The Lost Brother Read online

  “You okay here?” asked Baby Doc. “It’s almost time to pick up trays. Don’t want to break schedule.”

  “Go ahead, and take Carl with you,” Scar Guy said. “I’ll stay and keep an eye on things here.”

  Then footsteps. Fading quickly.

  A moment later Chloe appeared beside the table. She bent over me, smiling distantly.

  “This won’t hurt much,” she assured me, not meeting my eye.

  “Chloe, don’t do this!” I struggled against my restraints. They held tight. “Please, just stop and think about what you’re doing!”

  The only sign she’d heard me was a small twitch of her lips. She tied a cuff around my bicep and inflated it, making my arm throb. Then I felt her gloved hand touch my skin just below the cuff.

  “Chloe, please!” I whimpered.

  Yeah, I said whimpered. Can you blame me? I was feeling helpless and hopeless. My mind raced, looking for a way out, but I couldn’t see one.

  Chloe kept her gaze on my arm. She reached for something, and I felt cool liquid dab onto my skin.

  “I’m about to insert the IV,” she said in a flat, clinical voice. “Please hold still.”

  Yeah. As if I had a choice . . .

  I felt the needle pierce my skin and slide into the vein. Just then Kerry appeared in my line of vision. She was pushing a tall metal IV rack. Hanging from it was a clear plastic bag filled with bright purple liquid. A tube ran down toward me.

  “What’s that?” I demanded. “What are you doing to me?”

  “Hush,” Chloe said soothingly as she finished inserting the IV and then reached for the tube. “This is all for the best. You’ll see.”

  I felt the first globs of cool liquid pump into my arm through the IV. Chloe and Kerry stood there watching for a moment. Scar Guy appeared too, looking down at me.

  I wanted to yell at them. To protest all this. But suddenly it just felt like too much effort. My eyelids started to droop.

  “Looks good,” Scar Guy said. “Let’s leave him alone. It’ll work faster if he’s less agitated.”

  They all disappeared. I was vaguely aware of footsteps fading away, of the door clanging shut.

  But I couldn’t quite make myself care. I was just too tired. So tired . . .

  A Different Kind of Horsepower

  Smith’s bike had power to spare. If I’d been out on the highway, there was probably nothing that could have outrun it.

  The trouble? I wasn’t on the highway. I was in the middle of the dense, rocky, wooded, mostly untamed wilderness of Misty Falls State Park. In other words, not the ideal conditions for a road bike. No matter how massively awesome it was.

  Still, it was all I had. I’d just have to make the best of it.

  Calling on every ounce of experience I had, I managed to keep the bike upright as I shot down the hill after that ATV. It was already almost out of sight again along a narrow, rocky trail.

  “Come on, baby,” I murmured to the motorcycle as I swerved around a boulder, almost skidding out on a patch of mud. “Don’t let me down.”

  The bike’s engine whined as I pushed it a little faster, keeping one eye on the trail, and the other on that ATV.

  The guy was bent over the handles and really thrashing it. He—or maybe she, there was no way to tell—was dressed in a dark, billowy jacket and a helmet. It could have been anyone up there from what I could see.

  Whoever it was could ride. And seemed to know where he was going. It took all my skills to keep him in sight while keeping the road bike upright.

  I tore down a bumpy hill and through some underbrush. Soon my arms were bleeding from multiple scratches. But I hardly noticed. I couldn’t let up, or I’d lose him!

  The ATV rider made a sharp left up ahead. I sped up as much as I dared, only slowing down for the turn. The bike’s tires slipped a little on the uneven ground. But I sat steady and steered through it.

  Whew! That was close.

  The ATV was just disappearing over the next rise. Crouching down, I gunned it after him.

  We ripped it up for another twenty minutes or more. Uphill. Downhill. Through a shallow stream.

  Was it my imagination? Or was I starting to gain on him?

  My heart pounded. I pushed the bike a little harder. . . .

  SKREEEEEEE!

  “No!” I yelled, fighting to stay upright.

  But it was too late. A patch of loose gravel had come out of nowhere! The bike’s tires were skidding out but not slowing down.

  “Aaaaaah!” I yelled as I saw a bunch of scattered rocks coming up fast.

  I hauled on the handlebars. The bike tipped and wobbled. . . .

  “Oof!”

  I hit the ground hard, landing several yards from the bike. It was making a terrible clamor as it bounced and scraped across the rocks. Finally it somersaulted over a boulder and smashed to a halt against a huge tree trunk.

  The echoes of the impact rang off the nearest canyon walls. When they faded, I heard the ATV again. Sounding farther away all the time.

  Testing each of my limbs, I was relieved to find them all still in one piece. I climbed to my feet. My whole body was going to be a giant bruise tomorrow. But I was okay.

  The bike? Not so much.

  I stood it up and grimaced. Smith definitely wasn’t going to appreciate the results of my horizontal parking job. Oh well.

  Climbing on, I tried to get the thing started again. But no matter how I fiddled with it, I couldn’t even get the engine to whimper.

  I soon realized I couldn’t even hear the ATV anymore. I’d lost it for sure.

  Disappointment flooded through me. But that wasn’t the worst of it. When I glanced around, I realized I had no idea where I was!

  “Uh-oh,” I murmured, squinting up at the sun. It was already sinking toward the horizon.

  In all the excitement of the chase, I hadn’t paid enough attention to where I was going. Just like Frank was always hassling me about. Oops.

  At least the bike had left plenty of tracks. Leaving it where it was, I started retracing my steps. Or, rather, my treads.

  It was already pretty shadowy beneath the trees. Before long, it would be too dark to see.

  I pulled out my ATAC flashlight. Luckily, it hadn’t been smashed in the wipeout. Using it helped a little. But it was slow going.

  AROOOOOO!

  Wolves! The howl was pretty distant. But still seriously creepy.

  Maybe it was time to call for help. I grabbed my phone.

  Just one problem. I couldn’t get a signal.“Oh, man!” I murmured, trying again and again. This was a first. I’d thought my ATAC phone would have reception on the moon! But apparently not in the backwoods of Idaho. My wild ride must have taken me even farther from civilization than I’d thought.

  “So now what?” I murmured, glancing around.

  Smith might not care about me. But he’d want his bike back. Would he call the cops or the rangers to look for me when I didn’t return? Or would he try to track me down himself?

  Either way, I figured I was pretty much stranded. At least for tonight. There was no way I’d be able to hike out the way I’d come before dark. Not even close. If I tried, I’d be likely to stumble off the edge of some steep canyon. Or maybe walk right into the jaws of those wolves I’d heard.

  Calling on my ATAC training, I decided it was time to set up camp. Hunker down, try to stay warm. Figure out what to do in the morning if nobody had found me by then.

  There wasn’t much daylight left by now. I hurried around gathering firewood. It wasn’t easy to find enough dry tinder after that day’s rains, but finally I had a decent blaze going.

  By then it was almost fully dark. I sat down by the fire, warming my hands. It was warm during the day. But the nights up there in the mountains got chilly fast.

  My stomach grumbled. I realized I hadn’t eaten a thing since breakfast.

  Our ATAC training had covered that kind of thing too. Roots and berries. Stuff that was safe
to eat out in the wilderness. I thought about taking my flashlight and going in search of some.

  But when I looked out at the darkness beyond the fire’s warm glow, I couldn’t do it. The nighttime noises were starting up. Chirping insects. Wolves and coyotes in the distance. Other sounds I couldn’t place. Surrounding me, making me feel totally exposed sitting here all alone.

  “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” I muttered, trying to channel Frank again.

  It didn’t work. Sure, my rational mind knew ghosts weren’t real. But this place was pretty creepy. I decided I could deal with the hunger. At least until morning. The roots and berries would still be there when the sun came up again.

  I curled up beside the fire, tucking my hands into my shirt for warmth. The red glow of my campfire danced behind my eyelids, and I could feel its warmth on my face. Finally I managed to doze off.

  I awoke sometime later. My face was so hot I was sweating. For a second I wasn’t sure where I was.

  Then I remembered. I was stranded in the wilderness. At first I thought I’d rolled too close to my fire.

  My eyes cracked open. A hot red glow lit the scene. But the campfire was right there in front of me. Nothing but embers.

  I sat up fast, suddenly wide awake. The red glow wasn’t coming from my fire. It was coming from the trees nearby!

  “Forest fire!” I gasped out.

  I jumped to my feet and stared around frantically. Everywhere I looked I saw dancing flames. A deadly inferno surrounded me on all sides.

  I was trapped!

  The Tunnels

  Sleep pulled at me, dragging me down into darkness. Warm, comforting darkness. All I had to do was let go, to sink into its embrace, and then all my worries would be over. . . .

  I was about to give in to the overwhelming weariness. Why shouldn’t I? Suddenly I couldn’t remember any good reason not to let go. Just let everything go . . .

  Then I heard something. Footsteps. Rushing toward me. Forcing my eyes open, I saw a small face hovering over mine.

  It was hard to focus. My eyes weren’t really doing what I wanted them to do.

  “No!” a voice cried.

  I recognized that voice. Who was it?

  Someone yanked the IV out of my arm. It hurt, but somehow that didn’t seem to matter.

  “A-Alice?” I mumbled with some effort as a name floated out of my jumbled mind.

  I felt small hands poking at me. “Come on!” Alice hissed, her face still above me. “You said you’d take me to Lee. But if they give you the forgetting potion, you might not remember where he is!”

  Lee. Who was Lee? I was feeling pretty fuzzy about all this. But then I felt the straps loosen from my arms and legs.

  Escape. I could escape now. That was what I wanted. Wasn’t it?

  Yes. I was pretty sure it was. I slipped my head out from beneath its strap and sat up.

  And almost fell over. Lights twinkled at the edges of my vision.

  I did my best to blink them away. When I turned my head to look at Alice, the motion made me feel woozy.

  “Come on!” she whispered.

  I nodded. That made me feel woozy too. But I ignored it. Taking a few deep breaths, I swung my legs around and stood.

  Sort of. I had to grab the edge of the table for a second until the room stopped spinning.

  Alice was already heading for the door. I staggered after her.

  “I think I figured it out,” she whispered. “It’s this way.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about. But I followed as she dashed off down the hall.

  Time passed. I was having trouble keeping track of it. Or of where we were going. We seemed to be passing through a lot of halls, making a lot of twists and turns. Once in a while we ducked into a room until somebody passed by outside.

  One of those times I saw a little girl sleeping on a bed. At least I was pretty sure it was a bed. It was shaped like a giant panda bear.

  Weird.

  As we slipped back out into the hall, I started to wonder if I was really awake. Was this real life? Or was I stuck in another bizarre dream? I checked behind me, half expecting to see that grizzly bear come roaring around the corner.

  Instead I heard footsteps. Alice gasped.

  “Hide!” she whispered, pulling me into another room.

  This time there was nobody inside. I looked around, but the lights were off and I couldn’t see much. Just a few desks and chairs. Like a schoolroom. That seemed sort of important somehow. But I couldn’t seem to focus on it.

  Alice was peeking out again. “Come on, he’s gone,” she whispered.

  I followed her back out into the hallway. My legs were working better now. But my head was still pretty hazy. I knew it was urgent that I get away from this place. But why? Where was I going?

  “Joe,” I blurted out. The image of my brother’s face had just floated through my mind.

  That was it! I needed to find Joe. Where was he? Had the wolves eaten him?

  Wait. What wolves? I shook my head to clear it, realizing I was confusing dreams and reality again. . . .

  “Aaaaah!”

  A sudden yell came from somewhere nearby. Alice spun around, staring at a half-open door.

  “Uh-oh,” she said. “Sounds like a night-mem.”

  “What?” I said.

  The door flew open. A little boy in pajamas burst into the hallway, waving his arms over his head. His hair was rumpled and his eyes stared wildly, not seeming to see us.

  “I remember!” he shouted in a voice cracking with terror. “I remember it now! I remember!” By the end, the shout was more like a shriek.

  “Hurry! In here!” Alice yanked me through a different doorway. We found ourselves in a utility closet. A water heater clanked away in the corner, and there were shelves filled with paper towels and such.

  We huddled there, watching through a crack in the doorway as people came rushing from every direction. They converged on the screaming little boy.

  A dark-haired man in a white coat grabbed the boy. “Relax, Kyle,” he said in a calm voice. “We’ll take care of you. Don’t worry.”

  My eyes were doing weird things again. I couldn’t seem to focus on the man. But his voice sounded familiar. Who was he? Was it the man with the scar? Or the big one, the one who’d tased me? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think so. . . .

  Within moments, the little boy was back in his room. A few of the people went with him. The others wandered away.

  As soon as the hall was empty, Alice dashed out of our hiding place. I hurried after her. We tiptoed around the corner. Another long hallway lay before us.

  I sighed. Would we ever run out of hallways? Once again, I had the weird feeling of being in a dream. Running and running, with no hope of escape.

  Then I realized Alice was speaking. “Huh?” I said.

  “There it is,” she hissed, jabbing one small finger at something farther down the hall. “The door to the tunnels!”

  “The tunnels?” I echoed, feeling more confused than ever.

  She frowned, giving me an impatient look. “The tunnels!” she whispered urgently. “Justin told me that’s how he was going to get outside!”

  “Justin . . . ,” I mumbled. It took me a moment to remember who he was.

  Oh, yeah. The kid back in the medical room. The one Joe and I had come to help.

  I didn’t have time to remember any more. Alice was on the move again. I followed her down the hall.

  Then there was a shout. Alice let out a squeak and ducked through the nearest doorway.

  This time I was almost too slow. I barely made it in behind her before someone stomped into view at the end of the hall.

  “Anybody home?” a loud voice shouted.

  Even though he was shouting and stomping, he didn’t sound angry. He sounded kind of pleased with himself, actually.

  I couldn’t resist peeking out. A young man was rushing down the hall. He had a motorcycle helmet tucked under one arm,
and the scent of wood smoke clung to him.

  Joe . . . My mouth started to form the name, to call out to him.

  I stopped myself just in time. The guy had just turned his head.

  It wasn’t Joe. I’d never seen him before.

  Another man appeared, hurrying toward Motorcycle Guy. This one I recognized. It was Scar Guy. A pretty girl with dark, curly hair was right behind him. I recognized her, too. Chloe.

  Motorcycle Guy was talking in a loud, excited voice. I tried to tune in, to figure out what he was saying.

  “. . . so I think we’re good,” he exclaimed to the others. “And now that I’ve taken out the other one, maybe the cops won’t search so hard for the one we’ve got.”

  Chloe gasped. “You mean you killed him?” she cried. She sounded upset.

  “Good work. Let’s go tell the Big Boss,” Scar Guy said, not sounding upset at all. “He’s probably still in Kyle’s room.”

  They all hurried away. The wood smoke smell faded. Alice tugged on my arm.

  “Keep going,” she whispered. “We’re almost there!”

  I tried to shake off the fuzziness. I was pretty sure I’d just heard something important. Who were they talking about? Who’d been killed?

  “Hurry!” Alice called softly.

  I realized I was standing still in the middle of the hall. Putting my legs into motion, I hurried after her. It was getting harder to keep track of everything. Maybe I just needed to focus on this one thing.

  Following Alice. Getting away.

  I could figure out the rest later.

  She pushed open another door. This one was different from the rest. Heavier. But I didn’t have much time to think about that before it was closing behind us with a clang. The sound echoed loudly. Or was that just because everything sounded weird to me at the moment?

  We were in a dimly lit space. Stone walls stretched ahead, the passage narrow and cold. Ahead lay only solid darkness.

  “The tunnels,” I mumbled, remembering what Alice had said.

  She didn’t respond. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small flashlight that looked like a kid’s toy. Then she plunged ahead into the darkness. I followed, not wanting to lose sight of the tiny light. If the darkness swallowed me up, I might not escape it this time. . . .