Tortured Dreams

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 13

The Fortress is probably the most intimidating prison ever built. Even Alcatraz is a cake-walk next to it. It houses only the worst of the worst. There are no shared cells; it drops the population too quickly. The doors are built out of steel, like an old-fashioned asylum.

However, getting there is mind blowing. It looks like a dirt road to nowhere. We have lots of them in Missouri. Even in areas of high populations.

About two miles down the road, there is suddenly a large sign. It reads "DO NOT PICK UP HITCHHIKERS FOR THE NEXT TEN MILES". This sign seems out of place. The roadside is littered with trees, there doesn't seem to be anything interesting. Five miles later, the road suddenly changes back to pavement. At the road change, there is another sign. It reads "THE USE OF LETHAL FORCE IS AUTHORIZED FOR THE NEXT FIVE MILES. PLEASE HAVE IDENTIFICATION READY."

At this point, all the trees disappear. With the vanishing trees, the structure becomes a dominating feature, despite looking small. The car is still five miles from the entrance.

Here you can see the barbed wire fence with razor wire on the top. There are also two guard towers that loom over the road on each side. The guard towers mark the beginning of the free-fire range.

The surprises don't stop there though. The closer the car moves to The Fortress, the more apparent it becomes on how it got its name.

The building is made of cinderblocks. It is ten stories tall. Behind it, is a cliff that borders The Fortress on three sides. The cliff is dizzyingly taller than the cinderblock building.

More barbed wire fences topped with razor wire. More guard towers are visible in the distance. The guard towers have machine gun turrets on them.

My heart was pounding rapidly as we finally reached the gates. Lucas handed both our ID badges to the guard on the outside of the gate. He looked at them, did something on a screen and handed them back. The first set of gates slid open.

They rattled as they closed behind us. The bolts latched into place. The gates in front of us opened. We moved forward about thirty feet. A buzzer sounded. We stopped. The gates closed behind us. We waited.

Another guard walked up to us. Lucas opened the door. I followed suit. We both got out of the SUV. A dog was brought in. Our SUV was searched inside and out. We were motioned back into the car. We got in. The gates in front of us opened. Lucas continued forward.

He stopped again. There was a final set of gates in front of us. The metal clinked and clanked behind us. Once the gate behind us was closed and secure, the gate in front of us opened.

Lucas waited for it to open completely. He drove through, found a parking spot, parked and got out. He smiled at me.

"Well?" He asked.

"Ask me when we have left," I told him, finding my breath again.

"It is something."

"I've seen it before. Never up close, but I have seen it before."

"Your brother?"

"Yes."

"Don't worry; we won't be interviewing him today. We have a serial killer on the menu, not a mass murderer."

Getting inside The Fortress was just as harrowing. We entered through a heavy steel door. Once inside, we surrendered our guns, keys and anything else that could be considered a weapon. We were wanded, sent through a metal detector that went off because Lucas's boots were steel-toed and then wanded again.