, Joe.  When I look at you, I see a certain set of skills that are unique to you and could come in very handy in this situation.  What if I could 100% promise you that you would not get in trouble, or face any consequences if you were involved?”  Gabe asks.

               “I don’t understand.  What exactly are you saying?”  Joe asks.

               “Well, the way I see it, I owe you a debt.  If Brad hadn’t spoken with you, then we wouldn’t have known who was responsible for Sugar’s attack, or where to look for him.  What if you could have your revenge without facing any consequences?”  Gabe asks.

               “How would you even accomplish that?”  Joe asks.

               “You forget, I’m a vampire.  I can compel people to do, say, and see whatever I tell them to.  If you did choose to be involved, I could make it so that no one remembers how they were beaten or who beat them.  I am also capable of controlling humans to do what I tell them to do.”  Gabe says.

               “I already know about that part.  Patrick has told me how you have controlled him to do things with your mind, no matter how hard he fights you.”  Joe comments.

               “Yes.  I have used that power on him in some instances.  At first, I thought that maybe I could convince you to let me control your body and beat and punish whomever I wanted, but I have a feeling that there is no way you would agree to that.  So, my second thought was to allow you the retribution you deserve and wipe everyone’s minds of the fact that they saw you that day or that you were ever there after you decided they had suffered enough.  If I did this, it would repay my debt to you.  I don’t like being in debt to people.”  Gabe explains.

               “It is a tempting idea, but how could I trust that you would follow through with it?  I really don’t trust you any farther than I can throw you.”  Joe asks.

               “As I said before, I don’t like being in debt to people.  You did something for me so I would be willing to do this for you so that we are even.  I can give you, my word.  I know that it isn’t much and probably doesn’t hold much weight to you, but that is all I can offer you.  So far, I’ve never gone back on my word with anyone.”  Gabe explains.

               “I would need some time to think about this and decide if I can actually trust you this one time.”  Joe replies.

               “Take whatever time you need.  Just remember, we need to retaliate soon.  I am still trying to figure out a few things, so take the rest of today and tomorrow to think about it.  I would need an answer soon after that.  Is that fair?”  Gabe asks.

               “Yes.  That’s fair.  I will think about it and get back to you.  We will be in touch either way.  Can I please go back to my cell now?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes.  Brad!”  Gabe calls.

               Brad unlocks the door and comes into the room.

               “Please take Mr. Trohman back to his cell.  He has much to decide.”  Gabe orders.

               “Ok, boss.”  Brad says.

               Brad then escorts Joe back to his cell as ordered.  They walk in silence.  When they get there, Brad presses the button to open the door, Joe steps in, and then Brad presses the button to close the door and leaves.  Joe has much to consider, indeed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 41

*******No Trigger Warning for this Chapter.  Yay!*******

                Once Brad drops Trohman off in his cell, he heads to the guards’ main office to use the computer to see if he can find out how many vampires are currently in the prison.  He arrives and walks into the office to find that there are quite a few guards hanging out there.  He needs privacy to do his research, so he begins compelling them all to leave.  He finally has the room cleared so he sits down at the computer and begins his work.  He starts by doing a general search of all the inmates in the prison database.  This brings up pages and pages of prisoners.  Next, he tries to narrow it down a bit by taking the list of prisoners and categorizing them by offense.  He decides to search for prisoners there for violent crimes, figuring that those inmates are more likely to be vampires due to their tendency to enjoy inflicting violence on others.  From those, he looks for any incidents involving other inmates who appear to have not remembered much about the incidents.  That search comes up with a total of twenty prisoners.  He prints that list.  Next, he looks up all the gang leaders in the prison and compares those to his list, cross checking with them with incident reports.  This brings up another ten others.  He prints that list too.  His next search involves looking for prisoners that make regular trips to sick bay, thinking that they would be doing so to get access to blood.  This brings up another ten inmates.  He prints this list as well.  Then he logs out on the computer and decides that he doesn’t really have time to observe or interview this many inmates, so he decides to go to the Warden’s office to compare these lists to the list of known vampires in his office.  Gabe wants this information quickly, so this is the fastest way to get this done.  He’s not sure how he is going to find it though, since Gabe said the Warden doesn’t know about it.  He will have to make him leave or compel him to help him go through all the inmates’ files until he finds it.

                Brad leaves the guards’ main office and heads toward the Warden’s office.  The walk is further than he expected, but Stump will be in surgery for at least five to six hours, so he has time.  He runs into a few other guards along the way, and he must compel them to forget that they ever saw him.  He finally reaches the Warden’s office and is currently standing outside the door.  He forgot that the Warden has a secretary named Wendy.  He is going to have to compel her too.  He takes a deep breath and then opens the door and walks into the office.  He is met with Wendy.

                “Hello!  Can I help you with something?”  Wendy asks.

                “Yes, you can actually.  Would you mind looking into my eyes?”  Brad asks.

                He sees Wendy make eye contact with him and her eyes gloss over.

                “Hello Wendy.  I am here to meet with the Warden in his office.  You will not disturb us the whole time I am in his office, and you will forget that I was ever here once I leave.  Do you understand?”  Brad commands.

                Wendy repeats everything Brad just said followed by “Yes, I understand.”

                “Good.  I am going into the Warden’s office now.  You will not see me enter his office and you will not disturb us.  You may resume whatever you are doing now.  Do you understand?”  Brad asks.

                Wendy repeats everything Brad just said followed “Yes.  I understand.”

                Brad walks past Wendy’s desk and opens the door into the Warden’s office.

                “Hey!  You can’t be in here without authorization!”  Andy yells.

                “Hello Warden.  Would you mind looking into my eyes for a moment?”  Brad asks.

                He makes direct eye contact with the Warden.

                “I am an old friend of yours.  My name is Brad.  I am going to call you Andy while I’m here.  I am looking for an old file that you may not even know about, and I need your help to find it.  You will help me find the file I’m looking for.  You will not leave your office until we find it.  You will also not take any outside calls or have any appointments until we find them.  Do you understand?”  Brad asks.

                Andy repeats everything that Brad just said followed by “Yes.  I understand.”

                Andy closes his eyes for a moment and when he opens them, he instantly recognizes his old friend Brad.

                “Hey Brad!  It’s been so long since we last saw each other.  What are you doing here and how are you doing?”  Andy asks.

                “Hello Andy!  I was just in the neighborhood, and I remembered that you were the Warden here.  I hadn’t seen you in so long, so I thought I would visit you!  I’m doing great!  I have my dream job and my dream house!  The wife and kids couldn’t make it, but they wanted me to say hi!”  Brad says.

                “Oh, that’s a shame!”  Andy comments.

                “Yeah, it is.  They really miss you!  So anyway.  I have something to confess.  I’m not just here to visit you.  There is a file that is hidden somewhere in this office that I need.  Will you help me find it?”  Brad asks.

                “Of course, I will!  What is in this file exactly?”  Andy answers.

                “It’s a list of names of certain inmates here at the prison that have shown some extraordinary abilities.  Promise you won’t laugh?”  Brad asks.

                “Yes.  Why?”  Andy asks.

                “Well, it is a list of all the known inmates who are vampires.  Please don’t think I’m crazy!”  Brad states.

                “Of course, you’re not crazy!  There is some shady and mysterious shit that happens in this prison.  Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were ghosts and poltergeists here too!”  Andy comments.

                Brad laughs and soon Andy joins him.

                “So where should we start looking for the list?”  Brad asks.

                “This may sound stupid, but let’s start with the filing cabinet.  Sometimes the easiest solution is the right one.”  Andy suggests.

                “It’s as good a place as any to start.  Why don’t you start at the beginning with A, and I will start at the end with Z?  We can meet in the middle.”  Brad says.

                “Sounds good.  I’ll let you know if I find anything.”  Andy replies.

                “Ok.  Me too.”  Brad answers.

                They both begin looking at the files starting with their letters.  There are a lot of files and several different filing cabinets, so Brad knows that this is going to take a while.  They kept searching for almost an hour and so far, haven’t come up with anything.

                “Have you found anything yet, Brad?”  Andy asks.

                “Nope, not yet.  We need to keep looking until we find it.  If that means going through all these filing cabinets, then that is what we must do.”  Brad states.

                “Agreed.”  Andy comments.

                They both go back to searching.  It had been another hour and still nothing.  They’ve gone completely through one filing cabinet.  Andy starts looking through the second one.  Brad has a thought.  If the vampires didn’t want them to find it, maybe they hid it somewhere else in the filing cabinet.  He starts examining the filing cabinet a bit closer.  He feels around on the top and sides of the cabinet in each drawer, and in the back of it, and doesn’t find anything.  Then he checks the top and bottom of the cabinet for any false walls or compartments.  He doesn’t find anything, so he joins Andy in looking through the second cabinet starting at Z.  This is exhausting and so fucking boring!  Brad continues looking though because he knows Gabe needs this information.  Another hour has passed, and so far, nothing.  They are about halfway through the second filing cabinet.  They keep searching until they are through that filing cabinet.  Andy moves onto the third filing cabinet, while Brad inspects the second cabinet for false walls or compartments and finds nothing.

                “Ugh!  This is so frustrating!  I know it is here, Andy.  We just need to keep looking.”  Brad encourages.

                “I know!  Don’t worry, we will find it!”  Andy responds.

                They continue searching through all the files when Brad finds that the bottom drawer of the third filing cabinet is locked.  This one has promise.

                “Hey Andy?  This drawer appears to be locked.  Do you know anything about why it might be locked?”  Brad asks.

                “No, I don’t.  I’ve actually never touched that one and I don’t know what is in there.” Andy answers.

                “Do you have the keys for this so we can unlock it?”  Brad asks.

                “I honestly don’t know.  Let me look in my desk and see if I can find them.”  Andy suggests.

                “Ok.  Do you want some help?”  Brad asks.

                “Sure.”  Andy answers.

                They begin looking in Andy’s desk for the keys.  So far, they haven’t found them.  They’ve found the keys for the other filing cabinets, but not this one.  Brad begins looking at Andy’s desk much more closely, looking for false walls or compartments.  He is almost completely through the desk when he finds what looks like a small secret compartment on the underside of one of the drawers on the right side.

                “Hey Andy, I got the desk handled for now, why don’t you go back to looking through the different files.  It’s got to be here!”  Brad suggests.

                “Ok.  I will be looking through the rest of the drawers of the filing cabinet then.”  Andy replies as he stands and goes over to the third filing cabinet and begins looking through it again.

                When Andy is involved in looking through the files, Brad goes back to the secret compartment and tries to figure out how to open it.  He is feeling around it and finds a small lever in the back that he presses, and the compartment opens.  Inside, he finds the key to the locked drawer as well as some instructions discussing what to do if vampires ever took over the prison.  He leaves the instructions in the compartment and closes it.

                “Hey Andy!  I found the key!”  Brad announces.

                “Really?  Where was it?  I searched my desk, top to bottom.”  Andy asks.

                “It was taped to the back wall of the bottom right drawer.”  Brad states.

                “Huh!  I could swear that I checked there, I guess I just missed it.  Let’s open the cabinet and see what we find!”  Andy suggests.

                Brad stands up and walks over to the third filing cabinet and tries to put the key in the lock.  It goes straight in, so he unlocks the cabinet and begins looking through it.  There are a few more files related to vampires taking over the prison and finally, the last file is the list he’s looking for.  He grabs it, closes the drawer and locks it again.  While Andy is still busy looking though files, he puts the key back in the small secret compartment and goes back over to sit on the floor next to the drawer.

                “Andy!  I found it!  This is the list I’ve been looking for!”  Brad exclaims.

                “Seriously?  Let me see!”  Andy responds.

                Brad opens the file and shows Andy the list of known vampires in the entire prison.

                “Whoa!  That is awesome!”  Andy remarks.

                “Yes, it is!”  Brad says.

                Brad looks around the room and it kind of looks like a bomb went off, so he suggests to Andy that they clean up and put everything back where it was.  Andy agrees, so they spend some time putting all the files back where they are supposed to go and clean up Andy’s desk.  Once everything looks like it did when he walked in, he tells Andy to go sit in at his desk.

                “Thanks so much for your help, Andy!  I couldn’t have done this without you!”  Brad says.

                “You’re welcome!  It was kind of fun!  Plus, I’d do anything to help a friend.”  Andy says while making eye contact with Brad.

                “You will not remember any of this, except that we are old friends, once I leave.  Do you understand?”

                Andy’s eyes gloss over.  He repeats everything Brad said followed by “Yes, I understand.”

                Brad releases him and smiles.

                “I have to get going now.”  Brad says.

                “Alright.  It was great to see you again!  Bye!”  Andy says.

                “It was great seeing you too!  Bye!”  Brad says as he turns around and walks out the door of Andy’s office.

                He passes by Wendy who doesn’t even see him as he leaves.

                He walks back to the guards’ main office.  He compares the lists that he printed out to the list of vampires in the prison, just to see how many he was right about.  It turns out all of them but two were vampires.  According to the list, there are currently thirty-eight vampires in the prison.  God, I’m good!  Then he takes a picture of the list on his phone and makes several copies of the list on the copy machine.  He will have to return the file to its place in the Warden’s office at some point, probably after he leaves for the night.  Excited about his newly found information, he goes to find Gabe.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                Brad finds Gabe in his cell.  He’s so excited to share his info that he is standing there with a smile on his face looking like an idiot.

                “Hello Brad.  Are you here to escort me somewhere?”  Gabe asks.

                “Uhhh…Yes!  Your presence is required because you have a visitor.”  Brad answers.

                “That sounds nice!  I haven’t had a visitor in so long.  Please, Guard Brad.  Lead the way.”  Gabe states.

                Brad pushes the button to unlock and open the door to Gabe’s cell.  Gabe steps out, and then Brad pushes the button to close the door.

                “Follow me please.”  Brad orders.

                They are finally out of earshot of the other prisoners on his cell block.

                “I take it you have news.”  Gabe says.

                “Yes.  I will tell you more once we get to a more secure place.”  Brad says.

                They walk together on their way to their usual meeting room.  Brad unlocks the door and Gabe walks in.  Brad walks in and closes and locks the door behind him.

                “I have something to show you.”  Brad says as he pulls up the picture he took of the list of vampires in the prison.

                Gabe sits and waits patiently while Brad is looking for something on his phone.  He finally finds it and shows it to Gabe.

                “What exactly am I looking at?”  Gabe asks.

                “I found the list of all the vampires in the prison!  There is a total of thirty-eight right now.”  Brad explains.

                “How did you get this?”  Gabe asks.

                “I started by doing some work on the computer in the main guards’ office.  I had it narrowed down to forty people when I realized that I didn’t have time to observe and interview that many prisoners.  I figured that if I could find the list in the Warden’s office, it would save us a whole lot of time.  I went to the Warden’s office, compelled his secretary, Wendy, to forget that she saw me, and not to disturb us once I entered the Warden’s office.  Then I walked into the Warden’s office, compelled him to think I was an old friend that was just in the neighborhood, and told him that I was looking for a very specific file that was hidden somewhere in his office.  The best part though, is that I got him to help me go through all the files.  We went through two filing cabinets and most of the way through a third when I found that the bottom drawer was locked.  He said he didn’t know what was in there and that he never bothered to look.  So, now we had to find the key.  Andy tore his desk apart and found nothing.  I told him to go back to looking through the files and he did.  Then, I searched his desk and found a small secret compartment underneath one of the drawers on the right side of his desk, and I opened the compartment.  I found a small lever on the back of it, pushed it in, and the compartment opened.  There was a key and instructions for what to do if vampires took control of the prison.  I left the instructions there, closed the compartment and took the key to the bottom drawer of the third filing cabinet, pushed it in and unlocked the drawer.  There were only a few files in this drawer.  Most of them were related to what would happen if vampires took over the prison.  The final file that was in the very back was what I was looking for.  I told Andy that I had found it, and he was happy.  We cleaned up his office so that it looked exactly as it had when I entered, and nothing was out of place.  Then I told him that I needed to leave and that he would forget everything that happened other than the fact that I’m an old friend, as soon as I left.  Then I left his office, walked past his secretary who didn’t see me because I had compelled her not to see me and to forget that I was ever there.  Then I went back to the main guards’ office, made everyone leave, and then I compared the list to the inmates that I had guessed were vampires.  All of them but two were on the list.  I was so excited that I decided I had to find you and tell you this.”  Brad explains.

                Gabe has a very proud smile on his face.

                “You did very well, Brad!  You also did it in a very timely manner so that we can finalize our plans for retribution.  I’m very happy.  You don’t happen to know if Sugar is out of surgery yet, do you?”  Gabe asks.

                “No.  I told the guard that took over for me to notify me immediately when the surgery was complete.  So far, I’ve not heard anything from them.  I imagine there probably isn’t too much time left before he will be out.  I overheard Dr. Franz say that it would be at least five to six hours, maybe more if the damage was worse than they thought.  My escapade with the Warden took about four hours, so we are getting closer to when the surgery should be finished.  I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything.”  Brad states.

                “Good.  See that you do.  I want to see him tonight before visiting hours are over, if possible.”  Gabe says.

                “Do you want me to head back there, or do you want me to start interviewing the inmates on the list?”  Brad asks.

                Brad hands him a copy of the list.  Gabe looks over the list and even finds a few inmates that he knows.  He seems to think for a second.

                “Yes, why don’t you head back to sick bay.  I will begin interviewing the inmates on the list.  You would just need to “forget” to close my cell door.  I feel like they are much more likely to join us if it comes from me and not you.  Although, I imagine most of them won’t hesitate to join us if we are offering them a chance feed and use their powers on humans.”  Gabe responds.

                “Yes boss.  Are we finished here for now?  Oh!  When is the gang meeting?”  Brad asks.

                “Thank you for reminding me!  The meeting will be at 4:00 p.m. in our usual gang meeting place.  It should work out because it is just after Yard time.”  Gabe informs.

                “Alright.  I will be there.  Is there anything else?”  Brad asks.

                “No, please take me back to my cell.  Don’t “forget” to close my cell.”  Gabe says while laughing at the last part.

                “My brain is feeling pretty foggy today.  You never know what I’ll “forget” to do!”  Brad comments, laughing as well.

                Brad unlocks the door, grabs Gabe’s arm, and leads him back to his cell.  Brad pushes the button to open the cell, Gabe steps in, and Brad presses the button to close the door, but stops it a little short from closing and walks away acting like his brain is in a fog.  The space that is left has plenty of room for Gabe to get out.  Gabe waits a few minutes to make sure Brad is gone and then slips out with a copy of the list to begin interviewing those vampires, deciding he will start with those that are on this side of the prison, because it is getting close to Yard time.

Chapter Text

Chapter 42

*******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

       As soon as Brad brings Joe back to his cell and leaves, he begins thinking about Gabe’s offer.  It is a very tempting offer.  Joe would love the opportunity to use his unique talents to strike back at      those who attacked Patrick.  He is so angry and feels horrible about what happened to him.  Patrick is a nice guy who was most likely framed.  He has experienced so much pain and abuse in the time he has already been here from Gabe and his goons.  He has fought very hard and has continued to get back up after being raped, tattooed against his will, being forced to feel the pain from said tattoos, and being forced to sit still while Gabe keeps piercing parts of his body.  Joe just hopes that Patrick is able to get back up and keep fighting after this attack.  He really hopes that this attack didn’t break him.  God!  I can’t even imagine what it feels like being brutally beaten and raped by thirty-three people.  The pain alone would’ve been beyond immeasurable!  The poor guy!  I don’t know what to do!  I want payback, and Patrick deserves it, but I’m just not sure that I can trust Gabe to do what he says he will do, and I can’t add any more time to my sentence.  It’s bad enough that I missed Ruby growing up.  I have lost time to make up for when I get out!  I owe her and Marie that much!

       Joe decides to take a break from thinking about this and read his book for a while until it is time for lunch.  He figures he can also talk to Dan about it and see what he thinks.  He’s also kind of hoping to run into Alex again while he is at work and discuss it with him.  He wishes he had more friends that he could trust to discuss this with, but Joe has tried to stay out of everything and keep to himself as much as possible.  With that comes the consequence of not having a lot of friends.  He’s ok with that though. 

       He continues reading his book until a guard comes to take him to the mess hall for lunch.  The guard pushes the button to open the door, Joe steps out, and the guard pushes the button again to close the door.  He is pretty hungry.  He hasn’t really been eating a lot yesterday and today, because every time he thinks of what happened to Patrick, he loses his appetite completely.  He gets into the food line and hopes for no problems.  He looks around the mess hall while in line and sees those bastards from the Nuestra Familia.  They appear to be making eye contact with him and making lewd gestures, toying with him.  Ignore it, Joe.  They want to make you angry.  Don’t give in to it, otherwise they win.  Joe turns his head away from them looking the other way now.  He doesn’t see anything horrible now, so that is good.  He finally makes it to the end of the food line, grabs a tray and his food, and then looks for an open table.  He finds one, sits down, and begins eating his food.  A few minutes later, Dan joins him.

       “Hey man!  How are you doing?  Heard anything more about Patrick yet?”  Dan asks.

       “Hey Dan.  I guess I’m doing as well as I can, given the circumstances.  I haven’t heard anything more about Patrick, other than that he is still in surgery.  Spencer said that this one would be much longer, more involved, and more invasive.  I think I overheard Dr. Franz say that it would be at least five to six hours.  It just goes to show you how bad the damage is, if it is going to take that long to fix it.”  Joe answers.

       Joe continues eating as Dan sits down and starts eating.

       “Dan, I need to talk to you about something.  I need to know what you would do, if it was you, ok?”  Joe asks.

       “Ok, shoot.”  Dan replies.

       Joe gets up and moves a seat closer to Dan.

       “I need to say this quietly, so no one else can hear.”  Joe states.

       “Ok, I don’t mind.”  Dan replies.

       “After breakfast, you, me, and Gabe were headed to sick bay to see Patrick.  Gabe stayed back a little to tell me that there was something he needed to discuss with me regarding his plan of retaliation and he asked me when I was available to talk.  I told him I had some time between breakfast and lunch.  Then I ran to catch up with you and we all visited Patrick.  When Spencer told us we had to leave because Dr. Franz was on his way and they needed to prepare Patrick for surgery, we did, and Brad returned each of us to our cells.  He told me that he would be back for me later and left.  I suspect he took you back to your cell, and then had a discussion with Gabe. 

       Brad came back an hour later and told me he had to take me somewhere to meet with Gabe, so we walked for a while until we got to some meeting rooms.  Brad led me to one of them, unlocked the door, and I went in.  Brad closed the door and locked it behind me.  I found Gabe sitting at the conference table.  I sat down at the table across from him.  I asked why I was there, and Gabe said it was because he wanted to discuss my potential involvement with his plan for retribution.  He asked me if I was angry about what happened to Patrick.  I told him, of course, I was.  That I would beat those fuckers to death if I could if it was a perfect world, but that I knew I couldn’t do that.  I told him that I couldn’t risk adding time to my sentence and that I’d like to see my wife and daughter face to face and not through bullet-proof glass.  He told me that he understood, but that I have a specific set of skills that could come in handy.  Then he asked me what I would do if there wasn’t the threat of getting in trouble or any other consequences.  I wasn’t sure what he meant.  He told me that the way he saw it, he owed me a debt, because I told them who kidnapped Patrick, so they knew who was responsible and they knew where to look.  He told me he didn’t like being in debt to anyone.  This is where I need some help, Dan.  He reminded me that he was a vampire, and he could make anyone do, think, or say whatever he wanted so, he offered me the chance to have my revenge, and that he would compel everyone to forget that I was involved in any way.  It’s a very tempting offer.  Those fuckers deserve to get beaten within an inch of their lives, but I’m just not sure that I can trust Gabe to follow through with making everyone forget that I was ever there.”  Joe explains.

       Dan takes a minute to absorb everything that Joe just said before answering.  This was not the conversation he was expecting to have at lunch today.  He takes a deep breath.

       “Wow!  That’s tough!  It is an extremely tempting offer, but can you trust Gabe, just this once?  I would say in this case, there is a better chance of him following through, because he feels he owes you a debt.  That being said, he is still a sadistic predator and usually, I wouldn’t trust him farther than I could throw him.”  Dan says.

       “See, that is where I’m at too!  I just don’t know what to do!  I would love to beat those fuckers and prolong their pain and suffering long enough so that they could get a taste of the pain and suffering they put Patrick through.  However, is it worth potentially getting in trouble and having time added to my sentence?”  Joe asks.

       “I don’t know.  I know you have always tried to stay out of gang activity, but maybe just this one time, you could rationalize it to yourself.  To be honest, I highly doubt that the Warden is going to step in and punish those responsible.  He usually just lets the gangs handle any kind of retribution or punishment.  Plus, if he intervenes to try and help Patrick, it will backfire and put a target on his back.  It’s a tough call.  If it were me and I was given the opportunity to strike back at someone who did such heinous things to my friend, I would do it.  With the gang attacking in whatever way, they choose; you could get lost in there.  If the gang handles it, you might be able to hide in their shadow even if Gabe doesn’t follow through.”  Dan mentions.

       “That is true.  If he retaliates with enough people, I could potentially have my revenge and possibly get away with it either way.  I never thought of that!  Thank you for pointing that out, Dan!  I have to give Gabe an answer by the end of tomorrow.  I was hoping I would run into Alex while I’m working today too and talk to him about it.” Joe comments.

       “I’ll talk to some of my friends that I can trust as well.  I would use hypotheticals though so no one would know who I’m talking about.  I can tell you more during Yard time or dinner and let you know their opinions.”  Dan states.

       Joe smiles at that.

       “Thanks, man.  I appreciate that.”  Joe responds.

       “No problem!  I will help in any way that I can.”  Dan answers.

       They finish up eating their food, get rid of their trays, and find their designated guards to take them back to their cells.

       “Bye Dan!  I’ll see you at work!”  Joe yells.

       “Bye Joe!  Definitely!  See you soon!”  Dan yells.

       Then they are escorted back to their cells where Joe will be until it is time for him to start work. 

       Joe has maybe an hour before he is expected to be at work.  He runs different scenarios in his head about how he could be involved and potentially get away with it whether Gabe followed through or not.  The more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.  Patrick deserves payback and since he won’t be able to do it himself, Joe kind of feels like he owes it to him to make them suffer the way he did.  He just has to figure out how to do it without getting caught.  Dan did have a good point about possibly being able to hide in the shadow of whatever Gabe has planned with however many people will be involved.  As he continues to think about it more, Joe really does feel like he does want to be involved just this one time.  If it were anyone other than Patrick that was attacked, he would stay out of it.  But this was his cell mate and his friend that didn’t deserve any of this, and what they did to him just because he ran into one of them by accident was unconscionable.  They deserve every bit of retaliation and revenge that they get.  If Joe was the one handing it to them, then so be it.  He will make them suffer such agonizing pain that they will wish they were dead.  He still plans to talk to Alex about it if he can find him and will hear what Dan’s friends say, but Joe pretty much has his mind made up. 

       He looks at the clock and sees that he has lost track of time, so he hurries to get himself ready for work and calls for the guard to escort him there.  He will come back to this later.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

       Gabe is studying the list of vampires in the prison.  There are a few that he already knows, so that will make things easier.  He decides to split the list into his side of the prison and the other side of the prison.  That leaves fifteen on his side of the prison and twenty-three on the other side.  That makes sense actually, as vampires we tend to be much more violent and sadistic and graphic violence really doesn’t faze us as much as it does to humans.  If a vampire committed a crime, it was way more likely that it was super violent and gruesome to the point where it would shock most humans.  Gabe decides to start on his side of the prison first.  He looks at the fifteen names on this list to see if he knows any other vampires on his side.  He finds four.  Ryland Blackinton, Nate Novarro, Alex Suarez, and Eric Halvorsen.  He decides to start with them first.  He is missing some key information though.  He needs to know which cell block each of them is on.  For that, he will need to use a computer that has access to that information.  Brad had said something about there being a computer in the main guards’ office that was hooked up to the prison mainframe.  That is the closest computer that he is aware of, so he takes his list, folds it up, puts it in his pocket, and heads to the main guards’ office.

       When Gabe gets there, he finds that it is somewhat crowded.  He is going to have to clear the room out.  He decides he will make them believe that a huge fight is going on somewhere far away from here. 

       Then Gabe compels them all to go.

       “Excuse me, Gentlemen.  Could you all please look into my eyes for a minute?  Every guard makes direct eye contact with Gabe.  He waits until he sees their eyes gloss over.  There is a huge fight going on outside the meeting rooms at the front.  You must all go there and break it up!  They will need all of you.  You will leave this room and head towards the front meeting rooms.  You will forget ever seeing me.  Do you all understand?”

       Gabe hears all the guards repeat everything he just said followed by “Yes, we understand.”  They all say.

       They all begin filing out of the room as quickly as possible.  As soon as the room is empty, Gabe closes and locks the door leading into the office.  Then he sits down at the computer.  It requires an access code to begin.  It’s a good thing Gabe knows Brad’s access code, which he begins punching in.  He sees that access has been granted, so he pulls out his list and begins searching for all the fifteen names on his list.  He finds the exact cell block and cell that each inmate is in and writes it next to the prisoner’s name.  When he is done with the ones on this side of the prison, he starts searching for the others on the other side of the prison.  Again, he finds the exact cell block and cell for each inmate and writes it down next to the prisoner’s name.  He does come across a name that he is surprised to see on his list, Alex Mahone.  Alex found Sugar after his attack and brought him to sick bay.  Gabe knew Alex from his affiliation with the Simon City Royals gang, but he had no idea that he was a vampire.  Gabe smiled.  That is very interesting!  Gabe decides to file that away for later.

       Since Gabe is already there in front of the computer, he chooses to indulge himself a bit.  He is curious as to what crimes each of the vampires committed to be locked in this prison.  That information might be helpful to know when he approaches each one.  He starts typing in every name on his list.  He turns his copy of the list over and begins writing down what each inmate was convicted of.  He goes through all thirty-eight men on his list.  When he is finished, he logs Brad out of the computer, and heads to cell block A to find Ryland Blackinton.  He is in cell A-32.  Gabe tries to enter the cell block but is stopped by a guard.

       “Who are you and why are you not in your cell?”  The guard asks.

       “Hello, I seem to be lost!  Would you please look into my eyes?”  Gabe asks.

       The guard makes eye contact with him, and Gabe begins to compel him.

       “You never saw me.  I was never here.  I am going to see a prisoner in A-32, you will not disturb us.  Once I leave you will forget all of this.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

       The guard’s eyes gloss over, and he repeats everything Gabe just said followed by “Yes, I understand.”

       “Good.  Now move along please.”  Gabe orders.

       The guard continues walking in the path he was going when he approached Gabe.  When he is gone, Gabe continues to cell A-32.  He finds two men sitting on their beds in the cell.  Ryland is sitting on the bottom bunk reading a book.  Gabe whistles to him at a frequency only other vampires can hear.  Ryland looks up, smiles, sets his book down, and walks to the front of the cell.

       “Hello Gabe!  What are you doing here?”  Ryland asks.

       “Can your cell mate hear us?”  Gabe asks.

       Ryland looks back at him and shakes his head no.

       “He’s been passed out since lunch.  We’re good.”  Ryland answers.

       “I am here because I wanted to discuss something with you.  As you may or may not know.  Dr.  Stump, I call him Sugar, has been convicted of Assisting or Instigating Escape, was sentenced to five years, and has been a prisoner here for the past six days.”  Gabe states.

       “Seriously?  I guess that explains why I have been seeing him in the mess hall.”  Ryland comments.

       “Yes.  I have marked and claimed him as my property.  Yesterday, Sugar was attacked, kidnapped, beaten, abused, drugged, and gangbanged thirty-three times over the course of several hours.  He was nowhere to be found until we spoke with his cell mate, Joe Trohman a former championship boxer and MMA fighter.  It seems Sugar had a run-in with the Nuestra Familia gang in the mess hall a few days ago.  He accidentally ran into one of them, but said he was sorry and thought it was done.  When Sugar and Joe left the mess hall to return to their cell, they jumped and attacked them.  They knocked Joe out and pushed Sugar up against a wall and tried to rape him.  I sent my guys to stop that from happening.  Since then, apparently members of the gang were clearly planning to attack him again.  When Sugar was summoned to the Warden’s office yesterday, they gathered their forces and set up an ambush that he would walk into on his way back to his cell.  They attacked him and kidnapped him.  Once we knew who he was with, we set out looking for him, but we didn’t find him. 

       Later that night his body was discovered by another inmate, and he was taken to sick bay.  He had been stabbed five times, brutally beaten, bitten, raped, and had a major concussion.  After he woke up, he told us that he was taken to the gang leader, Jesus, after he’d been gangbanged thirty-two times.  The leader drugged him, beat him, and raped him again.  Apparently, Jesus hadn’t seen the huge Cobra tattoo covering Sugar’s entire back and up the back of his neck.  Then he flipped him over on his back and found the Latin Kings Crown tattoo with the letters AKLN underneath on his lower belly.  When he saw these, he panicked and tried to make it look like a random attack by stabbing him.  Sugar has already had one surgery today and is currently in another surgery to repair the damage from the gangbang.  This brings me to why I am here.  The members of the Nuestra Familia need to be taught a lesson. Sugar experienced an astronomical amount of pain and suffering, because of them.  I have a plan of attack for retaliation.  Part of that plan involves rounding up all the vampires in the prison and letting them feed on, attack, and use their vampiric powers however they would like to on these humans.  They will also be encouraged to be especially violent and sadistic.  They must be left alive and in severe pain though, so they suffer the way Sugar did.  I’ve come to ask you if you would like to be a part of that group of vampires.”  Gabe asks.

       Ryland appears to be shocked and speechless for a few minutes before he answers.

       “Jesus Christ!  The poor guy!  They did all of that because he accidentally ran into one of them?  What the fuck?  That seems like a gross overreaction.  Yes!  Of course, I will help you get revenge!  What they did to him was horrible!  No one deserves that!  How did he even survive it?”  Ryland asks.   

       “I guess they decided that he disrespected them.  Dr. Smith doesn’t know.  He was as surprised as I was that he survived all of that.  Sugar is a little spitfire though.  He has some fight in him that I haven’t seen in a long time.”  Gabe answers.

       “You’d have to in order to survive that!”  Ryland comments.

       “I’m glad you are on the side of reason.  I will get back to you when I have the details laid out.  Now I need to convince thirty-seven others to help.” Gabe says.

       “I could help you with that if you wanted me to. Give me some names and their locations and I can convince them to join you in this.”  Ryland says.

       “Alright.  Do you have a piece of paper?”  Gabe asks.

       Ryland goes and finds a piece of paper and a pen.

       “Are you ready?  Thomas Tran D-33, Christopher Edwards G-17, Danny Oliver B-12, George Goldsworthy C-5, Rick Levinson F-26, Jason Tassia E-29, Ian Rossfeld B-19, Josh Carlson A-40, Tyler Snyder C-30, Jeff Simpkins D-55, and Edgar Alvarez E-48.  Do you think you can handle that many?”  Gabe asks.

       “Easily.  Hell, I already know six of them.” Ryland answers.

       “We need to do this as quickly as possible so that we can strike back at The Nuestra Familia with a vengeance within the next few days.”  Gabe informs.

       “I will take care of it.  Don’t worry.  You will most definitely have some allies.  All they need to hear is the story you told me, and they will be in.  Check back with me by the end of tomorrow.”  Ryland states.

       “Alright.  Thank you, Ryland.  We will be in touch.”  Gabe says as he turns and leaves to go to the next person on his list, Nate Navarro C-35.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

       Spencer is still in surgery with Dr. Franz and Patrick.  It has been five hours, and it appears that it will be at least another two to three hours.  Spencer thought he had an idea of what to expect as they went in to do the surgery based off the MRI that he did of Patrick’s behind.  It turned out that the damage was so much worse than what was shown on the MRI.  He also found a ton more internal bleeding that didn’t show up on scans.  Patrick was lucky that they hadn’t postponed his surgery any later.  If they had, he probably would’ve died from all the internal bleeding.  He worked steadfastly with Dr. Franz to stop the internal bleeding first.  The problem was that once they fixed one source of internal bleeding, another would show up.  It had become almost like a guessing game, trying to predict where the next source of internal bleeding would come from.  It took them five hours just to finally stop the internal bleeding.  It was touch-and-go for a while.  Patrick’s vitals were severely fluctuating and they almost lost him twice during those five hours, but he appears to be stabilized now.  

       “Ok.  I think we have finally stopped all the internal bleeding.  Now, we can begin the surgery that we were supposed to do hours ago.  I can get started if you need to take a short break, Spencer.” Dr. Franz states.

       Spencer does need to go to the bathroom pretty badly.  He could also use a short break.  This surgery has been one of the longest and most intense surgeries he has had to date.  Having to be “on” the whole time with no breaks was exhausting.

       “I would like to take a short break.  I’ve had to pee for hours.”  Spencer replies.

       “Ok, go take care of your business.  Just remember to fully scrub in before you reenter the operating room.  Please be quick.  I will need your help in like thirty minutes.”  Dr. Franz comments.

       “Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long.”  Spencer says as he walks out of the operating room, takes off his blood-soaked gloves, and throws them in the garbage.

       Spencer leans up against a wall outside of the operating room.  He takes a deep breath and finds himself slowly sliding down the wall until he is sitting on the ground with his head in his hands.  This was one of the hardest things he had ever done, given that this was Patrick.  He must keep it together and be as objective as he can.  I never thought I’d be doing this kind of surgery on one of my best friends.  I’m scared that something will go wrong, and we will lose him.  Hell, We've already almost lost him twice.  He’s already been through so much in the small amount of time he has been on the inside.  Spencer decides that he doesn’t like where these thoughts are leading him, so he chooses to put them away for the rest of the surgery.  He gets up and walks to the bathroom to do his business.  Then he heads to the pre-op area to change his scrubs and begin the process of scrubbing his hands until they are clean enough to go back into the OR.  It only takes a few minutes, and he goes back to standing at Patrick’s side waiting for Dr. Franz to ask for assistance.

       “You’re back!  That was quick!”  Dr. Franz comments.

       “Well, it doesn’t take that long to go to the bathroom.  How much longer do you suspect the surgery is going to take?”  Spencer asks.

       “That depends on if we find even more damage than what we’ve already seen.  Right now, my best guess is probably another three to four hours.”  Dr. Franz answers as he continues working.

       “Ok. Thanks.”  Spencer states.

       “I do actually need your assistance on this part.  Could you please join me?”  Dr. Franz asks.

       “Sure.”  He says.

       Spencer walks over to assist the doctor.  It’s going to be a long rest of the day.

Chapter Text

Chapter 43

*******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

        Joe and Dan are outside planting some new hydrangea bushes in a shaded area of the prison.  They are such beautiful flowers!  These ones will be blue when they start producing blooms.  Joe finds he needs a specific tool to start planting the rest.  The soil over on this side of the prison was much rockier than the soil on the other side.  A simple garden trowel won’t get the job done.  He reaches back to grab that tool and finds it is not in its place.  Well, fuck!  Where did I leave it?  Did it fall out of my tool belt?  The prisoners that work on yard maintenance must be very careful with their tools.  If they lose one, there is a very good chance that they will never get it back.  Joe stands up and looks around where they are currently working and doesn’t find it.

        “Hey Dan, I’ll be right back.  I can’t seem to find the tool I need to plant the next bushes.  I think it may have fallen out of my tool belt.  I’m going to retrace my steps.  I should be back relatively quickly.”  Joe says.

        “Alright.  See you in a bit.”  Dan says.

        Joe starts by looking between this area and the area where they planted the last batch.  He walks slowly with his eyes to the ground, hoping to find it.  He doesn’t find it there, so he starts heading to the entrance of the building.  He had been in there recently to get some water and take a short break.  He opens the door and walks in, staring at the ground like an eagle.  He walks to every place that he’s visited inside the building, and he finally finds it in front of the back entrance to the building.  He bends over to pick it up and ends up bumping into someone.  Please don’t be the Nuestra Familia!  

        “I’m so sorry!  I didn’t mean to bump into you!  Please don’t hurt me!”  Joe begs.

        When he stands and turns around, he sees Alex and two other inmates.

        “We aren’t going to hurt you, Joe.”  Alex says.

        Alex turns to the other two inmates.

        “Give us a few minutes.  I will join you shortly.”  Alex says to the other two inmates.

        Alex and Joe wait until they can’t see them anymore before continuing.

        “What are you doing inside?” Alex asks.

        “I was looking for a garden tool that fell off my toolbelt.  When I saw it, I bent over to pick it up and ran into you.  After what happened with Patrick, I don’t know what other inmates are capable of.”  Joe answers.

        “Yeah.  I could definitely see that.  How is he doing?”  Alex asks.

        “He was in pretty bad shape the last time I saw him.  He had one surgery this morning and is currently in another surgery.  We visited him between surgeries when he was awake.  He was pretty doped up on whatever drugs Spencer was giving him though.  I don’t know any more than that.”  Joe states.

        “Have you heard of any plans for retaliation?”  Alex asks.

        “Actually yes.  Gabe approached me to ask if I wanted to be involved in those plans, given my skill set.  I told him that I would love to, but that I couldn’t risk adding any more time to my sentence if I got caught.  This is completely unrelated, but do you believe in vampires?  Joe asks.

        Alex freezes for a second.  Had Joe somehow found out that he was a vampire, or was he asking because there were others inside the prison?  He tries to play it cool.

        “Yeah, I guess.  I’ve heard about some pretty disturbing things that have occurred in the prison.”  Alex answers.

        “Ok.  Please don’t think I’m crazy, but I actually witnessed one feeding on someone.  That is how I know they exist.  Anyway, Gabe made a very tempting offer.  He is a vampire and he offered to compel anyone who sees me to forget that I was ever there or involved.”  Joe informs him.

        This surprises Alex.  Gabe would never do anything for anyone else unless it somehow benefited himself.

        “I’d already heard rumors that Gabe was a vampire.  Here’s my question.  Why would Gabe offer to do something like that for you?  He usually never does anything for anyone unless it works in his favor.”  Alex asks.

         “I forgot that part.  Oops.  He thinks he owes me a debt.  If Brad hadn’t talked to me when Patrick disappeared, they wouldn’t have known who was responsible and where they should look for him.  He said he hates being in debt to people.  He said, if I wanted to be involved that he would do this for me to repay the debt he owes me.  The only thing I worry about is if I can trust him just this one time.  I would love to beat the shit out those that raped Patrick!  It would be so satisfying to cause them immense pain and to drag it out, making them suffer like he did!  I am just worried that he won’t follow through.”  Joe responds.

        “Ok.  Let me make sure I got this straight.  Patrick was kidnapped and nowhere to be found so Gabe sent Brad to ask you if you knew where he was.  You told them about his run-in with the Nuestra Familia gang and that they had planned to attack him again.  Brad took this information to Gabe, and they started to narrow the search to where the Nuestra Familia hung out, but they still didn’t find him.  I’m sure more happened while he was gone, but at least you knew who was responsible.  For that, Gabe feels like he owes you a debt and he hates being in debt to people.  So, then he offered you the opportunity to be involved in their retaliation and told you that he would compel anyone who saw you or dealt with you to forget that you were there.  This would repay the debt he owes you and you two would be square.  Is that everything?”  Alex asks.

        “Yes.  I don’t know what to do.  If I get caught, it could mean more years that I can’t be with my wife and daughter.  Dan also pointed out that if Gabe retaliates with enough people that I could potentially hide in their shadow so if he double crossed me, I might still be able to do it without getting caught.  What would you do?”  Joe asks.

        Alex wants to say that if Gabe didn’t follow through that he would do it for Joe, but he’s not sure if he wants Joe or Gabe to know that he is a vampire.

        “My instinct is usually to never trust Gabe or anything he says.  However, since he owes you a debt, I feel like he has more of a chance of following through so that he is no longer in debt to you.  I would do it.  Patrick deserves some kind of payback.  If you happened to somehow end up in a room with the men that raped him and ended up beating the fuck out of them so that they were in immense pain and you made sure that you drew it out for a long time, so they suffer, then so be it.  I think there will be enough going on that no one will notice you.”  Alex comments.

        “Yeah.  That was the way I was leaning too.”  Joe adds.

        “If you somehow were to get caught, I’m sure that I could convince Sawyer to make that go away for you.”  Alex states.

        Joe smiles.

        “Thanks, man!”  Joe responds.

        Joe looks down at his watch and realizes how long he has been gone.  It is almost time for role call after work before they are taken back to their cells.

        “Shit!  I need to go!  Thanks for the advice, Alex!”  Joe says as he is about to run out the door.

        “No problem!” He hears Alex yell back.

        Joe runs back to where he and Dan were planting bushes.  Dan notices he’s back.

        “It’s about time!  You were gone for a long time!  Did you at least find your tool?”  Dan asks.

        “Yes, I did.  I also ran into Alex and talked to him about Gabe’s offer.”   Joe says.

        “What did he say?”  Dan asks.

        “He said that he would do it and if Gabe didn’t follow through, and I got caught, that he’s sure he could convince Sawyer to make it go away.  He did say that there is a better chance of Gabe following through because he owes me a debt.  That being said though, it’s nice to have a backup plan.”  Joe answers.

        “So have you made your decision then?”  Dan asks.

        “I think so, but I’m still being extremely cautious.”  Joe replies.

        “Good I would do the same if it were me.  Gabe’s a dangerous guy.  I wouldn’t trust him further than I could throw him.”  Dan comments.

        Joe looks down at his watch again and sees that they need to get going to make sure they make roll call.

        “We’ve got to go, Dan.  We still have to put our stuff away before we can go to roll call.”  Joe states.

        Dan looks down at his watch.

        “You’re right!  Let’s go!”  Dan says.

        They gather up their things and head back to the storage shed to get rid of it.  Then they head inside and make it just before roll call starts.  Once roll call is over, they are returned to their cells.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

        Gabe is on his way to talk to the next vampire on his list, Alex Suarez F-58.  He just came from meeting with Nate Navarro who has agreed to join them.  Gabe continues walking toward cellblock F.  It is further than he remembers, and he is running out of time before he is supposed to be back in his cell from Yard time, so he picks up his pace.  When he gets to cellblock F there is a guard at the door.  Gabe approaches the guard, but he is looking down at something.

        “Excuse me.  I seem to have lost my way.  Is this cellblock F?  He asks.

        The guard looks up at him and makes direct contact.

        “What?” He asks.

        “I am here to visit someone in F-28.  You will let me in and will not disturb us.  You will open the door for me when I leave, and you will forget that you ever saw me.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

        The guard’s eyes gloss over, and he repeats everything that Gabe just said followed by “Yes, I understand.”

        “Good.  Now please open the door.”  Gabe commands

        The guard stands and opens the door to the cellblock.  Gabe enters and the guard closes the door behind him.  He walks past cells 1-20.  Then he turns the corner and finds cell 28.  He looks in and sees Alex feeding on his cell mate.  Gabe waits until he is done before speaking.

        “Hello Alex!  Enjoying your meal?”  Gabe asks.

        “Hey Gabe!  He’s not too bad.  He could be a little sweeter, but he’s fine for now.”  Alex answers.

        “Do you have a minute?  There is something I’d like to discuss with you.”  Gabe asks.

        “Yeah, sure.  What’s up?”  Alex asks.

        “It is a long story so I will make it as short as I can.  Dr. Stump, I call him Sugar, was recently convicted for helping two prisoners escape.  He was sentenced to five years and has been a prisoner on the inside for seven days.  I have claimed and marked him, so he is my property.  A few days ago, he had a small run-in with the Nuestra Familia gang.  He bumped into one of them and they tried to attack him but failed.  They were planning to attack him again and then yesterday, they ambushed him and his guard.  They brutally beat him and gangbanged him thirty-two times.  Then they took him to the gang leader, who raped him again.  They tried to make it look like a random attack by stabbing him five times and ended up dumping his body in a well trafficked area where another inmate found him.  He was in very bad shape.  He’s already had one surgery today and is currently in another surgery.  I am planning to retaliate in a few days, and I need your help.  A part of my plan involves rounding up all the vampires in the prison and releasing them on the thirty men who gangbanged Sugar.  You would be encouraged to feed on them and use your vampiric powers however you like to cause them immense pain.  You would also be encouraged to draw out their pain and make them suffer for a long period of time, but you must leave them alive.  I’m hoping you will join me in this to get retribution for Sugar.  Will you join me?”  Gabe asks.

        “What they did to him sounds like a lot for accidentally bumping into someone.  Yes.  I will join you!  They went way too far, and they deserve to pay for that.”  Alex states.

        “Good.  I will have more details for you as we finalize our plan.  We will be in touch.  I’d love to stay and talk, but I’m supposed to be back in my cell soon for Yard time.”  Gabe says.

        “Alright, sounds good!  Bye!”  Alex says.

        “Bye!” Gabe says as he turns and works his way back to the entrance of cellblock F.

        The guard opens the door for him and then closes it and locks it behind him.  Gabe makes his way back to his cell in plenty of time before the guard shows up to take him to Yard time.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

        Brad is currently sitting in Stump’s room waiting for his surgery to be completed.  It seems like it is taking a long time.  He was in Andy’s office for four hours, then he spoke to Gabe for an hour.  Dr. Franz said it would be between five and six hours, and they were approaching hour number six, so where was Stump?  Brad had returned to sick bay on Gabe’s orders but all he had done so far was sit there and wait.  He’s been scrolling on his phone for a while, but he was getting bored with that.  If this takes much longer, Brad is going to have to read a newspaper or a book.  He’s also getting hungry.  He hasn’t fed in a while.  None of the other humans’ blood tastes as good as Stump’s blood does.  He actually misses it.  He will have to go feed on someone else pretty soon though.  He can’t put off his hunger much longer, or he might go too far and kill someone. 

        Brad decides to get up and see what is going on.  He walks out of Stump’s room and begins looking for a nurse, or someone who might have more information about what was going on.  Most of the nurses are assisting with the surgery, but he does spot a male nurse who doesn’t appear to be too busy.  Brad walks over to speak with him.

        “Hello.  I’m Stump’s personal guard, Brad.”  Brad states.

        The nurse looks up and smiles at him.

        “Hello Brad.  I’m one of Patrick’s nurses.  My name is Sebastien.”

        “Hello Sebastien.  I was wondering if you could help me out.  Dr. Franz said that the surgery would last between five and six hours.  It has been six hours, and they are still in surgery.  Do you by chance know why it is going longer than anticipated?”  Brad asks.

        “I do know why it is going longer.  I ran into Spencer in the bathroom when he came out for a short break.  He said that when they went in to repair everything, that they found that he had massive internal bleeding that the MRI didn’t show at all.  It took them five hours just to stop it.  He said whenever they would fix one source, another would open.  He said it was touch-and-go for a while.  Patrick’s vitals were fluctuating rapidly, and they almost lost him twice, but then they finally have the bleeding stopped and Patrick was stable.  Spencer said that they couldn’t even address fixing the damage from the attack until they stopped all the internal bleeding.  He said that they were just starting that part of the surgery and that he needed to get back in there.  That was an hour ago.  Oh!  He also said that Dr. Franz estimated that they would need at least another three to four hours to completely fix all the damage.”  Sebastien informs him.

        “Fuck!  That bad, huh?”  Brad asks.

        “Yeah, it sounds bad.”  Sebastien answers.

        “Please don’t take offense to this question, but why aren’t you in there assisting them?”  Brad asks.

        “No offense taken.  I am not a perioperative/surgery nurse just yet.  I haven’t completed my training that is required to be one.  I have done rotations in many different areas of medicine, but surgery nurses need specific training to be able to assist a doctor during the surgery.  I haven’t had a chance to complete my training in that field yet.”  Sebastien replies.

        “Oh.  I didn’t realize that specific nurses needed training in specific areas.”  Brad comments.

        “Yeah.  It’s required by law.”  Sebastien says.

        “Well, since it appears I have more time to waste now, I will call another guard to stay here until Stump is out of surgery.  I have some business I need to attend to, but I will be back later.”  Brad says.

        “Ok.  Have fun.”  Sebastien responds and then goes back to working on whatever he was doing.

        Brad steps out of sick bay for a moment.

        “Guard Brad to dispatch.”  He calls.

        “This is dispatch.  Go ahead.” They answer.

        “I need a different guard to come to sick bay and relieve me.  I have some business to attend to while Stump is in surgery.”  Brad states.

        “Ok.  We will send someone immediately.  Dispatch out.”  They reply.

        This is good.  Now he can go and report on Stump’s condition to Gabe and do whatever else he needs him to do.  He can also feed and grab more reading material on his way back.  He walks back into sick bay, enters Stump’s room, and sits down in a chair by the door, until the other guard comes to relieve him.  He begins scrolling through his phone again to pass the time, but it isn’t long before another guard enters sick bay.  Brad stands, walks over to the new guard, and leads him into Stump’s room. 

        “What is your name, guard?”  Brad asks.

        “Percy, sir.”

        “Percy.  I need you to sit here and wait until inmate Stump is out of surgery.  If anyone comes in and attempts to harm him, you must protect him.  I have a few things I need to take care of.  Please also let me know THE MOMENT he gets out of surgery.  I will be back later.”  Brad orders.

        “Yes, sir.  I will inform you when inmate Stump is out of surgery if you are not back before then.”  Percy assures him.

        “Good.  Thank you.  I will see you later.”  Brad says as he turns to walk out of Stump’s room and sick bay.

        What should I do first?  I’m really hungry so I think I’m going to start there.  Brad sticks his nose up in the air and takes a big whiff of air, to see what his choices of human are for now.  He takes a second to decipher all the different smells and connect them with certain humans.  He notices a sweet, fruity smell coming from someone down the hall and around the corner and chooses to get closer to that human.  He begins walking toward the smell.  The smell is getting stronger, the closer he gets.  When he turns around the corner, the smell is so strong that he decides he must have the blood of whatever human is producing it.  He keeps walking and seems to catch up with an inmate that is walking away from him.  He uses his super speed to catch up and grab him, covering his mouth so he can’t scream.  Then he takes him to a secluded area where he can have his meal.  He uncovers the inmate’s mouth, and the inmate seems frozen in fear.

        “What are you?”  The inmate manages to ask.

        Brad smiles at him.  He has always loved playing with his food.

        “What do you think I am?”  Brad asks.

        “Something terribly evil.”  The inmate answers.

        Brad looks at the inmate with a patronizing look.

        “Oh, come on!  You can do better than that!  Try again.”  Brad says.

        Brad opens his mouth baring his fangs.  The inmate’s eyes go wide as it dawns on him.

        “Oh my God!  You’re a vampire?”  the inmate asks.

        “Yes, I am!  You will be my lunch today!”  Brad replies.

        Before the inmate knows it, Brad is on top of him, straddling him.  Brad moves the inmate’s head to the right and tears into the inmate’s neck.  The inmate is screaming out in pain, so Brad covers his mouth with his hand.

        “Uh, Uh, Uh.  Can’t have you making so much noise.  Be quiet or I will make this even more painful for you!”  Brad threatens.

        He bites down again on the man’s neck sucking mouthful after mouthful of blood.  The man is staying quiet this time.  Brad keeps drinking more and more until he senses that the inmate is about to approach the point of no return, so he pulls off, wipes the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand, and licks the bite marks to close them.  The inmate is still conscious, so he takes this time to make sure he doesn’t remember this.

        “Please look into my eyes, inmate.”  Brad orders.

        The inmate looks up, makes direct eye contact with him, and his eyes completely gloss over.

        “You will not remember anything about this encounter including seeing me and anything that just happened.  When I release you, you will immediately go back to what you were doing prior to me grabbing you.  Do you understand?”  Brad commands.

        The inmate repeats everything Brad said followed by “Yes, I understand.”

        “Good.  You are free to go.”  Brad acknowledges.

        Brad stands up and the inmate stands, turns around and heads back in the direction that he came in.  Now that that’s done, his next order of business is to go find Gabe.  It is about the right time for Yard time, so he heads to the yard to locate Gabe.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

        Joe is sitting in his bed reading his book when a guard comes to escort him to the Yard.  Joe climbs down and walks to the front of his cell.  The guard presses the button to open the door.  Joe steps out and the guard presses the button to close the door.  Then they begin walking in the direction of the yard.  Joe must admit, it has been nice not having Brad around to bust his balls all the time.  It is slightly more relaxing than normal.  When they reach the door, the guard hands him a jacket and he walks out the door.

        Since Patrick isn’t around, Joe goes looking for Dan.  It seems like it has been a really long time since Patrick went into surgery.  Dr. Franz had said five to six hours.  He looks down at his watch and sees that it has been six hours and Patrick isn’t out of surgery yet.  He hopes everything is ok.  He is brought out of his head by Dan asking him a question.

        “I’m sorry.  What did you say, Dan?”  Joe asks.

        “I asked if you’ve heard anything about Patrick yet.  He was supposed to be out of surgery by now.”  Dan says.

        “I was just thinking the same thing.  Unfortunately, I haven’t heard anything.  I just hope everything is alright.”  Joe tells him.

        “Yeah, me too.  So, I talked to some of my friends that I trust about your situation.  Pretty much all of them said that they would participate just this once.  They all felt like the victim needed some payback, and since he can’t do it himself, that they would do it on his behalf.”  Dan shares.

        Joe takes a deep breath before he continues.

        “Yeah.  I think I agree with them.  I think I do want to be a part of this.  Patrick deserves some retribution.  Those fuckers need to pay for what they did to him, and I plan on making sure that they are in so much pain and that they suffer for so long that they will beg me for death.”  Joe states.

        “I agree.  I wish there was something I could do, but I don’t have much to offer.  Have you told Gabe yet?”  Dan asks.

        “No.  I think I’m going to hold off telling him until maybe tomorrow morning.  Make him sweat a little.”  Joe answers.

        “Nice!  I approve!”  Dan comments.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

        When Gabe enters the yard, he begins looking for the last vampire on his list that is on this side of the prison, Eric Halvorsen.  He starts looking around the yard and doesn’t see him, so he looks much harder this time and locates Eric in the far back right of the yard, sitting on a bench.  Gabe starts heading in his direction and reaches him a few minutes later.

        “Hello Eric!”  Gabe says.

        Eric looks up at him and instantly smiles.

        “Hello Gabe!  What can I do for you?”  Eric asks.

        “Well, I’m hoping you could help me out with something.  I will try to make this short.  Recently Dr. Stump, whom I call Sugar, was imprisoned for helping two inmates escape while transporting a patient to the hospital.  He was sentenced to five years.  I have marked and claimed him as my property.  Sugar had a run-in with the Nuestra Familia gang.  He ran into one of them, apologized, and then they attacked him and his cell mate and tried to rape Sugar.  I sent my men to stop it, and since then, they have been planning another attack.  Sugar was called to the Warden’s office and never made it back to his cell.  He and his guard were ambushed by members of the Nuestra Familia gang.  He was brutally beaten and gangbanged thirty-two times.  Then he was brought to their leader who drugged him and raped him again.  After he was finished, he started to examine some of Sugar’s tattoos, which I gave him, when he realized that Sugar was my property and he freaked out.  He tried to make it look like a random attack by stabbing him five times and leaving him in a well-trafficked area to be found.  He is alive, but there was a ton of damage done to his body.  He has had one surgery already today and is now currently in a second one.

        I plan to strike back at the Nuestra Familia gang sometime in the next few days.  They crossed a line and Sugar was caught in the crossfire.  One of my ideas was to round up all the vampires in the prison and let you all lose on the men responsible.  You would be expected to feed on them as painfully as possible, and you may use your vampiric powers on them as well.  You must leave them alive though.  I want them to suffer for a long period of time, just as they made Sugar do.  I was wondering if you would be interested in being involved?”  Gabe asks.

        Eric doesn’t even need to think about it.

        “Yes!  I will definitely help you!  What they did was horrible, all because he ran into one of them by accident?  They need to be taught a powerful and painful lesson!”  Eric answers.

        “Great!  I will contact you when I have the plan finalized.  We will be in touch.  I must leave now to go put the final touches my plan for the gang meeting we will be having after yard time.”  Gabe says.

        “Sounds good.  It was nice to see you!”  Eric responds.

        Gabe begins walking back to where he and his men usually hang out, when he spots Brad over by the door to the yard.  He must have some news about Sugar.  Gabe turns and starts heading in Brad’s direction.  As he gets closer, Brad approaches him and says he has an update about Sugar.

        “Inmate Saporta, I am here to take you to a meeting with your lawyer.”  Brad says as he grabs Gabe’s arm.

        “Alright.  Take me to my meeting.”  Gabe replies.

        Brad takes him inside and leads him to their normal meeting room.  He closes the door behind them and locks it.

        “What’s going on Brad?”  Gabe asks as he sits down at the table.

        “I have news about Stump.  I sat in sick bay for another two hours and he wasn’t out of surgery yet.  I felt like it had been long enough, so I went looking for someone to tell me what was going on.  I found a male nurse named Sebastien who told me that he had run into Spencer in the bathroom while he was taking a short break.  Spencer had said that he had massive internal bleeding that didn’t show up on the MRI.  They had to stop it before they could start the other stuff.  Spencer also told him that it was touch and go for a while, and that they almost lost him twice, but that he is stable now.  It sounded complicated.  Every time they would stop one source of bleeding, another would start.  It took them five hours to completely stop the bleeding.  Spencer told him that if Stump’s surgery had been postponed any longer, that he would’ve probably died from all the internal bleeding.  They also found that the damage to his inside was so much worse than what they saw on the MRI.  Spencer said Dr. Franz told him that it would be an additional three to four hours before they fixed everything and finished the surgery.  So, he is stable, but it is going to take them much longer to fix the additional damage.  The Nuestra Familia did quite a number on him.  That is all I know so far.  When I left, I had my meal because I was very hungry and then I came to see you.”  Brad informs him.

        “You gave him a good amount of your blood before he went into surgery, right?”  Gabe asks.

        “Yes.  I was able to feed him my blood over four shorter bursts so he wouldn’t hallucinate.”  Brad answers.

        “So, they must’ve caused even more damage than we thought if he still had that much potentially fatal internal bleeding after having your blood.  It took them five hours to stop all of it, and now he will be in surgery for a total of nine to ten hours just to fix what they did to him?”  Gabe asks.

        “Yes, sir.”  Brad answers.

        “They are going to pay for this!  Not only with their lives, but we will make them suffer like Sugar did!  They have no idea what is coming, which will make it all the more satisfying when we see them all in pain, prolonging their suffering!  Perhaps we could even have the vampires rape them many times in a row when they are done with them!  They will rue the day that they ever kidnapped, touched, beat, stabbed, and violated my property!”  Gabe yells.

        Gabe’s eyes had turned red while speaking.  He takes a minute to calm down and his eyes return to normal.

        “Don’t forget that the meeting is at 4 p.m.  I expect you to be there cheering me on.”  Gabe states.

        “Don’t worry, boss.  I will be there.  I told the guard that relieved me to inform me the moment Stump is out of surgery.  We will fuck the Nuestra Familia up!”  Brad comments.

        “Yes, we will.  I must prepare for my meeting now.  You may leave me here, but you are dismissed.”  Gabe says.

        “Yes, boss.”  Brad says as he unlocks the door, opens it, and closes it behind him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 44

*******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

                 Gabe looks at his watch and sees that it is getting close to 4 p.m. so he packs up his papers that include most of the plans for their attack and heads over to where the meeting will be held.  He still has a few details to iron out, but he is pretty sure his plan is solid.  As he gets closer, he sees members of the gang gathering for the meeting.  He still has fifteen minutes so he walks to the front of the meeting area and organizes his plans as best as he can on the makeshift podium.  He is wondering where Brad is as the meeting is starting at 4.  Once all the gang is assembled and sat down, he sees Brad walking in at the very last minute, fucker.  Brad comes and stands off to the side of Gabe.

                “Attention Gentleman!  I hereby call this meeting of the Latin Kings gang to order.  We have much to discuss.  I would like to start by sharing the situation with all of you, my plan for payback, and finally, I will take comments and ideas at the end.  As most of you know from the last meeting, I have claimed and marked Dr. Stump, whom I call Sugar, as my property.  He has the tattoos to prove it.  A few days ago, Sugar had a run-in with the Nuestra Familia gang in the mess hall.  He accidentally bumped into one of them and when he apologized, they wanted to take him to meet their gang leader, Jesus.  Sugar declined and went back to eating his lunch.  However, when Sugar and his cell mate left, they were jumped, and attacked.  His cell mate was knocked out cold.  Sugar was pushed up hard against a wall with his hands held above him while the person he ran into, Earnesto attempted to rape him.  I sent my men in to stop it.  Since then, they had been plotting another attack, as they felt disrespected.

                Yesterday, Sugar was taken to the Warden’s office for a meeting, but he never returned to his cell.  Earnesto and his men ambushed Sugar and his guard.  They were brutally beaten, and Sugar was gangbanged thirty-two times by Earnesto and his men.  Then Sugar was taken to the gang leader, Jesus, where he was drugged, raped again, and beaten even further.  After Jesus was done, he noticed ink lines on Sugar’s back which led him to see my mark on him.  He also saw the Latin Kings Crown on Sugar’s stomach.  Jesus freaked out and tried to make it look like Sugar was randomly attacked by stabbing him five times in the abdomen.  Then he instructed his men to dump him in a well-trafficked area where he would be found.

                Sugar was found and taken to sick bay where the seriousness of his injuries was discovered.  He has already had one surgery today and during the second surgery they found much more internal bleeding than they expected, and they almost lost him twice.  It took them five hours alone just to stop the bleeding.  Now they are starting the surgery to fix the damage done during the attack.  He will have been in surgery for nine, maybe ten hours.

                The Nuestra Familia have gone too far, and Sugar was caught in the crossfire.  He did not deserve the punishment that he was given.  They also drew out his abuse to cause him maximum pain and suffering.  I will not stand for my property to be treated this way and they must be taught a very painful lesson.  I don’t have to tell you that this attack on my property warrants an attack of retribution.  I am waiting for a few things to fall into place, but we will strike back quickly!  Who is with me so far?”  Gabe asks.

                Almost all the members raise their hands.

                “That is why you are all here today.  I’m not requiring you to be involved, but we need a good force to inflict the kind of damage they deserve!  We will fuck them up and teach them to never mess with the Latin Kings or any of the Latin Kings’ property ever again!”  Gabe yells.

                Most everyone is cheering and appears eager to participate.

                “I have a plan for the attack, which I will now share with you.  I will start with the leaders.  Jesus and Earnesto will be tortured, beaten, and raped multiple times!  Brad and I will handle this part.  Our plan is to cause them so much pain and suffering that they will beg for death!  Once I feel that they have suffered worse than Sugar did, we will kill them!”  Gabe says.

                Gabe is hyping up his plan and it is working.  They are all cheering and supporting him, which is great!  The more he says, the more people join in!

                “For the men that were part of Earnesto’s team and gangbanged Sugar, I plan to release upon them a horridly painful and demoralizing weapon!  I can’t tell you more than that, but I can assure you, those men will be tortured in ways that you can only dream of.  The weapons will be instructed to use any means they feel is necessary to inflict that torture and they will draw out their pain and suffering to the point that they will welcome death with open arms, but they will intentionally be left alive to prolong their suffering.  I haven’t decided yet whether I plan on killing all these men.  They were following orders, but they committed especially heinous acts while following those orders.  I am open to discussion on that topic at the end of the meeting.  The point of all of this is to avoid an all-out gang war where we would just go in and decimate their gang.  In this case, everyone wins.  There will be much less killing, but those who violated my property will be held responsible and will pay for it with their pain, suffering and maybe their lives.

                Finally, for the other members of the gang that were not directly involved in Sugar’s attack, but supported it, my plan is for those of you that want to be involved, you will be allowed to beat them and punish them however you see fit.  My only stipulation is that they must be left alive.  We will need witnesses to what we are doing here, so they know and remember the price of messing with any one of us, and our properties.  Who’s with me?”  Gabe asks loudly.

                He is very happy to see that the whole gang is behind him and supporting his ideas, as well as getting their chance to fuck the Nuestra Familia up.  They are all cheering!

                “Wonderful!  I will inform all of you of your role and more information as it becomes available.  If you know of others that might be interested in being a part of this, please share this information with them.  We will need everyone we can get!  Now I leave that platform open for any questions or ideas.  Anyone?”  Gabe asks.

                  A man sitting in the front row raises his hand.

                 “Yes, Hank?”  Gabe asks.

                 “I think you should kill Earnesto’s men.  They were following orders, but they still inflicted so much pain and suffering that your property was seriously damaged.  You can’t let that stand, or they will see it as a weakness and try to exploit it.”  Hank says.   

                “That’s a very good point, Hank.  Alright.  We will kill Earnesto’s men after prolonging their pain and suffering.  Their deaths will be extremely painful!  Is there anything else?”  He asks.

                Gabe looks around and no one has anything to say.  It appears that they are all so excited to get the opportunity to beat up and abuse the other members of the gang.  Everyone is bubbling with enthusiasm and eagerness to do some major damage.

                “Alright, Gentleman.  I hereby call this meeting of the Latin Kings gang to a close.  You will all receive more information as the attack gets closer.  Thank you for your time!”  Gabe says as he pulls Brad aside.

                “I need you to do more research for me since you have a few hours before Sugar will be out of surgery.  I need you to find out how many members are in the Nuestra Familia gang.  I need the total amount minus Earnesto’s team of thirty-one men, Earnesto, and the gang leader, Jesus, so that I know how many men I will need to take them down.  Can you do that for me?  You should be able to find that information on the computer in the guards’ main office.  If you can’t find it there, you could pay Andy another visit, you know, since you are “old friends.”  I’m sure he knows or has files stating the total number of prisoners in each gang in the prison and their hierarchies.”  Gabe orders.

                “I will get right on it, boss.  If I hear anything about Stump, I will let you know as well.   I doubt I will hear anything until he is out of surgery though.”  Brad comments.

                “I appreciate that, Brad.  Let me know when you acquire the information I need.  I will be here for a little bit, but after that, I will be recruiting vampires on the other side of the prison.”  Gabe informs him.

                Brad leaves to go look for the information Gabe seeks.

                Gabe spends some time with the gang members before leaving to finalize his plans and continue to gather up allies.  He will check in with Ryland tomorrow morning to see how many vampires he recruited.  Since Sugar is still in surgery, it gives Gabe time to approach some of the vampires on the other side of the prison.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                Brad heads toward the guards’ main office, hoping that this information will be easy to find.  When he gets there, it is crowded with guards taking their breaks.  He kind of needs privacy to look for what Gabe asked, so he compels them all to leave by convincing all of them that there is a situation out in the yard and all personnel are needed.  Then he watches all of them file out of the office.  When he is sure that they are all gone, he goes to the main computer, sits down, and begins searching for the total number of members of the Nuestra Familia.

                He starts by searching for the obvious, the number of prisoners in the gang, but of course it couldn’t be that easy as nothing pops up.  Next, he searches for prisoners with gang affiliations, which brings up A LOT of potential prospects.  He tries to narrow the search by limiting the nationality of the prisoners as Hispanic.  This gives him a much shorter list.  Then he tries to narrow it down more by searching for the specific gangs that exist in this prison.  It produces another, very long, list.  Finally, he separates all the prisoners by their gang affiliations.  He thinks he’s finally got it when the computer brings up a screen saying that he doesn’t have access to those results and that his security clearance isn’t high enough to view that information.  That’s odd.  I usually have access to everything here.  It becomes incredibly obvious that someone doesn’t want any of the guards accessing this information.  Well, so much for it being easy to find this information.  I guess I’m going to have to visit my “old friend” Andy again.  I really hope it doesn’t take four hours to find it this time.

                Brad leaves the guards’ main office and heads toward the Warden’s office for the second time today.  When he enters, he sees Wendy again, whom he compels to forget that she saw him and tells her not to disturb them.  Wendy’s eyes gloss over, and he knows that she will no longer see him, so he walks to the Warden’s office, opens the door, and walks in.  Andy looks up and sees Brad right there in the doorway.  He has a scowl on his face, and for a moment, Brad is concerned that his compel didn’t work, until Andy’s scowl turns into a huge smile.

                “Hey Brad!  Long time, no see!”  Andy says as he stands up, walks up to Brad, and embraces him in a big hug.

                “It’s great to see you again so soon!  We really need to hang out and catch up!”  Andy suggests.

                “You know Andy, I’d really love to, but work has been keeping me so busy that as soon as I get home, I crash on the couch for a few hours.”  Brad says.

                Andy looks a bit sad.

                “Maybe I can make some time in like two weeks.  Then we can get together and catch up.  How does that sound?”  Brad adds.

                Andy is smiling again.

                “That sounds great!  To what do I owe the pleasure this time?”  Andy asks.

                “Well Andy, I’m writing a short book on prison gangs because it has always really fascinated me.  I was wondering if I could pick your brain to learn more about them and how they function in prisons.”  Brad asks.

                “Of course!  What kind of information are you looking for?”  Andy asks.

                “You could start by telling me all of the different gangs in this prison and elaborate more from there.”  Brad answers.

                “Tell you what.  I’ll do you one better.  Hang on a sec.”  Andy replies as he walks to his second filing cabinet, opens it, begins looking for a file, grabbing it, closing the filing cabinet, and coming back to sit down in his chair.

                “This is a list of all the gangs in this prison, their members, their leaders, and enemies and how they all rank in the prison hierarchy.  For instance, the most powerful gang in the prison is the Latin Kings.  Their leader is Gabe Saporta.  Here is the list of their members.  They are enemies with several other prison gangs such as anyone involved with the Folk Nations gang alliance.  This includes the Nuestra Familia.  The Aryan Brotherhood and The Simon City Royals are also their enemies.  As Warden it is my job to make sure that sentences are being enforced and the prison runs as smoothly as possible.  There are always tensions between gangs and the occasional gang war, but for the most part, I leave them alone and they handle any issues they have between themselves and rival gangs.  The only time I will ever step in, is if things start to get out of hand or we are dealing with riots.”  Andy informs him.

                “That is so fascinating.  Would you mind if I made a copy of this to use for my book?”  Brad asks.

                “Not at all!  Friends help each other right?  Just please don’t tell anyone where you got it from, ok?  I don’t want to lose my job.  Does that sound fair?”  Andy asks as he is making a copy of the list.

                "Of course!  I won’t tell anyone.  If they ask, which they probably won’t, I will tell them it came from an anonymous source.”  Brad answers.

                “Perfect!  Here you go.  Is there anything else I can help you with?”  Andy asks.

                “No, this list is a pretty good start for my book.  I will definitely call you though when I need more information though.  I will also call you in a few weeks when I set aside the time for us to hang out and catch up!  Sound good?”  Brad asks.

                “Sounds great!  I’m just glad I could help!  Don’t be a stranger, ok?”  Andy says with a huge smile on his face.

                “I definitely won’t, I promise.  Would you mind looking into my eyes?”  Brad asks.

                Andy makes direct eye contact with him.

                “You will forget everything that happened here in the past hour, other than the fact that we are friends, I came to visit you, and you answered some questions for me.  Do you understand?”  Brad compels.

                Andy’s eyes gloss over, and he repeats exactly what Brad just said followed by “Yes, I understand.”

                “Good.  I will try to visit you again soon.  Have a great day, Andy!”  Brad says as he turns around and leaves.

                Brad walks past Wendy, who doesn’t even notice him as he walks out of the office.  He makes a quick stop at the guards’ main office to make a few copies of the list and then he was off to find Gabe.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                Spencer and Dr. Franz are still in surgery with Patrick.  After they got the internal bleeding under control, they had actually made significant progress in repairing the damage.  However, it was very slow going and they almost lost Patrick again.  They were working on repairing more damage when Patrick threw a blood clot from one of his legs and it got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism.  Spencer and Dr. Franz tried giving him heparin and thrombolytics to dissolve the clot, but they weren’t working quickly enough.  Spencer and Dr. Franz had to immediately stop what they were doing, put Patrick on a bypass machine, and perform an embolectomy to remove the clot.  This involved inserting a flexible tube or catheter into Patrick’s femoral artery in his thigh, grabbing the blood clot and pulling it out.  This ended up adding another hour to their surgery time.  Once they finally got Patrick stabilized, they disconnected him from the bypass machine, and returned to what they were doing.  Spencer wasn’t going to lie, this really scared him, he was very concerned that Patrick wouldn’t survive this, and he’d lose his best friend.  Pulmonary Embolisms are very serious, life-threatening, and the mortality rates are 65%.  He’s very happy that Patrick seemed to pull through though.

                Dr. Franz and Spencer then continued working on the damage from the attack.  Spencer thinks back to the MRI he took of Patrick’s behind.  At the time, it seemed like there was a ton of damage, which is why he called in Dr. Franz.  He knew he couldn’t repair it on his own.  Fast forward to when they started the surgery and had to deal with what seemed like endless internal bleeding.  It was incredibly clear then, that they had grossly misjudged how badly Patrick had been injured.  It had taken them five hours before they got the bleeding under control, so they couldn’t really evaluate anything else until then.  When they started what they were actually there to do, they discovered so much more damage than they thought they were dealing with.  This horrid attack had basically torn poor Patrick apart from the inside to the outside.  He is lucky that they didn’t delay the surgery any longer, or Patrick would’ve died from all the internal bleeding. 

                Now they were nine hours into the surgery, and they had repaired a little over half of Patrick’s injuries.  Spencer is thanking God at this point for Dr. Franz.  Throughout the whole surgery, he has kept his composure, no matter what they were faced with.  He has met every problem head-on and has worked tirelessly to solve any issues that have occurred like they are nothing.  He hasn’t left the OR since the surgery started and appears to be fully committed to seeing this through to the end.  Spencer just wishes that this would go faster, even though he knows that they are going at a rate that is obtainable.  Spencer knows he has always had issues with patience when it came to things that he had very little control over.  It also didn’t help that the patient was one of his best friends.  He was too close to this, but he hadn’t had a choice.  There wasn’t another doctor or surgeon that he could’ve passed this on to.  The only other doctor or surgeon they had was currently laying on the operating table in front of him fighting for his life.  He felt so bad for him.  He’d been through so much more in the six days he had been a prisoner here than anyone should have to deal with during their lifetime.  Spencer was so shocked at this last attack he almost didn’t believe that it had happened.  That was until he saw Patrick’s face and his beaten, broken, and bleeding body.  That was even before he knew that Patrick had been gangbanged thirty-three times.  A part of him died a little inside when he discovered what had happened to Patrick.  Another part of him died after listening to Patrick give his statement of what had happened.  Patrick was a mess talking about it, and all Spencer wanted to do was to wrap him up in a huge hug, even though he knew it wouldn’t change anything. 

                Spencer takes a deep breath to calm himself.  The only way he will get through all of this is if he can detach himself from his emotions.  He must see Patrick like any other patient or prisoner he has dealt with.  Spencer is here to do a job, which happens to be an extremely long surgery which will save his patient’s life.  That is what he needs to focus on.  It should only be a few more hours before they are done.  He brings himself out of his head and back to the task at hand, which was repairing the various injuries that this patient had suffered.  Spencer dove back in, head-first and began with the task in front of him.  Dr. Franz looks up at him.

                “Welcome back!”  Dr. Franz says while he is sewing up yet another injury.

                “What?”  Spencer asks, confused.

                “Welcome back from wherever you just were.  It’s all right.  This has been an extremely long and very difficult surgery.  I understand if you need to zone out for a minute to refocus yourself.  I imagine that this has been very hard on you.”  Dr. Franz comments.

                Spencer takes a deep breath before answering.

                “Yes.  It has.  To be honest, the only way I am going to make it through this is if I detach myself from my emotions.  That is what I was trying to do.  Is it ok with you if we just stick to the facts and only refer to him as “the patient” rather than his name and not discuss the incident which caused all of this?”  Spencer asks.

                Dr. Franz smiles.

                “Yes!  Of course!  I completely understand that.  I will need some help in sewing up the next area, so that I can move onto the next injury the patient has.  We should be done in two or three hours at the rate we are going.  If you could close up for me after I repair the damage in each area, that would be very helpful, and it might speed up the process a bit, so we finish sooner.  The patient has been under anesthesia for a very long time, which we both know isn’t very good for him.  Any bit of time we can shave off will be helpful.  Can you do that?”  Dr. Franz asks.

                “Yes.  I can do that.  Please let me know of any other ways that I can assist you, Dr. Franz.”  Spencer answers.

                “I definitely will.  We make a pretty good team, Spencer.  I could use a few sips of water.  I’m really thirsty.  If it takes you a few minutes to get me some water, I wouldn’t hold it against you.”  Dr. Franz replies.

                “Yes, of course.  I will be right back with that.”  Spencer states as he leaves the OR to get some water for Dr. Franz.

                This will give him a short, much needed break.  He’s also thirsty and he needs to pee again.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Gabe is currently on the other side of the prison recruiting vampires for the attack on Earnesto’s men.  So far, he has a total of nineteen vampires that are willing to participate in his plan for revenge and retribution.  He only has four more vampires to visit before he and Ryland have finished speaking to all the vampires on the list.  The next vampire he needs to talk to is Alex Mahone, the inmate that had found Patrick and taken him to sick bay.  He was very interested in speaking with him.   Alex had figured out a way to fly below the radar and Gabe is curious as to why.  He looked down at his notes and saw that Alex was in D-78, so he started heading in that direction.  It didn’t take him very long before he was standing in front of Alex’s cell.  He doesn’t see Gabe at first, or if he did, he didn’t react to him.  Gabe bangs on the bars to get his attention.  Alex looks up, sees Gabe, and walks to the front of his cell.

               “Hello Gabe.  What can I do for you?”  Alex asks.

               “Hello Alex.  I’m here because I’m in the process of recruiting vampires for a part of my plan for payback.  Imagine my surprise when I saw your name on the list.  I’m just curious.  Why have you been hiding your true identity here?”  Gabe asks.

               Alex looks from side to side to make sure no one will overhear them.

               “Well, I just never really thought it was relevant.  I’m here for murdering multiple people in cold blood and I’ve been diagnosed as a Psychopath and Sociopath.  I’ve never really felt the need to expose that side of myself and I’d really like to keep it that way.  I’m Sawyer’s number one man and it is very important that I stay in that position.  If he knew what I was, it would deal a serious blow to the balance of power.  I would look incredibly weak for being subservient to a human.  I’m fine with the way things are and they are going to stay that way, if you get my drift.”  Alex explains.

               “Yes.  Of course.  I won’t tell anyone your secret.”  Gabe responds.

               “Good, because if my secret were to get out and upset the balance of power in Sawyer and I’s relationship, I would have to kill you, so don’t be stupid Gabe.”  Alex threatens.

               “Oh, don’t worry.  Your secret is safe with me and I’m reading you loud and clear.”  Gabe replies.

               “So…why are you here Gabe?”  Alex asks.

               “Well, as I said before I am approaching all the vampires in the prison to see if they would be interested in helping me with my plan for payback.  I don’t suppose you would be interested in helping, would you?”  Gabe asks.

               “That depends.  What would we be doing?”  Alex asks.

               “Brad and I plan on torturing Jesus and Earnesto, which would include but wouldn’t be limited to feeding, beating, raping, using Brad’s power of sucking the life out of humans and anything else we feel is necessary ultimately ending in their slow, painful deaths.  I was planning on rounding up as many vampires in the prison to torture the thirty-one men that gangbanged Sugar.  You may use anything that you see fit, but you would be encouraged to use your vampiric powers and to be as sadistic as possible.  I want them to suffer like Sugar did.  I want them to feel pain like they’ve never known, and I want them to beg for death.  Does that sound like something you would be interested in being involved in?”  Gabe asks.

               Alex thinks for a second.  He’d really like get payback for Patrick, but if anyone sees him acting like anything but a normal human, it may blow his cover, and he can’t risk that.

               “While I admire and totally support your plan, I’m afraid I can’t be involved.  Don’t get me wrong, I want payback for him just as much as you do, but if anyone, including other vampires see me acting like anything but a normal human, it could put my relationship with Sawyer at risk.  I’m sorry.  I’ve worked too hard to get where I am and I’m not willing to jeopardize that.”  Alex answers

               “I do understand, and I don’t want to put you in any situation that might compromise your position.  I am happy to hear that you support this idea though.  Well, if there is nothing else, I need to move onto the next vampire.  I’m trying to do all of this while Sugar is still in surgery, so that I can visit him later.”  Gabe states.

               “Wait, he’s still in surgery?  I knew about the one this morning, but I thought the second surgery was supposed to be done already.”  Alex comments.

               “Yes, apparently when they went in to perform the surgery, they experienced many complications.  They found a ton of internal bleeding that didn’t show up on the MRI.  It took them five hours just to stop it all.  Then they finally started the surgery that they were supposed to be doing, only to find that the damage was way worse than what they were expecting to find.  Again, it didn’t show up on the MRI.  The last I heard, he was going to be in surgery for another three hours, so that puts us at about seven or eight p.m. when they should finish.”  Gabe informs him.

               “Jesus!  That’s terrible!  Please make sure that these men suffer the absolute worst of pain and suffering.  Also, please have the other vampires rape them repeatedly so they get a taste of what he felt.  I really wish I could be involved.”  Alex responds.

               “Don’t worry, Alex.  They will get everything that is coming to them and so much more.  It’s going to be a blood bath.  We will make them suffer in ways that they can’t even imagine.”  Gabe comments.

               “Good.  Let me know how it all goes.”  Alex says.

               “I definitely will!  Enjoy the rest of your day.”  Gabe says as he turns and leaves to find the next vampire on his list.

Chapter Text

Chapter 45

*******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

                Brad was headed over to the other side of the prison to find Gabe and present him with the information he had acquired from his meeting with his “old friend,” Andy.  He didn’t really know where exactly Gabe was, so he pulled out the list of vampires that he had separated by which side of the prison they were on and began checking each one’s cell on the list.  He starts off with Alex Mahone.  Wait what?  Alex, the inmate that found Stump and was Sawyer’s right-hand man in the Simon City Royals was a vampire?  That’s news to him.  It doesn’t take him long to reach his cell.  He bangs on the bars to get his attention.

                “Hey Brad.  What do you need?”  Alex asked.

                “I’m looking for Gabe.  I know he was on this side of the prison recruiting vampires for his plan.  I didn’t know where to start, so I came to you because you were the closest.  Have you seen him?”  Brad asks.

                “Yeah.  He was just here trying to recruit me, but I can’t help because it might jeopardize my position with Sawyer.  He said he was headed to the next vampire on his list.  I believe his name was Luke Davis and his cell was N-84.  You should try there.  One more thing, I am currently keeping my true nature a secret, so it doesn’t upset the balance of power in my gang.  If you disclose the fact that I’m a vampire to anyone, I will kill you.  Got it?”  Alex threatens.

                “Yes, I got it loud and clear.  You aren’t a vampire, just a simple human.  Thank you for the info.”  Brad responds and heads to N-84 where he will hopefully find Gabe talking to Luke Davis.

                He ends up catching up to Gabe before he reaches cell block N.  They stop in the hallway for a minute.

                “Gabe!  Gabe!  You know that information you asked me to find?”  Brad asks.

                “Yes, what of it?”  Gabe asks.

                “I found what you were looking for.”  Brad shares.

                “Really?  That was quick!”  Gabe comments.

                “When I found out that Stump wouldn’t be out of surgery any time soon, I started digging.  I started looking for it on the computer in the guards’ main office.  I got pretty close to finding the information when it brought up a screen saying I didn’t have access to that information and that my security clearance wasn’t high enough to obtain that information, which is weird!  I usually have access to everything.  Someone must not want all the guards to have access to that information.  I’m not sure why though.  After that ended up being a dead end, the only other option I had was to go back and visit my “old friend” Andy, so I headed to his office again.  I told him that I was writing a book on the different prison gangs and how they functioned inside of the prison.  I asked him if I could pick his brain for some information.  He said yes and that he would do me one better.  He went to his second filing cabinet and pulled out a file.  Inside was a list of all the gangs in this prison, all their members, and their places in the prison hierarchy.  Then he explained to me more about how the gangs work in the prisons and that he only intervenes if the gang violence gets out of hand or happens to start riots.  I got him to make me a copy of the whole file before I told him I had to leave.  I brought the pertinent info on the Nuestra Familia gang with me, so you could have a look.”  Brad explains.

                “Wow!  I’m impressed!  Good job, Brad.  Let me see!”  Gabe asks.

                Before Brad gets the chance to show him, they are approached by another guard.

                “Excuse me, who are you two and what are you doing on my cell block?”  He asks.

                “Well, you see Brad here is my personal guard.  We were just returning from a meeting that I had with some members of my gang that are housed on this side of the prison.  We got terribly lost and now we have no idea where we are.  Somehow, we ended up on cellblock N and we were trying to retrace our steps in order to find out where we made a wrong turn.”  Gabe informs him.

                The other guard looks at Brad, who is acting like he has no idea what is going on.

                “Is the information this inmate is giving true, guard?”  They ask.

                “Absolutely!  I have no idea where we are except that somehow, we ended up here!  I mainly stay on the other side of the prison, so I don’t know my way around this side as well.”  Brad says.

                For a moment it looks like the guard is going to give them a hard time, but instead he gives them directions on how to get back to the other side of the prison and continues on his way.  When he is out of view, they begin talking again.  Brad pulls out the information on the Nuestra Familia that he found and hands it to Gabe.  Gabe begins reading the info and smiles a devilish smile. 

                “This is exactly what we needed!  So, it looks like we are dealing with a total of about a hundred men, not including the thirty-one of Earnesto’s men.  One hundred thirty-three, if you count Earnesto and Jesus.  We should be able to handle that.  This is some good work, Brad.  Does it mention anything about their battle tactics when dealing with other gangs?” Gabe asks.

                “I didn’t get a chance to read through all of it thoroughly.  I will review it later and see if it mentions anything.”  Brad says.

                “See that you do.  If we know what kind of tactics they are going to use, then we can plan for that and defeat them relatively easily.  Was there anything else?  Have you heard about Sugar?”  Gabe asks.

                “Unfortunately, no.  I haven’t heard anything about that, but I will take the info with me so that I can review it thoroughly when I head back to sick bay.  We should be getting close.  It’s been another two hours.  I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something.”  Brad assures him.

                “Good.  You are dismissed.  I have three more vampires to talk to and then I should’ve hit all the vampires in the prison, minus the names I gave Ryland.  I will meet you in the mess hall for dinner.”  Gabe states

                “Ok, boss.  I need to escort Trohman to dinner and then I will head back to sick bay to check and see if he is out of surgery yet.  If he isn’t, I will return to the mess hall to meet with you and to escort Trohman back to his cell.”  Brad informs Gabe as he turns and walks back to the other side of the prison.   

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                 Gabe watches as Brad leaves.  He looks down at his watch and realizes he doesn’t have as much time as he thought, so he needs to make these visits quick.  It isn’t long before he approaches Luke Davis’ cell.  Luke happens to be alone in his cell sitting in a chair in the corner reading a book.  Gabe calls him and he looks up from his book, sees who it is, and walks to the front of his cell.

                “Oh my God!  Gabe Saporta!  To what do I owe the pleasure?”  Luke asks.

                “Hello Luke.  I don’t know you, but you have heard of me, obviously.  I’m here because you have a special set of “skills” that I would love to use.  Here is some background.  Dr. Stump, whom I call Sugar, is now a prisoner with us.  I have marked and claimed him as my property.  A few days ago, Sugar had a run-in with a member of the Nuestra Familia gang in the mess hall.  He accidentally ran into one of them, apologized and left.  He thought it was done then.  When Sugar and his cell mate left the mess hall to go back to their cell, they were attacked, and Sugar was almost raped.  I sent my men to stop it.  Since then, they have been planning to try and attack him again to finish the job.  A few days later, Sugar was summoned to the Warden’s office for a meeting.  On his way back, Sugar and his guard were ambushed by thirty-one men from the gang led by an inmate named Earnesto.  They were brutally beaten, and Sugar was gangbanged thirty-two times.  Then Sugar was taken to the gang leader where he was beaten more, drugged, and raped again.  When Jesus, the gang leader, saw ink lines on Sugar’s back, he examined them and saw my mark, claiming him.  Then he freaked out, stabbed him five times in the abdomen and dumped his body in a well-trafficked area where he would be found to make it look like a random attack.  I am here because part of my plan for payback includes rounding up all the vampires in the prison and letting them loose on the thirty-one men that gangbanged him.  They would be encouraged to be as sadistic as they want, to inflict maximum pain, and draw it out as long as possible.  I would also love it if you raped them continually for hours.  You may also use your vampiric powers on them as well.  When you feel they have suffered even close to what Sugar felt you may kill them.  So, what do you say?”  Gabe asks.

                Luke smiles an evil smile before answering.

                “Yes!  I’m totally in!  I love causing humans pain and it sounds like these guys crossed a line.  I can do whatever I want with them?”  Luke asks.

                “Absolutely.  Just make sure the pain is more than they can imagine and draw it out for as long as possible.”  Gabe answers.

                “I have some wonderful ideas!  You said you wanted us to continually rape them for hours?”  Luke asks.

                “Yes.  Please do.  Make them suffer like they never have before!”  Gabe encourages.

                “This is a great plan, Mr. Saporta!  I’m so excited!”  Luke exclaims.

                “So am I!  We will be in touch in the next few days as we firm up the plan.  I will contact you when I have more information.  Thank you for helping!”  Gabe says.

                “No problem, like I said, I love torturing humans.”  Luke responds.

                “Great!  If you’ll excuse me, I have two other vampires to recruit before dinner time.”  Gabe says as he turns and heads in the direction of the next vampire on his list, Simon Litch P-27.

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               Joe is sitting in his cell reading his book.  It has been a long day, and it is getting close to dinner time.  So much has happened today, with Gabe’s offer, work, deciding what he wants to do, and on top of that, he has been very worried about Patrick.  His surgery seems to be taking so much longer than he was originally told and he hasn’t gotten an update on him in quite a while.  If he is still in surgery, it has been a total of nine hours, which is a long time to be under anesthesia.  His head is spinning a bit with all the anxiety linked to everything that has happened today.  He lays down on his bed for a minute with his eyes closed, breathing deeply to try to calm himself down and center himself.  It takes a while, but he is able to calm himself down.  When he opens his eyes, he looks at his watch and sees that it took almost an hour to do this.  It shouldn’t be too much longer before a guard shows up to escort him to dinner, so he opens the book to where he left off and begins reading until he hears someone pounding on the bars.  He can’t see who it is from where he is at.  After he climbs down and begins walking towards the front of his cell, he sees that it is Brad.  Awesome!

               “Hey Trohman!  Let’s go!  It’s time for dinner.  Hurry up!”  Brad yells.

               “I’m coming, chill!”  Joe says as he approaches the door.

               Brad presses the button to open the door, Joe steps out, and he presses the button to close the door before they head towards the mess hall.  Joe looks over at Brad.

               “I don’t suppose you have an update about Patrick or know why his surgery is taking so long, do you?”  Joe asks.

               “Actually, I do.”  Brad answers.

               “Do you plan on telling me?  You guys do kind of owe me.”  Joe remarks.

               “Fine.  I went back to sick bay close to the time window of when they said they would be done, but they were still in the OR.  I ended up running into one of Stump’s nurses, named Sebastien?  Anyway, he told me that he had run into Spencer in the bathroom while he was taking a short break.  Spencer told him that when they went in, they found a fuck ton of internal bleeding that hadn’t shown up on the MRI.  He said that as soon as they fixed one source, another would open.  It took them five hours to stop all of it and they almost lost him twice.  The new estimate I was given was that it would be another three to four hours.  When I showed up in sick bay again around the time he was supposed to be out of surgery, they were all still in there, so I don’t know what is taking so long.  My best guess would be that the injuries were much worse than what they saw on the MRI, and it is taking longer because of that.  We should be getting pretty close though.  It has been another three hours.  That’s all I’ve got for now.”  Brad informs.

                This information sparks a fire inside Joe, but he doesn’t show it.  The fact that there was intense internal bleeding and more damage than they were expecting, made Joe even angrier.  Those fuckers would pay and suffer for what they did to him.  Joe would make sure of it!  It only further cements the fact that Joe wants to be involved in the plan for payback.

                “Jesus!  Both the internal bleeding and the damage were that much worse that it is taking several hours longer, and they almost lost him twice?  Fuck!  I want to see him the second he is awake.”  Joe comments.

                “You and everyone else.  I’m headed back to sick bay to see what’s happening.  I’ll let you know when I hear something.”  Brad says.

                They walk up to the doors of the mess hall.  Joe grabs the handle, opens the door, and gets into the food line.  Then he sees Brad turn around and leave in the direction of sick bay.  Joe looks around the room while he is waiting.  He mainly sees the different gangs hanging out together.  What he doesn’t find, which is interesting, is that Jesus, Earnesto, and Earnesto’s men aren’t present where the other members of the gang are hanging out.  In fact, Joe doesn’t see them at all.  He wonders if they are holing up somewhere trying to hide from Gabe and his gang.  He stores this information in his head for use later.  Joe finally reaches the front of the line, gets his food, and then goes to sit at a table and waits for Dan.  It isn’t long before Dan is there sitting down and beginning to eat.

                “Brad escorted me here.  I have an update on Patrick.  He is still in surgery.”  Joe shares.

                “Really?  What is taking so long?”  Dan asks.

                “Brad said that he had returned to sick bay around the time that the surgery was supposed to be over, but that they were all still in the OR.  He said he ran into one of Patrick’s nurses, Sebastien, who had run into Spencer in the bathroom while he was taking a short break.  Spencer told him that when they went in, they found a ton of internal bleeding that hadn’t shown up on the MRI.  It took them five hours just to stop all the bleeding.  Then they began to fix the damage, only that was way worse too, and they’d almost lost him twice.  Spencer said they had at least another three to four hours.  Brad said he was there just before this, and he found the same thing.  No one was around and they were still in the OR.  He said his best guess was that it is taking longer to fix all the new damage they found so it was taking longer.  He was heading back there after he brought me here.”  Joe explains.

                “Fuck!  They almost lost him twice?  Like, he almost died twice?  Jesus!  I sure hope you, Gabe, and his gang seriously injure and kill some of them.”  Dan comments.

                “I have plans to fuck them up so much that they won’t be able to do anything but lay there.  I plan to cause them immeasurable pain and I plan to draw it out for as long as possible, so they suffer like Patrick did.  I can’t say much about what Gabe and his gang plan to do, but knowing Gabe and how sadistic he is, I have a feeling that we may not even want to know his part of the plan.”  Joe assures him.

                “That’s true.  He can be pretty brutal, if his treatment of Patrick is any sign.  I’ll just be happy that those fuckers get what’s coming to them.”  Dan states.

                “Yeah, me too!”  Joe agrees.

                “Do you have any idea how soon this attack will take place?”  Dan asks.

                “No, not yet, but I believe it will be within the next few days.”  Joe answers.

                “Good!”  Dan says.

                They continue eating their dinners and discussing the different details of the planned attack.

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                Gabe had just finished talking to the last two vampires on his list and was heading back to his side of the prison.  He got back in his cell just in time to be escorted to the mess hall for dinner by another guard.  As they walk in silence, Gabe is tallying up the amounts of vampires on his list that have agreed to help him.  All in all, he’s looking at twenty-two.  He will confer with Ryland and see how many he was able to recruit either today, or tomorrow morning.  He also reminds himself that he needs to get an answer from Mr. Trohman regarding his involvement tomorrow morning as well.

                Gabe and his guard reach the mess hall.  The guard holds the door open for him and he steps inside and gets into the food line.  He takes a look around the mess hall to see if there is anything interesting going on.  It looks like it usually does with people of the same gang hanging out in the same area.  He does notice that there are some important members missing from the Nuestra Familia’s area.  He wonders if they are hiding somewhere, hoping he won’t find them.  That’s funny though, because no matter where they are in the prison, Gabe will be able to find them.  It will be so fun to see their faces when he finds them.  It will be like their last hope of freedom is being torn away from them and he will see the resignation in their eyes.  He’s so excited!  He should have most of the plan figured out by tomorrow morning so he can begin planning the when and how of the plan.  Gabe finally makes it to the front of the line, gets his food even though he doesn’t eat, and heads to the back left corner of the mess hall to meet up with his men and fellow gang members.

                “So how did you do, boss?  How many of your secret weapons agreed?”  Shane asks.

                “So far, we are looking at about twenty-two secret weapons, plus whomever Ryland manages to recruit.  I will find out that number tomorrow.  I’m also pretty sure that Mr. Trohman will agree to be involved.  I made the offer very enticing.  If he agrees then he will get his payback, and I will make sure that no one remembers he was there, including you four.  That will repay the debt I owe to him and then we will be square.  I should have the majority of the plan completed by tomorrow morning.  Then we can begin issuing orders to the men, the secret weapons, and Mr. Trohman.  Poor bastards, they have no idea what is coming!  They deserve everything they get for kidnapping, beating, gangbanging, raping, and drugging my property!”  Gabe sneers.

                Gabe’s goons, as well as the men that agreed to be involved are smiling the same evil smile and quietly cheering him on.  Gabe is getting a bit swept up in the excitement.  Gabe orders everyone to look over at the Nuestra Familia with intimidating faces.  He laughs when he sees the fear in all their eyes!  This must be how they were staring at Sugar, since he knew they were planning something.  Serves them right.  In a few days, there will be much less of them to intimidate and attack others.  He looks forward to that day.

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               Spencer and Dr. Franz have finally completed the surgery.  It took them a total of eleven hours to fix everything, and they are both exhausted.  They’d lost an hour from the Pulmonary Embolism, but they’d managed to make up that time, so it didn’t end up adding to the surgery time.  Patrick is moved from the operating table onto a mobile bed and taken to the recovery room.  Spencer and Dr. Franz pull their gloves off and throw them on the floor before leaving the operating room, where they both disrobe down to their scrubs and head to the locker room to take quick showers to get all the blood off.  Once they are finished, they change their scrubs, don their white coats, enter Spencer’s office, and take a long break until Patrick wakes up.  The surgery was successful in repairing all the damage from the attack.  Patrick will be in a ton of pain for a while until he heals, but Spencer will give him what he needs to make him comfortable until that happens.  Spencer and Dr. Franz are so exhausted that they end up falling asleep in Spencer’s office.  Dr. Franz passes out on one couch and Spencer passes out on the other couch on the other side of his office.  It’s ok.  They have plenty of time before they will be needed.

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                Patrick is rolled into the recovery room.  The anesthesiologist injects his IV with the drug to begin waking him up.  Since he was under so long, there is a good chance that he will have some more problems with side effects once he wakes up.  It will be at least another hour and a half before he is awake since he was so far under.

Nurses Clara and Sebastien are there with him the whole time.  Patrick is still on his stomach and the nurses apply several ice packs to the affected areas.  Once he is awake, they will set down many pillows and turn him over onto his back, but for now they both sit with him and tend to his needs as they arise.

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                Brad heads back to sick bay after he drops Trohman off in the mess hall.  When he walks inside, he sees a different picture.  No one is in the OR anymore.  He hasn’t seen Stump, Spencer, or Dr. Franz anywhere yet, so he walks around a bit to see who he can find.  He walks up to the door of Spencer’s office and sees both Spencer and Dr. Franz passed out on the two couches Spencer has on either side of the second door that leads in and out of Spencer’s office.  Brad figures that they must be exhausted after an eleven-hour surgery, so he leaves them be for right now.  Brad continues walking and sees Stump in a different room.  Nurses Clara and Sebastien are sitting on either side of him.  Stump is still unconscious.  Brad knocks at the opening of the door into what he thinks is the recovery room.  Sebastien sees him, stands up and walks over to him, and leads him a little further down the hall so they don’t bother anyone.

                “Can you give me an update, Sebastien?”  Brad asks.

                “They finished the surgery like fifteen minutes ago.  It was a total of eleven hours.  They said it was a success and that they were able to repair all the damage.  They did have a rather serious hiccup though.  Apparently, Patrick threw a clot from his leg from being inactive for so long and the clot lodged itself in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism.  They had to stop what they were doing, put him on a bypass machine, and address it immediately.  They tried to dissolve it with drugs, but they weren’t working fast enough, so they had to feed a catheter into his femoral artery and up into his left lung, grab the clot, and pull it out.  All of that took another hour, but they were able to make up the time while fixing the damage.  Patrick was taken to the recovery room, and I believe both doctors stripped down to their scrubs, both took separate showers in the locker room, changed into new scrubs and their white jackets, and went into Spencer’s office to take a break.”  Sebastien informs.

                “Yeah, I just came from there, they are both passed out on the two couches in Spencer’s office.  I left them alone.  I figured they needed it after that long of a surgery.”  Brad states.

                “We can leave them there until Patrick wakes up, which will probably be in like an hour and a half to two hours, since he was so far under, and he was under for so long.  Now we just wait.”  Sebastien comments.

                “Can I tell those that are concerned for him that he is out of surgery and now we are waiting for him to wake up?  I will tell them they can’t visit yet, but I know some would like to know.”  Brad asks.

                “I don’t see why not.  He won’t be able to have visitors until he fully wakes up.  He will be given some pretty powerful painkillers though, so he might not be himself.”  Sebastien says.

                “That’s ok.  I think there are a few who just want to see him, even if he is high out of his mind.”  Brad responds.

                “Ok then.  Sure.”  Sebastien agrees.

                “I will be back in like thirty minutes.”  Brad replies as he turns around and walks out the door toward the mess hall.

                As soon as he gets there, he looks for Gabe and gestures to meet him in their meeting room.  Then he finds Trohman sitting with Pawlovich, and he approaches their table.

                “Trohman.  I have news about Stump, and I don’t want to have to tell it twice.  Please come with me so I can tell you and Gabe at the same time.”  Brad asks.

                “Can I come too?”  Dan asks.

                Brad rolls his eyes before saying “Sure, fine.  Let’s go.”

Brad leads them to the meeting room where Gabe is sitting in a chair at the table.  Joe has been here before when he had his private meeting with Gabe.  Joe and Dan both sit down in two chairs at the table across from Gabe.  Brad closes the door and locks it.

                “I have news.  Stump is out of surgery.  The surgery was a success, it took a total of eleven hours, but they were able to repair all the damage.  They did have a very serious hiccup though.  Apparently, Stump threw a clot from deep in his leg and it got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism.  They had to stop what they were doing to address it.  They had to put Stump on a bypass machine and tried to use drugs to dissolve it, but they weren’t working fast enough, so they ended up having to feed a catheter into his femoral artery and up into his lung, grab the clot, and pull it out.  This set them back another hour, but they were able to make up the time while fixing the damage from the attack.  Spencer and Dr. Franz are currently passed out in Spencer’s office.  Stump is in the recovery room, but he hasn’t woken up yet.  Sebastien told me that it would be at least an hour and a half to two hours before he fully woke up, because he was so far under, and he was under for so long.  You can’t see him until he is fully awake but be aware that he will be on some seriously heavy painkillers, so he might not even know what planet he is on when you see him.  That’s it for now.  I will send guards to escort you to sick bay when he is awake.  Any questions?”  Brad asks.

                They all look at each other, but no one asks anything.

                “Ok, you may go back to what you were doing in the mess hall.  When you are finished, find the guard that has been working with you today and return to your cells.  Please don’t all leave at once, stagger your exits so it doesn’t look like we are meeting here.”  Brad orders.

                They all look at each other again, and Joe decides to leave first.  Fifteen minutes pass, and Dan decides to leave.  Another fifteen minutes pass and Gabe stands up to leave.

                “Did you leave anything out?”  Gabe asks.

                “No.  I will try to slip him some of my blood when I can.  Right now, he is currently laying on his stomach.  Once they flip him over, I should be able to feed him some.  You can also feed him when you come to visit.  Wait for the other two to leave and I will keep everyone else out for you.”  Brad explains.

                “Alright.  I will see you later.”  Gabe says, and then leaves.

                Brad waits ten more minutes, then closes the door, locks it, and heads back to sick bay.

Chapter Text

Chapter 46

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Graphic Violence*******

               Brad takes his time getting back to sick bay, since it will still be a while before Stump wakes up.  He is hungry again, so he figures he will take care of that before he goes back.  He wonders who Gabe has been feeding off of, since Stump hasn’t been available lately.  He’s pretty sure he remembers Gabe revealing himself to Shane after he tried to make a move on Stump.  That makes sense.  Right now, Brad only cares about securing his next meal.  He sticks his nose up in the air and inhales to see what is nearby.  There are quite a few to choose from.  Brad is craving something sweet, and someone smells like blackberries and raspberries, so he isolates which human that the scent is coming from and follows the smell to the human.  The human appears to be alone in his cell, which works out for Brad, so he approaches the human’s cell and bangs on the bars to get them to come forward.  The human does come up to the front of the cell as planned.

               “Who are you?  You aren’t my normal guard.”  They ask.

                “I’m Brad.  Your guard is currently busy, and you have a meeting that requires your presence, so he asked me if I could take you.”  Brad informs him.

                The inmate rolls his eyes, annoyed.

                “Fine.  You need to open the door.”  They say.

                Brad pushes the button to open the door, the inmate steps out, and Brad pushes the button to close the door.  He takes his arm and begins leading him toward the meeting rooms.  Brad figures that is as good a place as any to have his meal.  He just has to choose ones that are further away, so nobody will hear the inmate scream.  They have been walking for a while, but the inmate doesn’t suspect anything.  They finally reach the meeting room that Brad plans to use.  He unlocks the door; he and the inmate enter the room and Brad locks it behind him.  The inmate looks around the room for a minute before he notices that there is no one else there.  He turns to Brad.

                “Hey, why isn’t anyone else here?”  They ask just as Brad smiles, pushes him to the floor, and straddles him. 

                His eyes are red and terrifying when suddenly, Brad rips into the inmate’s neck and starts taking gulp after gulp of blood.  The inmate screams in pain at the top of his lungs, but no one can hear him.  He is trying to struggle, but Brad is too strong.  Brad continues draining the inmate until he senses that they are getting a little too close to the point of no return.  He finally pulls off the inmate’s neck, but the inmate is still screaming his lungs out.

                “Oh my God!  What the fuck are you?”  The inmate manages to ask with the little energy he has left.

                Brad decides to play with his food again, since he enjoys it so much!

                “What do you think I am?”  Brad asks.

                “I don’t know.  What did you just do to me, why was it so painful, and why do I feel so tired now?”  The inmate asks.

                “Here, let me help you.  First off, I’m strong and scary.  My eyes turn red when I’m hungry, and I love drinking one of the many fluids in your body.”  Brad hints.

                “I was going to guess werewolf, judging how you ripped into my neck.”  The inmate guesses.

                “Nope!  Try again!  Here let me show you something.”  Brad says as he bears his fangs at the inmate.

                The inmate starts backing away from him in shock.

                “Do you need another demonstration, because I would love some more?”  Brad asks.

                “Holy shit!  You’re a vampire and you just drank an obscene amount of my blood!”  The inmate states.

                “Ding, Ding, Ding!  You are correct!  Your prize is me not killing you!  Now, get up and I will take you back to your cell.  Hurry up before I change my mind on killing you.”  Brad antagonizes.

                The inmate stands up but is pretty wobbly.  They take a step and crumple to the floor.

                “Really?  I have to carry you?  You are almost more trouble than you’re worth.”  Brad says as he picks up the inmate bridal style, unlocks the door and walks him back to his cell. 

                Before he opens the door though, he sets the inmate down on the floor with their back against the wall.

                “Could you please look into my eyes?”  Brad asks.

                The inmate makes direct eye contact with him, and he watches as both of the inmate’s eyes gloss over.

                “You will forget everything that you have seen, heard, or experienced with me in the past hour.  You were escorted to a meeting, the meeting took place, and you were brought back to your cell.  Do you understand?”

               The inmate repeats everything that Brad just said followed by “Yes, I understand.”

               “Good.  I’m glad your meeting went well today.”  Brad embellishes as he presses the button to open the door.

               Brad picks the inmate up again, walks to their bed and sets them down on it.

               “Sweet dreams!”  Brad comments as he turns, walks out of the cell, presses the button to close the door and leaves to head to sick bay.

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                Patrick is lying on some kind of bed.  His head is incredibly foggy.  He feels like he has been living in this beautiful dream world for what felt like days and now the storm clouds have rolled in, and they begin pouring on members of the town.  He feels himself getting wet and doesn’t like the feeling, so he takes shelter beneath a building with a large over-hang.  This building has been in the dream town for as long as he has been there, but he has never entered it.  Why does this imposing building look so familiar to me?  Do I know someone who lives here?  His brain is still way too foggy to know the significance of this building in the dream town where everyone is happy, safe, and content.  This building seemed to be the opposite of all these things.  Why is this building even here?  This town is about happiness and safety, not intimidation and danger.  It doesn’t make any sense.  Why am I so drawn to this building?  I feel like it is calling to me somehow, saying to enter it and find out more about it.  He stands under its awning until the rain passes.  When the sun comes out, it reflects off the dark building, beckoning him to step inside.  He is incredibly unsure about this, but the drive to enter it is so strong, that he can’t stop himself from grabbing the handle on the door, opening it, and stepping inside.

                Patrick looks around at what he sees.  His brain feels slightly clearer since entering the building.  It is beautiful inside.  It looks like a high-end hotel lobby.  The walls, floors, and stairs of the building are made of gorgeous marble.  It is a bit overwhelming, actually.  There is even a baby grand piano sitting unused in the center of the lobby.  He looks around and sees guests checking into the hotel, but no one is sitting at or playing this beautiful piano.  He feels that pull again that he felt outside the building.  He must sit down and play that gorgeous instrument, so he allows himself to walk toward it and sit on its bench.  He doesn’t remember knowing how to play the piano, but he puts his fingers on the keys of it and begins playing a song that is very familiar to him.  He is surprised that he can play the piano and that he is playing a song that he somehow knows.  He feels another layer of fog lift from his brain when he is done playing his song.  There were many people in the lobby watching him play and clapping for him when he was finished.  He enjoyed the attention and the applause but had a knee-jerk reaction that he doesn’t like being around people or being the center of attention.  That seems odd.  Why would I love and enjoy something and then turn around and feel the complete opposite about it immediately, like it was programed into me somehow? That feels wrong.  I’m going to sit down at the piano again and play another song and enjoy the attention I get from doing so.  He sits down and plays another song that he magically knows, and the guests clap and cheer for him.  Some even leave some money on the piano for him as a tip.  Patrick is eating all this attention up, when he feels that knee-jerk reaction that this is wrong, and he shouldn’t enjoy this.  He waits until it passes and then plays another song.  Each time he plays a song and enjoys it, he has the same reaction, but it feels like it isn’t as strong this time.  The more he plays and gets attention, the better it feels and the reaction that it is supposed to feel wrong lessens every time, until he feels like it is gone.

                Now he is feeling the pull to approach the front desk and check into his room.  He goes up to the next available person tells them his name, and they bring up his reservation that he didn’t even know he had.  It appears he has a room on every floor of the hotel.  The front desk agent informs him that he must complete whatever task he feels himself pulled toward and see it through to the end before he can move up to the next floor and enter that room.  He will do this for each of the seven floors in the building.  When he finishes the task on the seventh floor, he will be guided to whatever the next step is after that.  This all seems very strange, but since I am still in the dream town, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to participate in all of this to see where it all leads.  He acknowledges and accepts the challenge, and the front desk agent gives him the keys to all seven rooms.  They tell him that he must insert the key into the slot in the elevator in order to proceed to the next floor once he completes his task. 

                He thanks them and then locates the elevator.  He steps in and inserts his key to his first room into the slot in the elevator.  The elevator doors close and take him up to the first floor before they open, and he steps out.  It appears to open directly into a room that is clearly set up for a wedding.  He looks over at who is seated, and he recognizes many of the faces, but he can’t remember their names.  The wedding is almost ready to start.  The groom and his groomsman are lined up off to the right side in front of a decorated arch.  Patrick looks at the groom, whose face is blank, and has instant feelings of love and adoration for him, but he doesn’t know his name.  Suddenly, Patrick feels the pull to move toward the groom in white.  This person had no face either.  Patrick looks at them for a minute before he is pulled to take the place of this faceless man that is preparing to walk down the aisle.  His clothes immediately change and now he is dressed in the same white suit that the faceless man was wearing, and he begins walking down the aisle, being led by his mother.  When they reach the end of the aisle, his mother joins his hands with the other groom’s hands and then moves to her seat.  The officiant begins the ceremony where he marries Patrick and the other groom.  When the officiant declares them married, Patrick turns to the groom, they share a somewhat chaste kiss, and then they both walk up the aisle hand in hand.  They both hung out at the entrance of the church to thank their guests.  As soon as the last guest leaves, the room transforms into a white room with just Patrick standing in it.  He hears the elevator chime and open.  He must’ve completed whatever task he needed to do and can now move to the next floor.  Once he steps into the elevator, he inserts the second key into the slot.  The elevator doors close, and it moves up to the second floor.  The doors open, he steps out into the next room, and he waits to see what is next.  His head feels a bit clearer now than it did before.

               The walls of the room morphed into the living room in his house.  Why am I in my house?  This is very weird.  I wonder if my subconscious is trying to tell me something with these visions and tasks.  I don’t know what it would be, but it’s possible.  He is trying to take in the scene.  Someone who looks like him, but has no face, is sitting on the couch, while he sees a group of three people, who also have no faces, are standing in front of the person.  They all clearly look upset.  Patrick is watching as a passive observer for now.  It looks like they are trying to hypnotize the person sitting on the couch.  Patrick feels a huge pull toward the couch.  Once he gets there, the pull is again, telling him to replace the person on the couch, so he does.  Each of the three people takes their turn.  They all ask him to make eye contact with them and then they suggest that either something didn’t happen, or he is to forget whatever has happened.  It’s giving him a headache.  He feels like every time they tell him to forget something, they are literally, pulling the memories out of his head, and it fucking hurts!  This process continues for what feels like a few hours, when it has only been thirty minutes.  Patrick feels like he’s having the worst migraine of the century and begs them to stop, but they don’t listen and continue wiping his memories.  When they are finished, Patrick’s brain feels like Swiss cheese.  It felt like every memory they told him to forget, had left a million holes in his brain.  They ask him to make eye contact again, and he tries not to, but he looks up at them and they catch him in their web again.  This time, they make suggestions about what has happened to fill in the places where they pulled the memories.  Finally, they ask him if he understands.  He finds himself repeating everything they just said followed by “Yes, I understand.”  By the end, Patrick’s brain just hurts.  He lays down on the couch holding his head with both hands on either side of it and closes his eyes to make the pain stop.  He feels very tired all of a sudden and passes out on the couch.  The three others seem satisfied with their work, leave him there, and walk out the front door.

               When Patrick wakes up, he is lying on a white couch inside a white room.  Everything he had experienced was gone.  His head didn’t hurt anymore, and he is pretty sure he remembers everything.  He must’ve completed whatever task he was supposed to complete.  He hears the elevator ding and opens its doors, so Patrick sits up, stands, walks to the elevator, steps inside and inserts the third key in the slot.  The elevator doors close and moves up to the third floor, where it dings, and the doors open.  Patrick steps out into the room to see what awaits him on this floor.  He feels another layer of fog lift from his head.

               He suddenly finds himself in his office at the prison.  Patrick looks on as a faceless man is huddled in the corner during a riot.  The faceless prisoners are advancing on him and the only thing that stands between him and them is the locked door into his office.  They are all screaming lude things to him, and he is scared for his life.  Patrick feels a strong pull toward the man sitting in the corner.  He is obviously supposed to take the man’s place, so he does.  The prisoners start trashing sick bay, while others are using heavy things to try and break the glass between sick bay and his office.  Patrick feels an intense fear that he may be killed if the inmates manage to break through and get to him.  They are also starting to bang on the door.  Patrick knows the lock won’t last forever and he’s trapped.  He has nowhere to go.  He continues cowering in the corner when he hears something coming from the ceiling.  He wonders if this is it and the inmates are there to do terrible things to him and rape him.  He sees a ceiling tile move to the side and sees another faceless man that he seems to know sticking out of the ceiling.  Patrick has never been happier to see this man.  He runs to where the tile was moved looking up and seeing the man.  The man helps pull him up into the ceiling with him.  Patrick has strange feelings for this man that he doesn’t really understand, but that is beside the point.  The man begins crawling along through the vents, so Patrick follows him.  They stop for a break when they are definitely far enough away from sick bay.  He asks the man what he’s doing there, and the man tells him that he was on a cleaning crew to clean up the mold in the ceiling.  Then he suggests they keep moving through the ceiling until they reach the visitation area, so he can get Patrick to safety.  When they reach the end of the line, the man looks down to see where they are going.  He jumps down and doesn’t see anyone, so he helps Patrick out of the vents, and sets him down on the floor.  They think they are in the clear until they hear grunts coming from the hallway.  Patrick looks over and immediately recognizes the faceless guard who is currently being beaten to death.  He wants to try to save him, but the man held him back.  The prisoners are going to kill him, and Patrick needs to stop them.  He runs toward the guard but is grabbed by the man and is dragged away as the guard is slowly beaten to death.  The man manages to get Patrick to safety.

                Patrick finds himself back in a white room.  He hears the elevator ding, so he has completed his trial on this floor.  He walks over to the elevator, steps in, and inserts the fourth key into the slot.  The doors close and take him up to the fourth floor.  The elevator dings and Patrick steps out and sits down against the wall.  He does a big yawn.  He is getting pretty tired.  All these tasks have been exhausting and he still has four more to go.  As he sits there for a moment, he dozes off for a few minutes.  When he wakes up, he felt like another cloud had lifted and his head felt clearer.  The room hasn’t changed yet, so he continues to sit there waiting to see what this floor has in store for him.

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               Brad heads back to sick bay after having his meal and taking the human back to his cell.  He’s not sure he’s wasted enough time for Stump to be awake, but he is getting pretty close, so he shouldn’t have to sit there for too long.  He walks through the doors of sick bay, and it doesn’t appear much has changed since he was here last.  Spencer and Dr. Franz were still passed out in Spencer’s office, while Stump was still in the recovery room, unconscious.  Brad walks into the recovery room to find Nurses Clara and Sebastien taking his vitals and making sure he is comfortable.  They have attached some different sensors to his forehead, but he’s not sure why.  Brad finds a chair and sits in it when Sebastien approaches him.

               “Hello Brad.  You were gone for a while, but now you are back.”  Sebastien says.

               “Yes.  I had some things I had to take care of before returning.  Has there been any change?”  Brad asks.

               “Yes.  His vitals are good, and according to the sensors on his forehead, there is a lot of brain activity which means that he is slowly regaining consciousness.  He should be awake relatively soon, like maybe in forty-five minutes.”  Sebastien shares.

               “Good.  I guess I will sit and wait then.”  Brad comments as he pulls out his phone and starts scrolling on Facebook. 

                He also brought a newspaper to read.  He hates waiting.  It is so boring, but he guesses it could be worse.  Stump has been through a lot and has been under anesthesia for a long time.  It would make sense that it would take him a long time to wake up.  Brad just wishes that he could be alone with Stump so he could feed him his blood as Gabe requested.  So, he sits back and prepares to be there for quite a while.

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                Patrick has now completed the tasks on floors four, five, and six.  His head seems to be clearer with each task he finishes.  He just has to complete the trial on the seventh floor.  The trials were very similar to the first three, except they began increasing in difficulty with each floor.  They all seemed to be reliving memories that had occurred in his life, but the people were faceless, and he couldn’t remember their names.  He did remember the feelings that he felt for certain people though.  At least he was able to take a decent nap after his trial on the sixth floor, so now he has the energy to face this final trial.  The elevator door dings, and the doors open into a room, just like the others.  Patrick steps out and waits to see what this final trial will be.

                 The setting changes and he finds himself inside the back of an ambulance.  There is a patient that has been stabbed and is bleeding out next to him.  Patrick feels the pull to the person trying to help the patient.  He feels like he needs to take that person’s place.  Patrick tries to help the patient as much as he can, but the bleeding won’t stop.  There are two faceless men in the front driving, and they seem to be bickering with each other.  He doesn’t know their names, but he does recognize their voices, especially the shorter, dark-haired one.  Patrick is drawn to him and has feelings for that man, that he doesn’t understand.  When the shorter, dark-haired man sees what is happening, he tries to heal the patient with some of his blood, but it doesn’t work.  Then the shorter, dark-haired man begins talking about how there is a bond between the two of them, but Patrick doesn’t understand.  The other man who is driving begins picking up speed to the point where Patrick needs to hold onto something so that he doesn’t get thrown around.   The man that is currently driving calls for the shorter, dark-haired man to join him up front and asks him to take over driving.  Patrick returns to working on the patient, when suddenly, the other man stabs the shorter, dark-haired man with something, causing him to lose control of the ambulance.  The ambulance crashes and rolls a few times until it finally comes to a stop.

                 Patrick wakes up after the crash and finds that his patient is dead.  He goes to check on the driver.  The other man is gone, but the shorter, dark-haired man was nursing a serious bleeding wound.  Patrick pulls the man out of the ambulance and onto the ground so he can better assess the man’s injuries.  The man is fading in and out.  Patrick tries everything, but he can’t stop the bleeding.  He tries to keep the man awake.  Suddenly, Patrick feels this wave of feelings hit him and he is crying, trying to stop the man from dying.  This must be the bond that the man was talking about.  He feels the urge to kiss the man on the face as many times as he can.  No matter what he does, the man keeps getting worse, and he feels like he might lose him.

                 The man tells him that the only way he will survive is if he feeds on someone, so he goes to the dead patient and feeds on him.  Patrick finds this strange, but all these trials have had an ere of strangeness to him.  The man seems much better after feeding on the dead patient.  Patrick hadn’t realized how cold it was outside and he was starting to show the early signs of hypothermia.  They began walking away from the crash, but Patrick was getting worse.  He can’t stop shivering and his lips are turning blue.  He pushes himself as hard as he can, but his legs feel really stiff, and he falls and loses consciousness.  The man picks him up bridal style and carries him toward civilization.

                When Patrick wakes up, he is inside somewhere warm.  It looks like a hotel room and the man is trying to treat his wounds.  They talk more about this bond that seems to exist between each other, but this onset of feelings and emotions that Patrick is feeling scared and confused him.  He’s not thinking clearly.  The man says he wants to take Patrick with him to his home, and it is all happening too fast.  The man asks him to stay with him and tells him that he will never hurt him.  Patrick wants to believe him, he really does, but he doesn’t know if what he is feeling is true and real, so he does something stupid.  He calls his friends and tells them where he is.

                The room turns white again and the elevator dings.  Patrick goes to the elevator and steps in.  The doors close and he moves up to the last stop on the elevator.  When the elevator dings and the doors open, he steps out and finds that his head feels almost normal.  Patrick feels himself waking up from what felt like a long slumber.  He has regained feeling in all his appendages and now, the last step is to open his eyes and rejoin the real world.  Patrick focuses really hard, and he opens his eyes.  He’s on his stomach facing the floor.  He can’t see much but somehow the nurses know that he is awake. 

               “Welcome back, Patrick.  How do you feel?”  Nurse Clara asks.

               He takes a second before answering.  He tries to pay attention to his body and the first thing he feels is terrible pain.  It is an all-consuming pain.

               “I’m in a ton of pain.”  Patrick says with a scratchy-sounding voice.

               “You were in surgery for eleven hours to repair the damage from your attack.  There were a few serious hiccups, but the surgery was successful, and they were able to fix everything.  However, you will be in a great deal of pain for a while.”  She says.

               “Yay for me.”  Patrick responds. 

               He hears the nurse ask another male nurse to go get Spencer and Dr. Franz.

               “The doctors will be here soon to explain everything to you and give you pain medication.”  She responds.

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                Sebastien leaves to go wake up Spencer and Dr. Franz.  He walks into Spencer’s office to find both of them still asleep on the two couches.  Sebastien goes to Spencer first.   He gently puts his hand on Spencer’s shoulder and shakes him a little, which does not work.  He tries shaking him a bit harder, but still, Spencer doesn’t wake up.  Damn.  He must be in a really deep sleep.  Sebastien finally grabs both shoulders and shakes him much harder, and Spencer starts to stir.  He opens his eyes, looks at Sebastien, and sits up.

                “What’s going on?  Why did you wake me?”  Spencer asks.

                “Because Patrick is awake.”  Sebastien answers.

                Spencer immediately stands and is completely awake now.  He takes a second, slaps his cheeks a bit and takes a drink of the cold coffee on his desk.

                Sebastien moves onto Dr. Franz.  He starts by shaking him softly and he moves but goes back to sleep.  Sebastien tries a little harder, and apparently Dr. Franz isn’t as heavy a sleeper as Spencer is, because that is enough to wake him.  He seems really confused when he wakes up.

                “I’m sorry to bother you Dr. Franz, but Patrick is awake.”  Sebastien tells him.

                Dr. Franz sits up, rubbing his face to wake himself up a bit more, before standing and stretching a bit.

                “Ok.  I’m awake.  Let’s go.”  Dr. Franz says.

                He looks at Spencer and then they both head to the recovery room, where they see Patrick, still on his stomach, but he is awake.

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                “Hello Patrick.”  Spencer says.

                “Hey Spencer.  It’s good to hear your voice since I can’t see you right now.”  Patrick responds.

                “Nurses Clara and Sebastien, could you please, pad the bed with pillows and very gently turn Patrick over onto his back?”  Spencer asks.

Patrick knows this is going to be very painful and he isn’t looking forward to this.  He is still a bit foggy from the anesthesia, but his pain level is through the roof.  They wheel him over to a bed in the recovery room that they are supposedly padding with lots of pillows.  When they are ready, they move him closer to the other bed.

                “Are you ready Patrick?”  Nurse Clara asks.

                “No.  Not really.  This is going to hurt so bad!”  Patrick replies.

                Nurse Clara grabs his right arm and Sebastien grabs his left arm.  Spencer grabs his right leg and Dr. Franz grabs his left leg.

                “Take a deep breath Patrick.  On three.  One.  Two.  Three.”  Spencer directs.

                They all lift Patrick up off his current bed, then flip him over and gently set him down on the padded bed on his back.

                “Ahhhhhhhh!  Fuck!”  Patrick screams.

                Clara and Sebastien then jiggle him around a bit until they have him where they want him, which also hurts like a bitch.  Between the pain and the movement, Patrick feels really sick to his stomach and is about to throw up.

                “I need a bucket right now!  I’m going to puke!”  Patrick says just as the vomit reaches his mouth.

                The second they hand him the bucket he lets loose multiple times.  Clara empties the bag in the bucket, replaces it and hands it back to him.  Almost immediately he pukes again.  After six more bouts of vomiting, Patrick thinks he may be done.  He holds onto the bucket just in case.  All the retching has added to his already piercing pain.

                “I’m in so much pain!  Can I please have some pain medication now?”  Patrick begs.

                “I can give you a small amount now, but I can’t give you the full dose until you are done vomiting and can handle at least a little bit of water.”  Spencer answers.

                “Yes!  Please!  I’ll take whatever I can handle!”  Patrick exclaims.

                Spencer sends Sebastien to get him a bottle of fentanyl.  It’s the strongest pain medication they have in the prison.  Clara hands him a cup of ice chips and a glass of water.  Patrick drinks the glass of water to stop the burn in his throat and begins sucking on the ice chips after that.

                “Why am I so sick from the anesthesia, I was fine after the first surgery?”  Patrick asks.

                “You were under anesthesia for eleven hours.  The longer you are under, the greater the chances of experiencing side effects are even if they give you the stuff to not make you sick.”  Dr. Franz responds.

                “Why was I under that long?”  Patrick asks.

                Dr. Franz and Spencer look at each other, trying to decide who should tell him about what happened.  Spencer decides to start.

                “When we started the surgery, it was only supposed to take four to five hours.  However, once we got in, we discovered several sources of heavy internal bleeding that didn’t show up on the MRI.  We went about fixing the sources to try and stop the bleeding, but when we fixed one source, another would open up.  It took us five hours just to stop all the internal bleeding.  You took a turn for the worst, and we almost lost you twice.  You are lucky we didn’t postpone the surgery for much longer, or you would’ve died.”  Spencer informs him.

                “After we stopped the bleeding, we began the surgery we were supposed to do from the start.  When we went in to start, it turned out that the damage was so much worse than what the MRI showed us.  You are lucky to be alive, Patrick.  Not many people would’ve been able to survive that amount of damage.  We began fixing the damage, but since it was worse than we thought, it took us much longer to fix it all.  It also didn’t help that you threw a blood clot from your leg, and it got lodged in your left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism.  We tried blood thinners and other drugs to dissolve it, but they weren’t working fast enough, so we had to do an embolectomy.  That alone took us an hour, but we were able to make up the time while we were fixing all the damage.  The surgery was a success.  We were able to repair all the damage, but it took us twice as long to complete it.”  Dr. Franz explains.

                “So, there was a ton of internal bleeding, you almost lost me twice, I had a Pulmonary Embolism and an embolectomy, and the damage was much worse than you expected?”  Patrick asks.

                “Yes.  That is why you are so sick from the anesthesia.  Like Dr. Franz said, you are lucky to be alive.  I’m honestly floored that you survived the attack and the surgery.  I was hoping you would make it through, but there is always a chance of something going wrong, and a lot of things went wrong with this surgery.  I’m glad you pulled through though!  How is your pain?”  Spencer asks.

                “Almost all-consuming.”  Patrick answers.

                “On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst pain you have ever experienced, what number would you give it?”  Spencer asks.

                “Probably a 9.8.  It isn’t enough to make me pass out, but we are pretty damn close to it.”  Patrick replies.

                Sebastien finally returns with the bottle of fentanyl.

                “I’m sorry this took so long.  I went to the locked cabinet to get it and there wasn’t any, so I had to dig through the boxes of new supplies until I found it.  I came back as fast as I could.”  Sebastien apologizes.

                “That’s ok Sebastien.  I’m glad you found some.”  Spencer comments.

                “Me too!”  Patrick exclaims.

                Spencer smiles and measures out the amount that Patrick can have right now.  He takes the syringe and injects it into Patrick’s IV.  It doesn’t take long before it takes effect and Patrick feels his pain settle down a little for the moment.  Clara hands him another glass of water, which he downs immediately.  She leaves to get him a small pitcher of water.  Patrick hasn’t really paid attention to anyone else in the room, so he takes a look around and sees his best buddy Brad sitting on a chair in the corner.

                “Why are you here, Brad?”  Patrick asks.

                “What does it look like I’m doing, Stump?  I’m your personal guard.  I’m guarding you.  Gabe was very worried that a member of the Nuestra Familia would try to sneak in and hurt or kill you, so he ordered me to stay with you and to keep you safe.”  Brad answers.

                Patrick rolls his eyes.

                “Uh-huh. Whatever.”  Patrick comments.

                “Just pretend I’m not here!”  Brad suggests.

                “I’m in too much pain and I’m too tired to deal with you right now.  I understand why you are here, but please just sit there and be quiet.  I don’t have enough energy to deal with you right now.  Which reminds me.  Shouldn’t you be off to tell Gabe that I’m awake now?”  Patrick asks.

                “He told me to stay with you, so that’s what I’m going to do.  When they start allowing visitors, I will go get him.  I will sit here and be quiet.”  Brad says.

                “Fine.”  Patrick responds.

                It has been an hour and Patrick hasn’t vomited anymore, so they give him a bit of apple juice and oyster crackers to see how they sit.  He’s just hoping that he can have the rest of his pain meds soon.  His pain is starting to ramp up again and he is having trouble not focusing on it.  His poor body has been through so much and he is just exhausted.  A little voice in the back of his head is wondering if Gabe plans to retaliate against the Nuestra Familia.  He sure hopes so.  He’s generally not one for violence, but in this case, he will make an exception.  He hopes that the people that did this to him get to experience some of what he experienced.  He hopes they are tortured, in the worst pain they have ever felt, and that they suffer like he did.  He also wouldn’t mind if each one of them got raped repeatedly or gangbanged.

                “Hey Brad?”  Patrick asks.

                “Yeah?”  Brad asks.

                “Is there a plan for retaliation on the Nuestra Familia?”  Patrick asks.

                “Are you sure you want to know the answer to that question?”  Brad asks.

                “Yes.  I definitely do.  I’m not usually one that supports violence, but after everything they put me through, I will make an exception in this case.  Every single one of them deserves to suffer like I did.  Hell, I don’t even care if you kill them, as long as you torture, rape them repeatedly, and make them suffer pain the likes that they have never known before you do it.”  Patrick replies.

                Brad looks at him and smiles.  He almost looks proud of him.

                “Damn Stump!  I didn’t know you had those kinds of dark thoughts in your head!  I like this side of you!  To answer your question, yes there is a plan for retaliation.  Don’t worry.  Gabe will make them pay for what they did to you!  He has some excellent plans set to cause maximum damage, pain, suffering, and all kinds of other fun sadistic tortures!”  Brad responds.

                “Good!  Make them suffer!  I don’t want to know the details though.  I just wanted to know that he will get justice for my attack and that they will pay some serious consequences.”  Patrick says.

                “He’s got it covered!  This is what he does best!”  Brad shares.

                “That makes me feel much better.  Thank you.”  Patrick tells him.

                “No problem!”  Brad comments.

Chapter Text

Chapter 47

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Mentions of Graphic Violence and Rape*******

                Brad decides that he at least needs to tell Gabe, Trohman, Pawlovich that Stump is awake.  He knows Gabe would want him to stay here, so he stands up and looks at Stump and the nurses.

                “I’m going to step out for a minute.  I will be right back.”  Brad says.

                They all nod and he walks out of sickbay to get someone here who can relay a message to the others.  He grabs his radio and calls dispatch.

                “Guard Brad to dispatch, come in dispatch.”  Brad calls.

                “This is dispatch.  Go ahead Brad.”  They answer.

                “I need another guard sent to sick bay.  I have an important message that needs to be relayed to several people and I can’t leave sick bay right now.”  Brad explains.

                “Roger that.  A guard will be sent to sick bay.  ETA is fifteen minutes.  Was there anything else?”  They ask.

                “No that was it.  Thank you.  Guard Brad out.”  Brad replies.

                Satisfied with the answer, Brad walks back into sick bay and heads to the recovery room.

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                Patrick is still lying in his bed in the recovery room.  He has managed to keep down the apple juice and the oyster crackers, it is only a matter of time before the nurses will come to move him back to his private room.  He notices Brad leave for a few minutes but then he returns and goes back to sitting in his chair in the corner quietly.  Patrick doesn’t think too much of it though because the only thing he can focus on is the terrible pain that is wracking his entire body.  Once they move me back to my room, I can have more pain meds.  Shortly after that he sees Clara and Sebastien go into his private room and prepare it for him so it will be comfortable.  He sees them lining the bed with two layers of pillows followed by what looks like a memory foam mattress topper.  When they are satisfied with their work, they return to Patrick’s bedside to explain what is going to happen.

                “How are you feeling now, Patrick?”  Clara asks.

                “Pretty much the same, except my pain is slightly better than before.”  Patrick answers.

                “Spencer has asked us to move you back to your private room.  Do you think you can handle that?”  Sebastien asks.

                “I know it’s going to be incredibly painful, and I might scream bloody murder, but it’s not like I have a choice.  I do have a question though.  Why am I not feeling the urge to go to the bathroom?”  Patrick asks.

                “We had to catharize you for the surgery because it lasted so long.  You are still catharized and you will probably stay that way at least until tomorrow morning.”  Clara replies.

                “Oh ok.  I guess that makes sense.  I’m in so much pain, I didn’t even notice that.”  Patrick comments.

                Sebastien and Clara release the brakes on his bed and begin rolling his bed into his room and line it up next to the stationary bed.

                “Do you think you can help us move you, or do you need us to move you ourselves?”  Clara asks.

                “Usually, I would say I can help you, but everything hurts so much right now that I’m not sure how much I can actually move.”  Patrick responds.

                “That’s fine.  We don’t want you to push yourself right now.  We will do it for you.”  Sebastien assures him.

                They both grab an arm and a leg on both sides.

                “Ready?  On three.  One, two, three!”  Clara says.

                They both lift him up and move him over to the stationary bed and set him down.  Then they jiggle him around a bit until he ends up where they want him.

                “Ugh!!!!”  Patrick screams.

                “You should be good now, Patrick.  We won’t need to move you again for a while.  I will go get Spencer.”  Sebastien explains as he leaves to go get the doctor.

                He comes back with both Spencer and Dr. Franz.

                “Hello Patrick.  How are you doing?”  Dr. Franz asks.

                “I’m still in a fuck ton of pain and it is hard to concentrate on anything else.  Can I please have more pain meds now?”  Patrick asks.

                “Yes.  Do you want any visitors tonight?”  Spencer asks.

                “Sure.  Only a few though.”  Patrick replies.

                “Alright.  I will give you more fentanyl, but I can’t give you the full dose, because you will fall asleep.  We will give you a full dose when you go to sleep.”  Spencer informs.

                “Yes.  Anything.  Please!”  Patrick comments.

                “Clara, please go grab the fentanyl from the locked medicine cabinet and bring it over here.”  Spencer orders.

                “Yes, doctor.”  Clara responds as she turns to go get the medication.

                She returns a few minutes later with the bottle of fentanyl.  Spencer measures out twice the dose that he gave Patrick when he woke up.  Then he injects it into Patrick’s IV.  Patrick begins feeling it very soon after that.  His eyes gloss over, his pupils dilate, and he seems much more relaxed.  His pain is so much better, but he can still feel it.  He’s not going to lie; he feels pretty loopy, but he will take it over the pain.

                “How do you feel now?”  Spencer asks.

                “Much better.  Thanks.”  Patrick responds.

                “Ok.  I will be back to check on you in an hour.  If you need me before then, just press the button.”  Spencer directs.

                “Ok.”  Patrick answers.

                Spencer and Dr. Franz go back to Spencer’s office.

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                Brad sees the other guard enter sick bay.  He meets up with him before they reach Stump’s room, and he leads him out the door of sick bay where they can talk more privately.

                “I have a message I need you to relay to three inmates.  Please tell them that Stump is awake and resting after his surgery.  Please also tell them that I will come to get them when visitors are allowed.  Can you do that?”  Brad asks the other guard.

                “Yes.  Which inmates do you want me to tell?”

                “You need to tell inmate Gabe Saporta first.  Then you need to tell inmate Joe Trohman, and finally inmate Dan Pawlovich.”

                “Ok.  I will go tell them all now.”  The other guard states.

                “Good.  Thank you.  You are dismissed.”  Brad says.

                The other guard leaves and heads toward Gabe’s cell.  When he is out of sight, Brad reenters sick bay and makes his way to Stump’s room where he sits quietly in the corner while Patrick is watching TV.

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                Gabe is sitting in his cell preparing his plans for the retaliation attack on the Nuestra Familia.  He has the members divided into four groups.  Group four will consist of Jesus, Earnesto, and possibly Earnesto’s second in command.  He believes his name is Mateo and he will be tortured along with Jesus and Earnesto.  Group three will consist of all the other thirty members of Earnesto’s men, and they will be tortured, raped, and killed by the group of vampires from the prison that have agreed to help get some justice for Sugar.  Groups one and two will be separated into two groups of fifty people each.  These two groups will be attacked by human members of Gabe’s gang plus whomever else wants to participate.  They will be badly beaten, but they will be left alive as witnesses to what happened that day.  He is just finishing up when he sees a guard that he doesn’t recognize standing outside his cell.  The guard bangs on the bars to get Gabe’s attention so Gabe makes his way to the front of the cell.

                “Hello.  What can I do for you?”  Gabe asks.

                “I’m here to relay a message from Brad.  He said to tell you that Stump is awake and resting after his surgery.   He also said to tell you that he would come get you when visitors are allowed.”  The guard states.

                “Thank you for relaying the message.”  Gabe comments.

                “You are welcome.  Now I need to relay the message to two other inmates, if you will excuse me?”  The guard says.

                “Yes.  Be on your way.”  Gabe says as the guard turns around and heads in the direction of Mr. Trohman’s cell.

                Gabe is happy to hear that Sugar is awake and alright after his long surgery.  He is eager to visit him when he is allowed.  He turns his attention back to his plans for the attack.  He is hungry and will need to feed later, but for now, he will continue to work on his plans.

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                Joe is lying in bed reading his book and worrying about Patrick.  He’s been in surgery for so long and it turned out to be much worse than they thought it was.  The fact that they almost lost him three times doesn’t help Joe feel any better.  He hopes he is alright.  He still feels terrible about what happened to him.  He knows that he was at work when it happened so he couldn’t have been there, but he wishes that he could’ve saved him from this.  What Jesus, Earnesto, and his men did to Patrick was heinous and unforgivable.  He can’t even imagine what that was like.  Getting raped thirty-three times and being forced to participate in each person’s sexual fantasies or he was badly beaten was deplorable!  The pain and suffering he was forced to endure for hours and hours must’ve been immeasurable!  Spencer even said that he was surprised that he even survived all of that, only to find heavy internal bleeding and greater damage than he expected.  It’s hard to think about being in prison, but maybe Patrick had someone or something watching out for him during his experience, allowing him to survive where most wouldn’t.  That thought makes Joe smile.  He hears someone banging on the bars of his cell.  He looks down to see a guard he doesn’t know.  He rolls his eyes and then begins climbing down from his bed and making his way to the front of the cell.

                “Yes?  Who are you?  I don’t recognize you.”  Joe asks.

                “I am here to relay a message from Brad.  He said to tell you that Stump is awake and resting after his surgery.  He also wanted me to tell you that he will come and get you when visitors are allowed.”  The guard says.

                “Ok…thank you.  Was there anything else?”  Joe asks.

                “No.  That was it.  If you’ll excuse me, I have one more inmate to relay this message to.” They say.

                “Ok.  Thank you.”  Joe replies.

                The guard turns around and heads in the direction of Dan’s cell.

                Yes!!!!!!  Thank God!!!!!  Patrick made it through the surgery and is awake and resting!!!  That takes a huge load off him.  Once he heard how serious things were and that they almost lost him a few times, he was very worried that his friend wouldn’t make it.  Now that he knows that Patrick is ok, he can finally relax a bit.  He takes a deep breath and lets it out, trying to calm himself down so he might actually have a chance at sleeping tonight.  It was getting pretty late though, so he might only be able to see him for a little while today, but he could visit him tomorrow.  Joe suspects that once Patrick is alone, either Brad or Gabe will feed him their blood to help him heal faster like they did before.  It might take longer though if they don’t give him enough to make him hallucinate.  With their help, Joe knows that Patrick will recover relatively quickly.  Joe climbs back up into his bed and continues reading his book, hoping that Brad will come to get him soon.

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                Dan is laying in his bed dozing.  He was reading a book, but he obviously dozed off.  He is awakened by someone banging on the bars of his cell.  He looks at the time.  It’s getting pretty late for guards to be visiting, but his curiosity is piqued, so he gets up and starts heading to the front of his cell.  He sees a guard there that he has never seen before.

                “Hello?  Do I know you?”  Dan asks.

                “I am here to relay a message from Brad.  He wanted me to tell you that Stump is awake and resting after his surgery.  He also said that he would come get you when visitors were allowed.”  The guard says.

                “Ok.  Thanks for telling me.”  Dan replies.

                “You’re welcome.  It is time for me to return to the office and go home now.  Have a good night.”  The guard says and then leaves.

                Dan is very happy to hear that Patrick survived the surgery.  He was pretty worried for a while.  Especially when Brad told them about the heavy internal bleeding, that the damage was much worse than they expected, and that they’d almost lost him three times.  He will be happy to see Patrick when he is allowed.  For now, though, he sits back down on his bed and continues reading his book.

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               Patrick has been in his private room watching TV for almost two hours now.  The drugs are making him feel very happy and loopy.  He’s back to watching that kid’s show Spidey and His Amazing Friends again because there is not much else on that he is interested in right now.  In this episode, Spidey and his friends must stop Electro and Green Goblin from keeping the people of New York awake all night with a supercharged lighthouse.  Team Spidey’s beach day gets interrupted by Sandman’s need to prove that he is the best at making sandcastles.  Patrick is watching the show, content for the moment.  He laughs at the bad guys again because they are so stupid and cliché.  This show is pretty entertaining to a guy who is super hopped up on fentanyl and can’t really follow the plot of anything more complicated because of said fentanyl.

               Patrick sees Spencer come in for his hourly check-up.  Not much has changed except his pain is a little better under control.  He still feels a ton of pain, but it is at least somewhat manageable for right now.  Spencer checks his vitals, takes his blood pressure, and asks him what his pain number is now.  Patrick says it’s at a 7.  Spencer is happy that the pain medication is working, but he says he’d like to get the number down further.  He tells Patrick that he will give him the rest of the fentanyl after his visitors have left.

               “Are you awake enough to have a few visitors now?  It is getting late, so they won’t be able to stay for a long time, but I think they might be happy to see you.”  Spencer asks.

               Patrick thinks about it for a minute before replying.  He’s been through a lot today, but he’d like to see his friends before he goes to sleep.

               “Sure.”  Patrick answers, slightly slurring his words from the drugs.

               “Andy is gone for the night so he will have to visit you tomorrow.  Brad, I’m sure there are a few people that would like to see Patrick yet tonight.”  Spencer suggests.

               “Yes.  Let me get someone to relieve me while I’m gone and then I will go get them.”  Brad explains. 

               Then he calls dispatch on the radio to ask for a replacement.  The replacement is there ten minutes later and Brad leaves to go get Gabe, Trohman, and Pawlovich.

               “Are you experiencing any new or troubling symptoms?”  Spencer asks.

               “No.  I don’t think so.  I am getting really tired though.”  Patrick answers.

               “Alright.  Your visitors can stay for an hour max.  Once they leave, I’ll give you the rest of your pain medication, which will put you to sleep.  I’ll make sure to set an alarm when it’s time to give you more.  I’m pretty sure that I’ll be spending the night sleeping on the couch in my office.”  Spencer relays.

                “If you need to go home for a few hours while Patrick is sleeping, you can, Doc.”  Sebastien, who has been doing various tasks in Patrick’s room points out.

               “I appreciate that Sebastien, but I need to be here.  It’s not like we have another doctor to call in to take my place.  He’s lying in bed right now.  I need to be here in case there is a problem.”  Spencer states.

               “You can sit here with me and watch this hilarious cartoon.”  Patrick offers.

               Spencer smiles at him.

               “Thanks for the offer, Patrick, but I’m exhausted, and I need to get some sleep before I can do that.  I’ll be back to check on you in a few hours.  Please wake me if there is a problem.”  Spencer directs to the nurses before leaving, closing the door to his office, setting an alarm to get up and give Patrick the rest of his medication, and another for when he is due for his next dose, and passing out on his couch.

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                Brad heads to Gabe’s cell as soon as he exits sick bay.  It doesn’t take him long before he is in front of Gabe’s cell.

                “Hey Gabe!”  He calls.

                “Yes?”  Gabe asks.

                “It’s time for a short visit with Stump.”  Brad replies.

                Gabe seems to perk up at that.

                “Well then, lead the way, guard!”  Gabe exclaims. 

                He stands and immediately goes to the front of his cell.  Brad pushes the button to open the door, Gabe steps out, and Brad pushes the button to close the door.  Then they are off to Trohman’s cell. 

                “This may be our chance to help heal Sugar as much as we can.  When Mr. Trohman and Mr. Pawlovich leave, we can feed him blood and I can use my targeted healing on him.  I need you to make that happen, Brad.  We need to be left alone with him.”  Gabe states.

                “I will make it happen.”  Brad agrees.

                It isn’t long before they reach Trohman’s cell.  Brad bangs on the bars.

                “Yo!  Trohman!  It’s time for a short visit with Stump!”  Brad calls.

                Trohman is still up in his bed reading his book.  When he hears that he can visit Patrick, he jumps down immediately and rushes to the front of the cell where Brad and Gabe are waiting.  Brad pushes the button to open the door, he steps out, and Brad pushes the button to close the door.  Next, they stop at Pawlovich’s cell to collect him.  It appears he has dozed off while reading.  Brad bangs on the bars, which wakes him immediately.

                “Yo!  Pawlovich!  Time for a short visit with Stump.  Let’s go!”  Brad exclaims.

                Pawlovich sets his book down, sits up, then stands, and walks to the front of the cell.  Brad pushes the button to open the door, Pawlovich steps out, and then Brad presses the button to close the door.

                “Ok.  Everyone, listen up.  It is getting very late, so you aren’t going to have much time with him tonight.  He is also stoned out of his mind on fentanyl, so don’t expect to have any deep conversations with him.  They are going to kick you out in an hour, so make the most of it.”  Brad says before turning around and leading them all back to sick bay.

                When they get there, Brad relieves the other guard and leads them into Patrick’s room.

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                Joe is pretty excited to see Patrick.  He gave everyone quite a scare.  Brad leads them into Patrick’s room and Joe and Dan make their way to his bedside on the left.  Gabe takes his place next to Patrick’s bed on the right side.  Patrick notices everyone and seems happy to see them, except maybe Gabe, but whatever.  Joe and Dan run up to him and give him a hug, trying not to make things worse.

                “Hey Joe, Dan, Gabe!  How are you doing?”  Patrick asks.  His words are slow and somewhat slurred from the drugs.

                “I’m good!  I’m so happy that I got to see you tonight!  I know I will sleep better knowing that you are ok.”  Joe answers.

                “We are just happy to see you, Patrick.  Your long surgery kind of scared all of us.  We are glad you made it through.”  Dan says.

                Patrick’s eyes are completely glossed over so they can tell he’s not quite himself.

                “I am happy to see you too, Sugar.  I was worried about you after hearing about all the internal bleeding, the damage being much worse than Spencer thought, and the fact that they almost lost you three times.  I’m glad you are alright, and you should know that a plan for retaliation is in place to punish those that did this to you.”  Gabe informs him.

                “I know.  I asked Brad and he told me you had a plan.  I don’t want to know the specifics, but I’m glad those fuckers are going to get what’s coming to them.”  Patrick states.

                “Don’t worry about that right now, Sugar.  It will be taken care of.  We need you to focus on healing and getting better.”  Gabe addresses.

                At that, Patrick looks around at the three of them and he seems happy that they are there.

                “How are you feeling, Patrick?”  Joe asks.

                “I’ve been better.  I’m still in a fuck ton of pain.  The drugs are helping, but I can’t have the full dose until you guys leave, because it will put me to sleep.  I wanted to see you guys, so Spencer gave me enough to knock the pain down, but not enough to make it go away.  It’s ok though.  The drugs are making me feel loopy and happy so there’s that.”  Patrick tells them.

                Joe and Dan smile.  Even Gabe seems to be happy that he is in good spirits.  Joe can tell that Patrick’s condition angers Gabe, but he is doing a semi-good job keeping it at bay.  Joe looks at the TV and sees that Patrick is watching that kid’s cartoon again.  Whatever makes him happy, he guesses.

                “What are you watching, Patrick?”  Joe asks.

                “It’s that cartoon from before.  It’s still pretty hilarious!”  Patrick answers.

                Joe and Dan look at each other and decide to play along.

                “You know, the more I watch, the more hilarious it is!”  Dan comments.

                “I know! Right?”  Patrick agrees and laughs at what is happening.

                “Ooo!  Has the bad guy gotten himself into some stupid situation yet?”  Joe asks.

                “Yeah!  They are trying to keep everyone in New York up all night with a stupid lighthouse!  There’s no way that would work!”  Patrick responds, while laughing his ass off.

                They can tell if he laughs too hard, that it causes him great pain, but it doesn’t stop him from laughing.  It’s so good to see Patrick smile and laugh after all that has happened to him in the past few days.  Gabe tries to comment on the cartoon next.

                “They are so stupid!  That’s a terrible plan!”  Gabe states.

                “I know!  It’s awesome!”  Patrick exclaims while laughing.

                They all carry on watching this stupid kid’s show and lose track of time.  Nurses Clara and Sebastien tell them that visiting hours are over, and they can return tomorrow.  Everyone hears a super loud alarm, wondering what it was.  Spencer comes walking in rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

                “Ok everyone.  Time to go.  Patrick is getting tired, and it is time for his medicine.  You may all visit him tomorrow.”  Spencer orders.

                He measures out the rest of the fentanyl that Patrick can have and injects it into his IV.  A few minutes later, Patrick can’t fight the sleep anymore and drifts off into dream land.

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                Brad knows Gabe wants to stay to help heal Stump, but that option isn’t really available right now.  He has to get rid of Trohman and Pawlovich in order for him to give Gabe the chance.

                “Ok, so here is what is going to happen.  I’m going to take you two back to your cells.  I will come back for Gabe once I am done.”  Brad informs.

                Trohman and Pawlovich look at each other, knowing that something else is going on here, but they both shrug and begin walking out the door, followed by Brad.

Chapter Text

Chapter 48

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Mentions of Graphic Violence and Rape*******

                Joe totally knows what is happening.  Brad is leaving Gabe there so that he can feed Patrick his blood to make him heal faster, and he needed to be alone to do that.  He looks over at Dan, who looks confused.

                “You know why we left Gabe there, right?”  Joe asks him, keeping his voice down.

                “No.  Not really.  I’m kind of confused.”  Dan responds.

                “Brad left him there so that he could feed Patrick his blood to make him heal faster.”  Joe explains.

                It takes a second to register with Dan.

                “Oh!  Ok that makes much more sense.  Can he really heal him that quickly?”  Dan asks.

                “I don’t know for sure.  It has done miracles in the past.  I guess we will find out tomorrow.”  Joe answers.

                They stop at Dan’s cell first.  Brad opens the cell door, Dan walks in, and the door closes behind him.

                “Goodnight Dan!”  Joe yells.

                “Goodnight Joe!”  Dan replies.

                Now they are on the way back to Joe’s cell.

                “You left Gabe there to feed Patrick his blood to heal him faster, right?”  Joe asks.

                “Yes.  He also has other healing powers that he might use.  Feeding Stump his blood works, but he would have to do it in small amounts at a time, so he doesn’t cause Stump to hallucinate.  Both of us have been feeding him what we can, but he needs a much bigger dose of it to make that kind of healing take place.  Usually, we would just feed it to him, he would hallucinate, and then it would speed up his healing.  Gabe feels that he’s been through enough, and he doesn’t need to add terrifying hallucinations on top of that.”  Brad informs him.

                “Ah!  Got it.  Well, anything is still better than nothing.  He’s going to have a long recovery if you two don’t intervene.” Joe states.

                “Yes, which is why I left him there for a longer period of time.  He should be doing much better tomorrow.”  Brad shares.

                They reach Joe’s cell.  Brad opens the door, Joe steps in, and Brad closes the door and leaves.

                Joe is pretty tired.  It’s been a really long and stressful day.  At least he knows Patrick is ok, so that will help him sleep better.  He takes his shoes off, climbs up into his bed, pulls the covers over him and passes out for the night.

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                As soon as Brad leaves with Joe and Dan, Gabe walks back into Sugar’s room.  The nurses ask him to leave until he compels them to let him stay.

                "You two have some important work to do in the lab.  You will go there and not return for two hours.  Do you understand?”

                Clara and Sebastien’s eyes gloss over and repeat what Gabe just said.

                “Yes, we understand.”  They say in unison and turn around and leave the room to head to the lab.

                Once he is alone, Gabe walks up to Sugar’s bed.  He bites his wrist, opens Sugar’s mouth, and begins feeding him his blood.  Sugar is so doped up on fentanyl that he doesn’t even acknowledge what Gabe is doing.  He does this in short sessions, so that it doesn’t cause Sugar to hallucinate.  The only downside to this method is that it won’t be as effective as it would be to just give him a huge dose of blood.  Then Gabe stands and walks over to Sugar’s abdomen and places his hand on either side.  He closes his eyes and allows his targeted healing to do its job.  He is able to sense how much worse the damage was and where he is currently at in the healing process.  Gabe knows that he is going to have to do this multiple times to make any large dent in his healing process.  He works on Sugar’s front abdomen first.  Then he switches to his back side.  He places both of his hands under Sugar’s butt cheeks, closes his eyes and slowly heals some of the damage.  He must move around because he can’t target heal the same place two times in a row.  Next, he works on Sugar’s legs and feet.  Then he moves to Sugar’s upper abdomen, arms, hands, and neck.  From here he walks to Sugar’s head, places his hands on either side of Sugar’s head and engages his targeted healing.  He knows this will help with the massive concussion that Sugar is currently dealing with. 

                Gabe needs to take a break after all of that.  He realizes he forgot to feed before he got here.  He is pretty hungry, and this process seems to be taking a lot more out of him than he expected it to.  He sticks his head up in the air and takes a big sniff to see what was available in the area.  He doesn’t want to feed on the nurses or weaken them so that they can continue to take care of Sugar.  He smells something fruity nearby that will do.  It’s not his favorite, but he can manage.  He takes a second to isolate who the smell is coming from when he locates it coming from an inmate that is about to walk past sick bay.  Gabe runs out of sickbay and waits for this inmate to show up.  It turns out that the inmate is being escorted by a guard.  He stops the two of them as they walk by.

                “Excuse me, I seem to be lost.  Could you point me in the direction of cell block T?”  Gabe asks.

                The guard and the inmate stop.

                “Yeah, sure.  Take a left at the next intersection followed by two rights down the corresponding hallways.”  The guard answers.

                “Great.  Thank you for your help.”  Gabe comments.

                The guard takes the arm of the inmate, and they are about to leave when Gabe stops them.

                “Oh!  One more thing.  You will go stand in the corner over there and you won’t comment or remember anything you see.  Do you understand?”  Gabe addresses the guard.

                The guard’s eyes gloss over, and he repeats everything that Gabe just said.

                “Yes, I understand.”  The guard replies and leaves the inmate there while he goes and stands in the corner Gabe told him to.

                The inmate looks at Gabe, amazed at what he had just done.

                “Wow!  That was awesome!  How did you do that?”  The inmate asks.

                “I am very good at persuading people.  This is not going to go well for you, I’m afraid.”  Gabe responds.

                At that, he attacks the inmate, ripping into his neck and taking a few pulls of his blood, before looking up at him.  The inmate is screaming his head off from the pain. 

                “Please look into my eyes.”  Gabe orders.

                The inmate makes eye contact with Gabe, and he uses his mind control to make the inmate lay still and stop screaming.  The inmate looks absolutely terrified that he doesn’t have control over his body, which makes Gabe more excited.  Gabe returns to drinking the inmate’s blood for quite a while until he feels that the inmate is getting close to the point of no return.  Gabe pulls off the inmate and licks the bite marks shut.  While he is still in control, he projects his voice into the inmate’s head.

                “You will forget everything that you saw and what happened here.  You were being escorted by the guard to whatever your destination was, and you went straight there with no interruptions.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks as he releases the inmate from his mind control.

                The inmate repeats everything Gabe just said followed by “Yes.  I understand.”

                “Good.  Oh guard!  You can resume escorting your inmate to wherever your destination was.  You never saw me or interacted with me.  You made it to your destination without any interruption.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks the guard standing in the corner.

                The guard repeats what Gabe just said followed by “Yes.  I understand.”

                “Good.  Be on your way then.”  Gabe orders.

                The guard and the inmate continue walking to their destination.

                Gabe walks back into sick bay, feeling much stronger and returns to healing Sugar.  He repeats his previous process five more times before Brad returns.  Then they both leave sick bay to return to Gabe’s cell.

                “How much were you able to do?”  Brad asks.

                “A good amount.  He won’t be completely healed by tomorrow because the damage was just too severe.  He will be remarkably better though.  It will most likely surprise the doctors and nurses.  If I could get in there three more times for at least an hour tomorrow and you continue to feed him your blood, he should be fully recovered in the next three days.  We will have taken care of the Nuestra Familia’s retribution by then as well, so he should have no one to worry about except me.”  Gabe explains.

                “I will try to get you in there three times tomorrow and I will continue to feed him my blood in small amounts in the meantime.  Do you want me to “forget” to close the door this time?”  Brad acknowledges.

                “Good.  No, you can close it.  I have work to do on our plans.”  Gabe responds as they approach his cell.  Brad pushes the button to open the door, Gabe steps in, and Brad pushes the button to close the door as he leaves to return to sick bay.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                Andy was a blithering mess when he got home for the night.  He was able to continue with his day, but he couldn’t stop seeing Patrick in the hospital bed in such bad shape.  He was also having trouble not hearing Patrick’s statement narrating in his head when he looked at how frail, broken, and beaten Patrick was in his bed.  These thoughts were almost haunting him.  He saw and heard them every time he closed his eyes.  It didn’t help that he had received an update on Patrick’s surgery later that day.  He was told that when Spencer and Dr. Franz went in, they encountered several sources of heavy internal bleeding that took them five hours to stop, wherein they almost lost Patrick twice, before they could even proceed with what they were in there to do.  He was also told that if they had delayed Patrick’s surgery any longer, he would’ve died from the internal bleeding.  The best part was that the damage was significantly worse than what they expected based off the MRI.  When Andy left for the day, Spencer and Dr. Franz were still in surgery.  He got a phone call a few hours later saying that the surgery was successful, but it took eleven hours to complete, and Patrick was awake and resting.  They’d also said that he’d thrown a clot from his leg, and it got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism, which was very serious.  Spencer and Dr. Franz had to put Patrick on a bypass machine and perform an embolectomy.  They were able to remove the blood clot and get him stabilized, but they had almost lost him for a third time during the second surgery.  Andy can’t even imagine how much pain Patrick is in right now.

                He feels so terrible about all the things that have transpired for Patrick in the short time he has been there.  He keeps trying to justify to himself that Patrick committed a crime and is serving the sentence for it, but he hadn’t even recognized him with all the new tattoos and piercings that he was given against his will when he walked into his office that day.  He’d only been there six days and look at everything that had happened to him!  After the attack, Andy wanted nothing more than to punish those responsible, but he remembered the look on Patrick’s face in his office when he told him not to help him, that it would make things much worse for him.  Andy also recalled watching Patrick freak out in sick bay when he even mentioned intervening.  Patrick had begged him not to intervene.  He said that if he did, there would be a target on his back, and he looked so scared.  As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he really couldn’t do anything but let the gangs handle this.  He had heard that there was at least a plan for retaliation, so that made him feel a little better.  His phone rings, which brings him out of his stupor.

                “Hello?”  Andy asks.

                “Hey Honey, It’s me.  I just want to let you know that I got stuck in traffic and I’m going to be late getting home.  We can order some food from your favorite vegan place when I get home ok?”  Meredith asks.

                “Sure.  Ok.”  Andy replied, clearly distracted.

                “Is everything ok?”  She asks.

                “No.  Not really.  It was a really bad day at work.  I’ll tell you more about it when you get home.”  Andy explains.

                “Ok.  I’m hoping I will be home in an hour.  If it’s going to be longer, I’ll text you.”  She says.

                “Ok.  Sounds good.  Love you honey!”  Andy responds.

                “I love you too, honey!  I’ll be home soon, ok?”  She asks.

                “Ok. Bye.”  Andy answers.

                “Bye.”  Meredith says as she hangs up.

                Since Meredith had gotten stuck in traffic and hadn’t made it home yet, that just left Andy and his thoughts.  He tried to distract himself by taking a shower and watching TV and it kind of worked, but in the back of his head he was still thinking about Patrick’s attack.

                Meredith walks into the house a little over an hour later.  Andy is still trying to distract himself by playing his drum set for a bit.  When he sees her walk in the door, he smiles and stops playing.  He gets up, walks over to her and envelopes her in a tight hug.

                “I’m so glad you’re home.  I feel like I’m driving myself crazy.”  Andy says.

                “Let me set my stuff down and change my clothes and then I’m all yours.  You can tell me everything.”  She states.

                She sets her stuff down and changes into comfortable clothes and then joins Andy on the couch.

                “Ok, so what happened?  Start from the beginning.”  She asks.

                Andy takes a deep breath before he starts.

                “About a week ago, there was an incident at the prison where two inmates escaped by hiding in an ambulance that Dr. Stump was riding to the hospital with a patient who had been stabbed and was beyond what we could do in sick bay at the prison.  I don’t know if he knew they were on board or not because he was working on the patient.  The ambulance got into a bad accident and flipped a few times.   The patient died as a result.  Dr. Stump said that he hit his head and was knocked out.  When he came to, he had some small injuries but nothing too major.  He said one of the inmates was already gone when he woke up.  He managed to pull the other inmate out of the ambulance, but it appeared the other inmate had stabbed him in the side, and he wasn’t doing well.  It was incredibly cold that night and it was snowing.  Patrick said that he couldn’t stop the inmate’s bleeding and he was in bad shape.  Well, I’m not sure how, but the inmate recovered and took Patrick to a motel because he was showing signs of hypothermia.  I’m not exactly sure what happened when Patrick woke up, but he called the prison to tell us where he was.  When we got there, the other inmate was gone, and we brought Patrick back to the prison to check him out.  After he was released from sick bay, he was somehow arrested, taken to court, and charged with five years for aiding and abetting a criminal.  I’m not sure how all of that happened so fast, but a guard showed me all the correct paperwork, so I had Patrick booked into the prison to begin serving his sentence.  I admit, there are some holes in the details, but according to the law, he had committed a crime, was sentenced, and, as warden, it’s my job to enforce these sentences.

                After he was booked and assigned to a cell, I didn’t hear much from him or about him for six days until I called him into my office yesterday to discuss a project that I’d like him to work on at the prison.  Meredith, you know Dr. Stump, right?” Andy asks.

                “Of course!  He doesn’t seem like the type to help inmates escape.”  She states.

                “I know, but I must enforce his sentence according to the law, whether I believe he did it or not.  Anyways, when he walked into my office yesterday, I didn’t even recognize him.  He had full arm sleeves of tattoos up and down his arms, and onto his hands and fingers, a huge back tattoo that I could only see a little of, a large chest tattoo, tattoos behind his ears, his neck was covered with them and I’m sure there were more that I couldn’t see.  He also has a bunch of piercings.  His left eyebrow was pierced, he had a nose ring on the right side, he had a labret and he showed me this humungous tongue piercing.  He has a crater through his tongue, and it makes him talk funny.  When I asked him what happened to him and who did it, he said he couldn’t tell me who did this to him, because if he did, he might be killed or punished so severely that he wouldn’t survive it.  He said that he didn’t consent to any of them, he was held down, sedated, or paralyzed while they did it.  He described the horrible things that he had been through over the six days he had been there.  I feel terrible that all of this has happened to him.  He agreed to help me with the project and went on his way.

                Now comes the worst part.  On his way back to his cell, he was ambushed and viciously attacked by a gang that he had had a run-in with on one of the first days he was there.  They felt disrespected so they attacked him.  He was savagely beaten to the point where he could barely move and was gang-banged thirty-two times by a man named Earnesto and his men.  After that, he was taken to their gang leader, who drugged him, and raped him again.  There is more to it, but anyway, when the gang leader was finished, he noticed some ink lines going up Patrick’s back.  When he followed them up, they saw a huge cobra tattoo that took up his whole back and next to it, it said “Property of the Cobra.”  The Cobra is a name used by the head of the Latin Kings Gang.  Apparently, there was also a Latin Kings tattoo that Patrick had on his lower belly or something.  The gang leader freaked out because he knew that Patrick had been marked and claimed by that gang member and when he found out what they had done to Patrick, he would attack them and most likely decimate them.  So, he stabbed Patrick five times in the abdomen to make it look like a random attack and dumped his bleeding body in a well-trafficked area where they knew someone would find him.  Someone did and took him to sick bay where he was treated but none of us knew exactly what had happened until he woke up and gave a statement of everything that he had been through.  I got it on my desk the next morning and listened to it.  I felt like my heart broke hearing everything in great detail and Patrick losing it and having to keep going until he was finished.  I felt like I wanted to vomit when I was done listening to it.

                I knew I had to go visit him.  He had been taken into surgery that morning to repair the damage from the stab wounds.  I felt so guilty.  If I hadn’t asked him to come to my office, this wouldn’t have happened.  After he woke up, I went to visit him.  He was in such horrible shape, and he was in so much pain.  Spencer wasn’t even sure how he survived all of it.  I was able to keep it together for him, but when I left, I spent over an hour crying in Spencer’s office.

                It took a while for them to start the surgery to repair all the damage to his behind because the specialist, Dr. Franz, had gotten held up in an emergency surgery at the hospital.  When he arrived, they started the second surgery which was much longer and much more involved.  What I found out later was that they encountered multiple sources of heavy internal bleeding that didn’t show up on the MRI.  It took them five hours just to stop all of it, and they’d almost lost him twice. They said if they had postponed Patrick’s surgery any longer, he would’ve died from the internal bleeding.  The whole surgery was only supposed to last five hours.  Once they stopped the bleeding, they could finally begin fixing all the damage.  However, when they got in there, they found that the damage was so much worse than what they were expecting and what had shown up on the MRI.  By the time I’d left for the day, they were still in surgery.  Someone called me right after I got home telling me that they had finally finished the surgery and it was successful, but it had taken them eleven hours to finish it, and Patrick had thrown a clot from his leg which got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism, which was very serious.  They’d had to put him on a bypass machine and perform an embolectomy to successfully remove the clot, and they’d almost lost him again during it.  They managed to get him stabilized, but it had taken them an additional hour to complete.  I was told that Patrick is awake and resting, but Oh my God!  They almost lost him three times!

                I can’t stop thinking about all the things that have happened to Patrick in such a short time of being on the inside.  He was one of my best friends, Mere!  I feel terrible that all of this has happened on my watch!  How can I keep myself sane knowing that most of this is my fault?  I’m just trying to do my job!”  Andy finally finishes and he completely falls apart. 

                Meredith seems shocked at all of this, but she still supports her husband.  She holds him until he manages to calm down a little.  Andy is usually a pretty strong guy.  Seeing him affected this way by all of this breaks her heart to watch.  Andy is a good man in an impossible position.

                Once he is calm enough to talk about it, Meredith begins at the beginning.

                “Alright.  First off, you are doing your job, however hard that may be.  If he committed a crime and was sentenced, then you have to enforce that sentence no matter how it makes you feel.  As far as what has happened to him regarding all the tattoos and piercings, that is not your fault.  Yes, you put him in that position, but whoever is preying on him is the one that is doing those things, not you.  Of course, he can’t tell you who it is, Andy.  This is prison!  It is dangerous and scary and really bad things happen.  He is having to learn all these lessons as he goes, and he must learn them fast or he won’t survive.  Your feelings are totally valid, but you are not the one doing these terrible things to him, do you understand me?”  Meredith asks.

                Andy nods his head yes.

                “Ok.  Good.  Patrick getting ambushed and attacked wasn’t your fault either.  Yes, you asked to see him that day, but these people were probably trailing him for days trying to find the best time to strike.  If it hadn’t been when he was leaving your office, I’m sure it would’ve happened somewhere else later.  These people had a beef with Patrick, and it didn’t sound like they were going to stop until they had payback.  What these horrible people did to poor Patrick isn’t your fault either.  They were the ones committing these heinous acts, not you.  I’m sure it was very hard to listen to Patrick’s statement on exactly what happened to him.  I’m pretty shocked too, but they did it, not you.  Again, seeing Patrick in that condition must’ve been very scary for you and must’ve made you very angry, but you can’t go after these people.  If you did, Patrick would suffer more because of it.  You have to let the guy who “claimed and marked him” take care of it.  I’m sure he can make them pay in more sadistic ways than you can even imagine.  Finally, I know you are upset because of what happened during Patrick’s surgery.  No one could’ve expected to find heavy internal bleeding, or even more damage than they expected, or almost lose Patrick three times, but they did it.  They stopped the bleeding, and they repaired the damage and Patrick is alive, awake and resting.  This obviously wasn’t Patrick’s time to die.  I know you feel guilty about everything, but I think you need to put it in perspective.  Yes, all these terrible things have happened to him, but you aren’t the one doing them to him.  I get that you feel guilty, I do too, but at the end of the day, you are still doing your job.  He has a sentence, and you are enforcing it.  That’s all there is to it.  I hope this helps.”  Meredith explains.

                “If you do feel like you need to work through this with someone besides me, I know a good therapist that you could talk to.  You have an incredibly hard job, where many terrible things happen every day.  No one, including me, would fault you if you feel like you needed to discuss it on a more regular basis.  Just know that that door is open and available if you want it.”  She adds.

                Andy looks at his beautiful wife and doesn’t know how he got so lucky finding his soul mate that is there for him at the worst times and at the best times.  He hugs her and holds her for a while before letting go.

                “Thank you.  This has helped a lot.  I love you so much, Mere.  Thanks for being there for me when I needed you.”  Andy says before he passionately kisses her.

                She smiles back at him.

                “You are most welcome, honey.  I love you too!”  She responds.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                Spencer’s alarm goes off waking him from a very deep state of sleep.  For a moment, he had no idea where he was or what was happening.  Having been through a eleven-hour surgery will do that to a guy.  He finds himself on the couch in his office.  Now he remembers!  He slept on the couch in his office because there were no other doctors that could take over for him and he hadn’t wanted to leave in case there was a problem.  He rubs his hands over his face, turns on his side and sits himself up on the couch.  His alarm had gone off because it was time to give Patrick more pain medication.  He stands up and rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands trying to wake up more.  Once he decides he’s as awake as he’s going to get right now, he opens the door to his office, walks out, goes to grab the fentanyl from the locked drug cabinet and goes into Patrick’s room.  He is still asleep, which is good.  He will need all the sleep he can get in order to recover from this ordeal.  Spencer measures out the dose that he needs to give Patrick and injects it into his IV.  He stays for a short time to make sure there is no adverse reaction.  He examines Patrick with his eyes and notices that a lot of the bruises, bite marks, and choke marks around his neck and body have almost completely healed and he looks more like himself.  How is that possible?  He looked absolutely horrible when he went to sleep.  There is no way that he could’ve healed that quickly.  Spencer thinks his eyes must be playing tricks on him because he is so tired.  That must be it.  There’s no way he could’ve recovered that quickly.  Time to go back to sleep so I can see things more clearly in the morning.  He heads back to his office, closes the door, takes his shoes off, sets an alarm for the morning, and proceeds to pass out on his couch again.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Brad had been in the process of feeding Stump his blood when Spencer trudged in there to give him more pain medicine.  As soon as he heard something, he ran out of the room to hide until Spencer left.  Now he is sitting next to Stump holding his bleeding wrist above his mouth and making him swallow.  There shouldn’t be any interruptions until morning.  When he feels like Stump has had enough for now, he wipes the blood from Stump’s mouth and closes it.  He licks the bite marks on his wrist to close them and returns to sitting in his chair in the corner of Stump’s room.  Brad can see a marked difference from the combination of Gabe’s targeted healing, and Gabe and Brad’s blood.  He thought for a moment that Spencer had noticed too, but he decided to go back to sleep.  He’s so bored and it has been a while since he has slept, so he thinks he will take this time to get some sleep as well.  Being a vampire and functioning in the human world, on their hours wasn’t exactly easy.  Vampires usually sleep during the day and are awake at night.  Humans are the complete opposite, so the vampires have had to adapt somewhat to their schedule.  The daylight rings make it easier so that they can be out in the middle of the day and not get fried to a crisp.  He had one and so did Gabe.  That being said, vampires are still required to sleep.  The chair he is sitting in is very uncomfortable, but there is a small couch that looked like it converted into a bed along the wall across from Stump’s bed.  That will do just fine.  He knows he doesn’t need the amount of sleep that humans did, but a few hours would go a long way, so he unfolds the couch, lays down and goes to sleep for a while.

               When he wakes up the next morning, Stump is still asleep.  It shouldn’t be too long before the staff comes in to start some tests.  Brad folds up the couch and resumes his position on his chair in the corner.

Chapter Text

Chapter 49

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Mentions of Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

                 Patrick feels very groggy as he slowly wakes up the next morning.  His head still feels like there is a cloud sitting on top of it.  As he opens his eyes, he sees that not much has changed.  He is still in his bed and Brad is sitting in the corner.  The cloud is most likely from the fentanyl that hasn’t worn off yet.  He notices that he does feel better than he did when he went to sleep last night.  He looks down at his arms and notices the bruises and bite marks are healed.  Then he checks the rest of his body over and finds the same thing, everything has healed.  I’m pretty sure Brad and Gabe had something to do with this.  I’m not complaining, but there is no way I made this much progress on my own.  Although the outside of him looked and felt better, the insides left something to be desired.  He can tell that some of it has healed, but since the damage was so much worse than they expected, there is still quite a lot left.  He feels like some of the broken ribs may have healed themselves.  He thinks his head feels a little better too, since the room isn’t currently spinning, he’s not as sensitive to light, and he is able to focus on things a little better.  Overall, he is still experiencing a great deal of pain though and he can tell that the fentanyl has almost worn off. 

                 His thoughts are interrupted with Clara entering his room.  She is very awake and happy for it being so early.  She is also carrying a tray that appears to have breakfast on it.  He is really hungry since he barely ate anything yesterday because of the surgeries.  She pulls the table that goes over his bed over, sets the tray down and moves the table over his bed.  He immediately begins stuffing his face with everything on the plate, like a ravenous wolf.

                 “Good morning, Patrick!  How are you feeling today?”  She asks.

                 “I’m hungry!  I haven’t eaten since before the surgeries yesterday.  Is there any chance I could get another tray of food?”  He asks.

                 Clara laughs. 

                 “That shouldn’t be a problem.  Just don’t eat too fast and make yourself sick.”  She tells him.

                 “Awesome!”  He answers as he is still stuffing his face.

                 “I’m also here to draw your blood for some tests and to take your vitals.  Can you give me your arm?  It shouldn’t take very long.”  She asks.

                 Patrick puts down his fork and gives her his left arm.  She ties an elastic very tightly around his arm and waits for the vein to pop out.  Then she inserts a needle into the vein and begins filling up small vials with his blood.  It looks like they are doing a lot of tests, because so far, she has already filled up eight vials and has two more to go.  When she is finished, she removes the elastic, pulls the needle out, and places a cotton ball on the injection site, which she covers with a bandage.

                 “You can continue eating now.  Spencer is still passed out in his office, but he should be here relatively soon.  I know he set an alarm for this morning after he got up to give you more fentanyl in the middle of the night.  How is your pain today?  What number would you give it?”  She asks.

                 “Well, it is a tiny bit better than yesterday.  I’m still going to give it a 9.5.”  Patrick answers.

                 “Alright, I will tell Spencer once he wakes up.”  Clara says as she turns around and leaves to take the blood to the lab.

                 Patrick continues inhaling his food because he is so hungry.  He has now finished this tray of food and is still hungry.  He hopes Clara brings him another tray of food.

                 “Maybe you should slow down a bit, Stump.  We don’t want you getting sick and puking everywhere.”  Brad suggests from his chair in the corner.

                 “Have you been there the entire time?”  Patrick asks.

                 “Yup.  Gabe wants me guarding you twenty-four, seven until you are discharged.”  Brad states.

                 Patrick looks around to make sure no one is around or about to enter the room before he continues.

                 “So, I’ve noticed that a lot of my bruises, bite marks, and the marks on my neck from where I was choked repeatedly are completely gone and my head hurts less than it did yesterday.  Did you and Gabe have something to do with that?”  Patrick asked.

                 “Yes.  We have both been feeding you blood in small amounts so that you don’t hallucinate, and Gabe spent about two hours here last night while you were sleeping, using his targeted healing power on you on every part of your body.”  Brad informs him.

                 “I appreciate that, but what are you going to do when Spencer notices that I’m healing so much faster?  What did you do last time?”  Patrick asks.

                 “We usually just comment on it being some kind of miracle and pretend we don’t know how it happened.”  Brad answers.

                 “Did that really work?”  Patrick asks.

                 “Sort of.  Spencer couldn’t explain how you healed so quickly so I guess he did believe that.  If he starts asking too many questions, we can always compel him to stop and provide him with a more reasonable excuse.”  Brad replies.

                 Patrick doesn’t like the idea of lying to him, and he really hates the idea of compelling him, but if he won’t leave it alone, so be it.  They both hear someone coming so they stop talking about this subject.  It turns out to be Sebastien with another tray of food and a pitcher of water for him to drink.

                 “Good morning, Patrick.  How are you today?”  Sebastien asks.

                 “I’m a tiny bit better today, but I’m still in a ton of pain.”  Patrick answers.

                 “That’s not good.  Has Spencer been in here yet?”  Sebastien asks.

                 “Not yet.”  Patrick responds.

                 “I’ll go check on him.  He may have turned off his alarm and gone back to sleep.”  Sebastien says as he heads out of the room to go find Spencer.

                 Patrick begins digging into the food on the second tray a little slower this time.  He knows he needs food to heal him, and his stomach isn’t full yet so he keeps eating.  He’s almost finished with the second tray of food, when Spencer walks in.  He still looks like he is half asleep, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

                 “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here sooner.  I turned my alarm off by accident and went back to sleep.  How are feeling today, Patrick?”  Spencer asks.

                 “I feel a little better than yesterday, but I’m still in a good amount of pain.  Before you ask, my pain number is 9.5 right now.”  Patrick replies.

                 “Ok.  I will get you some pain medication.  Do you want more fentanyl, or do you want morphine?”  Spencer asks.

                 “My pain is still pretty bad.  Can we do the fentanyl again?”  Patrick asks.

                 “Sure.  If you plan to have visitors today, I will only give you part of the dose until later.”  Spencer comments.

                 “I’m sure I will have visitors today at least for some part of the day.”

                 “Ok.  I’ll be back.”  Spencer says as he leaves to go get the fentanyl out of the locked medicine cabinet.

                 He returns a few minutes later with it and measures out the correct dose.  Then he injects it into Patrick’s IV.  Patrick begins feeling its effects relatively quickly.  He feels some of his pain melt away and he feels loopy and happy. 

                 Spencer does a quick physical exam and is astonished at how quickly Patrick seems to be healing.  At least on the outside.  All his bruises, bite marks, and his other exterior bodily injuries seem to be healed almost completely.  He’s not quite sure how that is possible, but he will take it.  This appeared to happen the last time Patrick was badly injured, so maybe this is just something that is unique to him.  Who is he to question what he has now seen take place two times?

                 “We need to check your incisions for any signs of infection.  This isn’t going to be pleasant.  I’m sorry.  Clara, Sebastien?  I need you.”  Spencer informs him.

                 Clara and Sebastien enter Patrick’s room and come to stand on either side of his bed.

                 “We need to check his incisions.  I need you two to roll him over onto his stomach.  I can help if you need me to.”  Spencer orders.

                 Clara and Sebastien line up on the right side of Patrick’s bed.  They grab his abdomen and slowly turn him over onto his stomach.

                 “Ahhhhh!!!!”  Patrick screams in pain.

                 “This shouldn’t take too long, Patrick.”  Spencer says.

                 He feels Spencer pull his pants down below his ass and feel around each incision to make sure they aren’t swollen.  He knows it’s not the same, but he kind of feels like he did when he was getting gangbanged.  He has no control when he’s in this position and he starts to have a flashback of what happened previously.  He hears himself cry out.

                 “No!  Stop!  Get off me!  Please!”  He yells.

                 He begins reliving the incident in his head and he is lost in it.  So many men hurting him if he didn’t participate.  Feeling himself being ripped apart and bleeding.  The pain that he felt each time someone raped him.  It was unbearable!  Aside from the recent tattoos, he’s never experienced that much pain all at once, ever.  This pain felt different somehow.  He doesn’t know why but it felt way more intense than anything from the tattoos.  Maybe it was more intense because of the trauma that accompanied it.  Something made this pain so much more extreme and agonizing.  Every time one of them rocked him back and forth across the floor, continually entering him over and over with each thrust, he screamed from the excruciating pain, and he experienced it so much deeper than anything he’d ever felt.  He felt the pain bone deep and felt like it penetrated deep down into his soul.  He screamed so hard and for so long that he almost completely lost his voice. He was also very concerned.  There was a very good chance that he might not survive this.  In medical school, he’d learned that the victim usually dies in a situation like this, especially when there were so many men.  He’d almost had his life flash before him, and what he looked back on he was content with.  He was a good man who dedicated his life to helping to save the lives of others.  That being said, he was so scared that he was going to die!  He didn’t want to die!  He didn’t want this to be the last thing he remembered before he died.

                  “Please stop!  You are hurting me! AHHHHHH!  No!”  He screams.

                  He tries to move as much as he can to throw them off him, but it never stops!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

                  Spencer and the Nurses are witnessing this.

                  “What is happening to him?”  Clara asks.

                  “He’s having a flashback of his attack.  Help me flip him over.  We must try to wake him!”  Spencer says.

                  They flip Patrick over onto his back, but the flashback doesn’t stop.  They begin shaking him to wake him up.

                  “Patrick!  Patrick!  This isn’t real!  Wake up!”  Spencer yells.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

                  Patrick hears someone yelling his name.  It sounds like Spencer.  Wait, Spencer wasn’t there when the attack happened.  What’s going on?  Something isn’t right here.  This part never happened.  He hears Spencer tell him to wake up, that what he is seeing isn’t real. So, he opens his eyes and finds himself back in his room turned over onto his back.  He wakes up with a start.  He is breathing heavily, he’s sweaty, and he looks incredibly confused.

                  “What the fuck just happened to me?”  Patrick asks.

                  “You experienced a flashback of your attack.  I’m so sorry.  I didn’t even think about whether us examining your incisions would trigger you.  Please forgive me!”  Spencer yells.

                  “I forgive you.  If it helps, I had no idea that would trigger me either.”  Patrick responds.

                  “You obviously have some PTSD from what happened to you.  I’ll see if I can get the prison therapist to come down and talk to you.  Would that be, ok?”  Spencer asks.

                  “I guess so.  Can we move on to something else now?”  Patrick asks.

                  “Sure.  Why don’t you watch some TV until your blood work comes back.”  Spencer suggests.

                  “Ok.”  Patrick replies and turns on the TV in his room.

                  There isn’t much to choose from, but he finds something entertaining to watch.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                  Spencer motions to Clara and Sebastien to meet him outside Patrick’s room.

                  “I’m going to order an MRI and CT scan, so we see where he’s at in the healing process.  I’m also going to call the prison therapist and see when they are available to come talk to him.  You two keep him comfortable and allow any visitors that want to come.”  Spencer orders.

                  “Yes, Doctor.”  They say in unison.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                  Joe wakes up the next morning to his cell being empty again.  He really missed Patrick not being there and having someone else to talk to.  He looks at the time and it is very close to shower time, so he climbs down from his bed, gathers up his shower stuff, and waits for whichever guard is going to escort him there.  He wants to visit Patrick today when he is allowed.  It sounds strange, but he is eager to see if there is a marketed improvement after Gabe and Brad fed him their blood.  If it’s anything like last time, he should be doing much better, which means he is one step closer to being discharged.  His only fear was, after Patrick was discharged and the gang thing was handled, that Gabe and Brad would go back to torturing Patrick, and the cycle would start over again.  Patrick is a very strong-willed person, but Joe was worried that after his most recent experience, if Patrick would get up and keep fighting, or if it had finally broken him.  He really was hoping for the former and he would do everything in his power to help him keep fighting, if that is what he wanted.  Joe thinks about the last time Patrick was gravely injured and healed incredibly quickly.  He really hopes Spencer doesn’t corner him again and ask if he knew why Patrick was healing so fast.  That was uncomfortable, and he really hated lying to him, but what other choice was there?  Unless they explained everything to Spencer, and he didn’t think they were crazy, but that wasn’t very likely.  Brad mentioned that they haven’t been able to give Patrick large doses of blood because they don’t want him to hallucinate.  He wonders if that is going to largely affect Patrick’s recovery.  He guesses he will find out later when he is allowed to visit him.

                  The guard, whom he doesn’t recognize, steps up to Joe’s cell and bangs on the bars.

                  “Inmate Trohman.  It is shower time.  Please collect your stuff and proceed to the front of the cell.”  The guard said.

                  Joe didn’t like this guy.  He was too formal, but he does what he’s told and walks to the front of the cell.  The guard presses the button to open the door, Joe steps out, and then the guard presses the button to close the door.

                  “Please follow me.”  The guard orders.

                  Today is going to be a very long day if he has to deal with this guard that has a large stick up his ass all day.  He really hopes that he will get a different guard later.  He follows the guard to the shower room, walks in, finds a locker to put his stuff in, and heads to the showers.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________        

                  Andy is running a little late this morning.  He had a really hard time getting up today.  He seemed to get a good night’s sleep, so he didn’t know why he was so tired.  Stress will do that to a guy.  He finally drags himself out of bed, passes through the shower, gets dressed, grabs his stuff and is out the door in thirty minutes.  He’s thinking he might have to skip his trip to Brendon’s café today, but he knows he will regret it if he doesn’t.  The coffee in the prison was horrible.  If he started his day with that rot-gut coffee, he was pretty sure it would destroy his stomach.  He only drank it because he needed the caffeine boost throughout the day.  Well, I’m already late.  What’s another fifteen minutes?

                  Andy pulls into the café’s parking lot, parks the car, and walks in the door.  He smiles when he sees Brendon behind the counter.

                  “Hey Andy!  You want the usual?”  Brendon asks.

                  “Yes.  I’m kind of running late so if you could get it done quickly, that would be helpful.”  Andy answers.

                  “No problem.”  Brendon comments before yelling to the back to put a rush on it.

                  “So, how have you been?  You look a bit frazzled today.  Is everything alright?”  Brendon asks.

                  This was what Andy was afraid might happen.  He was really hoping that Brendon wouldn’t ask about what was happening at the prison.  Andy can’t just lie to the guy, so he tries to explain things and make it as short as possible.

                  “I’m not doing that great, actually.  A few days ago, I asked Patrick to come to my office so that I could discuss writing the song for Meredith with him.  Brendon, I didn’t recognize the man that walked into my office.  He’s covered with tattoos now that he told me he didn’t sit willingly for.  He said he was either sedated, held down, or paralyzed while whoever it was did them.  He’s also got a few piercings, which again, were done against his will.  His left eyebrow and right nostril are pierced, and he has a labret piercing below his lip with a spike sticking out.  He also talks funny now because of a humungous tongue piercing.  There is literally a crater-sized hole through his tongue.  It’s only been six days!  How did all of this happen so quickly?  He even told me about some of his experiences in the last few days and it made me want to puke.

                  That’s not even the worst part.  On his way back to his cell coming from my office, he was ambushed and attacked by members of one of the prison gangs.  Apparently, he had a small run-in with one of their members a few days ago, where the gang member felt disrespected.  They even tried to attack him and his cell mate on their way back to their cell after the altercation, but they were unsuccessful.  They brutally beat him and then they gangbanged him thirty-two times.  After that, they brought him to their leader, who raped him again.  When they were finished, they noticed some ink lines on Patrick’s back and when they followed them up, they saw a huge back tattoo that claimed him as a rival gang leader’s property.  They also saw another of his tattoos that marks him as a member of that gang.  He’s not really a member, but the leader claimed and marked him with their gang’s symbol.  The head of the gang freaked out when they saw these and tried to make it look like a random hit, so they stabbed him five times in the abdomen and dumped his bleeding body in a well-trafficked area so he would be found.  He’s in really bad shape.  Every place that is visible is covered with bruises, bite marks, and he even had bruising around his neck from several of the members choking him.  He was in so much pain from all the injuries that he was very hopped up on painkillers.  He had two surgeries yesterday.  One was to fix the stab wounds and the other was to fix all the interior damage.  When they went in to fix it though, they found several sources of heavy internal bleeding which took them five hours to stop, and they almost lost him twice.  Then when they went to fix the damage, it turned out to be a million times worse than they expected.  There was also a scary complication where Patrick threw a clot from his leg and it got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism where they almost lost him for a third time.  They had to stop and perform a procedure to remove the blood clot from his lung, after which they were able to stabilize him.  It took them eleven hours to fix everything.  As of last night, he was awake and resting.  I plan to visit him later today.”  Andy explained.

                  Brendon was clearly in shock at what Andy had just told him.  He was standing there with his eyes wide and speechless with his mouth wide open.  It took him a minute to process everything before he even attempted to speak.

                  “Oh my God!  What the fuck?  That’s horrible!  I hope you are planning to punish those responsible.”  Brendon says.

                  “See, that’s the thing!  I can’t punish or intervene in this without it getting worse for Patrick.  If I do something, it will put a target on his back, and he will be as good as dead.  He begged me when I met with him in my office to not try to help him, or he would be killed or punished to the point that he might not survive it.  As much as I want to, I can’t.  I must let the gangs handle this, but from what I hear, there is a plan for retribution that will occur soon.  Knowing the gang they will be dealing with; I can assure you that they will pay dearly for what they did to him.  Many of the members of this particular gang are among some of the most sadistic individuals I’ve ever met.  Patrick will get his justice.”  Andy informs.

                  “Jesus!  I feel so bad for him!  I also don’t envy you and the position you are placed in.”  Brendon comments.

                  “Yeah.  It sucks.  I feel terrible about what happened too, since it is partially my fault.  I’m the one that put him in this position.”  Andy replies.

                  “Fuck!  Please keep me updated about his condition, ok?”  Brendon asks as he goes to the window and picks up Andy’s order.

                  “I will, I wish that I had better news to tell you.”  Andy answers.

                  Brendon rings up his order, Andy pays, and gets back in his car to drive the rest of the way to the prison.  He takes a few minutes to take some deep breaths, centering himself before he gets out of the car and goes through the security check point.  When he is through security, he continues straight to his office.  Wendy is asking all kinds of questions, but he ignores her, closes the door to his office and sets his stuff down.  Once he feels ready, he calls Wendy and answers all her questions.  He also asks her to contact sick bay and find out when is a good time for him to visit Patrick.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

                  Gabe was sitting on the floor of his cell organizing his plans for payback.  The attack would happen in two days.  That would give him time to gather every group and explain what their role would be in the attack.  He planned another gang meeting for later today so he could discuss his plan and assign them their jobs.  Since no one else in the Latin Kings was a vampire, it would be relatively easy.  They would round up the remaining members of the Nuestra Familia that were not involved in the actual attack but supported it into two groups of fifty people each.  Then they would beat up, torture, and inflict severe pain and suffering upon them.  These were to be the witnesses though, so they must be left alive and be able to survive their injuries.  He felt a little bad for Spencer, because he knew when the attack was over, he would be working overtime on this group of the gang, especially since he doesn’t have another doctor there to help him anymore, since he is now an incarcerated patient.  There was one thing that Gabe needed to discover before this all took place.  He needs to make sure that Earnesto’s right-hand-man would be tortured with Earnesto and Jesus.  He’s already been given the man’s name and description after some simple torture of one of Earnesto’s men.  The man’s name was Mateo.  He was a taller, overweight man that was balding.  His facial hair was dark, but the rest of his hair was starting to go gray, and he wore glasses.  The man Gabe tortured said that Mateo would always hang out in the shadows, doing the things he needed to, in order to get the things, he needed, mainly heroin.  He definitely wasn’t beyond double crossing someone if it worked in his favor.  It sounded like he was a conniving weasel of a man whose loyalties were to himself.  He also had quite the cruel and brutal side to him.  It was he who suggested that they gangbang Sugar.  Gabe had some apt tortures in mind for him and was eager to implement his ideas.  All in good time.  Gabe stayed up all night putting the finishing touches on his plan.  He was tired and hungry.  He would need to do something about that soon.  Shower time was coming up, maybe he could just take care of feeding then.  That would be very convenient.

                  It wasn’t long before the guard came to collect him for shower time.  Gabe was ready and waiting.  The guard opened the door, Gabe stepped out, and the guard closed the door.  Then they began walking to the shower room.  Once there, Gabe entered the locker room, found a place for his stuff, got undressed and put a towel around his waist and headed for the showers.  He stuck his nose up in the air, took a whiff, and smelled what his options were.  There was one who smelled like passion fruit.  He would do nicely.  Gabe walks into the area where the passion fruit guy was showering, and picked one of the shower heads next to the guy.  He began bathing himself, so he didn’t look suspicious.  Luckily it was only Gabe and the passion fruit guy, so Gabe didn’t have to get rid of anyone else there.  When he is sure that no one else is coming, he approaches the guy from behind.  He grabs him and whispers into his ear.

                  “Don’t scream, or this will be much worse for you.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

                  The passion fruit guy shakes his head yes, thinking he’s going to be raped.  He is very surprised when Gabe bites down on his neck and begins sucking large amounts of the man’s blood.  The man cries out in pain, so Gabe covers his mouth.

                  “One more outburst like that and this will become even more painful than it already is.  Be quiet or I will make this so painful for you that you will wish you were dead.  Got it?”  Gabe asks.

                  The man shakes his head yes, so Gabe continues his meal.  The man is trying so hard to bear the pain without screaming or crying.

                  “Your blood tastes amazing!  I must have more!”  Gabe says as he sucks much harder, further draining the man.

                  The passion fruit guy is starting to have trouble standing and Gabe feels himself reach the man’s limit without killing him.  Gabe pulls off him and licks the bite marks to close them.

                  Passion fruit guy looks at him as he falls to the ground.

                  “What the fuck are you and what did you just do to me?”  The man asks.

                  Gabe smiles.  “I’ll give you two tries to guess.”  Never resisting the urge to play with his food.

                  “Ok.  Are you an evil wizard that needs my blood for some dark spell?”  Passion fruit guy asks.

                  “Wow!  That’s a very creative answer!  I haven’t heard that one in a very long time.  No, I’m not an evil wizard.”  Gabe says as he silent claps for the man.

                  “The only other being I’ve ever heard of that sucks blood is a vampire.  Is that what you are?”  He asks.

                  “Yes.  I’m a vampire and you were my breakfast today, so thank you for that.  Please look into my eyes.”  Gabe replies.

                  The passion fruit guy makes eye contact with Gabe.  Gabe has him in his power.  Now to just make him forget.

                  “You will not remember anything that happened here today.  You will forget that I approached and fed on you, and you will forget that I’m a vampire.  You had a normal shower, got dressed and left.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

                  Passion fruit guy repeats everything that Gabe just said.

                  “Yes, I understand.”  He answers.

                  “Good.  Now be on your way.”  Gabe suggests and the man leaves. 

                  Gabe takes a few minutes to clean all the blood off himself, then he turns the water off, returns to his locker, gets dressed and walks out the door feeling refreshed and ready for whatever the day may hold for him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 49

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Mentions of Graphic Violence, and Rape*******

Patrick feels very groggy as he slowly wakes up the next morning.  His head still feels like there is a cloud sitting on top of it.  As he opens his eyes, he sees that not much has changed.  He is still in his bed and Brad is sitting in the corner.  The cloud is most likely from the fentanyl that hasn’t worn off yet.  He notices that he does feel better than he did when he went to sleep last night.  He looks down at his arms and notices the bruises and bite marks are healed.  Then he checks the rest of his body over and finds the same thing, everything has healed.  I’m pretty sure Brad and Gabe had something to do with this.  I’m not complaining, but there is no way I made this much progress on my own.  Although the outside of him looked and felt better, the insides left something to be desired.  He can tell that some of it has healed, but since the damage was so much worse than they expected, there is still quite a lot left.  He feels like some of the broken ribs may have healed themselves.  He thinks his head feels a little better too, since the room isn’t currently spinning, he’s not as sensitive to light, and he is able to focus on things a little better.  Overall, he is still experiencing a great deal of pain though and he can tell that the fentanyl has almost worn off. 

His thoughts are interrupted with Clara entering his room.  She is very awake and happy for it being so early.  She is also carrying a tray that appears to have breakfast on it.  He is really hungry since he barely ate anything yesterday because of the surgeries.  She pulls the table that goes over his bed over, sets the tray down and moves the table over his bed.  He immediately begins stuffing his face with everything on the plate, like a ravenous wolf.

“Good morning, Patrick!  How are you feeling today?”  She asks.

“I’m hungry!  I haven’t eaten since before the surgeries yesterday.  Is there any chance I could get another tray of food?”  He asks.

Clara laughs. 

“That shouldn’t be a problem.  Just don’t eat too fast and make yourself sick.”  She tells him.

“Awesome!”  He answers as he is still stuffing his face.

  “I’m also here to draw your blood for some tests and to take your vitals.  Can you give me your arm?  It shouldn’t take very long.”  She asks.

Patrick puts down his fork and gives her his left arm.  She ties an elastic very tightly around his arm and waits for the vein to pop out.  Then she inserts a needle into the vein and begins filling up small vials with his blood.  It looks like they are doing a lot of tests, because so far, she has already filled up eight vials and has two more to go.  When she is finished, she removes the elastic, pulls the needle out, and places a cotton ball on the injection site, which she covers with a bandage.

“You can continue eating now.  Spencer is still passed out in his office, but he should be here relatively soon.  I know he set an alarm for this morning after he got up to give you more fentanyl in the middle of the night.  How is your pain today?  What number would you give it?”  She asks.

“Well, it is a tiny bit better than yesterday.  I’m still going to give it a 9.5.”  Patrick answers.

“Alright, I will tell Spencer once he wakes up.”  Clara says as she turns around and leaves to take the blood to the lab.

Patrick continues inhaling his food because he is so hungry.  He has now finished this tray of food and is still hungry.  He hopes Clara brings him another tray of food.

“Maybe you should slow down a bit, Stump.  We don’t want you getting sick and puking everywhere.”  Brad suggests from his chair in the corner.

“Have you been there the entire time?”  Patrick asks.

“Yup.  Gabe wants me guarding you twenty-four, seven until you are discharged.”  Brad states.

Patrick looks around to make sure no one is around or about to enter the room before he continues.

“So, I’ve noticed that a lot of my bruises, bite marks, and the marks on my neck from where I was choked repeatedly are completely gone and my head hurts less than it did yesterday.  Did you and Gabe have something to do with that?”  Patrick asked.

“Yes.  We have both been feeding you blood in small amounts so that you don’t hallucinate, and Gabe spent about two hours here last night while you were sleeping, using his targeted healing power on you on every part of your body.”  Brad informs him.

“I appreciate that, but what are you going to do when Spencer notices that I’m healing so much faster?  What did you do last time?”  Patrick asks.

“We usually just comment on it being some kind of miracle and pretend we don’t know how it happened.”  Brad answers.

“Did that really work?”  Patrick asks.

“Sort of.  Spencer couldn’t explain how you healed so quickly so I guess he did believe that.  If he starts asking too many questions, we can always compel him to stop and provide him with a more reasonable excuse.”  Brad replies.

Patrick doesn’t like the idea of lying to him, and he really hates the idea of compelling him, but if he won’t leave it alone, so be it.  They both hear someone coming so they stop talking about this subject.  It turns out to be Sebastien with another tray of food and a pitcher of water for him to drink.

“Good morning, Patrick.  How are you today?”  Sebastien asks.

“I’m a tiny bit better today, but I’m still in a ton of pain.”  Patrick answers.

“That’s not good.  Has Spencer been in here yet?”  Sebastien asks.

“Not yet.”  Patrick responds.

“I’ll go check on him.  He may have turned off his alarm and gone back to sleep.”  Sebastien says as he heads out of the room to go find Spencer.

Patrick begins digging into the food on the second tray a little slower this time.  He knows he needs food to heal him, and his stomach isn’t full yet so he keeps eating.  He’s almost finished with the second tray of food, when Spencer walks in.  He still looks like he is half asleep, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t here sooner.  I turned my alarm off by accident and went back to sleep.  How are feeling today, Patrick?”  Spencer asks.

“I feel a little better than yesterday, but I’m still in a good amount of pain.  Before you ask, my pain number is 9.5 right now.”  Patrick replies.

“Ok.  I will get you some pain medication.  Do you want more fentanyl, or do you want morphine?”  Spencer asks.

 “My pain is still pretty bad.  Can we do the fentanyl again?”  Patrick asks.

“Sure.  If you plan to have visitors today, I will only give you part of the dose until later.”  Spencer comments.

“I’m sure I will have visitors today at least for some part of the day.”

“Ok.  I’ll be back.”  Spencer says as he leaves to go get the fentanyl out of the locked medicine cabinet.

He returns a few minutes later with it and measures out the correct dose.  Then he injects it into Patrick’s IV.  Patrick begins feeling its effects relatively quickly.  He feels some of his pain melt away and he feels loopy and happy. 

Spencer does a quick physical exam and is astonished at how quickly Patrick seems to be healing.  At least on the outside.  All his bruises, bite marks, and his other exterior bodily injuries seem to be healed almost completely.  He’s not quite sure how that is possible, but he will take it.  This appeared to happen the last time Patrick was badly injured, so maybe this is just something that is unique to him.  Who is he to question what he has now seen take place two times?

“We need to check your incisions for any signs of infection.  This isn’t going to be pleasant.  I’m sorry.  Clara, Sebastien?  I need you.”  Spencer informs him.

Clara and Sebastien enter Patrick’s room and come to stand on either side of his bed.

“We need to check his incisions.  I need you two to roll him over onto his stomach.  I can help if you need me to.”  Spencer orders.

Clara and Sebastien line up on the right side of Patrick’s bed.  They grab his abdomen and slowly turn him over onto his stomach.

“Ahhhhh!!!!”  Patrick screams in pain.

“This shouldn’t take too long, Patrick.”  Spencer says.

He feels Spencer pull his pants down below his ass and feel around each incision to make sure they aren’t swollen.  He knows it’s not the same, but he kind of feels like he did when he was getting gangbanged.  He has no control when he’s in this position and he starts to have a flashback of what happened previously.  He hears himself cry out.

“No!  Stop!  Get off me!  Please!”  He yells.

He begins reliving the incident in his head and he is lost in it.  So many men hurting him if he didn’t participate.  Feeling himself being ripped apart and bleeding.  The pain that he felt each time someone raped him.  It was unbearable!  Aside from the recent tattoos, he’s never experienced that much pain all at once, ever.  This pain felt different somehow.  He doesn’t know why but it felt way more intense than anything from the tattoos.  Maybe it was more intense because of the trauma that accompanied it.  Something made this pain so much more extreme and agonizing.  Every time one of them rocked him back and forth across the floor, continually entering him over and over with each thrust, he screamed from the excruciating pain, and he experienced it so much deeper than anything he’d ever felt.  He felt the pain bone deep and felt like it penetrated deep down into his soul.  He screamed so hard and for so long that he almost completely lost his voice. He was also very concerned.  There was a very good chance that he might not survive this.  In medical school, he’d learned that the victim usually dies in a situation like this, especially when there were so many men.  He’d almost had his life flash before him, and what he looked back on he was content with.  He was a good man who dedicated his life to helping to save the lives of others.  That being said, he was so scared that he was going to die!  He didn’t want to die!  He didn’t want this to be the last thing he remembered before he died.

“Please stop!  You are hurting me! AHHHHHH!  No!”  He screams.

He tries to move as much as he can to throw them off him, but it never stops!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Spencer and the Nurses are witnessing this.

“What is happening to him?”  Clara asks.

“He’s having a flashback of his attack.  Help me flip him over.  We must try to wake him!”  Spencer says.

They flip Patrick over onto his back, but the flashback doesn’t stop.  They begin shaking him to wake him up.

“Patrick!  Patrick!  This isn’t real!  Wake up!”  Spencer yells.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick hears someone yelling his name.  It sounds like Spencer.  Wait, Spencer wasn’t there when the attack happened.  What’s going on?  Something isn’t right here.  This part never happened.  He hears Spencer tell him to wake up, that what he is seeing isn’t real. So, he opens his eyes and finds himself back in his room turned over onto his back.  He wakes up with a start.  He is breathing heavily, he’s sweaty, and he looks incredibly confused.

“What the fuck just happened to me?”  Patrick asks.

“You experienced a flashback of your attack.  I’m so sorry.  I didn’t even think about whether us examining your incisions would trigger you.  Please forgive me!”  Spencer yells.

“I forgive you.  If it helps, I had no idea that would trigger me either.”  Patrick responds.

“You obviously have some PTSD from what happened to you.  I’ll see if I can get the prison therapist to come down and talk to you.  Would that be, ok?”  Spencer asks.

“I guess so.  Can we move on to something else now?”  Patrick asks.

“Sure.  Why don’t you watch some TV until your blood work comes back.”  Spencer suggests.

“Ok.”  Patrick replies and turns on the TV in his room.

There isn’t much to choose from, but he finds something entertaining to watch.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Spencer motions to Clara and Sebastien to meet him outside Patrick’s room.

“I’m going to order an MRI and CT scan, so we see where he’s at in the healing process.  I’m also going to call the prison therapist and see when they are available to come talk to him.  You two keep him comfortable and allow any visitors that want to come.”  Spencer orders.

“Yes, Doctor.”  They say in unison.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joe wakes up the next morning to his cell being empty again.  He really missed Patrick not being there and having someone else to talk to.  He looks at the time and it is very close to shower time, so he climbs down from his bed, gathers up his shower stuff, and waits for whichever guard is going to escort him there.  He wants to visit Patrick today when he is allowed.  It sounds strange, but he is eager to see if there is a marketed improvement after Gabe and Brad fed him their blood.  If it’s anything like last time, he should be doing much better, which means he is one step closer to being discharged.  His only fear was, after Patrick was discharged and the gang thing was handled, that Gabe and Brad would go back to torturing Patrick, and the cycle would start over again.  Patrick is a very strong-willed person, but Joe was worried that after his most recent experience, if Patrick would get up and keep fighting, or if it had finally broken him.  He really was hoping for the former and he would do everything in his power to help him keep fighting, if that is what he wanted.  Joe thinks about the last time Patrick was gravely injured and healed incredibly quickly.  He really hopes Spencer doesn’t corner him again and ask if he knew why Patrick was healing so fast.  That was uncomfortable, and he really hated lying to him, but what other choice was there?  Unless they explained everything to Spencer, and he didn’t think they were crazy, but that wasn’t very likely.  Brad mentioned that they haven’t been able to give Patrick large doses of blood because they don’t want him to hallucinate.  He wonders if that is going to largely affect Patrick’s recovery.  He guesses he will find out later when he is allowed to visit him.

The guard, whom he doesn’t recognize, steps up to Joe’s cell and bangs on the bars.

“Inmate Trohman.  It is shower time.  Please collect your stuff and proceed to the front of the cell.”  The guard said.

Joe didn’t like this guy.  He was too formal, but he does what he’s told and walks to the front of the cell.  The guard presses the button to open the door, Joe steps out, and then the guard presses the button to close the door.

“Please follow me.”  The guard orders.

Today is going to be a very long day if he has to deal with this guard that has a large stick up his ass all day.  He really hopes that he will get a different guard later.  He follows the guard to the shower room, walks in, finds a locker to put his stuff in, and heads to the showers.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________        

Andy is running a little late this morning.  He had a really hard time getting up today.  He seemed to get a good night’s sleep, so he didn’t know why he was so tired.  Stress will do that to a guy.  He finally drags himself out of bed, passes through the shower, gets dressed, grabs his stuff and is out the door in thirty minutes.  He’s thinking he might have to skip his trip to Brendon’s café today, but he knows he will regret it if he doesn’t.  The coffee in the prison was horrible.  If he started his day with that rot-gut coffee, he was pretty sure it would destroy his stomach.  He only drank it because he needed the caffeine boost throughout the day.  Well, I’m already late.  What’s another fifteen minutes?

Andy pulls into the café’s parking lot, parks the car, and walks in the door.  He smiles when he sees Brendon behind the counter.

“Hey Andy!  You want the usual?”  Brendon asks.

“Yes.  I’m kind of running late so if you could get it done quickly, that would be helpful.”  Andy answers.

“No problem.”  Brendon comments before yelling to the back to put a rush on it.

“So, how have you been?  You look a bit frazzled today.  Is everything alright?”  Brendon asks.

This was what Andy was afraid might happen.  He was really hoping that Brendon wouldn’t ask about what was happening at the prison.  Andy can’t just lie to the guy, so he tries to explain things and make it as short as possible.

“I’m not doing that great, actually.  A few days ago, I asked Patrick to come to my office so that I could discuss writing the song for Meredith with him.  Brendon, I didn’t recognize the man that walked into my office.  He’s covered with tattoos now that he told me he didn’t sit willingly for.  He said he was either sedated, held down, or paralyzed while whoever it was did them.  He’s also got a few piercings, which again, were done against his will.  His left eyebrow and right nostril are pierced, and he has a labret piercing below his lip with a spike sticking out.  He also talks funny now because of a humungous tongue piercing.  There is literally a crater-sized hole through his tongue.  It’s only been six days!  How did all of this happen so quickly?  He even told me about some of his experiences in the last few days and it made me want to puke.

That’s not even the worst part.  On his way back to his cell coming from my office, he was ambushed and attacked by members of one of the prison gangs.  Apparently, he had a small run-in with one of their members a few days ago, where the gang member felt disrespected.  They even tried to attack him and his cell mate on their way back to their cell after the altercation, but they were unsuccessful.  They brutally beat him and then they gangbanged him thirty-two times.  After that, they brought him to their leader, who raped him again.  When they were finished, they noticed some ink lines on Patrick’s back and when they followed them up, they saw a huge back tattoo that claimed him as a rival gang leader’s property.  They also saw another of his tattoos that marks him as a member of that gang.  He’s not really a member, but the leader claimed and marked him with their gang’s symbol.  The head of the gang freaked out when they saw these and tried to make it look like a random hit, so they stabbed him five times in the abdomen and dumped his bleeding body in a well-trafficked area so he would be found.  He’s in really bad shape.  Every place that is visible is covered with bruises, bite marks, and he even had bruising around his neck from several of the members choking him.  He was in so much pain from all the injuries that he was very hopped up on painkillers.  He had two surgeries yesterday.  One was to fix the stab wounds and the other was to fix all the interior damage.  When they went in to fix it though, they found several sources of heavy internal bleeding which took them five hours to stop, and they almost lost him twice.  Then when they went to fix the damage, it turned out to be a million times worse than they expected.  There was also a scary complication where Patrick threw a clot from his leg and it got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism where they almost lost him for a third time.  They had to stop and perform a procedure to remove the blood clot from his lung, after which they were able to stabilize him.  It took them eleven hours to fix everything.  As of last night, he was awake and resting.  I plan to visit him later today.”  Andy explained.

Brendon was clearly in shock at what Andy had just told him.  He was standing there with his eyes wide and speechless with his mouth wide open.  It took him a minute to process everything before he even attempted to speak.

“Oh my God!  What the fuck?  That’s horrible!  I hope you are planning to punish those responsible.”  Brendon says.

“See, that’s the thing!  I can’t punish or intervene in this without it getting worse for Patrick.  If I do something, it will put a target on his back, and he will be as good as dead.  He begged me when I met with him in my office to not try to help him, or he would be killed or punished to the point that he might not survive it.  As much as I want to, I can’t.  I must let the gangs handle this, but from what I hear, there is a plan for retribution that will occur soon.  Knowing the gang they will be dealing with; I can assure you that they will pay dearly for what they did to him.  Many of the members of this particular gang are among some of the most sadistic individuals I’ve ever met.  Patrick will get his justice.”  Andy informs.

“Jesus!  I feel so bad for him!  I also don’t envy you and the position you are placed in.”  Brendon comments.

“Yeah.  It sucks.  I feel terrible about what happened too, since it is partially my fault.  I’m the one that put him in this position.”  Andy replies.

“Fuck!  Please keep me updated about his condition, ok?”  Brendon asks as he goes to the window and picks up Andy’s order.

“I will, I wish that I had better news to tell you.”  Andy answers.

Brendon rings up his order, Andy pays, and gets back in his car to drive the rest of the way to the prison.  He takes a few minutes to take some deep breaths, centering himself before he gets out of the car and goes through the security check point.  When he is through security, he continues straight to his office.  Wendy is asking all kinds of questions, but he ignores her, closes the door to his office and sets his stuff down.  Once he feels ready, he calls Wendy and answers all her questions.  He also asks her to contact sick bay and find out when is a good time for him to visit Patrick.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Gabe was sitting on the floor of his cell organizing his plans for payback.  The attack would happen in two days.  That would give him time to gather every group and explain what their role would be in the attack.  He planned another gang meeting for later today so he could discuss his plan and assign them their jobs.  Since no one else in the Latin Kings was a vampire, it would be relatively easy.  They would round up the remaining members of the Nuestra Familia that were not involved in the actual attack but supported it into two groups of fifty people each.  Then they would beat up, torture, and inflict severe pain and suffering upon them.  These were to be the witnesses though, so they must be left alive and be able to survive their injuries.  He felt a little bad for Spencer, because he knew when the attack was over, he would be working overtime on this group of the gang, especially since he doesn’t have another doctor there to help him anymore, since he is now an incarcerated patient.  There was one thing that Gabe needed to discover before this all took place.  He needs to make sure that Earnesto’s right-hand-man would be tortured with Earnesto and Jesus.  He’s already been given the man’s name and description after some simple torture of one of Earnesto’s men.  The man’s name was Mateo.  He was a taller, overweight man that was balding.  His facial hair was dark, but the rest of his hair was starting to go gray, and he wore glasses.  The man Gabe tortured said that Mateo would always hang out in the shadows, doing the things he needed to, in order to get the things, he needed, mainly heroin.  He definitely wasn’t beyond double crossing someone if it worked in his favor.  It sounded like he was a conniving weasel of a man whose loyalties were to himself.  He also had quite the cruel and brutal side to him.  It was he who suggested that they gangbang Sugar.  Gabe had some apt tortures in mind for him and was eager to implement his ideas.  All in good time.  Gabe stayed up all night putting the finishing touches on his plan.  He was tired and hungry.  He would need to do something about that soon.  Shower time was coming up, maybe he could just take care of feeding then.  That would be very convenient.

It wasn’t long before the guard came to collect him for shower time.  Gabe was ready and waiting.  The guard opened the door, Gabe stepped out, and the guard closed the door.  Then they began walking to the shower room.  Once there, Gabe entered the locker room, found a place for his stuff, got undressed and put a towel around his waist and headed for the showers.  He stuck his nose up in the air, took a whiff, and smelled what his options were.  There was one who smelled like passion fruit.  He would do nicely.  Gabe walks into the area where the passion fruit guy was showering, and picked one of the shower heads next to the guy.  He began bathing himself, so he didn’t look suspicious.  Luckily it was only Gabe and the passion fruit guy, so Gabe didn’t have to get rid of anyone else there.  When he is sure that no one else is coming, he approaches the guy from behind.  He grabs him and whispers into his ear.

“Don’t scream, or this will be much worse for you.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

The passion fruit guy shakes his head yes, thinking he’s going to be raped.  He is very surprised when Gabe bites down on his neck and begins sucking large amounts of the man’s blood.  The man cries out in pain, so Gabe covers his mouth.

“One more outburst like that and this will become even more painful than it already is.  Be quiet or I will make this so painful for you that you will wish you were dead.  Got it?”  Gabe asks.

The man shakes his head yes, so Gabe continues his meal.  The man is trying so hard to bear the pain without screaming or crying.

“Your blood tastes amazing!  I must have more!”  Gabe says as he sucks much harder, further draining the man.

The passion fruit guy is starting to have trouble standing and Gabe feels himself reach the man’s limit without killing him.  Gabe pulls off him and licks the bite marks to close them.

Passion fruit guy looks at him as he falls to the ground.

“What the fuck are you and what did you just do to me?”  The man asks.

Gabe smiles.  “I’ll give you two tries to guess.”  Never resisting the urge to play with his food.

“Ok.  Are you an evil wizard that needs my blood for some dark spell?”  Passion fruit guy asks.

“Wow!  That’s a very creative answer!  I haven’t heard that one in a very long time.  No, I’m not an evil wizard.”  Gabe says as he silent claps for the man.

“The only other being I’ve ever heard of that sucks blood is a vampire.  Is that what you are?”  He asks.

 “Yes.  I’m a vampire and you were my breakfast today, so thank you for that.  Please look into my eyes.”  Gabe replies.

The passion fruit guy makes eye contact with Gabe.  Gabe has him in his power.  Now to just make him forget.

“You will not remember anything that happened here today.  You will forget that I approached and fed on you, and you will forget that I’m a vampire.  You had a normal shower, got dressed and left.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

Passion fruit guy repeats everything that Gabe just said.

“Yes, I understand.”  He answers.

“Good.  Now be on your way.”  Gabe suggests and the man leaves. 

Gabe takes a few minutes to clean all the blood off himself, then he turns the water off, returns to his locker, gets dressed and walks out the door feeling refreshed and ready for whatever the day may hold for him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 50

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Mentions of Graphic Violence and Rape*******

               Joe is returned to his cell after shower time by the guard with the huge stick up his ass.  To say that he is annoying is an understatement.  Joe tried to ask him if he knew anything more about Patrick and the guard just looked at him like he had a hole in his head.  His answer was weird.  He had said that he didn’t believe that Joe was privy to that information, even though Joe is Patrick’s cell mate.  This is pretty bad, but it almost made Joe miss Brad in some fucked up sort of way.  Brad was an asshole, but at least he would comment or talk about things.  The guard he had now wouldn’t even talk to him unless he was ordering Joe to so something.  Joe had had enough of him the moment he’d met him.  It was kind of pissing Joe off.  Why’d he get stuck with the fucking rookie?  Joe takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down.  He had more important things to think about, like how his cell mate was doing after his surgery, or how he is supposed to be involved in Gabe’s plan for revenge.  He really hoped he got greater clarity of that, other than we will put you in a room with these people and you can beat the shit out of them.  Joe was actually excited about that part.  He would make Earnesto and Jesus pay for their treatment of his friend.  He really hoped he would be allowed to beat them to the point that they were wishing for death.  His plan was to cause maximum damage and maximum pain and suffering so that they got a taste for what Patrick had been through.

               Joe checks the time and sees that it is almost time for breakfast.  There isn’t enough time for him to do anything, so he reads his book until Guard Stick-up-his-ass returns to take him to breakfast.  The guard bangs on the bars to get his attention.

               “Inmate Trohman, it is time for breakfast, please make your way to the front of your cell.”  Guard Stick-up-his-ass says.

               Joe takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes before he walks to the front of his cell.  The Guard pushes the button to open the door.

               “Please step out of the cell!” the Guard yells at him.

               Joe steps out of the cell.  Deep breaths, Joe.  He is an annoying little prick, but you need to keep your cool around him.

               Guard-stick-up-his-ass presses the button to close the door and grabs Joe’s arm tightly, a lot tighter than necessary.

               “You will follow me!”  The Guard yells.

               Joe is about over this, but he keeps his mouth shut and lets the guard pull him to the mess hall.  Joe opens the door and enters the food line.  It’s not too long this time, so he stands in line, looking around the room to see if there is anything going on that he should know about.  So far, he hasn’t seen anything, which is good.  He looks over to where the Nuestra Familia is hanging out and smiles.  They have no idea what is coming, and Joe is going to be so glad to see their pretentious smiles smacked off their faces.  He finally reaches the end of the food line, so he makes his way to the different stations, grabs his food, and then leaves to find a table and wait for Dan.  Joe is kind of going nuts not having anyone to talk to.  It isn’t long before Dan joins him.

               “Hey, Joe!  How are you doing today?”  Dan asks.

               “Honestly, I’m ok, but I got this super rookie guard who has this huge stick up his ass today.  He won’t talk to me at all except to yell orders at me like I’d deaf or something.  He is really getting on my nerves and I kind of want to slap him.  How are you today?”  Joe asks.

               “I’m fine too.  I’m just worried about Patrick.  Have you heard anything today?”  Dan asks.

               “No, not yet.  I asked my stick-up-his-ass guard, and he told me that I wasn’t privy to that information, even though I’m Patrick’s cell mate, the fucker.”  Joe explains.

               “Wow.  I give you credit.  I probably would’ve already killed that guy.”  Dan comments.

               “Oh, trust me, I want to, but that will mess things up for me if I do.  I’d just like to tell him that he doesn’t have to yell at me.”  Joe muses.

               “Yeah…good luck with that.”  Dan responds.

               “I know right?  Can I ask for a different guard?  If so, who do I talk to, and where do I have to go to do that?”  Joe asks.

               “I don’t really know.  If I did, I’d tell you.”  Dan answers.

               “Thanks anyway.”  Joe replies.

               They continue eating their food for a while when Gabe makes his way to their table.

               “Hello Gentleman.  Have either of you heard anything about Sugar today?”  He asks.

               “Nope.” Joe and Dan answer in unison.

               “You haven’t heard from Brad today?”  Dan asks.

               “No, but I imagine it has been a busy morning for Sugar.  I’m sure we will hear from Brad before lunch time.”  Gabe assures them.

               “Hey Gabe.  Do you know who I talk to, to ask for a new guard?  This guy I got today is a total rookie with a giant stick up his ass.  All he does is yell orders at me.  He is getting on my nerves and I kind of want to slap him.  He’s also very rough with me.  Much rougher than necessary.”  Joe informs him.

               If anyone knows how to change out his guard, it’s Gabe.  That, and Joe is going to take every advantage of this current arrangement as much as possible while it lasts.  He knows that once the attack is over, things will return to the way they were.

               “Does this guard have a name?”  Gabe asks.

               “I wouldn’t know.  He won’t talk to me at all except to yell orders at me.  I’ve been calling him Guard Stick-up-his-ass.”  Joe responds.

               Gabe smiles and laughs a little at that.

               “Haha!  That’s funny!  It’s a good name for him, Joe.  Let me see what I can do about switching out your guard before you end up killing him and fucking up our plans.”  Gabe offers.

               “I wouldn’t actually do it, Gabe.  He is just a super annoying prick.”  Joe mentions.

               “I know.  I will investigate it.  Please let me know if you hear anything about Sugar.”  Gabe says and turns around to head back to his table in the back left corner.

               “So…are you and Gabe friends now?”  Dan asks.

               “Fuck no!  We have a mutual interest in causing the members of the Nuestra Familia agonizing pain and suffering, so we are working together for the moment.  Don’t think I’m not going to use every advantage I can get out of this arrangement though.  I’m sure once the attack is over, things will return to normal between us.  I’m not going to lie.  I am worried that once the attack is over and Patrick is healed, Gabe will go back to torturing him.  I don’t know why Gabe hates him so much, but I’m sure there is a reason.  Maybe one of Patrick’s ancestors killed someone important to him in a past life?  Who knows?”  Joe informs him.

               “I’ve thought about that too.  We both know that his goal is to break Patrick, so he will use whatever means is necessary to do that.  Patrick is a very strong person, but even the strongest people eventually break.  I know neither of us wants to see it happen, but it is a very real possibility.”  Dan adds.

               “I know.  To be honest, I’m not sure if Patrick will be able to get up and keep fighting after this.  I don’t want to think about it, but what if this attack finally broke him?”  Joe asks.

               Dan shakes his head.  “I don’t know.  We won’t know for sure until he has recovered.  I would say if there were even a tiny coal of the fire left, that we support him and give oxygen to the fire to get it started again.  That also means that both of us need to be willing to take some of the hits for him.”  Dan mentions.

               “I know, and I’m prepared to do that.”  Joe states.

               “So am I.”  Dan affirms.

               “Good.  I’m glad we are both on the same page.”  Joe says.

               Breakfast is ending so they get rid of their trays, meet their guards, and are escorted back to their cells.  Joe still wants to kill his guard.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Spencer is in his office, giving Patrick and the prison therapist, Dr. Wesley some private time.  He really hopes that she can help him deal with everything that has happened to him, but they are kind of limited because of the high dose of pain medications Patrick needs to keep him comfortable.  He’s definitely not thinking clearly at all.  Spencer will urge Patrick to continue sessions with Dr. Wesley once he has recovered and has been discharged.

               Spencer remembers receiving a phone call from Wendy, Andy’s secretary this morning about scheduling a visit with Patrick.  Now is as good a time as any to call him back, he deduces, so he picks up his phone and calls them back.

               “Hello, Warden’s office.  How may I direct your call?”  Wendy answers.

               “Hello, Wendy.  It’s Spencer.  I’m returning your call regarding having Andy come visit Patrick today.”  Spencer says.

               “Oh, hello doctor.  I think he is going to want to talk to you directly.  Let me make sure no one is in his office and then I’ll transfer you.”  Wendy replies.

               “Alright.”  Spencer responds as Wendy puts him on hold.

               “Thank you for holding doctor.  I’m going to transfer you now.”  Wendy says.

               The line clicks and then Andy answers the phone.

               “Hey Spencer, how is he doing?”  Andy asks.

               “He’s ok.  He’s currently speaking with Dr. Wesley.”  Spencer explains.

               “Why is he meeting with Dr. Wesley?”  Andy asks.

               “Because he had a very vivid flashback this morning when we went to check his incisions.  It’s my fault.  I didn’t even think that rolling him on his stomach and feeling around the area would trigger him.  I feel so bad.  It was a full-on flashback too.  He was reliving it with all the sounds, movements, and feeling the pain he felt while it was happening.”  Spencer informs him.

               “Oh my God!  That’s awful!  It’s not your fault Spencer.  No one ever knows what is going to trigger someone until it does.  He probably had no idea until it happened.”  Andy comments.

               “I know, but I should’ve known better.  Anyways, I think they are almost done talking, so I figured if you left now, by the time you got here, their session would be complete and then you could visit him.  We haven’t allowed his friends to visit yet.  We wanted to give him some time to calm down before we add in more stressors for him.  If he can’t do it himself, then I can give him a mild sedative to make him calm down.”  Spencer states.

               “Ok.  Tell you what.  I need to make a short phone call before I can leave here, so I will do that and then head your way.”  Andy says.

               “Sounds good.  See you when you get here.”  Spencer answers and hangs up.

               Spencer has been pretty busy since he woke up this morning.  Clara and Sebastien had taken Patrick for the MRI and CT scan this morning, but the results just came back, so he figures he will look at them now because he has time.  First, he pulls up the MRI of the area.  It’s kind of weird, but it looks exactly like it looked like when they were operating on him.  He sees all the places where the internal bleeding was, as well as all of the areas where they fixed the damage.  So far, nothing looked abnormal.  In fact, it looked like a small amount had already healed.  Spencer was flabbergasted!  How is that possible?  Not only that, but most of the bruises, bite marks, and other small injuries on the outside had healed almost completely.  The inside looked like it still had a long way to go before he would be completely healed though.  This is the second time I’ve seen this with Patrick.  I’m happy about it, but this kind of thing never happens to people, let alone the same person twice in a few days.  The scary part is that people are going to ask me how this happened so quickly, and I don’t have the answer! 

               Next, Spencer opens the CT scan results and again, there is more healed than there should be.  He’ll take it, but he still has no idea how this happened.  He decides to bask in the fact that Patrick is healing and not think too hard about how it is happening.  It makes his head hurt too much.  Maybe it is a miracle.  He doesn’t know.  At that, he sees Andy enter sick bay and come into his office.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Andy finishes up the phone call he had to make and is now ready to head toward sick bay.  He remembers what he saw yesterday so he takes a few minutes to prepare himself for what he is going to see today.  He still feels really guilty because he’s the one that put Patrick in this position in the first place.  He had no idea that Patrick would be preyed upon so quickly.  He probably had a lot of enemies on the inside from disgruntled patients.  Andy hadn’t thought about that.  This isn’t my fault.  I didn’t do these horrible things to him.  I did sit by completely oblivious to what was happening to him, but I didn’t prey on and torture him.  I must remember that.  I really hope Patrick is slightly better today.  Yesterday, it was very hard seeing him like that.  Andy takes a few more breaths to center himself and then he leaves and makes his way to sick bay.  He decides he wants to talk to Spencer about his condition first, so he knew what to expect.  Andy walks to the open door of Spencer’s office and peeks his head inside.

               “Hey Spencer.” Andy says.

               “Hey Andy.  Please come in and close the door behind you.”  Spencer greets him.

               “So, yesterday was a really bad day for him and it apparently got worse once you and Dr. Franz began his second surgery.  Thank God you didn’t delay his surgery any longer.  How is he doing today?”  Andy asks.

               Spencer seems to wait a second before responding, which seems odd, unless he is worse.

               “Look, Andy, I’m going to level with you.  Patrick has made tremendous strides in his recovery since last night.  Most of his injuries on the outside of his body have healed.  The MRI and CT scan showed that a small amount of his internal injuries have healed.  They are showing more healing than there should be for one day post-op.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with this progress, but I can’t explain why it is happening.  In fact, this also happened following the almost fatal beating that he got when he first got here.  After that, I didn’t have high hopes that he would even survive it, it was that bad.  Then he began improving way faster than I ever thought was possible.  The same thing is happening here however, it appears to be a little slower this time around but, nevertheless significant for one day after surgery.  Maybe this is something unique to him?  I have no idea!  This shouldn’t be happening!  I mean, things like this never happen in the medical world, let alone twice to the same patient in a matter of days.  I’ll take it, but I have no explanation for it.  Maybe he has a guardian angel hanging around him that is performing miracles.  I’m just utterly amazed.”  Spencer explains.

               “Wow!  That’s great that he is healing so quickly, but I agree, it does seem very strange that this has already happened once and is now happening a second time in a matter of days.  Do you think we should ask him if incredibly fast healing is some weird genetic quirk in his family?”  Andy asks.

               “We could, but I doubt we’d get a straight answer right now.  He is still in excruciating pain, so he is pretty hopped up on fentanyl.  He knows where he is and what has happened, other than that, he may not even know what planet he is on.”  Spencer points out.

               “That’s true.  Maybe you should hold off on that for now until he is more lucid.  So, what should I expect when I go in there?”  Andy asks.

               “Well, he still looks the same, except all the bruises, bite marks, and any other external injuries appear to be almost healed or completely healed.  I’m going to order another MRI for his head to make sure there are no complications with the massive concussion he has.  He probably doesn’t feel that great, but the fentanyl will deal with the pain.  It may be a shock to see given his condition yesterday but in a good way.  I wish I had an answer for what is happening with his healing.”  Spencer answers.

               “Ok.  Thank you, Spencer.  Keep me apprised of his condition.  I’m going to visit him now.”  Andy says as he stands and walks out of Spencer’s office and into Patrick’s room.

               The first thing Andy sees is that Patrick has the lights turned down in the room.  It must be making his head hurt because of the concussion.  He sees Brad sitting in a chair in the corner scrolling on his phone.  When he gets closer to Patrick’s bed, he can see a lot of what Spencer was saying.  Most of his external injuries have healed.  Patrick is watching The Price Is Right game show.  As Andy moves closer to his bed, he notices that his pupils are still pretty big, his eyes are glossed over, and he looks incredibly happy from the drugs like Spencer said.

               “Hey Patrick! How are you feeling today?”  Andy asks.

               “Hello Andy!  What are you doing here?”  Patrick asks as he slurs his words a bit from the drugs and his recent lisp.

               “I’m here to visit you.”  Andy tells him.

               “Yay!”  Patrick exclaims.

               “How are you doing?  Are you any better today?  Spencer tells me you are already starting to heal.”  Andy asks.

               “I’m a little better today.  My bruises and bite marks are gone now, but I’m still in terrible pain.  The drugs are helping though.  I feel very happy!”

               “That’s great to hear!  Do you mind if I sit next to you and watch your game show with you?”  Andy asks.

               “I’d like that.  It’s nice to have someone to talk to.”  Patrick responds.

               Andy pulls a chair over to Patrick’s bed and sits in it.  Patrick grabs his hand to hold it, obviously wanting some human contact.  Patrick asks Andy about Meredith and how they are both doing and Andy answers him as he would to a friend, not just a co-worker or prisoner.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Brad sees this as a moment that he can step out quickly and update everyone.  He has the guard that brought the warden to sick bay replace him until he gets back.  Brad heads towards Gabe’s cell first to get him.  When he gets there, Gabe is still hard at work on the details of his plan.  He bangs on the bars to get his attention.  Gabe looks up and smiles.

               “I’m going to open the door and take you to a meeting with your lawyer, Inmate Saporta.”  Brad announces.

               “Oh, would you look at the time.  It is time for that meeting, isn’t it?”  Gabe asks as he plays along.

               “Yes.”  Brad says as he pushes the button to open the door. 

               Gabe steps out and Brad closes the door.

               “Hurry up, we are almost late!”  Brad exclaims as he grabs Gabe’s arm and begins walking away from his cell.  Once they are out of view, Brad releases Gabe’s arm.

               “Do you have an update?”  Gabe asks.

               “Yes.  Go to our meeting room.  I have to get Trohman and Pawlovich.  Then I will meet you there.”  Brad explains.

               “Alright.  I’ll see you there.”  Gabe comments as he heads toward their meeting room.

               Trohman’s cell is the next closest to Brad’s position, so, he walks over there next.  Joe is reading his book on his bed.  Brad bangs on the bars and Joe looks up.

               “Come on, Trohman.  You have a visitor.”  Brad announces.

               Joe knows that he doesn’t have any visitors scheduled today so obviously Brad is making up an excuse to take him somewhere.  Joe decides he will play along, so he climbs down, and walks to the front of his cell.  Brad pushes the button to open the door.  Joe steps out and Brad closes the door.

               “A visitor, huh?”  Joe asks softly so no one can hear.

               “I need a reason to take you somewhere so that’s what I came up with.  Let’s go.  We must stop and get your friend on the way.”  Brad explains.

               Brad grabs Joe’s arm and begins leading him toward Pawlovich’s cell.  It doesn’t take long before they arrive and get Pawlovich too.  Then they head toward the meeting room they’ve been in before.  Brad unlocks the door, lets himself, Trohman, and Pawlovich in and locks the door while they sit at the meeting table.  Gabe is already sitting there waiting.

               “Ok.  I brought you here because I don’t want to say this three times, so listen up.  Stump is doing fine, except for the bad flashback he had this morning when Spencer went to check his incisions.  Most of his external injuries have already healed and Spencer has no idea why, but we do.  He’s still stoned out of his mind on fentanyl, so don’t expect too much.  The warden is currently visiting with him, so, when he leaves, I will come get you all.  It’s getting pretty close to lunch time, so it will most likely be after lunch, but before Trohman and Pawlovich have to go to their job.  Gabe, you may stay longer than the other two.  I will meet all of you in the mess hall and we will go after you are done eating.  Any questions?  No one raises their hands. 

               “I don’t have a question, but I need to talk to Joe for a few minutes alone.  Would you two mind waiting outside?  This should only take a few minutes.”  Gabe asks.

               “Sure.  Come on Pawlovich.”  Brad replies and unlocks the door, grabs Pawlovich’s arm and leads him outside.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Joe looks at Gabe, curious as to why he wants to talk to him.

               “What did you need, Gabe?”  Joe asks.

               “Well, two things really.  The first is that I have managed to get you a different guard for today so that you don’t kill the other one.  The other is regarding your part in this attack, which will take place in two days.  That will give me enough time to inform everyone involved of their role and what each group will be doing.  When the attack begins, Brad and I will locate and separate Earnesto, Jesus, and Mateo from the rest and bring them to the room we plan to torture them in.”

               “Wait, who is Mateo?”  Joe asks.

               “I recently just found out about him.  He is Earnesto’s right-hand-man.  He is a sleazy weasel of a man whose loyalties change constantly to benefit himself.  He is also the one who suggested that the group gangbang Sugar, rather than just having Earnesto rape him.  Trust me, if we don’t torture him and eventually kill him, he will become a problem.”  Gabe informs.

               “Ok, I can see that.  Do I get to beat his ass too?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes.  You can beat them all until your heart is content.  If you injure them too much, which I hope you do, they can be brought back so that we can continue to torture them.”  Gabe answers.

                “I know.  Brad can bring them back.  It’s also incredibly painful.”  Joe adds.

               “How do you know about that?  Did Brad use it on you?”  Gabe asks.

               “No, he didn’t use it on me, but he used it on Patrick a day or two after he got here.  Patrick said he’d never felt that much pain in his whole life, and he said he couldn’t move after Brad brought him back, because his whole body hurt, and it wiped him out.  Brad had to carry him back to our cell and he couldn’t move for at least an hour afterward.”  Joe explains.

               “Brad used it on Sugar?  I’m going to have to talk to him about that.  That is not something that he should be using on Sugar.  How did I not know this?”  Gabe asks.

               “It doesn’t sound like either of them were forth coming with the information.  Patrick had said that Brad looked at him funny and decided that it was time that Patrick found out about another of his powers, and then he used it on him.”  Joe adds.

                “Thank you for telling me, Joe.  Anyways returning to the topic of the attack, please don’t hold anything back.  They deserve everything that you are capable of.”  Gabe encourages.

“Once I’m done with them, can you leave them like that for a few hours so that they can suffer like Patrick did?  After that, I don’t care what you do to them.”  Joe asks.

               “Of course!  They need to suffer just as much and for as long as Sugar did!  We will take our time with those three to make sure that they suffer agonizing pain and get a taste of their own medicine.  Once we have located and imprisoned the three of them, I will give you the signal to join us and you may do your worst.”  Gabe replies.

               “Ok.  What is the signal?”  Joe asks.

               “I will reach out to your mind and tell you where to go.  You will stay in your cell and go about your day until you receive the signal.  I will stay in your head until you reach us so that I know anyone that you encounter, so I can make them forget while you are doing your thing.  Once you are done, I will follow you back in your head to your cell or the shower room, wherever you want to go, so that I see those that I must compel to forget that they ever saw you.”  Gabe explains.

               “Ok.  I’m not crazy about you being in my head, but I guess there isn’t really another way unless one of you comes to get me, which I know you can’t because you will be busy.”  Joe states.

               “It will be too loud and crazy for us to do this any other way without you being implicated.  I can’t simply make a sound and you come.  There is no way you will hear it above all that is going on.”  Gabe points out.

               “Yes.  I understand.  That doesn’t mean I have to like it though.”  Joe comments.

               “Yes.  That is true.  I will tell you details about what time the attack will start the night before, so you know when to expect my signal.  Do you have any questions?”  Gabe asks.

               Joe thinks for a minute.

               “No.  Just let me know when and where, and I will be there.  Oh, and thank you for the new guard.  I probably would’ve killed that guy by the end of the day.”  Joe replies.

               “You are welcome.”  Gabe responds.

               “Was there anything else, or can I go now?”  Joe asks.

               “That was it.  Yes, you may go now.  I will see you after lunch when we go to see Sugar.”  Gabe says.

               “Ok.”  Joe affirms as he opens the door and walks out.

               Brad is there to take him back to his cell.

               “Where is Dan?”  Joe asks.

               “I already took him back to his cell while you two were talking.  We don’t want all of us to leave at once in case someone sees and gets suspicious.  Gabe will wait until I come back to get him.”  Brad enlightens him.

               “Ah.  That makes sense.”  Joe replies as Brad grabs his arm and leads him in the direction of his cell.

Chapter Text

Chapter 51

*******Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Graphic Violence*******

                Andy and Patrick are still watching The Price Is Right game show.  The host just cracked a pretty funny joke, and Patrick is currently laughing his ass off.  The drugs must make things funnier, Andy guesses.  It’s good to hear Patrick laugh and see him smile.  He’s been through so much recently that it’s nice to see that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.  He’s still holding Andy’s hand while they watch.  The next game is Plinko, where they guess the prices of some products and they win tokens they use to win money.  The contestant currently has three tokens and is working on getting a fourth and fifth.  They manage to guess one of the prices right and the other wrong, so they end up with four tokens.  Now they had the person climb to the top of the Plinko board, hold one of their tokens and drop it down.  The token goes through what kind of looks like a pinball machine until it gets to the bottom and goes into a slot with a dollar amount.  The first token gets the contestant five-hundred dollars.  The second token gets eight-hundred dollars.  The third token gets them zero, and the fourth gets them two-hundred dollars.  The contestant won a total of fifteen-hundred dollars.  Patrick seems very excited for the contestant. 

               This is a side of Patrick that Andy rarely sees.  He’s mostly dealt with work Patrick, who is very serious about being a doctor and taking care of and advocating for his patients.  He would joke around with the staff sometimes, but he was pretty laser-focused on doing his job.  Andy and Meredith have thrown a few parties over the years.  There were a few where Patrick was happy-drunk like he is now.   This version of Patrick was always so much fun!  He’d let his guard down and lose his inhibitions enough to where you could really see how amazing of a person he really was.  He cared so much about everyone else but himself.  When Patrick was at work, that was to be expected.  He would always have a wall up protecting his emotions and other parts of himself so that he could objectively do his job.  It is just a shame that eventually, this will all end when he is recovered and released back into the general population.  The man that walked into his office a few days ago, was so different from the man that Andy had known.  The Patrick he is seeing right now is much closer to the real Patrick than the man that walked into his office was.  Andy is still shocked how six days could change a person so much.  Prisoner Patrick was a lot tougher and was constantly looking over his shoulder.  Prison will do that to someone.  Andy had no idea because he’s never done time and doesn’t know what it’s like.  From what Patrick told him, it sounded awful.  Andy still feels guilty for putting him in this position in the first place.

               Andy didn’t realize how long he had been thinking in his head until Patrick snapped his fingers in front of his face.

               “Where did you go, Andy?”  Patrick asks.

               “I was just thinking about how I’ve only seen this laid-back side of you a few times.  That’s all.  Actually, I need to say this, and I really want you to hear me, ok?  I’m sorry for putting you in a position where all these terrible things have happened to you.  I wish I could do something about it, but I can’t.  I know I’m not the one that did all these horrible things, but you are my friend and I want you to know that this isn’t easy for me either.  It’s killing me to see you in this state or to read about all the things that have happened to you.  I just want you to know that I’m struggling with this too.  Ok?”  Andy says.

               “I appreciate that, Andy.  It’s not your fault that others have preyed upon me.  Yes, you put me in this situation, but I don’t think you had any idea how bad this would be.  I forgive you.  You should also know that even if I’m stuck here for the next five years or however long it ends up being, I don’t blame you.  You are doing your job, it’s just that in this case, it’s much harder for you.  I understand.”  Patrick responds, still slurring his words and talking slowly because of the drugs.

               “Do you really mean that?”  Andy asks.

               “Yes.”  Patrick answers.

               Andy is overwhelmed with this information and decides to hug Patrick, trying very hard not to hurt him.  Patrick smiles and hugs back.

               “Thank you, Patrick.  I really needed to hear that.”  Andy comments.

                “You’re welcome.  Can we watch TV now?  You’re killing my buzz, and all this thinking is making my head hurt.”  Patrick asks.

                “Sure.”  Andy answered and they returned to watching TV. 

                Once The Price Is Right is over, Andy looks at his watch and sees how much time has passed.  He can probably stay another thirty minutes before he has to get back to work.  That will take them to lunchtime, which will be a good reason for him to get going.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________   

               When Joe was brought back to his cell, he had about an hour before lunch time.  He was still tired from last night.  He was worried about Patrick and kept having nightmares that would wake him up.  So, he decided to take this time and take a well-needed nap.  He was having a wonderful dream about seeing Marie and Ruby outside of prison and actually being able to go somewhere fun.  He was so asleep that he barely heard the banging on the bars of his cell.  When the banging continues, it’s enough to fully wake him.  He rubs the sleep from his eyes, climbs down, and walks to the front of his cell.

               “It’s about time!  I’ve been banging on the bars for like ten minutes!”  The guard says.

               “Sorry, I was taking a nap, and I was really asleep.”  Joe apologizes.

               “That’s ok.  It is lunch time.  Are you ready to go?”  The guard asks.

               “Yeah, just give me a second.”  Joe answers.

               He goes over to his sink and splashes cold water on his face to wake himself up more.  He wipes his face off, and then returns to the front of the cell.

               “Now, I’m ready.”  Joe tells him.

               The guard pushes the button to open the door, Joe steps out, and he presses the button to close the door.  Then they begin walking toward the mess hall.  Joe likes this guard much better.

               “So, you are my new guard for the day?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes.  I don’t know why you got stuck with the rookie on a huge power trip, but I would’ve killed that guy too.  All he does is yell at you and he’s a total asshole too.  If it helps, no one likes that guy.”  The guard replies.

               “Yeah, it was going to be a very long day if I was stuck with him all day.  I’m Joe.  What is your name?”  Joe asks.

               “I’m Clark.  Nice to meet you.  What that guy doesn’t understand is that you can still do your job and treat people with common decency.  You don’t have bark orders at people and be unnecessarily rough with prisoners to make them do things.”  Clark comments.

               “Yeah, no kidding!  It was annoying and actually made me want to not do what he said.”  Joe adds.

               “Exactly!”  Clark responds.

               “Clark, I wanted to let you know that I will be visiting a friend in sick bay right after lunch.  You are welcome to take me, or there is another guard who can take me.  Whichever you want.”  Joe explains.

               “What happened to your friend?  Clark asks.

               “It’s a long story, but he was attacked by members of a gang after he had rubbed one of its members the wrong way.  The guy tried to attack us right afterward but wasn’t successful.  So, he trailed my friend for a few days looking for the perfect time to attack him.  He was badly beaten and gangbanged thirty-three times.”  Joe explains.

“Holy Shit!  That’s horrible!  He survived that?  Also, thank you for letting me know.  I will take you if you want me to, otherwise this other guard can take you.  Whichever is fine with me, I just need to know.” Clark responds.

“Yeah, he did.  Dr. Smith isn’t quite sure how, but he survived.  Dr. Smith had a lot of damage to fix.  He brought in a specialist from the hospital to help him with the longer, more involved surgery.  I think I will go with the other guard unless you are jonesing to go to sick bay.”  Joe decides.

               “I’m glad your friend is ok.  No, I’m really not jonesing to go to sick bay.  Ok.  I will see you back at your cell later to escort you to your work detail.  Enjoy your lunch.”  Clark affirms.

               They finish the short walk to the mess hall, Joe opens the door, and gets in the food line.  He’s going to be here for a while.  Joe looks around to see if anything interesting is happening.  So far, it looks like a relatively normal lunch in the mess hall.  He does see Gabe making contact with various people involved in the upcoming attack.  From what Joe understands, there will be a lot of people involved.  Gabe said that he split them up into groups.  He didn’t know what the other groups would be doing, and he kind of didn’t want to know.  Knowing Gabe, it will be as sadistic and violent as possible and that is all Joe needs to know.  He finally reaches the front of the food line, so he grabs a tray and goes to the different stations to get his food.  Then he finds an empty table and waits for Dan.

               Dan approaches his table a few minutes later and sits down.  They both begin eating their meals.  Joe is still a little sleepy, so he drinks some coffee to wake himself up.

               “You ok, Joe?”  Dan asks.

               “Yes.  When Brad dropped me back at my cell, I took a nap.  I didn’t sleep very well last night because I was worried about Patrick.  Well, I was REALLY asleep when the guard came to get me for lunch.  It took a minute to wake up and get going.  You know when you try to take a nap and don’t have enough time to sleep, and you feel like shit afterward?  It’s kind of like that, only I was really asleep, I feel like shit, and it is just taking me some time to fully wake up again.  I feel like I’ve been dragging a bit the last few days, because I haven’t been sleeping well.  Now that we know Patrick is ok, I’m sure I will sleep much easier tonight.”  Joe explains.

               “Ah!  Gotcha!  I hate it when that happens.  Most people can do like a thirty-minute power nap and feel great.  I’m not one of those people.  I feel like I need at least an hour and a half, otherwise I wake up feeling like shit.”  Dan comments.

               “Me too, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open this time.”  Joe replies.

               “I’m sure you’ll be fine.  Just drink more coffee.  It’s probably going to be a later night.”  Dan adds.

               “That’s the plan.”  Joe agrees.

               They continue talking and eating their meals until lunch time is almost over.  Then they dump their trays and wait where Brad told them to.  Gabe isn’t too far behind.  Brad is a little late.  They stand there for a while longer until Brad finally shows up.

               “Sorry.  I was waiting for the other guard to come and replace me.  You guys ready?”  Brad asks.

               They all shake their heads yes and begin following Brad back to sick bay.

               “The warden just left right before lunch, so he may still be eating.  He was starving this morning, and he ate two plates of breakfast.”  Brad shares.

               Brad and Gabe are discussing something quietly amongst themselves, so Joe and Dan hang back a bit.  They continue like this until they reach sick bay.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Patrick was snoozing for a little while.  His visit with Andy was nice, but it took a lot out of him.  His body may have also decided that it needed to sleep for a bit to continue his healing.  After he’d slept for an hour and a half, he woke up to the return of much of his pain.  The fentanyl must’ve worn off.  Patrick presses his button to call one of the nurses.  Sebastien enters two minutes later.

               “What’s up, Patrick?”  He asks.

               “I fell asleep for a while and when I woke up, the pain was back.  Can you ask Spencer if it’s time for me to have more pain medication?”  Patrick asks.

               “Sure, I’ll be right back.”  Sebastien says as he leaves Patrick’s room and enters Spencer’s office.

               He comes back a few minutes later followed by Spencer.  It must be time for more.

               “Good news, Patrick!  It’s time for more medicine.”  Spencer says.

               “Awesome!  The pain is pretty bad again.  My pain number is 9.5, before you ask.”  Patrick comments.

               “I’m pretty sure your friends are coming to visit you soon since Brad isn’t here.  So, I’ll give you as much as I can where you will still be conscious.  That work?”  Spencer asks.

               Spencer stops for a second.

               “Actually, I had a question for you while you are somewhat lucid.  Does incredibly fast healing run in your family?   I’m seeing more healing than I should for one day post-op, and it also happened when you were almost fatally beaten and when you were burned.  You healed faster than what should be possible.  I’m just wondering if it is some odd genetic quirk in your family.”  Spencer asks.

               Patrick doesn’t know what to say.  Fast healing doesn’t run in his family.  It’s only happening because of the intervention of vampires.  He swears Gabe and Brad heal him quicker so that they can continue torturing him.  Patrick can’t tell Spencer about vampires.  He’ll think Patrick is nuts.  The easy answer would be to say yes, but Patrick really doesn’t like lying to Spencer, so Patrick answers honestly.

               “No, it doesn’t as far as I know.  I don’t know why it’s happening or how it’s happening.  Maybe it’s a miracle?”  Patrick asks.

               “I’ve thought about that, but it seems strange that this has happened to you three times within a few days.”  Spencer points out.

               “I don’t know what to tell you, I wish I had some simple explanation, but I don’t.”  Patrick continues.

               “Well, it was worth an ask.  Are you ready for you medicine now?”  Spencer asks as he measures out the correct dose. 

               Patrick nods his head yes, so Spencer injects it into Patrick’s IV.  Patrick feels it take effect pretty quickly.  His arms and legs feel more relaxed and heavier, and his brain is starting to fog over.  Within a few minutes, a large amount of his pain is gone and what’s left is manageable.  He feels so much better now.  He takes a few minutes to bask in this feeling.  He feels incredibly happy!  Then, he starts flipping through the channels until he finds a marathon of South Park on the comedy channel.  This will do just fine.  He is watching it for a few minutes when he sees a bunch of people enter sick bay.  Shortly after that, they all pile into Patrick’s room.  Patrick is happy to see Joe and Dan.  Gabe and Brad are also there.

               “Hey Patrick!  How are you feeling?”  Joe asks.

               “I’m a little better than yesterday, but my pain is still really bad.  My head feels a bit better too.”  Patrick informs them, slurring his words and talking slowly because of the drugs.

               “That’s great to hear!  Your bruises, bite marks, and external injuries seem to be healed.  You look so much better, bud!”  Joe comments.

               It takes Dan a few minutes to catch on to why Patrick looked so much better today and then he remembered Brad and Gabe had a good amount of time with him last night and must’ve worked on healing him.

               “You look great, Patrick!  I’m so glad to see you are doing better.”  Dan remarks.

               “Thanks Dan.”  Patrick says. 

               Then Gabe goes to his seat on the right side of Patrick’s bed and sits down next to him.

               “You are looking much better today, Sugar.”  Gabe observes.

               “I’m guessing that is because of you and Brad, right?”  Patrick asks.

               “Yes.  Brad has been giving you small amounts of blood when he can, and I spent two hours here last night after you went to sleep healing you with my targeted healing.  I gave you blood as well.  Once your friends leave for their work detail, I will stay longer to continue healing you.”  Gabe explains.

               Patrick looks around the room quickly to make sure they are alone.

               “Spencer is starting to get suspicious with how fast I’m healing.  He asked me if fast healing ran in my family right before you guys came in.  The easy answer was to say yes, but I’m having trouble lying to him, so I said no, and I didn’t know why it was happening.  I suggested that maybe it was a miracle, but he’s starting to put the pieces together.  He said he noticed the same thing when I was almost fatally beaten and when I was badly burned.  He also said it was strange for a miracle to happen to the same person three times within a few days.  I just thought you should know.”  Patrick states.

               “Hmmm.  That is concerning.  Perhaps either Brad or I need to speak to him and make him forget his suspicions.”  Gabe proposes.

               “Maybe it would be better to let it go for now and see if he will leave it alone.  If he keeps mentioning it, then you may need to do something about it.”  Joe suggests. 

               “I agree with Joe.”  Dan adds.

               “Me too.”  Patrick seconds.

               “Fair enough.  If he won’t leave it alone, one of us will step in.  Do you think he mentioned this to the warden?”  Gabe asks.

               “I don’t know.  Possibly.  He did go straight to Spencer’s office and was in there for a while before he came to visit Stump.”  Brad recalls.

               “If he did and he keeps mentioning it, you may have to go have a visit with your old pal Andy, Brad.” Gabe points out.

               Joe sees where this is going.

               “For right now, let’s leave them both be.  If it becomes a problem, then you two may intervene.  Until then, we just go about our days with you two doing what you can to make Patrick heal quickly.  There are also other events coming up in the next few days that we really need to focus on.  Once those events are over, then we can address this problem if we need to.  Deal?”  Joe asks.

               “Ok.  Deal.”  Gabe answers.

               “Brad?”  Joe asks.

               “Fine.  Deal.”  Brad agrees.

               Patrick has been watching what is going on and he is curious about these events that Joe is mentioning.

               “What events are you talking about?”  He asks.

               “Why our retaliation attack on the Nuestra Familia gang, of course.”  Gabe answers.

               “Oh.  Ok.  I’m happy it’s happening, but I don’t want to know what you are planning.”  Patrick says.

               “Of course!  You don’t need to worry yourself with anything other than healing and getting better, Sugar.  We will take care of it.  How does that sound?”  Gabe asks.

               “Sounds good.  Can we talk about something else now or watch TV?   I’m having trouble following all of this and my head is starting to hurt.”  Patrick asks.

               “For sure!  What are you watching?”  Dan asks.

               “It’s a South Park marathon!  It’s so hilarious!”  Patrick replies.

               “I love that show!”  Joe remarks.

               Joe takes his seat to the left of Patrick’s bed, Dan sits in the chair next to him, and Gabe stays where he is at.  Patrick grabs Joe’s hand and holds it.  He wants some human contact that won’t make him hurt more.  Joe seems happy sitting there holding his hand.  Gabe seems a bit jealous and grabs Patrick’s other hand.  Patrick isn’t super happy about it, but he allows it.  They all sit there watching South Park and laughing their asses off.  Patrick is laughing at almost anything because he is so hopped up on painkillers, but he seems happy enough for now.  They’ve watched three episodes so far, when Joe checks the clock and realizes that he and Dan must go to work pretty soon.

               “Fuck!  Dan and I need to work soon.  We need to go back to our cells.  I told my new guard, Clark, that I’d be back in my cell for him to escort me there.  He’s nice by the way.  Thanks Gabe.  We need to go, now.”  Joe mentions.

               “Ok.  Let’s go.”  Brad says.

               He gives Gabe a knowing look before he turns around with Trohman and Pawlovich and leaves sick bay.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               As soon as everyone had left the room, Gabe closes and locks the doors into and out of Sugar’s room.  He also pulls all the blinds so no one can see him.  Then he joins Sugar back at his bed.

               “What are you doing, Gabe?”  Sugar asks.

               “I’m making sure no one can enter or exit this room and they can’t see through the windows.  I’m going to work on healing you more and I don’t want anyone to see me do it.  If someone needs to come in, I will compel them to leave until I’m done.  How do you want to do this?  Do you want blood first or do you want me to start with my targeted healing?”  Gabe explains.

               “I had a question about that.  You’ve said that you and Brad has been giving me blood when you can.  Why didn’t I hallucinate afterward?”  Sugar asks.

               “Because we have been giving it to you in several small doses so you wouldn’t hallucinate.  I feel like you’ve been through enough after your most recent ordeal, Sugar.  You don’t need to hallucinate on top of that.”  Gabe answers.

               “Oh.  Ok.  Is that why it is taking longer to work?”  Sugar asks.

               “Yes.  That and the fact that the damage you suffered this time around was so severe.  So, what do you want to start with?”  Gabe asks.

               “Blood first, I guess, since you must do it in small doses.  I’m not looking forward to the taste though.”  Sugar replies.

               “I will see if I can procure a sugary drink for you, for afterwards.”  Gabe says.

               Gabe bites his wrist, and the blood begins flowing out of the wounds.

               “Open your mouth please.”  Gabe instructs.

               Sugar opens his mouth and Gabe lets the blood drip into his mouth.  Sugar tries to swallow it quickly, so he doesn’t have that iron taste in his mouth.  Gabe sits in the chair, next to his bed and continues holding his wrist over Sugar’s mouth until he has had the maximum amount he can have without hallucinating.

               “We will switch off.  Now I will work on healing you.  You don’t need to do anything, Sugar.  Just lay there and relax.  You can also watch TV if you’d like.”  Gabe offers.

               “I’m actually starting to feel pretty tired.  All this visiting takes a lot out of me.  I’ll leave the TV on, but don’t be surprised if I fall asleep.”  Sugar states.

               “Ok.  Which area is still the most painful for you?  I will start there.”  Gabe informs him.

               Sugar yawns.  “My ass and my lower abdomen.”  He answers before yawning again. 

               Gabe moves down to where Sugar’s lower abdomen is, puts his hands on the right and left side of it, closes his eyes and begins.  The area between his hands feels warm and Sugar notices a soft glow over the area.  It feels kind of weird, but he’s too tired to care, so he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep.  Gabe can see the injured areas in his head and begins working on them one-at-a-time.  He can see things mending themselves back together and healing the injury.  There are so many injuries, so this is going to take a while.  When he’s healed some of the injuries in that area, he moves onto Sugar’s butt area.  He puts both of his hands on the top of each cheek, closes his eyes, and starts healing.  There are so many injuries in this area, so he must decide what to heal now and what to heal later.  He will come back to this area again.  Once he has decided, he visualizes each injury in his head.  He begins with the areas that were operated on and repaired.  He works on each one focusing mainly on the areas where he was stitched back together on the inside.  He mends them back together the way that they should be.  This takes him an hour to complete.

               Gabe decides that it is time for more blood, so he returns to the top of Sugar’s bed, opens his mouth, bites his wrist, and lets the blood flow into his mouth.  He continues this pattern of healing, then blood throughout Sugar’s whole body.  He is starting to get tired and hungry himself.  The targeted healing takes a lot out of him.  Gabe looks at the clock and realizes that he has been working on Sugar for two and a half hours.  He still has a little left in him to continue the pattern for another half-hour.  Then he stops and sits in the chair next to Sugar’s bed for a while.  Now he is starving.  He wants to continue, but he needs to feed first.  He sticks his nose up in the air and takes a sniff to see what his choices are.  He finds someone whose blood smells like sweet cinnamon, and they are relatively close to sick bay.  He will do.  Gabe unlocks the door to Sugar’s room and leaves quietly so no one hears him.  When he is out in the hallway, he follows the scent of cinnamon until he finds the source.  It is a guard that is keeping watch at the entrance to cell block D.  Gabe looks at the guard’s nametag and makes his approach.

               “Excuse me, Guard Scott.  Could you help me?  I found someone unconscious on the floor two hallways over.  He appears to have broken his leg as well and can’t walk.  I’d pick him up, but I don’t want to make his injuries worse.”  Gabe asks.

               “Sure!  I should be able to leave for a few minutes.  Lead the way.”  Guard Scott orders.

               “No problem!  This way!”  Gabe says as he leads the guard two hallways over and finds a secluded spot for his meal.

               As they turn the corner Gabe pretends to trip and fall.  The guard tries to help him up when Gabe strikes.  He bites the guard’s neck and lets his blood start flowing into his mouth.  The guard is obviously in pain and is screaming.

               “You need to be quiet.  If you can’t, I will make you quiet.  Do you understand?” Gabe asks.

               The guard shakes his head yes, so Gabe returns to feeding on him.  This guard is making a concerted effort to be quiet like he asked, so Gabe decides to release some venom from his fangs to make the feeding less painful.  The guard immediately relaxes, which allows Gabe to continue feeding without the guard fighting him.  Gabe continues to suck more and more blood from the guard and feels himself getting stronger with each draw.  He continues for a while longer until he senses that he needs to stop because the guard is getting very weak.  He pulls off the guard, licks the bite marks to close them, and leaves him there lying on the ground.  The guard is barely conscious.

               “Thank you for being quiet.  I tried to make it more pleasant for you by releasing some venom.”  Gabe addresses.

               The guard looks up at him.

               “What are you?”  He manages to get out.

               “I’ll be nice and answer your question since you were quiet for me.  I’m a vampire.  You were just my meal.  Look into my eyes, please.”  Gabe answers.

               The guard looks at him in horror and Gabe watches as his eyes gloss over.

               “You will forget that this happened, that I am a vampire, and that I just fed on you.  You were called over here to help another guard when you felt light-headed and fainted.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

               The guard repeats everything that Gabe just said.

               “Yes.  I understand.” He replies.

               “Good. You may pass out now.”  Gabe commands.

               The guard takes that as his cue, and he passes out on the floor.  He will be fine.  It is a little-known fact that vampires can release venom from their fangs that makes the feeding process much easier and not nearly as painful.  If they choose not to use the venom, the feeding process can be one of the most painful things a human can experience.  Gabe looks down at him once more before turning around, leaving, and heading back to sick bay.  He hopes that Sugar is still alone when he gets back.  He has more healing to do.

               When he enters sick bay and goes into Sugar’s room, the nurses are drawing blood for tests and checking his vitals.  Gabe waits until they are done, and they take the blood to the lab for testing.  Gabe closes and locks the door behind them and continues working on healing Sugar.  He gives him some blood first and then sets about healing more of his body again.  He is able to work on Patrick for another two hours before he sees Brad at the door.  He goes to the door and unlocks it.  When Brad walks in, he locks it behind him.

               “Did I give you enough time?”  Brad asks.

               “Yes.  I think I was here for a total of five hours.  I had to leave and go feed for a while in the middle there.  That should go a long way.  If I could get another two hours later tonight when everyone is gone or sleeping, and a shorter amount of time tomorrow, he should be fully healed in two days.”  Gabe explains.

               “I should be able to sneak you in here later tonight for a while.  We need to go though.  We need to discuss the details of your plan for the attack and inform the others on how they will be involved and what they will be doing.”  Brad points out.

               “Yes.  Alright.  Hopefully he will be in a little less pain when he wakes up.”  Gabe says before he unlocks the door and leaves with Brad.

Chapter Text

Chapter 52

*******Trigger Warning for Graphic Violence*******

                Joe and Dan are busy planting different annual flowers outside for most of their time at work.  Joe enjoys the simple act of gardening.  He plants seeds, bulbs, or flowers and they become something so beautiful.  It is also a great way to focus your nervous energy into something productive.  Right now, Joe is trying to bleed out his frustration with Patrick’s situation and his excitement of getting to beat those fuckers that did it to a fucking pulp.  He’s happy that Patrick is doing better, but those fuckers deserve everything they are going to get and so much more.  He smiles at that thought and continues planting.  When they are out of flowers to plant, they have to go get more from the warehouse that all of their plants, flowers, tools and any other outdoor maintenance vehicles live.  It’s Joe’s turn to go get more, so he is on his way to the warehouse, but decides that he needs to stop inside and pee first.  When he goes inside, he happens to run into Alex and his men who appear to be heading back to their side of the prison.  They were probably on the other side of the prison doing a job for Sawyer.  When Alex sees Joe, he gestures for his men to go ahead without him.

                “Hey Alex!”  Joe exclaims.

                “Hey Joe!  What are you up to?”  Alex asks.

                “Well, I’m technically still at work and I’m supposed to be going back to the warehouse to get more flowers to plant, but I had to pee, so I ducked inside for a minute.”  Joe explains.

                “Ah!  Yes.  Peeing is important.  Have you been to see Patrick since yesterday?  How’s he doing?”  Alex asks.

                “Yeah.  A few of us were allowed to visit him late that night after he came out of surgery and was awake.   He’s still in so much pain.  Spencer has him so hopped up on fentanyl that he’s pretty spacy.  It’s weird.  He has moments where you can have an actual conversation with him, and then other times he’s just goofy happy and laughing his ass off at reruns of South Park.  I mean, I can’t even imagine the amount of pain he must’ve suffered during the experience, and now that the damage has been fixed, I’m sure there is even more pain from everything trying to heal.  He’s in good spirits though.  Spencer said he had a bad flashback when they went to check his incisions.  I feel so bad for him.  He’s such a nice guy and didn’t deserve any of what Jesus, Earnesto, Mateo and the rest of Earnesto’s men did to him.”  Joe tells him.

                “Woah, wait.  Who is Mateo?  I only knew about Earnesto and his men and the gang leader, Jesus.”  Alex asks.

                “Oh right.  I just recently found out about Mateo.  Mateo is Earnesto’s right-hand man.  He’s a sleezy slime ball of a man whose loyalties change constantly to benefit himself.  He’s also got a very violent side to him from what I understand.  Mateo was the one that suggested that everyone should gangbang Patrick, instead of Earnesto just raping him like he tried to do the first time.”  Joe informs him.

                Alex has a very disgusted look on his face.

                “Seriously?  Who does that?  I officially hate Mateo now too.  I hope he gets what he deserves.”  Alex comments.

                “Well, I will make sure to give him a painfully heavy beating as my contribution to this retribution attack.  Whatever Gabe and Brad do to him after that, which I’m sure will be more horrible than either of us can imagine, is up to them.  I really hope they rape him a million times over several hours so that he can feel what Patrick did.”  Joe assures him.

                “I’m happy to hear that!  Gabe asked me if I wanted any part of it and I told him no.  I’ve worked way too hard to get where I am with Sawyer, and I can’t jeopardize that relationship no matter how bad I’d like to punish those fuckers.”  Alex adds.

                “That’s understandable.  He hasn’t told me much other than how my part will work.  The attack will be in two days though, just so you know.  Have you heard anything else about his plans?”  Joe asks.

                This is hard.  Alex wants to tell him about how Gabe is going to sic the vampires on Earnesto’s men, but how does he do it without revealing he’s a vampire?  That’s if Joe even believes in vampires.

                “Before I can answer that, I need you to answer a question.  Do you believe in unexplainable creatures of the night?  Stuff like werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural creatures?”  Alex asks.

                “Of course, I do!  Fuck!  Gabe and Brad are both vampires.  I only know because I watched Brad feed on Patrick and whenever Patrick comes back from his meetings with Gabe he has fresh bite marks on his neck, among other things.  Hell!  They’ve almost killed him a few times.  More Brad than Gabe, but Brad can’t seem to stop himself when he feeds on Patrick.  Gabe knows when to stop, but when they take him at night to do more painful tattoos and whatever other horrible things he has planned, they paralyze him with a paralytic drug so he can’t move, but he can still feel everything.  As a different type of torture, Gabe asks him yes or no questions since all Patrick can do is blink, and if he doesn’t like the answer, he would take a scalpel and dig it into the bottom of Patrick’s foot multiple times during the night.  One time they weren’t paying attention to how much blood he’d lost from the cuts on his feet, and they couldn’t wake him up.  Spencer said he was a pint of blood away from flatlining, and Gabe gave Patrick a large amount of his blood to wake him.  Patrick had a terrifying hallucination from Gabe’s blood too.  They would also tase him if he passed out from the pain of the tattoos that they were doing that night.  Alex, Gabe has been doing multiple large tattoo pieces in one night.  Pieces that would normally be done in multiple sessions just for one and they have been making him sit through several of these large pieces in one night.  I have a pretty high tolerance to pain, and I don’t think I could’ve even handled that once, let alone multiple nights in a row.  Gabe has also pierced him in several different places.  Patrick has a huge crater through his tongue with a humungous tongue stud in it.  The balls on both sides of the stud are huge and now he talks with a lisp all the time.  Gabe’s also pierced his right nostril, his left eyebrow, and his lower lip with a labret piercing.  Then he commands that Patrick cannot remove them unless Gabe orders him to do so.  I haven’t told Dan everything, but he also knows that vampires are real.”  Joe answers.

                Alex is a bit speechless after hearing all of that.  Brad and Gabe have been feeding on Patrick daily and have almost killed him a few times?  What the fuck?  Then there are the times when Gabe takes Patrick at night, paralyzes him with a drug, tattoos and pierces his body without his consent, and if he doesn’t like the answer to one of his questions, he stabs him in the foot to the point where Patrick almost bled to death, or they tased him whenever he would pass out from the pain of the huge tattoos they were doing?  Gabe also gave him piercings he didn’t want and commanded that Patrick can’t remove them?  Jesus!  He had no idea that Gabe was abusing Patrick this much!  He’s sure that Gabe has done even worse things to Patrick.  He is not very happy to hear that this is going on, but to be honest, there isn’t much Alex can do.  Gabe is much older and more powerful than he is.  If he confronted Gabe about it, he could put up a very good fight over a long period of time, but unless Gabe was weakened somehow, there’s no way that Alex would win.  Even if he did try to help Patrick, it would end up making things so much worse for him, so the best thing Alex can do in this situation is to stay out of it.  That’s also not what Alex is here to do.  He is here to get close to Sawyer, become his right-hand-man in his gang, gather intel on the gang’s activities both inside of and outside of prison, and report back his findings to the FBI.  He realizes he hasn’t said anything for a while when Joe starts waving his hand in front of his face.

                “You still with us, Alex?”  Joe asks.

                “Sorry.  Yes.  Since you know vampires exist both here and, on the outside, you must know that there are more in this prison than just Gabe and Brad, right?”  Alex asks.

                “I figured as much, yes.”  Joe responds.

                “I am about to tell you something that you can NEVER repeat to anyone, is that clear?”  Alex states.

                “Ok…”  Joe comments.

                “I am one of those vampires.  No one can know about that.  If Sawyer found out, it would upset the balance of power between us, and I can’t let that happen.  Do you understand?”  Alex reveals.

                “Yes, of course!  I won’t tell anyone.”  Joe answers.

                “So, when Gabe came to me to recruit me, he was asking me as a vampire, not a human.  He has been recruiting all the vampires in the prison to play a part in his plan for vengeance.  He told me that he would release all the vampires in the prison on Earnesto’s men and they would be given free rein to hurt, feed on, torture, rape, and whatever else they are capable of doing to prolong their pain and suffering to the point that they begged for death.  Even then, they would be allowed to continue torturing them until they felt that they had suffered enough or for as long as Patrick did and then they could kill them any way they wanted to.  Honestly, given what they all put Patrick through just for bumping into Earnesto, I feel like this is a fair punishment for them.  They were following orders, but they still willingly participated in their attack on Patrick.”  Alex explains.

                It takes a minute for Joe to process everything that Alex just said.  Joe’s eyes are wide, and his mouth is hanging open.  He wasn’t expecting that at all.  He takes a deep breath and blows it out before saying anything.

                “Ok.  Let me make sure I understand what you are saying.  Gabe is recruiting all the vampires in the prison and his plan is to release them on Earnesto’s men, encouraging them to torture, rape, beat, hurt, feed on them, and whatever else they want to do until they beg for death, and then keep torturing them past that point and eventually kill them.  Did I get everything?”  Joe asks.

                “Yes.”  Alex replies.

                “Wow.  Ok.  Well, I guess I could see an idea like that come out of Gabe’s sadistic head.  Usually, I’m not one to promote, encourage, or participate in violence, but I think I’m going to make an exception in this case.  What they did to Patrick was so heinous, I feel like they deserve whatever Gabe plans for them.  To be completely honest, I kind of agree with you, Alex.  I feel like this is a fair punishment for them.  That being said, I will participate in the way that I feel comfortable, and whatever else happens is more than I need to know.  I mean, I will know but I won’t stop them from doing it.”  Joe rationalizes.

               “That’s a good way to look at it, Joe.  Patrick is your friend and cell mate.  He deserves retribution, and since Patrick can’t do it, Gabe will do it for him.  This may be the only time something good comes from Gabe’s claiming, marking, and abuse of Patrick.  When they went after him, they crossed a line and now Gabe will make sure that they pay dearly for their treatment of poor Patrick.  On a side note, I wish I could do something to stop Gabe’s abuse of Patrick, but he is so much older than me and so much more powerful.  I will stop him when I can, but I can’t fight him.  He’s just too strong.  I could hold my own for a long time in a fight with him, but unless he was weakened somehow, I wouldn’t win, and if I intervene, it will make things worse for Patrick.  Like I said, I will help when I can, but you must understand my position.”  Alex states.

               “I totally understand, Alex.  He will appreciate any help you can give him, but I don’t expect you to take on Gabe.”  Joe says as he looks down at his watch and sees how long he has been gone for.

               “Fuck!  I’ve got to go!  It was good catching up and thanks for sharing the part about Gabe’s plan!”  Joe yells as he is running away toward the warehouse.

               “You’re welcome!”  Alex calls and then continues to his side of the prison to check in with Sawyer.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               When Joe gets to the warehouse, he runs into Dan.

               “Where have you been?  You were gone for a long time, and they were yelling at me for not planting the flowers, so I came to get the new ones myself.”  Dan asks.

               “Sorry.  I had to pee, so I went inside to take care of that, and I ran into Alex.  He told me some very interesting information about another part of Gabe’s plan.”  Joe informs him.

               “Interesting good? Or Interesting bad?”  Dan asks.

               “I can’t tell you here.  There are too many people listening.  I’ll grab the flowers and we can go back to our planting assignment.  Once we are far enough away, I’ll tell you.”  Joe says as he grabs the next load of flowers to plant.

               Dan opens the door for Joe, and they head back to their planting spot.  Joe sets down the flowers on the ground and sits next to the flower bed.  He looks around to make sure no one is around to hear them.  When he is sure they are alone, he tells him.  He talks softly.

               “So, I ran into Alex and his men heading back to see Sawyer.  He told me that he had seen Gabe recruiting all the vampires in the prison to participate in a part of his plan.  Apparently, he plans to release all the vampires in the prison on Earnesto’s men.  He said that they would be encouraged to hurt, feed on, rape, maim, torture and anything else they were capable of to the men, until they begged for death, and after that to still continue torturing them until they felt they had suffered enough and then they were to kill them.  He said that they were to make this painful and prolong their suffering as long as possible before killing them.”  Joe explains.

               “Holy Shit!  That’s torture on another level!  Those fuckers deserve everything that is coming and so much more!”  Dan comments.

               “Yes, I agree.  It does seem a bit excessive, but what they did to Patrick was incredibly excessive, so I feel like this is a fair punishment.”  Joe states.

               “I have to say, I think I agree with you.  Only that idea could come from someone as sadistic as Gabe.  This is some biblical revenge and I love it!”  Dan exclaims.

               “I agree.  Perhaps this is the one good thing to come out of Gabe’s obsession and abuse of Patrick.  He sees Patrick as his property, which is why he claimed and marked him.  They damaged his property and now hell is going to reign down upon them the likes of which they have never seen, or they could ever imagine.”  Joe says.

               “If there is one thing, we both know that Gabe is good at, it’s pain and suffering.  Patrick can’t get retribution for himself so in some way, Gabe doing it for him isn’t just political.  It’s also personal.  I hope they all end up in some fucked up version of hell where they are tortured and raped for all of eternity!”  Dan remarks.

               “That would be pretty awesome!  Haha!  I’d pay money to see that!”  Joe jokes.

               “Yeah!  Me too!  Haha!”  Dan laughs.

               They continue planting flowers in their assigned place until right before the end of their shift.  They gather up the flowers that they didn’t plant and bring them back to the warehouse just in time for roll call.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

               Gabe is almost finished setting everything up for the gang meeting.  He already discussed this with Brad earlier today, so he’s not expecting Brad to show up.  That is fine.  He’d rather Brad be in sick bay with Sugar to protect him if someone were to try to finish the job.  Each member who wants to be involved will be assigned a group number, which corresponds to what their assignment will be.  Since these men are all human, they will oversee rounding up the gang members and splitting them into two groups of fifty and punishing those of the Nuestra Familia that were not involved, but still supported the attack.  They will be allowed to punish those members however they see fit, but they must leave them alive.  These members will be the witnesses to what is about to happen.  They will live on and remember what went down that day, so they will hopefully learn their lesson and not repeat the boneheaded ideas and actions of a few, stupid members.  Gabe has a card for everyone who is participating explaining what they will be doing that day and the rules that they must follow.  He’s having a meeting with the vampires tomorrow morning.  Once he is satisfied that he has done all he can do to get ready for this meeting, he just sits back and waits for all the gang members to show up.

               “I hereby call this meeting of the Latin Kings to order.  I have called you all here to inform you of the overall plan for the retribution attack, as well as what your part will be in this plan and your duties.  The attack will happen the day after tomorrow at 10 a.m. sharp.  This is a multi-faceted plan so I will start with the first part.  I have divided all of those who plan to be involved into four groups.  Each group will have a specific task.  There are four groups.  Two consisting of all of you, one consisting of my secret weapons, and one will consist of Myself and Brad.  When the attack begins, we will need to separate all the members into four different groups.  Each group will have a different location.  The fourth and most important group will be Earnesto, Mateo-his right-hand man, and Jesus the leader.  Once they are located, they will be brought to us in this location.  They may be conscious or not, but they must be alive and unharmed.  The rest of the members will be divided into Earnesto’s thirty-one men and the remaining members of the gang.  When you locate one of Earnesto’s men, you will bring them to a third location here.  The rest of the members will be collected, split into two groups of fifty and brought to the first and second locations here and here.  We will leave them there in their locations for an hour to let them sweat a bit and wonder what is coming.  This will give us time to prepare for what is to come.  All of you will be part of groups one and two.  You will round up the members that were not involved, split them into two groups of fifty and bring them to their two locations.  After we let them stew for a bit, then you will all be released into their area.  Your job will be to punish them however you see fit, but they must be left ALIVE.  Make sure that they suffer agonizing pain for hours, and if you’d like to rape them as well, please feel free to do so.  These two groups will be the witnesses.

               The third group will be group three.  They will be dealing with Earnesto’s men.  My secret weapons will be released upon them and told to torture these men until they beg for death, and then continue torturing them until they feel they have suffered enough and then they will be killed.  I can’t tell you any more than that, but I guarantee that these men will be dealt with and subjected to more horrifying things than you could ever imagine.

               The fourth group will be group four.  Earnesto, Mateo, and Jesus will be brought to Brad and me in this location here.  We will torture these men in many different ways until they break.  Then we will continue torturing them until we eventually kill them.

               That is the extent of my plan.  I will accept questions once we are finished.  The Nuestra Familia crossed a huge line and were excessively brutal to my property, which I will not stand for.  We will put them in their place and fuck them up to the point that they are crying and begging for death!  We will cause them all extreme pain and suffering!  They will learn what happens if you mess with the Latin Kings or any of our property!  Sugar’s attack will be avenged!  Who’s with me?”  Gabe yells.

               All the members are riled up and cheering Gabe’s plan.  Gabe is very pleased with this reaction.  He lets them continue for a few minutes before taking control again and quieting everyone down.

               “Please see me before you leave to get your card with your group number, your location, and what you will be doing!  To be clear, you MUST follow the rules laid out on your cards.  I will also be including pictures of the people in each group, so you know who to look for.  Are there any questions?  I am opening to floor to questions.”  Gabe asks.

               All the members are too excited about their role to ask questions.  They are revved up and ready to go.

               “I see no questions.  If you have any, please bring them to me or Brad.  Happy beatings to all!  I hereby call this meeting of the Latin Kings to a close.”

               A line forms in front of Gabe to get their assignments.  Gabe gives each of them their cards and photos of the whole gang separated into their individual groups and a map of where all four locations are.  He stays until he hands out his last card to the last member of the gang.  This meeting went very well, and Gabe was very happy with the outcome.  Seeing all his members bloodthirsty and excited for the attack, lights the fire in Gabe’s chest too.  He will be so happy to slap the condescending smiles off Earnesto, Mateo and Jesus’ face.  The sadistic side of him burns with sordid, vicious, evil, and cruel ideas for how to bring these men to their knees groveling and begging for mercy when none will be given.  Tomorrow afternoon, Gabe will meet with the vampires and discuss their role in the plan.  Then they should be all set.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Joe was returned to his cell after he was done with work.  He is currently laying down in his bed asleep trying to catch up on sleep before Yard Time.  Joe is having the most wonderful dream! 

He dreams that he is free and on the outside again.  Patrick and Dan are out as well.  Joe has returned to his former profession of boxing and MMA fighting and tonight is his first night back in the ring.  Marie, Ruby, Patrick, and Dan are sitting in the first row cheering him on.  It feels so good to be back doing what he loved to do!  The fight starts and he manages to knock the guy to the ground, but he gets up.  They are now a few rounds in, and Joe is still winning.  His opponent has been putting up a pretty good fight, which Joe actually likes because he can challenge himself.  They are now halfway through the match.  His opponent does get a few good shots in, but it’s nothing that he can’t handle so he fights back and wins that round.  Joe looks over at his opponent when they are sitting their corner.  He looks a bit rough around the edges and seems to be losing steam, but Joe tries not to think about that.  They both return and fight for three more rounds before his opponent is knocked to the ground and it appears that he is having trouble getting up, but he does manage to get up and keep fighting.  He comes at Joe with renewed energy and gets in another few good punches, but he seems to be running out of gas.  They are now in the tenth round and Joe is still winning.  He punches the opponent a few more times before they are to return to their corners between rounds.  The opponent seems to launch himself at Joe during the next round.  He gets in another few good hits on Joe, but the guy has clearly exhausted all his tricks and doesn’t have much left in him.  It’s the twelfth round and Joe decides he’s going to put this guy out of his misery.  It only takes a couple of punches before the guy falls to the floor and doesn’t get back up.  The referee goes over to the man to check on him and see if he’s going to get back up.  The opponent stays down while the referee counts to eight and Joe is declared the winner!

               The opponent continues lying there really out of it.  It reminds Joe of what happened with Garibaldi.  He freezes in place and can’t move.  All he can see in front of him is Garabaldi’s motionless figure as his medical team approached him, only to find out that he was dead.  They performed CPR and managed to get him back for a brief time until he died at the hospital of his injuries.  Joe knew what happened after that.  The police showed up at his door and arrested him.  It was happening all over again!  He’d just gotten out of prison and had gotten his career back and now, he killed someone else and would probably end up back in prison for the rest of his life!  What had he done?  He immediately feels sick and vomits in the ring.  People are cheering for him and chanting his name.  Why were they chanting and cheering for a killer?  Then the referee hands him the belt that they were fighting for and announces him the winner. 

               When Patrick and Dan see the look on Joe’s face, they immediately recognize it as pure terror.  They know that something is happening inside his head that no one else sees.  If Patrick had to guess, he’s probably seeing the man he accidentally killed when he had to win the match to get Ruby back.  Patrick knows what this feels like and recognizes it as a PTSD flashback.  Joe was reliving what had happened before and now he was equating what happened to Garibaldi to what just happened and is spinning an anxiety riddled future of what was going to happen.  What Joe hadn’t seen though was that the opponent this time was very much alive, he was just very stunned and did actually stand up and leave the ring.  Patrick knew he had to do something, so he rushed up there into the ring, grabbed Joe and brought him in for a tight hug.  Patrick speaks loudly into his ear since there was so much other noise going on.

               “Joe!  You must wake up!  You’re having a PTSD flashback like I had after my attack.  It isn’t real!  Your opponent was just stunned and was eventually able to stand and walk out of the ring!  It’s not happening again!  You need to wake up!”  Patrick yelled.

               Joe is watching the same events happen again.  He is arrested and sentenced to life in prison without parole.  Suddenly, he hears what sounds like Patrick’s voice telling him that he needs to wake up.  Patrick says he’s having a PTSD flashback and what he was seeing wasn’t real.  Patrick informs him that his opponent wasn’t dead, that he was just stunned and was able to stand and walk out of the ring.  He hears Patrick yell that it wasn’t happening again and that he needed to wake up.  Joe considers what Patrick is saying.  Did he actually see the guy go down and not move?  He thinks he remembers him lying there with his eyes open.  Holy Shit!  Patrick was right!  What he was seeing wasn’t real!  It takes him a minute to convince his brain of that, but then he finds himself with the belt around him and being handed a trophy by the referee.  There were a million flashes from people taking pictures of the winner.  He looks over at Patrick who has released him from the hug and returned to his seat and mouthed “Thank You” to him.  He looks back to all the cameras and smiles while holding his trophy and lifts one of his arms above his head in victory!

               Joe wakes up feeling better than he had before he went to sleep.  He’d had a pretty good dream, except the part about the PTSD flashback.  He was so happy that Patrick recognized what was happening and came to his rescue.  Even in his dreams, Patrick is such a good person and was there for him when he needed him most.  He reflects on this for a minute.  He really misses having Patrick around in their cell.  He misses his buddy.  He has always been there for Patrick when he needed him the most, and Patrick had tried to be there for him as well.  Like after they’d both been attacked by the Nuestra Familia members the first time.  Patrick wouldn’t leave without Joe.  They had become very good friends very quickly.  Joe had become very protective of Patrick especially after Gabe began abusing him.  There aren’t many prisoners here that could say that they had a friend that they truly trusted and who would go out of their way for each other.  That was very special.  It wasn’t anything romantic or anything though.  Joe was very much straight.  He just realized how lucky he was to have a friend and cell mate like Patrick.   

              His thoughts are interrupted by Clark banging on the bars because it was Yard Time.  He climbs down and makes his way to the front of the cell.

              “Hello, Joe.  You look well-rested.  It’s time for Yard Time.”  Clark states.

              “Hello, Clark. Thanks.  I just woke up from another nap.”  Joe responds.

              Clark pushes the button to open the door, Joe steps out, and Clark presses the button to close the door and they begin walking to the Yard area.

              “Are you ready?”  Clark asks.

              “Yes.  Let’s go.”  Joe answers.

              “You look happy.  Did you have a good dream?”  Clark asks.

              “Yes and no.  Most of it was good, but when it went bad, my friend was there for me to help me through it.  That is true in real life too.  I’ve been there for him when he needs me, and he’s been there for me when I need him.  I was just thinking that there are very few prisoners here that can say that they have a friend that they truly trust and know that they would go out of their way for them.  My cell mate, Patrick, the one that was attacked and had to have all the surgery and is still in sick bay, is that friend for me.  I would go out of my way for him, and I know he’d do the same for me.  That is pretty special in a place where everyone hates everyone, and you are in danger daily.  He’s just a friend though.  My wife and daughter are waiting for me when I finally get out of here.”  Joe explains.

              “That is very special to have in a place like this.  I’m glad you found your friend.”  Clark comments.

              “Yeah.  He’s been through so much bad shit in the few days he’s been here.  I feel really bad for him, and I miss having him in my cell to talk to.  Right now, even when we visit him, he’s still in so much pain that he is extremely doped up on painkillers so sometimes he is there, and sometimes he’s not.  I’ll be happy when he is recovered and can return to our cell.”  Joe adds.

              “That’s rough.  Hopefully he will recover quickly and you two will be back to hanging out together faster than you think.”  Clark empathizes.

              “I sure hope so.  Thanks for talking to me.  I was starting to drive myself a bit crazy because I had no one else to talk to except my friend Dan.  I appreciate it.”  Joe points out.

              “You are most welcome.  It looks like we are here.  I’ll be back to get you when Yard Time is over.”  Clark says.

              “Ok.  Sounds good.”  Joe replies as he is handed a coat and walks outside.

Chapter Text

Chapter 53

******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape******

               Dan is already out in the yard talking to some friends when Joe gets there.  He sees Joe and excuses himself from his friends to go meet up with him.

               “Hey Joe!  Over here!”  He yells and waves his hands in the air.

               “Hey Dan!  What’s up?”  Joe asks.

               “Follow me for a minute.”  Dan says as he walks back over to his friends.

               “Guys, this is my friend Joe.  We work together.”  Dan tells everyone.

               Dan’s friends look Joe over from head to toe before they smile at him and accept him into their group.

               “Hello Joe.  I’m Phil.  That is Mel, Randy, Bob, and Jason.”  Phil says as he points to each person when naming them.

               “Hey.  How do you all know Dan?”  Joe asks.

               “We are all on the same cell block, so we see and talk to each other a lot.”  Mel answers.

               “Ah.  Ok.  That makes sense.”  Joe replies.

               “Wait a minute.  Aren’t you that former Championship boxer and MMA fighter?  You look so familiar.”  Bob asks.

               Joe is a little taken aback.  He’s never actually run into anyone who knows about his life on the outside.

               “Yeah.  That’s me.  I don’t talk about it too much because I like it when people underestimate me.  Please don’t tell anyone.  I’d really like to keep that a secret.”  Joe responds.

               “I remember hearing about you on the news and I followed your story because I really felt for you.  You were dealt a terrible hand, man.  I’m sorry and I won’t tell anyone you don’t want to know.  I promise.”  Bob said.

               “Why have I never heard about this?”  Dan asks.

               “Well, because you never asked.  The short version of the story is that my daughter was kidnapped by a bad man who tried to extort money from me for her safe return.  When I told him I didn’t have the amount of money he wanted, he told me that my upcoming competitor had a necklace that was worth the amount of money he wanted.  He told me I had to steal it from my competitor, Fabio Garabaldi, and that I had to win that match if I ever wanted to see my daughter again, so I did it.  I stole his necklace and fought him hard in the ring.  I kept trying to knock him out, but he kept getting back up no matter what I did.  As the end was approaching, I knew I had to win to get my daughter back so, I gave him everything I had and knocked him down and he finally stayed down.  I rushed out of there as fast as I could to make the rendezvous with the man who had my daughter to give him the necklace.  I gave him the necklace and he gave me my daughter back.  I found out later that Garabaldi had died in the ring after I knocked him out.  They revived him for a short time, but it turned out he had so much brain damage that he could barely function and ended up dying from his injuries.  I had no idea and I felt terrible about it.  It explained why he kept getting back up though, because his brain was so scrambled that he couldn’t think straight.

               I took my daughter home, hired security for my family, and passed out on the couch watching the news.  The next morning there was a huge public outcry about the fight.  They said I intentionally killed him which wasn’t true at all.  It was totally an accident!  The public sided with Garabaldi’s family and were demanding that I be arrested and charged with murder.  The cops showed up at my door three weeks later and arrested me.  I told them everything that had happened, and they seemed to believe me, but Garibaldi’s family was out for blood, and I ended up on trial for involuntary manslaughter.  When they put me on the stand, I told them everything.  Garibaldi’s family wasn’t the least bit moved by my story.  In fact, their lawyer tried to discredit my story and made me out to be this unemotional monster.  While it seemed like a simple case of justifiable theft and accidental death, that was not what happened.  The jury found me guilty of involuntary manslaughter and I was sentenced to fifteen years in prison without the possibility of parole.  Garibaldi’s family had very deep pockets and were not above buying the judge and jury to make sure I went down for this.  I had no proof, so my lawyer couldn’t ask for a mistrial.  Besides, if I had been granted a mistrial, their lawyer would’ve done the same thing again.  They would try to discredit my story and make me out to be this unemotional monster again.”  Joe explains.

               Everyone, except Bob, looked completely shocked and stunned.

               “Holy Shit, Joe!  That’s awful!  You really did get a raw deal!  I had no idea!”  Dan says.

               “Jesus!  Those corrupt fuckers didn’t believe you and paid off the judge and jury to rule against you?  I’m so sorry, Joe.” Phil comments.

               “Oh yeah!  I remember hearing something about this.  Don’t worry, Joe.  There is a special place in hell for people like that.  I wish there was more I could say.”  Mel adds.

               “Wow!  That’s the American Justice System for you!  What happened to you was wrong on so many levels!”  Randy remarks.

               “Agreed.  If it makes you feel any better, all of us would’ve believed you.”  Jason replies.

               Joe is very surprised at this outpouring of support.  He definitely appreciated it.

               “My cell mate said the same thing.  Pretty much anyone I tell this story to agrees with you all.  Thank you all for your support.”  Joe responds.

               They all gather around him and envelope him in a large group hug.  That’s all it takes for Joe’s eyes to well up and for tears to fall down his cheeks.  It’s kind of overwhelming and Joe wipes the tears away.

               “Just to be clear, I appreciate all your support, but if you tell anyone else about this story that I don’t approve of first, you will wish you hadn’t.  Everyone understand?”  Joe asks.

               “Absolutely!”  They all say in unison.

               “Ok, good.”  Joe states

               “I did have another question for you if you don’t mind answering it.  I heard a rumor that one of the Doctors from sickbay was recently accused and tried for helping two prisoners escape and that he is now on the inside.  I also heard he was your new cell mate.  Is that true?”  Jason asks.

               Joe takes a deep breath before answering.

               “Yes.  It’s true.  It was Dr. Stump, but most of us call him Patrick here.  He said he was being framed and didn’t do it and I believe him.  All you need to do is spend a few minutes with the guy to know that something is up.  He’s the nicest guy and I feel terrible for all the horrid things that have happened to him since he got here.  Right Dan?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes!  He is the sweetest person you will ever meet, and some truly awful and heinous things have happened to him.  It’s terrible.”  Dan answers.

               “What do you mean?  What kind of stuff has he been through?”  Mel asks.

               “How much time do you have?  First off, he’s been marked and claimed by Gabe Saporta.  Gabe has been abusing Patrick since the day he started here.  Patrick has been beaten, raped, burned, tattooed, and pierced against his will, drugged, and that’s just the start.  He had a run-in with a member of the Nuestra Familia a few days ago.  They attacked both of us right afterward because the member had felt disrespected.  They knocked me out cold and tried to rape Patrick, but Gabe sent his cronies to stop that from happening, just so that he could have him for himself.  I know.  That’s fucked up, right?  Well, two days ago Patrick and his guard were attacked and ambushed by thirty-two men of the Nuestra Familia.  The guy that felt disrespected decided to teach him a lesson.  He was brutally beaten and gangbanged thirty-two times over the course of several hours.  They also hand cuffed his arms behind his back.  Just wait, it gets better.  Afterward, the leader guy of the attack and his men decided to bring an unconscious Patrick back to their leader, Jesus.  They had also handcuffed his ankles together so he couldn’t move.  Well, Jesus drugged and raped him again for a total of thirty-three times.  Then Jesus saw that Patrick had been marked and claimed by Gabe and went fucking crazy because he knew when Gabe found out, that he would attack them.  He then had the brilliant idea of trying to make it look like a random attack, so he stabbed Patrick in the abdomen five times and dumped him in an area where he would be found.  Alex Mahone found him and brought him to sick bay.  He was evaluated and he needed two surgeries to fix all the damage.  One to fix the stabbing damage and one to fix the damage from the gangbanging.  The first surgery went well.  The second one did not.  When they went in, they discovered multiples sources of internal bleeding, which took them five hours to stop, and they almost lost him twice.  Then when they started the actual surgery, it turned out that the damage was way, way worse than they expected and it took them twice as long to fix it.  To make matters worse, Patrick threw a clot from his leg, and it got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism and they almost lost him again.  They ended up having to do an embolectomy to remove the clot in his lung.  He was in surgery for eleven hours.  Now he is still in sick bay recovering.  To give you an idea of how serious this was, Dr. Smith was amazed that he even survived the attack at all.  Most people die from their injuries in these kinds of attacks, but Patrick held on somehow.  Dr. Smith also said that if they had delayed Patrick’s second surgery any longer, he would’ve died from the massive internal bleeding.  He’s currently in so much pain that he is doped up out of his mind on painkillers.  So yeah.  Poor Patrick has seen some definite shit in the short amount of time he’s been on the inside.”  Joe informs them.

               There’s even more stuff that is so much worse that we can’t tell them about.

               Everyone except Dan was in complete disbelief.  They were just standing there with their eyes wide and jaws wide open and were completely silent.  Slowly they process everything that they had just been told.  Phil is the first to speak.

               “Oh my God!  That poor man!  I saw him a few times in sick bay, and he was always so nice and caring.  To hear he’s being framed and everything he has been through.  I just…I have no words.”  Phil states.

               “Jesus Fuck!  That punishment seems like a gross overreaction!  I’m surprised he survived it all!”  Mel comments.

               “Now I’m really sorry I asked.  The pain that he felt must’ve been immense.  Poor Patrick!”  Jason adds.

               Randy and Bob were still speechless.

               “Pardon my asking, but is a retaliation attack going to happen?”  Phil asks.

               “Yes.  One is currently being planned and will occur in the next few days.”  Dan answers.

               “Good!  I hope they fuck them up so bad that they all end up with their heads stuck in their asses.  God!  I can’t imagine what he went through.  He’s ok though?” Phil responds.

               “I got this one, Joe.  Yes, as ok as someone can be after an attack like that.  Physically he is ok, and his wounds are healing, but he will probably be dealing with a lot of PTSD after that.  We weren’t there for it, but apparently, he had a pretty vivid flashback while Dr. Smith was checking his incisions.  Like Joe said, he’s in so much pain that he is high out of his mind on fentanyl and doesn’t even know what planet he’s on.”  Dan explains.

               “Up until this, Patrick had been strong and had been fighting as hard as he could.  He’s got a large fire inside him, which I haven’t seen in anyone in a long time.  Dan and I are really hoping that this didn’t finally break him and that there is still some fire left inside him.”  Joe mentions.

               “Joe has actually been working on forming a security net of prisoners who could help look out for him when he’s not around.  So far, it has just been me and Alex Mahone.  Would you guys be interested in helping out too?”  Dan asks.

               Joe shares a look with Dan basically asking what he was doing and that they need to know the real risks first.  Dan decides that they will have this discussion later.  All of Dan’s friends look amongst themselves before deciding.

               “Sure!  We will help in any way we can!”  Mel states.

               “That’s great!  We will discuss the details later.  Thanks guys!”  Dan replies.

               They are interrupted by the guards calling to their prisoners.  Yard Time was apparently over, so they all headed inside to meet up with their guards.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               When Joe heads inside he is met by Brad, not Clark.  Brad reaches out to stop him and Dan before they pass him.  From the looks of it, he is still waiting for Gabe, so Joe and Dan just stand there and wait.  Joe wonders what this is all about.  Were they going to visit Patrick again?  He sure hoped so.  Gabe finally steps inside, sees Brad, and walks over to him.

               “What’s going on, Brad?  Why are you here?”  Joe asks.

               “Stump has been asleep most of the afternoon but now he is awake, so I figured that this would be a good time for everyone to visit, and maybe Gabe can do more healing while I’m taking you two back to your cells later.”  Brad explains.

               “Good!  I was hoping we would get a chance to see Sugar again today!”  Gabe exclaims.

               Joe and Dan just look at each other and roll their eyes.  Joe really wished Gabe wasn’t coming.

               “Ok then.  Let’s go.”  Dan adds.

               They all start walking towards sick bay.  Gabe and Brad are discussing something quietly, so Joe decides that now is a good time to talk to Dan about what just happened.

               “Thanks for inviting me to meet your friends, Dan.  It’s always good to have friends in a place like this, so I appreciate that.  I was also happy to see that they wanted to be a part of Patrick’s security net.  I did have a question for you though.  What is going to happen when they happen upon Patrick being fed on or abused by Brad and Gabe, and they try to stop them?  They have no idea what they are dealing with.  Brad and Gabe will tear them apart.”  Joe asks.

               “Hey.  No problem, bud.  You can never have too many friends in prison.  As for your question, I don’t really know.  I agree that they need to know the full risks of what they are getting themselves into, but how would we tell them about the vampire stuff?  You said that you didn’t believe Patrick after he told you.  You had to see Brad feeding on him before you believed him.  When you two told me about it, I only believed it because I’d had a lot of very strange and unexplainable things happen to me.  How would we convince them without them thinking we are nuts?”  Dan asks.

               “That’s a good point.  Have they ever expressed anything about weird shit happening to them?”  Joe asks.

               “Maybe once or twice?  I don’t think it’s enough to convince them though.  We need more proof than that.”  Dan answers.

               “Were they around in the mess hall when Gabe sedated me so I couldn’t help Patrick not get beaten to death?”  Joe asks.

               “Yeah, but that doesn’t prove Gabe is a vampire.  It just proves that Gabe is a sadistic asshole.”  Dan comments.

               “Fuck!  You’re right.  I mean, honestly, I don’t know of any way to convince them, other than watching Brad or Gabe feed on one of us, or Patrick.  They are usually very discreet and compel their victims to forget it afterward.  Maybe you could work it into a conversation and see how they react to it.  Then we would know what proof we would need.  Can you try that?  It must be natural though.  You can’t just ask them if they believe vampires are real.”  Joe remarks.

               “I think I can make that happen.  Don’t worry.  I have more tact than that, Joe.  I can do this.  I’ll try to do it relatively soon too.  Wait.  Didn’t you tell me that part of Gabe’s plan was going to involve releasing the vampires on Earnesto’s men?”  Dan asks.

               “Yeah.  Why?”  Joe asks.

               “Think about it.  If we could somehow get them to witness some of that, then they would believe in vampires.”  Dan points out.

               “Oh my God!  That’s true!  I totally forgot about that!  How could we get them to view some of it though?  If it was one or two people, maybe, but five people?  It would be hard to be covert with five people, and don’t forget, I will be busy as well, so I couldn’t help you.”  Joe agrees.

               “We have another day to figure out how to make that happen.  I will try to bring it up in conversation later today and see what that gets us.”  Dan responds.

               “Ok.  You can tell me how it went at breakfast.”  Joe replies.

               “Sounds good.”  Dan answers.

               They are interrupted when they finally reach sick bay.  They all gather outside the door before entering sick bay and going to Patrick’s private room.  Patrick is lying in his bed watching TV and seems pretty bored.  His face lights up as soon as he sees them all enter.

               “Hey guys!  Have you come to save me from my boredom?”  Patrick asks.

               “You know us, we aim to please.  How can we save you from your boredom?”  Joe asks.

               “You can talk to me for a bit.  Ooo, does anyone have a deck of cards that we could play games with?”  Patrick asks.

               “I’ll go ask Spencer and see.  I’ll be right back!”  Dan answers as he leaves the room.

               “How do you feel, Sugar?  Are you any better since we were here last?”  Gabe asks.

               “I felt better when I woke up after sleeping for most of the afternoon.  The pain is still pretty bad though.  Spencer gave me more fentanyl a while ago, so I feel awesome!  Weeee!”  Patrick replies.

               That makes everyone in the room laugh.  It’s good to see a smile on Patrick’s face.

               “Did you wake up with less pain than when I left?”  Gabe asks.

               “Yes.  It was less than before and I felt better for a while, but now, I’m starting to feel bad again and the pain is coming back.  Thank you for healing me.  You did do that right?  I thought I remembered you giving me blood and then you said you were going to use your targeted healing power on me.   After that, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until a few minutes ago.”  Patrick explains.

               “You are welcome.  I wish I could heal you faster, but the damage is still very vast, so I can only heal you so much.  I’m glad you felt better for a while.  I plan to stay for a short time after Joe and Dan leave and are taken back to their cells and I might return later tonight after everyone is asleep.”  Gabe remarks.

               “Ok.  That sounds good.”  Patrick responds.

               “Hey, has Spencer asked about the quick healing again yet?”  Joe asks.

               “No.  I imagine he will tomorrow though when he sees the progress I’ve made.”  Patrick answers.

               “That’s at least good for now.”  Joe comments.

               Dan enters the room carrying a tower of different games in his hands as well as a deck of cards.

               “I come bearing gifts!  I asked around sick bay and apparently, they have a bunch of games sitting around to entertain the patients here!  Some of them might be too hard for you right now, but I found some simple ones too and I also found a deck of cards!  This should keep us all entertained for a while.  Which game would you like to start with?”  Dan asks.

               Patrick looks at the pile of games.  He sees Sorry, Pictionary, Scattergories, Taboo, Uno, Charades, and Apples to Apples.  He’s not sure which to start with because he likes all of them.

               “Let’s start with Apples to Apples.  It doesn’t require me to think too hard.”  Patrick decides.

               “Sounds good!”  Joe says as he grabs that game.

               “I am not familiar with this game.  How do you play it?”  Gabe asks.

               “It’s not too hard.  The goal is to get seven green apple cards, since there are five players.  We pick one person to be the first judge.  The first judge deals seven red apple cards to each player including himself.  The judge picks the first green apple card on the bottom of the deck and places it on the table.  Each player then looks through their cards and places a red apple card face down on the table that they think best describes the green apple card.  You can also do funny ones.  The judge takes the red apple cards and mixes them up, so they don’t know who played what card.  Then they turn over each card, reads them aloud and then picks the one that they think best describes the green apple card.  The player who played the winning card gets the green apple card.  Then the dealer collects all the red apple cards and discards them.  Each player draws red apple cards until they have seven in their hand.  The role of the judge passes to the next person clockwise, and we repeat this until someone has seven green apple cards.  That person wins.  Everyone got it?”  Dan explains.

               “Yes.  I think so.  That doesn’t seem too hard.” Gabe responds.

               “Who wants to be the first judge?”  Joe asks.

               “I vote for Patrick.”  Dan suggests.

               “Ok.  That seems fair.”  Joe agrees as he looks at Gabe.

               “Are you ok with that Gabe?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes.  That is fine.”  Gabe answers.

               Joe gets all the red apple cards and green apple cards ready and gives them to Patrick.  Patrick deals each person seven cards, grabs a green apple card, and turns it over on the table.  The first green apple card is “Popular.”  They each throw down a card that they think best describes that.  Patrick gathers them and mixes them up before turning each card over and reading them aloud.  His choices are gold chains, the Old Man and the Sea, Woody Allen, vacations, and James Bond.  He narrows it down to vacations and James Bond, but he ultimately chooses James Bond.

               “Whose card is this?”  Patrick asks.

               “It was mine!”  Joe yells.

               “It was pretty funny!” Patrick says laughing and gives Joe the first green apple card.

               Everyone draws another card and now Gabe is the judge.  He draws another green apple card and places it face-up on the table and reads it out loud.  The card says “Hairy.”  Everyone lays down a red apple card.  Gabe grabs them and mixes them up before turning them over one at a time.  His choices are homework, monkeys, feet, mold, and balls.  Gabe smiles thinking about it.  Everyone is pretty much true except homework.  He narrows it down to monkeys and balls.  He chooses balls and everyone busts up laughing.

               “Whose card is this?”  Gabe asks.

               “It was mine!  Hahaha!!!!”  Patrick exclaims.

               “Haha!  Good one, Patrick!”  Joe comments.

               They repeat the game until someone gets seven green apple cards, which takes quite a while.  The last round is neck in neck between Joe and Patrick.  Brad is the dealer, and he ends up picking Patrick’s card. 

               “Patrick wins!”  Brad yells.

               Everyone is happy for him.

               “That was actually really fun!  Would you all like to play again?”  Gabe asks.

               Everyone looks at each other and decides that yes, they would like to play again.  Before they start though, Sebastien comes in to take some blood to run some tests.  He takes the blood that he needs, and he leaves to bring it to the lab.  Patrick seems like he’s either fading, or his pain appears to be returning or getting worse.

               “Patrick, are you doing, ok?”  Joe asks.

               Patrick looks over at Joe and Joe can tell something isn’t right.

               “Is your pain coming back or getting worse again?”  Joe asks.

               “Yeah.  My pain is returning, and it is increasing from what it was earlier today.”  Patrick answers.

               “Do you want one of us to go get Spencer?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes please.  I want to play the game again, but I need some pain meds first.”  Patrick shares.

               “Who would like to go get Spencer?”  Joe asks.

               “I’ll go.”  Gabe volunteers and exits the room.

               Gabe returns a few minutes later with Spencer and the fentanyl in tow.

               “Hey Patrick.  Gabe here tells me your pain is returning and getting worse as the evening progresses.  Is that true?” Spencer asks.

               “Yes.  My pain was less this morning and has been getting worse as the day goes on.  Is it time for more medicine?  My pain number right now is 9.5.  It was probably closer to 9 this morning.”  Patrick replies.

               “You are due for more medicine.  That is an improvement in your pain level.  Usually, you feel the best in the morning and then start to feel worse as the day progresses, so what you are describing makes sense.  Do you still plan to have visitors for a while?”  Spencer asks.

               “We were going to play one more game of Apples to Apples before they leave for dinner.  I’d like them to come back, afterward, but I may be too tired then.”  Patrick explains.

               “Ok.  I will give you the maximum amount I can give you without putting you to sleep.  I will give you the rest, or more, depending on the time, after they leave.  Does that sound fair?”  Spencer asks.

               “Yes.”  Patrick answers.

               Spencer measures out the correct amount of fentanyl and injects it into Patrick’s IV.  Patrick just lays there for a minute until it starts to kick in.  His arms and legs feel like jelly, and he feels most of his pain fading away.  The pain that is left is manageable.  His eyes gloss over, and he has this dopey happy look on his face.

               “Is that better?”  Spencer asks.

               “Uh-huh.  I feel much better now.  Thank you.”  Patrick says.

               “You’re welcome.  I will be back to check on you in an hour.  If you need anything before that, just press your button.”  Spencer tells him.

               “Ok.”  Patrick responds.

               Spencer turns around, leaves, locks up the fentanyl, and goes back to his office.  They all set up the game again and begin playing it.  It is getting close to dinner time before they finally almost finish the game again.  This time Joe wins!  Patrick is fading again.  He looks exhausted so Gabe, Joe, Dan, and Brad decide to leave him so he can sleep.

               “Goodnight, Patrick!  We’ll see you tomorrow, ok?”  Joe asks.

               “Goodnight, guys!  I’ll see you tomorrow.  Wait!  Could you ask Spencer to come in and give me the rest of my medicine before you leave?”  Patrick replies.

               “Sure.  Brad, go tell Spencer he is needed in Patrick’s room.  You can tell him why.  Please get some sleep, Sugar.  You need it for your body to heal.  I will return later tonight for a while and heal you some more.  You will most likely be asleep though.”  Gabe adds.

               Brad goes to get Spencer and returns a few minutes later.  Then he leads Joe, Dan, and Gabe out of the room and out of sick bay.  Once outside, he explains that he will escort them to dinner and return to sick bay.  Their other guards would be there to escort them back to their cells for the night.

               “Gabe, your current guard will escort you back to your cell.  I will come get you when things settle down in there for the night and you can stay as long as you would like.  It will probably be somewhere around 8:00 p.m.”  Brad informs him.

               “That works.  I imagine you two are getting pretty hungry and want to go to dinner now, right?”  Gabe asks.

               “Yes.”  They both answer.

               “Ok, Brad.  Lead the way.”  Gabe states.

               “Follow me, please.”  Brad says and begins walking toward the mess hall.

Chapter Text

Chapter 54

******Trigger Warning for Graphic Violence******

               Spencer has been working for almost two days straight without any breaks.  He is getting very tired and is starting to feel like a zombie while he is working.  Now that Patrick is out of the woods, at least for now, he decides it is time for him to go home for a bit so he can sleep in his own bed without being interrupted.  He also hasn’t really showered except for after Patrick’s last surgery, and he feels kind of nasty and his teeth are starting to feel pretty furry by now.  There’s just one problem.  If he leaves, who will take his place and take care of Patrick while he is gone?  Their only other doctor they have is currently lying in a bed in sickbay and is too injured and drugged-up to be of much help.  Spencer’s head is starting to get a little cloudy from lack of sleep and food, so he tries to brainstorm ideas, but his brain is not helping him at all.  The only idea he can come up with is calling the hospital and seeing if there are any doctors currently free and might be able to come to the prison for a shift to give him a break.  Before he does that though, he needs to get it ok’d with Andy.  He hopes that he hasn’t already left for the day, as he picks up his phone and calls Andy’s office.

               “Warden’s office.  How may I direct your call?”  Wendy asks.

               “Hey Wendy, it’s Spencer.  Has Andy left for the day yet?”  Spencer asks.

               “Um…let me check.  I’ll be right back.”  Wendy says as she places him on hold to go check Andy’s office and see if he is still there.

               Spencer waits on hold for a few minutes.

               “Hello, Spencer?  Are you still there?”  Wendy asks.

               “Yes.  I’m still here.  Well?”  Spencer asks.

               “You are lucky.  You caught him just before he was about to leave.  I’ll transfer you to his office.”  Wendy replies.

               The phone rings in Andy’s office and he answers.

               “Hello?”  Andy asks.

               “Hey Andy, it’s Spencer.  I’m glad I caught you before you left.  I need to get something authorized by you if you have a second.”  Spencer states.

               “Is everything ok with Patrick?”  Andy asks.

               “Yes, he is stable and doing fine.”  Spencer responds.

               “Then what did you need my authorization for?”  Andy asks.

               “I’m exhausted, Andy.  I have been working almost two days straight.  I haven’t left the prison during that time either.  First, it was finishing Patrick’s surgery, then I was afraid to leave him until I knew he would be ok.  My brain is getting cloudy and I kind of feel like a zombie just going through the motions.  I need a break where I can go home, shower, brush my teeth, and sleep where I won’t be disturbed.  The problem is that we don’t have another doctor to relieve me since he is a patient and a prisoner.  I was wondering if it would be alright if I called the nearby hospital to see if there was someone who could relieve me for the overnight shift.  If they have someone, they will need your authorization to provide that doctor, and they will need it so that the doctor gets paid.  Would you be willing to do that for me?”  Spencer asks.

               “Absolutely!  Do you need me to stay here while you call them?”  Andy asks.

               “It probably wouldn’t hurt so you could get it figured out yet tonight.”  Spencer answers.

               “Ok.  I can do that.  Are you going to call them after you get off the phone with me?”  Andy asks.

               “Yes.  I will call them and then call you back if they have someone.”  Spencer tells him.

               “Alright.  I’ll let you go so that you can call them.”  Andy says.

               “Ok.  We will be in touch.”  Spencer adds.

               Spencer looks up the number for the nearest hospital and calls them.  It rings for some time before someone answers.

               “Hello.  St. Augustine Hospital.  How may I direct your call?”  The person asks.

               “Hello.  This is Dr. Smith over at the Illinois State Penitentiary.  I’m not sure who I talk to about this.  Our other doctor that we usually have over here is currently unavailable and I have been working for almost two days straight without any breaks.  I was wondering if you had any doctors over there who might be willing to come over here and work a shift, so that I can go home for a few hours.  Who would I talk to about that?”  Spencer asks.

               “You would need to discuss that with the Head of Attending.  I’m not sure if they are still here.  I’m going to put you on hold while I look into this, ok?”  The operator offers.

               “Ok.”  Spencer agrees.

               Spencer has been waiting on hold for ten minutes before the operator returns.

               “Dr. Smith?  I have the Head of Attending here for you.  You just caught them!  I’m connecting you now.”  The operator states.

               “Hello Dr. Smith!  I’m Dr. Childers.  I’m the Head of Attending here at St. Augustine.  What can I do for you?”  Dr. Childers asks.

               “Hello Dr. Childers.  I’m the main doctor over here at the Illinois State Penitentiary.  We have a situation that I’m hoping you can help me with.  Our other doctor that usually relieves me is not available and I have been working for almost two days straight.  We had a situation with an inmate who was attacked and severely injured.  He required two surgeries.  The first one went fine.  The second one didn’t go as planned and ended up taking me and the specialist eleven hours to complete the surgery.  The patient is recovering and stable now.   I didn’t want to leave after we completed his surgery to make sure that he was ok, and I slept on the couch in my office.  I have worked all today as well with no breaks.  I’m exhausted and I feel like a zombie as I keep pushing myself through the day.  I was wondering if you had any general practice doctors that were free and if they would be willing to come over and work a shift for me, so that I can go home for a bit.  They would be paid as well.  Is there any way you could help me out?”  Spencer asks.

               “Let me check some things really quick.  Hang on.” She replies.

               Spencer hears her typing away on her computer in the background.

               “Ok.  It looks like I have three potential doctors that are currently here that I can spare right now.  I will speak to each of them and see if one of them is willing to come over and relieve you.”  She shares.    

               “Thanks.  Please be quick though.  If this is going to happen, it has to be approved by the Warden and he won’t be here much longer.”  Spencer informs her.

               “I understand.  I will talk to them and call you back as soon as I can.  We will be in touch.”  She responds.

               “Thank you.  I will await your phone call.”  Spencer affirms and hangs up the phone.

               Spencer calls to give Andy an update on what is happening, and he is fine with waiting a little longer to leave.  Spencer begins going through Patrick’s new blood test results while he waits for Dr. Childers to call him back.  All of Patrick’s blood tests look normal, so that is at least good.  It has been about twenty minutes when Spencer’s phone rings.  He hopes it is Dr. Childers and she has someone for him.  He’s so tired that he can’t even think straight.

               “Hello?  This is Dr. Smith.”  Spencer answers.

               “Hello Dr. Smith.  It’s Dr. Childers over at St. Augustine.  I was able to speak with all three of the doctors, and I have good news!  Two of them are willing to help you out!  I realize that you only need one doctor there, but they also said they were willing to do this at another time if you need them.  I will be sending over Dr. Woodward tonight.  He should be able to be there within the hour.  You said that it had to be authorized by the Warden.  Is there any way you could transfer me to his office so we can get this taken care of?”  She asks.

               “I can’t transfer you, but I will send you to our operator and they can transfer you.  Does that work?”  Spencer asks.

               “Yes, that is fine.  Thank you.”  She replies.

               “No!  Thank you!  I’m sending to the operator now.”  Spencer shares.

               Spencer transfers her to the operator who patches her to the Warden’s office.  After about ten minutes, he gets a call from Andy saying that everything is taken care of, and he can leave as soon as Dr.  Woodward gets there and is briefed.  Spencer has some time to waste, so he goes and checks on Patrick.  He finds him in a deep sleep and all his vitals look good.  When he exits Patrick’s room, he is informed that Dr. Woodward is there already.  He goes to meet him, thanks him for coming, briefs him on everything that is going on with Patrick and reminds him when it is time to give him more fentanyl.  Dr. Woodward assures him that Patrick is in good hands and tells Spencer to go home.  Spencer asks him to please call him if he needs anything.

               “Don’t worry Dr. Smith.  I’ve got this.  You need to go home for a while and take a break.  I will even stay into the morning and afternoon if you decide you need more time.  Patrick is in good hands.  You don’t need to worry about him.  Now go!”  Dr. Woodward encourages.

               Spencer smiles, takes one last look at Patrick, grabs his things, and leaves to go home, where he plans on face planting on his bed and being in a sleep coma for as long as he can.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Gabe and Brad are in the process of dropping Joe and Dan off in their cells for the evening following dinner in the mess hall.  Gabe would technically be next, but there are some things that they need to discuss privately, so Gabe orders Brad to take him to their meeting room.  They are headed there now.  It only takes a few more minutes before they reach their room.  Brad unlocks the door, goes in, and pulls all the blinds in the room so no one can see into the room.  Then he comes back to get Gabe.  Once Gabe is inside the room, Brad locks the door behind him, and they take seats across from each other at the meeting table. 

               “How did everything go at your meeting today?  I’m sorry I couldn’t attend it.”  Brad asks.

               “It went well!  I explained the whole plan to them, minus the vampire part.  I called the vampires my secret weapons and told everyone that they were responsible for punishing Earnesto’s men.  No one has asked or pushed any further than that and it should stay that way.  Everyone was given their jobs and assignments.  I told them that their job was to punish the members of the Nuestra Familia that were not involved, but still supported it.  They will first be responsible for dividing those members up into two different groups of roughly fifty each and bring them to the two different locations.  Once they are brought to their locations, they are to leave them there for maybe an hour to let them stew and hypothesize what may be coming.  It will increase their fear ten-fold.  After that, they were allowed to punish them however they saw fit, but that they all must be left ALIVE and if they were injured, they had to be able to survive those injuries.  They were all incredibly excited and lined up in front of me to get their group number, locations, and assignments.  They were also given pictures of the members they were looking for and a map of all the locations.  As far as I’m concerned, that part is done and ready for the attack.  I trust my men to do as they are ordered.  I’ve never had a problem with them, ever.  The next step is to meet with the vampires tomorrow to go over the plan and give them their assigned members and a map to their location where they are to be tortured and eventually killed.  I have also spoken with Joe Trohman and explained his part of this to him.”  Gabe explains.

               “That sounds great!  Those fuckers aren’t going to know what hit them!”  Brad comments.

               “Indeed, and we will get vengeance for Sugar.  Remember, that is what all of this is about.  We can’t lose sight of that.  They must suffer the pain and agony that he did, preferably, for as long as possible.  We will be set to go for the attack!”  Gabe reminds Brad.

               “Yes, of course.  Is there anything else that I need to know?”  Brad asks.

               “I will give you pictures of whom you are looking for and a map of the different locations tomorrow evening.”  Gabe shares.

               “Ok.  That sounds good.  What is the plan for the rest of this evening?  I know you want to spend a good amount of time healing Sugar, but is there anything else?  I know that you already know this, but don’t forget to take the amount of time you need to sleep.  You want your mind to be as clear as possible for this attack.”  Brad replies.

               “There really isn’t much of a plan other than healing Sugar.  Don’t worry, I will make sure I get the amount of sleep that I require to make sure I’m in pique mental and physical shape for this attack.  I appreciate you reminding me though.  How long do you think it will be before you can sneak me into Sugar’s room?”  Gabe asks.

               “Well, it is about 7:00 p.m. right now.  Things usually start calming down in sick bay by about 8:30 p.m., so maybe like an hour and a half?”  Brad answers.

               “Alright.  I’m pretty hungry, how about you?”  Gabe asks.

               “Same.  I’ve been trying to put it off, but I’m really hungry too.”  Brad responds.

               “What would you say if I suggested we go hunting together?  You should probably eat before you return to sick bay.  I don’t want you feeding on Sugar.  There is a guard currently there watching him, right?”  Gabe suggests.

               “I’d say that it sounds like a wonderful idea!  We can even take our time and feed on multiple humans if we need to!  Yes, there is a guard there in his room with him.”  Brad agrees.

               They exit the meeting room and Brad locks the door.  Once they are out in the open, Gabe and Brad stick their heads up and take a large sniff of the air to see what is available near them.  Gabe catches the scent of sweet apples and cinnamon coming from someone in the next closest cell block to their location.

               “I smell sweet apples and cinnamon coming from cell block B.  What have you found?”  Gabe asks.

               “I smell pomegranates coming from the same area.  Shall we?”  Brad asks.

               “Yes!  Let’s go!”  Gabe exclaims.

               The two of them take off in the direction of cell block B.  They are almost there when they are stopped by two guards.

               “Excuse me.  Where are you two headed in such a hurry and why is this prisoner not in his cell for the night?”  One of the guards asks.

               “I was escorting this inmate to see his friend who was attacked and who is in critical condition in sick bay.  Dr. Smith said that he needed to come right away because his brother doesn’t have much time left.  His brother’s injuries are too severe.”  Brad lies.

               Gabe plays along and starts crying, saying that he will miss his brother’s last moments if they don’t hurry.

               “I’ll never get to say goodbye!”  Gabe says while sobbing.

               The two guards look at each other.

               “We are sorry we stopped you!  Please go ahead.  We are also sorry about your brother.”  The other guard says.

               “Oh, thank you!  I’m coming Benny!”  Gabe cries as he and Brad run away, and the other guards continue in the opposite direction.

               As soon as they are out of sight, they stop running.

               “Who the fuck is Benny?”  Brad asks while trying to hold back a laugh.

               “I don’t know!  It was the first name that came to me!”  Gabe replies while laughing.

               “Haha!  That was awesome!  Shall we continue?”  Brad asks.

               “Yes.”  Gabe answers, still laughing.

               They continue laughing until they get close to cell block B.  There are two guards waiting at the entrance to it.  Gabe looks at Brad.

               “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”  Gabe asks.

               “If you are thinking that we feed on them first as an appetizer, the fuck yes!”  Brad exclaims.

               “Precisely!  How do you want to play this?”  Gabe asks.

               “Uh…how about we do the one where one of us is sick or injured and we need their help?  As soon as they lean down to help, we attack them.  We haven’t used that one in a while.”  Brad suggests.

               “You’re right.  We haven’t done that one in a while, and I do love that one.  It is always so shocking when we attack them.  Their initial fear makes their blood taste so much better!  Let’s have you be the one that is sick or injured.  You were escorting me somewhere when we were attacked by another inmate who stabbed you with a shiv.  Why don’t you bite your wrist really quick and rub the blood somewhere on your abdomen, so it looks real?”  Gabe proposes.

               “Good idea!  Hang on.”  Brad says as he bites his wrist and rubs it all over his lower right abdomen.

               “Ok.  Ready?”  Gabe asks.

               “Yes.”  Brad replies while he puts his arm over Gabe’s shoulder and hangs on him looking dead.

               Gabe starts walking like Brad’s weight is a little too much for him.

               “Help me!” He screams from where they are.

               Then he starts heading toward the guards with Brad hanging off of him.

               “Someone!  Please help me!”  Gabe yells.

               The guards notice him and come running towards him.

               “What happened?”  One of the guards asks.

               “Oh, it was terrible!  This poor guard was escorting me back to my cell when, out of nowhere, someone attacked us and stabbed him in the abdomen with a shiv.  I checked to see if he was breathing and he was, but barely, and I tried to stop the bleeding, but it wouldn’t stop, so I picked him up and began running until I found help!  He’s always been nice to me.  Please don’t let him die!”  Gabe explains.

               “Ok. Set him down on the ground so we can properly assess him.”  One of the guards orders.

               Gabe sets Brad down on the ground rubbing his hand in the bloody area, so it looks like he tried to help.  Brad lays there as if he were dead.  Vampires don’t need to breathe, and their hearts are dead so there is no heartbeat.  It’s perfect!  One of the guards checks his breathing while the other checks for a pulse and looks at the wound. This is when they both strike.  Brad bites the one leaning closest to him, and Gabe bites the other one.  The guards both scream out in absolute agony, and they are being much too loud.  Gabe uses his mind control to calm his guard down and Brad just knocks the other one out cold.  They both sit there sucking more and more blood until they are almost dead, but they do not cross that threshold.  When they are finished, they both compel their guard to forget that this ever happened and leave them there on the floor while they both stand and enter cell block B.

               “That was so much fun!  We need to do that more often!  I miss hunting with you!”  Brad exclaims.

               “Yes!  It was fun.  I’m telling you the fear makes the blood taste so much better!  Did you taste their fear?”  Gabe asks.

               “Definitely!  His blood tasted like fine wine.”  Brad comments.

               “Mine did as well!  They were scrumptious appetizers!  Now for the main dishes.  Mine is in cell number twenty-five.  How about yours?”  Gabe remarks with an evil look on his face.

               “What a coincidence!  Mine is also in cell number twenty-five.”  Brad answers.

               “How convenient!  Here is how we are going to play this.  You are going to pull both of them from their cells and tell them that you are taking them to a meeting.  When they see me, I will act as if I don’t know what’s going on and I’m scared of where we are going.  Then you will take us to an empty cell in an unused cell block, throw us in there, close the door with you still inside and then we will attack.  Got it?”  Gabe commands.

               “Yes.  Let’s go.”  Brad states.

               They both walk to just before cell number twenty-five.  Then Gabe begins trying to get out of Brad’s grip, but Brad is too strong.

               “No! Please!  Where are you taking me?”  Gabe cries.

               “You’ll find out soon enough.”  Brad replies.

               “Stop!  You are hurting me!  Please!”  Gabe continues crying as they are now in front of cell number twenty-five.

               The two inmates look at Brad with fear, which is exactly what they want.  Brad opens their door.

               “Get out!  You have a meeting to attend.  Now!”  Brad yells and the two inmates step out. 

Brad handcuffs both to himself and they begin walking.  He is taking them to cell block X, cell number two, which isn’t very far.   Gabe continues to play along pulling, acting scared and yelling.  The other two inmates look very scared, but they aren’t pulling on Brad since they are connected to him.

               “Please, don’t hurt us!  We will do whatever you say!”  Gabe yells.

               The two inmates are shaking their heads yes.

               Brad smiles a wicked smile at all of them.

               “It’s far too late for that, I’m afraid.”  He responds.

               They finally reach cell block X, cell number two.  Brad opens the door.  Gabe gives him a frightened look.

               “You don’t want us to go in there, right?”  Gabe asks.

               At that, Brad throws Gabe in first followed by the other two inmates, steps in himself and closes the cell door.  Brad walks toward them as if he’s going to beat or rape them, shares a knowing look with Gabe and then they both attack their inmates.  Both inmates don’t see it coming and are terrified when they are attacked.  They are both screaming their heads off from the pain.  Gabe pulls off for a minute.

               “Usually, we would care if you were screaming this loud, but no one will hear you in here.”  Gabe points out.

               Then, they both continue feeding on them until they are close to death.  They both pull off each one, and then compel them to forget it ever happened.  Brad returns them to their cell and he and Gabe leave them and start walking toward sick bay.

               “Did you hear how loud they screamed?  I love it when they scream like that!  Mine’s blood tasted so good!  It was sweet apples and cinnamon, and their fear intensified the taste by like ten!”  Gabe mentions.

               “They did scream really loud!  Mine’s blood tasted like pomegranates on steroids!  It was amazing!”  Brad adds.

               “Just think.  Once Sugar is healed and released from sick bay, we can start feeding on him again.  I do miss his blood!  It tastes like no other blood I’ve had before.  I wonder why though?  No matter!  I also wouldn’t mind seeing how Joe and Dan taste, since they already know what we are.  Perhaps we could see after my debt to him is paid.  You know what might be fun?  If I used my mind control on Sugar and forced him to hold his friends down while we feed on them!  All in due time, I guess.”  Gabe states.

               “I know!  I miss his blood too!  I would also love to sample Trohman and Pawlovich and I love your idea of making him hold them down while we fed on them!  Anyways, thank you for inviting me to hunt with you.  Things have been so busy lately that any feedings are usually very quick.”  Brad comments.

               “You are most welcome!  The sport of it takes time, and I agree, there hasn’t been much time for that lately.  I figured we both could use a break, and now I’m at full capacity so I should be able to heal Sugar for quite a while before I have to feed again and recharge.  By the way, what time is it?  Did we waste enough time?”  Gabe asks.

               Brad looks down at his watch.  It was pretty close to 8:30 p.m.

               “Yes, we did!  Let’s go to sick bay.”  Brad replies.

               “Sounds like a plan.”  Gabe adds.

               They both start walking to sick bay.  Once they get there, they notice that there are two new nurses working on stuff in the lab, and there is a different doctor there.  Spencer must’ve gone home for a while.  They go straight to Sugar’s room, Brad replaces the other guard, and sits back down in his chair in the corner.  Sugar is passed out cold from the drugs.  Gabe’s not sure when he is due for more pain medication, which the new doctor will be in to administer, so Gabe gets started.  Instead of giving him blood first, he places both hands on either side of the front of his lower abdomen and activates his targeted healing.  He stays there for an hour, before moving both of his hands so each hand sits on one of Sugar’s butt cheeks and activates his targeted healing power again.  Gabe smiles when he thinks about where his hands are.  If Gabe gets to cop a feel while healing him, why is that so bad?  He stays in this area for about two hours.  Then he moves to Sugar’s upper body and his head to help with the concussion that he still has.  He spends about an hour in this area.  Gabe just finishes when he hears someone approaching Sugar’s door.  It must be time for more fentanyl, so Gabe takes his seat in the chair next to Sugar’s bed.  The door opens and in walks the new doctor holding the vial of fentanyl.  He sees Gabe and is confused.

               “I’m sorry, who are you?  Visiting hours were over an hour ago.  Why are you still here?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “I could ask the same of you.  Who are you?”  Gabe asks.

               “I’m Dr. Woodard.  I’m filling in so that Spencer can get a much-needed break.  You didn’t answer my question.  Who are you and why are you still here?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “My name is Gabe.  I’m here providing emotional support to my pal, Sugar.  Would you mind looking into my eyes?  Gabe asks.

               As soon as Dr. Woodard makes eye contact with him, he has him trapped and his eyes gloss over.

               “You are here to give Sugar his fentanyl.  You did not see anyone else in the room except Sugar’s guard, Brad who is sitting in the corner.  You may go about taking care of Sugar, but you will not see anyone else in his room besides Brad.  Do you understand?”  Gabe asks.

               Dr. Woodard repeats everything that Gabe just said.

               “Yes, I understand.”  He replies.

               Dr. Woodard goes to Sugar’s bed and measures out the correct dose of fentanyl, injects it into Sugar’s IV, and then leaves the room.  Once he is gone, Gabe bites his wrist, pries Sugar’s mouth open and places his bleeding wrist on top of his mouth.  He continues giving Sugar the maximum amount of blood he can have without hallucinating.  Gabe gives him four doses of blood before standing and using his targeted healing on Sugar again.  It has been another two hours before he is finished healing Sugar with his targeted healing.  Gabe decides he will do one more round of blood and then he will leave.  He sits in his chair, bites his wrist, and holds it over Sugar’s open mouth.

               “There’s something that I’ve been meaning to speak to you about, Brad.”  Gabe states.

               “What’s up, boss?”  Brad asks.

               “When I was informing Joe of his role in the attack, I mentioned to him that if he did actually kill Earnesto, Mateo, or Jesus, that it didn’t matter because you could bring them back.  He informed me that he already knew that you had the power to do that.  I asked how he knew about it, and he told me that you had used your power on Sugar.  He said that Sugar told him about it afterward.  He also said that Sugar experienced the most pain he has ever experienced during the process and that he couldn’t even move after you were done, that you had to carry Sugar back to his cell.  Is this true?”  Gabe asks.

               Brad looks very guilty.  He knows he crossed a line, and that Gabe is pissed.

               “Um…. yeah.  I used it on him once.”  Brad replies.

               Gabe’s demeanor changes from friendly to incredibly angry in the course of ten seconds.  Gabe seems calm, but you could tell that underneath that façade, he was boiling with intense fury.

               “May I ask why you thought it was a good idea to use that power on MY PROPERTY without my consent?”  Gabe asks.

               Brad is definitely intimidated at this point.

               “I don’t know!  He was being kind of cocky that day so, I figured I’d give him another reason to fear me!  It won’t ever happen again without your knowledge, I promise.”  Brad answers.

               “You need to remember something and make sure that it is crystal clear in that stupid brain of yours.  Sugar is MINE, not yours!  Sometimes I let you borrow him for feeding, but make no mistake, he is MINE.  That being said, you will NEVER use that power on him again unless I order you to.  If you truly value your life, you will heed my warning, or you will face the consequences of defying me!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”  Gabe yells.

               “Yes!  I’m so sorry!  I shouldn’t have done that to him!  He is yours and it was wrong of me to subject him to that without telling you.  It will never happen again unless you order me to!  I promise!  Please don’t punish me!”  Brad cries.

               Gabe looks at Brad and sees genuine fear.  That was what he was going for.  After learning of this, and the incident in sick bay where Brad accused him of hogging Sugar and keeping him for himself, he decides that he may need to keep a better eye on Brad when he is with Sugar.  Hopefully he is sufficiently scared shitless and it’s not even an issue going forward.  Gabe decides he will be ready for either eventuality. 

               As soon as Sugar gets his last dose of blood, he orders Brad to take him back to his cell.  He needs to get some sleep and ready his materials for the vampire meeting tomorrow afternoon.  They walk silently and Brad opens the door, Gabe steps in, Brad closes the door, and then leaves to head back to sick bay.  Gabe is tired after all that healing.  He’s not hungry yet, but he’s tired enough that he climbs into his bed and is asleep ten minutes later dreaming about all the fun, sadistic, acts they will be performing in the coming days.

Chapter Text

Chapter 55

******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Drug Use, Graphic Violence, and Rape******

               When Patrick wakes up the next morning, he feels so much better!  His head doesn’t hurt anymore, and he feels like the concussion is completely gone.  Gabe must’ve spent some time healing him last night.  Overall, he feels better, but the pain comes rushing back and hits him like a train.  He does notice that the pain is more localized now rather than all over his entire body, which is good, but it doesn’t make the pain any better.  Patrick presses his button to call for the nurses or Spencer.  A few minutes later, a man wearing a white doctor coat enters the room with the vial of fentanyl.

               “Um…who are you?  Where is Spencer?”  Patrick asks.

               “I’m Dr. Woodard.  I’m filling in so that Spencer could go home, sleep, shower and take a much-needed break.  He will probably be back later this afternoon.  He said he was exhausted and was starting to feel like a zombie, so he called the hospital to see if anyone could take over for him.  I have your pain medicine.  What is your pain number today?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “I feel much better today.  My head doesn’t hurt, and the room isn’t spinning anymore, so that is good.  I think the concussion may be gone.  My pain is back with a vengeance, but it is more localized to my butt and lower back abdomen.  I guess that is good.  I don’t know.  My pain number is probably between an 8 and an 8.5.”  Patrick states.

               “Wow.  That’s a vast improvement from yesterday morning!  I’m going to adjust your pain medication by a tiny bit, since it is slightly better than yesterday.  Don’t be surprised if your pain worsens during the day.  Do you feel like you might be able to stand today?  I’d really like to take your catheter out so you can resume normal bathroom activities.”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “I would be willing to try to stand.  I might need help getting to the bathroom though.  I’m kind of over the whole catheter thing too.  You do know that I’m a doctor, right?”  Patrick asks.

               Dr. Woodard gives him a strange look.

               “I’d be happy to explain why I’m here, but I’m having trouble focusing on anything other than the pain right now.  Could you please give me my medicine and then I will tell you the short version of it?”  Patrick explains.

               “Yes.  Of course.”  Dr. Woodard says as he measures out the correct dose and injects it into Patrick’s IV.

               Patrick closes his eyes and waits for it to kick in.  He gets that foggy feeling where his muscles feel tired, his arms and legs feel heavy, and his pain is substantially reduced within five minutes.

               “Better?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “Yes.  Much better.  Do you want to hear the story, or do you not care?”  Patrick asks.

               “Sure.  Tell me.”  Dr. Woodard answers.

               “Ok.  I used to be the other doctor here in sick bay until about a week ago.  There was an incident where I was transporting an inmate to the hospital because his injuries were too severe to treat here.  Two other inmates were apparently hiding in the ambulance.  There was a crash, my patient died, and I was knocked out.  During this time, one of the inmates stabbed the other and escaped.  When I came to, I tried to help the other inmate because he was bleeding out.  I’m not sure how, but the inmate somehow stabilized themselves and tried to get me somewhere warm because it was freezing outside and snowing, and I was turning blue.  He ended up sneaking us into a motel room where I could warm up.  Then I did something very stupid.  I called the prison and told them where to find me.  When the inmate found out what I had done, they freaked and bolted.  I was brought back to the prison and was looked over in sick bay by Spencer.  Once they determined I was fine and released me, I was ready to go home.  Then something strange happened.  As I was leaving sick bay, we ran into a guard that somehow convinced everyone that I had been arrested for helping the two inmates escape, I was tried, and I was sentenced to five years.  I’m being framed because I didn’t do any of that stuff.  I didn’t even have time to be arrested, tried, and sentenced in the same night.  Well, everyone, including the warden, was convinced that this had actually happened, and the warden had me booked into the prison to start my sentence.  I was assigned a cell and was given the prison uniform.  I have been “on the inside” since then. 

               I have been abused, almost fatally beaten, drugged, burned, tattooed and pierced against my will, claimed and marked by another prisoner, and raped several times by said prisoner.  There is more, but it’s not important.  On my second day here, I had a run-in with a member from a rival gang.  I ran into him and knocked him over and he felt disrespected, so he attacked me and my cell mate on our way back to our cell.  Well, the prisoner that claimed me sent his cronies to stop it.  That gang member was still mad, so he planned another attack and ambushed me and my guard on the way back to my cell.  They beat my guard until he was unconscious and there were too many of them for me to fight off on my own.  Then they decided that they were all going to gangbang me to teach me a lesson.  I was raped thirty-two times and beaten when I didn’t participate in each member’s fantasies.  It lasted for hours, and the pain was agonizing.  I passed out after that.  Then they took me to their leader while I was unconscious.  When I came to, my hands were handcuffed behind my back, and my ankles were handcuffed together.  Their leader drugged me and raped me again.  Afterward, he saw the huge cobra tattoo on my back where I had been claimed, and he freaked out.  They decided they had to make my attack look random so they stabbed me five times in the lower abdomen and dumped me in a place where someone would find me.  I was taken to sick bay, and I didn’t wake up until the following day.  That’s how I ended up here.  Fun right?”  Patrick informs him.

               Dr. Woodard is completely shocked and is standing there with his mouth wide open.

               “Oh!  My God!  So, you are being incarcerated for something you didn’t do, and you’ve been abused since day one?  That’s awful!”  Dr. Woodard comments.

               “Oh, it gets better.  When they went to do my surgeries, the first one went well.  During the second one, they found massive internal bleeding that they had to stop where they almost lost me twice, then it turned out that the damage was much worse than they initially thought and I had a pulmonary embolism, so it took eleven hours for them to complete.  Now I’m here.  How’s your day going?”  Patrick explains.

               “I don’t even know what to say to that.  No one believes you?  These are people you worked with for years and they didn’t believe you?”  He asks.

               “Nope.  That guard handed the warden the correct completed paperwork and it was a done deal.  The warden says he doesn’t want to be enforcing the sentence just as much I don’t want to be serving the sentence, but he has no choice.  That is why we don’t have another doctor to relieve Spencer right now.  Because he’s sitting here in a hospital bed after being attacked for the 10,000^th time.  Thank you for coming in and giving him a break though.  He looked pretty horrible, and he just wouldn’t leave.  Also, thanks for listening.  It’s incredibly frustrating, especially because I didn’t do any of those things, but I’m paying the price for it every fucking day.”  Patrick adds.

               “Has anyone tried to get you into protective custody?”  He asks.

               “Yup.  Spencer has tried twice, my lawyer has tried several times, and the warden offered to, but every time, the paperwork gets “lost” and is never filed.  Besides, it doesn’t matter.  Those abusing me would just find me there and continue doing it.”  Patrick points out.

               “I’m so sorry, Patrick.  How about this.  Let’s focus on your amazing, almost superhuman recovery!  I’ve never seen someone heal that quickly, so that is something right?  I also just gave you some pretty sweet drugs, so just sit back and enjoy them, ok?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               Patrick smiles.  He’s right.  I need to focus on the positives I have right now.  I’m safe, I’m relatively comfortable, and no one is currently abusing me.  There will always be time for all the terrible bullshit.  These drugs are pretty awesome and are making me feel pretty loopy, dopey happy, and super relaxed.  Weeeeee!

               “Ok.  Is my breakfast coming soon?  I’m really hungry.”  Patrick asks.

               “Yes.  One of the nurses should be bringing it any time now.  I do need to run some more tests and I need another CT and MRI on your abdomen so we can see if you are healing quickly on the inside too.”  Dr. Woodard says.

               “Ok.  Can I eat first?”  Patrick asks.

               “Sure!  I will be back in a bit to check on you.”  Dr. Woodard replies as he smiles, turns around and leaves the room.

               One of the nurses soon brings him his breakfast, which he promptly devours.  After that, he feels very whooped.  He’s having trouble keeping his eyes open, so he just gives in and drifts off into a deep and peaceful sleep.

               Patrick and Pete are lying beneath a palapa on the beach in Costa Rica.  It was the perfect day! They’d slept in late and taken quite a while to get out bed, just cuddling and enjoying each other, among “other” things that may or may not have made Patrick’s head spin and his body ache in such a wonderful way.  Eventually though, they both decided that they needed to get out of bed.  Mainly because the “other” things had made both of them incredibly hungry.  They get up, get dressed in their swimsuits and Hawaiian shirts and head to the pizza restaurant at the resort to have a late lunch.  After that, they’d decided to find an open palapa on the beach and hang out there for a while.  Pete helped Patrick rub sunscreen all over his body, so he didn’t burn to a crisp.  One of the resort staff asked if they would like anything to drink, so Patrick ordered a Mai Tai and Pete ordered a Pi ña Colada.  Then they just laid there staring at the beautiful Pacific Ocean letting the sound of the waves relax them. 

               “This is really romantic, huh?”  Patrick asks.

               “Fuck yeah it is!  See, I told you that you would like this!  You are always so busy, and you never take any time for yourself, so, I made you take time not only for yourself, but for both of us.  Somewhere where our phones don’t work, and we can just enjoy each other’s company. Our time this morning/afternoon was pretty mind blowing, by the way.” Pete says as he looks at Patrick with a knowing look.

               “Yes, it definitely was!  I rather enjoyed that part of our morning/afternoon.  It might be hard to top that.”  Patrick replies while flashing Pete with a daring look.

               “Is that a challenge that I heard come out of your mouth, Dr. Stump?”  Pete asks with a flirtatious tone.

               “I don’t know.  Maybe.  What if it was?”  Patrick asks coyly.

               “Well, if it was, then I suggest you ready yourself.  This morning was just a warm-up!  We have six more days here and practice makes perfect.  Wait till you see what’s coming!”  Pete replies ambitiously.

               “Well then Mr. Wentz, I’ll believe it when I see it!  Care to give me something to look forward to?”  Patrick asks.

               Pete is staring at him with one of his million-dollar smiles.  Pete’s eyes drift down to Patrick’s lips, and that’s all it takes for them to crash into each other, a needy mess of lips and tongues.  Patrick pulls away for a minute to look around the beach.  Somehow, they are the only ones there.  He goes back to making out with Pete for a while when he decides to goad him a little.

               “Is this all you got Wentz?  I was expecting so much more!  Oh, and would you look at that.  Somehow, we are completely alone down here.  I think I’m going to need a lot more than kissing to assure me that our time later tonight will beat this morning!”  Patrick teases.

               “Are you now?  Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.  What did you have in mind?”  Pete asks.       

               Patrick leans over and whispers absolute, pure filth into Pete’s ear.  Pete’s eyes go a little wide with it, but he pulls back and looks Patrick in the eye.

               “Really?  That’s what you need for me to convince you?”  Pete asks.

               Patrick shakes his head yes with a needy, hungry look in his eye.

               “Alright!  Challenge accepted!”  Pete exclaims.

               They crash into each other again and make complete use of the fact that they are alone on the beach.  When they are done, they both collapse next to each other, the only thing covering their naked bodies is the sheet that they brought from home to use as a beach blanket.  They are both still breathing hard as they gaze at each other looking completely satisfied.

               “Do you still need more convincing, Dr. Stump?”  Pete asks brazenly.

               “I think I’m good now.  You were very convincing, Wentz.  I will say though, after that, I’m incredibly excited to see what’s next in your bag of tricks for upping the ante every time for the next six days!  You were right.  I am really enjoying this trip!  In fact, this is probably going to be the most memorable trip I’ve ever taken.  Bring it!”  Patrick replies, still out of breath from earlier.

               “Oh, trust me.  You will not be disappointed!  I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so!  I wouldn’t want you making more of those memories without me!”  Pete teases.

               “We definitely wouldn’t want that, now, would we?  I guess you will have to spend the rest of the trip showing me how you are right!”  Patrick provokes.

               “I do love proving that I’m right, so I guess you are correct.”  Pete mocks.

               “This is going to be an awesome trip!  I can’t wait!”  Patrick comments.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Joe walks into the mess hall for breakfast.  His morning has been pretty uneventful, which is always good.  He feels way less tired today, since he got a good night’s sleep.  Now that he knows Patrick is ok, he is sleeping much better.  Joe enters the food line.  It’s going to take a while, so he decides to do some people watching.  You can learn a lot about people by studying their body language, their interactions with other people, and their overall temperament.  As he looks around, the room feels more tense than usual.  That is probably because of the upcoming attack.  The members of the Nuestra Familia have been on edge since they dumped Patrick.  He wonders if they think their boneheaded plan of making Patrick’s attack look random actually worked.  They can’t really be that stupid, right?  No one in their right mind would believe that their plan had worked, especially knowing that they were doing heinous acts to Gabe’s property.  They must know payback is coming, right?  I don’t know.  Maybe they are all a bunch of idiots.  Joe wouldn’t put it past them.  He finally reaches the end of the line, grabs his tray, fills it with food, and finds an empty table to sit at and wait for Dan.

               Joe sits down and begins eating his food.  Dan joins him shortly afterward. 

               “Are you feeling this tense vibe in here today?”  Dan asks.

               “Yeah.  It’s probably because the attack is tomorrow morning.  You don’t think that the members of the Nuestra Familia are stupid enough to think their plan worked and they are in the clear, do you?  Honestly if they are that stupid, then they deserve what’s coming.” Joe muses.

               “I don’t know.  They seem tense but not paranoid.  I agree though, if they are stupid enough to think that Gabe isn’t going to retaliate after what they did to his property, then they are complete idiots and should get what they deserve.  So, not to change the subject, but do you have any ideas on how we are going to get my friends to view the vampires feeding on people?”  Dan asks. 

               “I actually do have an idea.  From what I understand, Gabe is going to split the prisoners into four groups.  One is for Earnesto, Mateo, and Jesus, the next is for Earnesto’s men, and the other two are for the remaining members who weren’t involved but supported the attack.  Each group has a separate location.  So, we need to find out the location of where the vampires are going to tear apart Earnesto’s men.  Once we have that, we need to scope out any other ways into the location and find a place where they can safely view what is going on.  The only issue is we need to do all of that today.  Here is what we are going to do.  I will find out the location where the vampires will attack the humans.  I have a few people I can talk to about it.  After that, you will have to scope out the location.  I will be there to help if I can, but my family is visiting me today right after lunch.  I even have a permit to be late to work or miss it completely depending on how long we take.  Does that sound like a plan?”  Joe asks.

               “Yeah.  I would never take you away from your time with your family.  Is this a conjugal visit too?”  Dan asks.

               “Maybe….”  Joe replies with a smile.

               “Then I definitely wouldn’t take you away from that.  How are you and Marie going to do that with Ruby there?”  Dan asks.

               “Well, we usually do the family meeting first and then Ruby will be escorted back to the car by a guard and wait there until we are done.  She will have the car keys so she can turn it on and have air conditioning, Wi-Fi, and the radio.  She always brings a book to read or her tablet, so it isn’t terrible for her.”  Joe explains.

               “It sounds like you have this all planned out.”  Dan comments.

               “Well, I’ve been here for a while, so this is usually the routine.”  Joe adds.

               “Good for you, Joe!  Everyone deserves to get laid if they get the chance!  Many of us aren’t so lucky to have someone on the outside, so we are either stuck with our hand, or we find it elsewhere.”  Dan states.

               “Here’s to getting laid!”  Joe says as he holds his glass of orange juice up making a toast.

               “I’ll drink to that!”  Dan responds holding his glass of milk and clinks it with Joe’s.

               “I do have a question though going back to the other thing.  How are you going to find out the location where the vampires will be?”  Dan asks.

               “I can’t tell you who I plan to talk to, but I can tell you that one way or another, I will get the info we need.  Is that fair?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes.  I understand if you need to keep your source confidential.”  Dan answers.

               “Ok.  Good.  As soon as I have it, I will try to get it to you.  If I can’t get it to you then, I’ll tell you at lunch, ok?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes.”  Dan replies.

               They continue talking about various things until breakfast time is over.  They both dump their trays and go to their designated guards to be taken back to their cells.  Joe happens to have Clark again today, so he goes to find him.

               “Hello, Joe.  Ready to go back?”  Clark asks.

               “Actually, I was wondering if we could make a pit stop on the way before we go back to my cell.  I need to talk to another inmate about something important.  Is that possible?” Joe asks.

               Clark thinks about it for a minute before replying.

               “I guess so, as long as you can promise me there will be no trouble.”  Clark responds.

               “Thank you so much!  I can guarantee there will be no trouble from me or the person I need to see.  As far as other trouble, I can’t say there won’t be any, but there won’t be any from me.”  Joe states.

               “That’s fair.  Where and who do you need to see?”  Clark asks.

               “I need to visit Alex Mahone in D-78.”  Joe informs him.

               “You need to see someone on the other side of the prison?”  Clark asks.

               “Yes.  It is very important.”  Joe adds.

               “Alright.  Lead the way.”  Clark says as they begin walking toward the other side of the prison.

               They are almost there.  Joe really hopes Alex is there and not doing a job for Sawyer.  Once they get to the other side of the prison, they head toward cell block D.  As they pass other inmates in their cells, Joe is reminded of the big difference between the two sides of the prison.  This side housed the worst of the worst.  The super violent and psychotic prisoners whose crimes involve things that Joe doesn’t even want to think about.  He’s also heard that this side houses the most violent gangs as well.  This side of the prison makes the other side look like a cakewalk.  They continue a bit further until they reach Alex’s cell D-78.  Thank God that he is there.  Joe really didn’t want to come over here again.  Joe bangs on the bars to get Alex’s attention.  Alex sees who it is and immediately makes his way to the front of his cell.

               “Joe?  What are you doing here?”  Alex asks.

               Joe turns to Clark for a minute. 

               “Would you mind giving us a few minutes?  You don’t have to go far; we just need to talk as privately as we can.  I promise, I won’t try anything.”  Joe asks Clark.

               Clark thinks about it for a minute, then takes a deep breath.

               “Ok.  I will be waiting at the end of the hallway.”  Clark agrees.

               “Thank you!”  Joe exclaims.

               They both wait until Clark is out of sight before saying anything.

               “What’s up Joe?  Why are you here?”  Alex asks.

               “I need some information that I can’t get elsewhere.  I came to you because the information I need can only be obtained by someone with special connections if you get my drift.”  Joe states.

               Alex knows that Joe is trying to say that he came to him because he was a vampire.  He does appreciate that Joe is not disclosing that information and is attempting to work around it.

               “I do have some special connections.  What information do you need?”  Alex asks.

               “You said that Gabe came to recruit you to help with his retaliation attack.  Did he give you any details as to what your role would be?”  Joe asks.

               “Yes, he did.  What do you want to know?”  Alex asks.

               “From what I understand, Gabe has split the members of the Nuestra Familia gang into four groups.  Group four is for Earnesto, Mateo, and Jesus.  The third group would be Earnesto’s men who will be attacked by a special group of people.  The other two groups will be the rest of the members divided into two groups.  He has also assigned each group a location.  I was wondering if he had mentioned where the location of the third group would be?”  Joe asks.

               “He mentioned what the third group would be doing and that there was a location, but he hadn’t ironed out the exact place yet.  Why?”  Alex asks.

               “Here’s the situation.  I recently met a group of Dan’s friends.  They were very nice, and we spoke about how I ended up here.  The conversation continued and then they figured out I was Patrick’s cell mate.  They asked many questions about his attack, and I answered most of them.  Then Dan went and mentioned the net of prisoners that I have been trying to establish to keep an eye on Patrick when I’m not around.  He asked them if they would be interested in being a part of that network, and they immediately agreed.  However, they don’t know that certain unworldly creatures exist and that there is a very real chance that they will run into one, or need to fight one, or need to take a hit and be fed on by one of these creatures.  I don’t feel right involving them without them knowing all the possible consequences that could happen with their helping out.  Dan was going to try to approach the subject with them and see what their reaction was.  The only reason Dan believes is because he has had a lot of very strange and unexplainable things happen to him.  When Patrick told me about them, I didn’t really believe him until I watched Brad feed on him after he was almost beaten to death.  We figure the only way to convince them is for them to see it happening.  With the attack coming up, it presents a unique opportunity for them to observe these creatures in action.  Once they’ve seen that, there will be no doubt that we are telling the truth.  Neither Dan nor I really want to volunteer to be fed on by Gabe or Brad.  I’m sure that will happen eventually, but for now we aren’t really looking for that, and I didn’t figure you would be willing to help, since you value your privacy so much.”  Joe explains.

               Alex waits a few minutes in order to process everything Joe just said.

               “Ok, let me make sure I understand what you’re asking.  Dan’s friends agreed to be a part of the prisoner network to keep Patrick safe, without knowing the whole story and you don’t feel right involving them unless they know the true consequences of what they could be in for.  You want to tell them about the unworldly creatures that are very real, but you think that they won’t believe you unless they have proof.  So, you came to me to see if I knew the location of the third group so that you could have them observe it for real and then they would believe you and know what they are potentially in for.  Is that right?”  Alex asks.

               “Pretty much, yeah.”  Joe agrees.

               “Ok.  I don’t know the location of that group, but I can most likely find that out relatively easily.  I get what you are trying to do, and I support it, but I just don’t know about it.  Tell you what, let me ask around and see if I can find the information you need.  Is there a deadline on this information?”  Alex asks.

               “Yeah, that’s the other thing.  The attack is tomorrow morning, so we need to know that information as soon as possible so that we can scope out the area and find a safe place for Dan’s friends to observe from a safe distance.”  Joe says.

               “Ok.  Give me until lunchtime and I will find out the information that you are seeking.  I usually don’t have lunch over there, but I can probably make that happen today.  Sawyer doesn’t have me doing anything until later this afternoon.  All the gangs are waiting to see what the fall out is from Patrick’s attack, so there isn’t a ton of stuff on the radar right now.  That works in your favor.  I will find you and Dan at lunch, and I will share the information with you then.  Does that work?”  Alex asks.

               “Yes.  Dan will most likely have to check it out without me.  My family is visiting me today right after lunch.  The deal was that I would find out the information, and Dan would scope out the area.  If you’d like to join him, you are more than welcome to.”  Joe adds.

               Alex smiles. 

               “Your family is visiting today, huh?  Will there be other activities occurring during that visit?”  Alex asks.

               “Yup.”  Joe answers.

               “Alright man!  You enjoy those other activities!”  Alex encourages.

               “Oh, don’t worry.  I will!”  Joe replies with a huge smile on his face.

               “I will see you at lunchtime, Joe.”  Alex says.

               “Alright.  See you then.  Thanks Alex.”  Joe responds before turning around and heading to the end of the hallway to meet back up with Clark.

Chapter Text

Chapter 56

********Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Mentions of Graphic Violence and Rape********

               When Dr. Woodard walks back into Patrick’s room to check on him, he finds that Patrick is sound asleep.  He was hoping that he’d be able to do the CT scan and the MRI, but he can’t really do that right now with Patrick asleep.  He’ll give him some more time and come back later.  The poor guy has been through so much and he must be exhausted from everything.  He decides to let him sleep and come back in two hours.  He still hasn’t heard from Spencer so he figures he will still be here for a while, which is totally fine.  Spencer needed a nice, long break after everything that happened, and he really didn’t mind staying longer.  If he had to guess, he would say that Spencer would be back later this afternoon, or in the early evening.  Dr. Woodard leaves Patrick’s room and returns to Spencer’s office to go over Patrick’s blood work.  He opens the files and studies them.  Everything appears to be normal.  Patrick’s iron is low, and he is slightly anemic.  He’s not bad enough to need a blood transfusion though, so Dr. Woodard orders a series of iron infusions.  It looks like he will need six bags to get him back in the normal range.  Dr. Woodard is about to tell the nurses to start the iron infusions when the phone in Spencer’s office rings.

               “Hello?”  He answers.

               “You don’t sound like Spencer.  Is he there?”  The man asks.

               “That is because I’m not Spencer.  I’m Dr. Woodard.  I took over for him last night so that he could go home for a while and have a break.  The poor man could barely see straight.”  He explains.

               “Oh!  That’s right.  I’m sorry, I totally forgot about that.  Anyway, this is the Warden, Andy Hurley.  I was just calling to see how Patrick was doing.  I’m swamped with meetings all day, otherwise I would come and visit him.”  Andy says.

               “Hello, Andy.  Patrick is doing much better today.  He’s still in a lot of pain, but it is down from yesterday.  I am going to do a CT scan and MRI of his abdomen, but he is sleeping right now.  His iron levels are low, so I’m going to give him a series of iron infusions to get that back up.  There’s not much else to report.”  Dr. Woodard informs him.

               “That’s really good to hear.  He was in really bad shape a few days ago.  Please tell him that I called and that I’m happy he is doing better.  Again, I would visit if I could.  Do you have any idea when Spencer is coming back?”  Andy asks.

               “Not really.  I told him to take as long as he needed.  My guess is that he will be back later this afternoon or in the early evening.  He said he’d call when he was on his way back.” Dr. Woodard answers.

               “Are you ok with staying that long?  Do you need someone to relieve you before that?”  Andy asks.

               “Yes.  I’m fine.  It’s not like there is a ton of stuff going on here.  If I get tired, I will take a nap on one of the couches in Spencer’s office.  Let him take the time he needs.  He’s no good to anyone unless he is well rested, and his mind is sharp.  I will be fine.”  He replies.

               “Alright.  Please make sure you log all your hours so that you get paid for all this time.  Thanks for helping out.”  Andy mentions.

               “Not a problem at all.  I will log all my hours and turn them into you and Dr. Childers.  You are most welcome!”  He responds and hangs up the phone.

               Then he goes to tell the nurses to start the iron infusions.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Gabe is taken back to his cell after breakfast, but he convinces the guard to “forget” to close the cell door because he has work to do.  The vampire meeting will happen today at 4:00 p.m. in the gymnasium.  He must make contact with all the vampires and inform them of when the meeting will happen.  He can’t possibly contact all the vampires in time, so he decides he needs to divide and conquer.  The first place he goes is to see Ryland in A-32.  Gabe heads in that direction and it only takes a few minutes to get there.  Ryland is in his cell, so Gabe bangs on the bars to get his attention.  Ryland’s cell mate isn’t there, which Gabe is happy about.  Ryland looks up, sees Gabe, and begins walking to the front of his cell.

               “Hello, Gabe!  What can I do for you?”  Ryland asks.

               “I’m hoping that you can help me with something.  The attack is tomorrow, and I need to have a meeting with all the vampires that will be involved at 4:00 p.m. today in the gymnasium.  There are far too many of them for me to contact each one individually.  I was wondering if you would be willing to help me?”  Gabe asks.

               “Sure, what do you want me to do?”  Ryland asks.

               “There are a total of thirty vampires involved, one for each of Earnesto’s men not including Earnesto and Mateo.  I suggest we split the list in half and each of us will be responsible for telling all the members on their list.  Do you think you could do that?”  Gabe asks.

               “Of course!  It shouldn’t be a problem.  Can I see the list so that we can give me fifteen that are at least close to me?”  Ryland asks.

               “Yes.  I actually have it right here.”  Gabe says as he pulls a copy out of his pocket.

               They both inspect the list and their locations.  They split the list and assign them to whomever is closest to the location.  Ryland has his fifteen and Gabe has his fifteen.

               “Remember, the meeting is at 4:00 p.m. in the gymnasium.  I expect each and every one on the list to attend.  Do you have any questions?”  Gabe asks.

               “Nope, I need to inform my fifteen vampires when and where the meeting will happen today and make sure that they understand that their presence is mandatory.  That’s it, right?”  Ryland asks.

               “Yup.  I will see you and your list of vampires later today.  If you’ll excuse me, I must begin contacting those on my list.”  Gabe says.

               “Of course!  See you later!”  Ryland says.

               Gabe heads in the direction of the closest vampire on his list.  He will try to hit whomever he can before lunch.  He will work on the rest during lunch and even after lunch until he is finished.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Patrick wakes up in his bed in sick bay.  He has no idea how long he was passed out for, so he looks for the clock in his room.  Unfortunately, Patrick can’t see or read it.  Patrick has had bad vision for most of his life.  Before he was a prisoner, he wore contact lenses most of the time.  Other times, he would wear his glasses.  In prison, he doesn’t have access to either, so he has been trying to do the best he can, and it has kind of worked.  He usually develops massive headaches by the end of the day from straining so badly to see.  He knows he should probably mention it to someone, but he figures if they were to give him glasses, they would most likely get broken, considering everything that has already happened.  Nonetheless, the daily headaches aren’t really helping with his recovery, and they sometimes trigger his migraines, which are terrible.  Should he tell Dr. Woodard, or wait for Spencer to get back?  He’s not really sure how much he trusts Spencer anymore, so he decides to tell Dr. Woodard and see where that gets him.

               The longer he lays there, the more his pain intensifies.  It must be getting close to the time when he can have more pain medication.  He remembers Dr. Woodard saying something about a CT scan and an MRI of his abdomen, so, now that he is awake, he will most likely be dragged to do both of those scans.  He also recalls Dr. Woodard saying something about removing his catheter too.  Patrick will be very happy when that happens.  Honestly, it has been fine, but he was definitely ready for it to be gone.  If he moved the wrong way, he could feel it pull a bit and that was very unpleasant.  Patrick starts looking around the room and notices Brad dozing in the corner.  He could be mean and wake him up, but that might really backfire for him, so he leaves him alone.  Then, as if on cue, Dr. Woodard enters his room with the bottle of fentanyl and a syringe in his hand.

               “Hello, Patrick!  Did you have a nice nap?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “Yeah.  How long was I out?  I had this amazing dream!  It was wonderful!”  Patrick responds, smiling.

               “You’ve been asleep for about four hours.  Your body must’ve needed it.  That’s great to hear!  How are you feeling?  What is your pain level?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “Uh…I feel ok, but my pain has pretty much returned.  I’d say again that my pain number is between an 8 and an 8.5.”  Patrick replies.

               “Ok, well I can at least help you with that part.  I do need you awake for the two scans, so I will give you the max amount that I can with you still being awake.  Once we have done the scans and a few other things, then I will give you the rest.  It’s good that you’re sleeping though.  Your body needs sleep to heal.”  Dr. Woodard points out as he measures the correct amount of fentanyl and injects it into Patrick’s IV.

               Patrick waits a few minutes and then begins feeling the effects from the fentanyl.  His arms and legs start to feel tired and heavy, and a great majority of his pain is gone.  He feels like he can deal with the rest for now.

               “Oh.  I’m very much aware of that.  I did have a question for you though.  I’ve had bad vision for most of my life.  When I was on the outside, I used to wear contacts most of the time, but I would occasionally wear my glasses.  Since I haven’t had access to either of those, I’ve just been trying to make do the best I can.  I’m near sighted, so I can see stuff up close, but I can’t see anything far away.  It was going ok, but lately I’ve developed these massive headaches by the end of the day.  They feel like someone is cutting into my skull and they can also set off migraines.   Who do I need to talk to about this?”  Patrick asks.

               Dr. Woodard looks at him with a kind smile.

               “That would usually be the prison doctor, so I guess that falls on me since Spencer isn’t here.  I will order a vision test for you, and we will go from there.  Is there anything else that you have questions about?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “No, not really.  Do you want to do the scans now?  You also mentioned removing my catheter today.  Which do you want to do first?”  Patrick asks.

               “I need you to try to stand first to see if you can get the bathroom on your own.  Let’s start there.  I’m going to call in the nurses to help you.  I’ll be back in a minute.”  Dr. Woodard says as he leaves the room to get the nurses.

               Patrick just sits there patiently and waits.  Dr. Woodard returns with two male nurses at his side.  These are new nurses that he doesn’t know.  Clara and Sebastien were probably required to go home for a while.  He wonders what the new nurses’ names are.  As if reading his mind, Dr. Woodard comments.

               “Patrick, this is Joel and Ian.  They are the nurses on call right now.  They are going to help you try to stand.  I want you to sit up and swing your legs over the side of the bed.  Gentleman, I need you to put one arm over his shoulder to brace and stabilize him.”  Dr. Woodard instructs.

               Patrick sits up, which is still pretty painful, and manages to swing his legs over the side of the bed.  His feet don’t touch the ground because he is so short.  Joel and Ian each take a side and put one arm over his shoulder and wrap the other around his torso.

               “Are you ready?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “Not really, but let’s do this.”  Patrick answers.

               “Ok.  On three.  One, two, three.”  Dr. Woodard counts.

               On three, both Joel and Ian stand up bracing Patrick.  Patrick’s feet finally touch the floor as they try to stand up.  This causes a massive wave of pain to hit him, and it almost knocks him down, but he does manage to stand on his feet with help.  He cries out in pain.

               “Ugh!!!!!!!”  He screams.

               He stands there long enough for the initial pain to subside before sitting down again.

               “That was very good!  If you think you can make it to the bathroom with some help from the nurses, I think we are good to remove your catheter.”  Dr. Woodard says.

               “Ok. Great.”  Patrick adds.

               He lays back down in his bed while Dr. Woodard removes the catheter.  It hurts as he pulls it out and Patrick seizes up a bit from the pain, but when Dr. Woodard is done, the area down there feels much better.

               “All done.  Let me make sure the staff is here to do the two scans.  I will be back momentarily.”  Dr. Woodard says as he steps out of the room, grabs the phone, and calls over to radiology.

               He returns shortly after that.

               “They are ready for you, Patrick.  Ian, Joel?  Please place him in a mobile bed or a wheelchair and take him over to radiology.  These tests will take some time, Patrick.  Do you need anything before we take you over?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “I’m pretty thirsty.  Can I have a bottle of water?”  Patrick asks.

               “Absolutely!”  Dr. Woodard responds while sending Ian to go grab a cold bottle of water from the fridge.

               Ian grabs the water and returns to hand it to Patrick.

               “Thanks.”  Patrick states.

               “Alright, Patrick.  Which would be more comfortable for your transportation?  Does it hurt too much to sit up?”  Joel asks.

               Patrick thinks about it for a minute.  He needs to start trying to be more mobile and sitting up didn’t hurt that bad.

               “Let’s try the wheelchair.  I’m going to need some help standing.”  Patrick suggests.

               Ian goes to get the wheelchair and stops it right by his bed.

               “No problem!”  Joel says.

               They both sit down on his bed on either side of Patrick.  They each put one arm over Patrick’s shoulder and the other around his torso.  On three, they both stand up and Patrick cries out in pain.

               “Ahhhhh!”  He screams.

               “Ok, Patrick.  The worst part is over.  We are going to take small steps over to the wheelchair.  Ready?”  Ian asks.

               Patrick shakes his head yes and they begin taking tiny steps until they are in front of the wheelchair.  They turn Patrick around and line him up with the seat of the wheelchair and gently lower him down until he is sitting in the wheelchair.  Patrick looks like he’s experiencing some pain, but he is ok for the moment.  They unlock the brakes on the wheelchair and begin wheeling him toward radiology.  Once they get there, they do the same thing only backwards to get him close to the table he has to lay on for the CT scan.  They enlist the help of two other nurses to lift Patrick up and put him onto the table in the correct position.

               “Are we using contrast, or no?”  Patrick asks.

               “Yes.”  The CT tech says.

               Fuck!  I hate the contrast stuff!  It makes everything smell and taste like plastic!  It’s really nasty!

               The tech comes over with the contrast in a syringe and injects it into Patrick’s IV line.  It starts working almost immediately and it’s just as nasty and disgusting as Patrick remembers.  The tech then returns to the machine’s controls and sets it all up.

               “Are you ready?”  He asks.

               “Yes.”  Patrick answers.

               The tech starts the machine, and the table Patrick is laying on slides into the machine.  The machine instructs Patrick of what to do, so he does what he is told.  The test is over before he knows it and the table slides out of the machine.  The nurses work to pick him up and move him off the table, stand up and walk back to the wheelchair.  Patrick sits down and they take him to the MRI machine.  He knows that this test is going to take a long time, especially to get the details that they want from this scan.  He’s most likely looking at ninety minutes to two hours.  Ian and Joel wheel him into the MRI room.  They help him stand and walk to the table he is supposed to lay on.  This one is much lower than the CT one, so they walk him over and sit down with him.  Then Patrick swings his legs so that they are going into the machine and lays down.  The MRI tech gives him some headphones and asks him what kind of music he likes.  Patrick doesn’t want to be a bother to them, so he tells them rock and punk.  He puts the headphones on and hears the music playing.  They do this because the MRI machine is so loud.

               “Ok, Patrick.  I need you to stay as still as possible for the next two hours. Give me a thumbs up when you are ready.”  Patrick hears through his headphones.

               He looks over at the tech and gives them a thumbs up and the tech starts the machine.  The table that Patrick is laying on slides into the machine.  Patrick just focuses on relaxing and listening to the music he was provided with.  It seems like this is taking forever because it is.  He’s not had an MRI scan take that much time before.  A few years ago, he was invited to go skiing in Vermont by one of his close friend’s family.  Patrick decided to go, and he had a great time, until he wiped out at the bottom of the hill on their last night.  Patrick was very lucky that he didn’t break anything, and he was ok for the most part.  His knee did get pretty messed up, but it didn’t break.  He’d been loaded onto a helicopter and taken to the hospital where they did an MRI of his knee.  It lasted about an hour and showed that his knee wasn’t broken, but that he’d torn many of the ligaments including his ACL.  He’d had surgery to fix it, his knee was in a brace from his hip down to his ankle for six weeks afterward and he had to use crutches to get around.  Then he had to go through physical therapy when it had healed to get the motion back in it.  It was a long process, and he is fine now, but the point was that his knee MRI didn’t take nearly as long.  He makes it for about an hour before he gets bored.  They’d given him a medical magazine that he decided to open and take a look at.  He still had to stay very still, but he found quite a few articles that were very interesting and by the time he was done reading all of them, the table was sliding out of the MRI machine because it was done.  Ian and Joel came to sit next to him and help him get up.  They walked slowly back to the wheelchair and sat him down in it.  Then they began wheeling him back to sick bay, helped him use the restroom, and sat him back in his bed.  He was able to lay himself down and pull up the covers.  Once he was settled, he realized just how tired he was after that ordeal.  He sees Dr. Woodard walk in.

               “Hey Patrick.  You did very well during the scans.  We are just waiting for the reports to come back, which will take quite a while.  Would you like the rest of your pain medication?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “Yes, please.  That really wiped me out and all the moving around was pretty painful.  I’m exhausted.”  Patrick answers.

               “Ok.  This should definitely help with the pain and will most likely make you very sleepy.  Sleep for as long as your body needs.  If anyone asks to visit, they will have to wait until later.”  Dr. Woodard says as he measures out the correct amount and injects it into Patrick’s IV.  A few minutes later, Patrick is passed out and drifts peacefully into dreamland.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Alex is currently in the prison gym lifting weights.  He must keep up his physique as part of his cover.  The more beefed up he is, the scarier he looks and that feeds into his cover of being a psychopathic killer that is capable of anything.  Today, the gym is almost totally full, so Alex decided that this would be the best place to obtain the information that Joe and Dan need without drawing a lot of attention to himself.  He’d also really prefer to get the information without compelling anyone to tell him.  He needs to be really careful and has to appear as human as possible.  As he takes a break, he looks around the room and notices certain inmates studying a collection of pictures and a map with various locations on it, while waiting to use the various machines, as well as others that are discussing it.  This should be relatively easy.  He starts by looking around at the people that he already knows and members of the Latin Kings, who will most definitely be involved in the attack. If he finds someone, he has an in with, then he should be able to steer the conversation towards the attack without it being super obvious that he is seeking information about it.  He immediately spots five different people that he knows well.  On a second look, he finds two more people.  He tries to decide which one to start with.  He has known all of them for about the same amount of time.  Of the seven people, he knows of about four that are very talkative, sometimes to a fault.  He also needs to pick someone who isn’t afraid of him because of the company he keeps, the gang he belongs to, and the things that he has done to get where he is.  That narrows it down to two.  Of the two different people, he feels like he is a bit closer to one of them, so he decides to start with him.  His name is Mark, and he feels like Mark can have loose lips sometimes and accidentally leaks information that he isn’t supposed to.  Mark was using the bench press, so Alex got up and made his way over to Mark.

               “Hey Mark!  How are you doing?”  Alex asks.

               Mark looks up at him, realizes who he is, and cracks a huge smile on his face.

               “Hey Alex!  Long time, no see!  What’s up with you?”  Mark asks.

               “Not too much.  Sawyer keeps me pretty busy.  I was actually wondering if I could talk to you about something else though.”  Alex mentions.

               “Sure!  What did you want to talk about?”  Mark asks.

               “Um…this is kind of sensitive information that isn’t meant to be heard by just anyone, if you catch my drift.”  Alex continues.

               “Oh!  Ok.  You’d like to talk in private?”  Mark asks.

               “Yes.  Do you have a few minutes?”  Alex asks.

               Mark looks around the room noticing how everyone seems to be paying attention to them.

               “Sure.  Let me do ten more reps and then we can find someplace to talk.  That work?”  Mark asks.

               “Yes.  That’s fine.”  Alex states.

               Mark finishes his ten reps, goes to get the wipes to clean the machine, throws it away when he is done, and approaches Alex.

               “Did you have someplace specific in mind where you wanted to talk?”  Mark asks.

               “No, just somewhere where there aren’t near as many people around.”  Alex answers.

               Alex thinks about it for a minute.  Where has he been lately, where there have been few people?  He remembers a place where Sawyer had him and his cronies drag someone to beat them up.  It was in a more remote part of the prison, but that place should work for them.

               “Actually, I do have a place in mind where we can talk.  Follow me.”  Alex replies.

               Mark follows through the hallways to this more remote area.

               “Are you sure you know where you are going?”  Mark asks.

               “Yes.  This is a place where Sawyer had me and his cronies drag someone to beat them up.  There was no one near the area.”  Alex comments.

               “You’re not taking me there to kill me, are you?”  Mark asks.

               Alex stops to look at Mark.  He appears to be a little scared, so Alex starts laughing.

               “Fuck no!  I like you Mark, in that non-sexual friendship way.  I would never do that to someone I like, unless I was ordered to, which I was not.  This was just the first place that popped into my head that I know is more private.  That’s a good one though!”  Alex says while laughing to lighten the mood. 

               Mark starts laughing too.

               “Haha! Good!  I was getting a little worried there for a minute.  You never know, especially in prison.  Ok.  That makes me feel much better.  Lead on!”  Mark says.

               “No worries.  We are almost there.”  Alex adds.

               They walk for a few more minutes when they come to a big open area that looks like a classroom, but without a door.

               “Now we are here.  I’m going to sit on the floor because my feet hurt.  I wish there were chairs we could sit in.”  Alex states.

               Alex moves to the middle of the area and sits down on the ground.  Mark does the same and sits down on the floor facing Alex.

               “So, what did you want to talk about?”  Mark asks.

               “Well, I’m sure you have heard by now that an inmate that had been claimed and marked as Gabe Saporta’s property was recently brutally attacked, gangbanged, stabbed, and left for dead by the Nuestra Familia Gang.  Right?”  Alex asks.

               “Yeah.  Pretty much everyone has heard about or knows about that.  That’s terrible what they did to him.”  Mark responds.

               “I was the one that found him.  He was in horrible shape, almost as if he already had one foot in the grave.  I took him to sick bay as soon as I found him and even Dr. Smith was surprised that he survived it.  Then he had two surgeries.  The first one went fine.  The second one did not.  It took them eleven hours because they found massive internal bleeding that took them five hours to completely stop.  They almost lost him twice during that time.  Then it turned out that the damage was way worse than they thought it was.  While they were trying to fix it all, he threw a blood clot from his legs that got lodged in his left lung, causing a Pulmonary Embolism, where they almost lost him a third time.  They had to stop what they were doing to remove the blood clot from his left lung.  Afterwards, they continued fixing the damage until they were finished.  They told him that if they’d pushed back his surgery any longer, he would’ve died from all the internal bleeding.  He is slowly recovering now.  As I’m sure you can imagine, Gabe was incredibly angry about what happened to him, and a counterattack is being planned for vengeance.  Were you aware of that part?”  Alex asks.

               “Yes, actually.  I volunteered to be a part of it.  What they did to that poor man was beyond heinous.  They deserve to be punished!  I only wish that I was part of the group that got to kill them, but I’m not.  I am in the group that is only allowed to beat the members of the gang that weren’t involved but supported the attack.  I mean, I plan on beating my person within an inch of their life, I just wish I could kill them.”  Mark informs him.

               Alex is so happy to hear that Mark is a part of this attack, it makes his job so much easier!

               “I understand what you are saying.  I would love to wipe that gang off the map for what they did to him, but I am unable to be involved due to my station with Sawyer.  I can’t jeopardize anything that could compromise our current relationship.  We aren’t together, if that’s what you’re thinking, just FYI.   It’s just that I worked very hard to get where I am and I’m not going to throw that away.  I’m sure you understand.”  Alex explains.

               “I do understand, Alex.  If I were in your position, I would do the same.  Lucky for me, I’m just a lowly inmate and no one gives a shit about what I do, so it works out.”  Mark points out.

               Alex takes a deep breath.  Now comes the hard part.

               “I need to ask you something about the locations in the attack plan.  I’m hoping you will be willing to help me out, without asking why I need to know this information.”  Alex states.

               “Ok.  Shoot.  What do you want to know?”  Mark asks.

               “I need to know the location of the group that Gabe is calling his secret weapons and where their part of his plan will take place.  I can’t tell you why though. One of my other friends is the guy that got attacked’s cell mate.  He has been trying to form a network of prisoners that are willing to help out, protect, and keep his cell mate safe when he isn’t around.  I need the location of Gabe’s secret weapons to fully educate these people about what they are dealing with and may encounter while protecting him.  That’s all I can tell you.  Can you help me out?”  Alex asks.

               It takes a minute for Mark to process that information and to answer.

               “Yes.  I will help you.  It sounds like that guy’s cell mate is trying to do a good thing for him and in my book, that’s all the information I need.  We were given a map of all the locations so if we found someone that was part of a different group, then we would know where to take them.  I can’t give you the map, because I need it, but if you come back to my cell, I can show it to you.  If you have a way of photocopying it, that works too.”  Mark answers.

               Alex lets out a deep breath that he didn’t even know he was holding, since he must mimic everything that humans do.  He’s not happy about it, but he needs a copy of that map, so he is going to have to compel someone to let him into the office and make a copy of it.  He should only have to deal with one, maybe two people and he can make them forget that they ever saw him.

               “Thank you, Mark.  Take me to your cell and show me.  I do have a way of photocopying it.” Alex responds.

               “Sure thing.  I’m in cell block W120.  It’s not too far from here.  Let’s get going so I don’t get in trouble for being gone for too long.”  Mark suggests.

               Alex and Mark head toward his cell block.  As they get close, they notice that there is a guard at the entrance to the cell block.

               “Don’t worry about him.  I’ll handle it, ok?”  Alex remarks.

               “How?”  Mark asks.

               “You don’t want to know.”  Alex replies.

               “Ok, you’re the boss.”  Mark agrees.

               They walk up to the guard and Alex is holding Mark’s arm like he is a guard.

               “Hello!  I’m here to return my friend to his cell.  I needed to borrow him for two hours to complete a job that Sawyer sent me on.  He is in W120.”  Alex says.

               Alex makes direct eye contact with the guard and sees his eyes gloss over.  The guard begins to completely agree with Alex’s story.

               “Yes.  Thank you for returning him.  You may proceed.”  The guard affirms as he opens the door to the cell block.

               “Oh.  Would you mind unlocking the door to his cell while you are at it?”  Alex asks.

               “Sure.  I will follow you back to his cell.”  The guard responds.

               “Thank you.”  Alex says as he leads Mark and the guard back to his cell.

               When they get to cell 120, the guard opens the door and they both step in.  Then the guard closes the door and leaves for the moment.  When they are sure he is gone, Alex addresses Mark.

               “Ok.  Show me the map, please.”  Alex states.

               “How did you do that?  It was amazing!”  Mark asks and comments.

               “It was nothing.  I’ve always been very good at convincing people of things.  When I was a kid, it was convincing people that all my made-up stories were real.  I don’t really know how I do it, but it always seems to work.”  Alex informs him, hoping that will be enough to get Mark to leave it alone.

               “Well, you are really good at it!  Hang on a second.  I will get the map.”  Mark adds.

               Alex watches as Mark goes to a loose brick on the wall and pulls it out.  Behind the brick, there is a small space that seems to contain Mark’s important items.  He grabs the map, puts the brick back in place, and brings it over to Alex.

               Mark sits down on his bed and motions for Alex to sit next to him.  Thank God that Mark’s cell mate isn’t here because that would make things way more complicated.

               “I’m in the first and second group.  We were told that once the attack started, we were to separate the gang into four different groups and take them to specific locations.  We were given pictures of the members of each group so if we found someone from a different group, we were supposed to take them to their designated location.  Group four is Earnesto, Mateo, and Jesus.  Group three was Earnesto’s men, and they are for Gabe’s secret weapons.  We are the first and second group.  Our job would consist of splitting the remainder of the gang into two groups of fifty and bringing them to the first and second locations here, and here.  Once everyone was separated into the correct group, we were to leave them there under heavy guard for an hour before we started enforcing their punishments.”  Mark explains.

               “I see.  So, which of these is group three’s designated location?”  Alex asks.

               “Group three’s designated location is here in the old, abandoned cafeteria that we stopped using when the new mess hall was built.  It was also used as the old bomb fallout shelter during the 1960s.  It is mostly underground and there is only one door in and out of the room that will be heavily guarded.”  Mark informs him.

               Fuck!  That is going to make things much harder for Dan and Joe.  Perhaps there is another way in, through the ventilation system or some old tunnel that leads into the room.  He will have to help Joe and Dan find a way in and a safe place to see what is happening.

               “Thank you so much for this, Mark.  I owe you one after this.  May I borrow this to make a copy of it and I will bring it straight back here when I’m done?”  Alex asks.

               Mark seems uneasy about this.  Alex can’t take him with him, especially if he must compel them.

               “I promise, I will only need it for an hour max.  I will go straight to the copy machine and back here immediately.  Please?”  Alex asks.

               Mark takes a deep breath and lets it out.

               “Ok, but I’m going to hold you to that hour time frame.”  Mark insists as he hands the map to him.

               “I will be back in less than an hour.  I swear on my life.”  Alex promises.

               “Ok.  How are you going to get out of here?”  Mark asks.

               “The same way I got in.  Guard!”  Alex calls.

               The guard comes running down the hallway.

               “Yes?”  The guard asks.

               “I need to return to my own cell now.  Could you please open the door?”  Alex asks as he makes direct eye contact and the guard’s eyes gloss over.

               “Yes.”  The guard says and presses the button to open the door to Mark’s cell.

               “Thank you.  Mark, I will see you soon.”  Alex says as he walks down the hall quickly.

               The guard goes back to his post in front of the cell block.  Alex makes sure no one is around to see him run super speed to the main office where the copy machine is.  As soon as the coast is clear, he takes off and is in front of the main office in one second.  Then he opens the door and walks in to see the main secretary.  There doesn’t appear to be anyone else there.  He walks up to her desk.

               “Hello!  I was wondering if you could help me out.  You see, I need to make a copy of something very important, but I can’t remember my copy code.  It will only take a minute.  Would you mind looking into my eyes?”  Alex asks.

               The secretary looks directly into Alex’s eyes and her eyes gloss over.  He has her now.

               “Sure!  I can help you with that.  You can just use my copy code, 5139.  Do you know where the copier is?”  She asks.

               “Yes.  Thank you so much!  I will be quick, I promise.”  Alex says. 

               He goes to the copier, places the map on the copier face, punches in 5139, and then hits the copy button.  It roars to life and the copy of the map pops out on the side of the copier.  He grabs it and grabs the original before returning to the secretary.

               “Thank you so much for your help!  Look into my eyes again please.  You will not remember this once I leave the room.  I was never here, and I didn’t make any copies on your copy machine.  Do you understand?”  Alex asks.

               The secretary repeats everything Alex just said.

               “Yes.  I understand.”  She replies.

               “Good. Thank you.  Goodbye.”  Alex says as he leaves the main office.

               When he is standing outside the door of the main office, he checks to make sure no one is around to see him before he takes off at his super speed and returns to cell block W within two seconds.  He compels the guard to let him go visit his friend.  The guard unlocks the door to the cell block and Alex walks in and down the hallway until he reaches Mark’s cell.  Mark isn’t paying attention, so he hits the bars a few times.  Mark sees him and is almost in awe at how fast Alex came back.

               “I told you I would be very quick.  Here is your map back.  Make sure your cell mate doesn’t know about that loose brick.  If he finds out about it, it could be very bad for you.  Watch your back.  Thanks again, Mark.  I’ll see you around.”  Alex warns as he hands Mark the map back.

               “You’re welcome, and thanks for looking out for me!”  Mark adds as Alex is turning around to leave.

               Alex walks back down the hall to the entrance of the cell block.  The guard opens the door for him.

               “Thank you for your help!  Would you mind looking into my eyes?”  Alex asks.

               The guard makes direct eye contact with him and his eyes gloss over.

               “You will not remember anything that has happened in the past two hours.  You never saw me bring Mark back to his cell.  Mark returned on his own and you put him back in his cell with no trouble.  Do you understand?”  Alex asks.

               The guard repeats everything Alex just said.

               “Yes.  I understand.”  The guard replies.

               “Good.”  Alex says as he turns around and heads back to his cell on the less violent side of the prison, so he can share this information with Joe and Dan at lunch.

Chapter Text

Chapter 57

********Trigger Warning for Drug Use and Mentions of Graphic Violence and Rape********

               Joe was escorted back to his cell after he met with Alex.  He was so excited to see his family that he could barely keep it under wraps.  Ruby has been growing like a weed for the past two years.  She’s twelve now and he can’t wait to hear all about her life.  It’s hard to believe that she will be a teenager next year.  He still feels very guilty for missing all of Ruby’s milestones and knows that he will continue to miss out on everything until he is released.  By then, Ruby will be nineteen and he will have missed everything.  There are days that he curses the Garibaldi family for using their money and social standing to make sure that Joe was charged with murder.  If he had to do it again though, he would do the same thing.  Joe would do anything for his family.  Marie and Ruby get more beautiful each time they visit.  He’s not going to lie; he is definitely looking forward to his conjugal visit with his wife.  It’s been a while since the last one due to scheduling conflicts and Joe feels like he really needs this, with everything that has happened recently.  Of course, he makes do with his hand when he’s starting to go nuts, but nothing beats the real thing.

               He wonders if he should tell Marie and Ruby about everything with Patrick.  He’s still pretty upset about all of it.  It might be good for him to unload on someone safe so that he can try to help his best and move past it.  If he bottles it all up, he knows he’s going to eventually explode his anger on someone, which depending on the someone, could make his life much worse.  He thought about talking to one of the therapists right after it happened, but he wasn’t ready to talk about it then.  He was still too angry.  Maybe he should try to make an appointment now that he’s had time to process everything. 

               Joe looks at the clock and sees that it is almost time for lunch.  He really hopes Alex was able to find out the information that he and Dan needed to show Dan’s friends what they are in for.  He does trust Alex and believes him when he says he can get the information.  He’s just really hoping that Alex had enough time to get it.  He doesn’t have much time before lunch to get anything done, so he grabs his book and reads for about half an hour when Clark shows up to take him to lunch.

               “Hey Joe!  It’s time for lunch!”  Clark calls.

               Joe makes his way to the front of the cell where Clark presses the button to open the door.  Joe steps out, and Clark closes the cell door.  They begin walking toward the mess hall.

               “Hello, Clark.”  Joe says with a big smile on his face.

               “You look pretty happy.  What’s that all about?”  Clark asks, happy to see that Joe is happy.   

               “My family is visiting me today and I’m so happy to see them!”  Joe exclaims.

               “That’s wonderful!  When are you doing that?”  Clark asks.

               “Right after lunch, so you won’t need to take me to my cell.  You will need to escort me to the visiting area instead.”  Joe shares.

               “Ok.  Sounds good.  You seem very excited about this visit.  Tell me, will this visit include intimate time with your wife by chance?”  Clark asks.

               “Hell yeah, it does.”  Joe answers.

               “I understand your level of excitement then.  I would be excited if it were for me!  That’s great, Joe!  After everything that has happened lately, you probably need a nice distraction.”  Clark states.

               “Yeah.  These past few days have been very hard on me.  It’s so frustrating when you see abusive, bad things happening to someone as pure as Patrick.  He’s done nothing to deserve any of the treatment he has received on the inside.  It is also incredibly frustrating when you know who the abuser is, but you can’t do anything to stop it because it would make it a million times worse for Patrick.  He’s the collateral damage that is stuck between the crosshairs.  Every time he tells me about an experience with his abuser, a small part of me dies a little inside.  Patrick is getting really tough though, and his abuser hasn’t broken him yet, so I encourage him to keep fighting another day, even though I know it is only a matter of time before his abuser finally breaks him.”  Joe explains.

               “That does sound like a very tough situation.  I’m sorry you are dealing with this.”  Clark comments.

               “Thank you.  That means a lot.”  Joe says as they reach the doors of the mess hall.

               “You’re welcome.  Have a good lunch and I will be waiting for you when you are done.”  Clark adds.

               Joe opens the door, enters the mess hall, and proceeds to the food line, which was longer than usual.  Oh well!  It gives me more time to people watch.  As Joe looks around the room, he notices several things.  The first is that he sees Gabe making his rounds of the room.  He seems to be looking for specific people and when he sees them, he approaches them, informs them of something relatively quickly and then moves onto the next person.  In this case though, he is more than likely looking for his secret weapons (vampires that will be involved in the attack).  He sees Ryland Blackinton doing the same thing as well.  Joe knows that Gabe had a gang meeting with the humans yesterday.  It makes sense that now he is planning a meeting with the vampires later this afternoon.

               Joe continues looking around the room and notices that the members of the Nuestra Familia seem on-edge and frightened.  They probably know that something is coming, but he doesn’t think they have any idea on what scale this attack will be on.  Joe smiles.  They have it coming!  What they did to Patrick was on a whole other level.  They deserve everything they get and so much more!

               Joe is now almost at the front of the food line.  He takes one more look around the room to see if anything else interesting is happening, but the rest seems relatively normal; as normal as a mess hall in a prison can be.  Joe is now next in line, so he grabs a tray, visits the different food stations, grabs something to drink, and finds an empty table to wait for Dan and Alex.  He starts eating while he waits.  The sooner he finishes, the sooner he gets to see his family.  Dan walks over and sits down at their table.

               “Were you able to get that information?”  Dan asks.

               “I think so.  We are waiting for one more person to join us.”  Joe answers.

               “Who?  It better not be Gabe!”  Dan asks.

               “Are you two talking about me?  I think my nose is itching and my ears are burning.”  Alex says as he approaches their table and sits down.

               “Yeah, we kind of were without mentioning your name.”  Joe replies.

               “Hey Alex, what are you doing on this side of the prison?”  Dan asks.

               “I’m here because I have the information you asked for.”  Alex states.

               “That’s great!  Care to share?”  Dan asks.

               “Let me eat a little first.  Joe, please don’t feel like you need to stay.”  Alex mentions.

               “Oh, don’t worry.  I’m not.  As soon as I’m done eating, I’m out of here.  I’ve got family to see and sex to perform!”  Joe comments.

               “Hey, now!  Don’t rub it in!”  Dan responds with a huge smile on his face.

               “I’m sorry was I too graphic in the nature of my visit today?  Does that make you jealous?  Too fucking bad!”  Joe teases.

               They are all laughing pretty hard when Alex reaches into his pocket and pulls out what seems to be a map.

               “I spoke with a friend and found out that he was actually involved in the human part of the plan.  He was at the meeting yesterday and was given pictures of all the gang members and which groups they were a part of.  The first goal is to separate everyone into four groups and bring the members of each group to a specific location where they will leave them there for an hour to let their minds run away with ideas of what they think might be coming.  Group three will be for Earnesto’s men and Gabe plans to use his secret weapons on them.  Group three’s location will be here in the old, abandoned cafeteria that doubled as a bomb and fallout shelter during the 1960s.  The only catch is that there is only one door in and out of the room and it will be heavily guarded.  I have some ideas to see if there is another way into the room that I will help Dan research.  My first thought was that maybe there was a way in through the ventilation shafts.  The other idea is a bit more far-fetched.  It has been rumored that there are tunnels underneath the prison that have been long abandoned and are most likely in disrepair.  They were used when the prison first opened in 1935.  If you listen to the stories, these tunnels were used to transport patients to the psych ward without being seen.  The psych ward back then was where some of the more morally questionable doctors would experiment on the prisoners.  Inmates would disappear and were never seen or heard from again.  Prisoners of the time reported hearing blood curling screams at all hours of the day and night.  The tunnels were also used to dispose of the inmates’ bodies when they were dead.  They lead to an unmarked grave where they dumped all the bodies once they were finished experimenting on them.  The psych ward was eventually shut down when they found out what was going on there.  The tunnels were supposedly sealed after that, but there are some adventurous inmates that swear that the tunnels are still open and are navigable.”  Alex informs Joe and Dan.

               Joe and Dan look a little spooked.  Alex sees this and tries to lighten the mood a bit.

               “It’s just a story, but as you know, many stories have some truth to them.  It may be worth checking out.”  Alex suggests.

               “I have a question.”  Joe asks.

               “Ok.  Shoot.”  Alex says.

               “If these tunnels still exist and are open, why don’t inmates use them to try to escape?”  Joe asks.

               “You’re not the first to ask that question, Joe.  The answer is because the tunnels only led to the old psych ward which has since been demolished.  That’s not to say that there aren’t more tunnels that lead elsewhere, but from what I understand, these tunnels are like a labyrinth, go on for miles, and there is only one correct direction.  I think that some inmates have tried to use them to escape only to get lost and end up dying down there.”  Alex explains.

               “Ok.  Is there any way we can find out more about them or find a map of them to see where they lead, or one with the right course on it so we don’t get lost?”  Joe asks.

               “We would have to do more research to find out.  I’m not sure we can find that information before tomorrow.  I’m not even sure that I believe that they still exist or that they haven’t caved in completely to make them unpassable.  I’m just telling you what I’ve been told about them.  Honestly, I think our better shot is to see if we can get in through a ventilation shaft.”  Alex proposes.

               “I like that idea better.  I’ll admit.  I am intrigued about the tunnels, but not enough to go down there, get lost, and die.”  Joe comments.

               “I agree with Joe.”  Dan seconds.

               “Ok.  After lunch, Dan and I will go and scope out the room to see if there is another way in.  Once we see the room, we will look at a building map of the ventilation shafts in the prison library to see if there is a way in that way.  Worst case scenario, I may have another way to get us in.  Let me be clear, if the worst-case scenario happens, I can’t be involved.  I do know some others that could help you.”  Alex says as he shares a knowing look with Joe.

               “That sounds like a good plan.  Let me know what you guys find out, but not until after I’m done visiting with my family.  Dan, maybe you can update me later at work.  Now, if you two will excuse me, I have some meeting and some fucking to do.”  Joe states with a huge smile on his face.

               “Enjoy your visit, Joe!”  Alex calls out as he’s leaving.

               “Yeah!  Enjoy your fucking too!”  Dan adds.

               Joe looks back at them for a minute, shakes his head, and then goes to find Clark.  He finds him waiting where he usually waits during meals.  He is holding the chains that go around his wrists, his waist, and his ankles that inmates are required to wear when they meet face to face with outsiders.  Joe walks up to him.

               “Ok.  I’m ready to go.”  Joe shares.

               “That was quick!  Did you even taste your food?”  Clark asks.

               “Tasting your food is overrated, especially when there are other things to do.”  Joe comments.

               “Ok.  We need to put the chains on before we leave.  I know they are unnecessary, but that’s the prison’s policy when dealing with outsiders.”  Clark informs him.

               “I know the drill, I understand, and I’m used to it.  Go ahead and put them on me so we can get going.”  Joe replies as Clark puts the chains on him.  

“Ok.  Let’s go!  Do you know which visiting room you will be in?”  Clark asks.

               “Yeah.  I think they told me visiting room three for the family meeting.  I’m not sure about the other part.”  Joe answers.

               “Alright then.  To visiting room three, we shall go.”  Clark affirms.

               “Lead the way.”  Joe says.

               They begin walking toward the visiting rooms.  They are located at the front of the prison, so they have a ways to go.  They chat about simple things like what was for breakfast, how Patrick is doing, what he had for lunch, etc.  Nothing involved or anything.  Joe wanted to keep his mood light so he veered away from anything too personal, anything related to the retribution attack, or their plans to sneak Dan’s friends into the area where the vampires would be punishing Earnesto’s men.  They reach a lull in the conversation and continue walking without saying much.  It’s kind of nice.  Joe feels like he’s always doing something or discussing something with someone.  Sometimes it’s nice to just walk with someone but not engage them in conversation.  The last few days have been pretty hard on him.  He’s looking forward to someone else talking and leading the conversation for a while.  He just wishes that he could do it without being in chains and without several guards being present in the room with Joe and his family.  There is no such thing as privacy in prison.  You are never alone.  There are always either guards or other inmates with you and all those inmates are just waiting for a chance to stab you in the back if you’re not watching.  Everyone that is here, except maybe Joe and Patrick, has done horrible things to land them there and will take advantage of any opportunity they can to make their situations even slightly better.  It’s one of the things that takes a long time to get used to.  You never really do get used to it though, it’s more like you understand that no one here is your friend and that they will sell you out at a moment’s notice if it somehow benefits them.  There are a select few friends that you actually trust and will have your back, but not many.  He’s lucky to have found Patrick, Dan, and Alex.

               Joe is so swept up in his thoughts that he hadn’t even realized that they were standing outside of visiting room three for a few minutes.  He sees Marie and Ruby inside sitting at a table.

               Joe looks at Clark.

“I won’t need to wear these during my conjugal visit though, right?”  Joe asks about the chains.   

               “Yes.  That is correct.  However, you will both be searched prior to entering and exiting your private room with your wife.”  Clark informs him.

               “Yeah, I know.  I just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t some new rule requiring them.  I mean, some people are into the bondage thing, but not my wife and I.  It would make things difficult.”  Joe replies.

               Clark unlocks the door and allows Joe to enter the room.  Ruby sees Joe and comes running toward him, jumping into his arms.

               “Dad!”  She calls to him.

               Joe catches her with a huge smile on his face and gives her a big kiss and a giant hug.

               “Hey, sweetheart!  I missed you so much!” Joe exclaims.

               “I missed you too, Dad!  I can’t wait to tell you about all the cool things that we have done in school this year, and all the fun things that we’ve done since we were here last!”  Ruby shouts, so excited that she can’t contain herself.

               “I can’t wait to hear about them either.  Let’s go sit at the table with Mom, ok?  Then you can tell me everything.”  Joe suggests.

               “Ok.”  She says. 

               Joe sets her down, she grabs his hand, and they both walk to the table hand-in-hand.  Joe can’t help but notice how much bigger her hand has gotten since the last time he saw her.  Marie had told him that Ruby had had a big growth spurt, but he didn’t really notice how much she’d grown until just now as he’s holding her hand.  Her fingernails are painted a pretty color pink.  He reminds himself to tell her how much he likes them.  They both reach the table and sit down.  Clark cuffs Joe’s hands to the top of the table, and his ankles to the floor.  Clark gives him a look that says that he doesn’t feel that this is necessary but must do it anyway.  Joe shoots him with a look of complete understanding.  Once he is done, Clark steps away from the table to go stand as far away from them as he is allowed to be.

               Marie makes eye contact with Joe, smiles, stands to hug, and kiss him, and sits down at the table across from him.  She looks absolutely gorgeous!  Joe has missed seeing her beautiful face every day.  When he looks into her eyes, he feels complete.  It’s almost as if she gives him the strength to keep going day after day.

               “It’s good to see you, Joe.  We’ve both really missed you.  I’m sorry that it’s been so long since we visited you.  It’s not an excuse, but Ruby is involved in a lot of things right now, so she’s really busy.  We’ve been trying to get up here to visit you, but we had to wait until some of her extra-curricular activities finished.  I’ve so missed your face and looking into your beautiful blue eyes.  How have you been?  Are they treating you, ok?”  She asks.

               Joe can feel the butterflies in his stomach when Marie mentions missing his face and his eyes.  He takes a second before answering her question.  Should he tell her about everything, or should he leave it alone?  He kind of feels like he needs to tell her, even though it deals with adult subject matters.  He knows he will feel better after telling her.  He needs her support too.  Life is rough here.

               “I’ve really missed you too!  I think about you guys all the time and wish I could be with you, but we both know that, thanks to a certain someone’s family, that is not possible.  I know it’s hard to schedule stuff around Ruby’s schedule.  Don’t apologize.  I’m just happy you are here now.  To answer your questions, I’ve been ok.  They are treating me fine and no one is messing with me.  A lot has happened in the past six days, and I’m kind of struggling with it all.  I can’t tell you all the details because it involves some very adult subject matter and Ruby is here.  When we are alone, I will elaborate more.  Here is the jist of it.

               I received a new cell mate named Pete about two months ago.  He was a pretty cool and chill guy, so we didn’t really have any issues.  Well about a month ago, there was a prison riot where he tried to escape but was unsuccessful.  He ended up running into one of the doctors in sick bay, rescued him from the other inmates, and brought him to safety.  After the riot, things pretty much went back to normal, but Pete mentioned that he seemed to have this weird connection to Dr.  Stump, but he didn’t really know why.  About a week later, a prisoner was injured beyond the abilities of our sick bay and was being transferred to the hospital by Dr. Stump in an ambulance.  Somehow, Pete and another prisoner named William snuck onto the ambulance without Dr. Stump’s knowledge.  He was tending to his patient when the ambulance crashed and rolled over.  When he came to, his patient was dead, and he found Pete had been stabbed in the front of the ambulance.  He tried to stop the bleeding but was unsuccessful.  It was freezing outside and had already started snowing.  He’s not sure how, but somehow Pete’s condition stabilized, and he was ok.  They’d both been outside for quite a while and Dr. Stump was showing signs of hypothermia, so Pete snuck them into a motel room so that Dr. Stump could warm up.  Dr. Stump was scared because he felt this weird connection to Pete as well, so he called the prison and told them where to find him.  When they got there, Pete was gone.  They brought Dr. Stump back to the prison, treated his wounds, and released him.  This is where things get weird.  As he was leaving sick bay, a guard approached him, the warden, and Dr. Smith.  Somehow, this guard convinced everyone that Dr. Stump had been arrested, tried, and sentenced to five years in prison for aiding and abetting a prisoner to escape.  Usually this process takes months but, according to this guard, all of that had already happened and he handed the warden the correct paperwork to support it.  The warden looked it all over and it seemed right, so he ordered Dr. Stump to start serving his sentence, which makes no sense, because Dr. Stump hadn’t done anything wrong.  The warden had him booked into prison that night and I got a new cell mate.  He told me that he was being framed for something he didn’t do. 

               I showed him the ropes the first day and tried to look out for him as best as I could.  He ended up in sick bay later that day because a formerly disgruntled patient had messed up his ankle.  During that time, Patrick (Dr. Stump) was approached by one of the main gang leaders in the prison who offered him protection from others.  Patrick knew that this felt wrong somehow, so he told him no.  The gang leader was angry, and he ordered his men to beat Patrick within an inch of his life.  He survived his injuries and the gang leader continued to badger him and he kept declining his help.  A lot of bad stuff happened after that, and the gang leader decided to punish him for declining his help.  From then on, he began abusing Patrick daily and ended up marking and claiming him as his property.  He would put Patrick through some of the most painful things that you can imagine, drug him, and rape him.  Well, this continued for several days increasing in intensity every day.  Patrick had a small run in with a member from a rival gang at lunch one day, and the guy from the rival gang tried to attack both of us on our way back to our cell.  Patrick’s abuser sent his men to stop it and Patrick thought, that was the end of it.  Fast forward a few days, and apparently this guy had been tailing him for days trying to find the right time to attack him and finish the job.  I was around him most of the time, so they waited until Patrick was called to the warden’s office, while I was at work.  On his way back to our cell, they brutally attacked him in multiple ways.  Then they took him back to their gang leader, who also abused him in many different ways.  When the gang leader saw the tattoos which stated he was the property of another gang leader, he went nuts and tried to make Patrick’s attack look random by stabbing him five times and dumping him in a well-trafficked area.

               Another inmate found him and took him to sick bay before he bled out.  He went through two very long and involved surgeries, one of which he almost died from, and is now recovering in sick bay.  Now the gang leader that claimed him is planning a retribution attack on the other gang which is supposed to take place tomorrow morning.  I’ve tried to stay out of all of it as much as I could, but Patrick and I have become good friends, and he is one of very few that I actually trust.  That is what has been happening recently.”  Joe explains.

               Marie looks dumbfounded and is completely speechless.  Ruby is just sitting there quietly because she didn’t understand much of what Joe said.  Marie finally blinks and comes out of her head, processing everything Joe just told her.

               “Oh! My God!  Joe!  That is horrible!  I don’t even know what to say.  I’m so sorry that you are dealing with all of this.  How can I help you?”  Marie asks.

               “I don’t even really know.  All this stuff is happening and there is nothing I can do about it without making things ten trillion times worse for Patrick.  I have been there for him at every step, and I have helped protect him from others.  I just feel helpless.  I try to stay strong for Patrick and encourage him to keep fighting, but day after day, things just go from bad to worse for him and I’m left to pick up the pieces.  This last attack shook me pretty bad.  Patrick almost died twice.  Dr. Smith wasn’t even sure how he survived it; it was that bad.  Then they do the surgeries and find massive internal bleeding that takes them hours to stop, they almost lost him twice and then find out that the damage was way worse than they thought, and they almost lost him again.  It took them eleven hours to complete the surgery.  He’s ok and out of the woods, but I don’t know.  I knew prison is bad and terrible things happen to people, but I guess I wasn’t expecting something so terrible and heinous to happen to someone I knew and was close to.  He doesn’t deserve any of it either, Marie.  He’s a good guy in a terrible situation that is being preyed upon at every turn.  He keeps getting up and fighting, but I’m not sure he can get back up after this one.  One way or another, his abuser is going to end up breaking him.  The best I can do is try to keep him fighting for as long as he can, but everyone has a limit.  There are also other things going on that I can’t tell you about that are making this situation much worse.”  Joe explains.

               “Joe, look at me.  You are one of the strongest people I have ever met.  You are doing everything you can to help Patrick.  You need to continue to be there for him and support him.  This is a terrible place where people are capable of things you and I couldn’t even imagine.  Stay strong for him and encourage him to keep fighting.  I need you to keep fighting too, Joe.  You can’t give up, no matter how bad it gets.  Patrick’s abuser will continue to abuse him and will probably eventually break him, but until that happens, be his support.  Fight for him and make him continue to fight for himself.  You need to think about this like you would approach an opponent in a fight.  It’s not always about knocking them out right away.  There are strategies at your disposal that you can use in this situation.  Play the long game.  Teach him how to fight and defend himself so that he keeps fighting for longer.  Teach him how to train his brain to process pain better or how to psych the guy out.  You know how to do this; you just need to think about it in a different way.  Do you see what I’m saying?”  Marie asks.

               Joe hadn’t even considered coming at this situation like that.  His wife is brilliant!  He knows that it won’t last forever, but if he can just keep Patrick fighting for as long as possible, it will save him some heartache.  He can do this!

               “Oh My God!  You are brilliant!  Thank you so much!  My head wasn’t in the right place, and I was concerned.  I’d never considered approaching this like I would approach an opponent in a fight!  You are right!  I can do this.  I will be his rock!  I will keep him fighting for as long as possible!  If I wasn’t handcuffed to the table and the floor, I’d swing you around and hug you right now!  I needed to hear that.  Thanks Marie.  You are a life saver!”  Joe exclaims.

               “I’m glad I could help!”  Marie adds.

               “Now I want to hear about everything that has happened and what I missed since the last time you were here.  Tell me everything!  Ruby, you too!  Start spilling!”  Joe says.

               “I don’t even know where to start.  Work is going well.  I finally got that promotion I’ve been wanting!  It also came with a pay increase, even though we don’t really need it.  We have been very smart with money.  We sat on the large amounts of money you would win whenever you won a fight.  I put them into a bank account and forgot about them and they have slowly been gaining interest.  I did take a small amount of it and invested it in stocks and bonds.  They have also done well too, so don’t worry about us not having enough money to live on.  Plus, I’m paid biweekly for my job.  Let’s see…the security guy you hired for us has been wonderful!  He’s even offered to babysit Ruby quite a few times, which has been awesome.  There isn’t much else going on with me.  Just work and taking care of Ruby.  Ruby, honey.  Do you want to tell dad about all the fun stuff you’ve done lately?”  Marie asks Ruby.

               Ruby looks at her and shakes her head yes.  Joe stops her before she starts because he wants to congratulate Marie on her promotion.

               “Just one sec, Ruby.  Congrats on the promotion, honey!  You definitely deserve it and I’m glad things are going well for you.  Ok Ruby, now you can tell me everything.  I saw that you had your nails painted.  They look very pretty.  Do your toes match?”  Joe asks as he gives Ruby his full attention.  She smiles.

               “Thanks Dad!  Yes, my toes match my fingers.  I’ve got so much to tell you!  School has been going well.  I’m in seventh grade now and I love it!  I have so many new friends and I really love my teacher this year!  I am in the chorus and band.  The chorus teacher says that she loves my voice.  I even got to sing a solo for our winter concert and I’m singing another solo for our spring concert.  Band is super fun too, and I’m getting much better on my flute.  I’ve been taking ballet since I was little, and my teacher said I was good enough to move up to the next class at the end of the year.  At Christmas, we got to perform the Nutcracker with the Illinois State Orchestra.  It was so fun!  We had lots of performances and I kind of miss it, now that it is done, but we are starting to work on learning our stuff for the next show, Swan Lake.  We get to be in the ensemble, so that will be fun.  This spring, I started playing softball and I really like it.  My position is short stop, and I am really good at catching the ball and throwing it fast enough to count a person out.  I hit two home runs in the last game!  I was so proud of myself.  Mom also has me in voice lessons.  Next fall, a youth theatre group in town is doing The Wizard of Oz and I want to audition.  I know I’m not old enough to be Dorothy, but there are all kinds of other fun parts in that musical and I’d be happy with any of them.  I’d even be happy to just be in the ensemble!  I wish you could come to some of my performances and my softball games, but I know why you can’t.  I really do miss you Dad and I love you so much!”  Ruby declares.

               “That all sounds like so much fun, Ruby.  You are going to be really busy, but I know you like being busy so I’m sure it will be fine.  I miss you too kiddo.  I wish I could be there for all the important stuff in your life, but we both know that I can’t, and that kills me.  What I wouldn’t give to be able to come to a dance recital, a band concert, a softball game, any and all of it.  I’m so sorry that this happened and you two must suffer because of it.”  Joe replies feeling a little down.

               Marie can definitely tell that Joe is really disappointed, so she stomps on that before it can go any further.

               “Joe, we all know that none of this was your fault.  You were in an impossible situation, and you did what you had to do to save Ruby.  Garibaldi’s death wasn’t your fault either.  We both knew that he had suffered enough brain damage prior to the fight to impair his judgement and make him continue to get back up when he should’ve stayed down.  When they got him to the hospital and saw the amount of brain damage he had, it just proved it.  You are innocent and you know it.  Garibaldi’s family are the bad guys here.  They used their money and their social stature to buy the judge and the jury to find you guilty.  Their lawyer didn’t help either.  All he did was discredit your story and make you out to be this emotionless monster.  Yes, it sucks that it happened the way it did, and yes it sucks that you are here in jail rather than at home with your family, but we are ALL doing the best we can.  No one in my family or yours has any doubt that you are innocent.  I just wish we had proof that Garibaldi’s family paid the judge and jury to make you go down for this.  We don’t have that proof, and even if we did, you know that they would do the same thing again.  This is obviously not the life either of us wanted for each other or for our family, but it is what it is.  We will survive this and be stronger because of it.  You are a good man, Joe.  Never forget that.  We both love you so much and we know you love us too.  That will never change no matter how long we are forced to be apart!”  Marie responds.

              Joe is slightly in awe of his wife.  Joe has been feeling a bit depressed lately with everything going on, but what Marie just said raises his spirits so high that he feels like he could conquer the world!  It hits him like a large wave and even though this makes him feel happy and strong, he finds his eyes filling with water and dripping down his face.  To hear all that put so eloquently, just reminds him why he fell in love with Marie in the first place.  She is so strong and will persevere through anything and everything.  The fire that burns inside of her will never be put out and she is fiercely loyal and loving.  Sometimes he loses sight of that, but she never does.  She will always be the person that has a huge heart and gives herself fully to everything that she sets her mind to.  Living in a place where everyone hates you, wants to kill you, wants control over you, and will betray you on a whim, you sometimes forget that people like Marie exist.  He’s so lucky to have found her and is glad that she is on his team.  He definitely wouldn’t want Marie to be his enemy.  That is a scary thought.  The more he looks at her and listens to the things that she has to say, the more he feels like she is his soulmate.  He would do anything, including dying, for her and she would do the same for him.  Joe’s thoughts are interrupted by Marie snapping her fingers in front of his face.

               “Are you still with us?  What’s going on?  Why are you crying?”  She asks.

               “Yes!  Sorry.  I was thinking about how sometimes you impress me so much that I am in awe of you.  It made me think about why I fell in love with you all those years ago.  You are so strong, loyal, and loving.  It’s very easy to lose sight of that when you live in a place where everyone wants to hurt you, kill you, control you, and betray you and you experience it on a daily basis.  You are my soulmate, Marie.  Words can’t express how much I love you and everything that you are.”  Joe states.

               Marie looks like she is ready to cry.

               “Oh My God, Joe!  That’s the most beautiful thing you’ve said to me in a really long time!  You’re right.  It is easy to lose sight of things when you are so busy all the time.  You forget to stop and smell the roses.  Thank you for reminding me of this.”  Marie says as a few tears fall down her face.

               Joe wants to caress her face and wipe her tears away right now, but he can’t because he is chained to the table and the floor, and the chains don’t reach that far.  Marie and Ruby stand, walk over to his side of the table and wrap him in a tight hug.  Marie kisses him chastely since Ruby is still there.  Clark walks closer to their table and tells them that their family meeting time is almost over.  He says that they have five minutes left if they still want to do the other part of their visit.  Ruby looks a little crushed.  She wanted more time with her dad, but she understands that Joe has no say in pretty much anything, so she packs up her stuff, grabs the car keys from Marie, and gives Joe a long hug and a kiss on the forehead while whispering that she loves him and looks forward to their next visit.  Joe tells her that he loves her too and he misses her every day.  With that, another guard named Raymond steps up to take Ruby back to the car and guard her until Marie returns.  Ruby follows the guard out of the room.

               Once Ruby has left the room, Clark comes to the table and detaches Joe from the table and the floor.  Joe stands up, walks over to Marie, grabs her face, and kisses her.

               “I love you with all that I am.”  Joe affirms.

               “I love you more than all of the stars in space.”  Marie replies.

               “I’m sorry to interrupt you two, but I need to escort you to the private rooms for conjugal visits.  Joe, I will remove your chains when we get there.”  Clark informs them.

               “Alright.”  Joe answers, taking Marie’s hand as they walk to where the private rooms are. 

They aren’t super far from them, so it doesn’t take very long for them to get there.  They stop in front of private room three.  Clark unlocks the door and Marie walks into the room while Clark is removing the chains from Joe.  When he is finished, he gives Joe the go ahead to enter the room. 

“You have up to three hours.  Please press this button when you are finished, and it will page me to come and get you.  Enjoy your time together.”  Clark explains as he hands Joe the pager and leaves the room.

“Finally, we have some time to ourselves!”  Joe exclaims.

“I have a surprise for you, my love.  I just need to freshen up first.  I’ll be right back.”  Marie teases as she steps into the bathroom.

               Joe is excited to see what his surprise is.  Just the thought of Marie doing something special for him is enough to get his motor running.  He sits on the bed waiting for his wife.  He is restless so he grabs two condoms and some lube from the bowl next to the bed.

               “Are you ready, honey?”  Marie asks.

               “Fuck yeah, I am!”  Joe answers.

               “Ok.”  Marie says.

               Then Marie steps out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a black, completely see-through babydoll with matching panties and black T-Strap stiletto heels with rhinestones on the straps over the foot.  The straps of the babydoll have rhinestones on them that match the rhinestones that cover the nipple area.

               “Well, what do you think?”  Marie asks.

               Joe’s eyes almost pop out of his head, he is smiling ear to ear, and his mouth is watering a bit.  He is speechless.  He looks at her with this look of want and need.

               “Oh My God!  You look amazing.  Is this even real?”  He asks.

               “Oh, it’s real alright.  I wanted to look beautiful and sexy for you!”  She says.

               “You definitely succeeded!”  Joe comments as he stands and walks over to her. 

               He can barely hold himself back from throwing her on the bed and ravishing her immediately.  They stand less than a foot from each other before Joe can’t take it anymore, so he closes the distance between them, takes Marie into his arms and they collide in a mess of lips and tongues, both breathing heavily with want.

               “I missed you so much, you have no idea!  You look so sexy, and I must have you now, I can’t wait any longer!”  Joe replies between kisses.

               “Then take me and have your way with me!”  Marie suggests between kisses.

               Joe doesn’t need any more of an invitation.  He starts leading them towards the bed, both of them shedding clothes as they go.  He throws Marie down on the bed and just looks at her for one second before climbing on top of her.  He continues undressing her from top to bottom while she takes off his pants and whatever other clothes, he has remaining that are in the way.

               “I missed you too and I love you so much!  Now then Mr. Trohman, I’ve been a very bad girl.  What are you going to do about that?”  Marie asks, teasing him.

               If Joe wasn’t fully turned on before, he sure was now.  They weren’t really into anything crazy, but a little role playing never hurt anyone.  He loves it when Marie role plays a bit.

               “I don’t know, but we can’t let that bad behavior stand now, can we?  I guess I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.”  Joe continues.

               “What kind of lesson are you going to teach me?  Are you going to show me how to be a good girl?”  Marie asks.

               “Well, I do love me some good girls, but I like bad girls even better.  Perhaps I could teach you a lesson on how to be a good girl and you could teach me a lesson on how to be a bad boy.  What do you think?”  Joe asks.

               “Oh Yes!  Teach me a lesson Mr. Trohman!  Then I will teach you your lesson!”  Marie exclaims.

               At this point, they begin foreplay.  Even through his sex-addled brain, Joe looks down at his beautiful, sexy wife and thinks to himself that he is the luckiest man on earth.

Chapter Text

Chapter 58

*******Trigger Warning for Mentions of Graphic Violence*******

               Gabe was currently getting set up for his meeting with the vampires in one of the large, abandoned meeting rooms in the older part of the prison.  Gabe had already informed almost all the vampires on his list of the meeting before lunch and managed to inform the rest of them during lunch time.  Ryland had done the same for those on his list.  Now it was only a matter of getting ready for and conducting this meeting.  Things would be a little easier for this meeting than it was with the humans.  Gabe could tell them everything, rather than having to hold back details that he couldn’t share with the humans.  He was actually very excited for this meeting!  He wanted Earnesto’s men to hurt and suffer worse than anything they can imagine.  That is what they deserved after participating in Sugar’s attack.  They made Sugar suffer immeasurable pain for hours, so they deserve the same.  Except, Gabe knows that vampires have many different powers and abilities and can inflict much worse pain than humans ever could.  Gabe wishes that he could see the looks on their faces when they come face to face with incredibly sadistic vampires who love to inflict pain and suffering on humans, however, Gabe will be busy torturing Earnesto, Mateo, and Jesus.  These humans had no idea who they were actually dealing with when they attacked Sugar.  Now they will suffer the consequences of messing with Gabe and his property.  They have no idea what is coming their way, and that thought makes Gabe so happy.  He can’t wait for this meeting to start!

               Gabe is just finishing up everyone’s packets when the vampires start filing in for the meeting.  He urges them to take a seat and waits for the rest of the vampires to show up.  Since there are only thirty of them, it doesn’t take much longer before everyone is there.

               “Good afternoon, Gentleman!  Welcome to the meeting of the vampires for the retaliation attack on the Nuestra Familia Gang!  I hope you all are doing well.  You are here today to discuss your role in the attack.  Since both Ryland and I have discussed the basics with each of you, I will forego going over that part with you again and we will get down to business.  As you all know, I have claimed and marked Dr. Stump as my property.  I call him Sugar.  He was attacked, gangbanged, drugged, stabbed, and beaten for hours to prolong his pain and suffering by members of the Nuestra Familia Gang.  They did so much damage that it took Dr. Smith two surgeries to repair the damage.  During the second surgery, they found massive internal bleeding that would’ve killed him if they’d waited any longer.  It took them five hours just to stop it all.  Then they had to complete the surgery, where they almost lost him three times, which took a total of eleven hours to complete.  All of this occurred because Sugar had had a run-in with a member of the gang, named Earnesto.  Sugar ran into him and knocked him over in the mess hall, and Earnesto felt disrespected, so he attacked Sugar and his cell mate on their way back to their cell.  He tried to rape Sugar then but was unsuccessful because I sent my men to stop the attack.  Earnesto was then looking for another opportunity to attack Sugar.  He had thirty men with him and ambushed him on his way back to his cell after a meeting with the warden.

               We are here today to discuss how you will be participating in the counterattack.  The attack will begin tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. sharp.  For this attack, the members of the Nuestra Familia and those involved will be divided into four groups and each group will have specific tasks to perform.  Two groups will consist of humans, one group will consist of vampires, and the last group will consist of Brad and myself.  When the attack begins, everyone will have to separate the gang members into four groups.  Each group will have a specific location where the members of their group will be housed.  The first two groups will be the members of the gang that were not involved but supported the attack.  The humans will deal with these two groups.  The third group will consist of Earnesto’s thirty men.  That is who you get to deal with.  The fourth group will be Earnesto, Mateo-his right-hand man, and Jesus, the gang leader.  Once they are located, they are to be brought to Brad and me in location four, here.  They may be conscious or unconscious, but they must be mainly unharmed and ALIVE.

               After Earnesto, Mateo, and Jesus have been captured and taken to their location, here, the rest of the members will be divided into Earnesto’s thirty men, and the remaining members of the gang.  Earnesto’s men will be taken to the third location, here.  The rest of the members will be collected, split into two groups, and taken to the first and second locations here and here.  The plan is to leave the members in their location for an hour to let them psych themselves out about what is coming.  You all will be dealing with the third group, which as mentioned will consist of Earnesto’s thirty men.  After letting them stew for an hour, you will all be released into their area.  You may punish them as you see fit.  You are encouraged to use all your vampiric abilities on them to torture them until they beg for death.  I want their suffering and agonizing pain to be drawn out as long as possible, just as they did to Sugar.   Continue torturing them even after they beg for death.  You may feed on them without venom to make sure it is as painful as possible.  We also know that when we are mad or angry, the feeding is 100x more painful for the human, so please make sure you are sufficiently riled up before the attack.  This last thing is non-negotiable.  You must continually rape them for as long as they are alive.  If your powers can bring humans back to life, bring them back to life and restart the torture process.  When you feel that they have suffered enough, you may finally kill them however you would like.

               We all know, as vampires, that we all have very sadistic tendencies.  Please feel free to tap into those sadistic tendencies.  I want this torture to be beyond what any human could ever imagine.  You may be as cruel and evil as you are capable of being.  I expect this to be a torturous bloodbath!

               This is the complete plan.  The members of the Nuestra Familia definitely crossed a line and were extremely ruthless to my property, Sugar.  I will not stand for this!  You will instill intense fear, torture, pain and suffering in them before you finally kill them.  They will pay for what they did with their lives!  Sugar’s attack will be avenged!”  Gabe yells, hyping them all up.

               “You will each be given a packet with photos and names of all the members of the gang and which group they belong to.  Your packet will also include a map of where the different locations are.  Are there any questions?”  Gabe asks.

               It doesn’t appear that anyone has any questions.  This is a vampire’s dream!  They are being provided with victims to torture and being told to be as sadistic as possible to those victims.  They all appear to be incredibly excited.

               “Please form a line in front of me to receive your packet before you leave.  I will see you all tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. sharp!  Happy torturing!”  Gabe exclaims.

               A line begins to form in front of Gabe, and he begins handing out packets to everyone, until they are gone.  Then he picks up the room a bit, calls for his guard, and is taken back to his cell.

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               Alex and Dan finish their lunches and meet up with their guards to be escorted back to their cells when Alex manages to convince both his guard and Dan’s guard, Jordan, to take them to the old cafeteria/bomb shelter.  Dan’s not quite sure how Alex did that, but he’s not complaining.  They need to do this now, before Dan is expected to report to work later.  Their guards begin to lead them towards the old cafeteria, but Dan feels like something is off.  His normal guard, Jordan, is usually very animated and talkative when he is escorting him some place.  Today Jordan is acting almost robotic in his movements, and he hasn’t said anything since Alex spoke to them.  Dan looks over at Jordan and finds that his eyes are completely glossed over, which is also weird.  Alex’s guard is acting the same way, and his eyes are glossed over as well.  If Dan didn’t know any better, he’d think that Alex compelled them to do and say what he told them to do.  He’d seen both Brad and Gabe compel Spencer to do and say things.  The only thing is that he knows Alex isn’t a vampire, so this just seems very strange.  Dan guesses he should just chalk it up to all the other weird shit he has either witnessed or that he has been told about by others.  They keep walking for what seems like forever when they finally reach the old cafeteria/bomb shelter.  The guards stop them at the door.  Then Dan watches Alex’s guard walk to the door, unlock it, and gesture for both Alex and Dan to enter.  Dan doesn’t need to be told twice, so he enters the room while Alex hangs back for a few seconds.  The guards then leave them there as Alex closes the door behind him.  Again, this feels really strange, but whatever.

               “What time do you need to report to work?”  Alex asks.

               “4:00 p.m. Sharp.”  Dan replies.

               “Ok, so that gives us two hours to scope this place out.  I will hunt down the building’s ventilation shafts while you are at work.  Maybe you, me, and Joe could meet up sometime later tonight or at breakfast tomorrow.  The attack doesn’t start until 10:00 a.m. so we should be good if we need to do this during breakfast.  You may need to give your friends a heads up some time tonight, so they don’t suspect anything.  That work?”  Alex asks.

               “Yeah.  That should work.”  Dan answers.

               “I say we each take a side of the room on either side of the main entrance.  Look for anything that doesn’t belong or looks out of place.  If I had to guess, there is probably another way into and out of this room, like a secret passage or something that only the warden and his top guards know about.  I get that this was supposed to be a bomb shelter, but it really doesn’t make sense to only have one entrance and exit into and out of this room.  What if something happened and help couldn’t get in the door?  There must be something else here.  It could be something as small as a pin on the floor, or a tiny switch in the molding around the room.  It could also be something like a brick that is out of place or doesn’t line up with the other bricks.  Use your hands to feel around too.  It might be something that we can’t see but we can feel.  I’ll take the right side and you take the left side.  We’ll start at the door and move away from it.”  Alex explains.

               “Ok.  Look for anything weird or out of place.  Got it.”  Dan comments.

               They both begin looking at the walls on either side of the main door.  Dan doesn’t really know what he’s looking for, but he’s seen enough movies and visited enough places to know that something could be hiding in plain sight.  He starts with following the brick lines along the walls, looking for one to not match up, or a crack in the mortar that doesn’t make sense.  He starts with the highest row he can see and reach and goes down from there.  He also feels along the lines to see if something is out of place.  So far, he hasn’t found anything, but this is a big room.  He has a thought and voices it to Alex.

               “Hey, here’s a thought.  If there was another way into this room, why would it be on the same wall as the ‘supposed only way in or out of the room?’  This room is underground on three sides, hence the reason it doubled as a bomb shelter.  Wouldn’t it make more sense for the secret tunnel or whatever you want to call it to be on one of the walls that bumps up to one of the walls already underground?  Like if you were going to build a tunnel out of your cell, wouldn’t you want it to go underground rather than out in broad daylight?”  Dan asks.

               “Hmmm.  I hadn’t even thought about that, but it does make much more sense.  Ok, let’s both move to the back wall and start looking there.  We will both start in the middle of the back wall, and I will work my way right, and you work your way left.  Good thinking, Dan!”  Alex suggests.

               They both move to the back wall of the room and begin looking for anything out of place.  Dan decides to start at the bottom first this time.  He looks and feels around the area that butts right up to the floor.  He is about a third of the way toward the left wall when he feels something odd.  He stops to examine it closer.  It feels like there is a space between where the wall should meet the floor.  He doesn’t see it at first, but he can definitely feel it.

               “Hey Alex?  I think I found something!”  Dan calls to Alex.

               Alex looks up from where he is currently examining the wall, stops what he’s doing, and walks over to where Dan is.

               “What did you find?”  Alex asks.

               “I’m not sure.  It’s really hard to see, but I can definitely feel a space between where the wall should meet the floor.  I can also feel a small draft coming from behind the wall.  Here, feel this.”  Dan says as he grabs Alex’s hand and places it where the space is.

               Alex feels around the bottom of the wall and finds exactly what Dan is talking about.  He feels the draft too.

               “Yeah.  I feel it too.  That suggests that there is a space behind this wall.”  Alex comments.

               Alex begins knocking on the wall right above the space with his ear directly on the wall.

               “What are you doing?”  Dan asks.

               “Shhh!  I’m listening for a hollow space behind the wall.  If the wall is solid behind this, then when I knock, it will sound muffled, dense, or full.  If the wall is hollow, it will sound hollow or empty.”  Alex explains.

               Alex keeps knocking on the wall straight up from the space near the floor.  When he is about halfway up the wall, the sound changes and it is muffled.  Then he does the same thing going back down to the floor until he has found a relatively wide area behind the wall.

               “Yeah, there is definitely a medium-sized, hollow space behind that wall.  It goes up to about here and goes over to about here.”  Alex says as he points to the different spots on the wall.  Overall, the space is like four feet high, and four-and-a-half feet wide.  That’s big enough for the average-sized person to crawl through.  Now we just have to figure out how to get back there without destroying the wall and we need to see where it goes.  Good job, Dan!”  Alex explains.

               “Ok, what should I be looking for?”  Dan asks.

               “There must be something that triggers the door to open.  Let’s both feel around the entire area and check the floor to see if there is a switch or something that opens the door.”  Alex states.

               “Ok.”  Dan agrees.

               They both begin feeling around the area of the space.  Dan hasn’t found anything on the wall so far, so he begins looking at the floor where he found the original space.  He is feeling around on the bottom of the molding when his finger catches on something.  It feels like a very small switch, so he pushes it a bit harder, and the wall pops out, revealing a reinforced, concrete tunnel about the size that Alex had estimated behind it.

               “I found it!”  Dan exclaims.

               “Holy Shit, Dan!  You certainly did!  Where did you find it?”  Alex asks.

               “I was feeling around the bottom of the molding when my finger caught on a very small switch, so I pushed it harder and then the wall popped out.  Here, I’ll show you.  Give me your finger.”  Dan replies.

               Alex gives Dan his finger and Dan runs his finger underneath the molding where the floor met the wall and sure enough, his finger caught on the switch and the wall popped back into its place seamlessly, like it had been there forever.

               “How awesome is that?  That tunnel probably hasn’t seen the light of day in over sixty years, if ever!  I wonder where it goes!”  Alex exclaims.

               Dan looks down at his watch and sees that they are getting very close to him needing to report for work and he still needs to go back to his cell and change.

               “I don’t want to be a buzz kill, and I really want to know where it goes, but we are getting close to me needing to report for work and I still have to go back to my cell and change.”  Dan states.

               “Fuck!  We are, aren’t we?  Ok.  I will tell your guard to take you back to your cell and I will stay here and see where it goes.  I’ll meet up with you and Joe at dinner and let you know.  Ok?”  Alex suggests.

               “How are you going to find out where it goes?  It’s dark as fuck in there and you don’t even have a flashlight!”  Dan asks.

               “Don’t worry about it.  I’ll figure something out.”  Alex responds, knowing his vampire eyesight can easily see through the pitch-black darkness in the tunnel.

               “Ok.  I really need to get going though.  I can’t be late.” Dan says.

               “I totally understand.  Let’s go find your guard.  What’s his name?”  Alex asks.

               “Jordan.”  Dan supplies.

               They both walk to the door, open it, and find that the two guards are still there guarding the door.  Alex approaches Jordan and instructs him to take Dan back to his cell and then to work.  Jordan does as he’s told, again with the robotic movements, no speaking, and glossed over eyes.  Dan is in a hurry this time, so he doesn’t really notice.

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               Once Dan and his guard, Jordan, left, Alex returns to the opening of the tunnel.  Dan was right.  It was pretty dark in there, but Alex was pretty sure he could find his way without a flashlight.  First, he gets down on his hands and knees and crawls into the opening of the tunnel.  Then he waits for a few minutes for his vampire eyesight to adjust to the darkness and the path before him is crystal clear.  Alex is pretty sure this tunnel hasn’t seen the light of day in a really long time.  There are cobwebs everywhere as he begins slowly crawling through the tunnel.  He could do without those, but at least they will be gone after this.  No one else should have to deal with them.  He also sees the occasional rat running by.  If he were human, that would probably freak him out more, but vampires are used to hiding out in the shadows, and those shadows usually included gross things like rats, spiders and spiderwebs.  Alex continues to slowly crawl through the tunnel as it winds its way down into the underbelly of the prison.  At one point, there is a pretty steep spot where he basically slides down until the tunnel bottoms out.  He’s not exactly sure how far this tunnel goes, but it seems like it is taking a long time to get to the other end, so he must be going further than a few yards.  He’s kind of lost his bearings so he really doesn’t know which direction he is going, only that he is still somewhere underneath the prison.  Alex continues crawling for what seems like forever when he feels the tunnel leading upward.  I must be getting close to the exit point.  He continues following the winding tunnel as it gradually gained elevation until he eventually runs into a wall at the end of it.  He starts feeling around on the wall to see if there is some sort of trigger or lever that will open the door.  As he is feeling along the beam on the right side of the wall, his finger catches on something.  It doesn’t appear to want to go far enough to trigger the door to open, like it is getting stuck on something.  He looks closer and finds that there is some debris stuck in the end of the track, where the trigger should go.  It makes sense considering that this has obviously been there for a while, unused.  Alex pulls the debris out of the end of the track, pushes the trigger completely, and the wall pops out again.  He crawls out of the tunnel to find himself in a room that hasn’t been used in quite some time that was in many different states of disrepair.  He stands and looks around the room trying to get his bearings, which is hard because the room has no windows and only one door.  Alex isn’t sure how this is possible, but it appears that he is in one of the old, padded cells of the old psych ward.  That’s impossible!  The old psych ward was completely demolished to build the new psych ward and all of the tunnels beneath it were sealed.  Nothing was left after that, right?  Apparently, there was.  Alex was very confused.  The new psych ward was built in the same place that the old psych ward was and didn’t even connect to this part of the prison.  There were two skyways built to connect the new psych ward to the newer part of the prison that easily allowed for patients to be transferred back and forth between the new psych ward and the prison.  So why was any of the old psych ward left standing?  Was this some secret hiding place where prisoners continued to “disappear” and be experimented on?  Alex had no idea, but being here and knowing what occurred in these rooms creeped him out, and that’s saying a lot for a vampire.  He walks to the entrance of the padded cell, opens the door and walks out into a hallway that leads back to the old part of the prison.  He follows that hallway until he sees something that he recognizes.  He stops and pulls out his copy of the map he’d gotten from Mark to get his bearings.  He is able to identify the various rooms that Gabe planned on using tomorrow in relation to where he was, so he knew where to take Dan’s friends tomorrow.  Once he did that, he headed back to the creepy padded cell room, got on his hands and knees, crawled back into the tunnel, closed the door behind him, and made his way back to the old cafeteria, where he started.

               Once he reached the old cafeteria, he crawled out of the tunnel, stood up, closed the door to the tunnel behind him, and began looking for a safe hiding place for Dan’s friends to view what they needed to see.  They would have to get there before, or very shortly after the attack started.  The room was pretty wide open and there didn’t appear to be any secluded places where they could hide.  This is, until he remembered that this was an old cafeteria, and it must’ve had a kitchen where the food was prepared.  Alex begins searching for the kitchen.  It doesn’t take him long to find it and he enters to scope out the area.  It is a decent-sized room with a lot of the old kitchen equipment still there, but it was kind of trashed.  It was a mess.  There were chairs and tables that had been haphazardly thrown in there, knives had been thrown at the wall until they stuck there, several windows had broken and there was glass all over the floor, and all the equipment had been dismantled and stripped down for parts.  The rest of the equipment had been left there in pieces.  It almost looked like there had been a riot there.  None of that mattered though, because there was still plenty of room for Dan’s friends to hide and witness the vampires feeding on the humans.  They would just have to stay out of sight, so they weren’t attacked too. 

Alex thought for a second and decided that he could make them a barrier to hide behind to block the way into the kitchen.  It would take several humans to do this, but with his vampire strength, he could do this in like fifteen minutes.  He took inventory of what he had to work with and got to work making a barrier to mostly block the door.  When he was done, there was a wall of stuff that almost completely blocked the entrance to the kitchen.  There was a small space to still get in and to allow for viewing.  He was satisfied with his work and would relay all of this information to Dan and Joe at dinner.  He also had to see about getting them enough flashlights or head lamps so that they could find their way in the tunnel, which shouldn’t be a problem.  He just has to compel a few guards to part with theirs for a day.  He took one more look around the room before he opened the door, found his guard, and was escorted back to his cell.

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               Spencer is at his home working his way toward getting himself ready to head back to the prison.  He turns off the nice hot water in the shower, grabs his towel, dries himself off, and gets dressed.  His time at home has been a godsend.  He was pretty messed up when he had come home the day before.  He was so tired that he couldn’t even see straight, and he felt like a zombie that was disassociated with his life.  He’d immediately come home and faceplanted in his bed.  He felt much better now though.  He was able to get a good night and part of the day’s sleep, he’d had time to eat a few meals, watch some tv, and overall feel like he was human again.  He brushes his teeth, fixes his hair, and decides that that is good enough.  He starts gathering his things to take back to the prison when he remembers that he was supposed to call Dr. Woodard before he left to let him know that he was coming back.  He sets all his stuff on the couch, takes out his phone and dials the prison.  It rings a few times before the prison operator picks it up.

               “Illinois State Penitentiary, how may I direct your call?”  The operator asks.

               “Hello, this is Dr. Smith.  May I please speak with someone in sick bay?”  Spencer asks.

               “Of course.  I’m transferring you now.”  The operator says.

               It rings a few times before Dr. Woodard picks up.

               “Hello?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “Hey Dr. Woodard, this is Spencer.  I wanted to let you know that I’m about to leave my house, and I will be headed towards the prison.  It will probably take me thirty minutes once I leave.”  Spencer replies.

               “Ok.  Sounds good.  Did you enjoy your time off?”  Dr. Woodard asks.

               “Yes, thanks for filling in for me.  I really needed that.  I actually feel human again.  How is Patrick doing?”  Spencer asks.

               “He’s doing great!  He’s still in quite a bit of pain, but it is down from yesterday.  Everything appears to be healing very quickly.  I ordered an MRI and a CT scan, to see where he is at on the inside, but the reports haven’t come back quite yet.”  Dr. Woodard informs him.

               “Yeah, about that.  Have you ever seen a patient heal that quickly from such grave injuries before?  It has happened three times now, where Patrick is badly injured, and he heals incredibly quickly.  It’s almost superhuman, and I’ve never seen anything like it.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy about it and I will take it, but it just seems incredibly odd.”  Spencer asks.

               “I’ve never seen a case quite like Patrick’s before.  He does seem to heal incredibly quickly, and I don’t really have an answer for you.  I agree, it’s good that it’s happening, but I have no other way to explain it than calling it a miracle.  Sometimes as doctors, we forget that things happen for a reason, and sometimes we don’t have an answer as to why it is happening.  I’m a somewhat Godly man, and I do believe in miracles.  I’ve just never seen one in all my years as a doctor, until Patrick.  I don’t know Spencer, I think you just need to take it for what it is, and don’t question it so much.  Just be happy that your patient, who shouldn’t have survived his attack and the subsequent injuries he sustained, is doing well and appears to be on the way to making a full recovery very soon.”  Dr.  Woodard suggests.

               Spencer waits a minute before answering, letting everything Dr. Woodard said sink in.

               “I suppose you are right.  I guess I just have to turn off my inner scientist that wants to understand what is going on, and just rejoice in the fact that Patrick is alive and healing very quickly.  It doesn’t have to make sense and I don’t need to know why.  Thanks again for filling in for me.  I’m going to grab all my stuff, and I will be there in about thirty minutes.”  Spencer states.

               “No problem, Doc!  Any time!  I’m happy to come back and help you if you need me to.”  Dr. Woodard replies.

               “Be careful what you say, Dr. Woodard, I may take you up on that.”  Spencer says before hanging up his phone. 

               He gathers the rest of his stuff, fills up his travel thermos with coffee, puts everything in his car, and starts heading back to the prison.

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               After hanging up with Spencer, Dr. Woodard dials the warden to inform him of Spencer’s return.