Taken By Surprise (Taken Trilogy Book 1)

by Jessica Frances

  “Good. Now are you sure there isn’t anything you want to ask me? I noticed the other night when Rose and Charlie were asking how their families have handled their being taken you never asked about your Mom. Why is that?”

  “I’m not sure I want to know how she is handling it,” I admit.

  “I think not knowing will merely cause more anxiety and pain the longer you leave it. She is okay, Zoe. The cameras were disabled out in front of the Police Station you were grabbed from. No one witnessed you being taken. They are cautiously handling your case as a possible kidnapping, but the feeling from the Police is that you’ve likely run away. Your Mom understands that you’ve gone through a huge trauma. She is strong, she will survive this.”

  “What about Dana’s family? Drew? How are they?”

  “I’m not sure how they are, but I’m sure they are still grieving the loss of their daughter and girlfriend.”

  “Has her funeral happened yet?”

  “No, an autopsy was completed yesterday so, once her body is released, that process will begin.”

  “I guess I shouldn’t even bother asking if I can go.”

  “I’m sorry, Zoe, it’s just not safe.”

  Tears rush down my face. I’m completely safe because no one will be trying to kill any of us, they’re all dead now. Of course I can’t say that to Martha because they can’t know what really happened and, since they’re chasing a leak that doesn’t exist, we’ll be stuck in here forever.

  “Have you had any future dreams lately?”

  “No, I don’t have them very often.”

  “Well, once we can bring in some experts, we can begin changing that.”

  “I don’t like my dreams.”

  “We’ll help you to be able to control them, to see the whole picture. Think of a movie, that is what your dreams are. Simply imagine you have a remote control with the power to pause, zoom in, replay and even move about to wherever you want. Imagine the power to change what you’re seeing. We can help you achieve that.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “We have the best of the best working on this. We can achieve great things when great minds come together. Trust me.” Martha smiles sweetly and I can see straight through it.

  “Can we go outside?”

  Martha looks out my window. “It’s raining out there, Zoe.”

  “I know, this place is so stuffy, though.”

  “I’ll speak to Stanley about it, but I don’t think it’ll be possible.”

  “Why not?”

  “We want to keep you safe. In these rooms you’re safe.”

  I nod, but already my mind is drifting away from this conversation.

  “You should try to rest up, Zoe; you look tired.” Martha stands up from my bed and places her hand on my shoulder. I resist the urge to shrug it off. “And remember I’m always here if you need someone to talk to.”

  “Thanks,” I mutter, knowing I sound insincere and not really caring.

  Martha leaves my room then and I glance back at the bed. I picture Drew lying there, talking to Charlie and me, begging us to get away from this place. Did he really believe we could do it? That we can escape this place? Disappear when we make it out of here? Because I think this is going to be a lot harder than any of us are ready for.

  Chapter Twenty-Five – The Sleeping Arrangement

  At dinner that night, everyone looks exhausted. I stayed in my room after Martha left and missed the rest of training so I didn’t know what they had done. Rose and Charlie moan about sore muscles and even Will looks tired.

  Martha drags out conversations with everyone while we eat, however I’m too distracted to really care what she’s talking about. I notice she tries several times to engage Will in conversation, however he barely gives more than one word answers. It makes me wonder how their discussion the other night had gone. I imagine it might have been heavily one sided.

  After we’ve finished eating, Martha steals Charlie to have their one-on-one discussion. It reminds me of our earlier conversation where Martha mentioned Charlie’s girlfriend. Will they be talking about her now? Why hasn’t he mentioned her to me yet? Is it weird for him that I slept in his bed last night? What was she like? How long did they date for? Does he feel as lost as I am?

  I sit down on the couch, rubbing my head. Since talking with Martha, my brain has been a constant buzz of thinking and overthinking. I’m getting sick of it.

  Rose sits down next to me and leans in close as Will leaves to go to bed early.

  “Do you remember if there was a computer in that room you had your physical in?” Rose whispers so we aren’t overheard.

  “I don’t think there was.”

  “Damn. Will told me your plan and I think it’s our best bet if we could find a freaking computer.”

  “We need to get out of these rooms. I asked Martha if we could go outside, but she said no.”

  “That’s because she’s a bitch. She had the nerve to tell me that I was a spoilt little rich girl who needs to learn how to think of other people, rather than just putting myself first.”

  “She really said that?” Martha seems to be trying to hold a calm and caring façade. I can’t imagine her saying those words while trying to maintain that.

  “I pissed her off, I think. She sort of snapped at me.”

  “Do you think you should be pissing her off? Drew said we shouldn’t make them think anything is strange.”

  “It would be strange if we just all jump when they tell us to, Zoe. They’re expecting some rebelling,” she points out.

  “That’s true.” I hadn’t thought of it like that.

  “I hate this place. I miss home so much.” I watch a single tear fall down Rose’s face and I reach out to take her hand to offer her comfort like Charlie has done for me so much lately.

  “I know. I feel the same.”

  “I can’t stay here much longer. I can’t sleep. I can’t breathe here. We have to get out, and soon.”

  “You’re not sleeping?”

  She shakes her head. “Not a wink.”

  “Wow, let me be the first to say you’re looking pretty great for someone getting no sleep,” I say, hoping to cheer her up.

  “Thanks.” Rose rolls her eyes, though she does smile. “Well, I don’t know that I’ll have much choice tonight, I’m exhausted.”

  “Why don’t you get an early night. You need to sleep. You have to be alert when we break out of here. Tomorrow we can talk properly about getting out of this place.”

  Rose nods and leaves to go to bed. I feel exhausted myself. Yesterday all I had done is sleep and today, I’ve wanted to do the same, but fought it. I don’t have time to slip into some deep depression. I can do whatever I need to do once we’re all out of here.

  I see Martha come back from the hallway sans Charlie. She smiles at me and wishes me a goodnight before leaving through the exit by the pool table.

  I wait a few minutes for Charlie to emerge, but he doesn’t. I walk down the hallway to our rooms and find his door closed. Perhaps he has already gone to bed? I don’t feel comfortable enough to knock on the door so I go into my own room and get ready for bed. My forehead is a bit swollen and a bruise is starting to form. I kept forgetting to put the icepack on it most of today so I can’t really be annoyed that it’s swollen. It’s my own fault. Showered and teeth brushed, I walk back out into the lounge since Charlie’s door is still closed and lie down over the couch. It’s not the most comfortable and I feel cold without a blanket, but it beats sleeping on the floor.

  I close my eyes and feel like it takes forever to start to drift away. I’m dreaming of Drew, distraught and alone, mourning for Dana. I try to reach out for him, but he can’t hear me. When I try to touch him, my hand goes right through him. My heart breaks seeing him so upset. The scene changes then to Joel holding a gun and pointing it directly at me. His eyes are closed and when he pulls the trigger, the shot rings off loudly. Dana is suddenly in front of me and I watch in
horror as the bullet throws her body back violently. I try to wake her up, but she never opens her eyes and blood surrounds me.

  “Zoe?” Hands shake me awake and I jolt up from the couch, almost falling off. “Zoe, it’s okay. You’re safe.”

  I’m breathing heavily and my body shakes. Visions of my dream filter through my mind and I hold back tears, trying to get the images out of my head.

  “Just breathe.” Charlie takes hold of both of my hands and he squeezes them hard, bringing me back to the present.

  “Charlie?”

  “It’s me. You were having a nightmare. You’re safe now.”

  I nod, taking in the dark surroundings of the lounge area. The digital clock on the wall tells me I have only been asleep for an hour.

  “Why are you out here anyway?” he asks, his hands still holding mine, sending warmth up my arms and over my body.

  “I can’t sleep in my room.” I thought he would have remembered that.

  “I know that. I thought we had a deal?”

  I frown at him. “Your door was shut.”

  “It wasn’t shut to you. Come on, you feel freezing.”

  “Charlie.” I pull back on his hand to stop him from moving away.

  “Yes?”

  “Martha mentioned you lost your girlfriend when there was an attempt on your life,” I say it quickly before I chicken out on asking him.

  “Girlfriend? Not quite. I was on a first date,” he explains.

  I frown again in confusion. Why did Martha tell me he had a girlfriend? “And she died?”

  “Yeah, that woman poisoned the wrong food. She died a couple hours after eating dinner.”

  “I’m sorry.” I hear the sadness in his voice. I’d probably see it in his face, too, if it weren’t so dark in here.

  “It’s not your fault. Truth is, I feel pretty guilty that she died because she was with me. If I had never asked her out, then she’d be alive right now.”

  “I know what you mean.” If I had been honest with Dana, she would be alive now, too.

  “I’m sad that an innocent girl was murdered and for no reason, but I know focusing on that right now won’t help us get out of here.”

  “So you didn’t have feelings for her?” I know Martha had been insinuating Charlie has been transferring feelings he had for her onto me, so I keep pushing to be sure of what the actual situation is.

  “It was a first date, she was nice and friendly. I didn’t really get much of a chance to know her. Why did Martha tell you this?”

  “She wants us to cool our relationship. I get the feeling she might have been trying to break us up, so to speak. I mean obviously we’re not, you know, but they think we are.” I whisper the last part.

  “I wonder why she doesn’t want us together.”

  “I don’t know.” I shrug. I have no idea really.

  “Come on, I’m tired.” I allow Charlie to help me up this time and we walk back to his room.

  We both climb into his bed and I wonder how this worked yesterday. The bed is definitely not big enough for both of us.

  Eventually we find places we’re both comfortable in and I face away from him, close to the edge. My nightmare is still fresh in my mind and I’m afraid to go back to sleep just yet.

  “So did Martha have much else to say to you?” Charlie asks.

  “Just that there is zero chance of us being allowed outside of this place.”

  “Maybe when the weather clears up they’ll let us go outside.”

  “I want to be in the rain. I love rain and snow.”

  “I wouldn’t say no to some fresh air. Everything is just so closed up in here.”

  “When I was at school Dana and I would spend our entire lunch break out in the cold and rain. It would drive our teachers mad when we came back soaked. Dana would get so many colds, but I never did. That used to annoy her so much.” I smile, remembering the look on her face whenever she was sick and found out I wasn’t.

  “You should keep doing that.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Remembering the good times. When Mom died I was so angry. I caused such chaos with the electricity in the area. Every night I was going to sleep and thinking about how sad I was she was gone, remembering seeing her lifeless body as Dad tried to revive her. Then Dad wanted to move houses and I got worse. I thought if we moved away, then I would lose all the memories I had of her. He told me one night that before I went to sleep I should try to think of something really happy, a moment I had with her that made me smile. So I did. Every night for years I would go to sleep remembering something happy; sometimes it’s just remembering her smile. I kept her with me and soon the sad memories faded and I only kept the happy ones. You should think about the happy times with your friend.”

  I don’t know what to say and now my tears are like a tap I can’t turn off. He’s right. I do have an abundance of happy memories of Dana. I should be trying to remember them instead of thinking about the worst night of my life.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Charlie reaches out and finds my hand under the covers.

  “I miss her so much.”

  Charlie squeezes my hand tighter and I close my eyes, thinking about the first memory that comes to mind of Dana.

  It’s of the first sleepover we ever had. We’d stayed up as late as we could and ate so much candy we both had stomach aches. We made a secret hideout with her sheets and we hid in there making plans for the future. We thought up code names for our classmates and tried to come up with pranks we could pull on each of them, including our teacher at the time. We never did get around to doing any of them, though. I remembered making up a ghost story together and then scaring ourselves with it even though we had only just made it up. We ended up waking Dana’s Mom because we were too scared to go back under our secret hideout in case a monster was hiding in there.

  I feel myself calm a bit and decide to try to think of another happy memory.

  ***

  The next day I’m ordered to go on a treadmill while the others go on ahead with training. I have wires stuck all over my body monitoring my pulse and, while I at first walk slowly, Harold continues to put the speed up until eventually I’m running. I’m barely running for ten minutes before I can hardly breathe and Harold is turning the speed right down. I’m not sure what the others have run, but I’m certain it’s more than ten minutes. Back at home, I barely did any exercise and I definitely never ran unless it was to make it to the bus stop on time. Even at school, I was never involved in any sports and gym class was always torture for me.

  Harold stops the treadmill and I eagerly get off so I can sit down. My legs feel like jelly. I’m told to stretch which I awkwardly do, not really knowing what muscles I’m supposed to be stretching or how to do them properly. If I hadn’t been ogling Charlie so much yesterday I might have remembered some of what the others had done.

  I smile, thinking about Charlie. I don’t think I’d be at all together right now if it wasn’t for him. I didn’t want to get attached to him, yet without realizing it, I already sort of have. When I woke up early this morning, after having a nightmare-less sleep, I found we were still holding hands. I didn’t want to leave that moment, however Stan interrupted us minutes later and we had to get up.

  Since I’ve been so quick with my fitness test I manage to not miss the circuit with the obstacles. Stan barks at me to join in while he speaks to Harold. I groan, knowing this isn’t worth fighting over and join the others. I can only climb half of the tall bars, it takes me ages to crawl under the low netting, I have to stop halfway through jumping in the hoops to catch my breath and I get stuck when it comes to climbing over the hurdle. The worst one is the large wall that looks like what you might use to train for rock climbing. Rose and Charlie seemed to struggle with this one yesterday, only Will had climbed it with ease, however I can’t even reach the first groove to pull myself up. I jump three times before I manage to get a grip, but lose it seconds later.


  “Need a leg up?” Charlie huffs next to me while leaning over, trying to catch his breath.

  “I suck at this.” I frown, feeling annoyed that I’m not better.

  “Come on, you can do it.” Charlie puts his hands together and makes a step for me to use.

  I take a deep breath, put my foot in his hands and then propel myself to the first groove. The wall isn’t very high up and with the mat underneath we can’t really hurt ourselves if we fall, although there is a rope that we attach around ourselves just in case. My arms ache from using them to lift myself and it takes an eternity to reach the top. Yesterday, the others had propelled themselves over the wall and used the rope to glide down to the bottom on the other smooth side. My arms and legs don’t appear to agree on how to get over the wall and instead I lose my grip and fall downwards, the rope slowing me down enough to grip ahold of an exposed groove.

  “It’s okay, Zoe. Just drop; you’re nearly at the bottom,” Charlie calls out, I let go and he steadies me when my feet don’t appear to want to hold up my weight. “You okay?”

  “I hurt everywhere,” I complain.

  “Welcome to the club.” Charlie smiles at me, seeing it is almost enough to make me forget where I am.

  “Stretch!” Stan yells out. He’s looking over some documents with Harold.

  We all move to sit on the massive mat in the middle of the room and I lie down, trying to catch my breath while the others laugh at me.

  “How can any of you be walking right now?” I complain.

  “Don’t worry; tomorrow you’ll feel a lot worse,” Rose promises.

  “Thanks.”

  “Practice some one-on-ones. Black Eye, you go together; Muscles and Hacker go easy on each other. I’ll be back and I’ll know if you’re slacking off,” Stan calls out before walking out a different exit than the one we’re allowed through. Harold goes with him.