The noise of the prison hit different during the night. The whole block was alive with it. Voices bouncing off walls, the heavy sound of boots hitting the floor every few seconds, arguments erupting behind bars between men who had never physically met but had been shouting at each other long enough that they felt like enemies anyway. Nelson stood at the bars of his cell and watched everything in front of him slowly and carefully. Every corner he looked at was filled with men who had stopped caring about living or dying a long time ago. You could see it in the way they moved. The way they looked at new faces. The way they looked at nothing. Then a voice came from across the corridor. “Hey. Is it you again right? You think you just walked away from what happened back there?” A short laugh followed it. “Today was your lucky day new guy. But luck does not come around here too often so I would not get comfortable with it.” Nelson looked across at the face behind the bars. He said not

The guy moved closer and the look on his face got harder with every step. Behind him, a group of men followed his every move like he had a remote control on all of them. Nobody broke formation. Nobody looked sideways. They just moved exactly when he moved and stopped exactly when he stopped. “I asked a question. Nobody keeps me waiting for an answer.” Nelson looked around the yard slowly. What he saw on Scorpion’s face was something he had not seen on it since he arrived in this prison. All that energy. All that authority. All that chest. Gone. Completely. Scorpion stood there looking like a different person from the one who had been shoving Nelson around seconds ago. Even Ken’s jaw was hanging open. His eyes were fixed on the guy and he could not seem to pull them away. Nelson leaned slightly toward Ken without turning his head fully. “Who is this guy that has Scorpion looking like that?” Ken turned to him slowly. The shock was still fresh on his face. “You told me you were