Chapter 3

The next day, Thorne himself came to the old wing. Miller and Graves flanked him.

"Sarah," Thorne began, his voice dangerously calm. "You continue to disappoint me. This attachment to... him." He gestured dismissively at John Doe, who stood silently by Sarah.

"He is my companion," Sarah said, her voice clear. "The only true one I have here."

Thorne' s face tightened. "You choose this... broken thing over a chance at freedom? Over me?"

"Freedom with you was a cage, Rex. I see that now."

Brenda, who had slipped in behind Thorne, gasped dramatically. "Rex, she' s ungrateful! And with this... this animal!"

Thorne' s eyes blazed. "You dare?"

He nodded to Miller and Graves. "Take him."

The guards moved towards John.

John Doe didn' t wait. He pushed Sarah gently behind him.

Then he met the guards.

It wasn' t a brawl. It was a display. John moved with an economy of motion, disabling Miller with a quick strike to a pressure point, then disarming Graves before the deputy could even raise his baton.

He was not just strong; he was skilled. Highly skilled.

Thorne watched, stunned into silence for a moment. This was not some random, desperate lifer.

His rage, however, quickly returned, hotter than before.

"You will not defy me in my own prison!" Thorne roared. He drew his own heavy sidearm, not to shoot, but as a symbol of his ultimate authority.

John Doe stood firm, protecting Sarah.

Sarah stepped forward. "Stop it, Rex! He' s done nothing but protect me."

"Protect you?" Thorne laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "He' s an inmate, a murderer, a nobody! And you defend him?"

"He' s more of a man than you' ll ever be," Sarah said, her voice low but carrying.

Thorne' s face contorted with fury. The public display of her affection for John, her utter rejection of him, it was intolerable.

"You claim him?" Thorne seethed. "Then you can share his fate!"