“Come sit over here.” Holly led me to a nearby table.
I sat in one of the seats and she sat in the one next to me. A moment later a woman brought a tray to our table and set it in front of me. My mouth watered at the sight of the veggie omelet and fresh fruit.
“Go ahead, Morgan. Eat.”
She didn’t have to ask me twice. I picked up the fork—I doubted I would get a real fork if Holly wasn’t sitting right next to me, more likely a spork—and began eating. I’d had nothing but power bars for days and the explosion of flavor in my mouth was exquisite. It didn’t take long to eat the entire thing, and when I was done, Holly handed me two power bars.
“You’re probably wanting these about now. Am I right?”
I glanced at the bars and found I didn’t crave them as powerfully as I had feared. I couldn’t deny that I wanted them, but not in the way Holly probably expected. “That’s okay. I’m full.”
Holly’s eyebrows shot up, then they settled back into place and she smiled tightly. “Are you sure?” She kind of waved them in front of me, like she was tempting me.
My eyes followed the movement of the bars, but I held firm. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Okay.” She set the bars down. “Let’s move on, shall we?” She took me to a room next to the cafeteria. “This is the recreation area.”
I looked on with astonishment to see some kids hitting a ball back and forth across a ping pong table, other kids playing air hockey, and yet other kids sitting around talking to each other. Most of them ignored me, but some cut their eyes in my direction before looking away.
I also noticed several Enforcers standing around watching me, including Mills, the man who had brought me here and told me I was scum. My eyes met his and he stared back. Something about him reminded me of Hansen and I felt a small shiver as I looked at him leaning casually against the wall, his eyes on me.
“Doesn’t this look like fun?” Holly asked, gesturing around the room.
I had to admit that it looked way more fun than what I’d been doing for the last few days—sitting around my room trying not to die of boredom. And these kids didn’t even look mean. Were they all prisoners like me? What had they done?
“Well, Morgan?”
“What?”
“Would you like to be able to spend your days here? Or do you prefer to be in your room?”
Of course I’d rather be here. But I wasn’t an idiot. I knew what the trade-off would be. “Sure. It looks like fun.”
She smiled. “That’s what I thought you’d say.” She motioned for me to follow her. We stopped in the hallway just outside the rec room. “You can earn the privilege of being in that room, Morgan. It’s up to you.”
I decided to play dumb. “What do you mean?”
Her smile never wavered. “If you cooperate with us and answer our questions, then you will have the privilege of spending your days in the recreation room with the others.”
“So you’re saying I’d have to snitch on my friends, right?”
Now her smile did waver. “I wouldn’t categorize it that way.”
“But that’s what I’d be doing. Telling you all about them, which could hurt them.”
“I don’t know why you’d think it would hurt them. We just want to talk to them. Negotiate. You know, come to some sort of understanding.” Her smile grew. “We want peace.”
Did she think I’d forgotten what she’d said on the day I was brought here? That the people in power were deadly serious about putting an end to the resistance? I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
The smile on her face vanished. “What do you find funny about this?”
I stifled the laughter. “I guess I’ve just been on my own so long that I’ve gone a little stir crazy.”
She smiled, like she understood. “Yes, I can imagine. Now, what do you think? Do you want to earn the privilege of being in the rec room?”
I hesitated. I really wanted to be able to spend my days hanging out with these kids. They looked like they were having so much fun. This was nothing like Camp Willowmoss. But was I willing to be a snitch to make it happen? Was I willing to put the whole resistance in jeopardy just to satisfy my own desires? I pictured Amy and my brothers. As long as the status quo held, they would be in danger of being taken to a F.A.T. center and held against their will. And what about Dad? When I’d seen him on the day I was moved here, he’d looked beaten down, not strong and vigorous like a man who had just spent months getting healthy would look.
This world needed the opposing voices of the resistance groups. How else would there be any hope of change?
But then I considered the ticking clock and the fact that in five days the time for me to reach the tunnel would run out. Even if I cooperated, was there any hope I would be able to escape this place in time? And then if I failed and was stuck in this world, and I helped the people here defeat the resistance groups, I would end up suffering as well.
Before I realized I’d done it, I shook my head. My decision had been made. I couldn’t help Holly and her bosses, even if it meant putting my own future in jeopardy.
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you sure about this, Morgan?”
I wasn’t sure about anything.
She must have sensed my ambivalence because she grabbed my arm and tugged me forward. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t know where she was taking me, but fresh fear crept up my spine. A few minutes later we were back on my floor and she walked me to my room. She opened the door and motioned for me to enter. I walked in and turned to look at her.
“I’ll give you one last chance to decide, Morgan.” She looked at the floor and sighed, then looked at me. “Please decide wisely.” Then she left and I heard the click of the lock.
I sank onto my bed, emotionally spent, and put my head into my hands. With nothing to do but think, my mind wandered from one option to the other until I couldn’t think about it anymore. I lay down and closed my eyes and apparently fell asleep, because when I opened my eyes, I saw a fresh tray had been set on my desk. I pushed myself off of my bed and went to check it out. Six power bars were laid out in a neat row.
Feeling demoralized, I just stared at the bars, hating them, yet craving them. Finally I picked up four of them and flushed them down the toilet, then came back to the tray and ate one of the two remaining bars, saving the other one for later.
As had become my habit, I went to the window and stared outside. The small parking lot was full, but there was no activity just then. I spent the rest of the day doing a lot of thinking. Holly had said she would give me one more chance to decide, and I didn’t know when she’d come back to find out my answer, so I needed to decide soon.
As the afternoon turned to evening and no one came, I began to wonder how long she would give me to think about it. Eventually the lights went out and I went to bed, but I still wasn’t completely certain what I should do.
The next morning I woke to nine new power bars on the tray, which told me—if the pattern held—that no one would be coming that day. I followed my usual routine, flushing all but three bars, and rationing those three to keep me going through the day.
I spent some time exercising, but continually thought about Holly’s offer. As each hour passed, the possibility of making my tunnel deadline became less and less likely. It was now four days until the clock ran out, and as I thought about being stuck in this world for the rest of my life, I became more and more agitated.
Maybe I should take her offer and hope for the best, I thought as I stared out the window. But what about Amy and the boys? Mom and Dad? What kind of society would I be condemning them to? If the resistance groups were stamped out, who would speak up for the helpless citizens who were tasered and dragged out of their homes to be locked up in F.A.T. centers? No one, that’s who.
When the lights went out I was exhausted and I fell right to sleep. That night I had a vivid dream.
Amy and I were playing hide and seek with our brothers out in the yar
d when a vehicle pulled up to the house. Dimples and Hansen, the same two men who dragged me out of the house, raced up to the door and burst inside, not even bothering to knock. A few minutes later they dragged both Mom and Dad out of the house and into their car.
After they’d tossed them into the backseat, Hansen came over to me and, with a sneer on his face, said, “I’m coming for you next, Morgan. Then your brothers and sister will be sent to a group home and parceled out to strangers and you’ll never see them again.” Then he laughed as he got into his car and drove away with Mom and Dad in the backseat.
I woke with tears in my eyes and a dark feeling in my soul. The dream was a nightmare, but a nightmare that could easily come true. And I was helpless to stop it. The only way to stop something like that was to do everything within my power to help the resistance groups, which meant that under no circumstances could I give Holly any information.
When I sat up and looked at the desk, I saw that the tray was absent, and deep within my gut I knew today was going to be a very important day.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I showered quickly and when I heard the lock on the door click, I turned the camera on, hoping there was still enough juice in the batteries to record what was about to happen.
“Hello, Morgan,” Holly said as she opened the door. She wasn’t smiling.
“Hi.” I stood next to the window, afraid to move any closer to whatever hell Holly had in store for me.
“I hope you’ve had enough time to make a wise decision.”
I nodded, one hundred percent certain of my decision now—no wavering. The feelings I had in the dream were very real and I experienced them now.
“Good.” Then she smiled, perhaps expecting my answer to be to help them. “And what did you decide?”
“I’d prefer to stay in this room.”
Anger flickered across her face, but her features quickly smoothed out. “So it’s a no, then.”
I nodded, my heart pounding wildly.
She sighed. “As you wish.” Then she left the room and the door locked with a click.
An overwhelming feeling of foreboding washed over me and I suddenly found it hard to breathe. My mind screamed, Now what? Now what? Now what?
My worst fears were realized moments later when Holly came back with two Enforcers by her side, including Mills. They were large men, tall and muscular, and I knew I didn’t have a chance against them. They strode directly to me and while Mills held my arms behind my back, the other Enforcer put zip ties around my wrists, tightening them uncomfortably. Then they each grabbed an upper arm and led me out of the room.
A few minutes later I found myself back in the interrogation room where I’d been on the day I’d arrived. That was nearly a week before, but the moment I entered the room it was as if it had just happened. Mills and his partner sat me in a chair, leaving my hands bound, then left the room. I was alone, although I knew there must be people on the other side of the mirrored wall. I wondered who was there, then forced myself to not care. I had to stay focused on the task at hand—keeping any information I had to myself.
They left me there for a long time—it felt like hours though it was more likely less than that. Finally Holly and the man who’d called himself Fred came into the room, with Mills behind them. Holly set a small case on the table as the two of them sat across from me. Mills stood against one wall.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to talk to you again, Morgan,” Fred said.
So was I, but I kept silent. My shoulders were sore from being pulled behind my back, and my wrists ached from the too-tight restraints.
He sighed, like this meeting was an inconvenience for him. “Well, I suppose we ought to get started.” He looked at Holly. “Are you ready?”
She opened the case and pulled out a device that looked like a smart phone. She set it on the table. “Yes.”
“Morgan,” Fred began. “We know you’ve been involved with at least one resistance group. We are very interested to know where they are.” He paused, letting that sink in.
I met his gaze, determined not to tell them anything—not that I knew that much—but I was afraid of saying anything for fear they could use it to find Jack and Dani’s group.
“We know about the man who invited you into his home when you were being chased by Enforcers. I believe his name was Tyler.”
I flashed back to the night Billy and I had been on the motorcycle, being chased by several Enforcers, then seeing Tyler waving us into his garage into what we thought was safety, but turned out to be a ploy to get the reward money.
“We believe it was after that,” Fred continued, “that you met up with Jack and Dani’s group.”
He was correct, but I tried to put on my poker face so I wouldn’t even acknowledge what they obviously already knew.
He stared at me. “Is that correct?”
I just stared back, keeping my mouth closed tightly.
He sighed, then looked at Holly and nodded once. She picked up the small device in front of her and tapped the screen. Excruciating pain shot down my back and into my head and I knew the object they’d inserted into the base of my skull was the cause of it.
I screamed in pain and writhed in my chair, slipping out of it and falling to the floor. A moment later the pain vanished and I struggled to catch my breath. My glasses had fallen off of my face but I couldn’t pick them up with my hands bound. Strong hands pulled me up from the floor and set me back in the chair. I looked up and saw Mills standing over me, expressionless. He reached down and picked up my glasses and placed them back on my face, then he stood against the wall.
My eyes were wet with tears and I looked at Holly and Fred, wondering how they could live with themselves. They were monsters and didn’t even realize it.
“Now, let’s try again,” Fred calmly said. “Did you meet up with Jack and Dani’s group after you got away from Tyler?”
I’d finally gotten my breathing under control, but I was so furious at these people for what they were doing that I couldn’t bring myself to speak. But when I saw Holly pick up her device and bring her finger close to the screen I shouted, “Yes.”
Both of them smiled and I felt ashamed.
“How did you know to call them?” Fred asked.
I thought about Mrs. Duncan, the woman who had so generously given Billy and me her son’s motorcycle. She’d just met us and had trusted us completely. She’d been the one to give us the phone numbers for Jack and Dani. My eyes were wide as they ricocheted between Holly’s finger poised above her small device, and Fred. He looked at me expectantly. As I hesitated, Holly’s finger dropped ever closer to the screen. When she nearly touched it I called out, “Wait!” Her finger stopped, but was way too close to the screen for comfort.
“Yes?” Fred asked.
“A woman we met.” Shame dripped over me like acid and I hated myself for being so weak. “She gave us the number to call.”
“Who is this woman? Where did you meet her?” Fred asked.
I couldn’t, couldn’t give them Mrs. Duncan’s name. She was just a sweet old lady. Perhaps I could tell them enough to get them to move on without having to give her up. “It was just this old lady Billy and I came across when we were on the run.”
“And she just,” he waved his hands in the air. “Randomly handed you a phone number?”
“She recognized us and knew we had escaped Camp Willowmoss, and she just wanted to help.”
Fred glanced at Holly, then looked back at me. “So this woman not only is part of the resistance groups, but she harbored fugitives?”
Oh crap. I hadn’t thought of it like that.
“What is her name?” Fred asked.
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell us.”
Fred’s eyes cut to Holly, who tapped the screen.
I screamed in agony and slid to the floor. “I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know!” The pain abruptly ended. When Mills put his hands on my arms to help me up, I reco
iled at his touch. How can he stand to watch this? He ignored my reaction and effortlessly lifted me from the floor and set me back in the chair. I ignored him and focused on breathing.
Fred stared at me a moment. “What happened when you called the number?”
They believed me. They believed that I didn’t know Mrs. Duncan’s name. A small victory, but it buoyed me up. I thought about the answer to his next question. Brynn had picked us up and driven us to Jack’s house. This was the dangerous part of the questioning—the part that could lead them right to Jack and Dani. “I didn’t actually call. Billy did.”
Fred sighed. “And what happened after Billy called the number?”
“We were told to go outside and walk down the street.”
“Where did you call from?”
I glanced at Holly and her finger, then looked at Fred. “A high school.”
“What high school?”
“I don’t know the name of it. It was just the first one we saw.”
He seemed to accept that. “Did you use the phone in the office?”
I felt really uncomfortable with how specific his questions were getting. Eventually he’d ask one that I would be extremely reluctant to answer. “No, Billy used some random girl’s cell phone.”
“What happened after you left the high school and started walking down the street?”
I hesitated, but saw Holly’s finger descending toward the device, and quickly spoke up. “A few minutes later a girl picked us up in her car.”
A small smile lifted Fred’s lips, but then he wiped it away. “Where did this girl take you?”
My heart pounded as I tried to think of a good answer, but only the truth came to mind.
“Morgan?” Fred said, warning clear in his voice.
I closed my eyes. “She took us to Jack’s house.” When I opened my eyes, Fred was smiling and this time he didn’t try to hide it. Holly was smiling too.
Hunted (Parallel Series, Book 3) (Parallel Trilogy) Page 25