Escape From SUPERMax (Sneak Peek)

The moments leading up to my arrival at SUPERMax Penitentiary were, needless to say, utterly terrifying. I had never been in trouble with the law in my life, but somehow I found myself up Shit’s Creek with no paddle. The very first thing I would come to learn here was that it does not matter what you did or why you’re here. None of it matters because you are here. The second thing I would come to learn: nobody escapes SUPERMax.

The ride to the prison was unnerving, which would set the tone for pretty much the rest of my life. There was a guard on the bus, some fifty year old man who looked like he joined the Marines when he was twelve and retired an hour before babysitting me. I did my best to avoid eye contact with him. If he just looked at me wrong, it would tear me in half. I am fast, but what can I do when I’m going seventy down an old gravel road in a tin can from the sixties.

It was especially nerve wracking when I did not know how to tell him I had to take a leak. If I stood up, he could take me as a threat and regardless if he could lay a single hit on me, I would have limited options. I could jump out the window and run away, but if I risk it and misstep, I break my leg and then this guy kills me. While all that played in my head, I raised my hand to see when we would arrive. He never answered.

I put my hand down and looked out at the scenery. “Scenery” is a bit of an exaggeration because there was just a long grassy field with nothing else to be seen for miles. When I worked up the nerve to look back at the guard to ask about my bathroom situation, but he wasn’t looking at me anymore. In fact, he wasn’t sitting there anymore. He had gotten up and walked over to the driver. They had started talking, but when I heard my name, I knew I had to get up there and listen in.

I grabbed the chains to my cuffs and held them tightly in my fist with my right hand. With my left, I reached down and pulled on the shackles keeping my legs bound to keep them quiet. With one swift move, I went as quickly and quietly as I possibly could. Then I listened.

“Jack,” the guard said. “About 250 pounds, 6’3, dark hair, some stubble leading into a goatee, no visible scars or markings.”

“Is he enhanced?” The driver replied.

“Yessir, he is a quick one,” he said, glancing back my way, just as I sat back in my own seat.

“Well, we’re about to be arriving in maybe twenty minutes. I can start initiation, if you’d like.”

“Nah, this guy’s been a huge pain in my ass, I’d rather do it myself.”

“Alright, but if he proves to be too much, let me know and I’ll hit the button,” the driver said as the guard made his way towards me.

When I tell you, I thought I was quick, this guy seemed to make me move in slow motion. I thought he should be here in the seat right next to mine, which was the last thing I remember thinking before I saw stars. He took the butt of his rifle and introduced it to my right temple, knocking me out.

When I woke up, I was not by myself. I saw four more guards; two in the front right and two more in the rear right. On the left, two men in white suits in front as well as two more behind me. The “doctor” in front of me had a catch pole around my bound hands, the one behind me had one around my neck with two more ready to put them around each ankle when I stood up.

Forced out of my seat, every single step I took from the moment I stood up to the moment I would be assigned a cell was controlled by someone other than myself. With that, I got the idea of how much freedom I was granted behind these walls, and as I stepped out of the bus, I realized walls would be all I get to see.

The bus was not outside. We were in some sort of bunker, roughly fifty feet in diameter. It actually made sense because they had no real leash on me. Yeah, these catch poles were fucking annoying the hell out of me, but in an open field like I’ve seen for miles upon arriving, nobody here would stand a chance. However, being in here, I felt nothing but anxiety and a sort of chill that I could not describe if I had a gun against my head. Believe me, I had several of those.

I was forced forward down a seemingly perpetual hallway. We made so many turns that I started to feel like I was being led around in circles just so I didn’t have any reliable mental map of the place. The deeper we went in, the more energy I felt like I was losing. I had actually wondered if they knew about my powers and that’s not only why I was here, but why they were leading me around; the more I walked; the longer I was here, the more my powers diminished.

After about twenty minutes of walking, I was led into a small room, big enough for me and one other person. There was a closed door opposite the one I came through with a very small table in the middle. Otherwise, the room was white and no personality to it. Plain, simple and basic. Small enough to be a closet, but not arranged in any way to consider it one.

A small man entered the room and sat down. He signaled for me to also take a seat in front of him. He was not afraid of me and I felt encouraged not to give him a reason to fear me. I was not afraid of him either.

“I want to know why I’m here and when I can go home,” I calmly demanded with no answer in return. Instead he asked his own questions.

“So, Jack. I’ll start by getting from you your height, weight, gift and your age.”

I didn’t respond.

“I’m sorry if you were under the impression that I was asking. Height. Weight. Age. Gift.”

“Your guy gave you that information on the bus,” I replied.

The man (Whose name badge said Simmons) exhaled defeatedly and closed his book.

“Do you know why you are here?”

“No, I don’t. But since there is only one thing I could think it to be, I’m going to assume it’s because I’m a bit faster than the average person.”

“See, that’s it. You say it like we don’t have you generating sonic booms in the Outback, or leaving fire trails behind you on our satellite imaging. You are not faster than the average person, you are supersonic, my boy.”

“So what? It’s a crime to have powers?”

“Unfortunately for you, it is. Why else would you be here?”

“You have yet to explain even that to me,” I snapped back.

Another defeated sigh left his chest and he took off his glasses, which landed so harshly on the table that I thought a lens would pop out.

“Do you remember the war?” He asked as if he knew I probably didn’t know which war he was talking about.

“There’s been so many, could you be more specific?” Is what I would have said if he hadn’t interrupted me at the first sound that came out of my mouth.

“I assumed not. The information gathered on the war was never made available to the public. The first Exotically Augmented Individuals, or EAIs, made their first appearance during the war. One of these EAIs, not unlike yourself, could move at such high velocity, he was believed to surpass the speed of light and enter a new dimension entirely.”

“You know, I’ve run some pretty crazy speeds, but I’ve never gone that fast. You expect me to believe someone else just ran so fast they became the fastest thing in the universe?” I sneered.

He retaliated by pulling out a file and opened it up. It was titled Operation: HERMES. I opened it up and inside were several pictures of a small Asian town, completely obliterated.

“The energy this EAI emitted created such a shockwave that decimated the town of Nagata,” he explained as I flipped to a picture of what looked like a mummy straight out of a movie. “And he was not the fastest thing in the universe. No matter how fast you are, you will never outrun Death.”

“What happened to him?” I asked.

“When he entered the light speed dimension, as my grandfather called it, you exist in a state of light speed. No matter how slow you become, you will never be able to escape the light speed dimension. To him, he lived out his life as long as any man would inside that dimension. In a way, his body still existed in such a manner after his death. He just remained in one place long enough for us to perceive him.”

“I don’t understand what this has to do with me,” I lashed out.

“And that is precisely the problem,” Simmons replied as two guards hoisted me up, “You all are very destructive, setting fire to the gasoline everywhere you go. This is the only way to bring stability to the lives of everyone else. I will be seeing you, Mr. Jack.”

The guards yanked me from one room to another. Here, they literally tore all of my clothes off and sat me down in a chair. They both kept one hand on my shoulder and the other would hold my arms against the rest, until a metal clamp would fasten around my wrists. They both loosened their grip on me, but not one would dare leave my side. Then, an Asian female came in with a tool kit that contained all sorts of surgical equipment.

“What the fuck is that for?” I cried out.

“Oh, this?” She said coyly, “This is not what you should be afraid of.”

She pulled a small sheet off of an item that sat on a metal tray, as if she was revealing the grand prize I had just won in this sick, twisted game.

“I heard you heal quickly. Unfortunately, that means I’ll have to make this fast.”

She took the scalpel first and started on my left forearm. She stuck the blade in the fatty part of my arm, just a few inches from the inside of my elbow. She made a six inch incision along the innermost part of my forearm. I let out a howl, begging her to stop and when she reached the end, she turned the scalpel and carved three more inches upward. When her three by six rectangle was done, she took the forceps and pulled the slab of skin off and just threw it on the ground behind her.

“We do not need that anymore,” she chuckled as I cried out in horror at what she had just done.

As I sobbed for her to stop this torture, she grabbed the device as well as the sheet. She forcefully wiped my face and called me something in her native language, what I assume was either baby or pussy. She threw the sheet over my face so I couldn’t see the rest and continued working. She put the device in the newly carved hole, which burned like hell, and clicked a button. The device started whirring and, after minutes of pain and anguish, it melded to my skin.

“See? Done, you big baby,” she said, mockingly, but all I could think is “It was baby.” I let out a chuckle, which confused her.

The restraints unlocked and the guards picked me up. Two more men came in, each carrying a uniform. One stood completely still while the other started putting the clothes on me. The jumpsuit itself was pretty uncomfortable, sleeves were sewn in a rolled up position, everything was one piece, including the boxers and the shirt, both sewn into the jumpsuit. When they finished getting me dressed, my strength had returned and I could stand on my own. The remaining man threw the spare uniform at me and left with the first guy.

After the implant was put on my arm and I was dressed, they took me to get my photo taken as well as my fingerprints, not unlike other prison facilities. Finally, it was time to go to my cell. I was escorted to what I thought was an elevator, but turned out to be a small tram car. The silence was deafening and the only thing I could focus on was the banner at the top, which read Supreme Underground Penitentiary for the Enhanced in need of Reform: Maximum Security Prison.

The tram screeched to a halt, which almost took me off my feet. I managed to catch myself, only to be pushed on my back by one of the guards.

“Get moving,” I heard through the ringing in my ears from my head hitting the ground.

I stood up and thought about running. However, when I tried to quicken my reflexes, nothing happened. Nobody slowed down, nothing stopped, and I certainly was not any faster. My heart raced as I faced my indecision, but the solution hit me in the face in the form of a fist. I fell back to the ground, this time, dropping my jumpsuit, but catching myself on the railing.

“I won’t tell you again. MOVE!”

His voice echoed through the air and reverberated through the hallway. I took no time in getting a move on. I had the guards on my ass and they kept pace with me until we reached a door. One guard pushed me to the side and scanned his key card. The light changed from red to green and, just as the door opened and I started to walk through, I was shoved in and the door slammed behind me. In this room, there was a bed, toilet, desk and one open door on the other side.

The door behind me actually blended in with my wall, but I could still hear the guards on the other side of it laughing and mocking me. I knew that meant they could see me through the two way mirror. I gave them the finger and one of them yelled back at me.

“Hey, C4587! Welcome to SUPERMax!”

And when he called me that, my old identity had gone out the window.