Casper looked down at his feet while he sat. He was sad. Sad for where he was, where he was going, and what he had done. On the bus there were 10 other inmates, all dressed the same. Black and white striped jump suits, socks, and rubber slippers. Not to mention the restraints- each one in handcuffs, attached to a waist chain and leg cuffs, attached to an anchor point under the bench. The bus had no windows, only large double doors at the back behind a locked cage door. The light from the ceiling was blinding to look up at. Clearly, they needed this space to be well illuminated so the prisoners' actions could all be carefully and accurately monitored. The benches were continuous and formed a U shape inside the bus with one row of inmates facing the other. At the head of each row sat the guard, leaning back against the wall separating them from the driver's compartment. The guard was a tall dark-haired woman with a shotgun in her lap, ready to act if anyone attempted any funny business. Since the sound of the doors closing there had been complete silence, bar the sound of the engine.
Casper did not dare to look up to meet eyes with anyone else. His wrists hurt from the cuffs. He had been chained up like an animal all day and had been too afraid to ask any guards to loosen the cuffs worrying they might mock or yell at him for such a request. He was also hungry. He had not eaten since morning and he reckoned it must have been well into the evening by this point. He wondered how much longer it would be until they arrived at Soft Boy Prison.
It was 2035. The Third World War had been over for almost 5 years now. With Russia having conquered the entirety of continental Europe, and the UK and Ireland remaining defiant from Russian control, despite several attempts by the Russian armed forces to invade from when the war began in 2028. A truce was signed, and while the UK and Ireland was able to maintain their sovereignty, it came at a heavy price. The Country was subjected to constant aerial bombardments during the war with several cities being levelled by the Russian air force. London, Birmingham, Leeds, and Glasgow to name a few. Glasgow was Caspers hometown. He escaped the draft when the war started by going into hiding with his grandmother at her cottage in Oban. Just before the war ended Caspers grandmother passed away from a heart attack, leaving Casper to return to Glasgow when the war was over.
Casper was born in 2009. Casper's Mum died of cancer when he was just 10 years old. Growing up, he lived with his father who developed a chronic alcohol addiction following the death of his wife. His father since that point became very abusive towards him physically and verbally, dislocating his arm during one drunken confrontation with him. Caspers dad had died during the war, his body never found or identified amongst the many thousands killed in Glasgow under the rubble of the levelled buildings.
Casper along with many thousands of volunteers began the cleanup process of Glasgow following the armistice. A traumatic experience to say the least, with the job consisting of pulling several bodies a day in various stages of decomposition, from the streets and under rubble, loading them into skips for lorries to take them away to mass burial sites outside of the city. There was also the removal of rubble, which was collected in the same manner as the bodies. This was to be taken to a specialist site where it could be sorted into material that was either to be scrapped or recycled.
In the wake of the war society, order was trying to find its feet in the city again. Looting, theft, assault, rape, and murder becoming rampant with limited resources dedicated to law enforcement. The rations given out were barely enough to live on, since farming and supply lines had not yet been properly re-established. As a result, theft became the most common way of getting by. Stealing rations from others or crops from people attempting to grow their own, or even raiding ration trucks.
Casper was always hungry. Like many people during this time, he lived rogue among the rubble of Glasgow. Sitting most nights shivering around a fire with his blanket over him, always holding his pistol, praying he'd never have to use it but ready to defend himself at a moment's notice. He swore he would never steal but the hunger became unbearable. Relying on issued rations alone meant sometimes not eating for as long as 3 weeks at a time.
Every day he saw people on the streets, dead or dying from starvation and disease. He was becoming ever so skinny and did not want to end up that way. He had never stolen before and knew he would need expert advice or training to do so without being caught, since law enforcement by 2034 had begun to catchup with the rampant lawlessness in the city. There were more police, better armed police, and more prisons being built. He knew the risks were greater.
He approached a gang of thieves after he witnessed them ambush a supply truck and followed them back to their hideout. The fact he made it all the way there on their tail, without being noticed until he confronted them, made a good impression. Casper showed he was quiet, fast, and agile, the qualities of a perfect thief. They took him in as one of their own.
They went on several missions together. Some successful, some not as successful, but they rarely came back empty handed. Casper was satisfied to be eating more often but still felt tremendous guilt for his actions. "
It's kill or be killed in this new age
" they would say, as if to absorb him of all his sins. He wondered if any others in the group felt guilt the way he felt it. He knew he deserved to be punished.
Casper didn't feel as if he could relate at all to any other members of the group. They were all boisterous, savage, and brutal. They held parties in their hideout drinking and taking drugs most nights. They went on to steal more than food; cars, clothes, jewellery, any riches they could get to elevate themselves appearance wise. Not to mention the fights that would break out between them and other groups of thieves for goods and territory. It was not about survival anymore. But being bandits for the sake of being bandits.
Casper was quiet, shy, sensitive, and loved to read. He felt he was the complete antitheses to what the group had become. He thought if not for his skills, the others would have long parted ways with him. He lived at the hideout but only interacted with them when it was time to go out on an "expedition" as they called it. The rest of the time he resided in his quarters where he lay in his hammock and read whatever books he could find.
One day he had had enough and made the decision to leave. He would rather starve than be associated with such a deranged and horrible group any longer. However, the leader of the group Calvin, would only grant him on his way if he were to partake in one more expedition. Casper agreed. This ended up being one of his biggest regrets.
It was another supply truck to ambush. It should have been just another day at the office for the thieves, but this was different. The police had anticipated them and when the thieves forced the driver out of the truck at gunpoint, armed police emerged from cover demanding them to drop their weapons. It all happened so fast. Instead of immediately surrendering, the thieves decided to return fire. Casper dived for cover under the truck in the ensuing firefight. When the shooting was over, Casper was pulled out from underneath the lorry and arrested. What he saw when he emerged left him traumatised. All his associates were lying dead, except for James and Molly who were both badly wounded. All 3 of them were taken into custody and the rest is History. Casper was finally going to face the consequences of his actions.
The bus hit a bump in the road, the whole bus jolted, along with the chains and cuffs of everyone in the bus. There were a few murmurs of discomfort. Casper looked at the guard again. She was beautiful. She wore knee-high leather boots and a navy-blue pencil skirt that matched her suit top, and an authoritative officer cap. She almost looked like a flight attendant, he thought. Just instead of offering you refreshments, she's ready to shoot you in the chest if you try to escape. She noticed him looking and smiled at him. Casper just about found the strength to twist the ends of his lips upwards back at her then turned to face the floor once again.
He remembered that first day locked up at the police station. He was terrified and still very shaken. He heard news of the death penalty being re-introduced to help curb the rampant crime rate. Though he was unsure what specific crimes carried that consequence. Was it just murder? Or do they hang thieves now as well? If not the death penalty, will I be given a life sentence? Will I ever see freedom again? The thoughts tortured him. They took his mugshots and fingerprints at the station. He was read his rights. He was kept in a holding cell on the first night and sobbed half screaming into his pillow.
