Hunted (Parallel Series, Book 3) (Parallel Trilogy)
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Hunted
Parallel Series, Book 3
Christine Kersey
Contents
Note to Readers
Book Description
Books by Christine Kersey
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Books by Christine Kersey
About the Author
Note to Readers
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Hunted (Parallel Trilogy, Book 3)
Copyright © 2013 by Christine Kersey
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
eBook Edition, License Notes
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Book Description
Trapped in a parallel universe where it is illegal to be overweight, sixteen-year-old Morgan Campbell is on the run with Billy Foster, the boy who helped her escape Camp Willowmoss, the Federally Assisted Thinning (F.A.T.) center where they were both held prisoner.
With nowhere to go, and no resources, they fear for their lives as they hide from the Enforcers who would capture them. Morgan has six weeks until the right date, at which time she can pass back through the portal that brought her to this world.
Will she be able to stay free until that date arrives, or will the Enforcers find her and lock her up, condemning her to live in this dangerous reality forever?
Hunted does not contain any profanity or sexual content.
Books by Christine Kersey
Park City Firefighter Romance
Rescue My Heart
Hearts On Fire
Emerald Falls Romance Series
Crushing On You: Travis and Gabriella (An Emerald Falls Romance, Book One)
Dangerous Lies: Sawyer and Amethyst (An Emerald Falls Romance, Book Two)
Searching for Love
Falling for You (Searching for Love, Book One)
Finding Reese (Searching for Love, Book Two)
Surrender My Heart (Searching for Love, Book Three)
Bring Me Home (Searching for Love, Book Four)
Lily’s Story
He Loves Me Not (Lily’s Story, Book 1)
Don’t Look Back (Lily’s Story, Book 2)
Love At Last (Lily’s Story, Book 3)
Life Imperfect (Lily’s Story, Book 4)
Parallel Trilogy
Gone (Parallel Series, Book 1)
Imprisoned (Parallel Series, Book 2)
Hunted (Parallel Series, Book 3)
After (Parallel Series, Book 4)
The Other Morgan (Parallel Series, Book 5)
Over You Series
Over You
Second Chances (sequel to Over You)
Witness Series
Witness (Witness, Book 1)
Retribution (Witness, Book 2)
Standalone Books
Suspicions
No Way Out
Box Sets
Parallel Trilogy
Lily’s Story
Searching for Love bundle
Chapter One
I held on to Billy, my arms wrapped around his waist, as we sped away on the borrowed motorcycle. I listened to the Enforcers’ sirens in the distance and felt numb—devastated—that I was still in this world. My hopes that going through the tunnel would take me home had been so high that the reality had been all the more bitter when it had turned out that I was still here.
Even though deep down I had suspected that I might be returning to the tunnel too early, I had still harbored the foolish hope that the date didn’t matter and that I could go through the tunnel before November tenth. Now it was all too clear that the date did matter. November tenth was the date I had come through the portal, or whatever it was, from my world. But when I had arrived in this world it had been early September, so it would seem November tenth was the magic day.
Now, as I clung to Billy, I also clung to the hope that I only had to live in this world for six more weeks, then it would be the right date for me to walk through the tunnel, and on the other side would be my home world. A world where it wasn’t illegal to be overweight. A world where my family was intact. A world where an Enforcer named Hansen didn’t want to kill me.
I shuddered as I vividly recalled Hansen’s threat just hours before. “I. Will. Kill. You.” I could understand his anger—I’d quite literally stabbed him in the back using the knife Billy and I had used to cut the tracking chips from our arms—but I knew that was just the last straw for him. He’d hated me ever since the night he and his partner had tasered me in my own home, then dragged me to the Federally Assisted Thinning center where I was locked up as a criminal for being a few pounds overweight—not to mention my serious crime of handing out homemade cookies at school.
I forced thoughts of Hansen out of my mind when I realized the sirens were fading as Billy and I raced away from my old neighborhood in Fox Run. The neighborhood that had led to the tunnel. The neighborhood I would have to return to in six weeks if I wanted to get back to my world.
I pressed closer to Billy, grateful beyond reason that he was with me. I never could have gotten this far on my own. I’d met him at Camp Willowmoss—the F.A.T. center where I’d been locked up—and he had wanted to escape that place as badly, or worse, than I had. He had been there every step of the way, making sure we succeeded in breaking out of the government-controlled facility. Once we were free, he’d gone with me to Fox Run, even though he had no idea why I insisted on going there. When I’d finally admitted to him that I was from another world, I could tell he doubted me—maybe even thought I was crazy—but he was still here, still helping me.
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br /> We left the leafy neighborhoods of Fox Run behind and entered the freeway, speeding along mile after mile of black asphalt. We rode on for another fifteen minutes, then Billy coasted off at an exit, turned onto a side street, and stopped.
As soon as he put down the side stand, I slid off the back of the motorcycle, then took off my helmet, enjoying the feel of the late September breeze in my face.
He climbed off and removed his helmet too. “We’re almost out of gas.”
I looked back the way we had come, still feeling shell-shocked by the discovery that I was still in this world and that we were still being hunted by Enforcers. The sun had nearly set and I felt somewhat invisible in the dusky evening light. I turned back to Billy, but didn’t say anything, too numb to speak.
“If we leave our helmets on while we get gas,” he said, “They won’t recognize us.”
I nodded, visualizing the pictures of Billy and me that I’d seen on the news earlier that day when we’d stopped at a convenience store. It had been a terrible picture of me, taken the day after I’d arrived at the F.A.T. center—not smiling, my face bruised, my lip swollen. I looked like a criminal, which is exactly what the news called both Billy and me.
Billy reached out and touched my cheek. “How are you doing? Are you okay?”
His sweet kindness warmed me, bringing a half-smile to my face. “I’ll be fine.” I wasn’t sure if that was really true, but he was clearly relieved when I didn’t collapse in a heap of hysterical tears like I had back at the hut when I’d realized I was still in this world. I needed his mind focused on what we should do next, not on me.
“Good.”
“What should we do, Billy? Where should we go?” My only plan after escaping the F.A.T. center had been to get to the tunnel. I hadn’t allowed myself to consider anything but success, so I hadn’t thought beyond that.
“Well, now that the Enforcers know we’re in the area, they’ll be all over the place. I say we keep heading north.”
My shoulders slumped. We hadn’t slept in nearly thirty-six hours, and in that time we’d managed to escape the F.A.T. center, jog for miles, ride bicycles for even more miles, then travel on the motorcycle for hours until we’d reached Fox Run. Then I’d made the devastating discovery that I hadn’t gotten home. I was physically and emotionally drained.
Billy must have seen the weariness in my face. “Look, I know you’re tired. So am I, and I promise I’ll find us a place to get some sleep. But first we need to put some distance between us and the Enforcers.”
“I know.”
“Okay. Let’s gas up and keep going.”
We put our helmets back on and rode to a nearby gas station. I stayed next to the bike while Billy went inside to give the clerk twenty dollars—half of the money Mrs. Duncan had given us when she’d let us take her son’s motorcycle. I wasn’t sure if that would be enough to fill the tank, but I hoped it would take us far enough to stay out of the hands of the Enforcers.
We had parked next to the gas pumps closest to the door and I waited nervously as I watched Billy get in line behind two other people. I glanced at the pump and wished we could have just paid outside, but since we had cash, we had to go inside. A car pulled into the station, catching my eye. It didn’t have a light bar on the roof, but there was no mistaking the uniforms the men inside wore.
Enforcers.
They pulled up to the pump just on the other side of where I stood. My heart pounded as I turned away and I prayed they wouldn’t notice me. Were they on the lookout for a boy and a girl on a motorcycle? I stepped closer to the gas pump, hoping it would hide me from view. I watched Billy as he handed money to the clerk, then turned to come back outside. I had no idea if he’d seen the Enforcers, but didn’t know how to warn him.
I thought about the pair of stun guns stashed in the backpack I wore on my shoulders and wondered if I should take them out. The thought brought a vivid recollection of the night before when Billy had used the stun guns on the Enforcers who had tried to stop us from leaving—including Hansen. That was after I’d sunk the small knife into his back, and his promise to kill me was still fresh in my mind.
Billy walked through the door and headed toward me. With both of us wearing our helmets, it was difficult for me to communicate, but I gestured with my right thumb for him to look behind me. He must have gotten the message because he shifted his trajectory so that the gas pump would help block him from the Enforcers’ view.
He finally reached me and muttered, “Keep cool.”
I realized my hands were shaking and shoved them in my pockets, wishing I could always be as calm as Billy seemed to be. It was nearly full dark but the bright lights of the gas station made up for that. Billy began pumping gas into the tank and I heard the Enforcers talking as they got out of their car. It didn’t sound like they were talking about Billy and me and I hoped they hadn’t heard about us—though I knew that was unlikely.
I heard the beep of the pump as they used a card to pay for their gas, then I heard the sound of them putting the pump into their car. I watched Billy pumping gas into our motorcycle and it seemed like it was going extra slow, even though I knew it wasn’t. Finally he finished and placed the dispenser back into its slot, then screwed the cap on the tank.
One of the Enforcers laughed and I hoped they were too busy talking to pay attention to us. Billy climbed onto the bike and I jumped on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, then he turned on the engine.
One of the Enforcers called out, “Hey, I think it’s those two kids.”
Billy turned and looked at them, and through his face plate I saw him grin, then we shot forward, out of the gas station and onto the street. I couldn’t see what the Enforcers were doing, but in my mind’s eye I pictured them snatching their radio and alerting any Enforcers in the area where we were, then jumping into their car and taking chase.
I tightened my arms around Billy and strained to hear sirens.
A moment later, I heard them.
Chapter Two
Adrenaline pounded through my veins, and I squeezed my eyes closed, concentrating on the sound of the approaching sirens, trying to gauge how close they were. The volume grew louder. I opened my eyes and looked in the motorcycle’s side view mirror and saw an Enforcement vehicle advancing, red and blue lights flashing brightly against the darkness. The sound of the motorcycle engine changed as Billy gave it more gas and we sped up.
I looked over his shoulder at the speedometer and saw we were nearing seventy miles an hour—thirty over the speed limit. Only a few cars traveled the road, but I saw a red light up ahead and worried what would happen if we ran it, afraid we would be hit. Just before we reached the intersection, the light turned green and we shot past the car that had been stopped at the light.
I glanced in the side view mirror again and saw the Enforcement vehicle gaining on us, and when I looked forward, I saw another Enforcement vehicle coming at us from the front. Billy must have seen them too, because when we reached a side street a moment later, he slowed and turned right, then we surged onward. We were in a business district with stores lining both sides of the street. Billy slowed and turned down an alley on the left, then down another on the right.
The Enforcement vehicles hadn’t been far behind when we’d turned off of the main street, and I expected them to appear behind us at any moment. As we traveled down the alley, I saw a man carrying out large bags of trash from the back of a store, the light next to his door illuminating the area. He looked at us as we flew past, but didn’t react. When we reached the end of the alley we found ourselves on a quiet street—most of the stores had closed for the night—and we turned left.
I heard the sirens, but the sound wasn’t quite as loud, and hope rushed through me that we’d lost our pursuers. Then an Enforcement vehicle materialized at the end of the street, right where we were headed. Billy turned into a parking lot that stretched behind the row of stores, and I gripped his waist as we bounced over the ent
rance to the driveway. There were no parked cars and we crossed the lot free of obstacles and exited into another alley. The backs of stores were replaced with residential garages as we entered a run-down neighborhood.
The only sound in the quiet night was the sound of our motorcycle and the sirens pursuing us. We turned down a street where modest houses were crammed against each other, and wound our way through several streets, turning randomly, trying to lose the Enforcers who were chasing us. We slowed as we drove down yet another alley, trying to quiet the sound of our motor.
A man jumped out in front of us, waving his hands and motioning to an open garage. We drove up his driveway and into the garage next to a beat-up old car. The man followed us in and dragged the door closed behind us, hiding us from those hunting us. Billy shut off the engine and when we heard a siren pass the garage and fade in the distance, my shoulders relaxed. We slid off the motorcycle and removed our helmets.
“Thank you,” Billy said.
The man looked like he was in his late forties, his short brown hair shot through with gray. “Glad I could help. Why don’t you come in and have a rest.”
Sudden exhaustion engulfed me and I followed the man and Billy inside and sank onto a nearby couch. All I wanted to do was curl up and sleep.
“Why were the Enforcers chasing you?” the man asked.
Billy, who stood near me, glanced at me, but I was too tired to come up with a good answer. “Just a case of mistaken identity.”
“Oh? Who did they mistake you for?”
“Uh, I’m not sure,” Billy said.
“Huh,” the man said. “Well, I’m Tyler. What are your names?”
“I’m Brian and that’s Michelle.” Billy didn’t miss a beat when he used the names he’d told Mrs. Duncan earlier that day.