Carter was not a good man. Carter was what he liked to call jokingly an "outlaw" and what the justice system called a habitual offender.
With a rap sheet as long as his very dull life, and no one left to care he descended further into the mire that is incarceration and reoffences until they simply stopped letting him out.
It was on one of those blurring days comprised of concrete walls and and the stench of human desperation that a commotion started during rec time.
Laughter and shrieks sounded out from one of the covered cells on the second story of the pod.
"PLEASE, I-" followed by several thumps of a fist hitting skin. After a moment of silence the inmates went back to doing what they were before the scream was heard, "Somebody getting they shit BEAT in there" said Roach, a short but stocky man with a thick beard.
"Good fucking luck to whoever pissed off hammer" remarked Carter as he played his turn in blackjack "Boom bitch! Now hand it over! "
Hank was a whip thin balding man, who during a stressful meeting had a breakdown and beat his boss to death with his own planner.
"Who's not listening now bill!" And several thumps echoed along the office floor that day.
Filled with the desperation of losing his last noodles, the former financial analyst latched onto a change of subject while clutching his beloved.
"Y'all didn't hear?"
"Hear what- and hand that over while you say that"
Carter said motioning with his hand to the noodles Hank was now trying to stuff into his shirt.
"Hammer's gettin himself a new wife!"
Roach began quietly shaking his head to Hank indicating to stop while he was ahead but he continued.
"Yea that young jit Judy?…Maybe Jody"
Carter's brow furrowed "you talking about Joey? That kids not even supposed to be here his paperwork said Klein county not penitentiary".
Hank hmmmmed "are you sure it ain't Judy, Hammer was callin em Judy I think" he said with a shrug.
Carter went to stand and felt roach's thick mitt slap on his shoulder pushing him down " uh-uh sit that thick ass down- pause"
"AYO!?"
" you know I ain't mean it like that-"
"he's right, you do too much squats man" Hank says with a peculiar noodle shaped bulge on his chest.
"That don't matter, what matters is your gonna get stabbed you go up there tryna start something" roach grunts out.
"MOMMY I DONT WANT THIS PLEAAA-Agh" echoes out around the pod followed with several shushing remarks.
"You ain't gonna do nothin guard?!"
Is shouted out to the seated CO at the watch desk
"fuck no I don't wanna see that shit"
spits out the ruddy bulldogged face of the CO.
A tense atmosphere with whispers starts up around the pod as the struggle intensifies and the desperate whimpers and rustling paints a grim picture that is about to happen.
"Man fuck this- roach get me my chain" carter grunts out.
" C, you know this isn't gonna end well" roach whispers.
Yet still gets up to rummage in his cell before coming out with a wrapped shirt.
Roach was the guy to go to for storage since his cell had multiple small compartments in the top cell lights. He set it down on the metal bench by Carters large hand before trying one more time to convince him of the futility of the situation.
"Hammers a big bitch and those two fuckin rats are watching out for him man".
"They won't say shit" Carter said as he levered his large frame out of the bench.
Carter Romano was a large man, standing at 6'6 slouched and weighing 270 lbs. he was by no means lean but muscular.
He liked to eat and was bored enough in his cell to workout to pass the time so all the delicious mushy protein provided by the wonderful state was put to good use.
He unwrapped the shirt to find his rusty heavy chain with an equally rusty lock on the end of it, he had gotten quite lucky to find this near one of the old fenced in yard gates. He didn't wanna know how it had gotten in there or who's it was in the first place, all he knew was that it had served him well when he had to put people in their place or when the weekly fights behind the stairs corner got too 'rowdy'.
Carter methodically wrapped the end around his knuckles and let the lock dangle down his hand as his long strides took him towards the stairs.
The old CO opened his mouth to say something before sighing and simply walking out of the pod, he should have some time before the bitter old man got the energy to report what was happening.
As he walked up the stairs he could feel his heart start to pump, the other inmates started to talk louder knowing that they were gonna witness some fun before a lockdown would happen.
It reminded him of the underground fights he used to do when he was young and dumb. The crowd charged with bloodlust, wanting to see violence that they couldn't experience in their everyday life.
He felt a familiar warmth crawl up from his core and into his limbs with a thrum, he could feel his body shiver as if waking up from a long nap. The dull grey concrete illuminated by LED's tinged a warm light as everything got brighter in his vision.
As he stepped onto the platform he saw the two rats that Roach was talking about, both beady eyed little fuckers and twitchy from some smuggled in drug. They both had seen him and yet hadn't warned Hammer of the impending ass whooping he was gonna get, though one of them was getting twitchier as if fighting off the instinct to crow.
Carter didn't give him the chance.
Carter was not a nice man, his last strike subsequently throwing away his key to freedom had been for beating a man to death with his bare hands. When the judge asked his statement he simply said
"the chomo had it coming".
Before that Carter had been in for mostly petty things, a few batteries here a robbery there, a small stint for tax evasion (never again) and on the list goes. Because of the brutal nature of the crime, Carter had been locked up with some of the most violent offenders around and he never blinked.
Except when it came to chomos.
He Hated them.
Every chance he got to kill one he had taken. He's in for another 130 more years for his last one.
But who's counting?
Clearly not the DA, they just keep putting him back in gen pop.
While the young Joey might not be a child he was still just a boy, young enough that it didn't matter to Carter's brain.
The rat didn't even have time to scream before the lock hit him on his temple.
A *SQUELCH* was heard as his right orbital bone was shattered into pieces and his eyeball popped out.
He flopped bonelessly on the floor as his body gave its last breaths.
"uhhhhhhhhghh" the rat squeaked as his body twitched and shook from the major brain damage.
The other made no move to help him before he bolted to the other stairs while wailing "AHHHHHH-ghhhh"
He never made it.
A lock went through the back of his skull and into brain matter as his body skidded down the stairs flailing before finally hitting the bottom with a *SQUELCH-THUMP*.
Throughout the noise Carter could still hear the struggling of the two inmates, one fighting for his life while the other fighting for sick pleasure going by the giggles, grunts, and whimpers coming from the room.
Carter wasted no time in ripping the cover off the door frame and revealing what was inside.
A large sweaty shirtless man was on top of a thin willowy looking boy in the process of pulling his pants down. The boy had been beaten black and blue and yet still had some fight in him by the weak kicking of his legs.
As Roach had said Hammer was a big bitch, at 7'0 and over 300lbs Hammer had earned his nickname well.
Plus he had bludgeoned a family with one before being thrown in prison and forgotten.
As the light from the doorway flooded the room, Hammer looked up from his soon to be victim and grunted "the fuck are you doin, get your own wife".
He couldn't say anymore after that as a state issued steel toe went through his teeth, the big man fell back and started squealing as he tried to hold the remnants of his mouth together. " AHMMMMGGHH" was all that was heard as a lock was snapped down on his body again and again until that too stopped. *HUFF**HUFF**HUFF* was heard in the now silent room, *sniff**sniff*
Carter turned to find the young Joey still laying on the ground beaten and crying while weakly pulling his pants up. Hammer had done a number on the boy as seen by the already appearing bruises and swelling on the bloodied skin. "Come on kid, lets get you to the infirmary" as soon as Carter spoke Joey flinched and wobbly stood up, before fearfully looking up at him.
"What's the matter kid? Come one I'll hel-" hot white pain exploded from the back of his head before he crashed to the ground.
He could hear someone screaming before another white hot flash went across his back and everything went black.
Carter Romano, at age 35 bled out from multiple stab wounds in Klein state penitentiary after an altercation with Marcus Harris (36) aka Hammer.
Peter Kosinski (48) and Walter bluff (34) were pronounced dead on scene when paramedics entered the pod.
Marcus Harris died after 48 hours in the state hospital after a massive hemorrhage was left unchecked in his head, no pain relief was given as it was noted on file he had been a notorious drug seeker.
Joey Calderi's (17) family sued the Department of Corrections for improper procedure with a minor and negligence allowing his transfer to a state prison, his family won 20 million and started a charity towards young adults who had been sexually assaulted.
It was named the Carter foundation.
*******************
Carter heard indecipherable whispers around him, the low din it created filling him with anxiety. There were laughs, snorts, wails and more showcasing the many emotions one could feel through their lifetime.
It slowly got louder until it reached an ear ringing crescendo before stopping all at once with a bang that catapulted him up and into consciousness.
He awoke with a jerk that left him reeling as if he had just gone a round with Mike Tyson, a dull ringing kept him from making coherent thought and letting out sounds like a cave man.
"Ugh-fuck.. I gotta stop drinking that shit Hank brings me before my liver fails".
He sat there and simply breathed for a moment, the leftover anxiety leaving a shaky feeling in his chest which was discomforting.
As Carter slowly opened his eyes to meet the dull white led in his cell he was surprised to see a clear blue sky with not a cloud in sight. "What. The. Fuck"
A shock of adrenaline coursed through him and Carter quickly stood up and looked around. Peculiarly he seen that he is in what looked like a large wheat field, the pristine golden grain swaying to a gentle and cool breeze. It was an idyllic sight, what one would think a painting of hilly farm country would look like.
"Wow, now that is just a beautiful looking scene, I wish I had a camera".
After carter had seen concrete walls and barren rock as far as the eye could see for years he had begun to truly love art . Especially paintings and pictures of landscapes, anything to get his mind off the monotony of his life really.
*ding* "ow- what the fuck was that!? That hurt!" *DING* "ow! Stop that!" Carter started to swat at the air around him thinking some strange bug was biting at him until *swish* *ding*
~Welcome new system user~
~Analyzing~…
~Please hold still~...
~Welcome Carter Romano~
----------------------------
Name: Carter Romano
Age:34
Class: N/A
Traits: strong man, thick skin, mean mug, newly awoken.
Stats
Stre:14
Dex:10
Con:16
Mag:4
Cha:8 Skills: Spells:
Observation: A naughty man who came from a very naughty place.
-----------------------------
"What the fuck is this shit!?"
" wait this is that game stuff!"
"Am I in a game!?"
"Wait a minute…"
" no..no no no"
Carter began to start breathing heavily, feeling as though not getting enough oxygen, while spots formed in his eyes as his last moments start to play out in front of him.
The screams, the satisfying feeling of flesh bowing to metal and force, the exhilaration of ridding another evil from the world. And then the pain and the distant whispers.
'I died.
That big bitch got me good it seems. Huh. Well, oh well. Clearly I'm not dead here, wherever here exactly is. He takes a big breath and lets it out, releasing the tenseness that his final moment brought him.
He knew what this was. He got transmigrated. 'Especially since earth doesn't have giant fucking rocks just moving in the sky'
He had heard about this from Hank during one of his episodes. After hank had that unfortunate 'incident' at work he had never been the same, he would sometimes get very bubbly with blown pupils and rants that could go on for hours. One of his fixations became reading fantasy stories, which he would then relay to the whole pod and even out on the yard to anyone who would listen.
'How did he say this works again? I would get like a quest or message or something right?
There was no quest or message he could see on the weird floating words. he looked around once more to see if he had missed something but there was just the field.
And a small child staring behind him.
Carter felt a shiver running up his back, when he saw them. they were just silently looking at him, not moving. It reminded him of that one movie with the creepy kids in the cornfield. Especially since they were wearing what looked like overalls, just brown instead of denim blue.
"Are you a stranger?" the child said in a croaky voice, still unblinkingly staring with wide eyes. Too big of eyes it looked like, almost inhuman looking. they whites of them were almost grayish with piercing yellow irises.
"Mommy said not to talk to strangers" the boy said.
"is that right? , well I would listen to your mommy. Can you bring me to her".
Carter came to the simple and copium laced conclusion that the boy was special 'maybe with some fantasy stuff, like magic Asperger's or something i don't know.'
"okay" the boy then got down on all fours and scuttled into the distance, moving quite fast.
'oh fuck no' Carter had to stop himself from running in the opposite direction. ' he's just a kid, maybe fantasy corn makes people wonky. like Hank.
Carter already missed Hank and Roach.