Sarah waited, as Delilah had asked her to but she never saw Velvet again. She asked Ruth about her but she pretended that she'd never known her. "What the fuck is going on here?" she asked Ruth at breakfast some weeks later.
"You don't understand." Ruth said quietly, "We are watched." she whispered, we are NOT alone- even now."
"You're fucking CRAZY!" Sarah flipped her tray up and stood to leave but found two strong hands holding her in place, both of them belonged to Delilah.
"Don't be foolish Sarah- your mouth is too precious to lose."
"Get off me!" She pulled away from the guard, only to stumble back into another. There was an uproar among the prisoners that would have caused enough confusion for Sarah to slip away- had she been in her right mind but she was fuming at moment and incapable of such forward thinking. In the end, two guards took her to a holding cell along with three other women. They were stripped and hosed down with cold water and then placed into individual dark cells, which were too small to stand up in. The concrete floor was cold and the air was stale.
Sarah wasn't sure how much time had gone by but the door eventually was opened and a woman in a tight fitting gray suit looked in with a light behind her: "Sarah?"
"What?" she blocked her eyes from the glare.
"Come out here- I have a question for you." the woman's voice was stern and commanding but as her appearance, not at all unattractive. Her hair was cropped short and she was blond. her cheek bones were high and her lips were full, unlike Sara's long-full nose she had a little button.
Sarah stood up, feeling naked and cold.
"Here." the woman snapped her fingers and the guards tossed a long white t-shirt at Sarah. "Put that on." she held out a hand nonchalantly and the other of the two guards handed a clipboard to her. "Thank you Rose."
"What is this about?" Sarah asked but before she finished her words she was surprised by a smack on the side of her face with the back side of the clipboard, it left a red mark and drew blood. "Hey!"
The guards moved in and restrained her as the slender attractive yet violent woman continued to read the information from the blood stained notes. "You have a violent streak Sarah."
"Me?"
"And a dumb streak as well." she nodded and turned away as the guards systematically began to pummel the prisoner. When they were finished, they were out of breath and Sarah was on the floor.
She spit out blood on the floor, "I think whatever you ask me at this point." she gasped, "The answer is yes."
The lithe woman squatted before Sarah and put a hand to her chin, holding her face up so that their eyes would meet. "Good, I am glad to see that your survivor tendencies are STRONGER than your stubborn ones!"
"Yeah, lets open a bottle of wine."
The woman caressed Sarah's face and then tugged her hair violently back. Sarah was surprised by the extreme strength of the little woman.
"Owe!"
"Your nothing but a party animal... a pervert... and a pig... a parasite." she said, "I like that about you." the woman stood up: "That is also why you are still alive, now answer this question and I won't have to shoot you like we had to the other two."
Sarah took a moment to look around the dark long hall. There were four small metal doors like the one she had come out of, the others were left open but there was no sign of the women. She scratched at the ground and tried to sit up, swallowing her own blood she asked: "What's the question?"
The woman ran her hand through Sarah's hair again, patting it kindly this time, "Would you like to see the warden?"
Sarah was confused. Part of her knew this was wrong, that seeing the warden was obviously NOT the thing she should want to do. Velvet still hadn't been seen and Delilah had warned her that the Warden was not a typical man, certainly not one to be taken lightly- but that the other prisoners would choose death over seeing him she thought was ludicrous. "Sure. OK." she said.
"Very well... lets get you cleaned up, my pretty." the woman stood up and dusted off her slacks.
The two guards came in without a word from her and snatched up Sarah, they hosed her off in the holding cell as they had done before and then took her forcefully up several flights of stairs, through numerous gates and locked doors until she found herself out of the stone and metal caverns and inside a cozy wood paneled room with a leather sofa a desk and three leather chairs. There was also a small wood burning stove with a kettle of water on top and soft music that played from an antique record-player. The room smelled like expensive cigars and a hint of brandy.
The guards turned and left her alone in the room. Despite the homey look, it was very cold and she could see her breath as it came out in clouds. She was shivering, the long t-shirt stuck to her still soaking skin.
"Is it cold in here?" a man's voice asked her. It sounded familiar but she wasn't sure if it was the voice that came from the speakers at night or not- it was only the first male voice that she'd heard in months.
