Strange and potentially dangerous changes and preparations were taking place in the prison, and some of the most powerful and feared inmates were involved, Bubba being the ringleader. The focus of their activities was escape.

Bubba and the Delvicchio brothers were always looking for co-operation from every quarter, and there were many that were keen to join their band. One such person was Spider, the gruesomely thin and eternally sweaty little man whose ears were finely tuned and whose eyes flickered at every movement.

He had been Christened with the name Ralph Richardson. He was twenty-four years old, but looked a dilapidated decade or so older. His mother was a drug addict and prostitute; his father had been a condom that had passed its expiration date.

Spider was raised by the mean streets of Melbourne’s western suburbs where he'd learnt the rudimentary rules for survival; purse snatching, mugging elderly pensioners, prostitution and burglaries were just a few of the things he'd tried his hand at. But he soon found something that he was particularly good at – watching and listening.

He discovered that gathering information on the activities of others' was a most profitable pastime, especially when it came to dealing with irate crime bosses, or cops, who were always prepared to forgive a minor breach of regulation, for the right sort of information. Thus, over the years, the insect-like creature became known as Spider.

Spider had been in and out of institutions, for varying offences, since he'd been twelve. He'd developed a deep hatred and fear of prisons. They were too brutal and tense; too much could happen to you in a comparatively brief time.

Spider was basically a coward and hid from violence and confrontations whenever possible by using his eyes and ears. Sometimes this tactic worked, and sometimes it didn't. But none of that was really worth dwelling on, at the moment at least. The only thing that was of any concern to Spider was getting out of the prison. He wanted that desperately. He needed to be apart of the escape team.

Spider knew that he wouldn't be alive for much longer if he didn't get out soon. He was aware of how despised and hated he was, and was extremely aware of how frequently fatal accidents could occur in a prison.

Bubba was his only hope, and he would do anything to keep that chance alive. But he was fighting time. He could feel it, and when he thought of the horrible ways they had of killing in prison. It made his stomach grow cold.

His mind shifted to two inmates, Niko and Blake, who Spider had betrayed to the authorities in the hope of a reduced sentence and a transfer to another division. But it hadn't gone the way he'd expected – sure, they'd cut some time off his sentence, but not nearly enough and they'd never bothered to fulfil their promise to transfer him to a safer block.

Now it was only a matter of time until Niko and Blake were released from solitary, and when they were, it would be Spider they came looking for. His life wasn't worth a cold shit unless he got out with Bubba and the Delvicchio twins.

Spider found Bubba in the latter man's cell during recreation period. He laid on his bed like some bloated, Arab sheik. Antoni and Gino were also present and eyed Spider with suspicion and loathing as he entered the cell.

Bubba’s coal-like eyes absorbed Spider's presence with barely concealed malice. He detested the skinny, weak little fool, but was half curious as to what had brought the insect scurrying to him.

"What do you want? Make it quick." Bubba stated in a low, disinterested tone.

Spider's nostrils flickered minutely as if he were testing the sent of the air for signs of hostility and danger. He knew he was in a precarious position with Bubba and his minions, but to not take the chance would be even more stupid, and just as fatal. This was his last chance.

"I've heard a few things - rumors," he started nervously, pausing with the hope that Bubba might say something about the escape and make things easier for him. It was, of course, a naive and naive hope.

Bubba merely stared at him with blank, black eyes that reflected oblivion.

"I've heard about some plans about getting out of this place...”

“So, what about it?" Antoni asked in a threatening tone, crossing his meaty chest with his equally ample arms and sneering at Spider. Bubba looked more thoughtful and casually gestured to Antoni and Gino to relax. He told Spider to make his point.

"I want to come in on it with you," he gushed, his blackened, desperate eyes wide and giddy with urgency.

Gino gave a bit of a chuckle that was humorless and hard. Antoni just stared straight through Spider with an level and penetrating gaze. Bubba was silent and appeared reflective.

The silence became too much for Spider. He reinforced his desire and sought to strengthen it by offering his services to help organise and prepare for the escape in any capacity that they saw fit. There wasn't anything that he wasn't prepared to do, no act too despicable or degrading that he wouldn't perform, to be a part of their escape team.

Bubba listened to this attentively He waited until Spider had finished his speech before he bothered to reply.

"I can see that this means a lot to you. It doesn't surprise me," Bubba began.

"Yeah, and I'll do anything, you name it, and I'll -" he rambled crazily, interrupting Bubba, and only falling silent and sensing his mistake when he caught sight of the cold fury in Bubba’s eyes, and the stern setting of the fat man's jaw. Spider offered quiet, almost strangled apologies.

"I know this escape means a lot to you. Niko and Blake want you dead. They'll probably kill you after they cut out of solitary. Lagging on them to the cops about where they put that payroll was stupid, Spider - even for a turd like you. And look what you got from that deal - six months off your sentence, which leaves you with eight months in here with the rest of the scum - and Niko and Blake. Don't much like your chances of getting out of here ...alive, at any rate." Bubba sounded very grim and concerned, but as he concluded his analysis of the situation, his pork sausage-like lips split into a wet, cruel smile.

Spider could see his life slipping through his fingers; it was like trying to hold all his blood in his own cupped hands: impossible. Bubba had to let him join the escape syndicate or Spider was going to die the sort of death that most people only had nightmares about.

"C'mon, Bubba, I could be useful to you! I could! I know I could. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do for you, you'll see, you'll be wondering how you got along without the Spider!" But he could see by the expressions on their face that his approach wasn't getting him any further beyond the walls of the prison.

There was only one other tact he could take, and from past experience, it had saved him before and sometimes got him something what he'd needed.

"I'll do anything, anything!" he cried, and his features softened for a moment as he reached out to caress Bubba’s thigh, up to the man's crotch, which he squeezed gently, as he knelt on the prison floor, between Bubba’s legs, massaging his groin. "Anything, Bubba, for you," and he glanced over at the Delvicchio brothers. "And for them. I can give you all something that stuck up, soft arsed bitch, Crane, can never give you, whenever you want it and how you want it. I can do things..."

"Get off me you fucking faggot!" Bubba exploded with rage and disgust.

Spider didn't have a chance to duck before Bubba’s fist crashed into his jaw, sending him sprawling across the floor of the cell. There he laid, like a wounded animal, gasping and whimpering in pain.

The Delvicchio brothers took up position around Spider, glaring down at him like a couple of vultures above a dying beast. He eyed them fearfully, suspecting what was to come.

"You're a dead man already, Spider. Niko and Blake are going to see to that. It'll save me the effort. Just don't you speak about my pretty child like that again. You're too low to even to say his name. I hear you say it, or if I see you look at him, I promise you, I'll kill you myself, and you'll be begging and screaming, wishing to Christ that it was Niko and Blake that were doing you." Bubba’s words rang with cold, frightening sincerity.

On concluding his speech, Bubba nodded to Gino and Antoni. This signal indicated that the audience was over and they were to show Spider out, after they had done some rearranging of his anatomy.

The brothers spared little when it came to beating Spider. They punched him and kicked him in places Spider hadn't thought existed. When finished, they left a groveling, bloody mess quivering on the cement floor of the cell. Blood oozed down Spider's brow and over his eye as he peered at his attackers. He saw their arms reach out for him once again. He recoiled and uttered a moan of horror and pain.

The Delvicchio brothers picked the bloodied little man up and the tossed him roughly out of the cell and into the corridor, where Spider struck the wall with a bone grinding crack.

Dazed and agonised, Spider slipped to the ground groaning as his body shrieked and danced with pain, clouding his mind of true thought.

Bubba would pay for this, of that one thing Spider was sure. Spider himself was virtually a dead man, and there was nothing that could change that now. But if he was going to go down, he was going to make sure that Bubba suffered too.

There were only two ways that he could see to hurting Bubba: the escape and Jackson Crane.