Free inDIVISIBLE by Ryan Hunter Page A

pulled me close for a hug. I returned the embrace but stiffened when I saw the girl from my school tied on the far side of the room, back pressed against the glass skylight, eyes wide with terror.
    “What’s going on?” I whispere d as quietly as I could, my lips pressed against T’s ear.
    He glanced over his shoulder and licked his lips before responding. “This is Mary,” T said just loud ly enough for the bugs to transmit. “She invited us for lunch but I explained that we’d have to take it to go.” He spoke casually—like Mary was an old friend, not someone he’d tied and gagged while I lay passed out. “It’s been too long, Mary,” T gave me the sign for silence and continued. “Maybe we can chat longer next time we’re in town.”
    The girl’s chest rose and fell so quickly I feared she’d hyperventilate. Her eyes flickered back and forth between T and I so that I knew she was taking notes, memorizing details to hand off to officers.
    I stepped away from T, noticed a second injector on the floor beside the first and looked back at Mary. Her eyes widened as she recognized me but I had to take the time to say it anyway, “Thank you so much, really. Thank you and I’m sorry—” I caught myself, “sorry we can’t stay.”
    T handed me a change of clothes and motioned toward the bathroom. I changed quickly, grateful I’d picked a home with someone close to my size and more grateful T had found something practical for me to wear. Mary’s jeans hugged my waist but fell away a little baggy in the thighs, her shirt was just big enough to disguise my body and her gym shoes were perfect for running, which, I was afraid we’d be doing a lot more of before we found safety. By the time I emerged, he had my backpack ready to sling over my shoulder and fresh bandages in his free hand. He stripped the dishrag from my hand and dropped it in the biohazard chute before he dabbed a clear ointment on my wound and rewrapped it with an entire role of fresh gauze.
    “Do I really need all that?” I whispered.
    “Trust me,” T replied, tossing the empty packaging into the recycle bin. “We’re late for our bus,” he said casually and pushed me ahead of him as we made our way up the stairs. I rushed, using the railing to pull myself faster, my heart still stuck with the terrified woman downstairs. T gripped my good hand and fell into place beside me as soon as we stepped into the sunlight. His pace slowed as we reached the corner and turned toward the shopping district.
    “ She’ll contact the Alliance as soon as she can get to her PCA. With her descriptions of us, they’ll know exactly who we are and that we’re together,” T said.
    “They heard our voices,” I said. “Why did you start talking, anyway?”
    “To try and set them at ease, and make it sound like we were friends.”
    “ After we kicked the door in?”
    “They heard a crash. I explained to Mary that I was sorry I tripped and knocked the bookshelf over when she entered.”
    “But to leave her tied up like that.”
    He slowed even further. “I didn’t want to do that either, but she’s going to contact the Alliance , and we have to put in some distance before she does.
    I didn’t want to hurt anyone , I just wanted my freedom back but I knew I couldn’t gain that if the Alliance waited one step away. “I don’t like this, T.”
    “She’s not hurt, Brynn, but she’s a real Citizen and she’ll report us. We have to buy time.”
    I tried to shake the memory of her teary eyes. I wiggled the fingers on my right hand, the bandages huge and bulky. “Why did you wrap this so much, it’s not as if it’s broken,” I mumbled.
    T grinned. “No, but that’s what we want them to think.”
    We had nearly merged with shoppers when I caught the eye of a young mother pushing her baby along in a cart. She only glanced at the bandage before continuing, unfazed by my injury.
    “Brilliant,” I mumbled.
    T smiled, and I saw that same smile