The Darkest Winter by Nick Johns

Author:Nick Johns [Johns, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-09T22:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

The headlights of the van streaked across the burned-out husk. It was difficult to tell what kind of business it once was. Tim followed it with his eyes for as long as he could. Then he turned forward again.

“Don’t worry about that,” Reggie said. “It burned down long before all this happened.”

“Oh, that’s g—” Tim began, then stopped at the sight of another one.

“That one did happen this week,” Reggie informed him.

Tim looked at him in shock.

“Yeah, some shady shit has gone down around here. In normal times, this isn’t the greatest area. But there are more good people than bad. Like me, for example,” Reggie added proudly. “I grew up around here. Youngstown has been trying to shake a bad crime rap for a long time, but it’s been cleaned up a lot in the past few years.”

“How bad?” Tim asked.

“You know, the usual stuff—the gangs, the mob, the crooked politicians. The shit that makes America, America. It’s not nearly as bad as when I was a kid. The Feds stepped up on everything and built some prisons.”

“Prisons? As in more than one?”

“Yeah, there are three in use now. We’re going to be passing the biggest one. Want to make a quick sightseeing tour?”

“Fuck no—please drive faster.”

Reggie opened his mouth wide like a hippopotamus and let loose a boisterous laugh. “What, you’ve never seen a prison before? Where you from?”

“New Jersey.”

Reggie laughed even harder and slapped his thigh. “What the fuck are you worried about then? You live in the birth canal of filth and corruption. I don’t think they even keep count of how many assholes you guys turn out anymore.”

“I don’t live next to a prison during a blackout!”

“The doors have locks on ‘em you know. They’re not dumb enough to make every lock electronic.”

“So someone can’t bash a guard upside their head and take a key?” Tim felt annoyed at being mocked for having legitimate concerns.

“They could, but they haven’t. Besides, we’d know about it.” Reggie tapped his CB radio. “We’ve got our ear right up to the horse’s mouth. Being on the police band does wonders for a man’s outlook.”

“Unless every guard gets knocked out and can’t get to your magic phone.”

“Relax, this prison isn’t the one you’d really worry about.”

“Oh, so the horrors behind door number one aren’t that bad?”

“No—everyone around here knows that door number two is the shitty one.” Reggie laughed for far longer than Tim liked.

He must be a regular down at the Chuckle Hut. Tries out all his new humdingers at the open mic every Thursday night.

“Thanks for that set up, I haven’t laughed this hard in a while. Anyway, we ain’t going by the Ohio State Pen. That’s a damn super max. You won’t get in trouble for running over anyone hitchhiking over there. More like doing us a tax favor mowing down one of those fuckin’ psychos.”

“You should quit your trucker job and work at the Youngstown tourist center because you are selling the shit out of this place.

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