Trapped with the Animals

protector

"please take a seat." the warden says. she's nothing like caputo. she's very tall and skinny, with shoulder length brown hair. she has piercing hazel eyes that almost look like they have a yellow glow.

"your sister has been here for quite a while, yes?" she asks me. i nod my head even though i had no idea until yesterday.

"so what did you swallow at visitation yesterday?" she asks me, her tone of voice completely changing. i start to panic, but realize i need to act like i'm not freaking out.

"nothing ma'am." i tell her. she gives me a dirty look as if to say she knows i'm lying.

before she can lecture me, a guard knocks on the door and steps into her office.

"warden langdon, we have a situation." the guard tells her. she immediately stands up from her desk and signals for me to leave, and she follows me out.

we part ways and i head back towards the dorms. when i enter F block, sage stands up from the couch.

"what happened? did you rat?" she asks me concerned.

"no of course not." i tell her. a sigh of relieve over comes her and she pats me on the back.

"so who is lucy?" she asks me and i freeze. how did she know about lucy?

"she uh..." i debate on whether to tell her what she did.

"she shot me." i finally say. i see a fire form in her green eyes.

"good to know. bubbles, lets go." she says. i step in front of her to stop her.

"please don't do anything." i beg. she gives me an angry look.

"nobody fucks with my brother. this is my prison." she says. i feel chills go through my body. why is she sticking up for me?

before she can leave, the alarm sounds. everybody drops to the floor on their stomachs.

"get into your cells, inmates." a guard instructs as he shuts the gate to the cell block.

after 15 minutes, the alarm stops.

"sage royale to the wardens office." a voice on the loudspeaker says. sage and i exchange worried looks and she gets up and leaves.

"oh my god austin are you okay?" nicky says, coming up behind me startling me.

"yeah i'm alright." i reassure her. she still looks worried.

"you need to stay away from drugs. they're even easier to get than back up the hill. that's why i relapsed." she tells me.

"i'm not taking them-" i say but she cuts me off.

"you swallowed heroin! isn't that worse?!" she yells at me.

"sage made me! she's my sister and top dog what do you want me to do?" i tell back, angry that she's questioning it.

"what's the problem?" i hear red say entering our block.

"nothing, ma." nicky says, rolling her eyes and entering her cell, closing the door behind her.

"so sage is your sister huh, did you know?" red asks me. i shake my head.

"just please be careful austin, this place is a lot more dangerous than up the hill. i worry for you kids." she says, exiting the block.

i go back into my cell and lay back on my bed, trying to relax. i've been on edge since i got here and i just need a break. although, i feel like i'll be on edge a lot.

"yard time, inmates!" a guard calls to our cell block. can't i just stay in bed?

the guard comes into my room and tells me i have to, so i do.

when i enter the yard the first thing i notice is a guard up on a tall tower overlooking the premises. he's armed with a rifle and my body locks up.

there's tall barbed wire fences surrounding the yard. there's a picnic table, a small garden, and some exercise equipment.

i notice there's a punching bag and i head towards it. i start letting my anger out, throwing hard right hooks at the bag. i hear a few girls whistle at me and i smirk.

"austin!" i hear a voice say, a voice i wish i didn't recognize.

"what the fuck do you want." i ask lucy with an angry tone. she steps back, like she's shocked i'm acting like this.

"that looks like it hurts, i can hook you up with something for the pain-" she starts about my shoulder. i stop punching the bag and turn to face her.

"you fucking shot me, and i don't even get a sorry?!" i yell at her.

"settle down inmate." a guard says to me, but i ignore him.

"you're a fucking psychopath." i say even louder. i notice sage and her crew entering the yard and walking towards us.

"what's going on austin?" sage asks me.

"she won't leave me the fuck alone." i say pointing to lucy.

"so you're the one that shot my brother?" sage says with her arms crossed. lucy swallows anxiously and doesn't speak.

before i can even think of what to say, bubbles grabs lucy's arms and holds them behind her back.

sage throws a hard right hook and her fist collides with lucy's jaw. lucy begins to fall backwards but bubbles jerks her body back up, and sage punches her again.

i just sit there and watch. lucy looks over at me for a moment as if to ask for help, and i just smile. i'm done with her pity parties.

"enough, royale!" a guard says, walking over to us. bubbles throws lucy to the ground, where she sits hunched over spitting blood out of her mouth.

"let's go." sage says and we walk back to the unit. we go and sit on the couch and some girl comes in and sits on sage's lap. she has short hair and an undercut, and her arms are covered in tattoos.

"austin, this is my girlfriend stella." she say, and i smile at the girl.

"hello austin it's nice to meet you." she says in an australian accent. i smile, knowing i'm not the only one with an accent.

"royale you have mail." a guard says entering the unit. sage and i both turn around, and then sage realizes it's for me.

the guard hands me a letter, and of course it's already opened. i look at the return address to see who sent it to me.

riley.