Taken By Surprise (Taken Trilogy Book 1)

by Jessica Frances

  “He’s fine. He let Harold look at you and Stan went mental at him. Locked him in his room and then when Harold was done with you they locked you in your room, too. It’s weird, Harold wanted you to stay in that medical lab, but Stan wouldn’t have it.”

  “But I’m in your room now?” I don’t need to glance around to know this.

  “We figured you wouldn’t want to be waking up in there so Rose picked your lock and we got you out.”

  I don’t even have to think about it to know I would have been horrified to wake up in the same bed that Drew had died on.

  “What about Will? Is he still locked in his room?”

  “Rose picked his lock, too, but really, by the looks of the door by the lounge, if he wanted out of his room, then he would be out. What the hell were you guys thinking?” Charlie doesn’t sound angry, but I feel bad hearing that question. Do they think we had tried to escape without them?

  “Will and I just wanted to be outside. We weren’t trying to escape, we wouldn’t leave you behind.”

  “Being outside means that much to you?”

  It sounds stupid really. Will and I staged a huge breakout just to stand around outside like a couple of idiots getting soaked. “It’s stupid, I know. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not looking for an apology, Zoe. I’m just worried about you is all.”

  It’s strange to have Charlie admit he’s worried about me. Just earlier today I’d been worried about him. What is happening here?

  “Are you okay? What did Stan do to you today?” I’m reminded by my thoughts that Charlie had been taken away today and we had all experienced several blackouts because of it.

  “He didn’t do anything. He just figured Rose and I needed a break from each other and he might as well see where I was with controlling blackouts.”

  “How did it go?”

  “Well, I didn’t learn anything new. I’m able to control when I want to cause a blackout, but not the extent of it and if you throw in distractions, I have no hope of anything.”

  “Distractions?”

  Charlie yawns and I find myself catching it and yawning, too.

  “How about we talk about this in the morning?”

  “Okay.” My eyes close in anticipation of more sleep. I feel exhausted again.

  The lights go out and I move the covers up closer to my shoulders, relishing in the warmth I feel. Charlie’s hand catches mine under the covers and I smile as he holds onto it just like he had done the night before.

  ***

  Waking up, I find that during the night I’ve moved. My head has managed to find its way to resting upon Charlie’s chest while his arm snakes behind my back, holding me close to him. The warmth of his body is heating me up and I’m suddenly very aware of every part of my body touching his and how awkward this might be when he wakes up to find me lying like this.

  Before I can contemplate attempting to move away from him while trying not to wake him, a sharp knock comes at the door and it jolts Charlie awake.

  I lift my head away from his chest to look up at him and then another sharp knock sounds. Stan seems to be a fan of barging in rather than knocking, so I’m not sure who it could be. Charlie gives me a strange look as he swings his legs out of the bed and I quickly move away from him. I look down at myself to see I’m wearing track pants and a long sleeved t-shirt. Something I hadn’t been wearing yesterday. Who changed me?

  Charlie is at the door now and he opens it to reveal Harold.

  “This has got to stop. You were put in your own room for a reason last night, Ms. Holloway. You need to rest.”

  “Good morning to you, too.” Charlie sarcastically states as Harold ignores him and comes straight over to me.

  “I did rest.”

  “You slept the whole night?” He sounds skeptical.

  “She woke up around three a.m., but she was only awake for roughly twenty minutes,” Charlie answers for me. I nod, agreeing with Charlie. Doing so makes my vision spin.

  “Any head pain?” Harold focuses back on me.

  “Only when I touch it.”

  “Let me take a look.”

  I sit up straight in the bed and Charlie turns the main light on. I lean down this time, letting Harold move my hair around. At least with this head injury I don’t have to stare towards a bright light.

  “There is a small amount of blood here, but it’s all dried. No fresh blood. No headache?”

  “No.”

  “Good. If that changes, you are to see me immediately.”

  “Okay.”

  Just as Harold leaves, Stan pops his head in. He sneers at me and then addresses Charlie to say breakfast is ready. He is gone in a flash and suddenly I’m very much dreading today. Training is definitely going to suck.

  “Tonight we need to have a meeting with everyone. We need to get out of this place.” Charlie’s voice is so intense it gives me shivers all over my body.

  “I know.” And I know our first move. Get Rose to that laptop.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven – The Anger

  Saturday, April 14th

  We all sit in silence as we eat our breakfast. Rose appears to be furious with Will and me so we both keep silent. I don’t really know how to apologize and feel too tired to try right now. Will has gone back to being his quiet self and I know I have to find a way to thank him for making sure I was protected yesterday.

  Stan is in a bad mood and makes us all run the circuit five times before he lets us stop to stretch. It’s obvious most of his anger is aimed at Will and me today. When Charlie stops to help me up after I trip on one of the hoops, Stan yelled at him to let me go. Will is forced to wear a weight suit, adding an extra sixty pounds to his run, even given his broken shoulder which has already started to radically heal from yesterday.

  After our warm up, which is enough to leave me wanting to die, Rose and I are paired up to fight. Will and Charlie are told to keep running the circuit. I again have been given no training. I’m not sure if any of us have been given training. Although Will seems like he is a natural.

  Stan puts on some music and I feel it vibrating through my body. The noise makes my head ache, but it feels so good to hear music again that I ignore the pain. I focus on Rose and see the anger over her face. Charlie went easy on me yesterday and I had only hit him because of a fluke. Rose won’t be going easy on me. I will not be beating her.

  “Go!” Stan yells over the music and I see Rose throw a punch that I’m too slow to duck completely out of the way from. She hits me in the shoulder and I stumble several steps back. Rose moves with me and flicks out her leg to swipe mine off the floor. I fall to the side, hitting the mats hard.

  “Get up,” Rose snaps at me.

  “Rose…” I groan finding my feet and trying to steady myself.

  “Just hurry up.”

  “I’m sorry. We weren’t trying to leave you behind.” I duck as she takes another swing at me. “Please, Rose, I’m sorry, okay?” I take several steps back, getting closer to the edge of the mat.

  “Did you ever think I might want to come outside with you guys?” Rose kicks my knee and I gasp in pain. “Did you ever think I might feel hurt being left inside this hell hole?” Rose pushes me to the ground where I hit the back of my head on the mat.

  My vision swims in front of my eyes as pain shoots through me from being hit in the same spot as I’d been last night. I vaguely notice the music is shut off and the lights are out. The large window displaying the dark grey skies outside keeps the room alight, although it’s not a lot of light.

  “Did you ever think that your little stunt might hurt our chances of getting out of here?” Rose hisses quietly as she stands over me. I see Stan pull her back and then strong arms help me to sit up.

  “Are you okay?” Charlie’s voice is right next to my ear and I feel his warm breath hitting my neck. I stop breathing, noticing how close he is to me. I try to force myself to lean away from him, however a large part of me doesn’t want to lean awa
y at all.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you sure?” He half lifts me to get me standing and as much as I don’t want to, I end up leaning on him heavily when my head starts to ache more.

  “No”

  “Muscles, go get the doc,” Stan calls out.

  “Zoe, I’m sorry. I—” Rose looks upset and she holds her hands up as if to surrender.

  “What the fuck is your problem, Rose?” Charlie shouts at her and I wince at being so close to him.

  “Shut up, Charlie. This has nothing to—”

  “Just get over it. So Will and Zoe went outside, big deal.”

  “Just because you don’t care your little girlfriend screwed up, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care, either.”

  “Will you two just cool it?” Stan yells at Charlie and Rose.

  I feel Charlie’s body tense as he obviously keeps in whatever else he wants to say to Rose.

  Harold comes in then and Charlie helps me sit on the window ledge while Harold checks me out. The music eventually comes back on as do the lights. Charlie calms down as he and Rose are both sent away to their rooms to cool down. Stan is angry with us all again and Will is still made to run the circuit. I have a feeling he doesn’t really know how to punish Will with his superhuman strength. After Harold clears me and tells me no more physical activity for the rest of the day, I’m made to sit and watch Will run. Martha comes in a few minutes later and has a hushed conversation with Stan before leaving again. I imagine she’ll be holding some sort of peace talk between Charlie and Rose.

  Rose is incredibly scary and her reaction to me may have been harsh, but she is right. Will and I had been selfish to go outside. We didn’t properly consider what it would do to our chances of getting out of here. They might beef up security now.

  Stan leaves lunch in the gym for Will and I to eat alone and I take the opportunity to talk to him.

  “Thank you for yesterday.”

  “It was my idea to go outside, not yours. Rose should be angry at me,” Will says quietly.

  “I think she is angry at you, too. She’ll get over it.”

  “You think so?” His voice reveals his stress and I realize he actually does care. He doesn’t want Rose to be mad at him.

  “Yeah, she just needs to cool off. I’ve got hopefully some good news for her later. I’m trying to thank you here, Will. Charlie told me you carried me up here, that you wouldn’t let anyone hurt me. Thank you for looking out for me.”

  “I should have seen that guard coming. I knew they were getting closer to us, I just didn’t think they would hurt us.”

  “I was pretty distracted, too. The rain on my skin felt amazing.” I smile and close my eyes, picturing the rain hitting me all over.

  “I wish it had lasted longer. On the street, I used to hate it when it rained, but right now, I’d give anything to feel it again.”

  “You lived on the streets?” I ask him, not wanting to believe that’s true.

  Will looks away from me and back at the sandwich in his hands. He shrugs at me in reply, but his eyes don’t come back up to reach mine.

  “I don’t understand. If Stan has been watching us for so long, why didn’t he get you sooner?”

  Will shrugs again and I feel my anger growing towards Stan and P.A.G.E. They allowed a kid to live on the street and for what? Why did he deserve that?

  “We’re going to get out of this place soon and we’re going to get a nice house to live in and you’ll never have to live on the streets again,” I promise him quietly, mindful of being listened to.

  “It’s not really so bad. My best friend lived on the streets, too. He saved my life.”

  “Really? What’s his name? Won’t he be worried about you missing?”

  Will clears his throat and I get the feeling that whatever he’s about to say, isn’t easy for him.

  “Gavin. He had a heart attack and died when the man with the gun came looking for me.” Will keeps his eyes averted from mine.

  “I’m sorry, Will. That’s horrible.”

  “Yeah.” Will looks haunted and I resist the urge to reach out and hug him. He doesn’t seem like the type of person who’ll appreciate something like that. The boy I had seen laughing in the rain yesterday was only a kid, right now he’s back to looking like an adult.

  I don’t push him for much more conversation following that. After we finish our lunch I go back to watching Will run the circuit. I feel like my punishment isn’t really one at all, but Will hasn’t even broken a sweat which makes me think his punishment isn’t really much for him, either.

  Stan comes back in after it’s completely dark outside and our reflection is the only thing I can see in the large window behind us. The gym is cold since any heat is sucked into the glass and I’m shivering in my t-shirt.

  I go to my room to shower and warm up before Martha comes to get me for dinner. She shows us all several books and DVDs that she received today for us and insists that after eating we have a movie night together. Her exact words are to “keep the morale up” between us. I feel Rose’s roll of the eyes without having to look up and see it. None of us bother to argue with her about it, though, and we watch two movies on the couch with her. Over the course of watching both movies, it becomes extremely obvious that she’s frustrated with our lack of excitement over the DVDs.

  Feigning tiredness, we’re allowed to go to bed early after the second movie ends and

  I signal for everyone to follow into my room, which I’ve dubbed the room for our escape meetings. When Charlie shuts off the power, I still feel worried someone might hear us speaking so I whisper.

  “I saw a laptop downstairs when Will and I were heading outside. It was partly hidden and I don’t think anyone saw me see it. I think there’s a good chance we can get to it again.”

  Rose’s eyes light up. “Finally, some good news!”

  “I really am sorry, Rose, that we hurt your feelings. We didn’t mean to do that. Clearly we weren’t thinking and we won’t do it again,” I apologize for both Will and me.

  “I’m sorry, too, about knocking you over. I overreacted.”

  “You don’t have to apologize for that, I know you didn’t mean to hurt me.”

  “Guys, someone is coming,” Will hisses.

  I watch Will and Rose rush off towards my bathroom and I get one quick glance at Charlie before he rushes in and kisses me. This time, we’ve gotten more notice than before. We don’t have to make a decision of what to do and so, unlike our two-second kiss from before, this one lasts longer. My hands snake their way to Charlie’s neck and I almost forget that the only reason we’re kissing right now is because someone is coming. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me flat against him and I groan into his mouth. He uses the opportunity to trace my lips with his tongue. We both lose ourselves in the moment so when a knock on my door comes, I actually feel surprised.

  Martha pops her head in as Charlie and I slowly pull away from each other. I’m breathing deeply while my heart beats wildly in my chest.

  “I hoped this wouldn’t be what I would find in here. I’ve spoken specifically to both of you about this.” Martha’s eyes bore into mine and I look away, unable to hold her gaze. “At any rate, Zoe needs her rest if she is going to be able to come back to training. So, Stan and myself would appreciate it if you could please try to restrain yourself for one night.” Martha closes the door a little harder than necessary and a sigh of relief escapes my lips, knowing she isn’t looking at me anymore.

  “That was close,” Rose whispers from the bathroom. She and Will both come out and I peek outside my door to make sure the coast is clear before Will and Rose leave. We whisper that we’ll talk about the laptop tomorrow.

  “About that kiss…” Charlie begins, but he seems lost for words.

  “It’s okay, I understand. I’m going to get ready for bed. See you in a bit?”

  Charlie nods and leaves for his room.

  ***

  In bed, I’m restless
and I know I’m annoying Charlie with my constant moving from side to side. It doesn’t help that the bed is so small that I keep bumping him at the same time.

  “Zoe, stop.” Charlie finally has enough and sits up, turning the side light on. My eyes protest against the sudden light, but I, too, sit up.

  “Sorry, I can sleep on the couch tonight.” Just because I can’t sleep, doesn’t mean Charlie shouldn’t be able to.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m scared,” I blurt out. Saying the words out loud doesn’t make me feel any better and I worry Charlie will think I’m weak.

  “So am I. This whole situation is scary. No one expects you to not feel scared, Zoe. It’s normal.”

  “What if we get caught? What if one of us gets hurt? What if they separate us?” I whisper, my voice barely audible.

  “We’re not going to rush into anything. We’re going to plan this out properly and make sure when we get out of this place, we do it right. Everything is going to work out.” Charlie speaks just as quietly.

  “How can you know that?”

  “I just do. You will, too, if you dream of the future. You’ll see us on a beach, drinking something with a little umbrella in it.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “Prove me wrong and dream of our actual future then.”

  I sigh. “I can’t control it like that.”

  “Then we’ll just have to go with my vision.”

  I roll my eyes at him. He moves to sit up properly and I feel the quilt move with him.

  “Hey, didn’t I win a bet that meant I controlled this quilt for a whole night?”

  “Yes, and you graciously allowed me to have some last night, thank you for that.”

  “Actually, I was unconscious for most of the night, so I don’t think that should count.”

  “You should have read the fine print. Last night was the only night included in the bet.”

  I lean forward, resting on my knees and look at his jaw in the light. There is a bruise forming and it looks quite dark and sore.

  “Does it hurt?” I reach out to touch the spot, but stop myself before I can reach it. I’ve never hit a person before and I hate that Charlie wears a bruise from the impact.