Poe

Chapter Twenty-Four

Alex followed Rachel into Building One, and to a cell on the first floor.

The only one inside was Frida, lying on a lower bunk.

Someone had beaten the hell out of her. Her face was bruised and bloody, her arms cut and scraped. Her dirty dress was ripped in several places, one across her belly exposing a welt at least two inches long.

Alex dropped to her knees next to the bed and said, “What the hell happened?”

Rachel, who stood in the doorway, held her hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t here. I just found her lying right outside the cell.”

“You didn’t see anything?”

Rachel said, “It happened before I got here, okay?”

Frida’s eyes were closed, her teeth clenched in pain.

Alex softened. “Frida? Frida, can you hear me?”

A low, almost imperceptible moan escaped the girl’s lips.

“I couldn’t get her to talk, either,” Rachel said.

Alex looked back at her. “Why didn’t you take her to the infirmary?”

“I thought moving her onto the bed was already taking a chance,” Rachel said.

“You could have at least gotten a guard.”

She started backing out of the cell. “Look, I didn’t want to get involved, all right? I knew she was your friend, so I went looking for you.”

“Well, get a guard now.”

“I’ve already done my job. This is your deal, not mine.”

With that, she left.

“Goddammit,” Alex said under her breath.

Running her fingers lightly over Frida’s skin, she summoned up her combat training and checked for obvious broken bones. Everything seemed to be in place, but who knew what kind of internal damage there was?

The sooner Frida received medical attention, the better.

“Frida, open your eyes.”

The girl moaned again.

“Come on,” Alex said. “Open your eyes.”

A slit appeared across Frida’s left eye as the lids parted. Her right, already swelling, wasn’t going to open at all.

Alex touched the girl’s forehead. “I’m gonna help you up, all right?”

Considering her own residual pain, she thought that might be easier said than done. But she had to try. Frida’s face, however, became tinged with fear, and she moaned again.

“You need help,” Alex insisted. “I’ve gotta get you to the doctor.”

Gingerly, she slipped an arm under the girl’s shoulder and another under her legs. Alex’s forearm screamed in agony as she lifted Frida off the mattress, and hoisted her out of the bed. Grunting, Alex swiveled one of Frida’s legs up so that her foot was flat on the ground, then did the same with the other.

A loud groan flew out of Frida’s mouth as Alex stood all the way up.

“Hang in there. The hard part’s done.”

The size of the cell doorway forced Alex to shuffle sideways to pass through without banging Frida against the bars. Once she was in the common area, she moved as quickly as she could toward the exit.

There were dozens of prisoners right outside the entrance to Building One, milling around, bullshitting, and trying to stay out of the sun. When Alex made it outside with Frida, they all turned to look, their conversations dying mid-sentence.

One inmate moved in closer, trying to see who it was Alex was carrying.

“Out of the way!” Alex shouted as several more women moved into her path. “Move! Move!”

Most of them stepped to the side, largely because they had no choice the way Alex was moving, but the first inmate stood her ground.

“Who that?” she said, nodding at Frida.

“None of your goddamn business. Now get out of the way!”

Instead of moving, the woman scowled, narrowing her eyes.

Alex had no time to deal with this shit. She turned as if she was going to walk back the way she’d come, then suddenly kicked backward, ramming her right heel into the woman’s stomach.

There was a sudden exhalation of breath and a thunderous groan. As Alex turned back around, the woman dropped to her knees, clutching her abdomen.

Alex moved around her without further incident and continued toward the administration building.

The guards finally showed up when she was about three quarters of the way across the yard. They shouted at her, probably to get her to stop, but she kept moving. It took two of them grabbing her by the shoulders to finally stop her.

The guard who had taken Alex to her cell when she’d first arrived pointed at Frida, and said, “You do?”

“Do you think I’d be trying to get her help if I did?”

It was clear she had far exceeded his ability to understand.

“Help,” she said. “My friend needs help. Doctor!”

That seemed to do the trick. Two of the guards took Frida from Alex and hurried toward the entrance to the admin building. The two who had been holding Alex hadn’t let go, however, and started shouting questions at her.

She rolled her eyes and looked up at the sky. “How many goddamn times do I have to say this? I don’t understand you.”

The employment exam for this shit box had to be a cinch.

After throwing a few more unintelligible phrases at her, they took her into the administration building and to a windowless room on the first floor. There were three chairs along the wall opposite the door, all bolted to the floor. A guard shoved her into one and they left her alone.

Twenty minutes passed before the door opened again. While it was no big shock that one of her new visitors was the warden, the presence of Dr. Teterya surprised her.

The warden spoke first, then Teterya said, “We would like to know what happened to girl.”

“What does it look like? Someone beat her up.”

Teterya looked uncomfortable as he translated this for the warden. Apparently the doctor was the best English speaker in the prison at the moment.

The warden asked another question.

“You did not do this to her?”

Alex shook her head in disbelief. “What is wrong with you people? Why would I be trying to get her help if I was the one who hurt her?”

The questions continued for several more minutes. Then Teterya said, “We would like to examine you to make sure what you say is true.”

“Have at it,” Alex told him.

The warden looked on as the doctor checked her face and hands. While she’d had more than her share of fights over the last couple days, none of her injuries equaled what had been done to Frida.

When Teterya got to her arms, the warden pointed at the gauze bandage that now had a bit of blood seeping through. He said something and the doctor replied, most likely explaining to the man that the injury was a day old and had nothing to do with Frida.

It took a while before the warden looked fully satisfied. Once that happened, he was quick to leave.

“I will send nurse to bandage arm again,” Teterya said, keeping his voice formal even though they were alone.

“So you all believe me now?”

“You were being what they call Good Samaritan, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“Then okay. Is no problem.”

He started to leave.

“The girl?” Alex asked. “Will she be all right?”

He stopped at the door. “She hurt very bad, but will be okay in few days.” He hesitated before adding, “Night doctor watch her tonight, and I check her again when I come in tomorrow morning.”

Message received. “Thank you.”

“Tomorrow I send for you midday. Want to check your arm again.”

Alex kept her face passive, but inside she cringed. The comment had been unnecessary, especially since it had come out more wooden than she would have liked. Hopefully, if anyone was listening in, their English wasn’t good enough to pick it up.

“Whatever you say,” she told him. “You’re the doc.”

As soon as her bandage had been changed — not by Irina, but another nurse — Alex was taken back outside, where the sun had begun to dip.

Unfortunately, the temperature hadn’t. She was wiping sweat from her brow before she was even halfway back to the cellblocks.

As she walked, she couldn’t help but notice that whenever she neared a group of other prisoners, several would glance at her as if they could see right through her false identity, and knew she was not who she claimed to be.

Way to keep your head down, Alex.