Desolation Row

4

"Great. She's back to being the trouble maker she was then." Vera grumbled on her way back into Wentworth Prison as she escorted Alex through the gates, Franky following with Mr Jackson closely behind. Alex sighed as Vera swiped them through past the yard, where the woman began cheering and hooting when they saw Franky. "I don't know what to do, or how to act. I feel like I don't even know who she is anymore. Hell, the mindset she's in, I'd never even met her back then. "

Vera smiled sadly at her, releasing the two back into the compound. "Well, get used to it, because if the doctors right, she may never regain her memories back. Just prepare yourself for a hell of a ride. And watch out for her drug dealing habits. That is one thing I could do without." Vera locked the gate and retreated back into the building, leaving Alex and Franky in the yard. Alex turned, seeing Franky immediately crowded around by many well wishing women, smiling and laughing and cracking jokes every so often. Eventually they dragged her inside somewhere, leaving Alex by herself, lonely and confused. Call her silly, but in a way she felt a slight resentment toward Franky now for one reason or another. It was stupid, but she couldn't help the bubbling feeling of frustration hot in her veins.

She needed to work it out and let off steam. With that thought in mind, she stormed off toward the rec/gym room, going immediately for the weights, then the treadmill, rower, everything. Nothing was working. As a last resort, she began pounding into the punching bag, forgetting to wrap her hands in turn damaging them.

"Woah. What'd that punching bag ever do to you?"

Alex jumped slightly and spun around to see Allie leaning casually on the bench press. "What the fuck? How long have you been here?" She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

Allie rolled her eyes. "Since you started mutilating all the gear in here. What's up your arse?"

"Barb wire to keep you out. "

"Haha very funny. Remember honey, I'm with Bea now so you'll have to get in line. How's Franky?"

Alex clenched her jaw. "Like you would fucking care. Why, you wanna know if you did the job right?" Allie looked her dead in the eye. "I already told you that I didn't fucking do it. Why the fuck would I? Franky's a mate and so are you and Bea. I have nothing against Franky. " Alex narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, well its totally not suspicious that your one of kazs girls, just happening to be at the scene. " Allie stood up. " Fuck Kaz. You saw what she did to Bea. If I'm anyone's girl, I'm Bea Smith's. You know why? Because I love her. So if you don't believe me, that's up to you. I don't care. "

They both turned their attention to the slapping of footsteps retreating away from them, a flurry of crimson hair disappearing down the corridor. Allie groaned as Alex flexed her hands. "Well by the sound of it your girl just heard the L bomb being dropped on her. So if I were you, I'd go after her and explain. "

Allie sighed and began to walk out. "Right-O captain. See you later Alliegator.  " She said sarcastically. Alex shook her head in disbelief. Gyms and showers really were a magnet for unlucky encounters.

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If Alex thought that day was bad, what she didn't know was how much worse the following weeks would become. Despite their best efforts, the reign of the two top dogs was fast approaching crumbling, the cracks already gaping and visible to rivalries, namely, Kaz and to everyone's surprise, Franky. The usual crew knew it was only a matter of time before everything came crashing down completely, Bea no longer wanting to be at such a high risk now she had Allie to think about and Alex because she never wanted to do it in the first place.

The first crucial move made was when Bea handed her position over to Alex full time, with no consultation whatsoever. This in turn lead to Alex having a full on target on her back and hardly a crew to help back and protect her. Bea stayed out of the limelight, Maxine was having chemo, Boomer was always with Franky, which only left Liz and Doreen, who as much as Alex loved them, were just Liz and Doreen. They couldn't do anything to help her,  Leaving her more or less utterly vulnerable, which left her open to attacks, which unfortunately were more frequent than not.

The most shocking attack however hit way to close to home for Alex.

It was the day Franky Doyle fought for power.