There’s a noise

A loud “boom” from.... an explosion? suddenly, and rather violently, shook the floor beneath John’s feet. At least he assumed it was an explosion.. With the patronizer attached to his neck, John was in no way able to react. He could smell acrid smoke from something burning and began to panic. Another blast hit hard, knocking out the power and kicking on the emergency lights. The dust and smoke with the dim lighting made the prison take on an eerie dystopian setting. A third, louder explosion rocked the prison. John was terrified of what was happening and would have fled if he had been able to move.

He was frantically worried about why there were no shouts, no screams. And then he realized that the inmates were probably all locked in place like he and Holly were, unable to react to the explosions.

“C’mon! Move! Get those cells open!” A woman’s voice rang with authority. John head heavy footsteps and running. Cell doors were slammed open. He heard curses and shouts of pain. The footsteps came closer to his cell.

The cell door banged open and several armed women entered. “This is going to hurt. But we have to move quickly. Sorry!” A woman in tactical gear reached behind John’s head and ripped off the patronizer. Pain flooded John’s senses and he collapsed, gasping for air. Holly had the same reaction, crying out in pain as hers was removed. The armed woman ran out of the cell, presumably to free more inmates.

Several women came into the cell, including Lisa. John and Holly were helped to their feet and quickly regained their senses while being pulled out into the main cellblock. It was a chaotic mess of dust and small fires with a large opening torn through several walls of the prison. It was the first time John had seen the outdoors in... he had no idea how long he had been in the prison. It was night out, apparently a warm spring evening. Women were everywhere, out of their cells, standing dazed. Shrieks of pain could be heard as patronizers were removed. It was chaos, and John wasn’t sure what to do.

The commanding voice rang out again. snapping John out of his entrancement if seeing the outdoors. John realized it was one of Karen’s friends he had met once or twice through his sister.

“Ladies, were are the Lesbian Liberation Front and are rescuing you from the prison!” The woman said, her voice now amplified by a bullhorn. “No longer will you be **** to be love interests for men! You will help us fight for our freedoms! Head to the opening we have made in the wall! Once outside, you will be given a change of clothing so that you will not stand out.

“You need to head south across the border as quickly as you can. Head to the town of Nuevo Laredo. There is a cantina there, The Cadillac Bar. Find it. Ask for Ramon. Tell him you are a special girl and he will help you. If we band together, we can defeat this oppressive regime! Once there, we will learn how to do just that!

“We cannot get you to the border. And we cannot all go together. It is too risky. If they catch one of us, they catch all of us! It is up to you to get across the border to safety. Scattering outside will make it harder for the authorities to follow all of you. Now quickly, go! And good luck!”

The inmates realized that they were mostly free. Many women began to scramble out of the prison as an alarm began to blare. Some women, John guessed they were much further along in their conversion, stood placidly, as if unsure what to do. John and his friends were hauled by a group of inmates through the opening, each was handed a an inexpensive gauzy dress. John, Holly, and Lisa quickly found Stacy, Anna, and Amanda in the throng of women fleeing.

“We have to move!” Lisa said struggling out of her nightie and slipping the dress over her head. “This place will be crawling with cops and worse soon!” She looked incredibly sexy to John in the gauzy dress. It accented her curves and gave her an innocent appearance.

Stacy nodded as she shimmied into her dress. “We need to move!” She exuded an innocent sexuality. John realized, sadly, that he would be having a similar effect on any man seeing him in his dress.

“What about my sister?” John asked worriedly, as he scanned the crowd of fleeing women. “I need to find her!”

Amanda started jogging into the nearby forest, with the other ladies following. “The best place to meet up with her, Joanie, is at that bar across the border. That’s your safest bet. We need to move.”

Holly jogged along with at the five others. all in their dresses, John too. “Look, if we give even the appearance of being lesbians,” she said as they ran, “we’ll have our arms scanned and we’ll wind up back here in a heartbeat. So let’s go. And be super hetero. Don’t give anyone any reason to believe that we’re not straight!”

The six of them ran off together in the darkness as sirens and alarms and the shouts of other women could be heard behind them.