Prep School Experiment by Emily Evans Read Free Book Online Page A

beside Rhys. He looked at her. “No provisions. No transport. Temperatures just above freezing. Unfamiliar terrain. Maybe if you’d made friends with some Alaskan kids, you’d make it out of here. But, you picked three southerners. So, you’re screwed until daylight.”
    She stopped twisting her hands together and gave him another small smile.
    Elena folded her jacket into a pillow. “I knew the boarding school was weird, but I never thought it was criminal.”
    “We signed a lot of consent forms,” Kaitlin said. “I’m not sure what they did is criminal.” She shrugged out of her own jacket and sank back.
    “They didn’t disclose this,” Rhys said. “I read every page of their stack of forms.” He could recite them. But, he didn’t mention that.
    Thane tugged Elena close and they whispered.
    Rhys got up and hit the light. He lay back beside Kaitlin and her cold hand inched over near his. He threaded their fingers together.
     
    ***
     
    Coordinator Steele awakened them with a gun in their faces. “Get up.” She backed out toward the exit.
    They wouldn’t have much time. Adrenalin jolted through him. He’d have to make a move soon. The girls looked exhausted and scared. He and Thane shared a silent look. They’d have to work together.
    The four of them took their turns with the practicalities. Toilet. Gear. Water.
    The Scientist stood in the doorway, looking torn. The clock on the wall in the overheated room read four a.m. “It pains us to do this. But you have to understand that, for the greater good, when specimens go bad, they have to be removed from the pool. It’s basic science.”
    Piece of shit.
    “We’re people, not specimens.” Elena swallowed and backed up. “The other students and coordinators, they’re expecting us to come back.”
    Kaitlin inched closer to him.
    The Scientist said, “You were coming back, but you begged us to let you climb down the giant hole where the baggage trucks fell to see if you could salvage anyone’s luggage. Coordinator Steele says you’ve been on her about your stuff since you got here.”
    Kaitlin had told him about that. An earthquake when they arrived had cracked the ground and swallowed their baggage trucks. He wished he’d seen it. He didn’t want to see it like this though.
    Coordinator Steele stepped into view behind The Scientist, gun prominent. She gestured at the exit.
    The Scientist shook his head. “The four of you were lost in a tragic Alaskan climbing accident.”
    Rage filled Rhys. He fought it back to bide his time. God. He wanted out of this. Wanted them all out of this. Thoughts of the librarian flashed through his mind. She couldn’t handle losing him again. She might not know him except as a kid she worked with, a friend even, but he knew she’d feel guilty. Guilty because she’d helped send him here. Guilty in an unshakeable lifelong, life-altering way. Rhys didn’t want to do that to her. He couldn’t. He had to get them out.
    He tried to focus on their options.
    The gun trumped everything.
     

 

Chapter Seven
     
    They drove near the school and parked at the base of the crevice, where the coordinator threw climbing gear at them.
    Delay them. Break through the B.S.
    “How many of you are testing on us?” Rhys asked. “Is it just you two?”
    They didn’t answer.
    The Scientist appeared torn. “I hate to lose the knowledge they have, the skill sets, the promise they show. The long-term data would be useful.”
    Coordinator Steele seemed fed up with his half-hearted protests. “There’s no good science here. They’re just liabilities.”
    They moved through the icy snow to the blackness that marked the edge of the dark hole that split the earth. Roots were visible here near the surface. The Scientist knelt beside the hole and peered in for a closer examination. “You would have had such genetically superior babies.” The Scientist shook his head. “Such a waste of potential.”
    And that explained his soul mate