Hunted (30 page)

The door clicked and Holly walked in. I shot to a sitting position, but then a wave of dizziness crashed over me and I leaned forward and put my head between my knees. Holly was silent as I sat there, waiting for the dizziness to subside. While my head hung down, I fiddled with my glasses, turning on the camera. After a minute the dizziness faded and I slowly lifted my head and looked at her.

“Are you feeling okay, Morgan?”

“Not really.” I almost said she shouldn’t be surprised, but I didn’t want to give away the fact that I knew the power bars had an addictive drug in them.

She sat on the bed across from me. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

I didn’t speak, but thought,
No you’re not
.

“Have you come to a decision?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Her eyebrows went up. “And?”

“I’m not going to tell you anything.”

She smiled. “I was afraid of that.”

Then why was she smiling? That really creeped me out.

“You may want to reconsider, Morgan. After all, you’re going to be here for a very long time. If you cooperate, your stay could be much more pleasant.”

That was a loaded statement.
Could be
much more pleasant. No guarantees there. And
much more pleasant
, but that didn’t mean it would actually
be
pleasant. And how did I even know she would keep her word if I did cooperate? I shook my head. “No.”

She sighed and stood. “Have it your way.” Then she left the room.

My heart pounded. The last time I’d heard those words I’d been in the gym at Camp Willowmoss ignoring Austin’s command to go faster on the elliptical and he’d brought in a pair of Enforcers—including Hansen—to discipline me for not obeying Austin. Now
that
had been less than pleasant.

A moment later Holly was back and she had two Enforcers and a woman in a lab coat with her. Panic flooded my veins and I jumped up, ready to flee. I frantically sized up the situation, looking for a means of escape, but the four people in front of me completely blocked the door. The room wasn’t very big to begin with, but with them and me in the space, there was no room to maneuver, assuming I could outmaneuver the Enforcers.
 

But I had to try. I couldn’t just stand there and take whatever they were about to dish out. I bolted to the right, but one of the Enforcers stepped into my path—the one named Mills. With adrenaline pumping through me, I shoved him, but he hardly moved. Instead he grabbed one of my wrists and twisted my arm behind my back, bringing me to my knees.

“That hurts,” I cried out. “Let go.”

“Morgan,” Holly said in her usual calm voice. “Remember that you wanted this.”

At that moment I wanted to scratch her eyes out and see how calm she felt about that. Then something cold and metallic pressed against my neck and I immediately knew what it was. I tried to brace myself for the shock, but by the time I registered that they’d put a stun gun to my neck, I was already collapsing to the ground. The Enforcers lifted me from the floor and dropped me onto the bed, then turned my head so that the back of my neck was exposed.

I was paralyzed, but I could still feel the cold wetness of a something being wiped across my neck. Then I felt a pinprick, and a moment later, numbness. I thought maybe they were done with whatever they were doing, but then I felt pressure as something was injected into the base of my skull. My eyes widened in horror as I stared at the wall.
What had they just done to me?
I felt fingers smoothing something against my skin, then nothing.

“You’ll be fine, Morgan,” Holly said.

The door opened and a moment later closed, and all was silent. When the effects of the taser wore off, my hands reached for the back of my neck, where I felt a strip of bandage taped to the place where someone—I assumed the woman in the lab coat—had inserted something under my skin. I pulled the bandage off and grimaced. The spot was tender to the touch. Even so, I pressed the area, trying to tell what they’d done. I felt a small lump, but that told me nothing. The lump was bigger than the one on my arm, so what was it for? The one on my arm was to track my whereabouts. What did this one do?

Chapter Thirty

Worried now about what kind of technology they’d put into my body, I slowly sat up. I remembered to turn off the camera, although I was beginning to wonder if it even mattered at this point. Was anyone getting the video of what was happening? Did anyone care?
 

I looked around and the first thing I saw was a tray sitting on my desk. A tray with six power bars and an empty paper cup. I took the paper cup and went into the bathroom, filling it with tap water. I gulped it down, then filled it again and drank that too. I set the cup on the small counter and went to the window, staring outside, trying to pretend six power bars were not within my grasp.

Nausea welled up inside me, but I stared defiantly out the window. I would hold out for as long as I could. I
had
to. Instead, I thought about what Holly had said earlier, how the people in charge were deadly serious.
Deadly
. What had she meant by that? Were they willing to kill for what they wanted? Were they willing to kill
me
if I didn’t cooperate? Would whatever they inserted into my neck kill me? I reached up and touched the lump again. Was it possible to get it out? All I felt was a tiny hole where the woman had done the insertion—too small for me to dig around and pull the object out.

I went back into the bathroom to see if there was anything I could use to cut it out—after all, Billy and I had managed to get the chips out of our arms before. Of course we’d taken them out of each other, not ourselves. The bathroom held a metal toilet, a sink bolted to the wall with a mirror-like wall-hanging above it, and a shower. Nothing that I could use to get the chip, or whatever it was, out. And nothing I could use as a weapon.

Then I searched the bedroom, but found nothing useful there either. I sat on the bed and felt the lump again. It was about the size of a bean and just as hard. The more I pressed on the spot, the more it hurt. I held my fingers against it and thought about the deal Holly had offered me. If I told her what I knew, she would let me out of this room. I had no desire to mingle with the other inmates, but if I couldn’t leave this room I’d have zero chance of escaping.

I set my hands in my lap and tried not to think about what might be lurking at the base of my skull. But then my thoughts went to the power bars sitting on the tray, mere feet away. My gaze drifted over to them, but I turned my head and looked the other way.

Maybe I should flush them down the toilet, I thought. Then eating them wouldn’t be an option. But just the thought of doing that made my head pound. I pressed the heels of my hands against my forehead, trying to massage away the pain, but the pain stubbornly refused to leave. Then the nausea hit me again. I curled up on my bed, trying to will away my misery, but either my will was too weak, or my body’s reaction was out of my control.
 

Recalling how eating a power bar had eased the symptoms the last time this happened, I considered that solution. I’ll only eat half a bar, I bargained with myself. Just enough to make the symptoms go away. But that’s all.
 

Convinced I had no other choice, I got off the bed and walked over to the desk. I placed my hands on either side of the tray and leaned forward, studying the bars. Whoever had set the tray on the desk had arranged the bars in a perfectly symmetrical formation, spacing them evenly.
 

I picked up the one on the far left and snapped it in half. The scent wafted to my nose, and my mouth watered in anticipation. Using extreme self-control, I set one half back on the tray, and picked up the other five bars, then put the five and one-half bars in my closet under my clothes. I hoped if they weren’t visible, I’d be less tempted to eat them.
 

Then I picked up the half bar, carried it to my bed, and sat down. I slowly unwrapped the paper and when it was out of the packaging I ate the entire thing, savoring each bite. When it was gone, I lay on my bed and waited to see if my withdrawal symptoms would go away. After a little while they did and I felt good that I had only eaten half a bar.

The appetite suppressant did a pretty good job of assuaging my hunger. As much as I wanted the other half of the bar—and I couldn’t keep from picturing it tucked under my clothes—I resisted the urge to get up and eat it. Instead, now that I didn’t feel sick, I thought about Holly’s deal. I already knew what would happen if I refused to help her—I’d be in this room, just me and the power bars, for days, and weeks, and months.

But what would happen if I accepted the deal? If I told her what I knew? I mentally listed the possibilities: I’d be able to leave this room, I’d have a chance to scope this place out and think of a way to escape, I’d be able to eat something other than just power bars.
 

There was a flip side to that. What if the information led to Jack and Dani’s capture? What would these people do to them? What if they made Jack and Dani confess what
they
knew? Of course they knew much more than I did and what they knew would most likely hurt other resistance groups. So it wouldn’t just be Jack and Dani who would be stopped, but potentially other resistance groups as well—assuming Jack and Dani weren’t killed outright.

Then I considered what information I actually had: I knew what Jack and Dani looked like, I knew the names of the other people living at Jack’s house, I knew what Jack and Dani’s ultimate goal was—to change the hearts and minds of the people, which would lead to changing the laws regarding the government’s control over everyone’s weight—but I didn’t know where they lived and I didn’t think I could figure it out.

I was torn. This was the hardest decision I’d ever had to make. What did the pledge say? That I would strive to put the good of all above the desires of one? But I didn’t believe that, right? I just said the words because I had to. If I were to put my own desires first, I’d take the deal in a heartbeat.
 

I closed my eyes, not able to think about it anymore. When I next woke, it was dark outside. The lights were still on in my room, so evidently is wasn’t yet ten o’clock, but I had no idea what time it was. At this time of year it got dark pretty early, so it could very well have been early evening. In any case, I was really hungry and immediately thought of the power bars stashed in the closet.

Without much thought, I rushed to the closet and pulled out a full bar, then stopped and looked at it before deciding I wasn’t willing to starve to death. I ripped it open and scarfed it down, then went into the bathroom and kept filling the paper cup with water, then drinking it until I was so full that I couldn’t drink another drop.

At least I wouldn’t be tempted to eat another power bar for a little while. I hoped that keeping the drug consumption to a minimum would also minimize the effect of the drugs. And hopefully drinking lots of water would dilute the effect as well. I looked out the window, straining to see anything. The lights in the parking lot were on, and there were still about a dozen cars parked there, but no one was coming or going.

I trudged back to the bed and sat down, feeling more bored than I had in ages. What I wouldn’t give for a book—I wouldn’t even mind a boring textbook at that point. Anything to keep my mind occupied.

I decided to do some exercises—no point in sitting around the entire time—so I did some push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks. I even ran in place. With no one forcing me to do it, I found I enjoyed moving my body and didn’t mind working up a sweat so much.

Eventually the lights turned off and I couldn’t see anything. I went back to the window and stared outside. A little while later I saw a few people appear in the lamplight as they walked to their cars, got in, and drove away. I wondered if Holly was among them and I hated her with a loathing I’d never felt before.

When it seemed no one else was going to leave, I made my way to the bathroom and got ready for bed, then slipped inside the covers and tried to sleep. I’d slept a lot that day, which made it harder to fall asleep. I occupied my mind with the memory of escaping with Billy and how frightening yet exhilarating that had been.
 

As I thought about Billy, I wished I’d listened to him about the risk I was taking in going back into the lion’s den. He’d tried to warn me that the chances of success were low, but I wouldn’t listen. Had it been worth it? Well, Amy was free, and that had been my main motivator, so I didn’t completely regret my choice.

I thought about how difficult it was for Amy in Camp Willowmoss, how depressed she’d been, how people had bullied her, and how Austin had tried to recruit her to be his special friend. Yes, it was good that I was able to get her out of there, even though I found myself here now.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, the sun was streaming in through the window, making funny shadows on the carpet because of the bars partially blocking the light. I rubbed my eyes and sat up and immediately noticed that the tray from the day before had been replaced by a new one. I could tell it was new because there was a new paper cup, and more power bars.

I threw back the covers and walked over to the desk, examining the offering. Nine power bars were set in groupings of three—I guess to show that they were meant to be three per meal. I closed my eyes and tried to stay focused on what was important—staying in control of my mind. I knew I’d have no choice but to eat
some
of the power bars. But certainly not all nine. I would be high as a kite if I ate all of those.

My heart began to pound as I considered the state these people wanted me to be in. They
wanted
me to be stoned on their drugs, dependent on them for more and more power bars. Well, I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. I made sure the four and a half power bars were still hidden under my clothes, then I took the nine and brought them to the bathroom.

One by one, I unwrapped them, broke them into smaller pieces, and flushed them down the toilet. When all nine were gone a feeling of liberation flowed over me. I would have to ration the four and a half bars in my closet, but I knew I didn’t have to worry about losing my self-control and eating too many bars in one day.