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‘Avril sent me. Take your hands off him,’ I said a little louder this time. I had no gun. No weapon to speak of. The man looked at Adi, then me, then let go of Adi’s arm. Adi made a squeal like a small animal, rubbed at his arm, then he bore his teeth at me like a dog smiling at its owner. I reached out to touch him, to comfort him after his ordeal, but he danced around from one foot to the other before finally darting out into the forest.
‘You’ll need a long leash and a ton of treats to train that one. He’s like a dog,’ the man said.
‘And is that what you were trying to do?’ I asked, wondering if he had escape in mind and that by training Adi he could get him to do what he needed to get out of there.
‘Wow, you’re on to me. She got inside you already has she?’
I clocked the man in the cage behind, the man who had managed to escape somehow. He looked at me and nodded, sagely. He had that same look of hopelessness.
I walked closer to the cage in front of me, feeling a little braver. The prisons were constructed very well and were very sturdy. I wondered how the man behind had managed to get out of his.
‘I saw an older man hurting a young child and I intervened,’ I said to the prisoner in front of me.
The guy looked solemn for a moment and stepped back from the rails. He began biting the skin around his thumbnail; even from where I stood, I could see that it was red and sore.
‘That looks like it needs some attention.’ I pointed at his hand. The man pulled his mouth down almost in disgust.
‘That doesn’t happen around here.’
‘Why did you have hold of little Adi just then?’ I moved an inch closer to the cage.
The man moved his arm and began to scratch his head. ‘That’s between us.’
‘It’s not when it alerts us. Avril sent me.’
‘Avril sent me,’ the man said in a higher-pitched voice. He sang my words back at me, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
‘What’s your name?’ I asked.
‘Right there,’ he said and pointed to the rudimentary tattoo on his lower arm.
‘That’s a cupcake?’ I said questioningly.
He widened his eyes, pulled his lips tightly together. ‘Yep.’
‘Is that some sort of prison name?’ I asked.
‘I didn’t put that tattoo there if that’s what you’re asking.’
‘I guessed that,’ I said, looking at the other more detailed professional tattoos on his arm, which had that faded look as though they had been done many years ago. This one looked amateurish.
‘So that’s your name? Cupcake?’
The man gave a pained expression again. ‘Just call me that. Everyone does here.’ He motioned to the other cells where I noticed men had begun to edge forwards out of curiosity. I felt their presence as they found their way to the bars and began whistling and coughing to get my attention. Fear gripped me like a vice, but I continued to stay looking and sounding calm and in control.
‘So, Cupcake, what did you do to find yourself here?’
He sucked in a long breath. ‘I could ask you the same. Nice girl like you. You don’t seem the type to get mixed up in something like this.’
I realised that Ula had said something similar to me.
‘I came here to escape for a while.’ I didn’t mention that I hadn’t been aware of Camp Z. I thought it might somehow make me appear weaker that I had been fooled. Besides, these men had no clue when I had been told about them.
‘This ain’t no great selling point is it?’ He motioned to the other cages.
‘Well, we don’t really see or hear you where we are,’ I said, and he looked down at his feet. Guilt swept through me. ‘Sorry, that was insensitive,’ I said, and he looked at me, brighter this time and with intrigue.
‘You’re not like them, are you?’ he asked.