Charlene walked slowly, gun extended, finger on the trigger.

Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough that she could see that she was in a laundry room. Nothing out of the ordinary: a washer, dryer, and a couple of empty baskets. No apparent place for Vivian to hide, unless she'd climbed into the dryer, which was unlikely.

Movement behind her.

She spun around. The door to the cage room was all the way open. Then it closed.

Shit!

Charlene rushed over there. She momentarily lost her balance but didn't fall. She reached for the doorknob—

—just as the door flew back open, smashing into Charlene and knocking her off her feet. She landed on her back, hard, and a few drops of blood shot into the air.

It took a second for her vision to focus. When it did, Vivian hovered over her, swinging something down at her with both hands.

Upon impact, intense pain shot through Charlene's arm and then her hand went numb. Vivian struck her twice more. It was a riding crop, something you'd use on a horse or a kinky sex partner. Charlene tried to twist her hand around, so she could pull the trigger and put a bullet in Vivian's face, but her hand wasn't cooperating.

She couldn't lose the gun. She could survive repeated hits with a riding crop, but if Vivian got the revolver, Charlene was dead. And then Gertie right after that.

Vivian continued to strike Charlene's arm, which now had several bloody streaks on it.

If Charlene wasn't weak from blood loss, she'd be kicking Vivian's ass for sure. As it stood, she couldn't really do much but lie there and take her punishment.

Vivian switched her target, smacking the riding crop across Charlene's face. It hurt so badly that she didn't immediately register that Vivian had yanked the gun out of her hand.

Charlene curled the fingers of her other hand into a claw and swung at Vivian's face. Long fingernails were not conducive to waitressing or lesbian activities, so she kept hers clipped short, which was inconvenient right now. But she got Vivian in the mouth just as the woman was screaming at her, getting her index and middle fingers between Vivian's teeth and cheek. She yanked hard, hoping to tear off part of Vivian's face.

Her cheek did not rip wide open, but blood appeared at the corner of her mouth as Charlene's fingers popped free.

Then Charlene punched her in the brand new wound.

Vivian howled in pain.

She still held the gun, and Charlene saw that the gun was pointed right at her chest. As soon as Vivian gained the presence of mind to squeeze the trigger, there was going to be a great big hole very close to her heart.