The shuttle bus conveying the Zhang heiress finally arrived at PaoYin district prison, the doors slid open as four prison guards that rode along roughly pulled her from the front seat, dragging her out towards the imposing barbwire high walls that led to one of the most notorious prisons in the province.
On passing through the dark metal gates, she was led into a bare room, where other female guards were already assigned to monitor her, the male guards handed her over to their female counterparts before exiting from the tiny space. One of the senior guards spoke in a tone that conveyed thinly concealed impatience. Guard Rong had in her hands the prisoner's uniform and stood alongside Guard Hsu. They all had on the forest green uniform and dark militant cap and boots.
" What are you waiting for?! Before I count up to sixty, you better start taking everything you have on you off! If not, there is a container with water and a whip ready at any time to be used on you!
It was customary for rebellious inmates to be punished by having their clothes and undergarments taken off, before pouring cold water on them and applying a flexible whip on their wet body. That way the person receiving the beating will feel the strikes at a greater magnitude than ordinarily using just the whip without wetting their body. That way the water amplifies the effect of the whipping.
Zhang Mi watched the look on the female guard that spoke, seeing the bloodshot eyes and her tone resembled someone that was on something. The rest of them looked on with faces that was devoid of any human feeling. Their militant stance and appearance that held no trace of sympathy for her plight, forced her to do as instructed.
The Zhang heiress appearance had long since became disheveled, hair out of place. During the process of being dragged in, she almost lost her handbag.
Tossing the bag to the side. One by one, Zhang Mi took off each piece of clothing, including her underwear until she was completely naked.
The senior guard walked up to her, before reaching a hand to grab her by the chin, until they were practically nose to nose. Right in front of the rest, she forced open the Zhang heiress mouth, sloppily kissing her lips, with saliva drooling from the side of their mouth .
Zhang Mi remained rooted where she stood, as though her feet had been cemented to the stark dirty concrete floor. Some minutes later, the guard released her, having eyes full of lustful intentions. With a hot breath, telling the Zhang heiress how pretty she was. Using the back of her hand, Guard Niu wiped off the saliva, first from Zhang Mi before wiping hers away.
Shock could not begin to describe what the Zhang heiress just witnessed happening to her, in her mind she kept on asking herself what had she just walked into. Never in her whole twenty something years had she seen something as bizarre as, what just took place in front of her very eyes! Not remembering when last she prayed, in her heart pleading fervently for a divine sovereignty to save her from the horrible nightmare that was rapidly becoming her reality. Knowing it was useless to shed tears, the soulless humans that were with her, would not even bat an eye, if she so much as shed a single tear. Telling herself to toughen up and not allow them to see her break, with renewed determination, Zhang Mi chose to face them on and not cower in fear.
Turning from the Zhang heiress, the senior guard walked back to where one of the guards that held a dirty green prison uniform in her arms, abruptly taking it from the palm of the guard, before calling out to the Zhang heiress to catch, what she was about to throw towards her.
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry hysterically, Zhang Mi caught the uniform, donning them hurriedly. It was as though she was afraid of being jumped by one of them. Moving from where she stood, the younger guard bent to pick up the discarded belongs of the Zhang heiress, only to rise up after she was done. In a monotonous tone, the senior guard called out to the new inmate.
"Inmate 714, follow me!"
It was back to business again, as they all walked the Zhang heiress out, with the senior guard walking especially close alongside her. Inside, Zhang Mi still felt the disgust from the previous encounter and couldn't wait to scrub her mouth vigorously, cleaning off any trace of the nastiness of what she went through.
In prison, there was nothing like pride, respect or any of those things. Everyone except the guards had a name, the rest are addressed as numbers no more no less. That is life as a prisoner, each Inmate must stick by the messed up rule that governed the jungle called prison. Only the strong live! the weak are mere nourishment to feed the insatiable hunger of the strong!
It was a three story prison. As they walked down the corridor, other prisoners called out and some shouted profanities at them. Both side of the corridors had rows of cell room. Two cells on the left side from the end of the ground floor prison, was now going to be the new home of the Zhang heiress, Guard Hsu took out a bunch of keys, singling out a long rusty brown key to open the cell gate. Pushing it to the side, before stepping back to allow the Zhang heiress to walk in, but before she could step fully into the cell that held three other women in a two separate double bunk bed.
Guard Niu latched on to Zhang Mi's arm, stopping her movement, as she lightly ran the tips of her finger across the side of her face. A look of utter dislike passed across the faces of the other inmates, they knew what that meant. It was Guard Niu's way of warning them from coming close to what she considered her possession.
To show appreciation for the huge support coming from so many of my readers. I'll be dedicating this chapter to readers from the Philippine, India and Nigeria.
Philippine: Salamat
India: Dhanyavaad
Nigeria: U sabi o! E se!