By Jordan Thomas
Chapter 1 – Finding
The name is Philip Carrington, a regular corrections officer (CO) from a small town in Colorado. He used to be a Marine, so he had that “big tough guy” build: broad shoulders, big chest, thick thighs, and a neat crew cut. But for some reason, after a few years on the floor lingering around the cell blocks, one day he was assigned a desk job to handle administration of the prison inventory. You know, the one who handles stockkeeping for the equipment used in the prison, like shackles, cuffs, etc. For some it may be a nice thing to not walk around the facility and just hang around in a room, but for Philip it was torture as he’s an active person and now he’s stuck at his desk providing things that other COs ask for.
After a few days stuck in his mundane fort of solitude, he decided to do routine checks on the inventory. At the back of the room there was a door behind some old shelves. He was intrigued by it and tried to clear up some space by dragging the empty shelf away. To his surprise the door had some stickers that he could not quite read because of the dust sticking to the old peeled sticker. He wiped them off a little, ran his hands over the residue, and got a glimpse of the wording that said: “HIGH RISK SUPPLIES: AUTHORIZED ACCESS ONLY.”
I think I’m at the right spot. None of us have ever been here before. The guy that was supposed to drive cancelled three days ago. I volunteered because I get motion sickness in the back seat, but being the young guy I feel I have to take the worst seat. I like the power and control that driving gives me. But it also means when something goes wrong, it’s my fault. One of the two others in the car is telling me to follow the GPS. I’m trying to match the red circle on a screenshot to Google Maps. He tells me to turn right. I don’t. I block out everything he’s saying, trying to focus on what instinctually feels right. I keep driving and then find a parking lot with a dozen cars, and an old white school bus with paint over whatever label it used to have.
