They never made it to Ricci. The panicked mob from A-Dorm swept through the halls, and from there everything just grew. There was no more way to hide that something was very wrong, even if most people had no idea what it was.

B-Dorm emptied out next— Maxwell had no way of holding them back on her own. This was a job for a riot team, not a single guard equipped with only pepper spray and a baton. All she could do was duck to the side to avoid being trampled and shout desperately into her radio.

"B-Dorm is out— B-Dorm has breached the lockdown, and I do not have control! What the hell is going on out there?"

"All inmates return to their bunks immediately. Do not panic. All inmates return to their bunks immediately. Do not panic. All—"

Maxwell shook her head, wishing she could tell Caputo that that was a lost cause. There was no way it was going to work— they were far beyond intercom announcement loops now. She hurried out into the hallway, and nearly collided with a white-faced Bennett.

He didn't stop to chat. He brushed Maxwell aside without even acknowledging her, rushing on through the crowd of panicked B-Dormers. There was only one thing on his mind right now.

By the time Bennett reached C-Dorm, it was almost entirely empty. There were a few stragglers— people who were too afraid to go and check out the halls, and the friends who wanted to stick with them. He saw Ramos and Mendoza. If Daya wasn't with them…

"John?" Daya sat up, her head popping over the wall divider. Bennett's heart kept.

"We have to go." No lead-in; no preamble. There was no time to break this to her gently now. "We need to go right now, Daya. People have died."

"Who the fuck has died?" Maritza rose quickly to her feet. Gloria did the same, and everybody started talking at once. "Was it the disease?"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Answer her; spit it out."

"We have to go get Flaca."

"We have to go get my mom."

"Stop it, all of you!" Bennett snapped. Then he saw the look on Daya's face. "I'm sorry. Okay? I'm— we can't sit around here and talk." He took Daya's arm gently, helping her stand. "Let me get you out of here."

Something about the way he said out of here alarmed Gloria. "You mean out of the prison. Don't you?"

Bennett's silence was confirmation enough for all of them. Daya pulled her arm away, sitting back down. "You need to tell us everything."

This time, he didn't hesitate.

"Bell and I found a dead CO by A-Dorm. There's someone in the prison attacking people; the other inmates are saying someone in A-Dorm died, too." Daya's hands flew up to cover her mouth, and Bennett took hold of her wrists. "Let me get you out of here. Right now."

Just then, Aleida burst into the room, a teary-eyed Flaca at her heels.

"There's some kind of cannibal serial killer in the prison— the stupid-ass white girls think it's a zombie." She stormed up to Bennett. "You gonna do right by my daughter and get her and her family out of here?"

"I can't take all of you!" Bennett threw up his hands in exasperation. Aleida scoffed.

"There's nobody paying attention; you can do whatever you want, pendejo. Let's go."


The yard was a natural place to run to. The outdoors felt safer; less penned-in. One or two people ducking outside quickly became an avalanche, and before long, half the prison was milling around nervously on the grass. All eyes were on the building they had just come out of— nobody wanted to turn their back on it.

"He can't really have been a zombie," Piper repeated for the umpteenth time— trying to reassure anyone who would listen. Trying to reassure Brook, who was standing next to her. Trying to reassure herself. "Did you ever hear about those people who watch too many Dracula movies and then start trying to drink people's blood? That's what that was. He's mentally ill. He's a very, very sick man, and what he did to Marcia was horrible. But he isn't a zombie."

Weak-kneed and shaking, Brook reached out and clasped Piper's arm, steadying herself.

"You wouldn't say that," she said, "if you'd seen its eyes."