Something to Die For by Kaye Blue

Three

Lucas

With that feelingthat was far too much like fear, there was a sense of strangeness that came over me as I stepped through the bars of my cell uncuffed for the first time in almost seven years.

I started walking toward the infirmary, didn’t bother to look left or right. And while the prison was eerily quiet, I could guess what was playing out.

People with scores to settle no doubt taking the opportunity to do so.

Something I should probably be doing, but something that seemed small, bordering on meaningless, after that scream and the unease that followed it.

I stepped over a puddle—piss, blood, both—I wasn’t really sure, but I didn’t stop to examine it.

Instead, I continued, moving toward the infirmary, seeing it up ahead through another set of bars that I hoped were unlocked.

I was getting closer, two cells away, when a figure stepped in front of me. “Crowe, we got some shit to talk about.”

The man in front of me was one of the problems I tried to ignore. He had something to prove and thought I was the way he could.

“Fuck off. I don’t have time for this shit,” I said, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

“I say what the fuck you hav—”

Before he could finish, I grabbed the shank he had poorly hidden in his waistband and jammed it into his neck, keeping clear of the spray of arterial blood.

I’d told him I didn’t have time.

Wasn’t my problem he didn’t listen.

I stepped around him, didn’t look back as I heard him drop to the ground, the sound of blood and air gushing out of his wound barely grabbing my attention.

There would be consequences for that, but I’d deal with those later.

I finally made it to the bars, relieved when I found them open.

Horrified by what I saw when I stepped inside the infirmary.