Hunted (18 page)

“Mrs. Needham doesn’t like you.”

“So?” Who cared if the English teacher liked me or not.

“If she sees me talking to you, she might start picking on me.”

Her logic caught me off-guard, and before I had a chance to come up with a good answer, she darted out of the room. Disappointed I hadn’t been able to talk to her, I left the room and headed to my next class—Math. I got through that class without incident and when class was over I dropped my backpack off in my room and headed to the cafeteria.

After I gathered my food I turned to the room and saw Lori and the rest of the girls already at the table. My gaze went to the table where Amy had sat earlier, but she wasn’t there yet. Almost reluctantly, I headed to Lori’s table and sat in the empty seat next to Emily.

“How was your first day?” she asked.

“Okay, I guess.” I scooped up some of the vegetable soup and began eating, but hardly tasted it. My first day had been less than stellar and I was feeling less confident about this whole mission. As I ate, I thought about my top priority—getting Amy out of here—and I knew it was up to me to make that happen. But it wouldn’t happen without the help of Jack and Dani and they would only help if I got the information they wanted. I slipped on the persona of Hannah Jacobs and turned to Emily. “How long did you say you’ve been here?”

She pushed her wavy auburn hair over her shoulder and adjusted her glasses. “About five weeks.”

“Oh.” That meant she’d arrived around the time Billy and I were planning our escape. “When do you get to leave?”

“I have to lose about ten more pounds, so I guess in about six weeks.” She paused as she took a bite of her food. “What about you? How much weight do you have to lose?”

“Thirty pounds.”

“That’s a lot,” Lori said from across the table, obviously listening to our conversation. “How long do you think it will take?”

Amy walked past our table and I followed her with my eyes.
 

“It’s rude to stare, Hannah,” Lori said.

I wanted to say something back to her that would put her in her place, but didn’t think Hannah Jacobs would do something like that. Instead, I pretended I hadn’t heard her and turned to Emily. “What’s your favorite exercise equipment to use?”

“I like the stationary bicycle. What about you?”

“The elliptical machine.”

“Yeah, that one’s not too bad.”

“Hannah,” Lori said. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I felt my hackles rise, but I continued to ignore her—it was kind of loud in the cafeteria so it wasn’t unrealistic that I wouldn’t have heard her. “The treadmill’s okay too.” I kept my focus on Emily.

“Except when they make you run on it.”

I nodded, then felt a sharp pinch on my shoulder and was startled to see Lori standing behind me.
 

She leaned toward me and whispered fiercely in my ear. “Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you.”

As much as she tried to intimidate me, I just didn’t feel afraid of her. It wasn’t like before with Beth, who loved to bully me. I’d been through too much to allow a queen bee to sting me with her attitude. Even so, I was playing a role and if I wanted to fly under the radar, I had to play the part of the new girl who was uncertain about her surroundings. “I’m really sorry, Lori.” I pinched my leg as I looked at her, giving me a genuine look of discomfort. “I guess I didn’t hear you.”

She squinted, like she didn’t know if she should believe me or not. “Don’t let it happen again.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

She went back to her place—ignoring me, I might add—and I ate the rest of my food, including the two power bars. When I saw Amy getting up from her table and walking toward the trash cans, I quickly gathered my things and got up too. Hurrying over to where we put our trays, I got there just as she finished dumping hers off. I did the same and caught up to her as she headed toward the elevator.

“Hi,” I said, again making my voice sound different than it normally did.

She barely glanced at me. “Hi.”

“What’s your name?”

She snorted. “Didn’t your friend tell you?”

“Who?”

“I guess her name’s Lori.”

Obviously Amy was aware of the things Lori—and probably lots of other people—were saying about her. Heavy guilt swept over me at what my mistakes were putting her through. “Yeah, she said you’re Amy Campbell.”

“Did she send you over to pretend to be my friend so I’d share my innermost feelings with you so she could make fun of me?”

“No.” I could see that having Lori as a roommate was going to make this more difficult. How could I get Amy to trust me without revealing I was her sister? And doing that would be too risky. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her—after all she’d been through I didn’t think she would tell anyone—but what if they found out she knew and didn’t report me? Would that put her in the spotlight for committing a crime of her own instead of just being the stand-in for me? I couldn’t do that to her.

“Then what do you want? You just got here, right?”

We stopped in front of the elevator. “Yeah.”

She waved her card in front of the reader. “Then why would you want to be my friend?” She turned and looked directly at me. “I’m a freak here.” Her eyes filled with tears. “You don’t want to be friends with a freak, do you?”

The elevator door slid open and she stepped on. Her reaction surprised me so much that I stayed where I was. As the doors slid closed with her inside, I saw a tear slip down her cheek. Her sadness and misery broke my heart. I had to get her out as soon as possible.

Chapter Eighteen

I waved my card in front of the reader and rode the next elevator to my floor. I thought about Amy and how awful her life was right now. The only way I could fix things was to get the information Jack and Dani wanted. As soon as they got what they wanted, they’d get me and Amy out of here—at least that was what they’d promised. So for now, I had to gather the data they required—proof that we were being drugged. How else to change the mind of the masses who only thought we came here to get help losing weight? They thought it was all benign and innocent—just the government assisting us in having a healthier lifestyle. After all, F.A.T. stood for Federally Assisted Thinning. What could be bad about that?

It was up to me to show the world what was really going on here. And right now that meant going to the gym and showing how they treated us. But would people actually care? Or would they feel the treatment was justified? After all, we were overweight. We didn’t deserve to be treated with respect, right? I couldn’t do anything about anyone’s attitude. All I could do was provide video evidence of what was happening at Camp Willowmoss.

I went to my room and changed into my workout clothes, then headed to the gym. As the elevator took me down to the third floor where the gym was located, my heart began to race. Austin—Mr. Muscles—would be there. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been in his office with my roommate Alyx and she’d been telling him she was pregnant. She really wasn’t, but that was the ploy she’d used to get his key card for me, which Billy and I used on the night of our escape. And the reason I’d gone to his office that night was because I’d made a deal with him to take Alyx’s place when she left. At the time it had been the right thing to do—I’d had no intention of following through—but it was the only way he’d agree to get back together with Alyx, which meant it was the only way for me to get a staff member’s key card.
 

But now, knowing I’d have to face him in the gym, my stress level rose. He wouldn’t know it was me, but I knew how he really was—a bully to those who were weaker than him—and I couldn’t stand him.

I arrived at the gym and checked in, then grabbed a towel and went to the warm-up area. A couple of other kids were warming up, but no one I knew. After stretching my muscles I got on the treadmill and started jogging. It had been a month since I’d last worked out and in that time I’d put on some weight so it was a lot harder to run than I remembered.

“Pick up the pace.”

I turned and saw Austin standing next to the machine and my heart rate skyrocketed, but I managed to turn the camera on my glasses on.

He looked at a device in his hand then looked at me. “Hannah, right?”

I looked at him and nodded.

“You’re new, aren’t you?”

I was struggling to catch my breath so I nodded again.

He grinned. “One thing you need to understand from the start, Hannah. This is my gym and you do what I say.”

“Okay,” I panted.

He glanced at the device again. “Since this is your first day, I’ll cut you a little slack, but when you’re in my gym, you better be working your butt off.” He glanced at my rear end, then laughed. “And you
need
to work that butt off.”

The redness in my face increased and I felt the familiar humiliation that I’d learned to expect. I wondered what Jack and Dani would think of the insult. Probably not much. Even though it made me mad, most likely no one else would care about it. I didn’t respond to his insult, but just kept jogging. Finally he walked away, so I turned the camera off. The battery would only last for ten hours, so I wanted to make each recorded minute count.

I finished on the treadmill and walked toward the elliptical machine, looking at the other kids as I went. That’s when I saw Amy in the warm-up area. She was by herself and seemed very focused on what she was doing. I saw a boy walk past her and say something to her. It must not have been nice because she glanced at him and frowned and after he walked away I saw her wipe at her eyes. My big-sister instinct kicked in and I wanted to stand up for her, but how could I without giving myself away?
 

I started on the elliptical machine, but watched for Amy and eventually saw her go to the row of treadmills where I’d just finished. She was in front of me and to the right, so I was able to keep an eye on her. And sure enough, it didn’t take long for Austin to come harass her. He stopped next to her and she shrank from him—clearly she was familiar with his bullying tactics—but he just laughed.

From where I stood I could hear most of what he said and I cringed as I listened to him speak. I also turned on the camera.

“You think you’re so cool,” he taunted. “Because your sister is the famous Morgan Campbell. Well, I knew your sister and she was as much of a loser as you are. In fact I’m not sure who is more of a loser—you or her.”

Amy didn’t respond and kept running on the treadmill and I was proud of her for ignoring him. Then he reached over to the controls and sped up the treadmill. I gasped as Amy seemed to lose her footing and almost fell, but she regained her balance.

“You need to go faster, you pathetic loser,” Austin sneered.
 

It was all I could do not to run over to him and claw his eyes out. It had been horrendous when I’d been the target of his punishments when I was here before, but watching my little sister suffer, and not be able to do anything about it was pure torture.

It didn’t take long for Amy to begin panting harder.

“What do you think of your sister, huh?” Austin yelled. “Look what she’s making you go through.”

His words cut to the very heart of me and hot tears rushed into my eyes. I used my towel to dry them, but couldn’t tear my gaze away from the scene playing out in front of me. I noticed other kids were watching too and began to understand why Amy felt like a freak. No one cared about
her
. They only cared that she was there as a stand-in for me.

I wondered if part of Austin’s anger came from the fact that Alyx had left and I wasn’t there to take her place like he’d wanted. Did he have a special girlfriend now or was he forced to be alone? Or did Alyx’s claim of pregnancy scare him off from having a girlfriend—at least for a while?

When Amy didn’t respond to Austin’s question, he yelled even more. “Can’t you see that your sister doesn’t care about you at all? Why else would she let you be here for her? She’s a coward. How can you stand her? Look what she’s making you go through. What kind of a person is she?”

Amy placed her feet on the sides of the treadmill belt, stopping her jogging, and turned to Austin. With fury clear in her eyes, she yelled, “I hate her, I hate her, I hate her.”

My heart dropped and all the blood drained from my face.
She hates me
. Of course she does. I would hate me too.
 

Then I saw Austin grin and I knew his goal was to turn her against me. “I hate her too, Amy. You know she stole my key card from me and got me in trouble. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself.”

My eyes briefly widened. He’d gotten in trouble because Billy and I had used his key card to escape. The thought made me happy.
 

Amy glared at Austin and yelled just as loud as before, “I hate you too.”

As quickly as Austin’s grin had appeared, it was wiped off his face. His eyes narrowed, then he looked over his shoulder and gestured with his head. That’s when I saw Hansen walking toward Amy, a lazy smile on his face, and I flashed back to the night only a few weeks before when I’d driven a small knife into his back. It was the night of our escape and Hansen had pinned Billy to the ground. I hadn’t known what to do to help Billy, but then I’d seen the small knife on the ground. I’d picked it up and aimed for Hansen’s neck but he’d moved at the last moment and I’d stabbed him in the back instead. That was when he’d said, “I. Will. Kill. You.”

Now, as I watched him approach Amy, I wanted to scream at her to run. But as I looked at her expression, I knew this wasn’t the first time she’d met Hansen. She looked terrified.
 

He held his baton in one hand and gently whacked it against the palm of his other hand as he stopped next to the treadmill where Amy’s feet straddled the moving belt. “It is inappropriate to speak to any of the staff in the manner you’ve spoken to Mr. Templeton.”

I’d never heard Austin’s last name before—it was weird to hear him called that. I’d always thought of him as Mr. Muscles.
 

“You need to apologize.” Hansen’s voice was completely calm.