Hunted (3 page)

Like we cared.

He shifted in his seat and a moment later he spoke into his phone. “Have you changed your mind?” he asked. A pause. “Yeah, they’re with me now.”

I looked at Billy and he gave a tiny nod. I gripped the arm rest on the door with my right hand and squeezed the seat with my left and then shifted slightly to the right, away from the gun.

Billy stomped on the gas.

“Hey,” Tyler yelled from the back seat as he was thrown backwards.
 

Billy turned sharply to the right into the empty parking lot, then slammed on the brakes. I jerked forward, but the seatbelt held me in place. Tyler wasn’t so lucky. I heard his head slam into the back of the seat. I got my seatbelt off, threw the door open, and bounded out the door. When I glanced toward Billy’s side of the car, I saw he was still in the driver’s seat, struggling with his seatbelt. Then my gaze shot to the backseat and I saw Tyler slumped forward, but then he slowly moved his head, like he was trying to shake off his confusion. I raced to Billy’s door and pulled it open.

“It’s jammed,” he said, squeezing the seatbelt latch, trying to disengage it.

I looked over his shoulder at Tyler, who seemed to be coming out of his stupor, then pulled open the door to the backseat. My gaze was immediately drawn to Tyler’s hands as I looked for the gun, but he wasn’t holding it. Then I saw it on the floor behind the passenger seat—completely out of my reach.
 

Tyler must have seen it too, because he bent to reach for it.

That’s when I noticed the stun gun on his left hip. I reached over and snatched it from his hip. His fingers wrapped around the gun on the floor, and as he began to sit up, I pressed the stun gun against his side and squeezed the trigger. He stiffened and dropped the gun, then fell to his side.

I hooked the stun gun onto the waist of my jeans and glanced at Tyler’s gun, which had fallen back to the floor out of my reach.

“Forget it, Morgan,” Billy said. “He can’t use it right now. Just help me get this seatbelt off.”

I backed away from the rear of the car and went to Billy’s side.
 

“Hurry,” he said. “The Enforcers are probably on their way. When that idiot called them, they were probably able to pinpoint our location.”

As if to confirm Billy’s statement, the sound of approaching sirens pierced the quiet night. We wrestled with the seatbelt latch and it finally gave way. I jumped back and Billy sprang out the door.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said.

I glanced at Tyler, who was still motionless on the back seat, then followed Billy at a jog as he headed toward the dark shadows that lined the parking lot.

Chapter Three

We ran onward and the sound of the sirens increased in volume as they drew near the shopping center. I only hoped Tyler would be incapacitated long enough for us to get away.

“I sure wish we still had that motorcycle,” Billy panted.

“Maybe we can go back and get it from his house.”

Billy glanced at me. “I doubt it would still be there.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Enforcers probably confiscated it.” He glanced at me again. “Along with the backpack.”

I hadn’t thought of that. That backpack held the GPS device which had the coordinates for the tunnel that I would need to enter in six weeks. If I couldn’t find that tunnel again I’d be stuck in this awful world forever. I pushed the thought away—I had more immediate concerns. “Where are we going to go?”

“I’ve been thinking. The woman who let us use the motorcycle? Mrs. Duncan?”

“Yeah?”

“She gave you that paper with names on it. She said they would help us if we needed it.”

In my hurry to get to the tunnel, and then in our haste to get away from the Enforcers, I’d completely forgotten about the slip of paper. As we ran, I reached into my back pocket and pulled it out. I tried to read it, but there wasn’t enough light. I put it back in my pocket, comforted just to know it was there. “We need to get to a phone.”

We reached the end of the parking lot and turned down an adjoining street. I glanced back the way we had come and saw three Enforcement vehicles roaring up to Tyler’s car. Enforcement officers spilled out of the doors and swarmed Tyler’s car, guns drawn. Adrenaline flooded my veins. “Look, Billy.”

He saw what was happening, then immediately picked up speed.

With fear of capture giving me fresh energy, I had no trouble keeping up. A moment later we were past the shopping center and I couldn’t see what was happening with Tyler. I hoped that meant the Enforcers wouldn’t know where to look for us. Tyler had been lying down when we ran, so I hoped he didn’t know which direction we’d gone.

I was so tired of running. Not just the physical act—which was bad enough—but running from people who hated us and wanted to hunt us down and drag us back to the F.A.T. center. The place where they forced us to eat drug-laced power bars, and hit us when we didn’t exercise the way they wanted us to. Not to mention the cruel Saturday Challenge competition where I’d fallen into a pit of writhing spiders. Remembering that now, I shuddered with revulsion.

A few minutes later we found ourselves in a quiet neighborhood. I thought it must be about ten o’clock and my earlier exhaustion returned. Not only that, my mouth and throat were dry, but we didn’t have any water. Our water bottles were spilled out on Tyler’s floor—assuming the Enforcers hadn’t taken them. My earlier energy burst had been spent and I found myself having trouble keeping up with Billy. “Slow down,” I sputtered.

He changed his pace so that he was next to me. “Are you okay?”

I slowed even more. “Of course not. I’m wiped out, I’m thirsty, and we’ve got Enforcers trying to find us.”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” He slowed to a walk and glanced at the houses that lined both sides of the street.

I thought of the empty house we’d found the night before where we’d washed up in the faucet in the garage. “Maybe we can find an empty house again.”

“Maybe.”

The sounds of sirens pierced the night air and a shiver of dread tripped up my spine. “We’ve got to get off the street.” My voice was a whisper.

“I know.” He paused, then pointed. “Over there.”

I looked where he pointed and saw another house among the rest and it didn’t look empty. “Where?”

“See that shed in the backyard?”

I squinted in the darkness. “No.”

“Well, I can only see the roof, but there’s a shed there. Maybe we can sleep in there for a while.”

I imagined all the creepy crawlies that would certainly be in there and hesitated. Then I thought of Hansen getting his hands on me and decided a few bugs were preferable. “Okay.”

We headed toward the gate that led to the backyard and I fervently hoped no dog lived there. We paused at the gate but all was quiet and we didn’t see any lights on in the house. Billy opened the gate and I walked in first. The shed was right in front of us—we wouldn’t have to go past the back patio to reach it—but the door was on the opposite side from where we stood.
 

“Let’s go,” Billy whispered.

I followed him as we squeezed through the space between the fence and the shed. The size of the small structure reminded me of the hut that had led to the tunnel that had brought me to this world—about ten feet square—but this building was made out of plastic. We reached the double doors that led into the shed and saw no lock on the doors.
 

Billy opened one of the doors just enough for us to slip inside, then closed it behind us. I forced thoughts of dangling spiders out of my mind and tried to see into the darkness. A small window on one wall allowed a little bit of moonlight to trickle in, helping us to see. A lawn mower and other yard equipment were tucked against one wall. Shelves with neatly organized tools lined another wall.

“At least we picked a shed that’s not a mess,” Billy whispered.

“Yeah, but let’s hope the owner of the shed doesn’t come out here any time soon.”

“It’s dark out, so we’re probably okay.”

All I wanted to do was to curl up and sleep, but I didn’t relish the idea of sleeping on the hard floor. We had nothing, not even our backpack, to use as a pillow, and I tried to spot something that could make sleeping on the hard floor bearable. I looked around and found a folded tarp. After unfolding it enough that we could both lay on it, I set it on the floor and tried it out. It didn’t do much to cushion the hard surface, but it was better than nothing.
 

A moment later, I was sound asleep.

Bright sunshine spilling through the window woke me up. I cracked open one eye, and for a moment I wasn’t sure where I was, but then the chase of the night before came rushing back to me. I opened both eyes and turned my head to see Billy sleeping next to me. My back was stiff and I hadn’t slept well, but at least I’d gotten some sleep. I stared at Billy and wondered how long I should let him sleep. He looked so peaceful, but I felt the need to keep moving. After a few minutes I gently shook his shoulder. “Wake up,” I whispered.

His eyes shot open and he was instantly awake. “What’s wrong?”

I smiled. “Nothing.”

He smiled back sleepily and stretched. “Then why’d you wake me up?”

“We should get going before someone catches us out here.”

He sat up. “Yeah, you’re right.” He helped me fold the tarp and put it back where we’d found it, then he looked out the window. “I don’t see anyone.”

I knew getting out of the backyard was only the first step. We still had to go out onto the street. “Where are we going to go?”

“We need to call those people on that paper in your pocket.”

I pulled out the slip of paper Mrs. Duncan had given me and read the names out loud. “Jack and Dani.” I looked at Billy.
 

“We need to call them. I don’t know where else to turn.”

“Okay. But where will we get a phone?”

“I have some change from when I got gas. If we can find a pay phone, we can call them.”

I nodded, but I was terrified of going anywhere near crowds, and that seemed the most likely place to find a phone.
 

We slipped out the shed door and made our way to the gate, then out to the street. I figured it was about eight o’clock by then and I saw a few kids walking to school, including kids our age. We must have looked like we had slept in our clothes—probably because we had—but I hoped we sort of blended in.

“I guess there’s a high school around here,” Billy said quietly.

I nodded. “Maybe there’s a phone we could use there.”

“Good idea. We’d be less likely to stand out among a bunch of other kids our age.”

“Yeah, but we need to make sure we’re out of there before the bell rings or some teacher will probably drag us to the office for not being in class.” We trailed the kids in front of us and five minutes later a large building came into view. “There it is.” Tension made my stomach hurt—not to mention hunger.

As we walked among the kids streaming into the building, I hoped we would go unnoticed. Most of the kids were either texting or talking on their cell phones and I was tempted to snatch one of the phones and run off. We stopped at a drinking fountain and both took long drinks. As I waited for Billy to take his turn, I noticed several of the girls checking him out and I felt a sudden possessiveness toward him. He finished drinking and turned around. He must have noticed the girls looking at him too, because he smiled at them in his confident way, which made some of the singled-out girls blush.
 

“Hey,” he said to one of them who seemed especially thrilled to have his attention. “Can I borrow your phone for a sec?”

She hesitated, but finally held it out. “Sure.”

His smile grew. “Thanks.”

The girl smiled shyly and her gaze brushed over me before focusing back on Billy.

Even though I knew he was only flirting with her so he could use her phone, I still felt a flame of jealousy flicker to life.

“Michelle?” he said to me, his eyebrows raised and his hand held out.

At first I had no idea who he was talking to or what he wanted, then my face burned with embarrassment as I realized he was using my alias and he wanted the paper with the phone numbers. I fished it out of my pocket and handed it to him, feeling like an idiot for not catching on quicker.
 

I watched as he walked a few feet away where no one could overhear his conversation. His back was to me—and everyone else—but I could tell he was tapping in a number, then he pressed the phone to his ear. From his body language it looked like he was talking to someone, and after about thirty seconds he pulled the phone away from his ear, tapped a few more buttons, then walked back toward me and the girl. He handed her the phone. “Thanks.”

She took the phone from him and slid it into her back pocket. “Are you new here?”

Billy glanced at me, then looked at the girl. “Yeah.”

“What’s your name?”

He smiled. “Brian.”

“I’m Tiffany.”

“Hey.”

“We’d better get going, Brian,” I said, anxious to be on our way.

“What class do you have?” Tiffany asked, completely ignoring me.

“Uh, I don’t know. We have to go to the office and get our schedule.”

“Oh.” Her face lit up. “I’ll show you where it is.”

This had gone far enough. “That’s okay, Tiff,” I said, using the fake-friendly smile I’d learned at Camp Willowmoss. “We can find it on our own.”

Her gaze went to me and her smile vanished.

I grabbed Billy by the arm and steered him away. “Let’s go, Brian.” As we walked away, I glanced back at Tiffany and saw the scowl on her face, but she wasn’t following us, which was all I cared about.

Billy laughed. “What’s the rush? Didn’t you want Tiffany helping us?”

“Ha, ha.” I let go of Billy’s arm as we walked out of the building and away from the school. I noticed some of the kids looking at us—probably wondering why we were leaving. “So you talked to someone who can help us?”

“Yep. Talked to Jack. I told him Mrs. Duncan gave me his number and who we were. He’d seen us on the news, but still seemed a little wary of talking to me. I guess he wasn’t sure I was really who I said I was.”