about her past. Then you can decide if it's better to be free or working your whole life.” Taryn said as she left.
“Why don’t you keep your mouth shut once in a while,” Ryker said to Tracker.
“Someone should probably go find her,” Halo said with little emotion.
Ryker and Laiken instinctively got up and went to find Taryn. They wound through three hallways and out to the back entrance. They pushed open the door. Standing in front of them was a whole army of 1445s, all decked out in black jackets and black cargo pants tucked into black lace-up boots. Two of them in the front were holding up a limp figure with a bag over its head. The figure did not move, and the head was hanging down. From behind the second row of soldiers, a man with the same uniform, but with a few medals and buttons, walked right to the front and stood there smiling.
“Hello boys, glad to see you’re doing better Laiken. Looks like we have come to sort of an impasse, wouldn’t you say?” Alloy said.
“How did you find us? We took the tracking device out; we made sure we weren’t followed.” Ryker said.
“That’s none of your concern,” Alloy said.
“Well, I damn well think it is. You’re going to take us anyway,” Laiken said.
“Who said I was taking you?” Alloy pointed to the figure. “She’s the only one I’m interested in.”
“Then why the whole army?” Ryker asked, gesturing to the soldiers.
“I didn’t think she would just walk right out to us,” Alloy responded.
At that moment Tracker came out the door yelling up a storm. “If you want to know so much about my...Oh crap!” She stopped dead in her tracks.
“Now’s not really good for story time,” Ryker said.
“Yeah, I see that. How did he find us?” Tracker asked.
The soldiers apparently had no interest in going inside.
“Take off the bag,” Alloy instructed one of the soldiers holding up Taryn. He ripped off the bag revealing her bruised and bloodied face. She did not look up. In fact, she did not move at all.
“What’s your big deal with her?” Ryker asked.
“Again, that is none of your concern,” Alloy said.
“I think it is!” Ryker yelled, taking a step forward.
Instantly most of the soldiers raised their weapons and pointed them at the three. Alloy waved a hand at his men, and they lowered their weapons.
“There’ll be no need for that,” Alloy said. He moved closer to Ryker, Tracker, and Laiken. “We'll be on our way. And unless you want more casualties, you'll either stay here or move on.”
“More than half of your institution escaped and you don’t want them back?” Ryker asked.
“They can be replaced. She, however, can’t,” Alloy said.
“What makes you think we won’t tell anyone?”
“Oh, I know you will, but no one will believe you.” Alloy turned around. The rows of soldiers turned and parted down the middle. Alloy and the two guards holding up Taryn walked down the open space. Then the soldiers came back together like a zipper and walked away.
Ryker and Laiken just stood there. Tracker turned around and started back into the building.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Ryker yelled, grabbing the back of her shirt.
“Back inside. Is that a problem?” Tracker asked coolly.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, it is a problem. This is your fault and you just casually walk away,” Ryker said.
“How do you figure this is my fault?”
“Oh, I wonder. Maybe telling these people to doubt what we're doing!” Laiken yelled, but he instantly braced himself, and cradled his head. Ryker looked over at him, obviously worried, but Laiken waved his hand dismissively.
Tracker said, “We never know what goes on. It’s just you three, and the rest of us are in the dark.”
“What's happened that you and they don’t know about?” Ryker asked.
“Well, we don’t know anything about you. You could all be traitors working for him,” Tracker said, pointing in the direction Alloy and his soldiers had gone.
“Yeah, and Alloy beats the crap out of his traitors and kidnaps them,” Ryker said.
Laiken said, “I think you’re the shady one. We don’t know anything about you but your name. You could be working for him, for all we know.”
Without another word, Tracker turned and stormed back into the building. After a few minutes Halo came out and joined Ryker and Laiken.
“What’s up?” Halo asked.
“Alloy took Taryn,” Ryker said.
“How did he find us? I personally took the tracking device away,” Halo said with a hint of anger.
“Did they put more than one device in you Laik?” Ryker asked.
“Not that I can remember. I don’t have any more sore or bruised spots.” Laiken answered. “He must know this place is here. It's probably the closest place to the school that's big enough for everybody, and he must have figured out we'd end up here.”
“Well we have to figure out how to get Taryn back and stop Alloy for good” Ryker said.
As the three boys were walking back to the dining hall, Ryker began talking about Sam. “He could very well be the traitor, but I want to trust Taryn's judgment.” When they reached the dining hall everyone was murmuring to each other. Ryker got up on a table and the room silenced. “If anyone knows how they found us or if any of you are working for them, then you'd better come forward before we find you ourselves.” Ryker cast a glance towards Sam.
No one moved. Sam looked Ryker straight in the eyes and shook his head side to side. Tracker rolled her eyes. Halo sat down with Devin.
Ryker jumped off the table and sat down, putting his head in his hands.
Laiken sat across from Ryker. “We’ll probably have to do this on our own,” Laiken said.
“Yeah, I figured that.”
“We should wait until morning, so Alloy doesn’t think we're up to anything right away,” Laiken said.
“You’re reading my mind today,” Ryker said with the slightest bit of humor. “I’ll meet you in your room in the morning.” He began to get up. “You need any help getting back?”
Laiken shook his head. “See ya in the morning.”
“RYKER! RYKER! GET UP! TRACKER yelled, shaking Ryker from one of his usual nightmares.
“What do you want?” Ryker asked dazed.
“It’s Laiken. Come on.” Tracker ran to the doorway.
Ryker jumped out of bed and followed her. “It's a good think I slept in my clothes,” he mumbled. When they reached the room, Ryker reeled, nearly passing out. The walls and the floor were covered with writing, blood used as ink. Laiken was lying on his bed unconscious and pale with bleeding cuts all over his arms, chest, and face. One particular message on the wall read: “Next time he won’t live.”
Dr. Render was cleaning and stitching the major wounds. Ryker ran over and kneeled beside Laiken’s bed. “Who did this?” he asked in an overly aggressive tone.
“We have no idea. There aren’t any blood trails, and everyone is accounted for. No one is acting weird, either” Dr. Render answered.
Ryker got up and quickly pinned Tracker to the wall.
“If I find out you did this, I'll make your life a living hell!” Ryker yelled in her face.
Tracker remained calm. “No matter how pissed off you make me, I wouldn’t do anything like this,” She pushed him off. “How did his screams not wake you up? It was heart wrenching.”
“Why didn’t anyone come get me sooner?” Ryker asked.
“We thought you were already in here. Most of us were out securing the doors and windows.” Tracker responded.
“Would one of you go check for more alcohol please,” Dr. Render said frantically.
“On it,” Tracker said, rushing out the door.
“Have you guys made a plan to get Taryn?” Dr. Render asked.
“No, we were going to do that this morning. Someone must ha
ve heard us.” Ryker looked down at Laiken. “Is he going to be alright?”
“I honestly don’t know. He lost a lot of blood, as you can see,” Dr. Render said, motioning around the room. “And he hadn't had time to recover from all of the blood he lost earlier.”
Just then Tracker ran back into the room carrying bottles of alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and Betadine solution. She handed them to the doctor, who continued furiously cleaning and wrapping wounds.
“Come eat something,” Tracker said to Ryker.
“No, I don’t think I'd be able to keep anything down after seeing this,” Ryker said.
“Alright. If you change your mind, there's plenty of food in the dining hall.” Tracker grabbed a handful of the doctor’s used rags and left.
“Can you get me some more water bottles please?” Dr. Render asked.
“Yeah, be right back,” Ryker said.
He walked out of the room and took a deep breath. He just could not take the fact that Laiken was hurt again. He mumbled, “Laiken and Taryn are the closest thing I have to family. Now both of them are in trouble and I can’t do a damn thing about it.”
He walked into the dining hall; no one was talking or eating. They were either staring at their plates or playing with their food. A few people looked up at him as he walked by. Sam was sitting with some of Halo's group. Sam looked up at Ryker, and Ryker glared at him for a couple of seconds, then he grabbed three water bottles from the storage cabinet and made his way back to Laiken’s room.
“Empty them into that bowl,” Dr. Render said, pointing to the metal bowl on the table.
TARYN WAS TIED TO A chair in the middle of a holding cell in the school. She had slipped in and out of consciousness all night. After she walked out