Richard Stephenson - Collapse

“Let’s go! Get in your cells! Time to rack up! NOW!” The guard locked the front door of the unit and walked to the center of the common room. “Hurry up! Get a move on! IN YOUR CELLS!”

“Find somewhere to hide — laundry room, shower, mop closet — just get out of sight. Don’t come out until you see me.” Richard was hoping that the guard in this cellblock intended to lock down the unit and leave like everyone else. Hopefully, the guard would move quickly and not search around the unit for stragglers. Richard was also hoping the utilities foremen wouldn’t stay for long.

Richard and his three partners in crime found places in the unit to hide. Slowly, the inmates in the block relented and went into their cells. Once the guard had locked down his unit, he walked over to the foremen. Richard had chosen a hiding spot that would allow him to overhear what the guards were saying.

“What are you guys doing?” asked the guard.

“We’re rigging two of these air handlers to come on now so the smoke doesn’t get too thick in here.”

Fifteen feet off the floor and built into the wall, four massive fans were spaced a few feet apart. The fans were designed to pull smoke from the unit to the outside. The fans were tied into the fire alarm system. Once smoke was detected, the fans kicked on and did their job. The motors were on the outside of the wall, filling with ash. If the fans weren’t turned on soon, they would either malfunction and not come on, or they would catch on fire.

One of the utilities foremen walked towards the back hallway. “Hey, can you let me back here?” Next to the front entrance was a doorway that led back to several offices. A utilities closet containing tools, ladders, and other equipment could be found next to the offices.

“Sure thing. You guys gonna work in all the units?” The cellblock guard walked back to the door and opened it.

“I hope not. I’m sure Landry has crews in the other buildings doing the same work. At least I hope he does. I wanna get the fuck outta here as quick as possible.”

“Me, too. When that shit started falling out of the sky, I was talking to Morales. He said that most of the staff not directly supervising inmates was already headed out the front lobby.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Can’t say I blame ‘em. Smoke is getting pretty thick. I’m kinda scared to go out there. Probably have to crawl on our hands and knees just to be able to see anything.”

Two of the foremen came out of the hallway with two fifteen-foot ladders and set them up under the fans. The cellblock guard locked the door to the back hallway and went into his office to use the phone as the foremen began work on the fan. First, they took off the security cages. Next, they took the fan blades out so they could reach the motor. When the fan blades were passed down and put on the floor, Richard made his move.

Richard dashed from the closet with a mop handle he had broken in two. He banged the mop handles on the wall to signal his fellow inmates to come out of hiding. Tank, Spider, and Head suddenly appeared from different areas of the cellblock. The five staff members just looked at them in complete confusion as the four inmates surrounded the staff members. Richard looked at the other men and motioned for them to stand down and follow his lead.

“You guys lost?”

“Nope. We’re right where we need to be.”

“You don’t live in this unit. You get stuck in here outta bounds? You aren’t making it back to your unit just now. You can wait it out in here. I got an empty cell for you to stay in.” The cellblock guard started walking toward the bottom tier of cells.

“Not going in a cell,” said Richard.

“Is that right? And just where exactly do you think you’re going?”

“Out there.”

All five of the staff members started laughing. One of the foremen spoke up. “Pretty funny. You know it’s like a horror movie out there. You guys wanna die?”

The cellblock guard swallowed his laughter and joined in, “And just how do you expect to get out there?”

Richard looked at Tank and nodded his head. Tank stepped up and punched the cellblock guard in the stomach. The guard fell to his knees and hit the alarm on his radio. The other staff members looked at Tank in complete terror. They knew that the six foot nine inch monster could kill all of them in under a minute if he wanted to. One of them knelt down to help the cellblock guard.

One of the foremen keyed up his radio. “We have an emergency in Cellblock A, four inmates out of bounds! Officer assaulted! We need help in here!”

“Uh-oh! Looks like nobody’s coming!” Spider peered at the terrified staff with a look of mock terror on his face. The inmates in the cellblock were watching the show from their cell windows. They were hollering and cheering on Richard and his men.

Richard silenced Spider with a glance. Once Spider calmed down, Richard addressed the five staff members. “Gentlemen, let’s just take it easy. We are not going to hurt you unless you give us a reason to hurt you. If you do as you’re told, everything will be fine.”

“If you think we are gonna help you escape, you’re wrong!” one of the foremen screamed.

“Sir, I wouldn’t dream of it, I assure you,” Richard said calmly. “The only thing I expect you to do is stay out of the way and behave yourselves. Now, this is what you’re gonna do. I want you to line up outside the officer’s station and sit Indian style with your hands on top of your heads. If you attempt to get up or lower your hands, Tank here will make you regret the decision.”

The injured cellblock officer sat up and tried to catch his breath. The five men didn’t move; the last thing they wanted to do was take orders from an inmate.

“Tank? Would you please escort these gentlemen and see to it that they follow directions?”

“I’d love to! C’mon, sweethearts, you heard the man! Get movin’!” Tank balled up his fists and bowed out his chest to the five men. They quickly followed Richard’s instructions. Tank rejoined the group and asked, “What’s the plan, Richard?”

“Well, our friends here have done half the work for us. The cage is gone, and the fan blades have been removed. We just have to figure out a way to get the motor busted out of the frame so we can get down.”

“You expect us to jump fifteen feet down on the other side?” asked Head.

“Not at all. We really can’t afford a broken leg with the trip we’re going to have to take. You and Spider search the guard’s office, then search the laundry room and all of the closets for anything you can make a rope out of. In fact, get the guard’s keys and search that empty cell he was talking about. Get the mattress outta there and anything else we can use.”

“I’m on it,” Head grabbed Spider by the arm, and they went in search of any materials that might be useful for the journey ahead.

The cellblock was suddenly filled with a thunderous racket as inmates began kicking and banging on their doors. As inmates screamed at the top of their lungs, the noise was so deafening that it was impossible to tell what anyone was saying.

Tank leaned over to Richard and screamed in his ear, “What the hell’s going on? What are they screaming about?”

Richard yelled in Tank’s ear, “We have to hurry! We don’t have much time!”

“Why?” Tank screamed.

“Because the smoke is starting to pour into the cells! If it trips the smoke alarm, these fans are going to kick on and make things much harder for us!”

“What do you want me to do?” shouted Tank.

“Get up on that ladder, and see if you can get that motor out of the way! Hurry!”

Tank grabbed a handful of tools and climbed the ladder to get a look at the fan motor. Lucky for them all, Tank had spent his youth repairing cars and motorcycles; he was no stranger when it came to mechanics. He quickly removed bolts and screws. The motor was almost free of its casing when Tank yelled down to Richard, “The motor is welded to the frame at the top on both sides!”