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FOUR HUNDRED MEN LIVED HERE, most for the rest of their time on earth

And then hell would get them for the rest of eternity

The walls were thick concrete and their interior sides were layered with repulsive graffiti that spared virtually nothing in its collective depravity And each yearup in a sewer The steel bars were nicked and scarred, but still impossible to break by human hands There had been escapes from here, but none for more than thirty years—once outside the walls there was no place to go The people living on the outside around here weren’t any friendlier than the ones on the inside

And they actually had uns

The oldfit and spit up blood, which was as much evidence of his terminal condition as any expert ; the only question hen He had to hang on, though He had soet a second chance to do it

Earl Fontaine was large but had once been larger still His body had imploded as the metastatic cancer ate hied by time, four packs of menthols a day, a poor diet, and most of all a bitter sense of injustice His skin was thin and pasty from decades inside this place where the sun did not reach

With a struggle he sat up in his bed and looked around at the other occupants of the ward There were only seven of theht leave this place upright He was beyond that Yet despite his dire condition, he smiled

Another inmate from across the floor saw Earl’s happy expression and called out, “What in the hell do you have to smile about, Earl? Let us in on the joke, why don’t you”

Earl let the grin ease all the way across his broad face He ed to do so despite the pain in his bones that was akin to soh them with a brittle-bladed saw “Gettin’ outta here, Junior,” Earl said

“Bullshit,” said the other inmate, as known as Junior inside these walls for no apparent reason He had raped and killed five women across three counties sih to cross his path The authorities orking like mad to treat his current illness so he could keep his official execution date in two months

Earl nodded “Out of here”

“How?”

“Coffin is how, Junior, just like your scrawny ass” Earl cackled while Junior shook his head and turned back to stare glumly at his IV lines They were similar to the ones that would carry the lethal chemicals that would end his life in Alabama’s death chamber He finally looked away, closed his eyes, and went swiftly to sleep as though practicing for the deepest of all slumbers in exactly sixty days

Earl lay back and rattled the chain attached to the cuff around his right wrist, which in turn was hooked to a stout though rusted iron ring set into the wall

“I’s co spell that lasted until a nurse caave him some water, a pill, and a hard slap on the back Then he helped Earl sit up straighter

The nurse probably didn’t knohy Earl had been sent to prison and probably wouldn’t have cared if he did know Every inly horrific that every guard and worker here was completely desensitized to it

“Now, just settle down, Earl,” said the nurse “You’ll only s worse”

Earl calainst his pillow, and then eyed the nurse steadily “Can they be? Worse is what I mean”

The nurse shrugged “Guess anything can be worse And ot to this place”

With a burst of energy Earl said, “Hey, kid, can you get ht me up Won’t tell nobody you done it Cross and swear and all that crap though I ain’t no God-fearing man”

The nurse blanched at the very idea of doing such a thing “Uh, yeah, en, for God’s sake It’s explosive, Earl, as in boom”