Read Online Variant by Robison Wells - Free Book Online Page B

say this, but Oakland was in the infirmary this morning. I think you might have cracked his rib.”
    I couldn’t help a smile from breaking across my face, and it spread to hers. “Am I going to get in trouble for it?”
    She shook her head. “Probably not. The V’s might lose a few points, but if it was anything serious it would have been announced this morning. I’d watch out for Oakland, though.”
    “Okay.” I looked back at where Mason and Lily were waiting on the track. “Well, I might be in the infirmary tomorrow if these doors don’t open soon.”
    She nodded and rubbed her crossed arms with her hands. “Me too.”
    Becky moved back to her friends and I trotted across the grass to the track. Mason and Lily started walking again before I even got to them.
    “Is she still trying to recruit you?” Lily asked when I reached them.
    “Becky? No, just talking.”
    “They’re all like that, you know,” she continued. “Becky, Laura, all the Society girls. Sweet as pie, and fake as Mouse’s boobs.”
    Mason snickered.
    “Becky seems nice enough,” I said.
    Lily pulled her arms inside her T-shirt. “Yeah, Becky’s nice. And she’d send you to the gas chamber if the school told her to.”
    Mason laughed. “That’s an exaggeration.”
    “Says you,” Lily said. “And the guys in the Society are worse—arrogant and holier-than-thou. They’ve turned obedience into a sport.”
    Just then the bell rang, and we immediately turned and ran back toward the school. But as we got closer, it was obvious there was a problem. No one was going inside. The doors were still locked.
    Lily swore and turned away, looking at the forest.
    “They do this, too,” Mason said to me, his voice a little more serious than usual. “The school, I mean. Sometimes the doors are locked. Sometimes the power goes out. Sometimes there’s no food.”
    A voice was shouting over the crowd, and I turned to see Isaiah standing on the steps trying to get everyone’s attention. “The doors appear to be locked. I’m sure that this is just a malfunction in the mechanism.”
    The other gangs booed him. The Society was mostly quiet, though it was obvious that they weren’t happy, either.
    I turned to Mason. “Is it really a malfunction? Maybe the power is out or something, so the doors can’t read our chips.”
    “I doubt it. I swear it’s another of their stupid tests.”
    “Could it be punishment?” I spun, looking for Curtis and Carrie. They were still sitting on the grass, their T-shirts stained with dirt and sweat.
    “Maybe,” Mason said. “But I bet they’re just screwing with our heads.”
    I gazed out at the western horizon. The sun was dipping behind a distant mountain. “You know how I said that I should be liking this place?”
    He gave a short, humorless laugh. “Yeah.”
    “I do not want to spend the next month or year or who knows how long in some crappy experiment.”
    He nodded, watching the doors. “There aren’t even security cameras outside. If it’s an experiment, then what are they watching?”
    “There aren’t?” Why hadn’t someone mentioned this before? “Maybe they’re hidden?”
    “Could be. People out here still act like there are cameras. Of course, the Society will rat us out, cameras or not.”
    I nodded, not thinking about the doors anymore. “I’ll talk to you later, Mason.”
    Jogging, I headed back to the track where a few of the students were still trying to keep warm. I got onto the track, surveying the edges of the forest, noting areas where the trees were closest.
    I did two more laps, finding new energy as I psyched myself up. I watched the mass of students near the door—most of them were huddled together to stay warm, and no one seemed to be looking at me. As I started the third lap, I veered off the track running for the forest.
    It was almost instantly warmer there, out of the wind, but I didn’t slow down. I sprinted over the rough, rocky ground, bobbing between the