Chapter 2

Don't you know when to shut up?" A rough voice across from us whispered out. We both looked at a girl with dull but angry dark eyes glaring at us with her back sitting against a cement wall. "If the guards hear you, they'll hurt you." Her brow furrowed in anger. A large welting bruise sat just above her right brow.

I decided to call her Beef for the bickering anger in her as well as the large muscles on her forearms and wide stature. Even though she was one of the boniest girls here, she still seemed to have a lot of muscle on her as well.

"So what?" Hope lifted her nose in the air. "When the guards come I'll attack them and take their guns and needles."

"You're a fool if you think you can overpower them." Beef scoffed and peered down the hallway as far as the glass would allow her.

"I can if you help me. I see you're strong. If I distract them then you can-"

"Stop." Beef interrupted. She stood up and shakily walked over to Hope and I, stepping on the others that stood in her way. A few hissed out in pain as she trampled them but none protested against this intimidating female. She leaned down and pulled at Hope's torn shirt and pulled her close till their noses nearly touched. "If you don't shut your mouth right now-"

"What? You'll hit me? Can't be worse than those guards." Hope raised her voice so even the girls around us could hear her. "In fact, I bet they hit much harder than you but you know what? There's only two of them. And there's at least thirty of us. What's to stop us from overpowering them?" Hope sneered as Beef punched her in the gut then walked back to her spot.

"You're a fool." She muttered. Hope coughed as she regained her breath but held her ground proudly.

I kept thinking about Hope's words. Maybe she was right. There were only two of them that we had seen. What's to stop us all from hurting them together?

It seemed I wasn't the only one who thought this because it wasn't long before I heard murmuring from the girls in the room. The murmuring rose to shouting and yelling. Those who were closest to the glass wall started to bang against the glass while the rest slapped their fists against the cement. Before we knew it, more and more rooms joined in and the hallway was filled with loud ear-splitting noise.

Hope had a sort of glint in her eye but her expression remained neutral as she stared at Beef. The powerful female merely glared at her and I, but I downcast my eyes hoping she wouldn't punch me in the gut as well.

Hope started to yell and bang on the glass screaming profanities out towards the men in black and they quickly came down the hallway, their shoes clacking against the cement easily. Most of the noise died down but it still continued strong from our cell. Several girls pounded against the glass if they were close enough while the rest screamed and yelled out their lungs. Beef and a few others remained rooted in their spot out of fear or lack of strength. Beef acted like she wasn't involved but continued to eye the door through the corner of her eye as it shifted every second or so to watch for incoming invaders.

The men in black stopped in front of our room first and I believe it was because of Hope. Their faces were puffed and red with anger as they reached into their pocket to pull out guns as they threatened us. I didn't blame their anger after what Hope had called their mothers and the nature of their births. It really was obscene.

Many of the girls screamed and scattered away from the door when the guns pointed at them but a few merely took a step back, sending daggers towards the men.

The men shouted for everyone to back up as they reached their way through the cell to Hope who stood her ground defiantly. One grabbed her sleeve while the other pointed at us but now it looked to be like an attempt to save oneself from the hungry lion's den.

Hope screamed and kicked, biting the arm of the man. He pointed the gun at her but didn't get the chance to pull the trigger as I shoved the gun towards the cement ceiling as the sound went off.

It was the loudest sound I had ever heard in my life or maybe it was just because it had been so quiet in here for so long that my ears weren't used to it.

The other guard who had his gun pointed at us shouted at me and prepared to shoot at me when Beef barreled into the man, knocking him against the glass wall. Blood smeared on the shiny see-through surface as the man's nose bent in an odd shape. The other girls who only graced a step back immediately pounced on the men and started to beat them as if it could solve all their problems.

Maybe to them, it did.

I saw Hope snatch a gun from one of the guards in the dog pile as well as his badge before glancing at me with a mischievous smirk. She winked at me before running out the door of our room. My heart started to sink into dread at the thought of losing her so I quickly gave chase. Some other girls had the same idea, including Beef.

I saw Hope scanning the man's badge against all the doors, freeing all the girls from their stench-filled rooms. She skipped through the hallway like a blazing fire spark dancing in joy as it raced away from the fire pit towards the heavens.

"You coming, Nibs?" Hope shouted towards me over the noise. It took me a second to realize it was me she was referring to. I nodded with a smile and raced after her, newfound energy bursting through me from my fire.

"Yes." I shouted above the noise of girls. A girl grunted beside me, keeping in step with us. It was Beef.

"I'd better make sure you two don't get yourselves killed." She huffed and joined us.

"Are we leaving through the emergency exit?" I asked as we fled down the hallway with the sea of girls, Hope leading the brigade. I noticed I was filled with adrenaline because of how many words I spoke and the lack of the pain I felt not a few moments ago.

"Yes, we're getting out of here." She grinned with a sneer again and led us through a set of doors from the hallway. Around us was a series of hallways but there was indeed a stairwell seen to the left with an emergency exit peeking through the window of the entrance. We fled into the stairwell and Hope pushed on the handle of the emergency exit and tried to open the door.

It didn't budge and a blazing alarm went off.

The stairwell immediately shrouded in red. Shouting could be heard above us as more tapping of shoes echoed in the stairs above us. More men in black. Girls behind us gasped and some started to cry with terror. I looked at Hope who merely smirked and looked back at the rest of us.

"I'll shoot." Hope shouted to anyone close enough to hear her. "Take their guns when they fall. If we die, at least pave the way for the ones behind us so they can escape." Chants of anger, fear, and courage filled the hall from girls who wanted their freedom. I looked behind for a moment and realized there was a sea of girls behind us. Skinny, dull, matted, yet alive for a stand against their oppressors.

We will not fail today.

Bullets whizzed down towards my feet as many men in black tried to shoot us from above on the stairwell. A girl next to me fell as blood spilled from her shoulder. She screamed and clawed her way to standing as we pounded up the stairs.

Hope made contact with the first man and shot him in the thigh. It must have been a good spot because he screamed as blood gushed out faster than I had ever seen before. He sank to his knees, pushing on the facet of blood leaking out. I took his gun as Beef shoved him down with her foot before stomping his head in. The delicate flesh around his temple caved in with the impact.

She was indeed very strong.

I shot another man trying to peek his gun and head over the ledge and shoot us from the next floor. The bullet hit the hand holding his gun and he dropped it with a shouting curse. One of the girls below caught it on impact.

Interesting. I was aiming for his head.

As we gained more and more guns, several of us in the front bled out and fell. Hope remained strong with only a graze bleeding from her side and another from her arm. Its rich red color matched her hair that was dripping with sweat, staining it darker with each passing moment.

Something loud enough that shook the stairwell sounded behind us as smoke started to fill our sight. A lot of panting, screaming, guns blazing, and fighting sounded around me but I couldn't tell from any prominent direction. My eyes started to tear up from the stinging gas.

A fiery redhead caught my eye through the smoke and I reached out to her to see her struggle against a man who pressed a knife into her neck. My hands shook as I raised the gun to him and shot him dead straight in the back of the neck. The bullet went straight through and sailed past Hope's ear, nicking it as it went. Hope shoved the man away from her as he gurgled in his throat with a silent scream. His vocal cords must have been ripped out.

Hope ripped the knife from his hand and with shaking hands she brought it down on his cheek, ripping down till she hit a stiff bone. The man collapsed with lack of breath as the blood pouring out of him started to choke him.

She squinted at me through the stingy fog. "Next time, shoot from an angle that won't hit me." She panted, kicking the dying guard down the stairs into the fog.

The smoke was still thick as we continued to race through the stairs, reaching a floor that said '1F' and with a quick glance to each other, Hope and I shoved open the door.