Free Lights Out by Nate Southard Page B

him a brief glare before leaving, banging his nightstick against the cell door on his way. The clanging sound almost wrenched a scream from Maggot’s throat.
    Shortly after dinner--another meal he skipped, instead letting his cellmate take the simple peanut butter sandwich and apple--lights out finally arrived. Darkness folded over the cellblock, and Maggot’s cellmate wasted no time in raping him. Maggot just laid there through the ordeal, listening to the man’s hushed grunts, too frightened to be thankful it wasn’t Officer Nicholas inside of him. He watched the walkway, and when his tears came again, he thought he saw Dr. Wilson and the others again. Only this time they weren’t lying twisted and bloody on the floor. They were moving through the shadows, their forms hunched and their movements fast and mean. For the first time that day, Maggot made a sound. From deep in his throat a whimper crawled up, and it took all of his remaining sanity to keep it from becoming a scream.

 
     
     
    Nine
     
     
    The next morning, the bodies of Dr. Edward Wilson, Aldo Italiano and Chale Jiminez had disappeared.

 
     
     
    PART TWO

 
     
     
    One
     
     
    “Good thing we went to lockdown. Really kept the rule-breakers in line.”
    Darren watched Ron, waiting for him to acknowledge the remark. When his friend did, giving him the most cursory of glances before shaking his head and turning back to the trio of open freezers, he was shocked at how haggard and hollow the man looked. It appeared as though the events of the past few days had turned the warden into an old man before his time. His back had even grown the slightest bit stooped. Darren shook his own head. Seeing his friend this way did nothing but sadden him.
    “It’s bullshit,” Ron said. “All of it is bullshit.” He turned away from the freezer doors that either hung from twisted hinges or lay discarded on the tile floor, dented and scratched, and looked back and forth from Darren to Morrow and back again. A flashbulb went off in the background, the forensics team getting shots for the ensuing investigation. “This whole place is falling down around my ears.”
    “Get over your self-pity for a minute. Some bad shit’s happening, but you’re doing everything you can.”
    The warden rubbed a hand over his sweaty forehead. “Am I?”
    “What else is there to do?”
    “I wish I knew, Ron. Truly.” Darren gave his friend a pat on the shoulder. “Something will turn up. There’s no way these bodies could have gotten out of the prison.”
    “Unless they walked.”
    He turned to face Morrow, and he was sure Ron did the same. The correctional officer looked spooked, and his eyes zeroed in on the damaged freezers.
    “Ray?” Ron asked.
    “What? Look at those goddamn things! Somebody didn’t pull those off and then go stomping on them for jollies or whatever. Those things were busted open from the inside! I can’t be the only one here who’s thinking it.”
    “You are, Ray, and you might be crazy for saying it out loud.”
    “Come on, warden!”
    “Those bodies were dead. You were there with me, and you saw them. All three dead as goddamn doornails. They couldn’t have torn those locked doors open from the inside.”
    “Maybe they’re stronger when they wake up.”
    Timms frowned. “Don’t you say another word, Ray. Not one.”
    “The original ones disappeared, too. Do I have to spell it out?”
    “For the sake of your job, you’d better not.”
    “My job? You’d fire me?”
    Timms nodded. “If I have reason to think one of my officers is unstable.”
    “Unstable? I’m just… What other theories do we have? What other theories could there possibly be?”
    “Could be a prank for all I know. Could be some asshole stashing bodies and pulling shit like this in order to turn the whole place on its head. Whatever theories we might have, they’re part of an official investigation, and I don’t have to share them with you.”
    Morrow turned to