JAIL SAFE
John McKale lives in Iowa with his wife and three children. He works as a guard at the Iowa State Penitentiary in the High Security area. Over the years, he and the prison’s most notorious inmate, Ezra Banes, have developed a true hate for each other.
Ezra Banes’ threats and aggression are kept in check only by the powers that be within the prison itself, contained in a small and enigmatic prisoner named Mr. X, who resides in the deepest darkest section of the prison. Much like a termite queen, he propagates his will through his minions and holds the power of life and death within the prison walls. This is proven when he saves John McKale from a deadly attack and has Ezra Barnes put in lock down indefinitely.
One day, the effects of Global Warming come to play. The flooding and storms that occur precipitate a nuclear war between countries vying for the last remaining resources. It is the collapse of modern civilization. The prison where John McKale works is abandoned as are all other institutions allowing the inmates to gather themselves into roving gangs taking what they can from any survivors for themselves.
John and his family flee the disaster and soon become aware that Ezra and his gang know their location and are seeking to take revenge. John decides the safest place for he and his family is back in the prison, locked away from disaster and murder in the world at large.
As they work their way through ravaged urban landscapes and pick up other families and stragglers along the way, all of them hope to find safety and supplies within the prison. On the way they are caught in the cross fire of a gang war and lose some of the their comrades.
In a triumphant moment, they arrive at the prison and seal the doors behind them. They soon realize a doctor has moved in ahead of them with a mother in labor and elderly folks he is attempting to care for with an exhausted nurse at his side.
Ezra discovers that his intended victims are in the prison and now attempts to break into the prison where he was once kept. Ezra’s efforts are thwarted in a battle with the people in the prison creating a metaphor showing how society has changed: The good are now locked up and the world at large is for the murderous and uncivilized.
Ezra and his followers nearly succeed in destroying John and his small band of survivors, but Ezra is eliminated in the last moment, again by the enigmatic Mr. X who secretly stayed in the prison and made it possible for the people to survive without their knowledge. Like a mysterious Captain Nemo, he and his minions are the anti-heros who save the day for the innocent.
Mr.X’s last comment admits his proclivity to crime, but without the good and peaceful being the norm, he can no longer be who he was and assumes a new role as a questionable enforcer for the good in a new society.
© 2023 Jim Caron
