"Good Lord All Mighty! But this is hot work!"

"Work? Drudgery is more like it!
But don't complain!
Anything is better than being back inside there!"

"I wonder how Rizpah and Philistia made out?"

"Huh! From what I've heard, none of them did any too well!"

"Pandora is the only one they've taken back alive ..."

"And she thinks that things might have gone easier for them all
if they hadn't knifed the Prison's Executioner while making their escape!"

"Pandora is entitled to her opinion of course ...
But from what I understand, the Executioner was killed outside the prison walls ..."

"And little Christianna was stabbed in the chest entertaining some prison official inside the walls of the compound!"

"Yeah! And then Lissa took one in the gut while the others were making their escape!"

"And Susannah ... She was the Cell Block Representative, wasn't she?"

"I think she was ... Yes!"

"Well she was knifed while trying to plead with the Warden to be merciful ... Of all things!"

"Our guys sure are fond of their knives, aren't they?
Did any of them escape?"

"Three of them got outside the wall one way of another!
Let's see ... There was Roberta, Rizpah, and Philistia.
But Bert got wounded and so she stayed behind to cover for the other two as they escaped."

"So Bert was knifed too?"

"I don't know for sure ... But I shouldn't wonder if she was!"

"Rizpah! I'm exhausted! I can't run another step!"

"The prison guards were right behind us, Philitia!"

"Then it's a good thing that each of us has a knife then, isn't it?"

"We can whip our weight in wildcats, Rizpah!
Let's just take a few minutes to catch our breath!"

"There are too many of them, Philitia!
And you know what those guards do to any woman who attempts to escape, don't you?"

"They take a knife very similar to this one ..."

"They slice her open ...
... And they cut her heart out!"

You recall the mess they made of Ursala a year ago, don't you?"

"What I might suggest instead ...
Is that we position our knives carefully ..."

"And then upon the count of three ..."

"I thrust my blade through your navel and into your belly!"

"Yes, Philistia ... But please bear in mind ..."

"... That I will be doing the very same to you!"

"Uh ... I'm not so sure I'm totally in favor of your idea, Rizpah!"

"Well then, Philistia ...
Would you prefer to have a guard's sword buried unceremoniously in your chest?"

"I only know that for my part, I would prefer to die at the hand of a friend ...
... Rather than to be stabbed in the belly ..."

"... By some uncaring prison trustee ...
... Who will then proceed to butcher me in as painful a manner as possible!"

"So! Time is a-wasting!
Do we have a bargain?
Are we in agreement?"

"Yes, Rizpah!
If you say so ..!"

"God! But this hurts, Rizpah!"

"Just relax, Philistia!
Our knives haven't so much as broken the skin yet!"

"Unnuggh!"

"There!
You see?
Now we're getting somewhere!"

"You stabbed me!
You really did!
Well just for that ...
I'll stab you too!"

"Arrrrgh!"

"Did you really think I was kidding you all this time, Philistia?"

"I can tell now that you really meant it, Rizpah!
Honest and True!
You old bitch!"

"Hey!
You Creeps out there!
Come an' get us!
She's killin' me!
And I'm killin' her!"
Hurry up!
Or you'll miss our show!"

"I can't quite believe that we actually did it, Philistia!"

"You what!
You mean to tell me that it hadn't registered yet?"

"But we did it, kid!
We really did!
Didn't we?"

"Okay now ...
You let go of your knife ...
And I'll let go of mine!"

"They say it can take you a long time to die with a belly wound ..."

"And that it's better if we leave the knives where they are!"

"But then that raises the question ..."

"What question is that, Rizpah?"

"Does either one of us really want to live any longer than we have to?"

"If we did, Rizpah ...
We wouldn't have stabbed one another in the first place!"

"In that case ...
I suggest we hurry the dying process along ..."

"By pulling these knives from our bellies!"

"Oooow!
God!
But this hurts!"

"You know, Philistia ..?"

"Know what, Rizpah?"

"I'm still trying to decide ..."

"... Whether it was better to die this way ..."

"... Or at the hands of those Oafs out there!"

"Well ... Hell and Damnation, Rizpah!"

"It's a little bit late in the game ..."

"... To be worried about that, isn't it?
C'mon, you guys!
We know you're out there!
The show is damn-near over!
You better hurry up and find us!
Or you won't even be in time for left-overs!"

"Lord! But I'm sorry, Philistia!"

"Sorry? For what, Rizpah?"

"Sorry to have gotten you involved in the first place!"
I never thought that it would come to this!"

I knew from the start the risk we were taking, Rizpah!
And if I have to die ...
... There's no one else that I'd rather die with ...
... Nor any other to wield the fatal blade!"

"I'm glad that you feel that way, Philistia ..."

"After all is said and done ...
What are friends for?"

Epilog

Moments later a pair of the prison guards discovered the last two escapees laying dead where they had expired in their trysting place.

"My God! What's happened here? What have they done?"

"Calm down now, Son.
And just rest easy ..."

"But ...
But they've commited suicide!
Stabbed themselves!
Why would they do a thing like that?!"

"Well, they could've done what you said ...
But it's more likely that these two knifed one another ..."

But why?
Our team rounded up all the others with no trouble at all!
And every one of them is safely back behind bars!"

"These two were Amazons, Son!
And an Amazon would rather face death than be locked up anywhere ..."
And besides ...
It could well be that they were unduly influenced
by one or another of the wild stories
that have been floating around this place lately ..."