Joshua and Michael sat at the metal lunch table secured to the prison’s chow hall floor. Each was wearing the customary blue jeans and button-up blue shirt with “DOC” emblazoned in large black letters on the back, as was the norm for inmates of the Seaway Penitentiary. If one were to see them for the first time, it would be hard not to laugh at how opposite they looked. Joshua was a slim, 5’8”, white guy with a buzz cut, while Michael was a monster of a man with dark skin and neatly kept hair.
Michael was a victim of circumstance. Unlike Joshua, who had planned a robbery that went sideways, resulting in a life sentence for willfully killing two bank clerks, Michael had simply made one wrong decision. After winning his fourth straight case for the law firm of Taylor and Fletcher, he had had one too many drinks in celebration. On the way home from the bar, Michael caused a devastating accident that resulted in the death of a family of five: a mother, a father, and three children. The resulting charges of involuntary manslaughter came with a life sentence as well.
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“Alright maggots,” Officer Toby yelled from the small officer station in G Pod so all the prisoners could hear him, “today is vaccination day! And you lucky buggers are getting a special dose sent straight from the Governor’s office. When the tone sounds, step out of your cell and proceed single file to the Med line!”
After a couple of seconds, the all too common tone indicating it was time for the mass movement came over the loudspeakers. The clicking of the automatic door locks resounded in the enclosed space. Standing, Joshua pulled on a pair of blue jeans and donned his light blue button-up shirt, the required uniform for leaving your cell. He placed the photograph of a young girl, maybe 9 or 10, sitting on a swing with a massive smile on his mattress and crossed a few feet to his cell door.
Pushing the door, it quickly swung open. Peering out the open door, the other prisoners were lined up and moving in a single-file line towards the Med line. “Mike, what do you know about this formula?” Joshua asked the guy who was exiting the cell on his left.
“I don’t know much, J, but it sounds like they either had an abundance of it or they are trying a new strand. Who better to test it on than us? A bunch of criminals, right?” Michael shook his head as he looked at the line. “You do what you want, J. I ain’t being no Guinea Pig.” And with that, he turned back into his cell and pulled the cell door shut with a loud bang and click as the locking mechanism engaged.
“Keep it moving! You aren’t the only ones we need to shoot up today!” hollard Officer Toby.
To Joshua, it appeared that almost every other prisoner except for Mike had joined the Med line from G Pod. From his vantage point, Joshua could see the other prisoners as they reached the nurse who was giving the shots. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. When the prisoners arrived, she would roll up their sleeves, vaccinate them, and then the men would return to their cell no worse for wear.
Joshua took a step towards the line, but something in his gut did not feel right. Mike’s words echoed in his head, “I ain’t being no Guinea Pig.” Being a prisoner did not allow Joshua to have control over much. He was told when to get up when to eat when to lock into his cell. Well, this was a time he could have a bit of control. Looking at the Med line again, he echoed Mike’s statement, “I ain’t no Guinea Pig, either.” And with that, Joshua also turned back towards his cell and went inside, securing his cell door behind him.
