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“Thank you. I don't know what he would have done to me if you hadn’t…” I trailed off as I looked up at Evander, drawing in a shuddering breath.
Tears prickled the backs of my eyes as the shock of what had just happened washed over me but I bit my lip and kept it together. I was breathing heavily and I tried to focus on slowing each breath down. In through my nose and out though my mouth.
Evander reached towards me as if he was thinking of touching my shoulder then seemed to think better of it and dropped his hand.
“Don't mention it,” he said a little awkwardly. “Is he okay?" Evander pointed at Taylor.
I leaned over him, brushing his floppy hair out of his eyes and drawing a groan from his lips. He was still unconscious but his breathing was steady.
“I think so." My hands wouldn't stop trembling so I curled them into fists by my sides. "Laurie warned me to keep away from Grey, but I didn't think he’d come looking for me."
"How did he get out of solitary? Why weren't the Wardens watching him more closely?" Evander's cheeks flushed and turned the same colour as his hair as anger swelled within him. "I bet if we tried to go wandering the corridors at night we'd be stopped before we even left the dorm."
“Maybe he killed the Warden on watch?" I suggested.
“Maybe." He didn't seem convinced but my brain was too foggy to think about it anymore.
“Evander, right?" I asked, offering him my hand. He paused and then took it, his grip stronger than I’d expected.
"People call me Evan," he replied.
"I'm Maya-" I started but a smile pulled at his lips.
"I know," he said, still holding onto my hand. He dropped it suddenly as Taylor's eyelids fluttered open.
Taylor groaned, lifting a hand to his head where a swelling had appeared on his temple.
"I'm here, it's over." I squeezed his other hand reassuringly.
"What happened?" he mumbled.
"Evan saved us," I said. Taylor turned to look at Evan who dropped his gaze to the floor.
"Thanks," Taylor said, pushing himself up and scooting along the bed to make room so that we could all sit down. He raised a hand to his face where Grey had punched him, wincing slightly as he touched the bruise that was starting to appear.
"No problem." Evan perched on the edge of the bed next to me.
We sat in silence for several minutes. I could feel the blood still trickling through my hair and I was fairly sure I had a black eye coming on.
As my heart stopped racing, a hundred little hurts presented themselves to me. I looked down at my fingernails. They were shredded and crusted with blood.
My knees were visible through tears in my sweatpants. They were red and burnt from being dragged across the hard floor as were my elbows and at some point I must have bitten my tongue. On top of all that, my head had been smacked so many times I had trouble distinguishing the lumps from the unharmed patches.
I really needed some kind of medical attention but I wasn't about to let those walls down any time soon.
"Warden entrance imminent," the smooth voice broke the tension.
The walls slid down and Laurie stood outside with Unibrow, Hook-nose and another Warden I didn't recognise.
“What the hell happened?" she gasped.
"Grey," I replied grimly.
They didn't let Grey train with us any more after that. Laurie told me he’d be sent out into the trials early. She said that lifers were supposed to be locked up at night but the door to his cell had been found open and none of the Wardens seemed to know how it had happened.
Laurie wouldn't say it, but I could tell she suspected he'd been let out. She confided in me that a few Wardens enjoyed the violence their job exposed them to and things like this had happened before once or twice.
The idea of one of the people who were supposed to be protecting us being involved like that only made me more concerned about our time here. And more determined to learn how to defend myself. If I couldn’t rely on the Wardens to do their jobs then I needed to be ready if anything like that happened again.
