The Misfits

Elias

Elias spent his time between the rec room with Jocelyn and sometimes Halley, and the rec room with the other kids – lately it had been all of them, instead of a handful.

It was really only a difference of four now that Peg had Elias, Enya, Joss, and Halley on a more or less permanent schedule.

Add in four others, that left four.

Keeping an eye on, even remotely, the kids wasn’t too difficult. Elias began talking to the kids, starting with the older ones, feeling them out for any possible collusion with Peg or the Facility.

He already had Enya on the list and some of the kids admitted to reporting to Peg but had nothing really for her.

Elias told them they could continue doing so, but if he told them not to tell her something, then to keep it a secret.

Without giving anything away, he told the older ones that he was headway on getting them all out of there. He told each a little something different, so if Peg came to him with it, he would know where it came from.

One night, while Halley was staying with him, he managed to hack into the security system enough to gain access to a schematic of the floor plans. It was electronic, so it showed the labs, the rooms, the security doors, the admin section as well as housing areas for the staff.

This was a find, but the bonus was it had labels for the kids in the rooms.

As long as it was accurate, and it seemed to be, as he found himself and Enya, then he knew how to get around. He would have to study it to come up with a plan to escape.

The kids were all spread out, which would make it a bit more difficult, but he would do it somehow.

“What are you doing?” a voice asked, and Elias jumped.

Turning around he saw Halley behind him, rubbing her eyes.

He stood and picked her up. She put her arms and legs around him, putting her head on his shoulder.

He rubbed her back and said, “Getting closer to getting out of here. What are you doing up?”

“Have to pee.”

He walked her over to the toilet, waited for her to finish and was her hands, then picked her back up and walked to the bed, laying her down in it.

She started to complain when he left, and he told her he’d be right back. He closed down his hacks and slipped into bed with her, and she quickly fell back asleep.

He took longer, as his mind was going over plan after plan to get them all out.

The next day was a workout day, and Elias met Jocelyn in the rec room. The excess weight was quickly shedding, and Joss wasn’t hesitant over taking off her scrubs any longer.

Of course, she had become more comfortable around Elias even without losing weight, but her self-esteem and self-image grew as her excess weight dropped.

Elias’s bruises had faded so he took off his top and pants, to work out in his shorts.

They started like usual, doing stretches to warm up. Then they ran two miles on the treadmills, before moving to the resistance band machine. There, they worked out their arms, shoulders, and chests, before moving to do sit-ups.

They did these side-by-side until Joss started to fall behind. Elias moved around in front of her, holding her feet and taking her hands.

She continued until she couldn’t do anymore. Elias didn’t let go of her hands. He pushed his way between her legs, and bent over, raising her arms above her head, laying on top of her.

She was three inches taller, so this left them eye-to-eye.

Joss grinned and didn’t fight the fact that she was pinned under him, or that he had her hands captive.

He laced his fingers into hers and smiled back. She wrapped her legs around him.

“Well, you got me, but I got you,” she said grinning. “Are you coming on to me, Elias?”

“No. Well, that wasn’t my intention, but yes.”

“So, um, why are we in this suggestive position?” she asked, tightening her legs around him.

“Because I had to tell you something. And I wanted to kiss you.”

“I’m all sweaty,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“So am I,” he said, kissing her lightly. “I was able to get into a layout of this place last night. I’m one step closer to getting us out of here.” He kissed her again.

“That’s good news,” she said frowning slightly.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Liar. Tell me. I want to know.”

“When we get out of here, I won’t see you anymore.”

“Nonsense,” he said, kissing her again.

“You’ll go home, and I’ll go… Well, I still have nowhere to go,” she said, blinking a tear out of her eye.

Elias watched it run down the side of her face. “You’ll come with me of course,” he told her.

“Elias… let’s be honest. Your parents won’t allow that. And if the authorities get involved, they will take me back to my mom. Even if she doesn’t want me, child services will take me away.”

“I won’t let that happen. We’ll find a way. I won’t let you go back to the hell you came from.”

“I never told you why I got fat,” she said.

“You were never fat.”

“Whatever. When I first came here, I weighed like eighty pounds. Around as much as Halley weighs. I was malnourished from being on the streets, and then from being starved when being held captive. When I got here, they fed me, and I got whatever I wanted, and as much as I wanted, as long as I did what they asked. I had given up on life in general, and figured that here, at least I had a roof, got fed and wasn’t… physically abused. So, I figured it was a better life than before, so I took it all in and became a good little pet.

“And then you came along. You were nice to me, and you cared about what happened to me. You made me care about myself. To be better and look better for you. And now that I finally care about something, I’m scared if we leave, I’ll lose you.”

Elias shook his head, rubbing his nose against hers. “I promise you won’t. No matter what, I’ll do whatever I have to, to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Joss squeezed her eyes shut. “I promised myself I wouldn’t…’ she said shaking her head. “Elias, I… I love you. I know you probably don’t feel the same, but I had to tell you.”

“Jocelyn Briggs, surprise. I love you too,” Elias stated, then kissed her, tightening his hands around hers.

They kissed for several minutes, and Elias pulled back just enough to talk. “Was that enough to convince you?” he asked, his lips gazing hers as he spoke.

“Um,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “It was a start, but maybe more convincing is the fact that you’re poking me.”

Elias tried to move away but she tightened her legs, pulling him back.

“I thought, um, you…” she shook her head. “With you, I want to. Someday. For now, I don’t want you going anywhere,” she said, neck stretching to kiss him.

Elias let go of her hands to put them into her hair, kissing her mouth, face, and neck.

She finally pushed him back and said, “If we don’t stop, I might just make love to you right here.”

“Right,” he said getting off of her, not able to hide his obvious condition.

“Pool,” she said, and he got up, pulling her up, and they both jumped into the pool.

They cooled off in the pool and Elias help her into him, lightly kissing the back of her neck, promising he wouldn’t leave her.

Cooling off, they went for a leisurely bike ride and then went back to their own rooms for the night.

Elias was alone that night and spent considerable time writing a worm program that would spread to all the security computers if it worked correctly.

He sent another email, this time giving a timeline of a month until taking over the leaderboard. Hopefully Kyle would get the reference.

Elias wasn’t sure what he might be able to do even if he did understand, since he didn’t even know where he was.

How was any help going to arrive to a place no one knew about?

Well, he thought, one problem at a time.

When he finished the worm, he worked on a web-based message board so he could post updates to others. All he had to do now was see if they could access it and hope the techs didn’t catch it.

He went to bed exhausted, but feeling good, and dreamed of being older, marrying Joss, and having several kids.