How It All Goes Down
- Alex leads Lena to Ward Six, where all the "lifers" are held.
- A gross guard named Frank gives them a bunch of trouble. He's not normally the guard there. The guard on duty is normally a sympathizer Alex is buddies with, but that guy was, um, reassigned after a recent breakout.
- When they finally get to Cell 118, they discover that it's not just the cell where Lena's mother was held… it's the cell where the breakout occurred. "In the lower half of one wall, she had traced the word so many times in such enormous script—LOVE, each letter the size of a child— and gouged so deeply into the stone that the O has formed a tunnel, and she has gotten out" (22.93).
- Okay, that's not a Shawshank Redemption caliber plan, digging a tunnel to escape this prison thing without even attempting to hide it. But it looks like it worked anyway.