Last week: An introduction to the evening and morning rituals of Prisoner 1472.
With a brief alarm, my cell door slides up and open. I stride out into the slightly curving lunarcrete hallway, take a deep breath and turn my head left, slow and deliberate.
He’s still here then, Valentino, leader of Los Gallos, the Southern Resistance gang. And a bunch of posing roosters they are. Valentino is my opposite number. He’s a few inches taller and even better built, but slower up top. Strength can keep you alive in a moment, but it’s street smarts that divide the winners from losers on Lunis-One.
My top lip curls into a snarl. He smirks back. God, I’d love to smack that cocky grin right off his face. But better the devil you know. Valentino is tougher than his predecessor, who was tougher than the guy before, and so on. The more I waste, the worse it gets.
Meeklings — clueless idiots and children who depend on either gang for protection and food — stream past us, left or right, depending on their allegiances. But us leaders, we don’t rush. Our underlings will be securing established territories as we speak. That’s the definition of power here, when you don’t have to rush and panic.
I used to kick or trip the odd meekling rushing left towards Los Gallos, to bait Valentino when he first arrived. But he couldn’t have given a shit if a cute kid was bleeding out by his feet. Hard-hearted bastard. Takes one to know one.
“The sector H shitter is my territory,” I say. “You tell your people that.”
Valentino laughs. “Los Gallos piss where we wanna piss.”
“But how will a rooster piss, without a cock?”
That wipes the smile off that greasy bastard’s face, which is how our morning chest puffing ritual usually ends. With a parting scowl I turn my back on my nemesis and head right along the inwards bending corridor to my base.
Lunis-One is a spin-off from The Moon Talker. Read it in full for free here.
Explore other short stories and content from Martin Grace over at Sol Stories.
Still enjoying this very much...
[proofread note: shouldn't it be 'underlings', not 'underlyings'?]