Chapter 3 - UNYIELDING ROOT
The force of Tommy’s shove carried enough power to knock a grown man off his feet and send a food tray flying across the room.
Behind Samuel, Marcus flinched hard, dropping his eyes and sucking in a terrified breath, waiting for the sound of crashing metal and cracking bones.
Thud.
The impact echoed off the stainless-steel tables, but Samuel did not fall. He did not stumble backward. His black institutional shoes seemed to lock into the epoxy floor like iron anchors. His weight shifted instantly—a microscopic transfer of mass through his hips and knees that absorbed the shock entirely.
His body swayed back less than an inch before returning to its perfect, vertical center. The food tray in his hands remained perfectly level; the carton of milk didn't even tip over.
Tommy stared at his own palm, then looked back at Samuel, a look of genuine confusion crossing his heavy features. It was like shoving a solid concrete pillar hidden beneath an olive cloth shirt.
Samuel slowly looked down at his tray, ensuring the oatmeal hadn't spilled, then raised his calm gray eyes back to the giant standing over him.
"Let me eat breakfast," Samuel said, his tone entirely devoid of anger, fear, or malice. It was a simple, practical request from one man to another.
The sheer normalcy of the statement enraged Tommy further. He felt the eyes of the entire room pressing against his skin. The silence in the cafeteria was now complete; even the inmates at the back row were standing on their benches to see the confrontation.
"You think you're special, old man?" Tommy growled, his face turning a dark, dangerous red.
Tommy turned his head and casually dumped his heavy food tray into the hands of a startled young inmate standing beside him. He turned back to face Samuel, his heavy shoulders rolling as he drew his right fist back past his hip. His knuckles were calloused and scarred from years of cell-block fights.
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"Samuel, move!" Marcus cried out, stepping forward in panic, his instinct to protect his cellmate overriding his terror. "Samuel!"
Tommy ignored the boy and unleashed a full-force, linear right cross straight toward Samuel’s jaw—a punch designed to end the encounter instantly and brutally.
