Fair warning for gore and character death. Oops.

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Kevin.

The ride to wherever we were going was eerily quiet. So far Baxter hadn't said anything to me. Truth to be told, I was scared I had insulted the only trustworthy person that wanted to help me. I thought about apologizing, but then again, I didn't know what I had done wrong and instead stayed hushed.

A heavy silence had engulfed us, weighed down on my nerves and kept me anxious throughout the whole ride. It was only interrupted when the driver stopped the car in the middle of a huge parking lot, surrounded by busy workers and killed the engine. Baxter then flashed me a small smile before he got out of the vehicle. As soon as I followed him, I realized we were outside of a studio and all the people running around were part of the crew, making a huge live show possible.

A tiny, Indian woman approached us with quick steps and a grim-looking security guy followed her. Seeing that man around I almost found myself missing Summers. Against common sense, Baxter guided me towards these people until we were close and the woman turned on her heels without a word, waving at us to follow her while she was already gone again.

"This woman will be there for you during the interview," Baxter explained as the tiny woman shouted at some people that were slacking off and in her way. She then opened a heavy-looking metal door and guided Baxter and me through the studio. At this point, the security guy had already vanished again and even more, people could be seen inside the studio, crowding the place.

From then on, things were a blur. Someone shoved powder into my face, someone else threw a water bottle in my direction, a third someone forced me into a suit and the tiny Indian woman kept shouting. Then while I stood completely stunned and let the people do my work, both Baxter and the woman talked to me, telling me what to say, what not to do and how to look at the host.

And, well, I was so scared.

I more or less stumbled on stage and fell onto the couch next to the host and swallowed my own tongue before anything else had the chance to happen. The man, the host, himself seemed a lot more relaxed than I was. His smile showed off pearly whites, his hair was perfectly made and bright blue eyes sparkled with something I only could label as 'delight'. Somehow he made me feel at peace like I was in good hands and at home and no matter what might happen he would help me get through it.

It was only then that I realized I hadn't been able to feel like that for a very long time, had been on edge for so long... Somehow it didn't even occur to me how strange me trusting that man was.

Like the calm before a storm.

The host started off smoothly, introduced me, chatted with me for a short while before we came to the heavy things. My story. The unfortunate events that were chained together and resulted in me getting imprisoned.

"And as I said before - ," I said with a small smile on my lips as I was close to finishing and only once again came back to the part in which I was innocent, but I couldn't finish my sentence. A loud noise could be heard, a bell rung and for a moment the whole studio had stopped breathing.

The show was live and whatever that was, it wasn't intended to happen.

Panic rose inside my chest and my eyes came to linger on the host, searching for help, but the man just intently listened to the things he heard through the little button in his ear. I could observe his face lose all colors as he basically turned gray. His once bright eyes seemed to have a much duller quality but a serious aura surrounded the man.

Somehow his expression reminded me of Adam, from when I had first met him and he still walked around with these eerie dead eyes. But when the host looked straight at a camera and his voice echoed through the room, I felt goosebumps rise on my skin. No, this wasn't like Adams death eyes, this was still in the process of dying.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the host started, his voice strained as if he was forcing himself to stay calm. "We have to interrupt this live show, to bring you bad news. " A riot has started in our local prison, reportedly at least five inmates are dead and one guard is still locked in there."

I let out a shaking breath, praying this wasn't true, begging god and every other entity that Adam was okay, but before I could further collect myself the host spoke again. His voice ripped through the shocked silence that had formed and tore my insides apart.

"I just got informed we have live access to one of the security cameras and they will be shown, however, there is no audio available" he paused, giving a short moment of silence until he continued with more urgency in his voice. "The scene you will be witnessing is the true horror of what humankind is capable of doing. Please, for the love of god, shield your children's eyes."

In that moment, I wanted to curl myself together, wanted to hide my eyes and cover my ears, but I couldn't. Like a puppet did my head move toward the huge monitor, following the gaze of the host and everybody else inside the studio. For a heartbeat, time stood still and nobody dared to breathe.

The screen displayed only static at first until a black and white picture was shown. It was only a small part of the place I had spent so much time in, but fate was cruel and it showed the table I used to always sit on with my friends. From the angle we were seeing, one door was barricaded shut and another one stood wide open, revealing the frame of a man.

A choked cry escaped my mouth as I realized who the beard belonged to, what body hung so lifelessly from the ceiling and who would never smile again. Rob just hung there for everybody to see, he didn't even twitch anymore and all life had already drained away from him.

Tears filled in my eyes at the mere idea of never seeing the cuddly man again, at the loss of positivity, at the loss of a friend. Oh god, Rob was dead and all I could do watch him dangle from the ceiling like a ragdoll.

But I had no second to mourn. Through my own sobs, I couldn't bring myself to look away from the picture and noticed more.

There was so much more horror I hadn't noticed before.

Above the table I used to play cards with Scott, Mitch and Avi was blood splattered, artistically placed like every dark drop of the crimson liquid had a reason to be there and underneath the table, lay one Phil Lester. A man, I hadn't talked to since I first entered and now would surely never talk to again. He seemed completely unfazed by what was happening around him. Blood covered his overall and as his seemingly innocent eyes stared up, directly at the camera I could see him chew on a hand. There was nothing else. Just the remains of a hand  hung between the man's teeth.

I could feel myself gagging, choking, wishing for this hell to end, but nobody turned the screen off.

Another man, Dan Howell, could be seen as he entered the frame, shoving and kicking two bodies in front of him as if he wanted to pile his victims up in order to have a cleaner place. He too seemed soaked in blood but totally content with the situation and once the corpses lay the way he wanted them to, he climbed onto the table and screamed something from the top of his lungs. His shouting animated Lester to come out of his hiding spot as well, showing off his hand like a great trophy. Both men clapped in delight as it seemed like other inmates were cheering for them, encouraging the sick behavior they displayed.

And then, only then did my thoughts wander. Rob was dead, Lester and Howell had taken over the prison, so what was with the old leaders? Where were Mitch and Austin? Who was save and who else dead?

Oh god.

I shouldn't have left.

Adam. What about Adam?

Fear consumed my mind, worry was all I was capable of feeling as the reality of the situation hit me. Corpses, chopped off hands and somewhere within all of that was the one I loved and was willing to put before my own freedom. 

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