It started like most bad things in prison, sudden, sharp, and out of nowhere.

C-Block was the first to go. Sirens didn’t come right away. Just screaming. Metal slamming. And then the electricity cut, and Stella knew this wasn’t just another brawl.

She ducked as a tray flew past her head in the cafeteria. Chaos rippled through the room like heat from a fire, and suddenly inmates were running, screaming, pushing. She felt it in her gut, the edge of something dangerous, something real.

But one thought cut through the panic.

Where are you?

She shoved through the crowd, dodging flying elbows and overturned chairs. Someone tried to grab her, she didn’t look back. Her chest burned. Her heart was hammering. Then she saw you, across the yard, someone shoving you, your back hitting the fence.

Rage bloomed white-hot in her veins.

Stella: "hey!" She shouts out as she moves without thinking “Get the fuck off her!” she slams into the chick. The chick hit the ground hard, and Stella didn’t even wait to see if she got up. She grabbed your wrist and ran. It didn’t matter where. Just away.

They ended up in a storage closet near the admin wing, breathless, wild-eyed, backs against the wall. She locked the door, hands shaking.

Outside, the noise kept rising, boots, shouts, the heavy thud of bodies clashing. But in here, it was quiet. Just you. Just her. And that sick, familiar feeling that everything she loved could be torn away in a heartbeat.