The Outliers

Detention | Chapter Three

"You're in a dangerous position, Miss Mainston. Right now, I control everything that happens to you. You might want to begin with remorse because that's the only thing that will get you out of this cell in your lifetime." There was a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"You might want to kiss my a-" Carla paused as Rancy pulled a syringe full of blue liquid out of his pocket. "Er, what's that?"

"This?" He grinned as he held it up. "Oh, this is from Zoola. We've been hoping to find an inmate we can test it on, and I think you're perfect."

Carla backed away into her cell. She hated needles. "Now, let's not escalate the situation. There's no need for whatever the hell that is, and you're not trained to administer it."

"Well, that's true." He shrugged. "It's a serum for making a patient more grounded. It'll help you deal with all that anger in a more productive way." He stepped into the cell grinning. "It'll make you into a doe-eyed little cow, who'll do everything you're told to."

Carla shivered. Judging by the look in his eyes, it'd make her into a vegetable. "I want to call my mother." She'll get me out of here.

Rancy flashed a nasty smile. "If wishes were moonbeams." He backed out of the cell and slammed the door shut, locking her inside.

She ran to the door. "You can't keep me in here!" she cried through the hole in the door.

His face appeared on the other side of the grill. "I can keep you in here as long as I want." He flashed a nasty smile. "In fact, I think tomorrow we'll start you on some medication to make you calm down since you're a danger to yourself." A crazy light appeared in his eyes as he turned on his heel and walked away.

Carla widened her eyes at the door. "But all I did was speak... you can't drug me!" Her voice echoed down the hall, but no one replied.

She turned and slid down the door until she was sitting on the floor, staring at the barred window. Crap.

With no concept of time in the dark cell, it seemed like a lifetime later when she heard footsteps hurrying down the hall. She frowned when she heard them stop outside her cell door.

"Psst! Carla?" a young female voice asked.

She stood up and turned to face the grill. "Yeah?" She peered through the grill.

Lilly smiled up at her. "Hey, I brought you some food." The younger girl squashed a blueberry muffin through the bars in the grill.

Carla took the mashed up muffin with a smile. "Thanks, Lilly. How did you get in here?" She frowned, not wanting her new friend to get into any trouble.

"I got Jerry in the boy's block to swap jobs with me. Actually, that's kinda why I'm here. Everyone wanted to know what you're going to do to Nick next," Lilly said.

Carla's frown deepened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, since the thing in the canteen, there's been a lot of talk about you being here to set us free. There's a rumor going around that you're some kind of messiah. Some of the guys reckon you're here to slay the beast on the fourth floor, and since there's a prophesy that reckons the person who slays the beast will bring about the rebellion, we were all wondering if, like, that was you?" Lilly said as she swept a broom across the corridor a few times. "You know, cos you took on Mr. Rancy. You're kinda getting a reputation, so all the kids are kinda hoping you are."

"What?" Carla blinked. "I'm not a messiah." She laughed. "What beast on the fourth floor?"

"Oh, then it's not time for the rebellion yet." Lilly sighed.

Carla tried to fight the urge to rebel. Here it was, a rebellion on a platter that was just waiting for a leader. Even though she'd promised her mother that she'd be good, this place wasn't going to play fair. She narrowed her eyes. There wasn't a peaceful resolution to this. It was fight back or end up incarcerated for a lifetime.

"I didn't say that," Carla said. "Tell me more about this rebellion."

Lilly peered up with hopeful eyes. "It started a few years ago. One of the kids here is a seer. She see's things, like the future all the time. Anyway, she saw that someone would slay the beast on the fourth floor, and it would make this place crumble to the ground."

"And people believe that?" Carla asked, feeling a little bit skeptical.

"Well, she's been right about everything so far, so we started preparing." Lilly nodded.

"Preparing how?"

"Well, we have weapons, an army, and a plan. We're just waiting for the right time."

Carla smiled. "Can you get me out of this cell?"

"Oh yeah, sure." She pulled a wonky wooden key out of her pocket and waved it at Carla. "I made this ages ago. It's a master key for all the cells on this level."

Carla widened her eyes. "What are you waiting for?"

Lilly frowned. "If I let you out, you have to slay the beast."

"Okay, tell me about the beast." Carla shrugged. She didn't know what to expect on the fourth floor, but it couldn't be worse than rotting away in a cell for the rest of her life.

"No one's seen it, but we hear it. It wails all night long."

"Do we have any more information than that?" Carla frowned.

"One of the guys in the B-wing said that is was so evil it had destroyed a whole colony."

"Right, so how do I slay it?" Carla asked.

Lilly shrugged. "I dunno."

Carla narrowed her eyes. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. You're going to get me out of here, and then rally the troops for a full-blown rebellion. I'm going to take on the beast on the fourth floor, and the signal for the rebellion to begin is when you hear its death cry. It'll be a big roar, okay?"

"Okay." Lilly nodded with a gleam of excitement in her eyes. "What weapons will you need?"

Carla pondered for a moment. "A flashlight and a megaphone."

"What?"

"Trust me. The only way to destroy something dark is with loud light." Carla lied. She felt a little bit guilty, but Rancy's near death experiment wasn't something she planned to experience.

She breathed when she heard Lilly unlocking the door. After it was open, the girl patted her on the shoulder. "Good luck, brave warrior."

"I'm guided by a force much stronger than luck," Carla muttered. Yeah, survival.