Day 5

“How we lookin’ Private?” Eve asked approaching him. They were in a small hut not too far from the prison.

“Everything’s running smoothly. Did you talk to Skipper?”

“Yeah. He’s proud of you.” Private smiled.

“Really?” Eve patted his shoulder.

“You bet. He thinks of you as a son you know.”

“Wow…he has been like a father to me.” Eve smiled. “Eve…can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Anything.”

“Do you like Skipper?”

Eve opened her beak to speak, but ended up saying: “Uh…I…well…”

Private giggled. “It’s okay. Your secret is safe with me.”

Eve looked down shyly. “Yeah…secret…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well…I think he feels the same way.”

“Really? What makes you think so?” Private asked smiling foolishly.

“He…may have…sort of…kissed me?”

“Aw! I’m so happy for you!” Private exclaimed hugging her.

“Okay! How did we get from making sure everything’s going as planned to my love life?!” Eve said playfully pushing Private off.

“I asked, you answered.”

“Okay, smart-aleck. I’ve got to get back to the prison.”

“Alright. Be sure to be careful around those inmates. You never know what might happen.”


(Kowalski’s POV)

I guess you truly will do anything for someone you care about. Hans owes me bigtime. Cleaning up these inmates’ messes is sick! I mean seriously? The corner of a room is not a bathroom! I hope we’ll get him out soon. I hate doing this.

You know, he never told us what happened in Denmark. It’s not that I care really. It was in the past. Skipper’s been an exceptional leader despite anything he may or may not have done. Besides, if Skipper wanted us to know, he’d tell us.

Three days ago I almost blew it. I was walking down a hallway and saw Skipper. I hid my face because I didn’t want him to freak out or anything. I ended up bumping into him. By now at least Eve has told Skipper what we’re doing and I don’t have to watch myself as much.

This guard named Manor is starting to concern me. I think he’s getting suspicious of me. I wonder if he’s been spying on any of the others too. Earlier I saw him going through my locker. At least I didn’t have anything in there worth getting suspicious about.


(Eve’s POV)

These inmates are about to get it. I’m a nurse, not a call girl. I darn near knocked one of them out. One of them, goes by ‘Snake’, called me a sexy babe. Ugh…some men…I can’t wait to get Skipper out of here. The sooner I get away from these creeps the better.

However there was this one inmate that I treated a few times that struck me as kind. His name is Steven Rowell. He comes in once every morning because he has asthma. He was very kind to me. And not in a creepy or ‘friendly’ way. I guess not all inmates are all that bad.

I just finished my rounds and am going on break. I wish I could visit Skipper, but I don’t want to look conspicuous.

I am now in the breakroom, which was probably the last place I wanted to be…

A couple of nurses approached me and stuck their noses in my business. “Hey Susan! Whatcha doin’?” Daniel asked in an oddly cheery tone.

“Getting coffee…why?” I asked suspiciously. The other nurse had a Danish accent and went by Briana.

“You know Susan; I find it weird that you’re the only one to treat that new Skipper guy.” She said smiling foolishly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. My heart began to pound.

“What we’re trying to say is you like him.” Daniel said playfully poking me in the shoulder.

“What!? That’s ridiculous! He’s my patient!” I protested, but I think I’m just making myself more obvious…

“Oh stop hiding it! We won’t tell nobody! You’re not the first to have a thing for bad boys! Briana here has always had a soft spot for Brandon Sercruz.” Briana blushed.

“Well, ladies, I do not have a ‘soft spot’ for any of these inmates. Sorry to disappoint you.” I filled my mug and walked away from them.


(Psych Ward)

Rico sat down in the small cafeteria for lunch. A nurse came by and gave him his medication. Rico always pretended to take it, but discretely regurgitate them a few minutes later.

Surprisingly he’d had some luck in the Psych Ward, despite the tighter security. From Rico’s cell he could look outside and clear across a large yard past a high fence topped with barbed wire, and could see the main prison.

Unfortunately his window was wire-glass; he couldn’t loosen any bars or anything. So he’d have to figure someway else to get around.


(Skipper’s POV)

I recently found out that Seal’s real name is Steven Rowell. So now we just call each other by our real names.

Good news on him. I finally convinced him to work up the courage to call his daughters. Poor guy’s wife died three years ago by cancer, but on the plus side both of his daughters are happily married and bore him grandchildren. They’ll be visiting him soon.

Well, I think I may be coming close to figuring out what Snake’s up to. I heard him talking earlier about an escape plan. My guess is that Shrimp is somehow involved.

I haven’t seen Shrimp since I got released from the hole yesterday. And I’m not going to. Word has it that one of the inmates heard some guards talking. Shrimp is being transferred to the Psych Ward.

I let my curiosity get the best of me. I decided to ask Steven what the deal with Shrimp was. “Hey Steven. Can I ask you something?”

“What’s that?”

“You know a good bit about the inmates in this prison right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Do you know what happened with Shrimp?”

“Ah. Yeah. I do. Poor guy. Three years ago he decided he wanted to join a gang. They told him if he wanted to join then he needed to prove himself by getting himself 10G’s. A few of the gangbangers and he went to rob a bank. Shrimp thought it would go smoothly. No deaths. But he was wrong. Within five minutes of breaking in the place was crawling with police. The gangbangers shot up the place tryin’ to escape. Shrimp witnessed 27 deaths in less than three minutes. Poor guy lost it. He was put into the Psych Ward for his first year here then got transferred when they thought he was stable. He hasn’t had a breakdown in a long time, but yesterday Snake told him something and he went crazy again. No one knows what he told him.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Why’d you wanna know?”

“No reason…just wondering.”

“So are you gonna tell me what you di-”

“Hey Fish! You have a visitor!” Manor called. Ugh, now he’s calling me that!

“Seems like the universe won’t allow it.” I funned.

I got up and followed Manor to the Visiting Ward. I was surprised to see Private there waiting for me. It took everything in me not to embrace the young cadet. It seems like months since I saw him last. They had me in cuffs before I entered anyway. I sat down across from him smiling in joy in pride. He smiled back.

“Hey Private. You alright?”

“I’m fine! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m proud of you. Eve told me everything.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“Of course. From the looks of things I think this is going smoother than your last command.” I said chuckling. I remember Private’s first command. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but it wasn’t a success either. Unfortunately the image of Rico regurgitating Kowalski played through my mind again and I shuddered at the thought.

“You alright then?”

“Oh, yeah I’m fine. Is there a specific reason you’re visiting me? Or did you just wanna say hi?”

“Actually Skipper…I came to apologize.”

“Apologize? For what?”

“It’s my fault we’re in this mess.”

“How is it your fault?”

“It was my idea to play that silly water game. If we’d just stayed with you and trained we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“No, you don’t know that Private. Besides, I’ve put that behind me. If anyone’s to blame it’s me. If I hadn’t blown my top and mad you do those stupid laps, we might have been able to fight off those penguins. But in the long run it actually wasn’t such a bad thing we were caught either. We saved Heather. Remember?”

“I suppose you’re right. But if it’s all the same to you I don’t blame you for this.”

“Works for me. I blame Hans anyway. Fool shoulda seen it coming.” We both started laughing.

“Skipper…can I ask you something?”

“Of course Private. Anything.”

“Eve told me you thought of me as a son. Do you really?” His question caught me off guard. I opened my beak to speak, but instead I smiled and nodded.

“Of course I do.” I finally said. The expression on his face said it all. A huge grin crossed over his face. I could tell he wanted to hug me, but knew that would only get us both in trouble. “Any more questions soldier?”

Private smiled goofily. “I heard you have a thing for Eve.” He said in a sing-song voice. I threw my head back.

“Ugh! Is it in the newspaper or something!?” Private started laughing like an idiot.

“It’s okay Skipper! She feels the same way you know.”

“Really? She…told you that?”

“She didn’t need to. ‘t doesn’t take a genius to know these kinds of things.”

I shifted in my position awkwardly. The subject was making me feel uncomfortable, especially it being young Private. I was about to attempt to change the subject when Manor came in and said: “Time’s up! You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

Yeah, they have a stupid fifteen minute time limit for visitors. On the plus side, I didn’t have to change the subject. I wish I could’ve spoken with him longer though. “See ya Private.” I said heading toward the door.

“See ya…dad.” I stopped in the doorway, my heart stopping. I turned around to see a smiling Private. I picked my chin off the floor, smiled back, nodded, and left.


(In the Courtyard)

Snake was in the courtyard talking to his two gangbangers, Gator and Piranha.

“This is all your fault Snake! If you hadn’t told him your father was the leader of that gang then we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“Hey! It wasn’t my fault the kid couldn’t take the fact that he’d been my cellmate for two years without knowing who I was! It’s his fault he got on my nerves and drove me to telling him that! He woulda found out eventually anyway! Now shut up and let me think!” Snake said blowing smoke out of his mouth.

(Gator) “Why don’t you just let one of us spy on Fish?”

“Because it would be too easy to spot. He’d get suspicious.”

(Piranha) “Well how are you gonna get his escape plan? If we get someone else to find out he would want to be a part of it.”

“I know…” Snake thought for a moment. “You know what? Who says we have to spy on him? I think it’s time we had another talk with our escapee.”