The mercenaries were gone, vanishing into the stormy night with their blood money and their dead. Some inmates, those with a purpose—a family, a score to settle, a place to run—followed suit, slipping into the shadows with grim determination. But the ones left behind, the fifty-odd prisoners still milling around the prison’s corpse-strewn courtyard, were the lost ones. No family, no lovers, no safehouses to crawl into. The world was a vast, hostile fucking wasteland, and they had nowhere to go.
They’d escaped the steel cage of Long Island, but the truth gnawed at them: the cops, the feds, the whole goddamn system would hunt them like dogs. In days, maybe hours, they’d be dragged back to this hellhole—or worse, a deeper one. The prison’s defenses would triple after this shitshow, and anyone caught again was facing a life sentence in a concrete tomb. Despair hung over them like the storm clouds above, their fleeting joy of freedom drowned in a sea of dread.
Jason scanned their faces, reading the fear, the hopelessness, the broken spirits. His lips curled into a wicked, predatory grin. He climbed onto a makeshift platform—a bullet-riddled crate—his presence commanding, his voice cutting through the howling wind. "I’m Jason Walter," He bellowed, his tone dripping with dark charisma. "Most of you know my name. Like you, I’m a man with no fucking direction, no place to call home. But unlike you, I’ve got people I can count on."
He spread his arms, and Franklin, Harleen, Wick, and Bill jogged up, standing by his side, their hands linked in a show of unity. The inmates watched, their eyes flickering with a mix of awe and skepticism. "If we scatter like roaches, the cops’ll pick us off one by one. They’ll crush us, lock us up, and laugh while they do it. But if we stick together, we’ve got a shot—a real fucking shot—at surviving this shithole world with some goddamn dignity."
He paused, letting his words sink in, his gaze sweeping the crowd like a general rallying his troops. "Trust me, follow me, and I’ll lead you to a place we can call our own—a fucking empire built for us."
It wasn’t a speech to inspire hope Certaines—hell, it barely qualified as a speech. It was raw, blunt, and real, a promise of power from a man who’d just done the impossible. The inmates murmured, their whispers lost in the wind. Jason’s name was legend, especially after tonight. He’d orchestrated a breakout from an unbreakable prison, with insiders, mercenaries, and balls of steel. His resources—manpower, money, connections—were undeniable.
"I’m in!" A young inmate shouted, shoving his way to the platform, his prison jumpsuit torn and bloodied. He stood by Jason, his face set with desperate resolve.
Jason’s grin widened. "Good man. Who else?"
"I’m with you!" Another called, stepping forward.
"Me too!" A third joined, then more, until over thirty of the fifty remaining inmates pledged themselves to Jason’s cause. The rest, too broken or cynical, shook their heads and slunk off into the night, choosing their own doomed paths.
Jason looked at his new recruits, his voice cold but welcoming. "You’re one of us now." No tests, no warm fuzzies—these men were cannon fodder, and he didn’t bother learning their names. They’d bleed for him, and that was enough.
Harleen, buzzing with excitement, grabbed his arm. "Honey, we’re a real crew now. We need a name—something big, something that screams us."
Jason nodded, his eyes glinting with dark ambition. "And a symbol. Something that’ll make the world shit itself when they see it."
BOOM!
A deafening thunderclap shook the sky, a bolt of lightning tearing through the clouds. On the prison’s outer wall, a crude, chilling image gleamed in the flash—a clown, painted in blood, its grin wide and menacing, eyes mocking the world.
CRASH!
The storm broke, rain pouring down in sheets, the clown’s bloody features twisting into something even more sinister, its red smile streaking in the downpour. The inmates stared, a shiver running through them. This was their mark, their legacy—a symbol of chaos and defiance.
---
Dressed in stolen guard uniforms, Jason and his crew piled into eight police cruisers, their lights flashing in the rain-soaked night. Franklin took the wheel of the lead car, Jason in the back, grabbing a satellite phone from the console.
"Hey, Stan!" He said, his voice light despite the blood on his hands.
At the DEA headquarters in New York, Stan nearly dropped his coffee, his face splitting into a grin. "Jason! Holy shit, you’re out!"
"Thanks to you," Jason said, leaning back. "Franklin told me about those mercs. Cost you your whole damn piggy bank."
Stan laughed, a mix of relief and exhaustion. "Just doing my part. But you owe me, man. That was my retirement fund."
Jason chuckled, his tone mockingly scolding. "Don’t worry, I pay my debts. Want a tip? I know where Fisk and his missing stash are."
Stan’s voice sharpened, all business. "Where? I’ve been chasing my tail on that for days."
"Fisk pulled a fast one—kept it all in New York. Seventeen containers of illegal shit, stashed at the harbor. And get this—he’s there right now, dealing with some Mexican cartel for a huge drug shipment. Move fast, and you’ll catch him with his pants down."
"Seventeen containers?" Stan’s voice was electric. "If this pans out, we’re square."
He hung up, sprinting out of his office like a man possessed. It was the final day of Franklin’s fake bomb threat, and every cop in New York was on the streets, checking pedestrians, sniffing for trouble. Even the DEA, usually a backup force, was locked and loaded, ready to roll.
"Emergency op! Move your asses!" Stan shouted, bursting into the bullpen. His agents snapped to attention, their eyes wide.
The assistant DEA chief, his deputy, ran up. "What’s up? Did Jason show?"
"Forget Jason!" Stan barked, his face flushed with urgency and excitement. "Got a tip—a massive drug deal’s going down at the harbor. Every agent, full gear, we’re moving now!"
The deputy nodded, sensing the weight of the moment, and ran to rally the team. "You, you, and you—with me!" Stan called to his inner circle, grabbing a Kevlar vest as he sprinted for the roof.
"Stan, put this on!" One of his men tossed him the vest, and he shrugged it off mid-stride.
On the DEA headquarters’ rooftop, an armed helicopter idled, its blades slicing the rainy air. Stan and his team piled in, the chopper lifting off with a roar, banking hard toward the New York Harbor.
You can read advance Chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
pat reon.com/GreenBlue17
Top 50 for 1 extra Chapter.