He was just in time too. He had to spring backwards toavoid his cellmate's outstretched arms reaching for him through the bars. He hungjust out of arm's reach and studied his cellmate's face. His mouth was coveredin blood, and he could see bits of flesh stuck in the man's teeth. His eyeswere glassy and unfocusing. Ace flipped him off, but it was as if he wasinvisible to the man, except for the fact that he was clearly hungry forseconds. Over his cellmate's shoulder, he could see the man in the cell acrossthe hall reaching for him as well, his face pressed against the bars.
Ace bent over the mutilated jailor. The smell of hisinsides was pungent, and he had to fight to keep from gagging. The roar of thecellblock was deafening. With his hand over his mouth and nose, he dropped downto his knees and searched the guard's body. Today, was his lucky day... if aday filled with murder and violence could be considered lucky. The jailor stillhad his keys on him. Twenty keys on a ring, but no gun, and a guest justoutside the door who could throw him around like a ragdoll if he got close.
Ace was formulating a plan when the guard grabbed a holdof his arm and began pulling it to his mouth. Instinctively, Ace cracked theguard across the jaw, but still the man clung to him. Ace got off of his kneesand yanked his arm away from the guard.
"Hey!" he yelled, not knowing what else to say,his English temporarily failing him. He backed away from the guard, bumpinginto the far wall of his cell. The guard managed to get to his knees, theshreds of his intestines flopping on his brown guardsman pants."Stop!" Ace yelled.
The guard advanced on him, and out of sheer panic, Acespun and landed a hard kick on the guard's face. The guard toppled to theground. For a moment, Ace was concerned for the man's health, and then herealized that the man was in fact dead. The blank stare, the gaping gut wound,it all made sense to him.
As the guard rolled over and tried to get to his feet,Ace pounced on the man's back, grabbed his head and began pounding it into theconcrete floor of the cell. The guard was helpless, and when Ace had finished,the guard's forehead was caved in and the ground was covered in blood. Hestood, shining with sweat, and let out a ragged sigh.
He looked into the hallway, and his former cellmate wasstill there, still clawing at the air and trying to get to him. Now he had todeal with him. Ace rummaged through the guard's pockets, coming up with nothingmore than a collapsible baton. No gun. No taser. Just a solid piece of metalthat wasn't very likely to deter his former cellmate.
Ace flung his wrist out, flicking the collapsible batonso it opened. He took a swing at the concrete walls of his cell. A small flakeof the concrete wall flew off. The baton was heavy and weighted properly, butit was going to take one lucky hit to take out his cellmate.
The air whistled as Ace approached his cellmate and swungthe baton in a downward arc. The baton glanced off one of the steel bars,robbing it of its impact. The man on the other side of the bars appeared tofeel nothing as the metal baton bashed into his shoulder. For a second, Acewanted to just stab the baton at the man's eye and kill him outright, but thecollapsible nature of the baton wouldn't allow it, so he continued to swingaway.
Despite the fact that he could play guitar and belt outsongs at the same time, in virtually every other facet of his life, Ace was notconsidered agile. It took him about twenty swings to finally land a solid blowto his cellmate's head. In the meantime, the noise in the hallway hadincreased, and people were shouting up and down the hallway.
He had trouble making out the words of the otherprisoners, but then he heard gunshots from the entrance to the cellblock. Aceswung the baton harder and faster, desperation lacing every swing. The din inthe hallway rose higher and higher, and then there were more gunshots. Just ashe was about to deliver another swing at the man, the side of his cellmate'shead exploded, blood splattering the concrete floor of the hallway. Ace stoodthere, his arm raised in the air, and for some absurd reason, he stared at thepuddle of blood oozing out of his former cellmate's skull... trying to make ashape out of it, as if it were a cloud floating in a blue spring sky. It lookedlike a fish he decided, a fish with its guts spilling out.
As he stood there, trying to come up with another shape,two men ran down the hallway, guns in their hands.
A pudgy cop in riot gear began yelling at the prisoners,"If you're alive, yell your name, otherwise we will shoot you. I repeat,if you are alive, yell your name, otherwise I will shoot you."
The shouting became more intense. The voices of thepanicked prisoners reverberated off of the concrete walls, echoing back andforth and building in intensity.
The pudgy cop's partner stopped in front of Ace's cell.He looked at Ace with suspicion in his eyes and his gun raised.
"Ace! My name is Ace! Ace! Ace!"
The cop seemed satisfied. Then he noticed the jailor onthe floor, a blood puddle expanding from his split melon. "What the fuckis that?"
"He try to kill me," Ace pleaded. The cop aimedhis gun at him as Ace continued to yell,
