The Limit by Kristen Landon

complete room and board package. Until today I’d never ordered anything off any site other than the links on this workhouse’s main page. The links connected us to stores and restaurants located close by, so we could get our clothes fast and our meals hot.
    I’d never had a reason to order anything off-site before. I hadn’t been able to think of anything I wanted that wasn’t already provided for me here—we had all the latest video games and movies. We could set up the gym for any sport we felt like playing—although Coop always chose paddle-wall-ball. Any piece of sports equipment we could dream of was already stored in a long closet off the gym.
    I clicked the button to accept the additional shipping charge. I’d been working hard here and deserved something for my efforts. I wouldn’t go crazy, though. I wouldn’t buy a ton of designer clothes or collectible spaceship models or massive amounts of electronics. I still wanted to go home. Eventually.
    My fingers tapped the keyboard, too light to do anything. There was something else I was going to do today—what was it? Oh, yeah! Hack for the headache data. Once I downloaded it, I could whip up a statistical analysis. . . .
    Bam! Bam! Bam!
    “Dude, quick! Reginald is on the loose.”
    I flew out of my chair and practically ripped the door off its hinges.
    Coop was already at the other end of the hall, pointing at the first bedroom. “It’s open and dark inside, and he’s not there!” I didn’t even slow down when I got to him. “His cubie is empty too. I noticed when I went to check out the gym—to see if the loser space movie wrapped up early.”
    I only paused for half a second. He was right. The sliding glass door stood open wide.
    We raced down the row of cubicles and burst into the pool room. Empty. Jeffery’s island stood in a corner, propped against the wall. Not even a ripple disturbed the water.
    Out of the pool room. Through the cubicle room. Into the gym.
    “Ahhhhhh!” Kia’s scream was so high and loud we actually winced and covered our ears. “What are you idiots doing?”
    “You just messed up our big chase scene!” Isaac’s footsteps thundered in the nearly pitch-blackgym, closing in on us.
    “Sorry,” I said, backing through the doorway fast.
    “Downshift already, man,” said Coop.
    “Hey, is Reginald in here with you?” I had to ask.
    “Reginald?” That took Isaac by surprise and made him stop and think. Not for long, though. “Of course not, you black-hole brains! What’s wrong with you? I’m going to blast you into the eighteenth sector!”
    We closed the door and sprinted toward the other end of the floor.
    “You gotta be kidding me,” Coop said as I reached for the doorknob. “No way will I believe we’ll find Reginald in the girls’ dance room, wearing a tutu and standing on his tippy-toes.”
    I took a quick glance inside anyway. The lights were on, but nobody was dancing.
    Next we did a quick scan of the rec room—Madeline was yakking Paige’s head off as they painted their toenails and watched a movie. We circled the cubicles one more time. No Reginald anywhere.
    “He’s messing with us,” I said as we checked every one of the boys’ bedrooms, even mine and the empty one next to it. “Watching us and keeping himself just around the corner.”
    “The girls’ rooms.” Firm, determined lines hardened Coop’s face. “It’s the only possibility.”
    I looked up and around, imagining the gorilla guardswatching us that very moment. “We can’t . . . can we?”
    “Won’t know until we try.” He slapped me with the back of his hand and we took off. “We gotta be quick about it.”
    We weren’t quick enough. We skipped Neela’s room—first girls’ cubicle, first girls’ room—because we knew she was in there feeling sick. We’d just finished a quick peek into Kia’s room and were heading toward Madeline’s when two giant hands clamped down on our shoulders.
    “Uh, hi?” I said, turning