"What is going on?!" I panicked. Katherine looked so confused. Then screams were echoing the halls. We could see the other inmates banging on the bars then with just common sense, we all seemed to realise that there was a fire.
The alarms went off, everyone just trying to get out. The prison guards came running, opening each cell, leading all the prisoners to safety. Some bashed prisoners on the head to escape, others just not caring but wanting to stay alive. They finally reached our cells, scrambling to find the correct keys.
"Please hurry!" I shouted as the woman guard was struggling to find the keys. I looked over at Katherine and she was sat still on the bed, oblivious to everything that was going on. "Katherine, are you okay?! Please! Say something!"
The prison guard finally managed to get the right keys in and busted us out. I had to drag Katherine by the arm as she wasn't budging. We got into the corridors, with inmates crashing down onto each other, some being crushed to death.
We were behind a group of old ladies, who had no idea what they were doing. It was as if they wanted to die in here. Then all of a sudden, I felt a huge drop. We slid down into a dark, deep hole which I soon made out to be solitary confinement. The smoke was getting thicker, making it harder for us to breathe. I looked for Katherine, but she wasn't next to me anymore. I looked around me and I just saw other inmates, emerging from their cells.
"KATHERINE!" I screamed, the air slowly running out. I scrambled across the floor to find her. A huge plank collapsed onto one side of the solitary confinement, causing some women to be crushed, again, to death.
I found one of the women who was crushed, screaming for help as her leg had been twisted the other way round. I grabbed her arm and joisted her onto my shoulders and tried to get us out. The only way was up the way that we fell down here, but it was so far up, none of us could reach. The doors were all locked, and I could hear the women just praying. I didn't know what had happened, I only cared about getting out.
And to top it all off, Katherine was no where to be seen. I clutched my hands to my chest and even though I wasn't a religious person, I still prayed. I prayed to come out of this alive, to be able to rescue Nick and my daughter and live a life away from Russia, away from all this madness. I had already lost people that I loved, and I know I had only met Katherine hours ago, but it felt like I had known her forever. She was like a mother-figure to me already.
The walls were echoing with screams. I knew I had to do something.
"Guys! Guys! Everyone just needs to calm down and relax! If we wanna make it out alive, we've got to have a clear mind!" I shouted. The screams stopped and everyone's eyes were fixed to me.
"And who are you to talk? For all we know, one of your dad's bandits could have caused this!" A woman yelled.
"Wait," I was taken aback. "This was intentional?!"
"There was a strong smell of gasoline everywhere on the north side of the prison. We just thought that it was the bleach from the cleaners but it wasn't. The whole place blew up into flames." The woman replied.
"I- I- don't know what to say," I was shocked. "We need to come up with an idea to get out safely."
Everyone murmured among themselves as I looked around to see if I could find anything that would be useful.
Those planks that fell. I whispered to myself. There looks like there's something behind there.
I clambered onto the planks and pulled them out, and found a reasonably sized hole with a lot of dust inside.
"Guys, look!" I shouted. Everyone came around. Some of the women looked a little relieved. "We just need to find something to bust a huge hole so we can all fit and see where this takes us."
"What if this takes us directly to where the fire is?" One of the women asked.
"We're underground and I'm sure this is where the drainage pipes are. We've gotta be careful though and be alert at all times. The fire is above us so going through this tunnel is our best bet."
Everyone scattered to find something that could be useful but nothing.
I didn't want to lose hope. I had to do everything in my power to save us all. No matter what crime these women had committed, they were still human beings.
"Anyone here who's strong?" I asked. A pretty muscular woman came forward. "We're gonna have to dig ourselves out."
The muscular woman went first, trying to dig through the dirt and she was pretty fast. The woman who had twisted her leg was right behind me; I was dragging her. The tunnels were dark and gloomy, it looked like a scene from a horror movie.
We had to hurry, not only because of the fire, but because the woman I was taking care of needed medical attention.
Fast.
"Can you see any light?" I asked the woman in front of me.
"Not yet," she shouted and I could hear some women crying again. We kept crawling through the dirty water and dust, till it became evident that we were going nowhere.
"We can't give up," I told everyone. We had escaped the smoke, but not the nightmare. We kept crawling for about another 30 minutes until I could hear the wailing of ambulances, police cars and fire engines. The woman behind me had passed out but when I checked her pulse, she was still alive.
Then cracks of light started to peek through. We went even faster till we were fully into the light. The relief I was feeling was indescribable. We were at the back of the prison, and as soon as everyone could take in that they had escaped the fire, they ran out like headless chickens. They were free.
I found a man roaming around the prison, trying to look for survivors. I carried the injured woman in my arms and ran to the guy, begging him to help us. He turned around and when I saw his face my heart melted.
I placed the injured woman gently onto the floor and hugged the guy so tightly and sobbed loudly onto his shoulders, his hands around me.
It was Nick.
"Scarlett," he took a look at me and hugged me again. "You don't know how much I prayed you'd come out alive."
His smile turned into tears of happiness. I wiped the tears off his face and just stared at him in awe. I had no words. Then we found ourselves locked into a long and very anticipated kiss.
The injured woman started to open her eyes.
"We need to get her help," said Nick. "You need to hide somewhere, Scarlett. Yes, there's been a fire, but police are still on the lookout for inmates. I'll find you as soon as this lady gets help."
No words could come out my mouth. Tears were flooding down my face.
"Your- mom..." I cried. Nick didn't take notice to what I said. "Your mom!"
"What are you talking about, Scarlett?" he looked so confused. It was so hard to speak.
"She's... here..." I struggled. "I don't think she made it."
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YOU ARE READING
Miss Mafia
Romance"Surprisingly, my tears had already dried up. I felt the warmth of his voice, and this was probably the only time I heard such a sincere tone from him. I turned to look at him, and our faces were close. He leaned forward and his lips fell on mine, a...
