Sealing the deal

After some time discussing the plan with Anton, the outdoor activities for that day had finally arrived. It was in good time, since Casper needed to talk with Alfar.  

In the exact moment that they stepped into the courtyard, Casper noticed that something was out.  

The place had clear evidence of fights everywhere. The floor was still spotted red in a lot of places. The weapons used in the action were there as well, just as dyed as the floor. 

The soldier could just imagine how brutal that fight was. Remembering of how was the state of the patients in the infirmary, he could just conclude that they probably brawled like beasts. 

The Ridire did not seem much interested in really organize that place, so they left it behind and just took care of the corpses. In fact, if they were to take their work seriously, they wouldn't even have let a fight like that happen.  

"How can they program those masks to prevent prisoners to attack guards or try to escape, but not to stop them to fight with each other? Maybe… Maybe this prison was projected to be the type of dog eat dog world? The goal here is to make their inmates fight, like a row of prisoners?" 

Casper felt a disgusting taste spreading through his mouth, his stomach churned, and he could not help but feel huge anger towards every single person inside that prison. His blood boiled and he clenched his fists. 

"They are doing experiments in the prisoners related to war and military power. Thinking like this… it's obvious that they would try to test their guinea pigs somehow…" 

Anton, who also was witnessing that scene, and that actually witnessed even the fight, saw Casper's eyes change, and a chill went down his spine, making him shiver. He did not know what was going on inside Casper's mind, but it was not something good. 

"I will not just escape from here… I will destroy everything." He stated, muttering, and Anton just pretended not to hear.  

The prisoners in the courtyard were being cautious with each other. 

They were splitting into groups, and it was obvious that each group represented a faction. Casper and Anton were the only ones without a group. 

The tension in the courtyard that day was different. It seemed as though something could explode at any time. 

Any noise made would startle the majority of people there, which showed that they were completely on alert. If someone from a group approached another, the sense of danger would raise even more. 

A place that usually seemed enough to maintain more than a hundred people without problem looked to be two times smaller than it was, and just one step forward from anyone in these groups was enough to nearly start a fuss. 

It was not the same courtyard as always, something had changed. Casper was surprised that everything could have turned to be like that so quickly in just four days. It appeared to be a completely different place.  

Casper spotted Alfar from far away. The last looked at him intently, then signaled with his head, calling him to approach.  

When Casper was crossing the courtyard, everyone there seemed to be surprised. All the prisoners thought that Casper was driven crazy and would never come again to difficult their lives, but there he was, seemingly as much sane as he always has been.  

Casper looked to the sides while walking solemnly in the middle of the courtyard, trying to not enter the space of any group there, except Alfar's.  

The inmates were whispering frantically to each other. A little ruckus started to appear. The whispers turned into conversations, then serious and loud discussions. 

Anton's eyes were darting around, but he was seeming impossibly calm.  

Casper just kept walking in a rush without paying attention to them.  

Just as he was about to reach there, someone appeared in front of him. Or, better, some people.  

Casper retrieved some steps, looking in the eyes of the man that was in his way. He did not know from what Faction that group was, and he did not care to know at that point. What he needed to do was to reach Alfar, and those people were in his way for some unknown reason. 

"You guys… You know that you are being used as simple lab rats… Even so, you do everything they expect you to do, huh?" Casper clenched his fist even more tightly.  

Before the man in front of him could say anything, Casper's fist drew a straight line towards his face. 

He hit his jaw consecutive times, so fast that nobody could act in time to help the poor prisoner. Casper did not stop to hit until the guy fell to the ground unconscious.  

The White warrior maintained both his fists raised in front of his face, looking to the others.  

"I don't have time to lose with people like you. If you want to play the bad guys here, then go screw with someone else." 

"Hey, Casper, Anton knows that you are skillful and all, but… We are not in a situation where…"  The sympathetic voice of his partner got interrupted by someone.  

"So you are that Casper who people talk about, huh? Some of my comrades from block B warned about you." A guy walked among the group, appearing in the front lines and walking towards Casper.  

His shirt's sleeves were ripped off. He had his arms tattooed all over. He was not a huge guy, but had an athletic build, being at the same height as Casper. His hair was the buzz cut type. He had the eyes of a delinquent or true gangster.  

Anton stepped in front, drawing attention to him, his eyes looking from time to time to the left.  

"Hey, Ragnar, we can solve this in a better manner, didn't we? Anton means, Casper here got no faction at all." He hastily, he explained. 

Ragnar looked to the soldier top to bottom, analyzing him. Then, he glanced at his comrade laying on the floor, fainted. 

"I don't know… He just beat up some of my men out of nowhere, and we didn't do anything for him yet…" Ragnar gave one more step closer to Casper, and the last was going to do one more as well but got interrupted by Anton. 

He was going to complain with the middle-aged man but received a sharp look before he could state something. He did not remember if Anton stared at him once with such intensity, but after that, he concluded that preferred when his eyes were darting around.  

"That's the point, Ragnar… Didn't do yet." He emphasized the last part, giving the same threatening look towards the tattoed man in front of him.  

"Well, yeah. Everyone here wants to do it, man. We don't know which side Casper is and… The only leader he spoke once was Alfar, and I don't like the idea." 

"Why don't you say it on my face, Ragnar…" Alfar appeared circling Ragnar's group, looking intently at him with his dead eyes.  

"If you got a problem with Casper talking with me, we should solve this right now, me and you, right?" He stopped to walk when he was next to Casper. He was way taller than Ragnar and was looking at him from above. The tattoed man did not seem the least hesitant, though.  

The two of them kept looking at each other for some time. Without anyone noticing, Anton was flanking Ragnar, who just realized this matter seconds after. 

He pondered for a few moments, before turning his back to them and calling his men to return to their places.  

Alfar guided Casper and Anton through the courtyard, glancing at the other groups and trying to intimidate them.  

Casper never ceased to feel that reluctance around Alfar. It was like he had a different aura around him. Something that warned Casper. Probably, the other inmates knew about this as well.  

They arrived at where his group was settled. Looking to the other groups, it had more people indeed. And there were the others from the other blocks.  

"You did great holding them for so long. Who did this strategy?" Alfar asked after sitting down on a bench.  

"Anton did," Casper replied. "He knew that Ragnar would be pushier than the others, so he said to me to act the more aggressively and abrupt as I could and let him hold them until you came to help." 

The pitch black-haired man nodded slightly, giving a meaningful look to Anton.  

"That was from huge help. If they could do the first movement, it would be difficult to get you out of there."  

"Yeah, Anton took it into consideration."  

He sighed, which was now his trademark for Casper, since he had the more heavy and unique sighs. The ones that a man in his final days would do.  

"Now… Let's talk about business…" 

"Sure thing." Casper nodded. 

He was pretty confident that Alfar was cornered there, so he would not decline Casper's proposal. 

The White warrior explained to him everything that happened in those days and he got even some surprise from him.  

"Seems that you really are something… I don't see any reasons to refuse you now and… With everything we are passing for, a help would do some good." This time, he was the one offering a handshake.  

"Let's change this prison together, Casper." 

"Let's change everything, man. The first step is this prison. Then, our freedom. Look forward to it." Casper shook his hand. Their deal was sealed.