Hunted (29 page)

He seemed to get a little impatient with my answer. “But where did you live? Like, what was the name of the city?”

I shrugged. “It was just at Jack’s house.”

He sighed. “Can you tell me what Jack and Dani look like?”

I described them as best as I could and he smiled, which made me feel good.

“Now, you had a friend at Camp Willowmoss. I believe his name was Billy. Is that correct?”

The mention of Billy caught my attention and an alarm bell rang somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, but I couldn’t quite grasp the importance of it. Instead, I thought about my friend Billy, and smiled. “Yes.”

“Did he live at Jack’s house too?”

I frowned, remembering the disagreements we’d had and how he’d finally left without saying good-bye. “For a little while.”

“What do you mean?”

“At first he lived there, but then he left.”

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”

He leaned back in his chair and looked at me. Then he said, “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

I thought about the camera in my glasses, and about the tunnel that would take me back to my world, but I felt really tired and didn’t want to talk anymore. I shook my head.

“Okay, Morgan. Thank you for answering my questions.”

“I’m tired. Can I take a nap?”

“Of course. Someone will take you to a place where you can rest.” He stood then, and left the room.

My eyelids felt heavy and I let them close. The next thing I knew, someone was shaking me and when I opened my eyes I saw Holly standing over me.

“Wake up, Morgan.”

I blinked a few times, but still felt groggy.

“Come with me.”

I followed her out of the room and to an elevator. It looked just like the one at Camp Willowmoss. Once we were inside, she waved her card in front of the reader and pressed the button for the fifth floor. A moment later we arrived and she led me down a hallway, past several doors, then she stopped in front of one with the number 508 written on it. She waved her card in front of the reader and I heard it unlock. “This will be your room, Morgan.”

She opened the door and we walked inside. It looked quite similar to the room I’d had at Camp Willowmoss. The main difference was the window. Thick, black, vertical bars were built into the opening. The glass was on the outside of the bars—I guess so that breaking the glass would be impossible. Both beds were neatly made.

Holly pointed to one of them. “That will be your bed. You can take a nap if you want. I know it’s been a busy morning.” She gestured toward the closet. “Your things were brought over from Camp Willowmoss.” She paused. “Through that door is the bathroom.”

A bathroom
attached
to the room? That was different too.

“Go ahead and rest. I’ll be back to talk to you later.”

I still felt out of it from the power bars so I just nodded, then lay on the bed. Holly left and I was asleep within minutes. When I woke up I felt a lot better—until I remembered the questions the man in the suit had asked me. He’d said his name was Fred, which I’d found funny at the time. But now as I thought about the questions he asked, there was nothing funny about them. Obviously he’d been trying to get information about Jack and Dani’s resistance group.
 

I couldn’t remember exactly what I’d told him, but I vaguely remembered him getting frustrated with me. As I thought about how little I actually knew about their group, I felt a little better. I didn’t know enough to help Fred and his people to find Jack and Dani. Maybe that’s why Jack and Dani had never given me much information—there would be that much less I could give up under questioning.
 

I pushed myself to a sitting position, then went to the bathroom. Except for the bars in the windows, maybe this place would actually be nicer than Camp Willowmoss. After all, with a bathroom just for me—and my roommate, whoever that was—no one would be bullying me to go to the back of the line when it was time to shower.

After I’d checked out the bathroom I decided to explore the rest of the fifth floor, but when I tried to open the bedroom door, nothing happened. It was then that I realized why the bathroom was attached to the room. Because I wasn’t allowed to leave my room. I was locked in.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I tried the door again, just to make sure it wasn’t just hard to open, but no, it was locked. I went to the window and looked outside. I couldn’t see directly below my window because the bars made it impossible to get that close to the glass, but I could see beyond that. From my vantage point I saw that the chain-link fence topped by razor wire appeared to circle the entire compound. I couldn’t see the guard shack, but I knew it was out front.
 

On the other side of the fence stood a small parking lot filled with cars, and beyond that was a field. No houses were in view. I guess no one wanted to live near a prison. As I stared out the window the familiar feeling of panic and desperation began to creep up my spine. Even if I managed to eventually escape this place, there was no way I could get out within the next nine days. It would take me at least that long to work out a plan—assuming I even came up with something that would work. No, it was virtually impossible for me to get to the tunnel by November tenth, the date I had left my old world and the date I believed I would need to make the reverse trip.

I slowly turned around and looked at the room that had become my prison. Maybe I should just try to make a break for it when they came to let me out—they had to let me leave my room eventually, right? What did I have to lose? If I succeeded in getting out, then I would have a chance to get back to my world. And if I failed to escape, then I was just back where I was now.

Renewed hope began to fill my mind, making me giddy. Full of nervous energy now, I tried to think positive thoughts and pictured myself running past the Enforcers and out to freedom. I had no idea how I would make it happen, I just had to convince myself that I
could
make it happen. I couldn’t allow myself to think otherwise or the hopelessness would overwhelm me.

I went to the closet and rearranged my things, grateful that at least I had my own clothes. Then I looked over the room again. There was the bed and a desk for me and a twin to those for my roommate. I wondered if I’d get another queen bee roommate. I really hoped not—I’d had my fill of those.
 

With absolutely nothing to do, I lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling, and pictured myself walking into the tunnel and coming out the other side into my home world. The imagery fueled me with excitement and hope.

I heard commotion at the door. I sat up and watched the door with a feeling of anticipation. At the last minute I turned on the camera on my glasses. I knew I only had a total of ten hours of recording time—and I’d already used a couple of hours—but I wanted to be ready for anything. A moment later the door opened and Holly stood in the doorway. She walked in and closed the door behind her, then sat on the bed opposite me.
 

“Hey there, Morgan. Do you feel better now?”

I nodded, upset with her and everyone else at Camp Stonewater for purposely making me high on the power bars. They’d done it to get information out of me and it had worked. I felt used and like the only value I had to them was as a source of information. I couldn’t wait to get out of this world and back to my own world.

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”

Sure you are, I thought.
 

“I wanted to talk to you about where we stand.” Her friendly manner turned more business-like. “At this point in time we’ve decided to not give you a roommate.”

I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but it was certainly interesting. “Okay.”

“The conversation you had with Fred earlier today was helpful, but it wasn’t enough.”

Thrilled to hear that I hadn’t given them enough information, I couldn’t hold back a smile. Holly obviously picked up on my attitude.

“You may think that’s good news, but you need to understand the effect it has on you personally.” She sighed. “You see, I’ve been assigned to get more information from you and I’d really prefer it if you’d make my job easier by answering my questions as honestly and thoroughly as you can.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Really? She wanted me to make
her
job easier? Why in the world would I want to do that?

She didn’t smile. “Morgan, you seem to think this is all just a game, but you have to understand that the people in charge are deadly serious.” She leaned forward and raised her eyebrows. “Deadly.”

My laughter stopped abruptly and my throat went dry. “What do you mean?”

She sat back and looked more relaxed. “I mean, between you and me, they’ll do whatever it takes to keep the status quo. They’re well aware of the resistance groups out there that want to change the way the government has chosen to run things. To control things, one might say. And they want to stop those groups. Those groups represent an annoyance that they just don’t want to have to deal with anymore.” She paused. “They’ve had enough, Morgan. They want to put a stop to these groups once and for all.”

“Why are you telling me this?”
 

“That’s a very good question. After all, you’ve worked with these groups. You’ll just go and tell them what we’ve talked about, right? Then they’ll be prepared for whatever is coming.”

“I guess.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Morgan. I’m convinced that you’ll cooperate with me because it will be in your self-interest.” She smiled, a look of calm on her face. “You see, Camp Stonewater isn’t like the little F.A.T. center you came from.” Her smile grew. “No, we’re just a little different. You may have noticed the extra hardware on the windows, for example.” She waved toward the bars on the windows. “And you may have noticed we didn’t give you a hall pass to allow you to leave your room and wander the building at will.”

Yes, I had to agree that I’d noticed those things rather quickly.

“You have no freedom here, Morgan. None. And it will stay that way as long as you’re uncooperative.”

I felt my enthusiasm about the chance to escape slipping away. How could I even attempt an escape if I never left this room?

“What I’m proposing is a trade-off. A deal, if you will.” She stared at me a moment. “You tell me what you know, and we’ll let you mingle with the general population.”

That
was the deal? Letting me be around a bunch of potential bullies? No thanks.

“You’ll also be given some other privileges that are more standard for our other inmates.”

Inmate.
That’s what I was considered. It made sense seeing as this was a prison. “What kinds of privileges?”

“Regular meals, for example.”

Eating regularly was a privilege? What would I get in the meantime? I was almost afraid to ask. Almost, but not completely. “What if I say ‘No’? I won’t get any food?”

“Your basic needs will be met.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll receive several power bars per day. But that’s all.”

There’s no way this sort of thing would happen in my world. This was cruel and unusual punishment. The only food I would get was drug-laced, government-approved power bars? “You do know I’m just sixteen, right?”

She smiled. “That’s why we’re giving you this opportunity to cooperate.”

“What if I was older? Like, an adult?”

She pursed her lips, then said, “In that case we might be a little more…harsh, shall we say.”

This was getting off easy?
 

She watched me for a moment, then stood. “I can see you’re undecided. You take some time to think this over and I’ll be back in a little while.” Then she waved her card in front of the reader in the room, opened the door, and left.

I stared at the closed door, stunned by our conversation. Unless I agreed to cooperate by giving them all the information I had—so they could stop all resistance activity by Jack and Dani’s group—they would keep me in a drug-induced haze. But what if I refused to eat the power bars? Then what would they do? Let me starve to death?
 

I turned off the camera, glad I’d turned it on before Holly arrived, and thought about Jack and Dani. Had they sent me to Camp Willowmoss knowing the contact lenses wouldn’t trick the retinal scanner? Or had they really believed they would work? How much allegiance did I owe them? I believed in what they were doing—the control the government had over the populace was unacceptable—but was I willing to risk myself for them?
 

And what would the benefit be to me if I told all? I’d get to mingle with the rest of the inmates? How was that a good thing? How serious was the government in wanting to find the resistance groups? How far were they really willing to go?

I paced the small room, my thoughts flying in a million different directions. I stopped next to the window and stared at the beautiful fall day. It was November first, nine days until my deadline. If I had any hope of getting to the tunnel—and the chances seemed slimmer by the minute—I had to stay focused on my first priority. Getting out. And what would help me to get out? That’s what I needed to consider.
 

But then I thought about Amy and my brothers, as well as Mom and Dad. Even if I made it back to my world, they would still be
here
. Did I want to jeopardize the groups that could possibly change things? And what if
I
was stuck in this world? Did I want to jeopardize the groups that could potentially make life better for
me
?

I rubbed my forehead as a headache began growing in my skull. I lay on the bed and closed my eyes, trying to think positive thoughts, but my headache not only grew stronger, I also started to feel nauseated. It’s the power bars, I realized. I’m having withdrawal symptoms after having those three power bars earlier. I knew nothing would help me feel better except more power bars, which I desperately wanted to stay away from.

Fury at Holly and the people she worked for welled up inside me, giving me strength. I would
not
give them any information that would help them defeat the people fighting against them. Those people were already fighting difficult odds, fighting the government and those who wanted to keep things exactly as they were. And those in charge were trying to take even greater control with the drug-laced power bars. I wondered how long it would be until they distributed those power bars to the general public. And the general public would have no idea what was happening until it was too late.