Sarah
Over the next few days, Sarah watched patiently as the entire prison descended into a seemingly endless cycle of blood and payback.
The word among the inmates was that Hawkeye had finally crossed the line. It was one thing for the Brothers to carve up a Sinner or two, but executing their top guy was a step too far—especially when all evidence pointed to the fact that the captain of the COs had done it for them.
The air in River Oak seemed to crackle with the constant promise of violence, like electricity.
Rodriguez wasn't a strong enough leader to keep the guards calm and disciplined, and they started lashing out at the Sinners preemptively, trying to show them who was boss before things got out of hand.
The new leader of the Sinners was a hothead who saw these assaults as proof that Gable had whacked Roberto, so he encouraged them to respond in kind, preparing attacks on guards whenever the correct conditions presented themselves.
And Hawkeye kept insisting that he hadn't ordered Gable to kill Roberto, that he wanted to broker some truce—but no one trusted him, and he ordered the White Brothers to start stockpiling weapons in preparation for the worst. He was even too busy to order Sarah around.
Four Sinners were beaten almost to death by COs in separate incidents.
A Knight had his eyes and tongue gouged out, and died from blood loss.
A guard was cornered and stabbed to death by a trio of Sinners.
A Sinner who worked the cafeteria died of third-degree burns when a vat of boiling oil was tossed at him.
And on. And on. And on.
Until one day, a fight broke out in cell block D and spilled over into the neighboring blocks on both sides. By the time the guards mobilized to try to take control of the rapidly-escalating situation, half the prison was locked down, and uncontrolled carnage tore through the other half like a hurricane. Glass was cowering in his office with the governor on the phone, and every available corrections officer was called to blocks B through G to try to put down the riot.
No one was looking at Ad-Seg, one of the few areas of the prison where the inmates were still locked up tight in their cells.
Perfect.
While all of the guards were distracted, Sarah hurried down to the hole and hit a few buttons on the keyboard, unlocking Kurt's cell. She jogged down the corridor and swung his door open.
“It's happening,” she said. “Let's go.”
Kurt nodded and jumped to his feet, running after her.
Sarah had mapped the ideal route for their escape. With the riot exploding in the main cell blocks, no one would be anywhere near the gym, or the locker rooms that were off the adjoining corridor. From there, it was just a few short steps to the side entrance the guards used. Then they'd get to her car, use her key card to leave through the officers' parking area, and leave this miserable place behind them forever. Ron had prepared their new identities, which were tucked under the spare tire in the trunk of the car.
They reached the gym, and Sarah almost fainted with relief. The sounds of the riot could be heard from a distance, even over the screeching alarms.
Just a few more steps, Sarah thought. Freedom is so close...
But when they entered the short hallway that led to the locker rooms, they found Hawkeye, Spikes, and Little John waiting for them. Each of them held a pair of shivs.
“I knew it,” Hawkeye sneered. “I knew you two were behind this shit. I should've had you both killed at the first sign of trouble. But no, I had to show compassion, like some kind of fucking idiot.”
“Fuck,” Sarah thought. “I should have brought a weapon for Kurt, in case we ran into trouble. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
She slid her baton from her belt. “One warning. That's all you get. Let us pass, or by God I'll beat the brains out of your skulls.”
“I just watched Wilder get stabbed to death by about a dozen Sinners,” Hawkeye snarled. “He was my best friend in this shithole, and he died so you and your lover boy could run off together and play 'Happily Ever After.' Well, guess what? I'm going to carve my name into your hearts while they're still fucking beating. I'm going to make sure you never leave this place.”
The three Brothers lunged at them, the blades of their shivs glinting in the red emergency lights. Sarah swung her baton and cracked it against the side of Spikes' head, knocking him out immediately. As she did, she saw Kurt jump on Hawkeye, knocking the shiv out of his left hand and grappling furiously for the one on the right.
Little John swung one blade at Sarah's face, slashing her left cheek even as the other blade swooped down toward her midsection. She used her baton to parry it, and succeeded in smacking 88's hand hard enough to make him drop it. But he was fast, and his remaining shiv darted toward her torso again. She side-stepped it clumsily, but it came close enough to nick one of the buttons off her uniform.
You can't stab me there, she thought. You can stab me anywhere else, but motherfucker, you are not taking this baby away from me.
The knife came in for the kill again and Sarah caught the blade with her left forearm on purpose. She barely registered the pain as she twisted her arm to one side, wrenching the weapon from Little John's fingers. But as she raised her baton to strike, Little John's fist extended with blinding speed, hitting her squarely in the face.
Sarah felt her nose crunch under the force of the blow, and her head snapped back as stars danced in front of her eyes. She was caught off-balance, and it was just the opening Little John needed to snatch the baton from her hand. Before she'd even had time to process the punch to the face, she felt the hard polished wood of the baton connect with the top of her scalp.
She sank to one knee, the world around her briefly fading into shades of gray. As Little John raised the baton again, she saw that Hawkeye had managed to wrestle his way on top of Kurt. His weight gave him the advantage, and Kurt grunted as he tried to keep Hawkeye's thumbs away from his eye sockets.
We're not going to make it, Sarah thought blearily as she waited for another crack from the baton. We got so close, so fucking close, but it's going to end right here in this hallway. I'm sorry, Kurt. I did my best.
Suddenly, Sarah heard Hawkeye let out a shriek of agony. She looked over and saw him flop over onto his side, bleeding from a half-dozen puncture wounds in his upper back. His eyes were rolling up in his head, and saliva was foaming at the corners of his mouth.
Bear stood over him, holding a bloody shiv.
“You get Kurt outta here,” he said. “I got this. If y'all get a chance to see Ron, tell 'im I'm sorry I let the Dogs down.”
As Sarah pulled Kurt off the floor and dragged him along behind her, she saw Bear run toward Little John with his shiv. Little John ducked down, reaching for one of the discarded blades. He retrieved it just in time to drive it deep into Bear's jugular, even as Bear stabbed him in the chest and stomach over and over. They collapsed to the floor together, both sticky and slippery with blood, their bodies locked together in the spasms of death.
Sarah's hand was shaking so hard she could barely get her key card into the slot that unlocked the side door. She and Kurt held onto each other until they made it to her car.
Then they drove off and never looked back as the riot at River Oak raged behind them.