Hunted (4 page)

“So, will he help us?”

“He said to walk north on this street, then take the first left.”

“You know I don’t know which way is north.” I frowned, my lack of directional sense frustrating me.

He grinned. “Lucky for you, I do. Just keep walking straight.”

“I hope he’ll be here soon.” I glanced at the thinning number of students, who were all walking in the opposite direction. “I feel really exposed right now.” We walked in silence for a moment. “What were you doing with the phone at the end?”

“What do you mean?”

“After you finished the phone call I saw you doing something on the phone.”

“Oh yeah. I was just deleting any record of the phone call I made so it wouldn’t be visible on her phone.”

“Good idea.”

He smiled at me. “Thanks.”

A moment later a car pulled up next to us. I stiffened, ready to bolt, but kept walking like I belonged there. Billy was closer to the street than me and he ignored the car too, but it kept pace with us and after a moment the passenger window went down.

“Get in,” a girl called to us.

Billy and I both looked at her, but didn’t slow. She was about our age and had long auburn hair pulled into a ponytail, and dark eye-liner on both eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” she called out, clearly impatient.

Was she trying to trick us, like Tyler had the night before? My heart pounded in remembrance of the cold metal of the gun pressed against my neck.
 

“Jack sent me,” she said.

“It’s okay,” Billy whispered to me, then opened the passenger door and held it for me.

Still uncertain, I climbed into the passenger seat. Billy closed the door, then got in back. The moment he closed his door, the girl pulled away from the curb.

“I’m Brynn. And you must be Billy and Morgan.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, uncomfortable confirming my name.

“Relax,” she said, smiling, her perfectly straight white teeth framed by orange lipstick. “We’re here to help.”

I wasn’t sure who she meant by “we”, but at least she hadn’t pulled a gun on us, which was a positive. “Where are you taking us?”

She glanced at me, then at Billy. “You’ll see. We’ll be there in a while.” We rode in silence for several minutes.

“How’d you get to the school so fast?” Billy asked from the back seat.

“When Jack calls, you drop everything and go. I was the closest to your location, so he sent me.” She laughed. “That’s actually my school and I was on my way there anyway. Now I have a good reason to skip.”

“Do you have anything to eat?” I asked.
 

“Sorry. I don’t carry any food in my car. Don’t want to get caught with any unauthorized foods on school grounds.”

I frowned and wondered if she knew that I had been accused of passing out cookies on school grounds—a major offense in this world.

She glanced at me. “Don’t worry. We have some food where we’re going.”

“And where is that again?” Billy asked, leaning forward.

Brynn looked over her shoulder at Billy, then back at the road. “Like I said, you’ll see when we get there. I can’t exactly advertise where our safe house is.”

“Safe house?” I echoed, wondering what this group did and why they needed a place to be safe—and if we would be safe with them.

“Well, yeah. Where else did you think I’d take you? To the Enforcers?”

Not sure if she was joking, I tensed and reached for the door handle.
 

Billy set his hand on my shoulder and gently squeezed, which did little to reassure me. He wasn’t the one Hansen wanted to kill. “It’s okay, Morgan,” he murmured.

I twisted in my seat so I could see his face and spoke loud enough for Brynn to hear. “No. It’s not. We don’t know where we’re going or who these people are. We’re putting our lives in their hands.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic, Morgan?” Brynn asked, derision clear in her voice.

“Don’t call me that,” I spat out, anxiety making me overly sensitive. “You don’t even know me.” I stared at her, daring her to argue. “Have you ever even been to a F.A.T. center,
Brynn
?”

She glanced at me, seeming less sure of herself. “No.”

“If you’d experienced even a little of what I’ve gone through, you wouldn’t think I was being at all dramatic. In fact, you’d probably be sobbing like a baby at the mere idea of being caught by the Enforcers.”

“Whatever,” she muttered, staring straight ahead.

For a moment I wished she would have to go to Camp Willowmoss, just for a few days, just to get an understanding of what it was like. But then I immediately retracted that thought. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy—and supposedly she was trying to help us. My anger deflated. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I know it’s not your fault.”

She glanced at me, a small smile on her lips. “It’s okay.”

We drove in silence and I found my eyelids drooping. I wanted to stay awake. I didn’t trust Brynn—or anyone but Billy, for that matter—but I was too tired and eventually I fell asleep. A while later I woke to someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw Brynn leaning toward me.

“We’re here,” she said.

I lifted my head from the seat and looked around. All I saw were the walls of a garage. I had no idea where we were. I looked in the back seat and saw Billy just waking up.
 

Brynn got out of the car and came around to my door, pulling it open. “Come on. It’s time to meet Jack.”

Chapter Four

Billy and I followed Brynn through a door, which led to a small kitchen and family room. As soon as we walked in, several people swarmed around us, all of them talking at once. Alarmed, I put my hands up and tried to back away, but Billy was standing behind me and all I managed to do was back into him.

“Quiet down,” a loud voice boomed. “They just got here.”

I looked to see who belonged to the commanding voice and was surprised to see a man well into his sixties. A golden tan on his face and bald head gave him a look of health and vigor, and the clear blue of his eyes showed wisdom and intelligence.

The people who had mobbed us—it turned out there were only five—backed off a bit and stopped talking. The man walked over to Billy and me and smiled, his teeth slightly crooked. “I’m sorry about that. They’re just eager to know if you have any information.” He paused. “I’m Jack. And you must be Morgan and Billy.”

“Thanks for taking us in,” Billy said, stepping from behind me to stand next to me. “We were getting kind of desperate.”

“I imagine so, with those Enforcers after you.”

“We don’t have any information,” I blurted out, wanting to make that clear right away. I’d already been through that kind of deal with Mr. Madsen at Camp Willowmoss and I didn’t want to get comfortable here just to have Jack kick us out because we didn’t have anything useful to share.

Jack looked confused for a minute, then laughed. “They just want to know if you knew any of their family members at the F.A.T. center where you were kept.”

“Oh.”
 

“Which one were you at?” he asked.

“Camp Willowmoss.” When I said the name, I had to suppress a grimace. The name sounded so cheerful, so unlike the reality of the place. They all turned away, their faces filled with disappointment. With no news to share, I felt guilty, though I knew it was nothing I could control. “Sorry,” I muttered.

“No reason to be sorry,” Jack said, then turned to the assembled group. “Let’s go sit down.”

We all trooped into the family room and sat down—some on the couch, some on the floor. I sat next to Billy on the floor and tried to be unobtrusive.

Jack sat on a leather chair that gave him a clear view of everyone and for a moment I was reminded of Mrs. Reynolds and her counseling sessions. I shivered a bit at the memory of being humiliated over and over again.

“Why don’t you introduce yourselves to Morgan and Billy?” Jack said to the group. He looked at a young woman. “Let’s start with you, Kelly.”

Everyone looked at a woman in her early twenties who was slightly overweight. Her blond hair was short, and when she smiled, her eyes seemed to sparkle. “Like Jack said, I’m Kelly. I joined this little group a few months ago when I realized I’d gone over my approved weight and heard that the Enforcers would be coming to pick me up.” She looked away from us and stared at the floor and when she met our gazes again, her eyes shimmered with tears. “I haven’t had any contact with my family and I know they’re worried about me.” She nibbled on the inside of her lip and wiped at her eyes, then smiled. “Welcome.”

I felt my heart surge with empathy and had to blink to keep my own tears at bay.
 

“I’m Mitch.”

My gaze swiveled in his direction. I thought he looked like he was a couple of years older than me—maybe eighteen—and I also thought he was extremely good-looking. Light brown hair, a square jaw, and stunning eyes—blue irises rimmed with a darker blue.
 

“I’ve been with Jack for ten months. He took me in when I ended up on the streets—thanks to the Enforcers.” Anger flashed across his features. “When they came to take my mom away, I tried to stop them and they beat me.” He reached up and touched his arm. “They broke my collarbone and one of my arms.” He frowned. “As you can imagine, my mom was pretty upset, but they dragged her away anyway and left me unconscious on the ground.” He clenched his jaw. “I eventually healed, but within a few weeks the house had been sold to pay for Mom’s stay at the F.A.T. center and I was told to find another place to live.” He glanced at Jack. “I was wandering the streets and looking pretty ragged, but Jack took me in.” Mitch looked toward the woman sitting next to him, apparently done with his story.

I thought about when the Enforcers—Dimples and Hansen—had walked into my house, tasered me, and dragged me away. After hearing Mitch’s story, I was doubly glad no one else had been home to witness it. If one of my little brothers had tried to intervene and one of the Enforcers had hit him—and based on my personal experience with Hansen, I was sure he would have no problem hitting someone smaller and weaker than him—I didn’t know what I would have done. Of course I’d been paralyzed by the taser, so I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. The thought horrified me.

“I’m Tracy,” a woman in her thirties with long dark hair, said. “I’ve been helping Jack and his group for several years now. Ever since my husband died of a heart attack in a F.A.T. center when they forced him to exercise more than his body could take.”

I could certainly believe that. I’d experienced their ruthless exercise rules—two hours a day and no medical exam first to make sure I wouldn’t drop dead.
 

“I’m Nathan,” an overweight boy in his late teens said. “My family kicked me out before the Enforcers decided to bring me to a F.A.T. center.” His voice dropped to not much more than a whisper. “That way, they wouldn’t be held responsible for me.” Then he smiled and the volume of his voice increased. “But through some friends, I found Jack and he took me in.”

I looked at Jack. My admiration for the man grew with each story. He was willing to risk everything to help these people—to help us.

“You’ve already met me,” Brynn said. “My brother was recently released from a F.A.T. center, and after what he told me about it, I wanted to do something to try to stop what’s happening in our society. I think the rules are ridiculous, and I hate the pledge that we have to say at school every day.”

I smiled, happy to hear someone voice my feelings. I felt a kinship with the people in this group—they’d been through horrible experiences and understood how I felt. Although as I thought about it, not one of them had actually been
in
a F.A.T. center. Only Billy truly understood the horrors of the place. I glanced at the boy who had been by my side through the escape from Camp Willowmoss and the ensuing chase, and a feeling of warmth swept over me. Even though my attempt to get back home had failed, and even though I could tell he didn’t quite believe I’d come from a parallel universe, he’d stayed with me and kept me safe.

“What about you guys,” Brynn asked. “What’s your story?”

I glanced at Billy again, and he looked at me, but he didn’t say anything. “I’ll start,” I said, feeling a little more comfortable telling my story than I had when I’d first arrived at Camp Willowmoss. Surely these people would agree that what I had done wasn’t a crime, and just how absurd it was that I’d been sent to a F.A.T. center at all. “I was a few pounds over my allowed weight and then when I passed out a few homemade cookies at school, I was taken to Camp Willowmoss.”

“That was kind of risky,” Nathan said.

“It’s a dumb rule anyway,” Brynn said.

I smiled in her direction, glad to have her support.

“I didn’t know that’s what you did,” Billy murmured next to me.

My gaze shot to him and I realized I’d never told him about breaking that particular rule.

“Why’d you do it?” Mitch asked. “I mean, if you knew it could get you in trouble. Why do it at all?”

I looked at him and the faces of the others and knew some of them must think I was stupid for breaking such a basic rule. But what was I supposed to tell them?
I’m actually from a different world. One where it’s not only okay to share your food, but people actually give their neighbors cookies as gifts on holidays. And people appreciate it
. No, I couldn’t exactly tell them that. “I don’t know what got in to me.” Even among this group, there was clear disapproval of what I’d done. I guess the indoctrination was hard to overcome.

“What about you, Billy?” Kelly asked.

I turned to look at him, intensely curious about his story as well.

He shifted in his seat, obviously not liking being put on the spot. “I guess I broke a few rules and some people didn’t like it.”

“What kind of rules?” Brynn asked, clearly intrigued.

Billy looked in her direction, then looked at Jack. “I’d rather not get in to it right now.”

“That’s fine,” Jack said, coming to his rescue. “There’s plenty of time for that later.”

Yeah, right, I wanted to say. I’ve known him for almost two weeks and this is the most he’s ever said about his past.