Blood and Paper Skin
By Rami Ungar
Part Three
Grey sat on the floor , half-naked because the heat had risen by a million degrees again , and considered the bars . He ’ d been staring at them for at least a day , trying to figure out the trick Nikki and Annie had stumbled across to get out of their cells . However , the bars only stood before him and offered him no clues or comfort . If anything , Grey felt the bars were mocking him just by being there , intractable and immovable .
And yet , he was certain that he could figure it out . Or , perhaps more accurately , that a part of him had figured it out and knew the trick . It was just taking the rest of his brain forever to catch up . But what could it be ?
For the umpteenth time , he reviewed what he knew . The other day , Annie had busted free of her cell through sheer force alone . And a few days before that , Nikki had indicated that she may have loosened her bars a little . She ’ d been about to tell them what she ’ d done , but then Old Man had run in and nearly choked her to death .
It was always at this junction , when he remembered what Old Man had done to Nikki , that Grey
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