The Scattering by Kimberly McCreight

The Scattering by Kimberly McCreight

Author:Kimberly McCreight
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-03-28T16:00:00+00:00


15

OUT IN THE HALLWAY, I LEAN BACK AGAINST THE WALL. PRESS A HAND TO MY chest to try to slow down my pounding heart. Teresa is one of Dr. Shepard’s patients? Does that mean everyone else is? Is that what actually connects us? But it doesn’t explain so much else: like how we also just happened to all be Outliers. Whatever the truth, I don’t believe for a second that Dr. Shepard intended me—or us—to be locked away. No possible way.

Still, I would feel much better if I had proof.

WHEN I COME back into the common room, I feel all eyes on me again—the guards, all of the girls except for Teresa. Luckily, I don’t see Dr. Haddox anywhere. One less person to be self-conscious in front of. And everyone else has shifted around some, is preoccupied now. Kelsey is stretched out on the couch, Fahrenheit 451 in her hands. I try to ignore the Wolf’s eyes digging into me as I cross the room to her.

“Hey,” I say to Kelsey, not sure where to begin.

She looks up and raises an eyebrow at me. “You seriously know how to lie low, don’t you?” I try to read whether that’s an insult or a joke. But there’s the brick wall again. At least I know now what it is: she is blocking me.

“I guess.” My episode with the baby is too much to explain at this moment. “Listen, something here is seriously messed up.”

She keeps her eyes on her book. “What was your first clue? The guards or the doctors or the Ebola hospital?”

“I think we should go,” I say. “Like get out right now. All of us.”

“Sure. No problem.” Kelsey’s voice is deadpan. Then she hooks a thumb toward the guards without looking their way. “Running out the doors worked so well for you last time.”

“My dad is a scientist and he’s discovered this thing. The thing both you and I can do, feeling other people’s feelings. Your book? 1984?”

“I have zero idea what you’re talking about,” Kelsey says, and when she finally stares right at me, her wall is pulled high and tight. “I can’t feel anything.”

Okay, she obviously doesn’t want to talk about any of it outright. There are other things I can say.

“Listen, I’ve been in a situation like this before. We shouldn’t wait. It can turn really bad, all of a sudden. We should make some sort of plan. Get the other girls out, too. We need to convince them they’re in danger. Because we are.” I lean in closer to Kelsey. It’s not the most subtle thing with the guards still eyeballing me. But I don’t have a choice. “I think we should create a distraction. Like the fire alarm. And then we should run.”

“Assuming I did have any idea what you were talking about”—Kelsey makes a big point of looking over her shoulder toward the fire alarm, then glances once in the direction of the fire stairs—“your little plan sounds totally doomed to fail.



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