The loud and annoying but now entirely too familiar wake up bell rang out through the prison hallways at 7:15 on the Saturday morning.

Elizabeth groaned in weariness from having hardly slept all the night before and rolled over onto her stomach. She shoved the pillow over the back of her head to block out the bright lights as they one by one flickered to life overhead. Elizabeth went back to wishing she had someone in the cell next to her or even somewhat close by to talk to.

"It's the wake up bell Oldin, not the 'go back to sleep' bell."

With yet another groan (this one however being quickly stifled) Elizabeth took the pillow off the back of her head and squinted her pretty green eyes up through the thick metal bars that continuously reminded her of exactly where she was and why. When her blurry vision finally came into focus the dark angel muttered, "I'm awake Warden."

"Good. You know the drill then Oldin, get up and clean your cell." McNeill was not in any sort of good mood this morning and was not going to be at all consoled.

Elizabeth sat up in the small bed pulling one of her long (and now slightly hairy) exposed legs up to her chest, the other being comfortably tucked underneath her body as she sat on the bed. "Whatever you say Warden," she replied with sarcasm thickly lining her soft and sultry voice. Elizabeth used her fingertips to rub the fatigue from her eyelids.

Without another word the Warden briskly walked off from Elizabeth's cell, his quick steps echoing loudly through the corridor. Without a second thought Elizabeth fell back onto the small and very uncomfortable cot that she now called a bed and rested her weary body for a few more minutes.

As the inmates sat in the dining hall and ate their very poor excuses for 'breakfast' the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a blunt and rusty knife. It was painfully obvious to every single one of them that Warden McNeill was in a serious mood by the restless way he was walking in and out of the room and the icy cold glare that was set like concrete upon his face. Every time he walked back in he would quickly shoot a few flaming daggers around the room before returning his piercing gaze to Elizabeth with his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

"What's he doing?" Elizabeth quietly asked Sutton who was sitting next to her as McNeill restlessly scratched the prickly stubble on his prominent chin and stormed off out of the room once again.

"Who?" Sutton replied with a mouth full of chewy oatmeal.

"McNeill, he just keeps walking in and out and looking around the room. What's his problem today?" Elizabeth took one last bite of her stale dry toast and after a few hard chews managed to choke the last of it down.

"You mean other than being a violent and arrogant bastard? I can't tell you anything more than that Lizzy. But knowing what he's like, it's definitely not a good thing that he's so agitated. I can guarantee you that someone's going to wear the hard end of it before tomorrow. Don't you go and piss him off again now will you Oldin."

"Do not call me 'Lizzy' ever again Sutton," Elizabeth replied with a glare and a pang of worry gripping tightly at her stomach. Wanting to quickly change the conversation from the angry Warden the dark angel asked, "so what are you doing for recreation time?"

"Going outside to get some sunlight on my white little body." Sutton enjoyed joking about the deep brown colour of his skin and how being locked up on the rock was turning him into a 'white man.' "Why?"

"No nothing, I'm heading off to the library for a bit. I feel like reading something other than the damn rulebook. You want to meet up in the recreation yard afterwards and have a game of cards? I think I could use some sunlight too, however I think I've got you covered on whiteness."

"Sure thing," Sutton replied nodding his head with a smile and still munching away on the chewy oatmeal. "It's a date."

"No." Elizabeth shook her head and looked back down at the steel table as the Warden once again walked back into the room shooting the ice-cold daggers around at anyone who dared to look back at him. "It's certainly not a 'date'."

After breakfast was main bath line. Elizabeth thanked all the gods that she knew about that. She cleverly placed herself towards the end of the line for the day and only had to shower with 4 other inmates.

The showers were set up as more of a communal trough with several shower heads. Elizabeth casually stripped down to nothing, placing her dirty clothes in the basket provided and walked over to the shower, pulling on the chain to release the water. After five weeks of showering in front of officers in her previous jail, bathing completely naked in front of men didn't bother Elizabeth at all anymore.

"Hey Oldin," one of the men called out as they intently watched the pretty woman shower with large toothy grins on their faces.

"What?" Elizabeth spat with truly venomous intentions as she lathered her body with the grainy soap, her back turned to them.

"Don't drop the soap now will you."

All four men started laughing at the off colour joke, wanting to show that they were indeed the macho-men they thought they were and not the prison wives that they actually were.

"Oh get over yourself Sam, please, for the sanctity of Christ will you just take a look in the mirror and stop pretending you're something you're not. All four of you are locked away in here for theft, do you think they would really make me shower with a rapist? You men wouldn't even know what to do with a woman like me if you had the chance."

None of the men replied, the other three turned away from looking at Elizabeth and shyly muttered between themselves.

"Touché Oldin," the young and jittery man named Sam replied in defeat as he nodded his head trying not to look too conquered by the woman, his cheeks however giving him away as he blushed a bright shade of pink.

The three guards that were supervising the morning shower line laughed quietly to each other as all the four young men shied away from the small and incredibly skinny Elizabeth as she spat her severely venomous words at them.

Little conversation erupted between the four men and Elizabeth after her comment to them as they continued to shower together.

"I always thought it was the women who took long showers," one of the other men mentioned more to the men he was showering with than anyone else as Elizabeth yanked hard on the chain once again and the luke warm water pouring from the shower head stopped running.

"Not in my house," the dark angel replied glaring bitterly at the red haired man as she wiped excess water off her face and neck with her hands. Elizabeth knew more than anything that if she was going to survive the time that she would be locked away in this prison, she would have to fight rough and that meant with everyone that dared to try her strength. This was her house now, she knew she had to own it, or she would be owned.

Elizabeth walked over to the small wooden bench beside the showers and picked up the thin white towel waiting for her. She thoroughly dried herself off before going into the clothing room with the small towel only just wrapping around her body and picked up some clean clothes.

"Elizabeth." It was the tall and skinny looking woman with her dirty blonde hair still tied back in a loose bun who had asked her about her broken hand on the morning she had worked in clothing that had called out her name. "We haven't seen you around here lately, we were all a bit worried that something might have happened to you, again I mean. McNeill hasn't been around here bothering us lately so we were all worried that he might have had something else to keep him busy."

"Oh no," Elizabeth replied quickly. "I just got a transfer to yard duties instead, I always did like a bit of hard labour to fill my days out, just another one of the boys as they call me." Elizabeth tried to smile casually but just sort of grimaced instead under the scrutinizing glances of the workers in the clothing department.

"Oh," the woman nodded her skinny head and handed Elizabeth some clothes. "These should fit well enough, just don't go and get on the bad side of Mr. McNeill again. I hear he's in a rather bad mood again today."

"Thanks, I don't plan to get him angry again, but I don't seem to have to do anything but breathe around here and that's it. I'm right in the deep end with no rope to pull me out." Elizabeth took the clothes with a slight smile at the strange woman and walked out of the room and over to the change tables again to get dressed.

"Hey Oldin," Sam again called out to her, a grin of amusement spread childishly across his face. "What do you call a kid with no arms and no legs that's hiding in the bushes?"

"Tell me," Elizabeth called back as she pulled on her underpants that were indeed a rather good fit.

"Russell."

Elizabeth would have laughed somewhat lightheartedly at the bad joke except for the fact that the person that answered wasn't the person that had originally asked. Daggers instantly stabbed at the dark angels body as she heard the voice dripping with malice ringing out in her ears, followed by the far too familiar footsteps that could not be mistaken for any other.

"Very good Warden," Sam called back with a hint of what could have almost been mistaken as glee shining through in his squeaky voice.

"It's an old joke." With a sly smile McNeill walked over to Elizabeth who was quickly trying to get dressed before he could sneak up behind her, but she only managed to get her prison issue cotton pants on before the Warden's ominously echoing footsteps grew closer.

"Even I've heard that one," one of the other men still showering muttered back to Sam.

Elizabeth was looking over to the clothing room with fear and panic filling her eyes and threatening to pour forth from her body. The tall and skinny woman who handed her the clothes was looking out the door just slightly with a worried look on her face as she watched the Warden approach Elizabeth like a lion stalking its prey.

The dark angel felt McNeill's cold fingertips brush across her back and held back a groan of fear and disgust. Elizabeth quickly picked up her shirt and held it over her chest to cover her small breasts.

The Warden leant over her back and sniffed Elizabeth's neck; his clothed body was pressed against Elizabeth's skin. His hands were then on her body as though he could not stop himself and tightly holding her hips, his strong fingertips digging deep into her bones.

Elizabeth couldn't move away from the man, her feet kept her glued to the spot, and as hard as she tried Elizabeth couldn't stop the goose bumps from running over her body.

McNeill's right arm snaked tightly around Elizabeth's bony body as his lips touched the still warm and soft skin on her small shoulder. The dark angel felt the cold palm of the Warden's hand run down the top of her undone pants to her underwear.

Biting down hard on her still bruised bottom lip Elizabeth held back a great river of glistening tears that were threatening to burst forth. It took every ounce of willpower she had inside her not to scream her lungs out at the Warden.

The tall woman with the dirty blonde hair in the clothing department shook her head indignantly and walked back into the room, not wanting to become a witness to what she knew was about to happen.

"Warden," Elizabeth whispered not wanting the four other inmates and the three guards in the room to hear what was happening if they didn't already know. "Warden please, this is inappropriate."

McNeill immediately snapped, with the arm that was wound around the dark angel's skinny body he flung Elizabeth around in one single movement and threw her down onto the tabletop, his hand moved up and clenched down on her still painful jaw. The Warden watched his newest inmate cringe as her head smashed down hard on the tabletop.

"Excuse me?" he screamed at her, nothing but deep rage filled his voice. It was terrifying. "Inappropriate? Who the hell do you think you are talking to Oldin?"

"Sorry sir," Elizabeth managed to whisper back to him as she still tried to hold her shirt up to her chest. "I just happen to believe this is not the time or quite frankly the place."

"Well let me tell you something Oldin," the Warden leant in closer to her as he spat the ice-cold words filled with venom and tightened his grasp that was dangerously close to Elizabeth's throat. "You don't get to decide either the time or the place. I should bend you right over this table and have my way with you while I hold you down. Witnesses be damned."

Warden McNeill leant back for a moment and examined the dark angels' body as he held her down on the table. It seemed as though he was almost admiring the bruises and lacerations he had caused previously that were still healing. "All the same Oldin, tell me then, what do you believe is the 'appropriate' time and place? Maybe I will come by and find you then, maybe some time when no one can hear you scream?"

Elizabeth took as deep a breath as she could and swallowed hard as she tried to hide the fear that she knew was spilling forth from her bright green eyes as the Warden held her down on the table with nothing more than his arm. "Somewhere private," she said trying not to stutter or choke and show the true fear she was harboring. "At a time when we don't have to be anywhere else, if you must know."

McNeill lent in so that their faces were only centimeters apart and tightened the grip of his fingers once again as he watched Elizabeth's face start to turn a light shade of pink. "You're grating on my nerves Oldin." The whisper was full of malice and the Warden's blue-gray eyes burned with an anger that desperately needed to be released.

Elizabeth choked as she tried frantically to breathe under his grasp before the Warden let her throat go but didn't back off at all. "Sorry Warden," Elizabeth whispered through deep breaths. "But that's just what I believe a civilized man will do." She was not yet ready to give in to this man, no matter how much pain she knew she would end up in.

"So now I'm not 'civilized' Oldin?" the Warden leant in even closer and spat the words onto Elizabeth's lips.

"That's not what I said sir," the dark angel replied in a raspy and hoarse whisper as she glared up at him in defiance. Somewhere in the back of her mind Elizabeth considered leaning forward just that tiny little bit and biting down hard on his bottom lip but then thought better of it, knowing exactly where it would lead her, or perhaps he would enjoy it. Elizabeth didn't know which one would be worse.

"But you implied it Oldin, did you not?"

"No sir, that's not what I implied at all, what I implied is that a civilized man would choose a private setting to do something like that."

The Warden looked down at Elizabeth with a dangerous smile full of malice and that intense anger that was still spilling forth from his steely eyes. "You're on your last warning Oldin, get in my bad books again and I swear to the good Lord in heaven you'll be praying that you were never born." With those final and so deadly words the Warden stepped away from Elizabeth, turned around and walked out. His footsteps echoed through the shower room and the guards quickly nodded at him on his way past.

Elizabeth slightly sat up on the table and watched the Warden leave before collapsing back onto the tabletop and taking deep breaths, her shirt still being held tightly to her bare chest.

"Way to go Oldin," Sam called out in a heroic voice from the showers that were still running.

"You saw that?" Elizabeth asked sitting up and seeing that all four of the inmates and even the guards were looking at her with slightly shocked, and possibly even slightly awed, expressions on all their faces.

"Every last detail." Remorse shone through in his voice as all four of them pulled the chains and stopped their showers within seconds of each other before heading to their towels.

"Well that makes me feel a whole lot better," Elizabeth quietly whispered to herself in sarcasm as she pulled her shirt over her head and tucked it into her pants, tightening the belt around her hips and making sure the number was in the center of her back.

When absolutely sure the Warden was gone the tall and skinny lady from the clothing department came over and stood beside Elizabeth who sat herself down on the table once again, still trying to catch her breath and will away the pain. The back of her head was throbbing and her throat was burning from constriction. "Are you okay?"

Elizabeth shook no her head in disbelief at what McNeill had just put her through in front of seven other men but instead answered, "yeah, can't you tell, I'm just absolutely fantastic. Looks like I'll be the one that Mr. McNeill goes and takes this bad mood of his out on today, really shouldn't have surprised me that much though."

"I thought he was going to hit you there and then," the skinny woman's eyes were wide with shock and fear from what she had just witnessed. "I told you not to get in his bad books again, you haven't even been here a week and you seem to be the only one he's interested in now."

"Oh no, you said not to get on his bad side again, but it's all relative as they say. Better just be a good girl then right?" Elizabeth stood up and checked herself in the mirror, her bruises shone like beacons of darkness, territory marks of her new owner. Elizabeth looked deep into her own eyes in the mirror, steeled herself for facing McNeill the rest of the day before heading off for her leisure time.

"Just be careful," the tall and skinny lady called after her, concern deep within her voice.

Elizabeth rubbed her throat and nodded her head as she made her way to the stairs and called back to the woman, "I'll try." Not at all believing that there was going to be anything she could do if McNeill did decide he was going to take his anger out on her once again.