Hunted by Christine Kersey

her in.
    “That’s awful, Morgan,” Brynn said, a stricken look on her face.
    I nodded, appreciating her sincerity. “Which is why I’ve decided to go back and help her get out.”
    “Jack and I have been discussing how to make that happen,” Dani said.
    Though that didn’t surprise me, it still bothered me that they were discussing my fate without me. After all, I would be the one taking all the risks. Shouldn’t I have been involved in that discussion? I forced down my annoyance and focused on what was important. “Did you come up with any ideas on how to make it work? I don’t want to go in as myself, obviously. But how can we make them believe I’m someone else?”
    “Your disguise is pretty good and we can add some glasses to help hide your eyes,” Dani said. “But there is the issue of the retinal scan when you do your weigh-ins.” She paused. “They do use a retinal scan, don’t they?”
    I pictured the scale in the corner of the communal bathroom. The scale I had forgotten to use, which had led to a punishment of wearing a notecard around my neck, with my weight written in bold numbers. My roommate, Alyx, had gotten the same punishment and she had been furious. Not so much because of everyone knowing her weight, but rather because of the deduction in points that had accompanied the “discipline”. I fixed that, which led to its own complications, but at least it had gotten me back in her good graces. “Yes,” I said. “The scale has a retinal scan.” Which was a big concern.
    Dani sighed. “That could be challenging.”
    “Yeah,” Brynn said. “How can you trick that? It will know right away that you’re Morgan, won’t it?”
    A small smile crept over Dani’s mouth. “Not necessarily.”
    “What do you mean?” Billy asked.
    His interest, though minimal, made me happy. At least he was listening to the conversation.
    “Well,” Dani said. “I happen to know a group of researchers who have been working on a type of contact lens that can have a person’s retinal information hardcoded into it.”
    “Really?” I asked, a feeling of hopefulness growing inside me.
    Dani looked at me. “It’s only been tested in the lab, but the results are very good.”
    “How good?” Billy asked.
    I glanced at him and saw he was listening intently.
    “Eighty percent of the time the retinal scan reads the identity the way we’ve hardcoded it.”
    “So, two times out of ten it’s wrong,” Billy said, obviously making a statement. “And it knows the true identity of the person wearing the lens.”
    Dani hesitated, evidently not used to be questioned so forcefully. “Yes.”
    Billy looked at me. “That’s not acceptable.”
    “But eight out of ten times it works,” I pointed out.
    Billy sighed and shook his head, then looked away.
    I ignored his negativity, though I was glad he was looking out for me. I directed my next question to Dani. “What about getting out?”
    “Once you’ve secured your sister and gotten several power bars, we’ll get you out.”
    “But how?” I pushed, not willing to settle for a vague promise. This was my life, after all.
    “We’re still working out the details.”
    Billy got up and left the room. Everyone watched him leave and I fervently wanted to get up and follow him, but I couldn’t. Not with Amy trapped in Camp Willowmoss for months, maybe longer. How could I live with myself if I just left her there? Especially since she was there because of me.
    “We’re not ready to let you go there just yet anyway,” Jack said.
    My gaze shifted from the hallway where Billy had gone and over to Jack. “What do you mean? I have to get Amy out right away. The longer I wait, the worse it will be for her.”
    Jack held up his hands in a gesture of calm. “I know. But to make this work, we have to have some preparation first.”
    “Like what?”
    “You’ll need to put on some weight,” Dani said.
    “What?” Brynn asked.
    My thoughts echoed her question.