Imprisoned (20 page)

“What if we started several fires at once? Maybe in the supply closets.”

“There are cameras in there.” I remembered seeing them.

“The bathrooms don’t have cameras.”

I nodded. “What could we burn though?”

“What about our school books?” Piper said.

“Great idea. We could rip out the pages and burn them. But if we do it in the bathroom, would that set off the fire alarm?”

“We’d have to prop the door open so that the smoke goes out into the hallway.”

“We should do it at night,” I said, my mind racing ahead. “When everyone is asleep and it’s less likely that someone would be in the bathroom.”

“It would work better if we could have fires start in bathrooms on all the floors. It would cause more confusion.”

“We can’t even get to the other floors. We’d have to get other people to help.” I didn’t like that idea—the more people who knew, the greater the chance that someone would tell.

“Okay, maybe not all the floors. But more than just ours.”

“Do you have someone in mind? Someone you can trust?”

A slow smile spread over her face. “Billy.”

I nodded. “I’ll talk to him after our counseling session tonight.”

“Great.”

Sudden pounding sounded on our door and we both jumped.

“Who could that be?” I asked, certain they’d been listening to our plans the whole time and were now going to drag us to some awful punishment.

“I don’t know.” Piper’s eyes were round with fear.

I walked to the door, my heart pounding, then opened it.

An Enforcer stood there, a scowl on his face. “Your caseworker wants to see you.”

I glanced behind me at Piper, then looked back at the Enforcer. “Okay.”

“Now.”

Chapter Twenty Two

I followed him out of my room and down to the second floor, trying to come up with an explanation as to why Piper and I had been talking about starting a fire. The Enforcer left me sitting in the same chair I’d sat in before, but a different Enforcer sat behind the desk this time. A moment later Mr. Madsen led me back to his office.

“Have a seat, Morgan.”

I did, my heart hammering in my chest.

“I understand you had a bit of difficulty in the Saturday Challenge. What was that about?”

My mind went back to the horrific experience I’d had an hour before, slipping and sliding closer to the pit of spiders and finally falling in, spiders swarming up my bare legs. I shuddered in remembrance.

“Morgan?”

As I looked at his face, I wanted to slap it. Why did he think I had “difficulty”? Because the people who worked here—including him—were insane? I decided to play dumb. “What do you mean?”

He sighed, like he expected me to know what he was talking about. “You ran off the field and Officer Hansen had to retrieve you.”

Is that what you call it?
I wanted to shout. When an Enforcer who outweighs me by a hundred pounds, most of it muscle, punches me in the stomach, then drags me back to a bizarre game of tug-of-war, that’s “retrieving”? My hands fisted, digging my nails into the tender flesh of my palms as I tried to keep control of myself. “I just don’t like spiders,” I managed to say through nearly clenched teeth.

“Ahh. We all have our fears.”

I wondered what he was afraid of. I pictured him falling into the trench and spiders crawling over his body, and him dancing around in terror and felt myself relax, just a bit.

“I spoke to your mother today,” he said, his face serene.

The shift in conversation caught me off-guard and I gasped.
He’d talked to Mom
. “What did she say?” I blurted the question and knew I’d exposed a weakness.

“She said she can’t afford to pay for you to be here, so you’ll have to stay longer to make up for it.”

My mind raced at the implications. What would they do to Mom if I ran away? Would they punish her? Would they even tell her that I’d escaped? What if Piper and I failed and I had to stay here longer than my six month sentence? Could I survive that?

“What are you thinking about, Morgan?”

My gaze went to Madsen’s face and I stuttered a response. “I . . . I . . . is it possible for me to help on the grounds?”

He seemed surprised by my response. “I didn’t know you were interested in working outside.” He squinted. “There are spiders out there, you know.”

Not piled in trenches I’d have to step in
. “Maybe that would help me overcome my fear.”

“I’ll have to think about it.” He made a note on his notepad, then looked at me. “When we met two days ago we talked about you bringing me some information. How is that coming along?”

“I’m still working on it.”

He nodded. “I see.” He reached behind him and picked up an envelope from his desk. “As promised, as a member of a winning team, here is a letter from home.”

Eagerly, I took it from him.

“We will meet again in three days, on Tuesday. At that time, I expect you to have made significant progress on your information gathering.” He smiled his fake-creepy smile. “In fact, if you have information by then, I will
guarantee
you a place on the grounds crew.”

My thoughts churned. If Piper and I weren’t able to put our plan in motion by then, this could be my Plan B. I would have to come up with something to tell him by then. I nodded. “Okay.”

He stood, a wide smile on his face. “Good.”

Relief swept through me. Obviously, he had no idea about the plans Piper and I had been making. I followed him out of his office and to the waiting area. A short time later I was escorted to my room. No one was there.

I ripped open the letter from Mom and read her words hungrily.

Morgan,

I hope you’re doing well. I miss you. Your brothers and sister miss you, too, but we know you’ll get the help you need there.

I stared at her words, not believing what she was saying. Get the help I need? I didn’t need any help. Upset that she thought I had problems that needed government intervention at a Federally Assisted Thinning center—help she couldn’t afford, which meant I would have to stay imprisoned longer—I read on, my elation at getting a letter dampened.

You know I love you and support you and want you to be healthy. Please follow the rules so that you can come home.

I love you.

Mom

I turned the sheet of paper over, but that was all there was. Disappointment shot though me and I folded the paper and put it in the desk drawer. Pushing thoughts of my family—who obviously thought I deserved to be here—out of my mind, I stared at the blank wall and wondered what I should do next. I had over an hour until dinner—normally I’d have classes right now, but they weren’t held on the weekend—so I decided to go to the gym and get some of my workout done.

I’d never gone at this time of day and wondered if Mr. Muscles would be there. When I arrived, the gym had more kids than normal—evidently everyone’s schedule was a little different on the weekend. I checked in, got my towel, then went to the warm-up area. It was crowded, but I found a small spot to stretch out.

After I’d warmed up, I walked into the main area to find an unoccupied piece of equipment. Someone was just getting off a treadmill and I quickly took the girl’s place. I started at a fast walk, then moved into a jog. I found I was hating jogging less, although I would never admit that to anyone here.

Halfway through my workout I saw Mr. Muscles harassing a girl who he seemed to think wasn’t working hard enough. When he sped up the treadmill and she tripped, then began crying, I felt awful for her but knew there was nothing I could do. I’d been there myself and I knew how she felt, but I was helpless to stop her pain. After a moment he hauled her up and made her keep running as tears rolled down her face.

I thought about the plans Piper and I had made and wondered if we could pull it off. But we had to. We had to make it work. I had promised Piper I would talk to Billy tonight and see if he would help us, but as I pictured myself telling him, I got nervous. What if he turned us in to help himself? Would he do that? What would happen to us if he did?

I finished my workout, then went to dinner. Everyone seemed more subdued than normal and I thought I understood why. After the Saturday Challenge, there was no doubt who was in charge, and it wasn’t us. We were at the mercy of the Enforcers and Tasco.

“Hey,” Billy said as I sat next to him.

I smiled. “Hi.”

No one else had arrived at our table yet.

“So you survived your first Saturday Challenge.”

“Barely.” I glanced around, wondering if I should broach the subject of helping Piper and me escape. My worry over telling too many people kept me from coming right out and asking, but I decided some well-placed questions could give me an idea of what he thought. “How did your team do?”

“We lost.” He sighed. “That’s two more points down for me.”

“That sucks.” I stabbed a cooked carrot with my spork. “Does that mean you’ll have to stay longer?”

“Potentially. But what are you gonna do, right?”

I swallowed the carrot. “If there was some way to get out earlier, would you do it?”

He leaned close to me, his eyebrows drawn together, and whispered. “What are you saying, Morgan?”

Our eyes met and I stared at him a moment, gauging his trustworthiness, then decided to take a chance. “Piper and I are making plans.” I had spoken softly and when he didn’t react, I wondered if he’d heard me.

Then a slow grin lifted his lips. “Is that so?”

I nodded.

“Hey, guys,” Alyx said as she, Cassidy and Piper joined us.

I jerked away from Billy, startled, but I noticed he was cool as ever.

“Hey,” he said as he picked up his spork and ate.

I glanced at Piper and she gave me a knowing look. I had to admit, it felt good to be working with Piper. Even though I couldn’t tell her the truth about where I was from, we had the same goal—get out of this place as soon as possible. If Billy signed on with us, all the better.

I ate my food and enjoyed the company of my friends.

“I definitely like these new power bars more than the old ones,” Cassidy said as she opened her second one.”

“I know, right?” Piper said.

“I can’t believe you’re not eating yours,” Cassidy said.

“I’m saving them for later.” I set them on my lap so it wouldn’t be so obvious that I wasn’t eating them.

When dinner was over, Piper and I walked together to drop off our trays.

“So?” she asked. “What did Billy say?”

“I didn’t get that far yet.”

She looked disappointed.

“I’ll see if I can talk to him tonight.”

We took the elevator to our floor and separated. I decided to go to the gym to complete my required two-hour workout, but first I had to bring Beth my power bars. I had four—two from breakfast and two from dinner—and hoped she wouldn’t make a big deal about not getting the two from lunch.

I stopped by my room and changed into my workout clothes, then went to my hiding place to get the two power bars from breakfast. They weren’t there. Who would have taken them? Would Alyx do that? Fearing Beth’s reaction to only getting two, I searched my room but couldn’t find them anywhere.

Worried now that someone had found them, I stood there for a moment and stared at the wall. Then, not knowing what else to do, I took the two from dinner and walked to Beth’s room. I knocked on her door and a moment later she opened it.

“About time.” She held out her hand and I set the two power bars in it. She scowled at me. “Where are the rest?”

“That’s all I have.”

“You’re a fat slob and a liar.”

Even though I knew what she said wasn’t true, her words still stung. “I had two more in my room, but I can’t find them.”

“You don’t want to keep our deal, fine.” She began closing her door.

“Wait.”

She opened it back up. “What?”

“What if I can get extra tomorrow?”

She seemed to consider this. “How would you do that?”

“That’s my problem.”

She grinned. “Yes, it is.”

“If I can, then will you still keep your side of the deal?”

She paused. “Yeah, sure.” Then she shut the door.

Angry at myself for allowing myself to be bullied, I went to the elevator and waved my card in front of the reader. How was I going to manage to get extra power bars? And what if I couldn’t? Would I be able to handle Beth’s bullying?

Feeling overwhelmed, I clung to the hope that soon Piper and I, and hopefully Billy, would be able to escape this place and I would be able to get back to my world.

The elevator doors slid opened and soon I was walking into the gym. After my warm-up I found an empty elliptical machine and got started on my workout. Five minutes later Mr. Muscles appeared next to me. Inwardly groaning, I ignored him, but picked up my pace a little. He stood there and stared at me, making me feel extremely uncomfortable.

“You always use the same equipment, Morgan.”

I felt his eyes roving over my body and wished I could do or say something to make him stop, but I knew that I would only be punished for defending myself.

“Why is that?” he asked.

I glanced at him, loathing him with every fiber of my being—although I hated Hansen more—but didn’t speak.

“I asked you a question.”

Knowing I was helpless here, I glared at him. “I choose the equipment I like.” He’s such an idiot
,
I thought
.
Why else would I choose the machines I choose.

“Well, I want you to try something else.”

Of course you do, I thought, trying to keep my expression neutral.

“I mean now.”

I couldn’t believe that he felt the need to make me get off the elliptical and get on some other machine, just because he felt like it. Vividly recalling my experience a few days before when Hansen and his partner had made me run on the treadmill for thirty minutes, I got off the treadmill and looked at Mr. Muscles.

He grinned, obviously enjoying the power he had over me. “Follow me.”

As we wound our way across the room I noticed that no one made eye contact with me. We stopped next to a stair stepper machine. I hated those things—they made my leg muscles ache. I knew it would be a good workout, but I hated that I couldn’t choose what machine to use.