-1-

-highway-

“Fuck.”

Is the first thing Harlow says when he wakes up  in the jail cell.

There’s a pain radiating from the center of his forehead and nausea in the pit of his stomach. The blinking LED lights aren’t helping the hangover.

Through squinted eyes he can see Felix and Marco sitting on the edge of a bench together, jiggling their legs nervously. Alex is sitting  in the corner opposite of them with his knees to his chest and  much to Harlow’s annoyance he isn’t crying.

He knows his little brother; harsh words bruise him, disappointing people leaves scars. Alex should be in a ball on the floor for this.

“This is all your god damn fault,” Harlow tells  him.

Harlow tries to stand, but he doesn’t get far. His hands have been secured to the wall behind him.

“They thought you were going to attack me…again,” Alex explains in a small voice.

“Well, I won’t,” Harlow smiles and looks out the bars  to see an officer by the door. The guard is engrossed in his Syndicate and eating lunch.

“Um, what happens, next ?," Felix asks quietly.

Of the three friends, he is  the only one who hadn’t been to jail.

“Well, we get a call--”

“We already did-- I called Isla,” Alex responds and Harlow glares.

“Look, they got the dumb shoes. They can’t keep us. Stop being pussies,” Harlow tells them.

He tries to loosen the magnetic shackles grip on his wrist, but they don’t give.

“Hey officer!,” Harlow calls. “Let me out. I’m not going to hurt him. He’s my precious baby bwother and clearly vewy scawed.”

 “Shut up, kid,” the officer responds without looking away from his lunch

Harlow cocks his eyebrow towards Felix and Marco

“For the record,” Harlow says quietly to them, “The only reason the three of us are here is because of Alex.”

“Harlow--,” Alex starts, looking his brother in the eye but pauses.

“Since I’m out of the game,” Harlow continues with a cocky smile. “Why don’t you boys see how many hits you can get in before he passes out.”

***

When Isla Haley-Starling makes it to the Reno District Detention Center  with Skylar on her hip she comes with a fight.

 They must have made a mistake.

 She notices the RLA military bus pulling up on her way in and she walks quicker. She passes a sniffling Jenna Deltorio coming the opposite way, which causes her to  speed up more.

“Your brother is going to be the death of my child,” Mrs.Deltorio accuses through soft tears.

“I’m sorry,” Isla lies.

She wasn’t responsible for Harlow or what he did and she hated taking the brunt of the anger. Every time Harlow did something despicable to a neighbor she was the first to hear about it.  It’s not that she didn’t feel bad for Mrs. Deltorio, Marco had been on his way to a nice college before he got his head stuck up Harlow’s ass.

Mrs.Deltorio must detect Isla’s insincerity, because she just swiftly turns and continues walking.

When she finally gets to the cell, the guards are just opening it to take the boys out.

“Late as always,” Harlow teases her from his spot on the bench. “And you bought the fucking kid. Good job, Mommy.”

She ignores him and goes to Alex who is kneeling, holding on to the cell’s bars. His face is freshly bruised and cut. With the roll of her eyes she notices for the first time that Harlow, Felix and Marco are  all chained to the bench. She sets Skylar on the floor and little hands instantly go for Alex’s face.

“Alex, we can maybe get a lawyer--”

“Don’t Isla. We don’t have the money. It’s okay,” Alex says

“Not it’s not.  I know you didn’t do anything. It’s not fair they won’t take it to trial, but don’t you dare let him pull you in--”

“No, Isla. It’s fine,” he says defeated. “Is Gram mad at me ?”

“This is such bullshit,” Isla whispers avoiding his question. “I told Gram they are just filling quotas, she’ll understand you didn’t do anything and I bet they’ll let you out for good behavior, okay ?”

“What about my job ?”

“We’ll figure it out later,” she says with fake confidence.

He’d been fired the moment he’d been arrested.

A Republican Liberation guard in a neat black uniform steps up behind her. He opens the cell and motions for Alex to follow him, which he does, giving Isla and Skylar a half-wave.

“Be safe,” Isla calls to him.

Two larger guards unchain Harlow and despite her impulses to kick in him the crotch Isla walks in step with him.

“You son of a bitch--,” she starts

“Takes one to know--”

He’s interrupted by her knocking him over with her shoulder. The guards reprimand them both.

“This isn’t funny. Do you know where they are taking you ?,” she says and Harlow rolls his eyes.

 “Harlow, I looked up these labor camps all night last night. They are taking you to an active military fort, where the RLA will try to  recruit you. It's thousands of miles away and so close to the action you could  get blown up any minute. This isn’t juvie   the other offenders could be murderers or something--”

“Shut the fuck up, Isla,” Harlow hisses at her.

He didn’t want to admit it, but when he’d been told he’d be doing 9 months of  hard labor at an RLA prison camp it had scared him. Harlow had been to juvenile facilities   and even did a month in the jail. He could navigate there. He knew how to make himself stand out  and gain allegiance from the younger boys.

But he wasn’t sure what hard labor meant, especially the RLA’s brand of  labor.

“Harlow, you need to take care of him. I mean it.”

“ In case we do get blown up,” Harlow says, “Remember this: I like you and all, but you are the stupidest bitch I’ve ever known.”

A guard grabs her shoulder and pushes her to the corner before she can react.  Harlow gives her a shit eating grin as he is taken out the building and forced on the bus.

Felix and Marco both slide over in their own seats when Harlow boards,  but Harlow sits next to Alex who presses as close to the window as possible. A guard comes though and makes sure they are both cuffed to the seats in front of them.

“Lexie,” Harlow says saccharinely, using the name he called his brother as a baby.  “Big sister Isla said we need to stick together and guess what, baby brother ? I want to do that. I mean it’s no big deal. It’s only nine months--”

“A year,” Alex says quietly.

Harlow had forgotten his brother had been given an extra three months for possession for the syringes Harlow left in the jacket Alex had been wearing. The others had merely gotten sentenced for grand larceny and public intoxication.

“Listen, I know how to work these kinds of places. Let's look out for each other and your last three months alone won’t be anything. You trust me right ? I know you do.”

Alex simply nodded his head, but couldn’t look Harlow in the eye.

-2-

Dark becomes light

 

Six hours into the 12 hour drive to Fort Harmony the bus  stops at an RLA  carrier refuel station. 

The bus had picked up a dozen more prisoners on the way, they were all male and as Harlow predicted most of them were on the young side. Some he recognized  from other stays and he had a mental checklist of  who he  could control.  The other prisoner did the same,  as Harlow predicted many eyes fell on Alex.

Good.

As soon as the bus stopped a fully armed officer came though and unlocked their handcuffs with a threatening glare that said it all: Make a wrong move and I will shoot your face off.

Most of the men were desperate for a break, some just glad to get off the bus and  stretch. Harlow stood and stretched his long arms, but  Alex stayed in his seat still staring intently out the window.

“Don’t you have to piss ?,” Harlow asks.

“I’ll wait,” Alex mumbles.

Harlow knows his brother and had watched him growing restless in that last hour . He jerks him up by the edge of his shirt.

“Stop!”

“Trust me, you aren’t going to have another chance. These assholes are going control everything you do soon. Come on, no one is going to hurt you, Lexie.”

Alex doesn’t put up a fight and  follows him into the restroom  where they join the back of the  line. Harlow catches the eye of Felix and Marco as they exit. They both seemed lost without him and while Harlow wasn’t intending to abandon them, it was fun for him to see them squirm.

The bathroom was old, it’d once been a rest stop on the forgotten highway and the RLA has repurposed it for a fuel station. It had probably never been cleaned, but it nicer than Harlow imagined.  There are no guards inside the bathroom--they preferred to wait outside in the clean air-- which makes it the place for the other prisoners to start confronting each other.

A few of them seem to know each other and passed along updates and solemn handshakes.

Harlow lets  Alex in front of him and  his arm  rests on his brother’s shoulder.  Alex barely unzips his pants before he lets out a short  scream that sends chills up Harlow’s back. The unexpected sound causes everyone to turn to them.

“What the fuck--,” Harlow hisses, but pauses in revulsion.

He watches as a  shiny black lumbering bug the size of a leaf crawls slowly out of the  drain, its long antenna sweeping the urinal. Its black wings buzz as they flutter open, but the bugs either to fat or too lazy to fly.

“Pussy,” a boy at the urinal next to Alex snickers.

He was young Harlow observes, maybe even a teenager with fistfuls of beautiful auburn curls. He is new at this.  This kid was probably the toughest little shit in his small town.   Not here Harlow decides.

“What did you call him ?,” Harlow asks casually, a small smile on his lips.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” the kid responds.

“You talk to my brother, you talk to me. Now, shut up.”

The defiant boy turns towards them slowly and purposefully urinates on Alex’s shoes.

It only takes Harlow one elbow to knock the boy down, his curly haired head bouncing off a sink. Before the boy can retaliate, Harlow pins him down, the boy is scrappy though and fights off Harlow with slaps to the face.

“Stop!,” Alex screams. “Please, stop it Harlow. Stop it now!”

Harlow knocks the wind out of the boy with a powerful backhand to the face.  Pinning the stunned boy down Harlow picks up the large beetle, which was slowly making its way across the grimy tile.

“Open your mouth,” Harlow sneers  at the boy through gritted teeth.

“Harlow, enough,” Alex begs.

The boy attempts to spit and Harlow  brings his knee down on the boy’s nose, crushing it just enough that the boy can’t breathe. Within in seconds, the boy involuntarily opens his mouth for air and Harlow forces the insect inside.

The boy is screaming, his entire face is leaking and he fights the battle to not close his mouth, but he can’t breathe. With a tortured guttural sound the boy swallows and in attempt to push the insect out he bites it in half.

A strong hand pulls  Harlow up off the boy and the boy quickly spits the insect out, the bottom half still moving for quite a bit longer than Harlow would have thought possible.

The hand on Harlow’s back belongs to an older prisoner. Old enough to be Harlow’s father old, which always pisses Harlow off.

“Come on kids,” the man sighs. “Let’s just serve our time and not turn into animals.”

Late and absent minded as predicted the RLA guards charge in with their weapons drawn. The older man drops Harlow’s shirt.

“What the fuck is going on ?,” a guard barks

“N-n-nothing,” the boy on the floor replies eyeing Harlow.

Harlow knew what they all thought; he was insane.

Good.

***

 

Once Camp Harmony was in site, Harlow Haley had decided he wasn’t staying 9 months, he was leaving.

Two hours out, just as the sun was setting a man who looked close Harlow’s age with shaved black hair  identified himself as Corporal Hunter bordered the bus. He delivered them the rules for the next months of their lives in numbers.  

10 hours a day of work, 6 days a week. Hard work and good behavior would equal early release, more money or an expunged record.

 They were to submit to the soldiers, they were not  to look superior officers  in the eye unless asked, they were to listen to every order and command. They were lower than second class citizens because as far as the Republic was concerned they weren’t citizens until their release. They would be rehabilitated whether they liked it or not.

They were unloaded off the bus and jerked  around by a group of uniformed and  heavily armed  RLA soldiers until they formed 3  straight lines.

They stood for an hour no one daring to speak until a tall arrogant man stood in front of them.  He was a type of structured handsome and to Harlow, he looked like a prop soldier in his clean black and blue dress uniform, decorated lapel and spotless shiny shoes despite the sand that was fucking everywhere.

“My name is Sergeant Maxwell and you do not ever want me to speak with you again,” he says walking through the neat lines.

 “You do your time and we won’t have a problem. I don’t care how strong or tough you think you are. If you cross me or my officers I promise I will personally break you.”

His conjecture intimidates some of the boys, but Harlow can see through the act. This man may be towering and in charge, but Harlow notices he’s unarmed. Which means he’s not a threat.

Maxwell began to list off assignment, Harlow notices right away there are some  who get jobs indoors that require little physical  labor.

Harlow hears himself  assigned to rubble disposal.

Maxwell then dismisses them to follow a corporal to their assigned duties. They all begin to disperse.

Except for Alex.

 Who is left standing there without an assignment.

“You,” Maxwell points to Alex. “Come with me.”

“No. What are you doing with him ? ,” Harlow shouts taking his brothers arm.

“Excuse me, boy?,” Maxwell barks.

“Can’t I stay with--,” Alex starts.

“Let me repeat myself. When I give an order you damn well obey, ” Maxwell booms. “Follow me. Now.”

Harlow’s heart beats fast as he watches Alex go, it’s not that he wanted to be with his brother; but he needed him.

-----

CHAPTER FIVE >>>>