Run Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Run

  RAZORBILL

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Young Readers Group

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  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Copyright © 2012 James A. Moore All rights reserved

  ISBN : 978-1-101-55292-6

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  Chapter One

  Cody Laurel

  HE COULDN’T TELL HOW long they’d been driving. It felt like a few hundred hours. Any way you looked at it, Cody was glad when they finally stopped. Despite the protests of cramped legs, he sprinted for the public restrooms. He was so full of piss his teeth were damned near floating, and he was going to explode if he waited too much longer.

  The truck stop was a compromise. Hunter Harrison wanted to keep moving. In particular he wanted to get to Chicago and the address he had tucked in his jeans before anyone could warn the people they were after that they were coming. Cody sort of wanted that too, but what he really wanted was a place to sleep. It felt like forever since any of them had gotten any rest. Instead of living his normal life, Cody had run away from home, met up with the strangers he was now traveling with and discovered that he had a monster hiding away inside of his body. Then, just to keep things from getting boring, he’d decided that continuing on the run with the rest of the kids in the same situation was a better idea than going home and facing his parents’ wrath. Not exactly the cozy nap he wanted to have. Now he was settling for a meal and more driving rather than much-needed sleep.

  Instead of riding straight through the night or stopping at a hotel, they entered the Truckadero Truck Stop, which promised good eats and twenty showers. He wanted to eat and stretch his legs. Kyrie and Tina were both desperate for showers, and Gene wanted to sulk some more. He was doing a great job of pouting. Hunter wanted to drive. He kept looking over his shoulder like any second someone was going to come along and wreck everything.

  Hunter. He was the one who had it the worst, maybe. He had to deal with Joe Bronx.

  Just a few days ago, Cody’d had a real life, a normal life, like the rest of the people he was riding with—the ones Joe Bronx condescendingly called the Failures. A normal life. A dad, a mom and friends. Okay, the friends were geeky, but they still counted. He’d been daydreaming about adventures for as long as he could remember and now? Well, now he was having a hell of a time trying to figure out exactly what was happening. And while there was definitely some action and adventure going on, he wasn’t having a great time.

  There was him and there were four other kids the same age, who were, maybe, just as screwed up as he was.

  And then there were the others. The Others, the Hydes to their Jekylls.

  Cody flushed and zipped and walked over toward the sinks. Somebody with a warped sense of humor had drawn a face on the mirror, and as Cody approached, his reflected face slid into the center of the crude picture. The result was a distortion of his features. His reflection looked almost like it had been swallowed by a bigger face. Normally he’d have thought it was a stupid picture, would have maybe even gotten a little chuckle out of the image—okay, very little, but still. Now? Now the image was unsettlingly close to what his life had become.

  The Others. He didn’t know much about them. Whenever they showed up, he went away, swallowed by the other personality hiding inside of him. Hank. The other self inside of him chose the name Hank, and Cody doubted it was a coincidence. Hank Chadbourne was one of the class bullies back home. He’d kicked the crap out of Cody at least a dozen times. He was directly responsible for at least half the panic attacks that had left Cody a little on the neurotic side over the years. Hank Chadbourne was a monster, pure and simple. But he was a human monster.

  And somewhere inside of Cody was another mind, but more than that there was another body, physically stronger, faster and tougher than Cody could hope to be. And when the time was right that other personality, Hank, liked to come out and play.

  Yeah. He was a load worse than Hank Chadbourne could ever be. Cody closed his eyes and felt his heart beat faster. Hank was inside of him, watching. He could feel him. Maybe it was that way for all of them, or maybe it wasn’t. He didn’t know for sure. If he foc
used hard on it, he could remember little bits and pieces of the things Hank had done. Hank was fearless. Cody was . . . not. Cody thought about maybe asking Amanda Summers out to a movie or something, someday. Nothing too big or too fancy, because she’d probably run screaming. Amanda was hot, killer legs, nice butt and one of the biggest racks at school. She was also one of the rare girls who would actually smile when she caught him looking her over. So, yeah, he figured he could ask her out someday. You know, after hell froze over. Until then there was too much of a chance that she’d laugh in his face or maybe sic Hank and Glenn Wagner on him to beat him to death. There were a million ways that actually talking to Amanda could result in humiliation or failure.

  He could close his eyes and still feel Hank’s lips kissing a complete stranger, could feel Hank’s hands pulling the girl in closer as the kiss got steamier. He opened his eyes fast at that, because the last thing he needed was a stiffy to advertise to the girls he was traveling with. His reflection looked back at him and blushed.

  “Yeah. Tina’d chew you up and spit out the bones, dude.” He spoke solely to hear someone speak. He’d just finished talking to himself when Gene Rothstein came into the restroom with a wrinkled nose and a look on his face that said he’d maybe just swallowed a bug and it was still squirming.

  Gene was another Failure. Gene was nice enough—average looking, if a bit tall—definitely in better shape than Cody. But that was hardly challenging since Cody had all the muscle tone of wet spaghetti. Dark hair and tanned complexion, Gene was the sort who was destined for middle management or just maybe a life as an accountant, if Cody had to guess. He liked Gene. Gene’s other half, well, that was a different story. If he thought about the kid’s counterpart, all he got was a mental image of a really, really pissed-off guy with longer, darker hair, a broad face and a serious need to cause pain to anything that got in his way. If he closed his eyes and thought about Gene, he could also tap into Hank’s perspective of Gene. Hank was pretty sure he could beat Gene’s counterpart into putty. Cody didn’t want to test that theory. Hank could be as brave as he wanted, but Cody had a serious allergy to pain.

  “Did something die in here?” Gene waved his hand around, like it would maybe get rid of the smell of urine and flatulence.

  “Dude, it’s like a locker room, only concentrated. Old pee and bad ventilation.” Cody smiled. Despite the fact that Gene was kind of prissy, he was mostly okay.

  Gene looked at him and pointed down to the right. “Out the door and that way to the showers.”

  “Wasn’t planning on taking one.”

  Gene looked him in the eye and shook his head. “You should. You smell like old gym socks.”

  Cody started to open his mouth and say something, but Gene wasn’t done. “Listen. I’m doing you a favor. Neither of the girls we’ve been traveling with are the sort to say it, but we’re all driving in a car. They’re going to smell you and decide you disgust them. Clean up. It’ll wake you up, and you need to stop smelling so bad. Seriously.”

  “Whatever.” Cody felt himself blushing and stormed out of the room. Maybe he didn’t like Gene so much after all. But despite his indignation, he headed for the showers.

  Tina had given him some money. He used five dollars of it to purchase a shower, complete with travel-sized shampoo and soap. Gene was right about one thing. He didn’t want to smell like an unwashed teenager around Kyrie or Tina. They were almost willing to talk to him. Best not to let a chance like that slip past.

  While he showered, he closed his eyes.

  And felt Hank inside of him, waiting, biding his time.

  He took no comfort from that notion.

  Hunter Harrison

  Chapter Two

  HUNTER ATE VORACIOUSLY. He was hungry. Even when he wasn’t hungry, he wanted food. He blamed Joe for that. Months of living on canned crap was about enough to ruin his self-control when it came to real food, and much as he hadn’t wanted to stop driving, he had to admit the food at the restaurant was better than he’d expected. He’d finished his steak and was busily wiping his plate clean with a chunk of dinner roll.

  The next booth over was occupied by two men who sat leaning toward each other and murmuring softly. They spoke so as not to be heard, but he heard them anyway. He could just make out that they were upset about the cost of fuel for their trucks. From beyond the grizzled men he saw Tina Carlotti heading in his direction, her wet hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and her eyes locked on the table. She was petite: a tiny, olive-skinned, dark-haired girl who looked twelve at the most. But she was fifteen, same as he was. Probably had the same birth date, assuming that they were actually born. Hard to say. He didn’t know all of the details of being created in a genetics lab. Regardless, she had a lot in common with him.

  Kyrie Meriwether was shadowing the shorter girl. She was also fifteen, but aside from that and being a girl, she had almost nothing in common with Tina. She was several inches taller and had fairer skin with blonde hair, green eyes, and a body that caught the eyes of almost every guy and probably a few of the girls too. Kyrie was in a different league, and even when she was trying to dress down, she stood out. She was currently wearing a T-shirt that did nothing to hide her assets and jeans that Hunter found himself envying—they were, after all, very close to her form.

  Both of the men at the booth stopped talking about the unfortunate cost of gasoline and started murmuring about what they would like do with the two girls heading in their direction. They weren’t exactly loud, but they weren’t whispering either. Hunter had no doubt that Tina and Kyrie could hear them.

  Hunter repressed a sudden flash of anger that came with hearing them. Even if he wanted to throw down with the two guys, they were easily a hundred pounds bigger than he was and they looked like they’d had more than their share of fights over the years. Sure, they were flabby, but something had to be holding all that fat up, right?

  As she closed in on the table, Tina and fired a look at them that would have frozen boiling water. “Okay, first, that’s disgusting. Even if you weren’t both old enough to be my daddy, I wouldn’t even consider it. And neither would she. You’re both too fat and we ain’t that desperate. Go buy a hooker.”

  Hunter barely suppressed a wild burst of laughter. He should have known he wouldn’t have to worry about protecting Tina. She was tough as nails.

  The truckers looked less amused. Tina slid into the booth next to Hunter and never batted an eye as she reached for one of his fries. He resisted the urge to slap her hand away. He wasn’t all that hungry anymore, and even if he thought she was being was rude, he wasn’t about to piss her off.

  Kyrie slid in across from them and smiled. She didn’t say anything, but Hunter didn’t much care. He could have stared at her for a week without getting bored.

  Tina caught the waitress’s eye and gestured her over. “Need some food here. I’m gonna starve to death, I swear it.”

  The truckers were still sitting at the next table. The one who was facing them looked at Tina and scowled. “You need something to plug that mouth.” Hunter couldn’t tell if he was flirting or just being a weenie. “Or you could just learn to keep it shut.”

  Tina bristled. “Yeah? You could maybe learn from your own example there, bubba. Keep that mouth of yours shut and you could lose a few hundred pounds and have a chance with the ladies.”

  Hunter swallowed and shook his head. “Don’t, Tina.”

  “What?” She shot him a murderous look. “He started it. I don’t need Porky Pig over there or his good buddy saying anything to me or about me.”

  Porky Pig slid out from the booth, heaving his substantial weight up and then yanking his jeans to where he wanted them. He was a big man, standing easily six feet tall, and Hunter was already imagining how badly the guy was going to beat him to death even before the trucker started heading in his direction.

  “You need to teach your little girlfriend some manners, buddy.” The guy was looking right at him. “Before her m
outh gets you beat to hell.”

  Kyrie turned to look at the man coming their way, a worried expression on her pretty face. Tina was actually sliding her skinny body around until she was on her knees in the booth, and Hunter had a terrifying flash of insight. She had every intention of taking the guy on. His hand moved to grab the back of her pants at the belt level, and he shook his head. “No. Don’t you do it, Tina.”

  “You got a problem with me, fat boy, you talk to me.” She was doing it, she was actually provoking the guy. Then, to Hunter: “I don’t need him fighting my fights.”

  The saddest part was, she sounded absolutely serious.

  “You shut your trap, girly.”

  The waitress was heading for them, a worried look on her face. “Billy Ray, you need to calm down. Todd said he wasn’t gonna have you fighting with anyone else now, you hear me?”

  Billy Ray. Of course Porky’s real name was Billy Ray. He looked like a Billy Ray.

  “It’s all good. Billy Ray was just going to sit down like a gentleman and behave himself.” The rumbling voice came from behind the trucker before the man could say anything. Even if he’d wanted to get all chatty, the hand that clamped down on his shoulder and squeezed seemed to take most of the fight out of him. Hunter was looking right at him. He saw the wince of pain and the way the man’s knees almost buckled when the hand squeezed.

  Big hand. Really big. Half a second later, he saw Hank’s face peering around from behind the trucker. Hank’s grin was pure piss and vinegar. There was no kindness in his expression.

  Hank. Cody’s Other was out and in control. Hank was huge. He dwarfed the trucker, which meant he was exactly the right size to scare a black bear.

  “Go ahead, Billy Ray. Sit down nice and calm and we’ll all pretend everything’s cool. I’m just here to have a nice meal with my little sister and her friends, and you’re just here to sit down and jaw with your friend.” Hank’s voice was a low purr as he leaned over Billy Ray, letting the man see exactly how big he was.