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“You all are going to leave me alone!”
     
    “Sure there is,” the tallest one said.   “You belong to us and nobody else messes with you.   There’s a lot of angry people in here, Bob.   It’s best to have friends.”
     
    “We are not friends,” Bob said.  
     
    “No,” the tall one said.   “I suppose not.”
     
    They all rushed forward at him at once, coming from every direction, expecting him to start swinging his makeshift weapon.   Bob flung the towel and soap bar at the tall one and hit him with a lucky shot that smashed him right in the mouth.  
     
    The other two grabbed Bob, the fat one putting his beefy arm around Bob’s throat and the other taking hold of his wrist.   Bob relaxed, letting them move his body, letting them get close enough to him.   He felt the fat one’s rolls of flesh against his back and reached back behind his legs with his free hand, the one with the modified safety razor.  
     
    “Hold that son of a bitch,” the tall one sputtered.   His mouth was black with blood and he stormed forward with both fists clenched, spitting spat chunks of sharp tooth fragments onto the floor, when the man behind Bob started to scream.  
     
    The hold around his throat loosened and Bob whipped his hand around in a wide circle, spraying the shower walls crimson as he swung for the man holding his wrist.   The edge of his razor caught the man across the right eye, splitting the orb in two.  
     
    Bob pushed both men away from him and held up the razor, showing it to the tall one.   He passed through the hot jets of water in the shower, feeling it washing him clean even as the other man tried to back up and get away from him.  
     
    ***
     
    Johnny Saringo leaned against the damp, mildewed doorframe and looked through the slotted window at the beaten, naked figure on the muddy floor.   Bob Ford lifted his head slightly, squinting at the bounty hunter between two swollen eyes, and then laid his head back down.  
     
    “They’re all gonna live,” Saringo said.   “You cut that one fool’s nose almost completely off.   He’s gonna be able to breathe a lot easier without either of his nostrils getting in the way.   The other one’s blind in one eye.   And the fat one, well, let’s just say his baby making prospects just went down significantly if he should ever get out of here.”
     
    Bob pushed off of the floor and clutched his stomach, groaning in pain.   “What the hell do you want, Mr. Saringo?”
     
    “The guards want you gone, boy.   For one thing, they think you’re crazy and after they put the whooping on you, they’re afraid you’ll start cutting them up next.”
     
    “I wouldn’t do that,” Bob said.   “They were just doing what they’re supposed to.”
     
    “Fair enough,” Saringo said.   “But now they’re also worried about what the other inmates will do to you, including the three you mutilated once they get back from sickbay.   They don’t want any dead bodies on their hands, Bob.   It’s bad for business.”
     
    “But everything else that goes on here is okay?”
     
    “Everything has its limits, Bob.   People too, which I think we’ve all seen pretty clearly here today.   So, they intend to ship you out at the next flight.   I have no idea what rock they’re going to bury you under, but I god-damn-guarantee you it will make this place look like a playground.   That’ll be the end of your days, my friend.”
     
    “I guess that’s it, then.”
     
    “I guess it is,” Saringo said.   “Unless, of course, you changed your mind about helping me.”
     
    “They aren’t going to let me walk out after all this,” Bob said.
     
    Saringo smiled and said, “You’d be surprised, Bob.   The men I work for are what you might call the influential type.”
     
    “Influential enough to make all this go away?”
     
    Johnny Saringo reached down and twisted the cell door handle, then pulled it open enough for Bob to walk