Selected

by Barb Han

  “What about setting off an alarm? They’ll have to clear out of the buildings, and then we can grab them and convince them to escape.”

  She just looks at me.

  Yeah, there are a lot of holes in that plan…in all the plans. But I can’t sit by and let the others be used and thrown away like lab rats. Sold and then tossed in the trash. “What about an exchange? You already said that I’m the one she wants, anyway, and we can find a way to get me out of there once I’m in.”

  This time, she doesn’t even bother to look at me. I’ve been lobbing up ideas for the past fifteen minutes, and all of them are falling flat.

  “We’ve been here too long. It’s time to move on,” she finally says.

  Caius comes in from his morning workout with Pace and Keir and takes a seat next to me. He looks strong again. His shirt is off and tiny beads of sweat roll down his chest.

  “We need to go,” I agree, “and I fully understand why. But what about the others?” I push up to my feet and pace. The clock is ticking, and I have yet to come up with one viable option.

  “We’re not the only cell, Tori. This might be a better job for one of the others,” Annora says and then takes the last bite of food from her plate.

  “When was the last time you spoke to anyone else?” I press.

  “You know how it works. We stay in small groups so we’re nimble, and we minimize contact with other groups to reduce the risk of anyone intercepting communication.” She gets to her feet, too, and goes to the sink to wash out her plate.

  “Which means that we don’t know what anyone else is thinking. For all we know, no one else is working on the problem.”

  She blows out a sharp breath because she knows I’m right.

  “I’ll put out feelers,” she concedes. “Give me time to think this through.”

  “Jax used to send me messages that would disappear without a trace.” The mention of his name makes my heart feel like it might burst. Sadness overwhelms me.

  “The council will have confiscated all of his technology, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Annora says.

  “What about using an electromagnetic pulse to short the electric fence again?”

  “I have no idea how he did that, and we have limited technology,” she responds.

  “At Easton, everyone looks out for themselves, right?”

  She nods.

  “Based on that fact and my psychological profile, they should think I’m long gone, heading north to where they believe my family is.”

  “Precisely why we’re moving south as soon as the sun breaks,” Annora counters.

  “I think we have enough energy here to short circuit their power, if only temporarily,” I say. “We can breech the walls and convince the others that they have to leave.”

  “What makes you think they’ll believe you?” She leans her hip against the counter.

  “They know something’s up, and that they’re being pitted against each other. Everyone’s afraid. If they see me again, they’ll believe me.” It’s a weak argument; even I realize that.

  “They’ll believe me,” Caius offers. “I’m Legacy.”

  “Let me think about this overnight.” Annora looks at me. “We’ll stay here for now. I’ll make a decision tomorrow morning.”

  “We’ll patrol so you have time to map things out.” I nod toward Caius, and he takes my cue.

  We head outside, circling the perimeter within the tree line a few times before stopping. I take his hand and tug him toward me. He wraps his arms around me, and I tunnel my hands into his hair. Pushing up onto my tiptoes, I press my mouth to his. Our lips fuse together, and his tongue moves inside my mouth.

  The next thing I realize, my back is against the tree and his body is pressed to mine. The next kiss is so heated it robs me of my breath.

  He pulls back enough to say, “I wanted to do that all morning.”

  “Me, too,” I admit as electricity pings through me.

  He’s breathless, and so am I, our hearts beating rapidly. We take a minute to catch our breath.

  “We’re leaving tonight, right?” I ask, making sure we’re on the same page.

  “Once the others are asleep,” he says. “Have you thought about what we’re going to do once we’re there?”

  “They’ll be in the dorm if we time it right. It’s the only place where we can find everyone in one place at the same time.”

  “I thought about that, too.” He stays rooted to the spot, and his heart beats against my chest.

  I drop my hands to his shoulders and kiss him one more time.

  “Then what?” he asks when we pause again.

  “We figure it out as we go?” Not many of my plans have worked out so far.

  “Wing it, you mean?” he asks with one of his effortless smiles. I love the way his mouth curves, showing his dimple. I kiss the corner of his lip, and he looks at me. “This is crazy, you know. We don’t even know where we are.”

  “Yes.” I kiss him again. My stomach flips, and I feel something building inside me.

  A noise sounds behind us and I jump.

  “It’s just a deer.” Caius’s arms tighten around me.

  “We should probably head back.”

  “Yeah.” He doesn’t immediately move. Instead, we stand there a while longer, lost in the moment.

  By the time we make it back, it’s dark outside. No one speaks to us. I hear Annora breathing slow and steady, asleep.

  Caius and I slip onto our cot, and he wraps his arms around me while we wait. When we’re sure that Pace and Keir have been asleep for a good half hour, he squeezes my hand and I take a deep breath. Time to go.

  I move first, and he follows. We ease through the dark room, having already memorized the layout. I’ve just closed my fist around the door handle when a light comes on.

  “You didn’t seriously think we’d let you go without us, did you?” Annora’s voice startles me. “I have extra transport near the school.”

  The others stir as well. They’ve been expecting this. It’s almost funny how transparent we are. I’d laugh if we weren’t about to put our lives on the line.

  “Well, then, let’s go,” I say.

  We close up the building and pile into the vehicle. It’s crowded with all five of us inside, which makes the half-hour drive feel even longer. My nerves are on edge, but as we near campus, a quiet calm descends on me like a warm blanket on a cold night.

  “There’s no way we’re getting anywhere near the campus without getting caught,” Annora says as she parks the vehicle two streets over from Jax’s house. My heart is heavy in my chest. Away from school, it’s easier to set thoughts of him aside. Here, I can’t escape them. I see his face everywhere and have to fight back the flood of emotion threatening to break me.

  “We have to try,” Caius says before I can.

  Annora sits for a long moment, staring out the front windshield. “Can we send a message to Adalynn? She’ll help us.”

  “I don’t want to involve her,” I say quickly.

  “Then tell me a better idea,” Annora counters.

  I take a sharp breath. She’s right.

  “I’ll do it,” Pace says. “I know where she lives.”

  “She has soccer practice every morning at Easton when school’s in session.” I glance at the clock. “She gets up at six thirty even now. She can’t sleep in anymore.”

  Tension fills the car. No one likes the idea of involving another person in such a risky mission, but no one has an alternative.

  Pace nods before taking off.

  “I think I should be the one to go inside,” I offer.

  “Absolutely not,” Annora says.

  “I don’t like it,” Caius agrees, and he refuses to look at me. He knows I’m right. It’s the best plan we have so far.
/>   “All I need is access to the dorm,” I say. “Then, I can spread the word. They’ll believe me.”

  “This is too dangerous,” Annora says. “You back on campus is playing right into their hand.”

  “It’ll work.”

  “And what if it doesn’t? You’ll be captured or dead. How will we find you a second time? I barely got you out once, and that’s when no one expected us.” She makes good points. “Now, my cover is blown.”

  There’s no arguing with that, so I change the subject. “Does anyone have an AllinOne?”

  “I have one in the trunk.” Annora pulls over and retrieves it. I’m already out of the car as she hands it to me.

  “Jax taught me how to do this.” I tug at the corners and then tap on the screen as tears roll down my face. I wipe them away and show them what I can make…

  A life-size hologram of me pops up, looking surprisingly real.

  “That’s cool,” Caius says.

  Annora stares at it for a long moment. “I guess we can use it as a distraction near the employee entrance. That’ll give Keir and Caius time to get to the lab for Lillian.” She rattles off security codes for them.

  “Won’t they have changed those by now?” Caius asks.

  “It’s the master code. It’ll work.”

  “Caius, no,” I say. He can’t go back on campus.

  “Can I see that?” Pace interrupts my protest, motioning to the AllinOne, and I hand it over.

  “I can do something better than a hologram,” he says, fidgeting with the keyboard. “I can blast a message so loud that if anything happens to you, the students will still hear it. Hopefully it will also create enough chaos for them to escape.”

  “What about drones? Won’t they shoot—”

  “One or two deaths can be written off without gathering much attention. Start shooting all the kids, and there’s a bigger story,” Annora reasons.

  “They could say there was a school shooting. It used to happen.” I read about it in her history class.

  She concedes with a sigh. “I’ll make sure I record the scene.”

  Pace points the device at me. “Talk. Tell them what’s happening. I’m recording…now.”

  “Easton isn’t what you think, and it’s not safe for you here. They plan to use you, your body, and everything that makes you an individual for profit. You’ve been tricked into signing away your freedom, and you—I—didn’t realize that’s what was happening. If you have a family, they’re not safe. Councilwoman Snyder is making up lies about my brother, saying he killed a family. It’s not true. You are not safe. No one is safe. Which is why you have to leave now. We’ll help you. We’re coming for you. Find your families if they’re still alive. Find a way to leave Maine and go to people who truly care about what happens to you. Run. Now. And don’t stop running until we’re all far away from here.”

  I take in a breath and try to calm my nerves as I make eye contact with Pace. He shuts off the recording.

  “That’s good,” Annora says with appreciation.

  “I hope it’s enough to save their lives.” There are so many emotions running through me right now I can’t begin to sort all of them out. Fear rises to the surface. I’m afraid for the others if we can’t get them out of Easton. I’m afraid of what will happen to them if we do get them out, because I don’t have any easy answers as to what comes next.

  This is all happening so fast that we haven’t had a chance to clearly think through all the things that might go wrong. The list would probably be too long, anyway.

  Annora takes the AllinOne. “I’ll go to the front gate and blast the message through the speakers. That should create enough of a distraction to give the two of you time to reach the dorm. You two,” she said to Pace and I before pointing to Keir and Caius and saying, “need to get out of here so they can get to the lab before meeting us at the rendezvous point.”

  Caius has already reached out for my hand, and I need his word. “Don’t leave anyone behind in the lab. Promise?”

  His gentle squeeze tells me he has no plans to, and Keir nods.

  I can live with this plan. “There’s a place on a hill toward the back of campus near an old cemetery. Think that’s a good place to meet?”

  Heads nod, and Annora checks her watch. “We leave in one hour. We can’t afford to wait. Meet on time or lose your ride. If I’m not back, take off without me.”

  With every step toward my old school, a fire inside me ignites. When the gates come into view, the blaze licks through my veins. By the time I navigate onto the lawn, I’m an inferno.

  I can hear my voice boom through the crisp morning air. Drones circle. They’ll close in on us if we give them enough time.

  Moving along the trees, away from the front gate, I push my legs faster. By the time I reach the dorm, my lungs are burning. I expect extra security to be there, and I’m surprised when there is none. Then again, it’s crazy for us to come back to free the others. I’m hoping to capitalize on the fact they’re underestimating us.

  I strain to remember the code McAvoy entered when he took me back to the dorm weeks ago. I enter the numbers, hoping, praying they’ll work. They do, and the doors swish open. I move through the second set just as easily.

  An alarm sounds outside, and my heart drops. I recognize it as the Shelter in Place warning. Snyder must have been alerted to the chaos by now. I imagine her face when she jolts out of bed at the news, and a satisfied smile curls the corners of my mouth. My amusement is short-lived, though, as I round the hallway and get to business.

  I knock on the first door of my old floor. “Open up, please. Easton isn’t safe. We have to leave.”

  Doors open almost simultaneously as the alarm pierces the air, and I shout over it.

  “Stick with me, and I’ll get you out of here, to safety,” I repeat with every opened door, to every shocked face.

  A small crowd of summer school boarders gathers. Among them I count seven Sponsored students out of ten.

  “Is everyone here?” I ask.

  Heads nod as we recognize each other.

  “Where would we go if we leave?” one of the guys asks. He has sandy-blond hair and brown eyes. He reminds me a little of Jax. I see him everywhere now, and I miss him so much I can barely focus.

  “Stay here, and they’ll get rid of you when you’re no longer useful, which believe me, won’t be long now. They promised you college, but they have no intention of allowing you to go.” I’m making an impact, but shouting over the alarms is a challenge.

  “Jolie Bangor escaped. She’s across the border. Lillian Thompson didn’t wash out, either. She’s being held prisoner in the lab like she’s some kind of experiment.” These are harsh truths that have to be exposed. A couple of the girls flinch when I finish my sentence. I’m guessing they’re as skeptical of the system as I was before my worst fears were confirmed. I’m counting on it because it’ll make them believe me.

  “Come with me and we’ll find a safe place. I promise. We don’t have a lot of time. You have to decide now. You know what it’s been like here. They’ve pitted us against each other. They’ve kept us from the truth. They’ve made us resent each other. Who here is truly happy?” I scan the faces and see that I’m getting through. “Together, we have a chance. Stay here and you’ll die.”

  One of the original fourteen steps forward. “I’m in.”

  She’s all I need for the others to follow suit. It takes a few seconds, but heads start nodding.

  “Let’s go. I’ll explain everything later. First, we have to get out of here and to safety.” I can only hope the others made it out of here and are waiting at the hill.

  The onlookers who have gathered part and let us through.

  “Go,” I yell at them, hoping they can create more chaos so we can slip away.

  As we exit the building, I
nearly slam into an enforcer. McAvoy. He stands with his feet apart in an athletic stance, blocking the path.

  “Stay right where you are,” he demands. His right hand rests on the butt of his weapon.

  “Go ahead. Shoot.” I’m being bold. There’s one thing about McAvoy—he can’t back down from a challenge.

  “Don’t push me, little girl.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Caius and Keir carrying Lillian Thompson. One of the Selected boys runs over to help. I should know his name and am embarrassed that I don’t.

  For a split second, I question why McAvoy doesn’t go ahead and shoot me. He’s been waiting for the chance since we met.

  From around the side of the adjacent building, a blur of blond hair in a ponytail blasts toward McAvoy. Adalynn tackles him and yells, “Run!”

  I don’t want to leave her. The kids around me push me in the opposite direction. I know in the back of my mind McAvoy won’t hurt her. It still takes everything inside me to keep pushing forward and not circle back to help.

  I keep looking back when everyone else is ghosting. The group is outpacing me, but I’ll catch up. At least, that’s what I think until a fist slams into me and my head snaps backward.

  “You’re not getting away this easily, Tori.” Councilwoman Snyder stands over me. A needle sticks out of one side of her balled fist.

  The spot on my cheek where her knuckles connected hurts so bad it might explode. I don’t have a lot of time to think, so I sweep my strong legs around her ankles. She loses her balance. As she struggles to regain it, I deliver a more powerful kick.

  She drops, fast. I’m on my side, so I whirl toward her as she jabs a needle at me. The outside of my hand takes a jab. I jerk it away before any of the liquid inside gets into my system. She takes another swing at me.

  This time, I kick her arm, and the needle goes flying. Her hands clamp around my foot, and she jerks me toward her.

  Anger throws gas onto the simmering fire that’s been building inside me. An explosion fuels my kick at her face, and it connects. Her jaw makes a cracking sound, and her eyes go little unfocused. I scoot away from her in time to catch the glint of metal on the grass.