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    The Scrubs
    The Scrubs
    The Scrubs
    Ebook121 pages3 hours

    The Scrubs

    By Simon Janus

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    James Jeter, a serial killer with a 6th sense, holds court inside Wormwood Scrubs Prison. He's the focus of the "North Wing Project." He can create an alternate world containing the souls of his victims. Fellow inmate, Michael Keeler will earn a pardon if he enters Jeter's world to learn the identity of Jeter's last victim. Keeler can redeem himself, but at a price.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon Wood
    Release dateMar 23, 2010
    ISBN9781452372921
    The Scrubs
    Author

    Simon Janus

    Simon Janus is the horror identity for the award winning thriller writer, Simon Wood. As Simon Wood, he's the author of four thrillers and two short story collections. As Simon Janus, he’s the author of the acclaimed Road Rash and The Scrubs. Learn more about both Simons at www.simonwood.net

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    Reviews for The Scrubs

    4.5/5

    14 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      When Michael Keeler, inmate at the Wormwood Scrubs prison, volunteers for a special assignment, he isn't sure what he'll be expected to do. All he's focusing on is the promise of getting a full pardon in return for his cooperation. But because he's heard plenty of rumors about the experiments taking place in the North Wing, he knows that earning his reward won't be easy. What Keeler faces, however, is beyond anything that even he expected: he's asked to literally travel into the mind of a psychopathic killer and locate the murderer's next victim.This book is creepy. Really creepy. In a way that really reminded me of the work of horror novelist Clive Barker, Wood creates a nightmare world and brings it to life. The novella isn't long, but it is action-packed and fraught with tension. Keeler, an unlikely hero given his past, is a sympathetic one, and Jeter, the villain, is as loathsome as they come. And the world that lives inside Jeter's mind is one that will haunt me for a while.The only sour note in this book comes from a secondary character named Matt Cady. Without my giving too much away, Cady, a mild-mannered government employee who refers to himself as a 'pen pusher', suddenly turns into a kind of superhero at the end of the book, racking up more kills than Vin Diesel on a good day. It was a bit of stretch for me to believe that the bookish Cady could crack heads with such skill.But, in the end, The Scrubs is a solidly scary read. Provided you're ready to lose a little sleep.
    • 4/5
      The Scrubs by Simon Janus (Simon Wood) is a weirdly twisted ride though a prison experiment. James Jeter is a serial killer who happens to be the focus of the experiment that took place in the prison where he was sentenced. By hooking Jeter up to a feeding tube that contains the hallucinogen wormwood, Jeter is able to open up 'The Rift' which is an alternate world that houses all of his victim's souls. With hopes of being able to control 'The Rift' and make money, inmates are offered the chance to enter 'The Rift' in trade for early release. Of course 'The Rift' isn't puppies and rainbows since it is the mind of a psychotic serial killer and the inmates are subjected to horror with bizarre twists. Michael Keeler suffers from a tremendous amount of guilt after a robbery went horribly wrong. He accepts the offer to enter the weirdness that is 'The Rift' since he feels like he deserves whatever comes to him. While there he learned about Jeter's last victim, a young boy, who wasn't located before Jeter was sentenced to prison. Keeler made it his mission to find the boy's soul in 'The Rift' and bring him out safely. Does Keeler save the little boy or just create more problems? You will have to read this awesome and twisted tale to find out! Due to the graphic nature in this book, I'd suggest that it be read by only mature adult audiences.

    Book preview

    The Scrubs - Simon Janus

    THE SCRUBS

    By Simon Janus

    This book is comprised of works of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are factiously used. Any semblance to actual persons, living or dead, real events or locales is entirely coincidental.

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    © 2008 Simon Wood. All rights reserved.

    About the Author:

    Simon Janus is the horror identity for the award winning thriller writer, Simon Wood. As Simon Wood, he's the author of four thrillers and two short story collections. As Simon Janus, he’s the author of the acclaimed Road Rash and The Scrubs. Learn more about both Simons at www.simonwood.net

    THE SCRUBS

    James Jeter, the notorious serial killer with a sixth sense, holds court inside London's Wormwood Scrubs Prison.  He's the focus of the North Wing Project.  Under the influence of a hallucinogen, Jeter can create an alternative world known as The Rift containing the souls of his victims.  

    Pardons are on offer to inmates who'll enter The Rift.  Michael Keeler has nothing to lose and little to live for.  He's sent into The Rift to learn the identity of Jeter's last victim.  

    It's a mission where the guilty can be redeemed, but at a price...

    Author’s Note

    Wormwood Scrubs is the actual name of a functioning prison located in London, which is known affectionately as The Scrubs. The Wormwood Scrubs described in this story is wholly fictional.

    What They Are Saying About The Scrubs:

    "The Scrubs is one merciless piece of work."

    — Gary A. Braunbeck, author of Coffin Country

    "The Scrubs...it's a journey to a Twilight Zone of our time."

    — Mort Castle, author of The Stranger

    "Lean, mean fear machine - The Scrubs is gruesomely inventive entertainment."

    — Simon Clark, author of This Rage of echoes

    This is, simply put, an incredible novella.

    — Michael Arnzen, author of Bitchfight and Play Dead

    "The Scrubs is a superb, fast-paced journey through the hell of incarceration...and way, way beyond."

    — Tim Lebbon, author of Dawn

    "If you are looking for a quick read that is sure to leave you breathless until the final page is turned, you cannot do any better than The Scrubs."

    — Horrorworld

    This is a fascinating, disturbing journey.

    — Dark Discoveries Magazine

    A surreal horror trip.

    — Horror Fiction Review

    Index

    Chapter One: The North Wing

    Chapter Two: Cady’s Cover

    Chapter Three: The Rift

    Chapter Four: The Rules Change

    Chapter Five: The Boy

    Chapter Six: Lefford and Allard

    Chapter Seven: Failure

    Chapter Eight: The North Wing II: Rebellion

    Chapter Nine: Keeler’s Return

    Excerpt from Road Rash

    Excerpt from Dragged into Darkness

    Chapter One

    The North Wing

    The steel mesh sang with the impact of their boots. It was the only sound to be heard in the cellblock, other than the grumbles of disapproval trickling out from behind brick cell walls. Keeler tried not to listen to his fellow inmates. He knew what they thought of anyone volunteering for the North Wing project. In most of their minds, he wasn’t much better than a squealer. Bollocks to ‘em. If it got him a pardon, what did he care? He was buggered if he was going to rot in the Scrubs until he died. Keeler stopped and waited for the first prison screw to descend the encaged spiral staircase before he followed. The second screw followed Keeler.

    The screws didn’t say anything to him. Their opinions weren’t much different from those of the inmates. It probably had a lot to do with them knowing as much about the North Wing project as general population. Only a select few knew anything about what went on there. Even as a volunteer, Keeler didn’t have a clue for what he’d signed on for, but in a few minutes, he would find out.

    Fear gnawed at Keeler as he followed the Scrubs’ maze of neo-gothic corridors passing cellblock after cellblock. His dread squirmed under his skin. The sensation was so intense he snatched a glance at his arm, expecting to see fear manifesting itself as a parasite writhing under his flesh. One of the screws noticed him flinch.

    What just crawled up your arse, Keeler? Taylor asked with a smirk. You getting a little nervous or something?

    Keeler swallowed and shook his head. He was lying, of course, and Taylor knew it. The screw’s little knowing nod and the cruelness in his eyes let Keeler know he wasn’t fooling anyone.

    I wouldn’t worry too much, Keeler. It’s not like you’ll be all alone. You’ll have your playmates with you.

    Very cozy, Barker, the other screw, said.

    Keeler said nothing. Screws were nothing worth wasting your breath on—just a bunch of wankers who couldn’t make it in the real world. What kind of man volunteered to spend his life in a prison?

    Give Jeter, Lefford and Allard our best, Taylor said and laughed at his own joke.

    Keeler sniffed. He would hardly call Jeter, Lefford and Allard playmates. They were all lifers like him, but that was their only bond. Lefford and Allard he knew by sight. Jeter, he’d never met, but his reputation preceded him. He was a scary fuck, a sociopath that no one wanted to come within pissing distance of. He’d been the project’s first volunteer. Handpicked, according to some. That had been six months ago and no one had heard anything from him since. Lefford and Allard followed a couple of months later. No one had heard from them either. But what made Keeler’s balls wither on the vine were the screams from the North Wing that routinely shattered the night’s quiet. Whatever the hell they were doing in there, he hoped to Christ they’d improved conditions for the volunteers.

    They stopped at the modified entrance to the North Wing. Taylor pressed the call button next to a pair of heavy-duty steel doors. The doors had no visible lock or handles. A closed circuit TV camera trained its gaze on Keeler.

    Wait there, a voice barked from the intercom above the call button.

    The wall and steel doors were part of the recent construction that isolated the North Wing from the rest of Wormwood Scrubs. The clash of architecture between old and new wouldn’t have impressed any art critics. Utilitarian dullness and neo-gothic weren’t a match made in architectural heaven. The annexation had increased the prison’s overcrowding problems, which raised tensions between fellow inmates and between inmates and screws. Petty squabbles turned into fights more often than they used to. Overcrowding was an easy label to stick on the problem but it was more than that. It was the North Wing itself. Its secretive status unsettled everyone. It was a part of the prison that inmates had no control over. Whatever the screws liked to think, they didn’t run the show. They had everything above the surface, but the inmates had everything else. A lot of people would have paid good money to know what was taking place on the other side of the doors. Keeler was about to find out and all it had cost him was a signature on a Home Office disclaimer. But waiting for the doors to open, he wished he could take his ink back. An electronic hum preceded the clunk of the locks snapping back into place.

    Not going to wish me luck, then? Keeler asked.

    Taylor sneered. You don’t deserve a pardon. Not for what you did to that kid.

    You sound jealous, Taylor.

    Shut it, Keeler, Barker said, sounding tired.

    The doors slid back. Two riot-clad armed guards filled the doorway of a dimly lit antechamber. Taylor and Barker stiffened. Keeler knew why. These weren’t prison screws under the full-face helmets, that was for sure. They were too lean. Too prepared. These guys were special—and had no place in the Scrubs. It was impossible to tell their affiliation. They reminded Keeler of paramilitaries from some banana republic. What are these fuckers doing here? Keeler thought.

    We’ll take him from here, a muffled voice ordered from under a helmet.

    The riot boys snatched Keeler from the screws and bundled him through the entrance. Taylor and Barker tried to follow, but one of the riot guards snatched up his stubby assault rifle and aimed it at the prison officers.

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