Hey guys! I already have amazing responses on the first chapter, and it hasnt even been a day yet! thank you so much! im so glad youre enjoying the ride so far! im starting to get a bunch more ideas on how to continue this guy even farther, so let me know what you think!
thank you for the read!
When Alex awoke, it wasn't her choice to do so. Reality came crashing back when something slammed into her on the ground, once again knocking the breath from her lungs.
"Hey, hey, hey!" watch the fuckin' shoulder! Ey!" a familiar voice snapped, continuing to argue as an officer warned her. Alex shook her head, vision coming back into focus slowly as a pile of crazy hair blocked her view.
"Do I get some kind of explanation? Hello!? This cell is small! Hey!" the door had already slammed shut and locked, and Nicky slowly turned around, her eyes going wide. "Jesus fuck… Vause!?"
"N-Nichols?" Alex whispered, slowly trying to sit up, but falling back down. In an instant, Nicky's hands shot out, steadying her.
"Whoa, whoa… easy tiger… let me hold ya… that's it…." Alex groaned, her head aching. She pushed her slightly cracked glasses onto the top of her head, and gazed at Nicky in confusion.
"What the fuck is going on up there?"
Nicky shook her head.
"Man, you don't even wanna fuckin guess… there's riot guards everywhere, Caputo got… shanked…"
"Jesus christ…" Alex whispered.
"It's a nightmare. Once Daya shot that CO, all hell broke loose. They're up there now... nabbing anyone who's still alive and throwing them into the SHU, three or four a cell. Some girls got shot or beaten… I have no idea where they're off to…." Nicky smirked and elbowed Alex in the ribs. "Who knows? Maybe Blondie will get tossed in here soon, we can have us a little sex party while we wait…."
Alex shut her eyes tight, shaking her head, and burying her face in her hands once more. Nicky quirked a brow, leaning in, and grabbing Alex's shoulder.
"What, too soon? Are you guys a thing? Or did I just hit a nerve?"
"She got beaten…." Alex croaked, her voice not even sounding like her own. "They cracked her fucking skull, Nicky… then they left her in the basement… she was bleeding… I don't know if she made it…"
Nicky went silent, her brown eyes drifting to the door of the SHU, and her hand falling from Alex. She let out a long, low whistle.
"You're fucking me… Piper really got hurt?"
"The worst I've ever seen…" Alex replied, lifting her watering eyes to the door where Nicky now gazed.
"They wouldn't let me near her… had a gun to my head before I could even touch her…" she suddenly let out a bitter laugh, throwing her hands up. "Annnnd it's all my fucking fault! She's dead because of me! Because I named her and wanted time off my sentence! Now she's gone! And it should have been me!"
Nicky roughly grabbed a hold of the taller woman, shaking her head.
"Oh no, no, no… you are not starting this shit now. First off, you don't know if she's dead or not. Second, where the hell do you think backtracking to where all this started is gonna get ya?" she let out a bitter huff. "Hell, maybe I shouldn't have used heroin to replace mommy's love! Maybe I should have never been born! Guess what? They both happened, and I'm still in prison now. Here. This is real, so snap out of it!"
"She lost a lot of blood, Nicky! A lot!" Alex screamed. She gave the wild haired woman a rough shove. "God dammit! Do you realize what I did!? She had a fucking fiance! She had a life! Now she's gone! Now she has nothing!"
"Her 'fiance' cheated on her anyway! So what? Christ, Vause! If you're gonna go into post-mortem guilt, at least give yourself some credit! I mean do you even hear yourself? you know she only had the goo goo eyes for you! Fuck…." she slumped against the wall opposite of Alex. "Why are we even talking about this? We need a way out of this box…"
"I'm not leaving." Alex whispered, her chest hollow. She felt like she didn't deserve to do anything anymore, even if this whole situation fixed itself. She was determined to rot in this cell if she had to. Whatever made this dull, roaring ache in her chest cease.
"Alright, amazing." Nicky groaned, and sat back down. "I guess we just wait, then…"
Just as Alex was finally starting to get her bearings about the room, the cell door shot open in a flash, and two more inmates were thrown onto Alex like bags of cement. She yelped in surprise, smacking her head onto the ground as both bodies landed on hers. Nicky jumped for the door, but it slammed again, and she ran into it with a THUD.
"NICKY!" a familiar voice cried out, and Nicky grunted as a small brunette slammed into her, holding her tightly before drawing her into a long, passionate kiss.
"MMM!" Nicky cried back, wrapping her arms around Morello, and enjoying the moment. Their lips soon broke, and Nicky wiped the mascara tracks from her tear stained cheeks. "Jesus, kid… ain't you married now?"
"I d-don't care!" Morello whined, hugging her again. "It's h-hell up there! I thought you were d-dead!" Nicky shook her head, rubbing her back.
"Unfortunately, I'm still alive."
Morello stepped back a bit, but a flash of red shoved her to the side. Red wrapped her arms around Nicky tightly, holding her close.
"My child is safe…" Red whispered, kissing Nicky's cheek. "It's chaos up there… I've never seen anything like it…" she pulled back. "Caputo is hanging on by a thread… guards are going missing…"
"I hate to break up the family reunion, ma…. But you guys nearly killed Vause…" Nicky murmured, pushing past them and helping Alex to sit again.
"Can people please stop landing on me? That'd be amazing…" she mumbled, and Red came to her other side, helping to steady her.
"I'm sorry, honey." Red offered. "They don't give you much choice where you're being tossed. At least the fall seemed to undo a knot in my back."
"Hey, bright side… right?" Morello whispered, holding onto Nicky tightly as she stood back up.
"Bright side my ass…" Red answered. "Somehow I feel the only way out of this box now is a body bag…"
Soon, they all sat in a circle, recounting how they got to the SHU. Alex told Red and the others about Piper, and Morello explained that her and Red had been at the doors of the chapel when they were caught, and dragged away.
"We would have made it there sooner, but we were lookin for yous guys…." the small Italian woman whispered. "Red and I were trying to get the whole family together, but it was too crazy…"
"So what happens now?" Nicky asked. "We sit here? Go hungry? Die?"
"The prison will be taken care of soon." Red replied. "More guards come, more girls get locked down. When there's no one left, they'll start finding the ones who started the whole mess. In a few days we should be back on the surface."
"A few days!?" Alex cried. "You mean to tell me I won't know if Piper is okay for days!?"
"That you won't know for weeks." Red looked up at her. "Whoever got hurt is probably getting carted away after the place is secure again. Whoever bleeds out and dies? They couldn't give less of a shit." she threw her hands up in disgust.
"They can't do that!" Morello spoke up, holding Nicky tight. "They can't…"
"Who will stop them?" Red snorted. "They can make any excuse from their little books… they can say the place was burning to the ground, that drastic measures had to be taken…"
"Like they took on poussey?" Alex replied, her eyes burning into the ground.
"Exactly." the Russian woman said, crossing her arms. "We're better off down here, where it's safe. Now is no time to play the hero."
"Someone should have told Chapman that." Nicky said sadly, leaning against Morello for comfort.
"Whatever happens, happens…" Red began. "Now, we wait."
Alex didn't know who fell asleep first, or when she joined them, or how much time had passed, but when she awoke the door was being slid open, and everyone was being lifted and pressed against the walls, cuffs being placed on their wrists, and ankles.
"Hey, hey! Watch it! Easy!" Nicky cried, and Morello watched with worry. Red growled and huffed as her back was pushed with too much force, and Alex did nothing to struggle. Whatever was coming? She deserved it.
"At least tell us where we're going…" Morello begged. "Please sir…."
"SHUT UP!" the guard yelled, silencing the room at once. Alex huffed in pain as she was dragged out of the SHU cell along with the others. Her heart began to race as they formed a single file line, other women being taken out of their cells, and given the same treatment.
Soon there was a march down the corridor, a guard with a loaded gun every few feet, the line pin straight, no one daring to speak out. Even the girls who were holding a blade to Caputo's neck just hours before said nothing.
Once they reached the surface, Alex felt sick.
The prison was a mess.
Small fires still burned here or there, beds and lockers were broken and busted, lying around everywhere. Food, blankets, clothes, pillows, files, it looked as if a tornado had stuck. Tear gas still lingered in some cubes where guards and inmates had standoffs. Blood stained the floors, in some places drops, in others, pools. She paused, beginning to wonder if the pool of blood they had left Piper in had grown. Images of the blonde girl melting into it, becoming nothing filled her gaze. She was losing it...
"Keep it moving." A guard snapped Alex from her trance, slamming the butt of his gun against her back, startling her. She awoke from her daydream, and the line shuffled on. The night sky was bright with stars above as the inmates made their way through the front doors. Lines of buses had already been arranged, and more guards than Alex had ever seen awaited their arrival. They had a perimeter set up, as well as a gun pointed at every inmate, every angle. Red wasn't kidding. This shit was serious.
She began to panic as the sorting began. Each inmate was sent to different buses, and she watched helplessly as Red was sent in a different direction. Then Morello, who reached out for Nicky, who was sent further away. Alex locked eyes with her, feeling like she wanted to vomit, or cry, or both. Nicky gave her a reassuring smile before being shoved on, and Alex took a deep breath as she was loaded into the bus directly in front of her.
She was sat down, a random sobbing inmate she'd never seen before sitting beside her. She gazed longingly out at Litchfield, and for the first time in her life, she wanted nothing more than to be in the prison. To be reading a book in her cube, to have Piper wander in, acting like she didn't interrupt, always clueless, always innocent. Even when she wasn't.
She wasn't religious. She didn't believe in god. If god was real, Diane wouldn't have died when she died. She wouldn't have suffered her whole life. Piper wouldn't have left her in Paris. Piper would still be alive.
Despite that, she sent a silent prayer towards the sky, begging for this not to be it. She begged for one last chance, one more time, one more day. The windows began to rattle as the doors shut, and the buses engine roared to life. The guard on the outside slammed his rifle onto the exterior twice, and Alex watched as others waved on the drivers. The bus began a slow crawl forward, and she watched as Litchfield began to fade from view, a new uncertainty ahead. Where were they going? Would she ever see her friends again? A cold dread began to wash over her, and she let her eyes fall closed. This night was far from over.