Florence Supermax Prison was built as a hollow regular hexagon. Each outer side contained a different type of cell, while the exercise yard sat at the very center of the structure, making escapes far more difficult.
But this type of building had one major problem: lighting. With its surrounding polyhedral structure, buildings facing certain directions were destined never to receive direct sunlight.
Fortunately, prisons did not need good lighting. Or rather, having a window barely large enough to stick an arm through in an ordinary inmate's cell was already an exceptional act of mercy from Amanda. Before she compromised with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, every cell had been a completely sealed can.
The small window added later was useless anyway. It existed only to satisfy the minimum requirements of human rights law. Sunlight could no longer serve as a natural alarm clock, and Bruce was awakened by a commotion at the end of the corridor.
He heard extraordinarily heavy footsteps, each one striking the floor with enough force to seem capable of stomping a hole into it. But Bruce quickly realized that whoever was coming was not deliberately stomping. He was simply a terrifyingly huge man.
Bruce rarely used the word "terrifying" to describe anyone, but when he looked past the bars and saw the person outside, he felt that even terrifying was inadequate for this monster.
It was not as though Bruce had never seen a big man before. Crocodile Man, one of his good friends from the East End, was unusually huge himself. But the man outside the bars stood a head taller than Crocodile Man and was much broader. It was no exaggeration to say that this man's arms were thicker than Bruce's thighs.
Bruce knew that even if he had not lost weight, he could