Nate was loaded onto a bus with several other prisoners; men and women. There were a dozen guards with rifles aimed at the prisoners in case anyone tried anything. Not that anyone could, the shackles on their hands and feet made sure of that.

The guards forbade any talking, providing a nice quiet ride to the yawning pits of hell. The large walls of Black Watch Asylum became visible from about a mile away. As they drew near, the walls rise higher and higher.

The bus screeched to a halt in front of two massive gates. Prisoners walked out of the bus and lined up standing shoulder to shoulder. A large, heavy set man came trudging towards them, pretzel in one hand black remote in the other.

“Welcome to Black Watch Asylum ladies and gents.” The man smiled before waving his massive hand at one of the armed guards.

The armed guard clicked on a device attached to his ear and spoke. Shortly after a woman came out pushing a cart covered with a tarp. She parked it before the fat man before stepping back.

“This here is Black Watch Asylum. Does anyone know why you were sent here? Hmm?” The man was quiet as he took a few more bites out of his pretzel. His multiple chins wobbled as the man chewed with his mouth open showing all the nasty food being broken down in his mouth.

Nobody answered the obvious question for fear of being singled out.

“I’ll ask a simpler question, we always seem to get the dumb ones. Does anyone know why these walls are here? Hmm?” He asked again taking another bite of his pretzel.

“Man is yo fatass gonna keep talking? Can we fucking get down to the shit or what?” Surprisingly it was a young white kid who spoke up talking in slang.

“Ha! Are you confused boy? You must be, talking to me like that… Very well let’s get on with it shall we?” The fat man held the pretzel in his mouth, freeing up his right hand, and uncovered the tarp revealing shiny silver collars made of metal.

“Put it on.” The fat man smiled looking straight at the white kid.

“The fuck I look like? A slave?! Miss me with that bullshit!” The young white kid cursed.

Two guards approached the white kid from behind and unlocked him from the chain gang. They pushed the white kid forward presenting him to the fat man who pushed the collar onto the kid’s neck. As soon as it made contact with his skin it opened up and clasped shut.

The white kid struggled and struggled. A kick to the groin brought down one of the guards. The other was shoved backwards falling over the downed guard. The kid, now free of shackles, ran. There was a mile of open road separating the large black walls of the asylum and the city. As long as the kid made it into the city he’d have a chance at freedom.

Fat man didn’t even blink an eye at the sudden departure of the white kid. He casually finished his pretzel then licked off his fingers. The other prisoners now grew anxious, wishing they had the chance to run and cursing their own bad luck and cowardice for not speaking up.

The fat man held up the hand holding a black remote then clicked his tongue making sure he got everyone’s attention. They all looked as he then pointed towards the white kid, remote in hand as if he were pointing at a TV monitor, and clicked the button.

One minute the kid was running towards freedom, the next minute he exploded like a an over ripe fruit. Nate watched in horror as the kid suddenly exploded leaving nothing behind except for bloody pieces of flesh. The rest of the prisoners were far away so no bloody bits came raining down on them. But they were definitely scared now. They pushed and pulled on the chain gang trying to break free.

“This ain’t right! There’s laws against this!” One person shouted.

“Ah but you were sentenced to Black Watch Asylum. Congratulations, you’re human no longer.” The fat man waved his hands at the other guards. The dozen armed guards walked up to the prisoners, collars in hand. The prisoners resisted but the chains kept them from going anywhere.

Eventually they were all collared and subsequently unshackled from the chain gang. “The wall is here so that nobody goes into Black Watch Asylum. As for escaping, well, let’s just say there’s never been a successful escape. As soon as you leave the Asylum we’ll know, and a single button will end that escape. Now, enjoy your stay at Black Watch Asylum. We look forward to being entertained.” The fat man chuckled as he walked away.

The large gates opened with a loud creak revealing the inside of the Asylum. But what Nate saw only confused him. It was another city, although this city was more rundown. It looked like a third world country going through a civil war. The streets were filthy, the buildings crumbling, people walked about lifeless and hopeless.

“Get it moving!” One of the prison guards shouted. They began pushing the prisoners forward altogether.

Nate was reluctant to enter, just like the rest of the prisoners but they had no choice. Hundreds of prisoners looked at the fresh meat. There were no tell-tale emotions in their eyes, they just stared. The large gates closed behind the new prisoners.

For a while the two groups just stared. Nate’s never been to prison but he’s seen enough movies to know what to do. Immediately he began looking for people of his own skin color. Spotting them in the distance he contemplated briefly before walking over to them. Several of the fresh meat saw what he was doing and acted accordingly.

The black prisoners watched Nate and two other new inmates carefully, not saying a word. A big black man stood up and walked towards their direction. The other two took subtle steps back but Nate stood there and watched the man approach.

Nate had to look up as the man approached. He was at least seven feet tall and three-hundred pounds. All muscle. The giant of a man stopped a foot away from Nate. His head lowered until his eyes met with Nate’s. A mean-mug expression on his face, and two clenched fists had Nate preparing for the fight that would come.

It felt like the whole world went quiet as the two stared at each other. Nate didn’t feel a shred of fear in his heart, not after what he’s seen.

“This one has heart.” The mean mugging giant laughed looking back towards his group. The black group laughed with him. Suddenly the large man swung his fist towards Nate punching him in the face. Nate saw stars as he fell to the ground, his whole head throbbing in pain.

He motioned the other two black prisoners forward. “Don’t flinch.”

The large man swung at one of the prisoners but they instinctively leaned back. “Don’t flinch punk!” The large man yelled.

The second time around the fresh meat didn’t flinch and took his punch to the jaw. The third followed by example making sure to take the punch without flinching although his glasses flew off as the punch spun his head around. Nate’s head was still reeling from the pain of the punch but he managed to stay standing.

“Welcome to Little Africa. We’re your new family.”

The large man walked back towards the group of black prisoners. Nate followed, nodding his head and shaking hands with the black prisoners who accepted him in. The other two new inmates followed shortly after.

Looking around at the other gangs Nate saw each of them had similar initiations. There were some who remained loners not affiliating themselves with anyone. Nate thought this was just stupid. It would’ve been okay in a normal prison but here in Black Watch, there was no hope of ever getting out. There was no ‘keeping your head down and just doing your time’. This was it, this was the status quo. Those loners would be targets to others, especially with no backing.

A loud blaring noise filled the sky. The group of prisoners all began walking towards the wall. Nate was confused but he followed, choosing to wait to ask questions. The loud blaring noise went on for a few more minutes before going out.

“What was that?” He asked when he finally got his hearing back.

“Lunch time.” One of the black prisoners responded.

The prisoners lined up facing the black wall. For the first time, Nate noticed there where metal bars sticking out of the black wall. These metal bars were detachable. Following by example Nate went up to one of the metal bar and pulled on it.

It was like a detachable faucet hose. He pulled the metal bar out of the wall placing it on his collar. The collar made a dinging sound and then a panel in the black wall opened up revealing some canned soup and a packet of crackers. “Remaining balance: 0” Written in green on the black wall drew his attention briefly before he picked up his things and went back to the group of black folk.

Black Watch Asylum was an old city roughly fifty miles long. The whole city was boxed in by the large black wall that rose into the sky fifty feet up. There were at least a million people within Black Watch. Males, females, black, white. They were all sheltered together here.

The black prisoners led Nate and the two new inmates down the streets of the old city for a few miles as the big man continued explaining things to them. “This is our neighborhood. To the northeast is the Whites’ territory, northwest belong to the Asians. The East belongs to the Mexicans. The center is for ‘others’ and all those who remain unaffiliated. As for the South, well, you’ll find out tomorrow.” The large man—who he found out was named Leo—said speaking to the fresh meat.

After that Leo walked over to a house and entered. Nate thought he saw a woman staring out from the top window. It was too hard to tell what race she belonged to but she wasn’t black. Or maybe she was, but mixed. The curtain collapsed shortly after and the girl disappeared. That’s when Nate came to a realization.

“What happens to the kids?” Nate asked. Even though he was only seventeen himself there had to be babies that were born seeing as how men and women were both locked in here without guards telling them they couldn’t fornicate.

“That depends.” A black dude with a large afro said. Nate tried to recall his name again but just couldn’t remember.

“Some of the pregnant women notify the authorities. They get special care and birth their babies in a real hospital but as soon as the baby is born their ass gets tossed back in here—sans baby. Those who choose to birth they baby in here risk all sorts of shit but if they survive they get to keep their baby and raise it. Fucked up parents choose that option.”

“What do you mean?” Another fresh meat asked, the one with the glasses.

“What kind of life that baby gon’ have living here? If the baby even survives till childhood then what? Kids get snatched up playing on the streets by themselves, used as hostages, ransoms, and even just plain rape and that was in the world beyond these walls where law and order reigned supreme, just imagine what would happen to a kid in here? Without the law holding people back? Some sick fucks into that sort of shit.”

“What’s to the South? And what did Leo mean by ‘We’ll find out tomorrow?’” The other prisoner asked.

“You’ll find out tomorrow.” Afro dude said waving the question away. “For now picka house and get some sleep.”

The three new prisoners looked at each other silently. They stood on the street unsure of what to do. There wasn’t much activity going on, even though it was only four p.m. Everyone seemed to be inside their homes.

“What were your names again?” Nate asked.

“Adrian.” Adrian was a gangly black dude with glasses and pimples all over his face. Nate surmised he was a young teen like him.

“Jodie.” Jodie was late twenties and reminded Nate of a construction worker. Either that or a lumber jack.

“Nate.”

“Where do you think we should crash?” Adrian said to no one in particular.

“Ya’ll can do what you want to. I’m about to go get me something warm to cuddle up with fore it gets dark.” Jodie said with a large grin as he walked down the street.

Adrian looked at Nate with one eyebrow quirked as if asking if they should go too. “Nah. We don’t know much about this place. If the others went inside so early then there must be something up. Let’s find somewhere to sleep.”