Summary

The first part of this section of the book is titled “4 Hours,” and returns to the second-person, present-tense narration describing the last day of Anson Packer. As he is forced to change into a new uniform, the guards discover the letter from Blue he had concealed in his underwear. They read it aloud tauntingly, then tear it into shreds. Alone in his cell, Packer angrily – and fearfully – contemplates how everything should be different now, how his goal of freedom has not been achieved because of how useless Shawna has proved to be, and how other inmates who have been transferred to this prison prior to execution have transformed into something weak and vulnerable. He is visited by the Warden, who gives him official paperwork to sign, and then learns from Tina (his lawyer) that their final appeal has failed. Packer reacts with...