***
At the park the next day, I wait anxiously as Will and Rose slowly emerge separately. Joel has not come yet and a small part of me wonders if he has been caught. If he has, then he is most likely dead. Stan had been going to do that back at The Windmill, now will be his chance to finish the job.
“I got these this morning.” Rose hands out envelopes to us all and a quick look tells me that I have new identification in there. My new name is Zoe Palmer. I don’t look any further into the envelope, instead I put it in the bag that I’m carrying with me. Rose passes me another envelope and I find that it has a new identity for Joel.
“Right, look at the map and pick some place new to live. Make sure it’s nowhere near your home and not somewhere you’ve ever been before. An example is that I love the warmth and west coast where I was raised. I’ll be finding a cold place along the east coast.” Rose seems sour at that notion.
I know where I have to pick then. I have to be south and warm. I look up at the map and find a place I’ve never been and will be sure to be warm. Florida. I chose the place most north fruitfully hoping it’ll be cooler, and decide on Jacksonville. Sun and beaches, I’m going to suffer.
“Found a place?” Rose looks around us as if afraid someone will jump out of the bushes and pounce as soon as we’re not expecting it.
We all nod. I instantly want to know where Charlie has picked, although I don’t say anything right now.
“We’ll each tell one person where we’ll be. Obviously, we have no idea where we’ll be staying so while we’ll stick to the area. We will need a system that will help us find each other.”
“What system?”
Rose explains that we each need to make sure we get a landline phone. Once registered, there is a website that we can access that will give us phone numbers and the names registered to them and then a separate website that will give out addresses to those phone numbers. It doesn’t sound all that legal and I’m too afraid to ask if it is.
I tell Charlie where I will be and my new fake name after he insists he wants to know. Rose then tells me she will be staying in Charlotte, North Carolina and her fake name will be Rose Harper.
We then wait for Joel. I hope he doesn’t come, yet I feel bad knowing that if he doesn’t, then it will surely mean he’s dead. Charlie moves over to Rose to speak to her and I move to Will. I haven’t really spoken a lot to Will, but with how quiet he is, it isn’t very surprising.
“You worried at all about leaving?” I think I already have an idea what his answer will be.
“I have no family or friends so it’ll be easy for me.” Will doesn’t even seem worried or scared and he is the youngest of us all.
“You do have friends,” I argue.
“My only friend died.”
“That’s not true, Will; you have us. If you need help, you have to go to Charlie. Even if it’s not P.A.G.E. related, we’ll all understand.” I let Will soak that up.
“I had another idea,” Rose addresses all of us. “I thought we could all write a letter home to our families. Let them know we’re safe, but unable to come home. We each take someone else’s letter and then along the way, we post it. If they’re intercepted, then we’ll throw them off with the post mark. They’ll each think we’re heading in the wrong direction than what we are.”
Rose finds a couple of pens in her bag and I find one in mine. We each get some paper and start writing. Will needs help writing his and he isn’t sure on the address so Rose has to get another map up on her laptop and he is able to remember the address from memory. I wonder who he is writing to.
I’m torn between writing to Mom or to Drew. Both need to hear from me, so I write out a quick one to Mom and then a longer one to Drew where I place Mom’s letter in. I write down the address on the paper and pass it to Rose who says she will get an envelope and send it for me. I have a letter for Charlie’s Dad in my hand and I place it carefully in my bag.
It has been at least an hour since we have all met up and there is still no sign of Joel. Just when I’m about to suggest we give up waiting, he stumbles out of some trees and collapses on the ground.
“Joel?”
“They wouldn’t stop chasing me, no matter where I went.” Joel groans, unable to move. It’s obvious he’s had zero sleep. He looks completely exhausted.
“Were you followed here?”
“I don’t know.” Joel closes his eyes and I see his clothes are ripped and worn.
“We need to leave, now.” I feel that same panicked feeling again.
“Okay, stay safe everyone. Good luck.” Rose hugs me quickly before moving over to Will and Charlie. I give Will a quick hug, too, and as I move over to Charlie, he turns away and bends down to grab Joel.
“I’ll go with you until we reach the next town, then I’ll leave.”
I’m not about to argue about spending more time with him. I help grab Joel’s other side and together we’re able to rush towards where we left the car. We drop Joel in the back and blast out of the parking lot, driving in tense silence, keeping our eyes open for anyone following us. Charlie keeps one hand on the wheel and one hand holding mine as we speed along the streets and onto a highway, luck keeping us from being pulled over by any cops. As we enter a small town east of Lincoln, Charlie slows down and then pulls over.
“I want you to promise me something.” Charlie doesn’t take his eyes off the road or the cars passing us as we sit parked.
“What?”
“Promise me that if anything happens that makes you feel worried or feels wrong, you’ll go straight to Rose.”
“I promise.” As far as promises go, that one is simple. There is no way I’m going to hang around anywhere if it doesn’t feel right.
“You have to promise that, too, but obviously you’ll go to me.”
“I promise, Zoe.”
“And you need to promise to be careful, too. You’ll be the easiest to track because of your blackouts.” Worry eats away at me and I suddenly don’t know if separating is such a good idea.
“I know and I’ll be careful.”
“One year.” It sounds more like a jail term now.
“Yeah. Three hundred and sixty five days and counting.”
“You’ll have to take me back to where you were hiding, so if Will needs you, he can find us.”
Charlie nods. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Zoe.”
“Yes.” I want to say more, however I don’t know how to get the words out. I don’t even know how to translate them for myself. Do I love him? Should I say that I love him?
Charlie leans over and our lips lock for one last kiss. It’s soft and I feel more tears falling from my eyes as we slowly pull away. Why do I feel like this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do?
“Goodbye, Zoe.”
“Goodbye, Charlie.”
We hug tightly, my arms refusing to let go, but soon I know we have to end it. We both pull away and he moves out of the car while I slide along the seat so I’m now in front of the wheel.
He pokes his head through the open window and stares at me intently. “Stay safe.” He then looks purposely at Joel, not trusting him. “If you so much as lay a finger on her, I will hunt you down and kill you,” Charlie threatens him.
I look back and see Joel’s defeated look. He’s too tired to probably care about arguing with him, not that he’d argue with a threat like that. I know Charlie means it and I feel warmth spread over me at his concern, which instantly turns ice cold knowing he’s about to leave me.
I watch as he takes a few steps backwards and I hesitantly start the car. I pull back out onto the road and try to keep my eyes on him for as long as possible.
Too soon, I lose sight of him and tears fall down my face faster and heavier as I know this has all happened too soon. The weather seems to be in tune with my mood and dark clouds cover us overhead; soon we’re driving in a thunderstorm.
I’m exhausted from emotion, but I make
sure to focus on the road. My tears blur my vision many times, however I try to think only about driving. I’ll need to find a new map when we stop for gas the next time. I have no idea how to get to Florida and the sooner we get there, the sooner I can collapse into a ball and cry for the next year.
I look back to see Joel has passed out. I have no idea how I’m going to deal with him.
So many questions are fighting to be answered in my head.
Are Rose and Will going to be okay? Will Charlie be safe and prevent himself from causing any blackouts? Will we all fit into our new lives okay? Will we be discovered by Stan and Martha? Are we all doomed to end back up at The Windmill? What will I find in Florida? Is it possible for me to make a new home for myself? Will Charlie come for me early? Maybe he’ll decide he can’t be away from me and he’ll be waiting for me in Florida.
I shake all those thoughts away and focus on driving. The last thing I need is to be in an accident and end up surrounded by police. So I keep my thoughts on driving us forward, completely unaware that a black SUV is following us from behind, only a few hundred meters back.
Taken By Surprise Page 78