Hunted (34 page)

That didn’t make sense. Mills had stood by while I’d been tortured. Mills had gone after Brynn. Mills had chased me down after I’d finally escaped, then tasered me and injected some sort of sedative into my body. “What?”

“Mills is working with the resistance. He brought you to me.” He sat on the edge of the bed and softened his voice. “You’re safe now, Morgan.”

I was safe?
I could hardly believe it. After I’d lost all hope, I was actually out of Camp Stonewater and safe? Waves of relief cascaded over me, making me feel light. I closed my eyes, trying to take it all in, trying to digest the fact that I was out of Holly’s clutches, and the clutches of the people in power. I opened my eyes and looked at Billy. “Won’t Mills get in trouble for helping me escape?”

“He’s going to tell them that he almost got you, but that you knocked him out—which will explain why he was missing for a little while.”

“Do you think they’ll believe him?”

Billy shrugged. “Probably. But it’s a risk we all take when we work for the resistance.”

My opinion of Mills changed completely. He wasn’t the enemy after all. Instead he’d risked everything for me. Then I remembered Brynn. “What about Brynn? Did she get away?”

Billy nodded. “Yes. And she’s gone into hiding.”

I stared at this boy who had rescued me. “Why did you leave me? Why did you leave Jack’s house without saying good-bye?”

He sighed. “It wasn’t my choice, Morgan. Dani told me that I was causing you trouble and that if I didn’t leave, she’d turn you in to the Enforcers herself.”

My mouth fell open in shock. “She wouldn’t do that.”

He smirked. “Which part?”

“Turn me in.”

“Well, I couldn’t take a chance. And that’s what she was counting on.”

“Where did you go?”

He smiled. “I’m pretty resourceful, you know. After a few days I found another resistance group that was a lot more sophisticated than Jack and Dani’s group. They took me in.”

I glanced around the room. “And this is their place?”

“Yes.”

“Why am I in this bed? Why does my neck hurt?”

“Mills told us about the device they put in your neck and what it does. We removed it, as well as the tracking chip in your arm.”

I glanced at the bandage on my arm and touched the bandage on the back of my neck.
I really was safe
. At least as safe as anyone could be in this world. Tears of gratitude filled my eyes. “Thank you.”

He pulled me into an embrace and this time I didn’t fight it. “Oh, Morgan. You know I’d do anything for you.” He let me go and I lay back on the pillows. “When Mills told me about what they did yesterday, they had to hold me back to keep me from going in and getting you myself.”

I thought about the agony I’d experienced, not once, but three times. “Why didn’t he stop them?”

“He couldn’t. If he did, his cover would be blown.”

I understood, but I still didn’t know how he was able to stand by when he didn’t believe in what they were doing.

“It was hard for him,” Billy said, apparently guessing what I was thinking. “He told me it took all of his self-control to just stand there.”

“Why did he give me that sedative, or whatever it was?”

Billy laughed. “He said you were fighting pretty hard and he thought it would be better if you were asleep while they brought you here.”

I remembered my terror when he’d pulled me from the fence. Yeah, you could say I was fighting hard. “So now what?”

“The guy leading this group—his name’s Nick—is going to review the video you recorded in that camera. Then we’ll see what he wants to do next.”

“What day is it?”

“Friday.”

Good, so I hadn’t been out too long. “You know I need to get to that tunnel on Sunday, right?”

A frown flashed across his face, but it was gone quickly. “I figured you were thinking about that.”

Clearly, he still had doubts about my story. “Will you help me get there?”

He chewed on his lip for a second. “Well, I did promise you that I would, so I will.”

“Thank you.”

“How are you feeling though? Mills said they’ve only given you power bars for the last week.”

Had it been a week?
“Yeah, but I didn’t eat all that they gave me, so I feel okay.”

“That IV should help get rid of any traces of the drugs in your system.”

“It sounds like this group already knows about the drugs.”

“I told them about them, but they’d heard rumors and were in the process of getting samples.”

“Sounds like this group is way ahead of Jack and Dani’s group.”

“As unhappy as I am with what Jack and Dani did to us, I know they’re doing what they can. They’re just a small group.”

“Why don’t the different groups work together?”

“Some are, but that can be dangerous too. I mean, what if the Enforcers got a hold of one of them and they tell them about the others?” He paused. “Sometimes it’s better to have a little separation.”

I knew what he said was true. That’s exactly what Holly wanted to do—get to one of the groups so she could get to the others. “So I guess we didn’t hook up with the best group.”

He half-smiled. “We did the best we could under the circumstances.” He stood up. “Hey, are you ready to meet Nick? I know he wants to talk to you.”

“Will you stay with me?” I really didn’t want to talk to a complete stranger alone—I’d had too much of that lately.

“Of course.”

A few minutes later someone came and took the IV out of my arm and helped me get out of bed. I felt pretty good—especially knowing I was free—and after I put my shoes on, I followed Billy out of the room. We seemed to be in a large house. We walked down a hallway, then up some stairs, and stopped in a large room that was obviously an office. As soon as we entered, a tall man with a bald head came out from behind the desk.

“You must be Morgan.” His smile was warm and welcoming. “I’m Nick.”

“Hi.”

“I’m so glad you made it here in one piece.”

“Me too.” I looked at the kindness in his eyes and a strong feeling of gratitude swept over me. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”

He chuckled. “From what I heard, you got yourself out of there.”

“Yeah, but without Mills, I might have been recaptured.”

He waved his hand. “The important thing is that you’re here now.” He pointed to a small leather couch. “Please, have a seat.”

Billy and I sat down, and Nick sat in an adjoining chair. He asked me about my experiences in both Camp Willowmoss and Camp Stonewater. Though it was painful to relive some things that had happened—particularly the interrogation the day before, I answered his questions as much as I could. I wanted to help these people stop what was happening and if my experiences could do anything to help, then I was glad to share.

“I’m particularly interested in watching the video you recorded, Morgan,” Nick said. “How would you feel about watching it with me? I might have questions for you and it would be helpful if you were there.”

I wasn’t eager to relive the bad things that had happened, but I was willing to do what I could to help. “Sure. I guess.”

He smiled. “Good. My tech people have gotten everything ready for us in the main room. It will be just the three of us.”

Billy and I followed Nick out of the office and into a room with a pair of couches and several chairs. A large television was mounted to the wall. After we were seated—Billy sat next to me on one couch, and Nick sat in one of the chairs—Nick picked up a remote and turned on the television. After a moment, the video I’d taken filled the screen.

The first video was my meeting with Mrs. Reynolds.

“She was your caseworker?” Billy asked, grimacing.

“Yep.”

“That sucks.”

It felt so good to be sitting next to my best friend—he was the only person in this world who knew my deepest, darkest secrets, yet he still cared about me. I’d missed him so much, but now that I understood why he’d left Jack’s place, I felt so much better about him.

We watched the interaction I’d had with Mrs. Reynolds.

“She’s a bitter woman,” Nick said.

I laughed. That was an understatement.

Next was a brief, but humiliating, interaction I’d had with Austin in the gym. He’d implied that I was fat and had laughed at me. I felt my face redden. Then a warm hand slid into mine and our fingers intertwined. I glanced shyly at Billy and he smiled. I smiled back, then quickly looked at the screen, a feeling of elation wrapping around me like a soft blanket.

The next video showed Austin harassing Amy until Amy screamed how much she hated me. Though she and I had gotten past that, I still felt my heart drop to hear my sister say that. Then Amy told Austin she hated him and moments later Hansen was hitting Amy’s legs with his baton, then she was forced to apologize for saying she hated Austin.

“Oh wow,” Nick said, clearly shocked. “That’s disturbing.”

I thought about the torture I’d endured the day before and thought,
That’s nothing.

The next clip showed Hansen bothering me at dinner. But the more interesting clip was the one after that, when Lori was forced to confess why she was there.

Right after Lori said it was my records she falsified, Nick paused the video and turned to me. “Did you know about this?”

I shook my head. “No. And watching it just now, I think Mrs. Reynolds knew I was really Morgan and she wanted me to know what Lori had done.”

“Why would she want to do that?” Billy asked.

I noticed that he never let go of my hand, which thrilled me. “I don’t know. She probably just wanted me to hate her.” I looked at Nick, then back at Billy. “Lori was my roommate.”

“No kidding?” Billy asked.

“No. You can imagine how surprised I was when she walked in.” I looked at Nick. “Just see what happens next.”

Nick pressed the play button and the video continued. The video showed Amy yelling at Lori for what she had done, then launching herself at Lori and the two of them fighting. Though I didn’t like seeing my sister in a fight, I had to admit that I was proud of her for standing up for herself. She’d been so bullied and abused at Camp Willowmoss, I was glad they hadn’t broken her.

As I thought of Amy and my family, sudden alarm pulsed through me. “Nick, can you stop for a second?”

He pressed the pause button and turned to me.
 

“I’m worried about my family. Last time I escaped, they locked my sister up. What do you think they’ll do now?”

He thought for a moment, then said, “We can move them to a safe place. From what I’ve seen so far on this video, when we release this to the world, I think it will go a long ways toward changing people’s minds. The least we can do is protect you and your family.”

The feeling of alarm settled a bit. “Can you get them soon?”

“Of course. Please excuse me for a minute.” He left the room and Billy and I were alone.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“He seems like a good guy,” I said.

“Yeah. I really like him.”

Billy didn’t seem uncomfortable with holding my hand, so I just enjoyed it.

“It sucks what you had to go through,” he said.

“I know. But I got Amy out, and that’s why I did it.”

“But you almost didn’t get out yourself. What would you have done then?”

I didn’t really want to think about that. The possibility of being stuck in this world had been a very real threat. I’d even come to the conclusion that it was inevitable. “I don’t know. I can’t think about that now.”

We sat quietly, lost in our own thoughts, until Nick came back into the room.

“I’ve made arrangements for my people to collect your family in the next few hours and take them to a safe place.”

“Thank you so much.” I would feel better once I knew they were safe, but now that the wheels were in motion, I didn’t worry quite as much.

“Shall we continue?” Nick asked, before resuming the video.

The next section was the lie detector test. As it began it seemed innocuous enough, but I knew what was coming and I tensed, waiting for the big reveal when Mrs. Reynolds would state my true identity. When it came, I heard Nick gasp.

Soon the screen showed the walls of the concrete cell, and just before the clip ended I could clearly be heard saying in a shaky voice, “If you can hear me, please come and get me right away.”

Billy didn’t say anything. He just let go of my hand, then put his arm around me and pulled me close.

Nick paused the video and looked at me. “Who were you talking to when you said that, Morgan?”

“Jack and Dani told me that they might be able to see the video through the wi-fi at Camp Willowmoss, so I was hoping they would get the message.” Had they gotten any of it? I turned to Billy, who, to my delight, was sitting very close to me. “Do you have any idea if they were able to get this?”

He shook his head.

“What about you, Nick? Do you know?”

“I haven’t seen any of this online, and my guys are very on top of that sort of thing. So I can only assume they weren’t able to hack in to the wi-fi there.”

I was glad the Enforcers hadn’t taken my glasses away. And I was glad I’d kept filming, even though I wasn’t sure if it would be worthwhile.
 

Nick pressed the play button.

The video showed Holly walking in to my room at Camp Stonewater. When I saw her I stiffened. Billy must have noticed my reaction because he pulled me closer. Feeling his strong arms around me made me feel safe, and I relaxed.

Holly was bargaining with me, trying to convince me to cooperate. I glanced at Nick and saw that he was riveted by the conversation on the screen. Not surprising considering Holly was talking about ending the resistance once and for all.

The video then cut to Holly coming back and me telling her that I wasn’t going to give her any information. That’s when the Enforcers and the woman in the lab coat entered the room. I’d tried to run, but they’d easily overpowered me and injected the torture device in the base of my skull. I felt Billy’s arm tighten around me as we watched the events from my point of view. Finally it was over and you could hear the group leaving as I lay motionless on the bed.