Prisoner

Prologue

The lights above my head flicker. I grasp my uncle's jacket in my hands. He looks down at me and smiles. "It's just the light, Noelle." He turns to another man whose face is too high up for me to see. "Hey, call someone to get this light fixed. I'm taking my neice on a tour."

"Yes, sir."

Uncle reaches down and takes my hand. "Shall we? You want to see where I work, don't you?"

I nod eagerly and look back at the flickering light. "This place is so big..."

"You're not scared, are you?" He asks teasingly. I shake my head furiously, and he laughs. "Of course not, I should've known. That's what I like about you, Noelle. You're fearless, like a little warrior princess."

I smile, pleased with his praise. He ruffles my hair and points to the hallway. "Down here are the maximum vaults where we keep the bad men."

"Why are the bad men kept here?" I ask as he pulls me down the hall.

"These are very, very bad men who do very, very bad things, Noelle," he says. He points to a cell with someone inside it. "That man there committed horrible tortures to innocent people, all for the sake of a girl who was too terrified to do anything to stop him."

A man with hair as black as night moves out of the shadows. I am captivated by his eyes; instead of pupils and irises, he wore white contacts with black x's, like the stitching of a doll's eye. His lip curled into a weird half-smile. I shudder and follow Uncle.

He points to the next vault. "This one killed his girlfriend and--"

"Should you really be telling that to a little girl?" The man in the vault replies, tilting his head and staring at me. His eyes were pitch black, just like his shoulder-length, wavy hair. "What is she, three? Four?"

"Five," I say quickly, sticking out my tongue at him. I spot a vault with four or five people inside. "What about them?"

Uncle harrumphed. "A vicious gang. Extremely territorial--they were a danger to every man, woman, and child in the city outside until we brought them here."

"Now look at us," one of them muses. "We're no more than dogs in a cage." His voice was husky and deep, more like a growl than an actual voice. He steps forward. Unlike the other two men I'd seen, this one had thick, blonde hair and deep, brown eyes that bored into mine. "Giving your neice a tour of the zoo?"

"Isn't she a young thing?" Another gang member agrees. "Five years old?" This one had dark brown hair and bronze skin. "I could eat her for breakfast."

I blew a raspberry at him. A collective laugh went up from the surrounding vaults. Uncle tugs on my hand, pulling me forward. "Come on, Noelle. Let's go."

"Bye, Noelle," the man with doll-like eyes purrs.

Uncle closes the door and mutters under his breath. I puff out my chest. "I'm not afraid of those mean creeps!" I say boldly. "I'm a warrior princess, remember?" I huff and turn around, flouncing away from the maximum vaults.

Uncle sighs. "I was afraid to let you go in with me. I had a feeling one of them would say something." He smiles. 'You handled it very well. Still not scared?"

"Nope," I reply, popping the 'p'. We approach a larger hallway. It's darker here than it was in the maximum vaults. I move closer to Uncle and grip his hand tightly. Even with the lights above our heads, the place seems menacing. Uncle smiles to comfort me and strokes my hair.

He looks around. "Shouldn't there be a guard here?" He says quietly to himself.

Suddenly, there is a chilling, unfamiliar sound; the sound of metal chains being shaken. My uncle pulls me aside as a door opens. Someone steps out--a guard. My uncle stiffens. "Who gave you permission to go in there?"

"My superior ordered a security check, sir."

"I'm the only superior you need to worry about!" My uncle snaps. I poke my head out from around his leg. The door is still open. I can almost see inside... Uncle looks down and stops me from taking another step. "Noelle, no!"

The sound of the chains stops, pausing. After a moment, quiet, somewhat muffled laughter comes from the room. Uncle's eyes widen, and he pulls me back. "Get that door closed now!" He shouts at the other man. The man rushes to slam the door shut.

I don't understand what the fuss is about. My uncle and the other man seem scared of whatever is caged inside that vault. Their fear confuses me. "Uncle," I say timidly. "What is in there? What was making that noise?"

"That is Vault 120," Uncle says ominously. He kneels down so he can see into my eyes. Behind his glasses, his eyes shine. "Noelle, you must never go near that room."

"Why?" I ask. "What's in it?"

"A wicked, dangerous creature that will not hesitate," he warns, "to destroy you. Noelle, you must promise me that you will never, ever go near that room. Promise me."

I glance up at the door. "I promise."

He stands up, relieved. "Good girl," he says. He turns to the man. "As for you...I'll deal with you later. Just stand guard here. If I catch you poking your head in there again, I will not be so...easy-going. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," the man replies.

"Very well." Uncle starts to walk away, and I hurry to follow him.

"Uncle?" I say. "What does that thing in Vault 120 look like?"

"A hideously ugly creature with red eyes and a face too awful to describe," he replies. "I never want you to see, hear, or meet the monster inside. No other living or nonliving thing in this base is as dangerous as the beast in that vault."

I glance back and shudder. "If it's so dangerous, why do you keep it? Why not just slay it like one of the dragons in the bedtime stories?"

"Because," he says quietly, "like every creature in the maximum vaults--the murderers and the gangs--the thing in Vault 120 cannot be killed."