Imprisoned (26 page)

She pushed my hand away and continued unwrapping it. “What are you talking about? They’re delicious and they keep me from feeling hungry. Plus, I really want to eat it.”

So do I
, I thought, and found my hand reaching toward my one power bar, but then picked up my spork instead and stabbed a piece of cantaloupe. “Piper, listen to me.”

She took a bite of the bar. “What?”

I leaned closer so I could lower my voice. “I overheard two of the women talking and they said there’s something addictive in those bars.
And
something that makes us obedient.”

She shook her head. “Why would they do that? That doesn’t even make sense.”

It made perfect sense to me. Create something that we crave, which will guarantee we eat it, add a pinch of behavior control, and voila, zombie-kids who will do whatever we’re told. Especially the troublesome kids like me. Yeah, I could totally see why the workers would like the idea. “Piper, I’m not making this up. I
heard
them.”

She finished the first power bar and began opening the second. She looked at me and shook her head. “Even if I believed you, which I don’t, what am I supposed to do with the food I don’t eat? Throw it away? And what would I put in my food journal?  You know there are consequences for not eating the food they give us. They’ve selected the exact foods that we need to be healthy.” Then she smiled at me. “A healthy me is a healthy world.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. She really seemed to believe what she was saying. “I’ve got homework to do. I’d better get going.”

“Aren’t you going to eat your power bar?”

I picked it up and put it in my pocket, which didn’t have much room with the first-aid supplies stuffed in there. “Of course. I want to be healthy.”

She nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

I left her sitting there finishing her meal and went to my room. Alyx wasn’t there—probably off with Austin—and I put the power bar in the box springs with the two from the day before. At least I’d have some to give Beth.

I took the first-aid supplies out of my pockets and set them on my bed. There were squares of gauze, antibiotic ointment, alcohol wipes, and several Band-Aids. I hoped that would be enough to get us through this.

Us
. Which us would it be? It sounded like Piper wasn’t going to try to escape after all. I fervently hoped that Billy was still in. What would I do if he backed out too? If I didn’t have any matches, I couldn’t start a fire. Plus I thought it would be easier if I had someone to help me cut the chip out of my arm. I wasn’t sure I could do it myself, but if Billy could do it for me, then I could do it for him.

Then I thought about the knife nestled in Piper’s box springs. Now that she had changed her mind about leaving, would she turn the knife back in? Even worse, what if she told someone about our plans? Maybe her caseworker had made a deal with her—if she turned over some information,
she
would get her time reduced. Quiet panic began to fill my chest. I had
to get that knife from Piper. Even more, Billy and I needed to move on our plan sooner, rather than later. Before our secret got out.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Deciding to talk to Billy at lunch, I turned my thoughts away from the escape—which was really stressing me out—and focused on doing something I could control. Sitting at my desk, I opened one of the textbooks I would be all too happy to burn and worked on my assignment. Half an hour later I started feeling shaky.

A bead of sweat appeared on my upper lip, though I wasn’t feeling hot at all. In fact, I felt chilled. Were these symptoms of withdrawal? I hadn’t had a power bar since the evening before. If I’d kept the pattern of the last two days, I would have had two or three by now. It seemed my body was telling me that it
needed
more of whatever drug the government had put in those tasty brown rectangles.

Not sure what to do to get through this, I wondered if I should eat just one to ease the symptoms. Or maybe half a bar. But no, I couldn’t take the chance of my mind getting foggy. I would just have to suffer through it. After another ten minutes I started to feel worse. I curled up on my bed, trying to think of something besides the power bars that were hidden directly below me, seeming to call to me to just have a bite, just one small bite.

I shivered and climbed under my covers, desperate to get warm, but that didn’t help. I had never felt so sick before in my life. They must have put something potent in those bars for it to have such an effect on me after only having them for a few days. True, I’d had
only
power bars for the last two days—and more than I was supposed to. How could I have been so stupid?

But that was what they wanted. They
wanted
us to become addicted to these things. These people were evil, plain and simple. The insanity of this world continued to shock me and I feared what else they might do.

I wondered if the other kids were feeling the effects as much as I was. Of course they had other foods they ate with their power bars, so the strength of the drug had probably been diluted.

As I lay there, feeling awful, the desire to eat one of the power bars stored directly beneath me became overwhelming. Without conscious thought, I found myself crawling onto the floor, reaching under the bed, and pulling out one bar.

I ripped open the packaging and took a large bite of the soft bar, hardly chewing before swallowing. Frantic for the sick feeling to go away, I gobbled down the rest of it and waited for relief. A few minutes later the terrible sickness I’d been feeling began to ease.

Extremely grateful to feel better, but deeply disappointed in myself that I couldn’t resist, tears filled my eyes and ran down my face. I
hated
the people in this world for what they were doing to me. The tears streamed down my cheeks for several minutes, until I was finally able to get myself under control. Then the other drug—the one that controlled our behavior—must have kicked in, because I began to feel calmer. Worried that my mind would become foggy or that my emotions would be blunted, I decided I
had
to control myself and not eat another power bar. Ever.

I grabbed the other two that were stashed under my bed, shoved them in my pockets, and went to Beth’s room. There was no answer when I knocked, but I had to get rid of these bars or I feared I would give in to temptation and eat them later.

I went into the bathroom and pulled open the drawer where Kiera had shown me supplies were kept. I opened one of the toiletry bags and placed the bars inside, then zipped it closed and put it in the very back of the drawer.

Yes, I would know the bars were there, but hopefully if I wanted to get them, knowing I would have to come into the bathroom would prevent me from doing it—at least until I could give them to Beth. Not knowing what else to do, I tried to forget they were there and went back to my room to work on homework until it was time for my next kitchen shift.

I worked my shift and when lunch time came I was anxious to talk to Billy to see if he’d had any luck getting the matches. Even more, I was eager to hear his commitment to our plan. After getting my food—I wanted to refuse when the worker placed the power bar on my tray, but was afraid the worker would report me—I went to our table. Everyone was there and I sat in the empty seat next to Cassidy.

Impatient to talk to Billy, I tried to catch his eye to see if he would give me some indication of whether or not he’d gotten the matches, but he seemed to be ignoring me. After several minutes of this, I finally said, “Hey, Billy. How’s it going?”

He looked at me. “Okay.”

“I’ll bet it’s nice to work outside. You know, out in the sunshine.”

“Yeah, I like it.”

When he said nothing more, I decided to wait until everyone else had left to ask him. Clearly, he didn’t want to give me a hint right now.

“What happened to your hand?” Cassidy asked, pointing to the bandage.

“She cut it this morning,” Piper said, then giggled.

I noticed she’d eaten her power bars before starting on the rest of her meal. Worried that she would give something about my plans away, I changed the subject. “Did you guys get all your homework done?”

Alyx and Cassidy glanced at each other, then looked at me. “Yeah,” Alyx said. “Why?”

I noticed Billy smirking as he focused on his food. He was smart enough to figure out that I was trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. “Just wondering,” I said.

“I didn’t,” Piper said, a look of worry on her face. “I should probably go and do it right now.” She picked up her tray, her food only half eaten—except the power bars, which she’d eaten first—and left our table.

“That was weird,” Cassidy said, as we all watched Piper walk away.

I glanced at the puzzlement on my friends’ faces. “I think you guys should know something.”

Cassidy shifted in her seat, seeming uncomfortable. “Is this something I’m going to want to know?”

Did she think I was going to tell them my escape plans? “This affects you, all of you, so yes, you’ll want to know.”

“Okay,” Cassidy said, though she seemed uncertain.

“This morning I found out that the power bars have drugs in them.”

Alyx’s eyes widened. “What?”

“What are you talking about?” Cassidy asked at the same time.

Billy squinted. “Does this have anything to do with them taking our blood the other night?”

I nodded.

“Take your blood?” Cassidy asked. “When did this happen?”

“During our counseling session,” Billy said, as he pushed his empty plate away, his two power bars still on the tray.

“Yeah,” I added. “They took a blood sample from every one of us.”

“So, what’s this about drugs?” Alyx asked.

“This morning I overheard two kitchen workers talking and they said the power bars have something in them that makes us addicted to them. Even worse, there’s a second drug that makes us compliant.”

Alyx looked shocked, but Cassidy shook her head. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Come on, Cass,” Alyx said. “Just before we came in here you said how much you wanted one of those bars.”

“So just because I crave something good to eat, I’m suddenly addicted to it?”

“I believe you,” Billy said, looking directly at me.

I smiled at him, pleased by his support.

“What are
they
doing here?” Cassidy said, looking at several Enforcers who were circulating among the diners, stopping at different tables and talking to the kids who were eating.

“I don’t know,” Alyx said.

A moment later we found out as one of the Enforcers came to our table. “You guys need to finish up. And make sure to eat your power bars.”

A chill danced up my spine at his command and I glanced at Billy, who was staring at the Enforcer.

“You got a problem, Foster?” the Enforcer said to Billy.

“No, sir.” Billy looked away.

“Good.” A moment later he went to the next table with the same message.

“How weird was that?” Cassidy said.

I raised my eyebrows, trying to convey
I told you so
. “Do you believe me now?”

“I guess.” Cassidy unwrapped one of her power bars and took a bite.

I leaned towards her and whispered urgently, “Then why are you eating it?”

“What am I supposed to do? He said we have to.”

I glanced at the Enforcer who had come to our table. He wasn’t watching us now, but as I looked around the room, I saw that others were. “Why do you think they’re suddenly making sure we eat them?”

“Maybe it’s not working as fast as they thought it would and they want to make sure everyone is eating them.”

I thought about my horrible experience earlier that morning and knew the bars were working fine—when they were the only thing you ate. I wondered if they had plans to take away the rest of our food so that the power bars would
be
the only thing we ate.

“Yeah, that could be,” Alyx said, as she ate hers.

As I stared at my power bar—thankful I only had one instead of the two everyone else had—I felt conflicted. On the one hand, I really wanted to eat it and rationalized that if I did, it wouldn’t be my fault—I would be punished if I didn’t eat it. On the other hand, I was terrified of giving in to my desire and having more of those drugs coursing through my veins.

I saw Billy unwrapping one of his bars and I looked at him. He frowned and shook his head slightly, then he took a large bite. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to tell me, then realized he probably didn’t want to draw the attention of the Enforcers onto us by not eating the bars. Knowing I faced the same danger, I unwrapped my power bar and took a bite. Despite my intention to not have any more, ever, I found myself enjoying every bite and finished it quickly.

“I’d better get back to work,” Billy said. He stood, then looked at me and gave a slight lift of his chin.

“Yeah, me too.” I stood and walked with him.

“I’m going to try to get the matches this afternoon,” he said in a near-whisper as we carried our trays.

“I got the first-aid supplies this morning.”

“That’s awesome.”

I grinned, feeling immensely proud of myself.

“What should we do about Piper?” he asked.

We dropped off our trays and I walked with him toward the elevators. “I don’t know. I think she’s out.”

“Yeah, I’d say she is definitely not on board.” We stopped next to an empty table, far enough away from the other kids and the Enforcers to not be overheard. “What about the knife? It’s in her room, right?”

“Yeah.” I paused. “I’ll see if I can get it from her.”

“Okay. See you at dinner.”

I watched as he walked away, then I went to the kitchen for my final shift.

I went to my classes but had a harder time than usual paying attention. My thoughts were on Billy and if he was having any success getting the matches. When dinner time rolled around, I went to the cafeteria and got my food—the portion sizes seemed smaller than usual and I wondered if that would be the new normal—then went to our table. Alyx, Cassidy, and Piper were there. Billy was not.