Capture by Melissa Darnell Read Free Book Online Page B

table.
    Somehow I doubted they would appreciate my barging into their group conversation right now. And knowing Kyle, he wouldn’t get out of my face about his little video clip till I watched it. The fastest way to get rid of him was to watch the stupid thing and get it over with.
    “ Fine. Show me.” Sighing, I rocked back on my heels and settled in for the minute long video.
    He tapped the video’s Play button, and the four inch wide screen filled with the image of a raccoon-eyed girl sitting at her desk in her bedroom while talking to her webcam. She looked familiar.
    Wait, I knew her. It was Tarah’s friend, Aimee, the Goth girl who'd been crying earlier this week in the hall about her missing cousin, aunt and uncle. I glanced again at Tarah’s table. No Aimee in sight today. A chill spread down my back and arms.
    The cafeteria's dull roar of too many people fighting to be heard over each other made it impossible to hear what Aimee was saying on the video. Then something appeared in the side of her neck. It looked like a short syringe.
    “ What the heck is that?” I jabbed a finger at the screen, accidentally pausing the video.
    “ Tranquilizer dart. Probably a sniper shot it through the window,” Kyle didn't hesitate to answer as he pushed Play on the video again. “I asked Dad about it last night.”
    His father being ex-career Army, he should know.
    “Keep watching.” Kyle held the phone right under my nose. Out of self defense, I grabbed it from him before he could hit my face with it. He grinned and rocked back and forth on his feet.
    In the video, Aimee slumped at her desk. As her head hit the keyboard, Kyle said “wham!” and snickered. My stomach knotted.
    In the background, Aimee's bedroom door flew open. A man dressed in khaki slacks and a maroon and white Texas A&M University sweatshirt ran in, maybe her dad. He rushed over to Aimee and shook her.
    Behind him, two soldiers dressed in camo without any patches tried to enter the room. Aimee's dad raised a hand toward them, and a blue light I recognized all too well burst out at the soldiers. Both intruders collapsed, either unconscious or dead.
    Bile rose up to the back of my throat, and I had to swallow hard to force it down.
    “See that? I told you those freaks are dangerous!” Kyle growled. “That dude probably used a killing spell or something on those soldiers.”
    Aimee 's dad shook his daughter hard, but she wouldn't wake up. In an apparent attempt to save her, he slung the skinny girl up and over his shoulder like a fireman. He managed to stagger halfway to the door before a second dart appeared, this time in his neck.
    Two more soldiers appeared in the doorway just as Aimee and her dad hit the floor. One of the soldiers pushed a black band at his neck and said something. Then the video ended.
    No wonder Tarah was so upset. She must have seen this video too.
    “ Isn't it awesome?” Kyle hooted. “Down with the freaks! Rumor is the government's doing this all over the U.S. in a major secret cleanup mission. Though why it's gotta be a secret is beyond me. They should be proud they're actually taking action! Dad says they're probably having to create special prisons out in the middle of nowhere for the Clann. He says it’d be safer than putting them in regular prisons with normal humans they might hurt.”
    Because now “normal” prisoners were more valuable than people with a few extra abilities? Weren't they all still just humans?
    I stared at him in disbelief, my jaw clenched, a sour taste filling my mouth. How had I ever wound up being friends with him? Just because Dad was friends with Mr. Kingsley…
    “ So listen, I'm putting together a group,” Kyle said as he took back his phone and started fiddling with it. “TAC. Teens Against the Clann. You want in?”
    At the word “Clann”, Tarah’s head popped up. This time when our eyes met, hers were narrowed with unmistakable fury as she watched me.
    I pushed past Kyle to our