The Prison of Deviants

Chapter 11: The Warden Awakens

"Who is it?"

Knut springs up and grabs a remote control from the bedside table. He turns on the big computer screen on the wall to the left. Some figures show up, with the district names. I can only guess that somehow, Knut has access to the database of the entire prison. One more thing I realise is that memorizing some of its contents will help me greatly in the future, so I'd better do it while they're not paying attention to me.

"Honorée Blaire of the fairy district," Bob replies to Knut's question. "She's a relatively new prisoner, but fully turned - her wings have already emerged."

"How the hell did she manage to break Nanny's fairy barrier? It should've been unbreakable for everyone except us!"

Knut presses a certain button on the remote control. The computer opens the fairy district data. Knut fills in the prisoner's name and locates her whereabouts. 

"Apparently, it wasn't," Bob replies, "Honorée Blaire seems to be infected by the strongest fairy dust - the one of fire."

"The firefly? They went extinct ages ago!" 

Knut opens a prison map on the screen. Honorée's location shows up as a red dot beyond its borders, on the island.

I am speechless - I too thought the fairy barrier surrounding this prison was unbreakable. As Yelen and Annabelle have told me, its creator is the headwoman of the fairy district, Nanny - an old honeybee deviant. Even though she is a fairy, she is quite ferocious. It is all a fancy name, really - fairies are actually simple zoomorphs who have insect wings and can turn into insects at will. That's the only "magic" they can ever perform. Nanny, however, is an elemental, and elementals are generally stronger than normal deviants. 

Honorée must be really something if she's managed to break through Nanny's barrier so easily. The photo of hers that showed up on Knut's screen earlier portrayed a kid who wouldn't be older than twelve. If that is truly her, I guess she's infected by quite some rare dust. To only think someone could break out of here, especially such a young child! I fully cheer for her. She's given me the hope that I too can manage to escape someday if I put my heart into it.

"Knut, she's getting away as we speak. We'll need to wake the warden," Bob suggests. He too has become very nervous now that he sees how far the red dot is from the prison borders.

"Not yet, we won't," Knut replies. "Is Terry aware?"

"I told him to go after her before I'd come to you."

"Good."

Knut pushes another button on the remote control. Now, some blue dots appear on the screen along with the red one. One of them is bigger than the others. They are fussing around and chasing after the red dot. I can only assume they show the locations of Terry and his canine subordinates who are after Honorée.

Let her only escape! I hope she will be the first to do so. Then, these deviants will learn we are not to be underestimated. Humans too will know we value freedom just as much as they do, and we will do everything to regain it. Honorée's success will be an inspiration for all of us. We might even manage to perform a massive prison break if she is the first one to prove it is actually possible.

Knut and Bob stare at the screen in worry. The red dot is getting farther and farther away. The blue dots are moving slower.

Bob's pager beeps. He grabs it and answers:

"Yes? Ah!" he turns to Knut, "It is Terry."

"What's he saying?"

Bob listens to Terry through the pager. 

"Oh... okay, I'll tell him."

He turns the pager off with a grim look. 

"Well?" Knut loses his patience.

"He says they can't catch up. Even Clara's having problems. Honorée has the speed of a true firefly."

"Damn it!"

Knut snarls. He walks up and down, his face gone flared-up. I can tell he's really pissed.

The red dot has gone far enough from the prison borders. Just a little more and it will vanish from the screen - Honorée will be free. I smile almost against my will - finally, a prison break will have succeeded.

"There is no other way, Knut - we need the warden," Bob says.

Knut glances at the screen. The blood vessels strain on his temples. He blows through his nostrils as he watches the red dot's scampering away.

"Knut, we_"

"Shut up!" 

He tucks the remote control into Bob's hands. Then he casts a faint glance at me. To my greatest stupor, apart from the rage that's overtaken him, I can read some unexplainable sorrow in it. He turns around and walks through the red door built into the wall oppositely to my bed.

Bob smiles at Knut's behaviour and approaches the computer screen:

"Now then, it's time for the runaway to be punished..."

"Huh? Why? Where did Knut go?"

Bob glares at me. Before he can reply, though, unusual siren calls throughout the entire facility, and a robotic announcement follows, which answers to all of my questions:

"Lockdown activated. The prisoners are required to remain in their cells. The prison personnel, please, return to your offices. The warden has awoken! We repeat: the warden has awoken!"