Page 129 of Death is Familiar

Immediately, the familiar sear of blinding pain took root, carving a path through each and every one of my nerve endings. Surrounded by a world of white, a ringing in my ears, I willed my fingers to do as they were told.

“Two! Two, stop this right now!”

Twisting the bolts at the back of my collar, I needed to get it off. It was my chance. I could do this. I needed to do this. I’d loosened them for weeks. This was the last hoorah. There wasn’t another option.

FUUUUUUCCCCKKKK. It sucked. So much.

All I could think of was twisting my fumbling fingers over the bolts. Fingers that only wanted to seize and contract.

“Delilah! This is too much! Stop!”

My throat coarse and angry, someone was screaming. It was probably me.

Tears hot and wet streamed down my cheeks. Pain burst across both my knees. But it was welcome compared to the sheer agony that rattled my teeth and gripped every muscle.

Just one more⁠—

It clanked off.

I heaved. Frustration, anger, relief. I felt it all, everywhere, all at once.

Somehow, shaking with the adrenaline I’d summoned, I’d ended up on my hands and knees. Grit pressed into my palms, scraped my legs.

Never again.

Zeroing in on the collar before me, it was a crude piece of work. All metal, wire, and silicone. Until now, I hadn’t been able to see it, I’d only felt its unwelcome presence on my neck. What they’d subjected me to was inhumane.

Never. Again.

“Breathe. Breathe, Delilah, breathe.” White was in my cell, less than a foot away. Collar remote in hand, likely trying and failing to turn off the current manually.

He thought he’d come to my rescue…but he had no idea he’d fallen into my trap.

Still catching my breath, I grabbed him by the ankles and pulled.

“Oh my god!” Three screamed as White came crashing down. “Two! What are you doing?!”

I don’t remember what I did, or how I got there, but suddenly I was straddling Warden White’s chest, with the shock collar firmly clamped around his neck. The remote he’d foolishly brought in with him held high above my head.

White was still processing, as I gulped and choked in air, staggering to my feet.

“And the third thing, the third thing, I learned was that the shock collar really fucking sucks.” I was swaying. Maybe a little light headed. Okay, a lot light headed. “But it was the only way out.”

“What are you doing?” The woman-child, equal parts appalled and awed, gripped the bars between our cages.

I stuck out my hand to Warden White. “Keys.”

Wide-eyed, full of dread, he croaked, “What have you done?”

“Drop them. Now.”

His focus drifted over my shoulder to the corner with the flickering light and surveillance camera.

“You can either pretend to get shocked or I will shock you.” I held up the remote. “So, drop them.”

Warden White understood the assignment. Dropping the keys, he clasped at his neck as he rolled onto his side, to face away from the camera. “I hope you know what you’re doing. Because whatever this is, you’re making it ten times worse for yourself when the Seal gets you back.”

Quick stepping around White, I scooped up the keys, then lifted the corner of my mattress to pull out the hospital gown I stocked with unwrapped granola bars. Slinging the bundle over my shoulder, I replied, “If I were you, I’d be more concerned with when Madame’s next visit is scheduled.”