Hunted (12 page)

He looked at me like I was an idiot. “I’m sure they can get their hands on the power bars in some other way.”

“Oh, really? Like how?”

“They can take them from a delivery truck or something.” He grabbed my shoulders. “Morgan, don’t you see? They’re
using
you. As soon as they get the video they want, they’ll leave you hanging.”

I stared at him, my eyes locked on his. Was he right? Would they do that to me? Then I thought about the betrayal he’d experienced from his own parents. Of course he wouldn’t trust anyone. I wouldn’t either if I’d been through what he’d been through. But this was different. We were working together. As a team. They wouldn’t do that to me. And then there was my sister. I
had
to get her out of there.
 

I shoved his hands away. “I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for Amy.”

His jaw clenched, then he said, “Fine. Don’t expect me to wait around and watch you destroy your own future.”

A wave of panic rushed over me. “What do you mean? Are you leaving?”

He just shook his head and walked away, leaving me all alone.

I almost ran after him to beg him to stay. I didn’t know what I would do without him there. It was true that lately all we’d been doing was arguing over my decision, but I felt a bond with him. We’d been through the most terrifying days of my life together. What would I do if I couldn’t talk to him?

Chapter Twelve

The next morning when I came into the kitchen for breakfast and saw Billy sitting at the table, relief swept over me—I’d half-expected him to be gone. Mitch and Nathan were making breakfast.

“Hi,” I said, as I slid into the seat next to him, determined to act like everything was fine.

“Hey.” He didn’t seem very enthusiastic, but I didn’t let that stop me.

“What do you want to do today?” I smiled brightly, hoping to cheer him up.

He smirked. “We can watch TV. It’s not like we ever do that.”

“No thanks.” That was one activity I was sick of.

He leaned toward me and spoke in a soft voice so Mitch and Nathan wouldn’t hear. “Let’s get out of here for a while.”

My eyes opened wide. “Outside? Like, in public?”

He tilted his head to one side. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to see if your new look is still working? You know, since soon you’ll be going right back into the lion’s den.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

He nodded. “Okay then. Let’s do it.”

“You mean everyone, right?”

“No. I mean just you and me.”

“But what about before? When that boy recognized you.”

“I’m willing to chance it if you are.”

I wondered if he was testing me, to see if I really had the nerve to go out in public. For some reason it was important to me to prove to him that I could do it. Maybe if he saw I could get away with being in public unrecognized, he’d finally support my plans to go back to Camp Willowmoss. “Right.” My voice didn’t express as much confidence as I’d meant it to, so I nodded vigorously for good measure.

He smiled, but he didn’t seem happy. “Great. Right after breakfast.”

We both seemed to eat slower than normal—I don’t think either one of us was too eager to do this, but neither of us wanted to admit it. Finally we couldn’t put it off any longer.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready for what?” Nathan asked as he ate his breakfast.

“Morgan and I have something we need to do.” Billy didn’t show a hint of worry.

“Oh.” Nathan seemed disappointed to not know what was going on.

Billy raised his eyebrows at me so I pushed my chair back and stood. “Okay.” I tried to sound confident. I followed him out of the kitchen and toward the front door. He opened the door and held it for me and I stepped out front for the first time in two weeks. Jack’s house had been an oasis and I’d felt completely safe there. Now, I felt very exposed, even though we were just standing on the front porch.

Billy closed the front door and stepped off the porch. When I didn’t follow, he turned toward me. “Really, Morgan? You’re willing to go back to Camp Willowmoss, but you won’t even step off Jack’s porch?”

Wanting to prove that I could do it, I gathered my courage and walked toward him into the sunlight. The bright light hurt my eyes—I’d been inside so much lately I’d almost forgotten how good the sun could feel on a mid-October morning—and I put my hand up to block the sun. Then I strode past him. “Let’s go already, Billy.”

He laughed as he followed me down the driveway and to the sidewalk. We walked side by side and I felt my confidence grow with each step. It was easy to feel safe since there were no cars around. Then a car appeared at the end of the street, heading right toward us. As it approached, my heart pounded. When it pulled up next to us, I nearly screamed. The passenger side of the car was closest to us so I couldn’t see who was inside. “Who is that?” I frantically whispered.

“Calm down,” Billy muttered. “Jeez.”

I glared at him, hating him at that moment because nothing seemed to ruffle him and I wished I could be like that.

The passenger window glided down and a female voice yelled, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Billy squatted down and looked inside. I stayed behind him, ready to bolt.

“Oh, hey, Dani,” Billy said, then turned to me. “Look, Morgan. It’s Dani.”

A wave of relief crashed over me and I bent over and looked into the open window. “Hi.”

“Why are you outside walking around?” The fury was clear on her face. “Does Jack know about this?”

“I wasn’t aware we needed his permission,” Billy said.

Dani looked back and forth between us. “Get in.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Billy began to stand.

I stayed where I was, not sure what to do. Did I want to anger these people or keep them on my side? Without their help I didn’t have a good way to help my sister. But Billy had a point too. Why did we need their permission to go on a walk? Were we prisoners?
 

“Morgan?” Dani asked.

“We, uh, well, we wanted to make sure our new looks were still working.”

Dani’s eyebrows drew together. “Why now?”

Billy leaned toward the window. “You all seem so eager to have Morgan go back to Camp Willowmoss when she’s a wanted criminal, I just thought before she was exposed to people who hate her, we should see if random strangers would recognize her.” He paused. “You
do
want to make sure the Enforcers don’t recognize her, don’t you?”

Dani seemed a bit flustered by his logic. “Of course we do.”

“So we’re all in agreement,” he said, smiling.
 

Dani stared at him for a moment. “What did you have in mind?”

Billy glanced at me and I could tell he was pleased he’d won. “We want to go to the plaza and walk around.”

For a second I didn’t know what he was talking about, then I remembered that in this world the plaza was their version of a mall—the only difference being that there was no food court.

“It’s probably not even open yet. Plus all the kids your age will be at school, so you’d really stand out. I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

Billy seemed to consider this. “Fair enough, but this afternoon there will be plenty of kids our age there. We want to go then.”

I looked at him, wondering why he thought he could speak for me. The more I thought about going to the mall—plaza—the less I wanted to go. Not only would kids our age be there, but plenty of Enforcers would be there too.

“Look,” Dani said. “I think we all need to discuss this and plan it out.”

Billy shook his head with vehemence. “No. No. You people haven’t even come up with a plan on how to get Morgan out of Camp Willowmoss once she’s in. I’m tired of waiting for you to plan. No. We go this afternoon or Morgan and I are gone.”

I felt my eyes widen at his pronouncement. I opened my mouth to protest, but he put his hand on my back and I stayed silent. What was he trying to prove anyway?
 

Dani looked at me, I guess to see if I agreed with Billy. A sudden feeling of loyalty toward the boy who had done so much to help me—and truth be told, was still looking out for me—came over me and I nodded my agreement. “Yes. We need to test my new look some more. I need to feel confident that it’s going to work.”

Dani sighed and looked out her window, then back at us. “Okay. Fine. We’ll do it your way. But for now please come back to the house. This afternoon I’ll drive you to the plaza myself. I promise.”

She continued on to the house and we turned around and walked back. The rest of the day I found it hard to focus on the different activities we engaged in—watching TV, playing games, cleaning up, working on our studies. I kept visualizing how the afternoon would go. Billy and I would be walking down the middle of the plaza, maybe stopping to window shop every so often, when out of nowhere a dozen Enforcers would surround us and take us into custody.
 

At four o’clock that afternoon Dani came into the family room and announced it was time to go. I’d been halfway hoping—okay, maybe more than halfway—that she would break her promise and we would stay here, but Billy seemed eager to go. He jumped up, then turned to me with a smile and pulled me up.

After a brief discussion, Dani decided no one else could come along. It would just be Billy and me. A short time later we pulled up to the plaza.
 

“I’ll wait here,” she said. “But if something happens and you’re recognized and arrested, don’t contact Jack or me. We can’t take a chance on having our group discovered.”

A chill shot up my spine. If anyone recognized us and turned us in, we’d be on our own. That thought terrified me. I looked at Billy to see if he’d changed his mind, but he didn’t seem deterred by her warning.

“Okay,” he said, then opened the door and got out.

Reluctantly, I got out too. Even though I was scared, I knew if there was to be any chance of succeeding in going back to Camp Willowmoss, I’d have to conquer my fear. This was just a bunch of stores. If I couldn’t manage to go in there and survive, there was no hope of me going into Camp Willowmoss.

Billy and I walked side by side towards the entrance. I think he sensed my trepidation because he took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. I appreciated his presence—there was no way I could do this on my own. No way. Which made me worry even more about going into Camp Willowmoss by myself.
 

We walked through the doors and headed toward the long walkway that stretched to the department store at the other end of the plaza. Dozens of teenagers wandered the plaza, which helped me feel less conspicuous. We stopped at a cell phone kiosk and I looked at the latest phones, then realized this whole mess had started with me wanting a new phone. Now not only did I not have a cell phone, I also didn’t have my family—or my world, for that matter.
 

Billy let go of my hand—which I immediately missed as my security blanket—and began looking at the different phones. After a few minutes I poked him in the arm. “Let’s go.”

He looked at me like he’d forgotten I was there and I felt a flash of annoyance. We turned away from the kiosk and took a few steps toward another store when I saw a pair of Enforcers walking in our direction. My stomach clenched and I feared I might vomit right there on the plaza floor. That would surely get the Enforcers’ attention, so I swallowed convulsively to get my gut under control.

Billy took my hand again. “You belong here, Morgan,” he whispered. “We’re just two kids hanging out at the plaza after school.”

I nodded, unable to speak for the abject terror that had gripped me.

Billy tugged me forward and I forced my feet to move. I was wearing the glasses—and no makeup, since I wouldn’t be wearing it in Camp Willowmoss—and hoped that having them on my face, plus my new funky hairstyle, would be enough to keep the Enforcers from connecting me to the wanted girl—one Morgan Campbell. As they got closer, my heart pounded so hard I was certain they must see the rhythm under my shirt. They spoke to each other—not a care in the world—and glanced at the people in the area. I tried not to look at them, but couldn’t seem to stop myself, and the gaze of one of them brushed over me. I could tell he didn’t approve of my weight—after all, I’d gained several pounds recently, on top of the few pounds I’d already needed to lose—but then his gaze slid off of me and onto someone else.

After a moment they’d passed us and I thought I would faint with relief. The only thing keeping me upright and mobile was Billy’s hand in mine.

“See?” he said softly. “All they saw was a fat girl. They didn’t see you at all.”

I wasn’t sure if I should feel insulted or comforted, but decided on the latter because I knew that’s how Billy meant it. “Thanks.”

We walked around a while longer, then went back to Dani’s car, sliding into the back seat.

“So it all went okay?” she asked.

“Yep,” Billy said.

“Even when the Enforcers stared at me,” I added, giddy that I’d passed this trial.

“Enforcers?” She turned in her seat to gape at us.

“Yeah,” Billy said. “It was no big deal. They just walked past us.”

Dani spun back around, her gaze shooting in all directions.

“They didn’t follow us,” Billy said.

She looked at Billy, her lips compressed. “You have no idea how hard we’ve worked to keep our identity concealed.”

Billy didn’t say anything, just stared back.

Finally Dani started the car and we drove back to Jack’s house. When we arrived, everyone, including Jack, wanted to hear how it had gone. Now that it was over, I was more than happy to tell them every detail.
 

“Sounds like your disguise is working pretty well,” Jack said. “That’s good to hear.”

That night I slept soundly, my confidence in my disguise growing. The next morning at breakfast I was surprised when Billy wasn’t already at the table. And when breakfast was over and he hadn’t shown up, I felt alarmed. “Where’s Billy?” I asked Nathan and Mitch. After all, they shared a room with him.

They looked at each other. “I don’t know,” Mitch said. “He wasn’t in bed when I got up. I assumed he’d gone somewhere.”