Hunted (6 page)

He smiled. “I see you’ve found our library.”

I set the book on the shelf. “Yes.”

“Feel free to read whatever you’d like.”

“Thanks.”

“Tracy shared your information with me. I’d like to hear more about it.” He motioned toward a chair. “Please have a seat.”

“Okay.” I sat in the chair nearest me and he and Tracy sat as well.

“Tell me more about these power bars they fed you at the F.A.T. center.”

“Well, when I first got there, we had the same power bars that I’d had at school. But a week ago they brought in a new kind. They tasted better and we were told that they had a new appetite suppressant that was supposed to work better.”

“Interesting.”

“We were also told we’d be given two at each meal. With the old power bars we were given just one at each meal.”

“And did everyone eat them?”

“Of course. We ate everything they gave us, otherwise we’d be hungry.”

“Tracy said you only had power bars sometimes. Was that typical?”

I thought back to the week before when I’d made a deal with Beth to give her my power bars if she would leave me alone. “No. It was a punishment for me.”

“Punishment? For what?”

I still felt embarrassed about the whole thing, but decided to tell them anyway. What did it matter now? “There was this girl who was bullying me and she said she’d leave me alone if I gave her my power bars, so I hid mine in my room. I’m not sure why, but one of the workers searched my room and found them. At the nightly counseling session I was told that since I hadn’t eaten my power bars, I’d get
only
power bars for the next two days.”

Jack leaned forward in his chair, listening intently.

“At first I thought it was a punishment because they didn’t let me eat any regular food,” I continued. “But then I found out that they put drugs in the power bars that make them addictive and make you more compliant, and that’s when I realized they were experimenting on me.”

“Experimenting on you?” Tracy said, shocked. “What do you mean?”

“I didn’t know of anyone else who wasn’t getting any regular food but instead only got power bars. And then, on the second day of my restricted diet, Dr. Bradley drew blood from everyone in my counseling group.”

“This is unbelievable,” Jack said, sitting up straight.

“But how do you know they’re addictive?” Tracy asked.

“Well, on Monday…” I paused and shook my head. Was it only four days earlier that I’d found myself craving the power bars? “On Monday, the second day when I only got the power bars, I really began craving them. I even stole a few from a storage room so I could have them later.” I looked at their faces to see if I could tell what they thought of me for stealing, but they seemed to be too caught up in my story to care about that.
 

“Later that day I ate a couple of the ones I’d taken earlier and I remember feeling really weird. Kind of mellow and like I didn’t care about anything. Then, that night at the counseling session Mrs. Reynolds told me I could go back to eating normally the next day and I would only be given one power bar at each meal.”

Tracy shook her head. “Wow. I can’t believe they played with you like that.”

I thought about the Saturday Challenge and the pit of live spiders I’d been forced to step in and wondered what Tracy would think about that. I decided to hold that story back for another time—there was only so much of the craziness that someone could take in at once.

“But how do you know for sure that the power bars are addictive?” Jack asked.

“The next day I overheard two workers talking about it. That’s how I found out. And then, once I knew they were addictive, I didn’t eat my power bar at breakfast, but put it in my pocket instead. I couldn’t just throw it away because then they’d know I didn’t eat it. But then a little while later I started feeling really sick—shaky and sweaty. I ended up eating the power bar and I felt better after that.”

Tracy and Jack looked at each other, shock clear on their faces. “Were you able to stop eating them after that?” Tracy asked.

“I wanted to, but then at lunch, Enforcers came in and made sure everyone ate their power bars before they left the cafeteria.”

“I can’t believe this,” Jack muttered as he shook his head.

“What happened after that?” Tracy asked, clearly captivated.

“In the counseling session that night, Mrs. Reynolds gave me four power bars—she said it was to make up for the fact that I’d only been given one at each meal that day instead of the two everyone else got—and she told me to eat them immediately.”

Tracy gasped. “And did you?”

I thought about how worried I’d been about eating four all at once when I knew what the government had put in them. “I didn’t have a choice. What was I supposed to say? ‘I know these have drugs in them so I won’t eat them’?”

“What did it do to you?”

“I felt like I was drunk and then the next day I overslept and was late for my shift in the kitchen. But the weird thing is, when I got there, my supervisor said she’d been told I’d be late and that it was okay.”

“I think you’re right, Morgan,” Tracy said. “They
were
experimenting on you.”

I nodded.

“Why do you think they chose you?” Jack asked.

“I guess because I was one of the criminals. And I guess because it just worked out that way when I’d hidden the power bars in my room.”

“Did you get sick the morning after you had the four power bars?” Jack asked.

“Well, first my counselor, Mr. Madsen, had me come to his office. When I was there I started having withdrawals again. He gave me a power bar, which made me feel better, and then he told me I could have as many as I wanted if…”

“Yes?” Tracy asked. “If what?”

I looked toward the hallway. “Billy doesn’t know about this and I really don’t want him to.”

“Okay,” Jack said. “We won’t tell him.”

I hesitated, but decided to trust them. “Mr. Madsen said he would give me all the power bars I wanted if I gave him information.”
 

“What kind of information?” Tracy asked.

“Just anything about the other kids. And he said I had until the next day to give him information and if I didn’t, there would be other incentives.”

“What do you think he meant?” Tracy asked.

“I don’t think he meant the incentives as a good thing, probably more like punishments, but I really didn’t want to find out.”

“What did you tell him?” Jack asked.

“What could I do? I agreed.” I saw the looks of worry on their faces. “But I wasn’t really going to tell him anything. By then, Billy and I were ready to escape.” I smiled in remembrance. “And that night, we did.”

“I’d like to hear about that,” Jack said.

“But not right now,” Tracy said. “I’m sure Morgan’s worn out from all she’s been through.”

That was certainly true.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Kelly said as she walked into the room.
 

We all looked toward her. She had a big smile on her face.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“Dani’s here.”

Chapter Six

Jack and Tracy immediately stood, so I did too. I followed them into the family room where a woman dressed in scrubs sat on one of the chairs chatting with Mitch and Nathan. Her blond hair was pulled into a ponytail and she looked like she was in her thirties.

“Jack,” Dani said when we entered the room. “So good to see you.” She stood and accepted a hug from Jack, then Tracy, then her gaze went to me. “I don’t believe we’ve met.” She held out her hand. “I’m Dani.”

I shook her hand, which was soft and warm. “I’m Morgan.”

“Oh. I didn’t recognize you, but I’ve heard you mentioned on TV once or twice.” She smiled when she said it, like she was being sarcastic.

I wondered how much they were talking about Billy and me on the news. “Brynn changed my hair and make-up.”

“She did a good job.”

I smiled, pleased that the disguise seemed to be working.

“I’m glad you found us.” She paused, a questioning look on her face. “How did you find us, anyway?”

“A woman Billy and I met, Mrs. Duncan, gave us your names and numbers.”

“Oh, I remember Sally Duncan. Very nice woman.”

I nodded, thinking how generous she’d been to Billy and me. Even letting us take her son’s motorcycle without knowing for sure if we’d be able to get it back to her—and now it didn’t seem very likely that we would be able to.

She touched the bandage on my arm. “What happened here?”

“We had to cut out the tracking chips before we could escape.”

“I thought that might be what it was from.” She walked to the kitchen table and picked up a backpack. “I’d like to take a look at it, if you don’t mind.” She smiled. “I’m a nurse, in case you were wondering.”

“I’d like you to look at it. It’s been two days and it kind of hurts.”

“Sit on the couch and I’ll take a look.”

After I sat down, she sat on the coffee table, then carefully removed the bandage, which stuck a bit to the wound.
 

“What did you use to remove the chip?” she asked.

“We had a small knife, but we wiped it with an alcohol wipe before we cut out the chip. And then we put antibiotic ointment on the wound before we put the bandage on it.”

“You had to cut into your arm to remove the chip?” Nathan asked. “Didn’t that hurt?”

“Yes, it hurt a lot,” I said. “But it was better than getting caught.” I looked at the faces of those around me and realized they really had no clue what we’d been through.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” Dani said as she examined my arm. She cleaned the wound and put some ointment on it, then put a fresh bandage on it. “I have some antibiotics that you can take, to help prevent infection.” She pulled a bottle out of her backpack and gave me instructions on how much to take.

“Billy will need you to check his too,” I said as I took the bottle of pills from her.

“Where is he?”

“Right here,” a voice said from the hall.

I looked in his direction and barely recognized the boy who had constantly been by my side for the last two days. His hair had been dyed a reddish brown and Brynn had attached clip-on hair extensions and brushed his hair across his eyes. I normally didn’t like long hair on boys, but she had done a good job and he looked really cute with long hair.

“What do you guys think?” Brynn asked.

“It looks great, Brynn,” Tracy said.
 

“What do you think, Morgan?” Billy asked.

“I hardly recognize you.”

He didn’t seem to know how to take that. “Well, that’s good then.”

I glanced at Brynn, who was gazing at Billy with undisguised attraction, then said, “Dani needs to look at your wound. She’s a nurse.”

“Who?” he asked.

“Billy,” Jack said, motioning to Dani, “This is Dani.”

“Hi, there,” Dani said.

“Hey,” Billy said.

He seemed hesitant and I wondered if she made him think of Dr. Bradley from Camp Willowmoss. “Sit on the couch,” I told him.

He did as I asked and Dani sat next to him and removed the bandage.

“This one looks pretty good, too,” she said. “You two did a good job.”

“Morgan’s the one who got the first-aid kit,” Billy said, smiling in my direction.

His attention warmed me and I wondered if I liked him more than a friend. We’d been through so much together, it was hard for me to separate any romantic feelings for him from the gratitude I felt.

Dani finished taking care of Billy’s arm, then moved to a chair.

“Morgan told us some interesting information just before you arrived,” Jack said to her.

“Is that right?”
 

Everyone’s eyes shifted to me. I looked at them, but stopped on Billy, who had his eyebrows raised in question. “I told them about the power bars,” I said, and he nodded.

“What about power bars?” Nathan said. “We eat them all the time.”

“Not like these,” Billy said.

Talking about them made me realize how hungry I was. We hadn’t eaten since the day before, and that hadn’t been much. “Before we talk about that, would you mind if we ate something? We haven’t eaten in a while.”

“Of course,” Tracy said, immediately standing. “I should have asked if you guys were hungry.” She walked into the kitchen. “We made a run recently, so we’re fully stocked. What sounds good?”

Thick slices of bacon, and fluffy pancakes drowning in syrup sounded great, but I doubted they would have that. “Whatever is easy is fine.”

Tracy opened the refrigerator and pulled out some items. “How about some eggs and wheat toast?”

My mouth watered at the suggestion. “Sounds great.”

A short time later Billy and I had eaten and I felt new energy. Billy sat on one of the chairs and I sat on the couch.

“Now,” Dani said, “Tell us about the power bars.”

I went through the story again, although I didn’t mention the deal Mr. Madsen had made with me to give him information—not with Billy listening. When I looked at the faces of those listening—especially Brynn, Mitch, Nathan, and Kelly—I could tell that they were pretty shocked, and once again I thought how they had no idea what it was really like to be locked up in a F.A.T. center.

“I’d heard rumors,” Dani said, “But this is the first confirmation I’ve had.”

“Can we use this to help our cause?” Tracy asked.

“We would have to have some sort of proof,” Jack said. “People aren’t just going to take our word for it.”

“How can we get proof?” Brynn asked.
 

“That’s a good question.” Dani looked at me, then at Billy.
 

I didn’t know what she wanted from us, so I didn’t say anything.
 

But Billy wasn’t afraid to speak up. “We don’t have any proof,” he said.

Dani smiled. “I’m not asking you to provide any. What I would like to know is if you think you can get any.”

My heart pounded. What was she saying? That we go back to Camp Willowmoss and get some power bars?
 

“How do you suggest we do that?” Billy said.

When Billy spoke he was cool as ever, but I suddenly felt sick and hoped I could keep down the meal we’d just eaten.