Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

55

"You want to say that again, Atkins?" Jinx growled.

"Your fucking fault! You didn't tell me about Theo! You didn't tell me about Big! Everyone in here is fucking dying and you don't have the basic common decency to at least let us know! I don't even belong here! I didn't do shit! I've never even been to New York City!" I yelled. Jinx took his hand off the back of my neck and grabbed onto my ponytail, then yanked my head backward.

"Shut the hell up. No one wants to hear your sorry ass excuses. You belong here just as much as everyone else," Jinx barked into my ear.

"Are you fucking kidding me! Even if I did steal all of that money, no one is as fucked up as Ray! No one!" I screamed.

"That's it," Jinx boomed. He let go of my handcuff chain and dragged me by my hair into the cafeteria. Everyone's voices immediately stopped. Jinx kicked the back of my knees, sending me plummeting down onto the floor. He jerked back the hand that was holding my hair and suddenly let go, making me fall completely onto the floor. Jinx put one of his boots on my back and applied a lot of pressure, making it hard for me to even breathe.

"I don't care who any of you think you fucking are. None of you deserve any sort of respect. Fucking criminals, every single one of you!" Jinx yelled out into the cafeteria. He took his boot off of my back and then stuck it under my stomach and rolled me onto my side. He then kicked me. Hard. Multiple times.

"Jinx. That's enough. She's smaller than the rest of them, she can't take it like they can," I heard Mandi say from the other side of the cafeteria after five or six kicks to my stomach. He kicked me one more time, harder than the rest, and I watched through my bleary eyes as his boots walked away from me.

I laid on the floor, tears running out of my eyes from the stinging pain radiating through my body. I tasted blood in my mouth and I knew that the skin on my stomach and back had broken from all of the contact and pressure.

I gasped for air, my hands still locked behind my back. I was in too much pain to roll over or try to get up.

"Vanessa!" I heard Sam yell. Several pairs of feet quickly appeared in my field of vision. Sam squatted down and rolled me onto my back, allowing my fading vision to see seven blurry figures and faces staring down at me.

"Shit," Blaze whispered.

"He went too hard," I heard Rock say.

"Sit her up," Red said. Shag and Jake each stuck an arm under my shoulders and dragged me backward toward a wall a bit.

"Dude, her stomach," said Corey. I leaned my head back against the wall. Sitting up had made me insanely dizzy and my vision became spotty.

"Take off her shirt," said Red. Sam bent down and quickly fumbled with the buttons, opening up the shirt. I looked down to see my tank top soaked through with dark blood. I leaned my head back against the wall, too exhausted to hold it up anymore. One of them lifted up my tank top and started dabbing at my stomach.

"Fuck," I hissed, my face twisting with pain as I felt stinging on my torso.

"Wait. Where's Colby?" Jake asked. My eyes popped wide open and I basically jumped onto my feet, struggling to keep my balance from my foggy head and handcuffed wrists. I tried to run out to the hall where I'd been taken from, but someone grabbed the chain of my handcuffs and pulled me back against them.

"No, please, I have to find him. I need to see him, he needs to be okay, this is my fault, I can't—," I said with a tight throat as I started to loudly cry. I learned that it was Blaze who had pulled me back. He wrapped his arms around me, holding my back against him.

"There's nothing you can do, Mom. If you go out there, all you're going to do is piss Jinx off even more," he said calmly.

"No, you don't understand. I said I'd always be there for him. I said always," I replied, my voice dripping with desperation.

"Miss Rae, will ya please call Nelly down here? She's bleedin' real bad and her voice is all slurry," I heard Shag say.

"My voice is fine," I said. It sounded clear in my head, but I saw confusion lining Corey's face when he looked over at me. Yeah, my voice probably wasn't doing fine. Blaze kept me held against him until my body went limp.

"What happened, Nessa?" Sam asked.

"Colby and I were... and then Ray... oh, god. Ray's all kind of fucked up now," I said. Sam squinted while I spoke, probably trying to understand me. I kept trying to explain until Nelly came rushing in.

"Oh, girl!" she exclaimed. "Help her to the infirmary. And get those damn cuffs off of the woman."

Jake and Blaze tried to help me walk, but it was no use. My legs were dead. My hearing became fuzzy, but I heard who I think was Porter and felt my hands get released. Jake picked me up, putting one hand under my knees and the other behind my neck, and carried me out of the cafeteria to the infirmary. I stayed awake just long enough to feel him set me down into one of the beds and used one of my last ounces energy to ask for Colby once more.

"Let's focus on you, okay? Let yourself fall asleep," Nelly said softly, noticing my eyelids flutter.

"You wake me up when he comes in here or you're going to fucking get it," I mumbled before letting my eyes close completely and my body fully relax.