Bella Forrest - The Gender War

I prowled my cell like a caged animal. The blank white walls and iron bars stared back as I paced blindly, seething with rage. Nothing could excuse my disgusting lack of foresight. My head still throbbed where the Matrian warden had knocked me out with the butt of her rifle as Id resisted arrestI hadnt foreseen even as simple an act of brutality as that. Looking back, it was obvious the Matrians would have been suspicious of Violet and me. I had seriously misjudged the situation. And now I, and the woman I loved more than anything, were going to pay the price for it.

Unless I could find a way to get out.

I had to put aside the rage that was bringing my blood to a fine boil just under my skin, and think. Sitting down on the cells narrow benchits only comfortI tried to forget about all the events that had brought me here. I needed that baggage out of the way so I could work on a way to escape.

When Id been a warden of Patrus, clearing my head had been easy, even normal for the days Id spent ignoring my feelings, scraping by in the dull everyday routine. But since Violet, Id been getting used to having a direction and a purpose in my life again and a choice. So I was having a hard time letting all of this go.

At first, Id thought our arrest was due to the natural confusion and panic over the realization of a possible bombing. However, we had defused the bomb, saving the queens life. There had been witnesses, both on the balcony and down below, who could testify that I had wrestled the bag away from the determined terrorist, and that Violet had disarmed it.

So the violence and doubt we had been met with was almost unbelievable, certainly unjust.

My hands clenched of their own volitiona martial arts reflexand I stared down into my lap, where silver links of handcuffs were digging into the flesh of my hands. This was my first obstacle, and it wasnt impossible. I had learned all sorts of creative and fun ways to get out of handcuffs as a warden, and this type was the easiest to circumventall I needed was something slim, preferably metallic, and Id be out of them in moments.

Easier said than done, when the room was nothing but a set of bars and three stone walls.

And a bench, I reminded myself, looking down at it.

Spreading my legs a little wider, I bent at the waist to peer at the shadowed area under the bench, studying how it had been installed. As I had hoped, the bench wasnt built into the wall, the screws covered up by plaster and stoneit was held up by flimsy metal supports that angled up and bolted to the wall and the underside of the bench. Inside it, the screws were visible, the little round heads set into their grooves.

I smiled in spite of everything. A screw would be a bit big, but I just needed the tip of it. Getting one out of the wall, however, was another story.

I looked down at my clothes and fumbled for my belt, remembering that Violet had told me shed used a dog collar as a makeshift screwdriver. My girl was nothing if not inventive.

Thinking of Violet sent a thread of fear through me. I hadnt seen her since theyd separated us hours ago and I wasnt sure how long Id been unconscious before waking up and being dragged by four women through the corridors of the queens prison to this cell. If it werent for the fact that we had been treated so violently, I would have believed this was just standard procedure. I knew Violet was still wanted, wrongly charged for the murder of Queen Rina, but I would have assumed our actions would at least buy us some consideration.

Unless, of course, we were being played. Which I was strongly beginning to suspect. But in what way? I considered the possibility that Queen Elena bore Violet some grudge regarding her mother. Yet, if she were a reasonable human, she would have heard Violet out, especially seeing as the both of us had saved her lifeand the lives of countless others.

Which made me return to the feeling that something was going seriously wrong. Id been here too long without a chance to make a statement or plead my case, and when the female wardens looked at me, I didnt see any trace of sympathy or mercy in their eyes. I saw anger. Unbridled and raw. They could be doing anything to Violet.

Unless they had decided she was more trouble than she was worth and just executed her by injection, as was standard protocol in Matrus.

My heart lurched at the thought, like a top suddenly thrown off balance and sent skittering across the floor. I wouldnt accept that possibility. Not now, not ever. Violet and I had been through too much for me to believe that there was no chance I could save her.

I had to believe that they wanted her alive, at least for now. That I still had time to get her out of this. And with whatever was going on, it would be better to act first and beg forgiveness later.

Sliding the belt through the loop of my pants, using my wrists more than my hands, I lay on my side next to the bench and began poking the buckles metal prong into the little divots on the screws, trying to get them to catch and hold. After a minute of cursing and slipping, I realized that I was going to have to use the prong as a pick instead. It wouldnt be as easy as using the screws, but it would have to do.

Sitting back on the bench, I spent precious minutes trying to figure out how to hold the belt between my thighs and slide the prong into the hole near the base of one of the cuffs. Finally, with a few delicate manipulations, I heard the tiny mechanism click. I pushed that side open and went to work on the second. It took me a full twenty seconds to get this one off, which felt aggravatingly pathetic.

Still, the handcuffs were off, which moved the escape plan to stage two: defeating the cell door. The lock on this was bigger, and I stared at my belt prong dubiously, convinced it wasnt up for the task. Even in my anger, Id been watching my captors patterns. A guard patrolled the corridor here like clockworkevery fifteen minutes one would walk by to check on me. I doubted I could pick the lock in fifteen minutes. Not from the inside, reaching around the bars to the front of the door, with such a complicated lock and such a flimsy piece of metal.

And yet... it gave me an idea. I knew I only had a short time before the guard showed up again. I waited. I breathed, brushing the crust of blood from where Id been kicked off my aching forehead, using each minute to nail down a lid on the rage that was still boiling in my stomach.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, I heard the guards repetitive footsteps echoing down the hall, growing louder as she approached. Quickly, I reached out around the cell bars and slid the thin piece of metal into the lock.

As the guard rounded the corner, I froze, as if I had been so absorbed in the task that I hadnt heard her approach. She locked eyes with me, her blue ones narrowing in irritation. I slowly stood up and backed away, the belt in one hand.

If the guard noticed I wasnt cuffed anymore, she seemed to be putting more thought to the problem at hand. Give it to me, she ordered.