CHAPTER 2 – The Prison Legend Nobody Recognized
For several long seconds, the cafeteria remained frozen.
Marcus laughed first.
Then his gang joined him.
"A general?"
"This old fossil?"
"You expect me to believe that?"
Walter didn't answer.
Instead, he quietly picked up the broken pieces of his glasses and placed them into his pocket.
The prison warden suddenly rushed into the cafeteria.
His face was pale.
His uniform wasn't perfectly buttoned—a sight nobody had ever witnessed.
The guards immediately stepped aside.
"Walter..."
"No."
The warden corrected himself.
"General Hayes."
Every inmate looked at one another in disbelief.
Marcus's smile slowly faded.
The warden extended both hands respectfully.
"I never imagined you would actually accept our invitation."
Walter smiled.
"I promised twenty years ago that if this prison ever lost its discipline..."
"...I'd come back."
The room became eerily quiet.
Marcus frowned.
"What invitation?"
The warden slowly turned toward the inmates.
"You fools have no idea who you're standing in front of."
Thirty years earlier, before Blackridge had become America's most dangerous prison, riots broke out almost every month.
Dozens of guards were killed.
Escape attempts became routine.
Then the governor secretly brought in one man.
Retired General Walter Hayes.
Not with weapons.
Not with violence.
But with discipline.
Within six months, he transformed the prison into one of the safest correctional facilities in the country.
Every emergency protocol.
Every tactical drill.
Every hostage rescue strategy.
Every guard standing there had been trained using Walter's methods.
The prison library.
The rehabilitation workshop.
The education program.
Walter had designed them all.
His name wasn't on the walls.
Because he had refused every honor.
Marcus scoffed.
"I don't care who he used to be."
"This is my prison now."
Walter finally looked directly at him.
"No."
"It never was."
Marcus charged.
The cafeteria exploded into chaos.
Everyone expected the old man to fall.
Instead...
Walter stepped aside with incredible precision.
Marcus's own momentum sent him crashing face-first into a steel table.
The impact echoed through the room.
Walter hadn't punched him.
Hadn't kicked him.
He had simply redirected the attack.
Marcus staggered up in disbelief.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Three attacks.
Three effortless movements.
Not a single wasted motion.
The guards exchanged nervous glances.
One whispered,
"He's still faster than our instructors."
Marcus's breathing became heavy.
For the first time in years...
Someone had made him look weak.
His pride couldn't accept it.
He pointed a trembling finger at Walter.
"This isn't over."
Walter calmly replied,
"No."
"It's only beginning."
That night...
Marcus secretly gathered every gang leader inside the prison.
"If that old man embarrasses me again..."
"...he dies."
Hidden in the shadows outside the room...
Someone heard every single word.
And silently walked away.
The warning reached Walter before sunrise.
But instead of requesting protection...
The old man smiled.
"They're finally making their move."
Nobody understood why.
Until they discovered...
May you like
Walter had been waiting for this exact moment all along.
END OF CHAPTER 2
