Chapter 4: Legion Leader

Alicia fell silent, turning Catherine’s words over in her mind. She studied her cellmate’s face, then asked, “Is it possible to leave this place?”

Catherine’s lips curled into a faint smile. “If you wish it, there’s always a way out.”

Determination sharpened Alicia’s gaze. “How?”

Instead of answering, Catherine returned to her thin mattress and lay back. “We just have to wait,” she said lazily.

Alicia didn’t press her. She stared at the photograph of her husband, Ethan, and the glossy pre-wedding magazine of him with Emily as both curled and blackened in the flames, until they crumbled to ash. Her fists tightened. Her eyes went cold, and anger flooded her chest.

“Ethan,” she whispered, voice trembling with fury, “you’ll regret betraying me—choosing her over me.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she wept in silence.

Days slid by, empty and heavy. Aside from meals and the slow walk back to the cell, nothing changed. Catherine kept urging her to let Ethan go, but the ache refused to loosen.

Then, one night, the lights in the all-female prison snapped off at once, plunging the block into darkness. Alicia, deep in sleep, heard a breath against her ear and a whisper: “Wake up, Alicia. It’s time.”

Her eyes flew open. Catherine’s face hovered inches from hers. Alicia gasped, but Catherine’s palm covered her mouth in an instant.

“Ssshhh,” Catherine breathed. “Get up. It’s time to leave.”

Catherine eased back into the darkness. Alicia rose with her, and together they slipped out of the cell, barefoot and silent. Only Catherine knew when the gate would be unlatched. They moved down the corridors, shadows gliding along concrete, until Catherine stopped and set her fingers against a blank stretch of wall. She tapped—once, twice, three times.

A seam appeared. A slab gave way.

She crawled in first. Alicia followed. For more than twenty minutes they inched through the narrow tunnel, knees scraping earth, breath echoing in the tight space, until at last a wash of moonlight opened ahead.

A boat waited on the water.

In that pale glow, fragments of memories surged back to Alicia: Ethan’s low voice telling her to enter the boat; the crisp bite of the apple the man Ethan asked her to follow pressed into her hand; the sudden spin of the world; and then the ring of masked guards when she woke.

“Jump, Alicia!” Catherine’s voice cut through the memory.

Alicia shook herself free, dropped into the skiff, and the driver yanked the cord. The engine snarled to life.

Behind them, the prison lit up all at once.

“Prisoners have escaped!” someone bellowed, and then the compound erupted—boots pounding, alarms howling, orders hurled into the night.

In the boat, Catherine cracked open a case and began loading a gun. She glanced at Alicia. “You know how to shoot?”

Alicia’s face had gone pale. She shook her head.

“Weak ass,” Catherine said, almost laughing. She looked back at the all-female prison and sneered. “They’ll send those bastards after us. I’ll make sure they eat my bullets. Hold on tight—it won’t be easy getting out of this water.”

Alicia’s lips trembled, but she managed, “I’m not scared,” her voice unsteady.

Catherine’s mouth curled. She didn’t believe it for a second. “Just make sure you stay alive.”

The roar of engines closed in behind them. A voice cracked across the water: “They’re over there!”

Catherine didn’t flinch. She leaned over the gunwale and opened fire.

“Come on then, motherfuckers—come catch your mama!” she shouted, rounds snapping across the waves as their pursuers answered with their own.

Alicia folded in on herself, palms clamped over her ears, head bowed, every muscle shivering with terror. Her eyes screwed shut; she was very, very scared.

The speedboat driver kept the throttle pinned, skimming the chop as more boats converged. Catherine twisted, grabbed Alicia’s shoulder, and shouted over the chaos, “Down! Lie down!”

Alicia curled into the hull, trembling. Catherine kept firing—until she suddenly groaned, the gun clattering from her hand. She slumped back, blood slicking her arm, and eased down beside Alicia.

“Hey,” she rasped, lips pale, eyes bright with pain, “you scared?”

Alicia’s eyes flew open. Catherine lay in a widening pool of blood. A strangled scream ripped out of her. “Arrrgh!”

Catherine gave a breathless chuckle and fumbled at her hair. With effort, she pulled free a ring, her blood-drained face blanching even further as she pressed it into Alicia’s shaking hands. “A psycho buddy gave me this in prison,” she said, voice breaking. “Said it’d be useful when I got out of that shithole. Wear it.”

It took Alicia three tries to force the ring onto her finger. A bullet cracked the air and punched into the driver’s back. He spat blood and toppled over the controls. The boat lurched; waves slammed the hull.

Catherine caught Alicia’s hand, clutching with the last of her strength. “Promise me,” she whispered. “You’re going to change my dad’s mind. Make him see everything that old hag told him was a lie. Promise.”

Tears streamed hot down Alicia’s cheeks. “I promise,” she choked.

“And don’t forget to pay back that big fool of mine,” Catherine added, a ghost of mischief crossing her face. “He is…”

Her heavy eyelids slid shut. The breath left her in a long, thin sigh.

“Cathy!” Alicia cried, panic cracking her voice.

Before she could move, a heaving swell flipped the boat. Cold water swallowed her. She fought to swim, but her limbs turned to stone. She gulped mouthful after mouthful of salt until the fight drained away and everything went dark.

Dawn peeled the night from the sea. The tide carried Alicia’s body to shore, and there, beside the still form of Catherine, the sun caught on the ring. It flashed—just once.

Alicia gasped.

Her eyes flew open, bulging; water poured from her mouth as she convulsed into life. She dragged herself upright, shock blazing through her. She touched her chest, her throat, stared at her wet palms. She turned in a daze, breathing hard, disbelief knotting her features.

From the treeline, figures emerged—scores, then hundreds, then thousands. Robed, hooded, silent until they weren’t. As one, they dropped to their knees, voices rising in a single thunder that shook the air.

“Welcome home, Legion Leader!”