Liberty's Torch by Janet McNulty

Author:Janet McNulty [McNulty, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: youg adult teen dystopian fiction novel
Publisher: Janet McNulty
Published: 2013-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Eleven

Dana, Kenny, and Karl walked casually down the sidewalk, trying to blend in. They had been forced to ditch the car. Dana noticed that there seemed to be more officers patrolling the streets than before. Her image was everywhere—on posters and the gigantic television screens that lined the outdoors. She didn’t know how they would avoid detection.

She noticed strange box-like things spread throughout the city at certain intervals. When a person walked too closely to one of them, it released a beeping sound. She didn’t like it.

“What are those?” she asked.

Karl paused and studied one a moment. Instantly, his brows went up as he shoved her and Kenny along. “They’re scanners. Linger too long in front of them and you get scanned.”

They hurried down the street, heading to the wealthier part of the city and where they hoped the resistance was. An officer glanced at them. Quickly, Karl steered them in another direction, doing his best to act as though they had always been headed that way. As Dana glanced around, it seemed as though there were more officers on the streets than people.

She brushed too closely to a scanner. It beeped as it read her chip. Cursing her stupidity, she showed Karl what had happened. He pushed them down a street.

“Excuse me,” said an officer.

They froze. All of them had hoped to get away before the scanner had summoned the nearest officer.

“Might I scan your chip again?” said the officer.

Dana didn’t move.

“Your arm, please,” said the officer, growing more irritated.

Hesitantly, Dana raised her arm, keeping her head low. The officer ran his hand scanner over it. It beeped before flashing the word “error”. He ran the scanner over it again. After several moments, it finally read, “Sam Banders. Train Depot.”

“It says here that you belong at the tracks,” said the officer. “What are you doing here?”

Dana didn’t answer. How could she? She shrugged her shoulders.

“I asked you a question,” said the officer.

“Pardon me,” said Karl, “but he is not feeling well today, so they sent him here to the hospital.”

The officer studied Karl a moment. “Chip?”

Karl lifted his arm. The scan read his forgery immediately without any glitches.

“Hurry it up then,” said the officer. “But no lingering in the city. You know the rules.”

Dana breathed a sigh of relief too soon. Just as they started to walk away, the officer stopped Kenny. “Do I know you?”

“No,” said Kenny, sweat forming on his neck.

The officer studied him with a doubtful expression. He glanced at a wanted poster of Dana and jerked his eyes right into Dana’s direction. Despite her attempts to keep her face hidden, the man put it together.

“Stop!”

She and the others ran down the sidewalk without looking back.

“I said stop!” The officer blew his whistle. More gathered around. “It’s her and the First Councilman’s son!”

The three of them turned a corner and kept running. Whistles and shouts followed them. They turned another corner, crashing into a group of shoppers. Not bothering to dust themselves off, they jumped back to their feet and kept going.

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