UnBound - Neal Shusterman Page 0,8

Oh, and here’s the best part! In return for exposing a nest of ferals, and for getting your mom to sign the unwind order, they’ve moved my dad to the top of the list for a heart transplant. Isn’t that great?” Then he leans in a little closer. “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if he got yours?”

“Nelson!” grunts the squad captain. “Leave the kid alone and get back out to the car. This is a ride-along, not a squawk-along.”

That’s when Alph makes his move. He rises in a single smooth motion and bolts toward the nearest exit. Jasper acts quickly. He grabs the tranq pistol from the captain’s holster even before the officer can, aims at Alph’s back, and fires. He meant to hit Alph in the same spot that Alph had hit Jasper with the snow globe, but instead the tranq hits him high on the shoulder. Good enough—it does the job. Alph goes down and is out cold in seconds.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” The captain rips the gun away, understandably furious, but Jasper is unfazed.

“Sorry—he was trying to escape—grabbing the gun was, like, I don’t know, instinct or something.”

The captain turns to one of the other officers. “Get him out of here!”

The officer grabs Jasper firmly by the upper arm and briskly escorts him out. They pass Kevin O’Donnell, aka Alph, aka nobody anymore, unconscious on the ground, his forehead bruised from where he hit the concrete. That’s what you get for beating the hell out of me, Jasper thinks. That’s what you get for humiliating me. You think being feral was tough? Let’s see how this works out for you.

Outside, the officer puts Jasper in the back of the squad car, but before closing the door, he looks at Jasper, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t have done that, kid.”

“What’s the big deal? It was only a tranq gun—it wasn’t like it was gonna kill him.”

“Kid, you never take the weapon of a peace officer.”

“Sorry,” Jasper says again, still not feeling any sorrier about it. “I’ll try to remember that.”

The officer locks him into the squad car, but that’s all right. His work here is done, and he can now be content with his thoughts. Today, Jasper T. Nelson can’t help but feel the call of destiny. And after holding that weapon in his hands, he knows, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that tranq guns will play heavily in his future.

Unfinished Symphony

Co-authored with Michelle Knowlden

Brooklyn Ward moves through the concrete playground like water streaming through a gutter, nearly invisible, carrying flotsam and secrets in her wake. She sees four boeufs from her squad in a pickup game, shouting, the ball hurtling across the court. She melts into the shadow cast by the five-story Ohio State Home 23 and turns the corner to a side yard. She is on a mission. She cannot be seen.

After making sure no one is there to spot her, she tests the door to the south stairwell. Unlocked. Like Thor said.

Now to find out what Thor wants her to do before she goes through that door. Taking a breath, she pulls the hood of her jacket over her face and moves across the side yard to the ten-foot wall that stands between the school and the outside world. Her heart is pounding. This is the only part of the side yard that cannot be seen by security cameras, but any teachers or any state ward glancing out of the small windows might see her. She has few friends in the home and fewer privileges after Tuesday’s brawl. With Thor’s help, she hopes that will change.

She finds a spot in the side yard where she has a good angle on the hallway windows, all the way up to the fifth floor. Someone moves past the window on the fourth floor, but doesn’t look out. If they did, they might recognize her, because that’s Brooklyn’s floor, a long institutional hallway lined with identical dorm rooms. There are nine other girls in Brooklyn’s room: most are still fifteen, but a few have just turned sixteen like her. Most everyone will be in their rooms or the small rec lounge today, since Sunday is the only day they’re allowed real downtime. The girly-girls will be all about boys and gossip and classes and clothes. The boeuf girls will be all about boys and gossip and classes and guns. Even though the girls in her room are the closest thing she knows to a family,