Chapter 2 - Shadows of the BlockSolitary confinement in Block C was known as "The Tomb." It was a subterranean hellhole devoid of light, where inmates usually lost their sanity within forty-eight hours.
Kate sat cross-legged on the icy floor, her breathing synchronized to a slow, deliberate rhythm. She wasn't praying; she was counting seconds.
On the four hundredth second, the heavy steel flap on her door slid open. A pair of sharp, calculating eyes appeared behind the slot. It wasn't a guard. It was Vera—the prison’s undisputed intelligence broker, a woman who had spent fifteen years running a black-market empire behind bars without ever getting her hands dirty.
"You've got a lot of nerve, new blood," Vera whispered, her voice like grinding stones. "Vanessa was a dog, but she was their dog. You just broke the leash."
Kate didn't open her eyes. "She touched my shoes."
Vera let out a dry, raspy chuckle. "You think this is about sneakers? Vanessa was collecting protection money for the Warden’s private syndicate. Half the guards are on her payroll. Tonight, when the shifts change and the cameras magically go blind, ten of her loyalists are coming into your cell. They aren't coming to beat you, Kate. They're coming to make sure you never walk again."
Kate slowly opened her eyes. In the pitch blackness of the cell, her pale blue gaze seemed to catch the faint glint of light from the corridor.
"Good," Kate replied softly. "It saves me the trouble of hunting them down."
Vera paused, stunned by the cold, emotionless tone. "Who the hell are you?"
"Ask Warden Thomas," Kate said, standing up and stretching her shoulders. "Ask him why he turned off the camera outside Cell 104 three months ago."
Vera swallowed hard, realizing in an instant that the girl standing before her wasn't a victim of circumstance. She was a ghost with a score to settle.
Late that night, as the clock struck midnight, the heavy mechanical lock of Kate’s cell clicked open. The hallway lights flickered out. Shadowy figures slipped inside, armed with improvised shanks and iron pipes.
The heavy iron door slammed shut behind them.
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Then came the sounds: screaming, the shattering of iron pipes against human bone, and the desperate, frantic pounding of women begging to be let out.
Chapter 2 Hook: When the guards finally opened the door at dawn, all ten attackers were piled unconscious on the floor. Kate was sitting in the corner, meticulously wiping a speck of blood off her white sneaker.
