Hunted (Parallel Series, Book 3) (Parallel Trilogy)

by Christine Kersey

  “No, I most definitely don’t want that. But Billy, wouldn’t you do this if someone you cared about was hauled away because of you?”

  He was quiet for a moment. “There’s no one I care about that much.”

  Shocked by his statement, I stared at him. “No one? What about your family?” I paused. “You’ve never told me anything about them.”

  His jaw clenched. “I don’t have a family.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He stared past me, then slowly met my gaze. “My family didn’t want to have to take care of me anymore—they said I was too much trouble and too expensive. So when I was fifteen they kicked me out and told me it was time for me to take care of myself.”

  He watched me for a moment, I guess wanting to see my reaction, but I stayed perfectly still, my eyes meeting his. I didn’t want to do anything to discourage him from telling me his story.

  His voice softened. “I had nowhere to go.” He gestured to the space around us. “I didn’t know anyone like Jack to help me out. It was all on me.” A look of sadness crept into his eyes. “For the first few days the hunger was pretty bad, but eventually I got used to it. Then one night a group of kids found me huddled in an alley, trying to stay warm.” He laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “They must have been bored because they seemed to really enjoy beating me.”

  Shocked by what he’d been through, I pressed my hand to my mouth to hold back a gasp.

  He laughed again. “Oh, it gets better.”

  Suddenly I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear his story. I spoke softly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

  “No, it actually feels kind of good to get this out.”

  “Have you told anyone before?”

  He shook his head. “Not the whole story.”

  My heart warmed at knowing I was the first person he’d told, and I felt that much closer to him. I smiled at him and he smiled back. “What happened next?”

  “An old woman found me when I was unconscious. Somehow she got me into her tiny apartment—I think she had a neighbor drag me in or something—and she took care of me.”

  Relieved that someone had shown him kindness, I nodded.

  “But she was really poor and hardly had enough for herself, let alone a growing teenager. So as soon as I was better she told me I could crash at her place, but she couldn’t share her food with me.” He paused and chewed his lip. “That’s when I started stealing food from the local schools.” He laughed and this time it sounded a little lighter. “It was so easy too. I guess kids don’t often want to break in to the schools. I was able to get in through skylights in the roof, or through a window left open. The food wasn’t great—as you know—but I was happy to get my hands on anything I could.

  “I would go every few days and vary the schools, but I guess they started noticing that food was missing and that’s when they installed hidden cameras in the kitchens. Of course I had no idea that they were on to me. I guess the principals of the schools I’d hit had gotten together and talked about it and decided to catch whoever was taking their food.

  “So one night they got a good picture of me right in the act and they put it on the news and even offered a reward. Again, I was clueless. The lady I was staying with didn’t have a TV or anything, so I had no idea. But apparently my parents saw it and immediately recognized me. They scoured the neighborhood looking for me and within a couple of days they found me as I was walking down the street.

  “They told me they’d been looking for me for weeks—I’d been gone about six months by then—and said they’d realized their mistake in making me leave and would I come back home. As you can imagine, I was overjoyed that my family wanted me back and I was all too eager to go with them.”

  Billy’s chin quivered and my stomach clenched as I anticipated the rest of his story.

  “As we drove, I became a little confused because I didn’t recognize the neighborhood. ‘Did we move?’ I asked them, but they patted me on the knee and reassured me that everything was fine. Next thing I knew, we pulled up to the nearest F.A.T. center and they started honking their horn.”

  He looked at his lap and chewed on his lip, then after a moment he spoke softly. “You can imagine how I felt as four Enforcers ran out to the car, and my parents quite literally handed me over to them.” He looked back at me, a small smile on his face. “I fought as hard as I could and I punched one guy pretty hard. I think I broke his jaw.”

  I smiled at him, knowing exactly how that must have felt—I’d felt a similar victory when I’d nailed Hansen between the legs and run away.

  “But of course they tasered me and I collapsed to the ground. The guy I punched even kicked me in the ribs—twice.” He smiled, but it was obvious he was trying to hide his real feelings. “But the best part…” he took a quick, deep breath. “The best part was when, as I lay paralyzed on the ground with my ribs cracked, my dad demanded the reward money then and there.”

  My heart broke for him. I couldn’t begin to imagine being betrayed by my family like that. It wasn’t even in the realm of possibility.

  He wiped at his eyes and grinned. “But they told him he’d have to wait ninety days. You know, because they had to process the request, blah, blah, blah. Well, my dad was not happy about that, which made me happy.”

  “Billy, that is so awful. I’m so sorry your family did that to you.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “Yeah. It sucked.”

  “So did your parents take you to Camp Willowmoss?”

  “No, it was some other F.A.T. center. I got transferred to Camp Willowmoss a few days later.”

  I remembered that after our escape he’d mentioned he’d been unconscious in the back of an Enforcer’s car when he’d arrived at Camp Willowmoss. “How did that go?”

  He grinned. “It wasn’t pretty. When they brought me out to the car I tried to get away and they took me down pretty hard.”

  I could so relate to that. Without thinking about it, I rubbed my cheek where the bruise had faded.

  He must have noticed. “You don’t want to experience that again, do you?”

  After hearing his story I understood why he didn’t think it was worth it to take a risk for my sister, but that didn’t change the fact that in my experience my family was worth it. In fact, his story underscored how important it actually was to stand by my sister. If you couldn’t count on your family, who could you count on?

  As I thought about all his family had put him through, I wished he could have had a family like mine. A family who would love him unconditionally and who would never betray him. Then it occurred to me that if he came with me back to my world, he could be with my family. Then he’d know what a real family was all about.

  But first I had to get my sister out of Camp Willowmoss. I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I just knew I had to do it. I only hoped Billy would help me.

  “You’re still going to go through with it, aren’t you?” He slouched in the chair.

  I nodded. “Yes. I can’t leave my sister in there. I don’t even know how long they would keep her there. I was supposed to be there for six months. And that was before the escape. How much time do you think they’d add for that?”

  He shook his head and stared at the ceiling, then looked at me. “I think you’re making a huge mistake and I think you’re going to regret this decision.”

  My heart sank at his words. Because I feared he was right.

  Chapter Ten

  He pushed himself out of the chair. “I’m beat. I’m going to bed.” Then he walked out of the room.

  I stared in the direction he’d gone and felt very alone. He obviously had no intention of supporting me. If I was going to do this, I would be on my own. Or would I? Jack seemed to support the idea. True, he had his own agenda, but it was better than nothing.

  A feeling of optimism swept over me as I realized I might have help.

  “Hey, Morgan,” Kelly called from the doorway
. “Do you want to play a game with us?”

  I shook my head. “I’m actually really tired. I think I’ll go to bed.”

  “Okay. Good night.”

  “‘Night.” A moment after she left I made my way to the room I’d be sharing with her. Someone had set out a pair of pajamas on the bed I’d be using and I flashed back to my first night at Camp Willowmoss when Kiera had given me loaner clothes. I touched the pink and cream striped pajamas and longed for my bedroom at home. I’d give anything, anything, to be there now—especially if Amy was there too.

  I sank onto the bed and thought about what Amy must be doing right that minute. Was she with a nice roommate or with a bully? Would anyone take her under their wing or would she be completely on her own? How long would it take for her to become addicted to the power bars?

  As I pictured walking in to Camp Willowmoss, facing a room full of Enforcers, and saving my sister, adrenaline pumped through me and all exhaustion fled. Though I wanted to go right that minute, I knew I had to have a plan if I wanted to succeed. Trying to calm myself down, I took several slow, deep breaths, then went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

  A new toothbrush sat on the bathroom counter, still in its packaging. As I picked it up, my gaze went to the mirror over the sink and I recoiled in shock at my appearance. I’d nearly forgotten the way I looked now. At first I frowned, not feeling like myself when I looked in the mirror, but then I smiled, knowing the look would be perfect for hiding my true identity once I was back at Camp Willowmoss.

  I finished getting ready for bed, then climbed under the covers. An overwhelming feeling of safety settled over me. A feeling I hadn’t had in nearly two weeks—not since before I’d been dragged away to the F.A.T. center. I relished the feeling and was soon sound asleep.

  The next morning after I showered—making sure not to wash my hair— I tried to fix my hair the way Brynn had done it and I thought it looked pretty good. It was so short that it was hard to mess up. I didn’t attempt to put the make-up on and I thought even without the dark eye-liner I didn’t look anything like myself.

  After breakfast Dani arrived, along with Tracy. Brynn came a while later—it was Saturday, and of course, no school. As I ate, Dani and Jack walked off by themselves, speaking in low tones. I watched them go and wondered what they were saying, certain they were talking about me and my idea to go back to Camp Willowmoss.

  Billy came in a little while later and my gaze went to Brynn to see her reaction. Her face seemed to light up, and she rushed around getting him breakfast. I could tell he enjoyed being waited on and it irritated me—until I remembered the story he’d told me the night before about all he’d been through. Even though I didn’t like the interplay between him and Brynn, I knew he deserved some happiness.

  “How’d you sleep?” I asked him as he sat in an empty seat next to me.

  “I haven’t slept that good in a long time.”

  I smiled. “Me, either.”

  “Much better than I ever slept at Camp Willowmoss,” he said as he raised his eyebrows, like he was suggesting I should keep that in mind as I considered going back.

  “Uh huh,” I muttered as I speared a slice of cantaloupe.

  We ate in silence, then helped clean up. Once we were done, Dani appeared in the doorway and invited everyone to meet in the front room. I glanced at Billy and he frowned.

  Everyone headed out of the family room.

  “You guys coming?” Brynn asked, stopping next to Billy and looking right at him.

  “Yeah, sure.” His lack of enthusiasm was clear.

  I followed him and Brynn as they walked toward the meeting room. People were talking in small groups and Brynn sat on a two-person couch. She patted the cushion next to her. “You can sit here, Billy.”

  He glanced at me, then sat next to her, leaving me alone. I sat on a recliner across the room from them. No one spoke to me and I waited for the meeting to begin.

  “Good morning, everyone,” Jack said, a bright smile on his face.

  “‘Morning,” everyone echoed.

  “Before we begin, does anyone have anything they need to discuss?”

  No one spoke.

  “Okay,” he said. “Then I’d like to get right to it.” He looked at each person. “As most of you know, Morgan has expressed a desire to go back to Camp Willowmoss.”

  All eyes shifted to me and my heart began to pound. In reality, I had zero desire to go back to Camp Willowmoss. I had only suggested it because I felt obligated to help my sister. If it wasn’t for her being taken there, there would be nothing that could get me to go back. I’d only just left a few days before.

  I met the stares of the others and saw that Billy wasn’t even looking at me. Instead, he stared at the floor, refusing to meet my gaze. His lack of support hit me again and I questioned my decision. But when I thought of Amy and realized today was the Saturday Challenge, I knew I really didn’t have a choice. I had to go. I had to help her. I had to get her out of there.

  “Why do you want to do that?” Brynn asked, obviously not up to date on all that had happened since she’d left the night before. A look of confusion swept over her and she looked at Billy. “I thought she didn’t like it there?”

  Billy rolled his eyes, which brought a small smile to my lips.

  “Sorry, Brynn,” Jack said. “I guess you didn’t hear about Morgan’s sister being taken in her place.”

  “What?” she asked, looking at me.

  Jack quickly filled her in.

  “That’s awful, Morgan,” Brynn said, a stricken look on her face.

  I nodded, appreciating her sincerity. “Which is why I’ve decided to go back and help her get out.”

  “Jack and I have been discussing how to make that happen,” Dani said.

  Though that didn’t surprise me, it still bothered me that they were discussing my fate without me. After all, I would be the one taking all the risks. Shouldn’t I have been involved in that discussion? I forced down my annoyance and focused on what was important. “Did you come up with any ideas on how to make it work? I don’t want to go in as myself, obviously. But how can we make them believe I’m someone else?”

  “Your disguise is pretty good, and we can add some glasses to help hide your eyes,” Dani said. “But there is the issue of the retinal scan when you do your weigh-ins.” She paused. “They do use a retinal scan, don’t they?”

  I pictured the scale in the corner of the communal bathroom. The scale I had forgotten to use, which had led to a punishment of wearing a notecard around my neck, with my weight written in bold numbers. My roommate, Alyx, had gotten the same punishment and she had been furious. Not so much because of everyone knowing her weight, but rather because of the deduction in points that had accompanied the “discipline”. I fixed that, which led to its own complications, but at least it had gotten me back in her good graces. “Yes,” I said. “The scale has a retinal scan.” Which was a big concern.

  Dani sighed. “That could be challenging.”

  “Yeah,” Brynn said. “How can you trick that? It will know right away that you’re Morgan, won’t it?”

  A small smile crept over Dani’s mouth. “Not necessarily.”

  “What do you mean?” Billy asked.

  His interest, though minimal, made me happy. At least he was listening to the conversation.

  “Well,” Dani said. “I happen to know a group of researchers who have been working on a type of contact lens that can have a person’s retinal information hardcoded into it.”

  “Really?” I asked, a feeling of hopefulness growing inside me.

  Dani looked at me. “It’s only been tested in the lab, but the results are very good.”

  “How good?” Billy asked.

  I glanced at him and saw he was listening intently.

  “Eighty percent of the time the retinal scan reads the identity the way we’ve hardcoded it.”

  “So, two times out of ten it’s wrong,” Billy said, obvio
usly making a statement. “And it knows the true identity of the person wearing the lens.”

  Dani hesitated, evidently not used to be questioned so forcefully. “Yes.”

  Billy looked at me. “That’s not acceptable.”

  “But eight out of ten times it works,” I pointed out.

  Billy sighed and shook his head, then looked away.

  I ignored his negativity, though I was glad he was looking out for me. I directed my next question to Dani. “What about getting out?”

  “Once you’ve secured your sister and gotten several power bars, we’ll get you out.”

  “But how?” I pushed, not willing to settle for a vague promise. This was my life, after all.

  “We’re still working out the details.”

  Billy got up and left the room. Everyone watched him leave and I fervently wanted to get up and follow him, but I couldn’t. Not with Amy trapped in Camp Willowmoss for months, maybe longer. How could I live with myself if I just left her there? Especially since she was there because of me.

  “We’re not ready to let you go there just yet anyway,” Jack said.

  My gaze shifted from the hallway where Billy had gone and over to Jack. “What do you mean? I have to get Amy out right away. The longer I wait, the worse it will be for her.”

  Jack held up his hands in a gesture of calm. “I know. But to make this work, we have to have some preparation first.”

  “Like what?”

  “You’ll need to put on some weight,” Dani said.

  “What?” Brynn asked.

  My thoughts echoed her question.

  “We can’t just drop you off without a reason,” she said.

  “Are you saying I’m too thin?” The idea was absurd. Days ago I was still overweight.

  “No, but you need to be heavier for us to justify dropping you off.”

  “Dropping me off?”

  “Yes, of course,” Dani said. “We’ll give you an identity and we’ll drop you off because we’re concerned parents and we want you to get the treatment you need.” She paused. “How else can we guarantee you’ll be in Camp Willowmoss?”