The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 4 - Mate

It had taken us four hours to come up with the plan and another five hours for one of our guards to head off for a smoke break, leaving the other one alone. This second guard was younger and less experienced ... but still big enough to overpower us both. And that was why Kara had ripped strips of fabric from her t-shirt and wrapped it around her forearms, over and over again. Her jumper was hiding it all.

"You bitch," she shouted at me. "You absolute bitch. You slept with him? Really?"

I made a scoffing sound. "Kara, let's be cool about this. It's not a big deal."

Kara gave me a little shove for the CCTV's benefit. "It's not a big deal? He's dating your little sister."

I stopped moving and stared at Kara incredulously, eyebrows rising. We needed to make a physical fight between us believable, not drag my entire reputation through the mud.

She shrugged at me and whispered, "Sorry. I've watched a lot of soaps. Like, a lot. Like probably too many. Just roll with it."

Well, I didn't have much choice now, did I? Resisting the urge to sigh, I folded my arms across my chest and gave Kara a scornful laugh. "Look, if she was giving him what he needed, he wouldn't have come crawling to me."

"Geez. I'm with her," one of the rogues in the cell opposite muttered. "You are a bitch."

We did our best to ignore him.

"They're engaged now, right?" Kara snapped. "So they're clearly happy, and you need to end it with him."

I folded my arms across my chest and gave her a smug smile. "That's not going to be easy."

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because he got me pregnant."

Kara slapped me. She didn't do it very hard, but the noise it made was impressive, all the same. And then we were fighting like wildcats. I was usually one for punching, not hair-pulling, but it wasn't the sort of thing that took a lot of practice. It was all about clawing and biting and doing your utmost best to hurt someone.

This part was not scripted in any way, shape or form, except that Kara would win. So when she gave me a push backwards, I made a show of falling over. She took the opportunity to jump on me and get her hands around my throat. She wasn't squeezing hard enough to hurt me, let alone cut off my oxygen, but it looked that way. Especially when I started making choking sounds and tugging desperately at her arms.

"Hey, flockie! You want to come out here, maybe? Before they kill each other?" I heard a hoarse voice shout. Good to see that the rogues were buying it. I'd been worried it wouldn't look convincing.

I heard a door slam, and then came the sound of approaching footsteps. It hadn't taken very long, all things considered. "Ladies. Some of us are trying to watch Netflix. Could you keep it down please? Oh, shit. Get off her right now."

Kara did no such thing, and I was now making an effort to go limp on the ground, only giving the occasional twitch. We needed him to break his cool and come in here, or it would never work. Instead, I saw the man fumble for a device which looked an awful lot like a grenade.

"Don't you dare gas them. The bitchy girl is pregnant," the rogue said.

"You can shut up, for starters," the guard snapped. He uncapped the cannister and tossed it their way instead, out of spite more than anything else. And then, while the rogues were choking and coughing and swearing their lungs out, he lifted something long and metal to his shoulder, and... Uh oh. We hadn't factored a rifle into the equation.