All I could do was lay in my cell and count to beats of my heartbeat, made only more difficult by the small, alternating, heartbeat coming from my stomach.
Hidden in Plain Sight
It was another two days in silence before any of the other women talked. There was quiet banter, about their children and their mates, nothing of substance.
I hadn’t made a noise since the guard zapped me with the electric rod, and I felt the first signs of life in my stomach. I couldn’t afford to be foolish now. Before, I knew that I could fight my way out of the cells with minimal injuries, but the baby in my stomach wouldn’t be so lucky.
Cherry attempted to call out to me multiple times, and when I didn’t answer, she became hysterical. The blonde guard came in and yelled at her to be quiet because she was upsetting the rest of the Lunas.
I could tell I was losing strength; my head felt weak, my heartbeat seemed louder, and I could no longer feel the neglect of my empty stomach. This child needed food and water, or they wouldn’t survive much longer.
A human walked into the cells with a tray of food sometime in the evening. The cells were dimmer, and most of the other women had fallen asleep.
“Hey,” a delicate voice called outside my cell. I didn’t have to turn my head to realize Hazel was back and waiting outside the bars of my cell. “Sloane, look at me.” I didn’t. “Sloane, please.”
Eventually, my head lolled over to the side, and after a moment of trying to focus, my eyes locked in on her bloody and bruised face. I crawled over to her, brushing my hands against the burning metal poles to reach her.
“Sloane, we have to get out of here,” her panicked voice whispered.
“Who did this?” I moaned, trying to reach up to her, but I was only able to lift my hand mere inches off the ground.
“We need to leave.” Her brown eyes flickered to the side. “The guards left for a smoke break three minutes ago, they should be back in about fifteen minutes. They like to have a beer while they smoke.”
“What?” I asked, suddenly confused.
Hazel huffed and fished the keys from her pocket. They jingled around for a moment, I closed my eyes to concentrate, and when I opened them again, my cell door was slid open.
Hazel wrapped her arms around me and hauled me upwards. My body was heavier than she imagined, dense with muscle even though I was slightly malnourished.
“We’re getting out of here,” she said again, more determined. “We can’t stay here.”
“We can’t leave everyone,” I whimpered, looking over at the woman in the cell next to me.
“Let me get you out of here,” she pleaded, trying to tug me down the hallway. I pressed my hand against an adjacent wall and dug my foot into the ground.
“It’s all of us or none of us,” I told her. She let go of my arm momentarily and stared at me, trying to tell how serious I was. Her hand reached back and grabbed the keys again. She began unlocking all the cells, throwing them open in desperate haste.
Many of the women stood up on their own, and the few that were too weak were held up by the stronger ones. Cherry was weak and shaking, but she refused any help we offered her. The last cell door was unlocked, and Danica helped her off the ground.
Hazel turned and unlocked the large door that led to the hallway. I stumbled alone, too weak to carry anyone else on my shoulders. My hand fell ghostly over my stomach, over the small bump that protruded from my sunken in stomach.
Hazel placed a finger over her lips, warning us to be silent, before leading us through a narrow, straight hallway.
The guards stood outside of a large window along the south wall, smoking and finishing their beers. We crouched low, practically crawling on the dirty ground to stay out of the guard’s view. A Luna stumbled and hit the wall. We all paused, bracing ourselves in case the humans heard us.
I closed my eyes, pressing my hand firmer against the quiet thumping in my stomach. Hazel began moving again, and we followed behind her.
Soon, there was a large door at the end of the hallway to the right. Two guards stood watch, one male, one female. Hazel turned to us and asked if there was anything we could do to get around them.
Danica snorted quietly and nudged the woman to her left, another Luna who was stronger and more stable, who smiled widely. Danica snuck past us slowly with the other Luna and peeked around the corner. They silently shifted into two fairly large wolves, who shook their coats out and stretched their limbs.
Danica’s wolf, a brown and gray mix, stalked out first. The other Luna, a light gray and white wolf followed her steps. The guards looked unperturbed as they carried on their casual conversation, laughing about some arbitrary subject.
The Lunas were halfway down the hallway before the guards noticed them. The humans raised their guns and aimed, but before they could line up a clear shot, Danica and the other Luna pounced. There was a small sound of something ripping before they growled quietly, informing us that the hallway was cleared.
“If any of you are strong enough to shift, do it now,” Cherry hissed, cracking her back slightly as she turned.
Seven of the Lunas shifted, three were too weak to walk on their own, and three others stayed in their human form to help the weaker Lunas walk. Cherry narrowed her bright eyes at me, looking me over head to toe.
“You can walk,” she mentioned, hinting to my human state.
“I can’t shift,” I whispered.
“You ‘can’t?’” she asked.
“I can’t shift, Cherry,” I enunciated, eyes drifting down to
