Grace

Nathan was pushed out of the bus quite roughly by the police officers and he watched as it drove off into the distance, a plume of black smoke heralding it's location.
He turned his eyes to the detention centre that loomed over him. It was all bars and fences, concrete and wire, there was no life here.
Nathan hated it on sight. He wanted to destroy the eyesore that was to become his prison. But he reluctantly picked up his suitcase and took a few confident steps forward, determined not to let this destroy him, even though in his heart everything had already been destroyed.
The police guided him through corridors and the like, all the slim windows barred and the tiles cold.
A bored looking receptionist sat behind the counter, looking him up and down just like Lily had, and then turning to type loudly onto the weathered keyboard of a very outdated computer. She nodded after she'd finished, and the officers continued to push and shove Nathan along, and he didn't object or fight it, trying to ignore them entirely.
Keys clinked and rattled, and the sound of the doors in front of him unlocking echoed slightly. They pushed him in and locked the doors again, leaving him alone in a corridor.
Nathan looked around. What was meant to happen now?
All around him was silence. Then, a buzzing noise and the doors at the end of the corridor in front of him swung open to reveal a man leading about twenty other people, presumably prisoners, in.
"C'mon you lazy maggots!" the man cried in a harsh, strange voice, which caused the prisoners to scatter. They ran into the rooms on either side of the hallway, and firmly shut the doors behind them.
Quiet settled in again.
Nathan stared awkwardly at the stranger.
The stranger stared back.
He was short and muscular, wearing a loose singlet that hugged his abs in places, along with ratty old cargo pants and a muddy pair of work boots. His face was in shadow.
"Hello there young grub. What be your name?" he called, stepping towards Nathan and into the light. He had a very military face, with harsh eyes and a square chin.
Nathan gulped nervously.
"Nathan Ignatius, sir." he said politely, but in a thin, weak voice. The sound of his own voice shocked Nathan, wasn't he meant to be tough, to be strong? Geez, was this place getting to him already?
"Welcome to hell, Nathan." smirked the man. "The name's Gavin, but you can just call me sir. A few folks around here have nicknamed me El Diablo though." Sir sniggered.
Nathan smiled and nodded. Sir gave him a sneaky wink and Nathan tilted his head to the side. "Now," said Sir. "Have you been assigned a room yet, Nathan?"
Nathan shook his head. Sir frowned.
"Then we'll have to get you set up."

~

Nathan heard the steel door locking behind him and tried to survey his surroundings in the dim light. He couldn't see much, so he fumbled in the dark for a light switch, and flicked it on. It flickered to life reluctantly and he was able to get a better look at the place.
It wasnít too bad, not boring and dull like the other cells he had seen. There was one bunk bed in a corner of the room and another closer to him, with a small desk to his left that had a lamp with no light bulb in it, and graffiti carved into the wood.
In a dark crevice in the shadow of one bunk bed was a little corner, and as he stepped closer to examine it, he saw old blood stains on the floor and pentagrams drawn everywhere.
He shuddered. What kind of people was he rooming with? Devil worshippers?
He looked over the beds and tried to see if he could tell which ones were occupied and which weren't, but there was no real difference in any. On the lower bunk of one he saw that the wall was filled with nails and screws, but not nailing anything down, just hanging there.
Now that was weird.
He just left his suitcase on the desk and hoped that they didn't try to kill him. Nathan gave a hopeless sigh and started unpacking his things, though he was so unsure of where to put them. He heard the grating of steel and a low mechanical whine, and froze.
His roommates had arrived.
Nathan turned around to face them, and saw another face in his way. He cried out and scampered away, leaving the man or beast at the desk. The man watched him curiously.
He was tall and fit looking, with broad shoulders and a thick upper body that moulded into a slim waist and strong legs. But what really caught Nathan's eye was his hair.
It was in all the colours of the rainbow, and looped into a large side fringe that managed to cover one whole side of his almost handsome face.
"Uhh," Nathan said slowly. "Hello?"
The man blinked at him, then ignored him completely and sat down at the desk, opening a drawer and grabbing a piece of manuscript paper.
"Yeah, he does that." said a low growl.
Nathan's head snapped up.
Standing in the door way was one of the strangest women he had ever laid eyes on.
She was incredibly muscular, even more than the last man, and was covered in tattoos and her face was pierced in every imaginable way, yet strangely beautiful. There were other strange piercing all over her arms too, but before Nathan had time to see exactly what they were, she spoke again.
"Name's Lauren." she said in a heavy English accent.
She held out her hand and he shook it, seeing that the piercings on her arms weren't piercings at all, but nails and pins under her skin. He shuddered.
"That over there's Jackson." she continued, jerking her head in his direction. Jackson grunted.
"Welcome to hell, sunshine."