Plot
In the 21st century (year 2022 timeframe), the penal system is now run by corporations, with prisoners seen as corporate assets. John Robbins, an ex-marine of the Force Recon is imprisoned for a life sentence related to the murder of his commanding officer, after a shady military operation in Benghazi (Libya) in 2011. This event that still haunts Robbins over a decade later.
Robbins had escaped from two "level 5" maximum security prisons and he is now incarcerated in a "level 6" facility run by the (unnamed) warden. After the Warden reviews his file and meets him face to face, Robbins is thrown in a cell, where a fellow prisoner offers him food, and hastily tells him about "Absolom", an island where they send the worst prisoners—a place feared more than the prison. The warden is convinced that Robbins' military skills are a threat that justifies his exile to the island.
After being deposited on the island by a gunship (Kamov Ka-27 'Helix'), Robbins is captured by the 'Outsiders', who are led by a sociopath named Marek. The island—previously a private retreat with dilapidated houses and a swimming pool—is where the Outsiders have established a base. Marek informs Robbins that the average life expectancy of a prisoner is six months but he had beat the odds for seven years and then insists he fight one of his men for his amusement. Robbins impresses them by killing the opponent and Marek offers Robbins a position within his gang, in response to which Robbins knocks Marek into a pool and steals a rocket launcher that Marek carries. He flees from the Outsiders and is pursued through the jungle, avoiding crude booby traps. He ends up trapped at the edge of a high cliff and is shot in the neck by a blowgun dart. He falls into the river at the cliff's base, where he washes up on some rocks and is retrieved by another group, the 'Insiders.'
At the camp, Robbins awakens to the Insiders (including Hawkins, Stephano, Casey, Killian, King and Dysart) who are led by a man called 'The Father.' The Father put together a co-operative community with laws opposed to the tyranny of the Outsiders. The Insiders has about 100 in their group while the various Outsider groups total 600. Robbins learns that he is the only person to have ever challenged and escape from Marek and that the weapon he stole had been appropriated for the good of the community. The Father notes his resourcefulness and asks if Robbins will join him. He refuses and says he wants to leave Absolom. The Father orders Robbins to be taken to the shore where he learns from the men that there are gunships 50 miles off the coast and that they are being tracked by infrared satellite technology. Robbins is determined to escape from Absolom, even if he has to fight against all the Outsider gangs on the island.
Read more about this topic: No Escape
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