“I’m cold.” I grab my pajamas from the ground, which I hadn’t thought I would need tonight, and then go into the bathroom, closing the door on his worried face.
In the harsh light I look at myself in the mirror, seeing my eyes are hazy and red. My hair is all over the place from moving around on the bed with Charlie and my dress is crooked on me. It’s no wonder he doesn’t want me, I look awful, not irresistible.
I turn the water on in the shower and close my eyes, stripping naked and standing under the hot water. I’d already had a shower before dinner, but I feel like I need another one now. I need to wash away all the hurt I’m feeling.
The water helps me relax and, as my muscles slowly begin to feel less tense, I begin to feel tired. The past few weeks have been exhausting physically, and tonight has drained me emotionally. I want to curl up in a ball and sleep for days.
No, I want to talk to Dana. I need to talk to Dana.
I start crying again so I run the water over my face, hoping the tears will stop.
Eventually they do and I turn the taps off. I dry myself and change into my pajamas. I don’t feel ready to face Charlie just yet, knowing he’ll most likely want to talk it out, so I lie on the ground and close my eyes. The ground is cool and it feels nice against my overheated skin.
I imagine I’m back home, that Dana is still alive and we’re at her parents’ house. It’s easy to pick up a memory as it floats past me. We’re in her room and she was trying to hide her secret diary from me. I always knew she had one and would tease her often that I’d find and read it one day. Of course I would never do that. I knew it would be full of things about Drew and I already had to hear enough about him, never mind reading about him, too. Every time I teased her about it, she’d grab her diary from the new hiding place she had put it in, showing me where it’d been, and I would chase her around her room while she screamed at me to leave the diary alone. I couldn’t help laughing while I chased her, and eventually she would start laughing, too.
Why can’t it be simple to just go back to that time? Why can’t I just see her again?
“Zoe?”
I hear Charlie’s soft knocking at the door. Eventually he opens the door slowly, and I assume, sees me lying on the ground. My eyes are still shut and I almost believe I’m dreaming.
His footsteps approach me and then strong arms secure around me. I’m lifted up and my head falls onto his shoulder. I breathe in his familiar scent as we move out of the bathroom, it makes me feel safe. I drift deeper away, sleep tunneling in.
Charlie places me carefully down on our bed and the mattress moves under me as he climbs over me and pulls me into his arms. I find a comfortable place to rest my head and Charlie drags the blanket over us both. His hand rests over my head and his fingers move carefully through my hair, soothing me.
I fall deeper into my dream as I focus on Dana. I try to remember her childhood bedroom. I can recall it so well; the photos she had up, the books on her bookshelf and covering her desk, the light yellow bed sheets and the dream catcher that hung from her ceiling to keep away her nightmares. It’s all still there, all in my mind, in my dream. I want to go back there, I want to sit on her bed while Dana reads stories to me and I sing loudly to block the story out. I don’t want to block the story out anymore, Dana. I’m ready to hear them, please read something to me.
Chapter 29 – The Crash
January 23rd
I jolt out of bed, gasping for air. A fear grips me that shakes me to my core and I know something is coming for us. Something is getting close. Charlie’s arms come around me and I vaguely hear words coming from his mouth, but I can’t understand what he’s saying. I try to remember my dream, try to recall anything, but all I can feel is a loss so deep I’m paralyzed.
“Zoe?” Charlie is shaking me now. I push him away and stumble off the bed. I need to get outside, to get out of the cabin. I almost fall down the stairs in my rush to leave. Charlie grabs hold of my arm as I open the door outside. The cold morning air hits me and my heart rate slowly starts to decrease. I step outside and let my shoulders drop, finally relaxing, the fear beginning to leave me.
“What’s wrong? Zoe, talk to me.” Charlie is standing in front of me now. I lift my head so our eyes connect.
“I think I’m going to lose you.” My voice breaks at the end. Charlie hugs me tightly. I know deep down something is coming for us, and I know whatever it is we won’t get out of it unscathed.
“You’re not going to lose me. I promise you, I’m not going anywhere.”
“What’s going on?” Will walks up from behind us and we turn to face him with Charlie’s arms remaining securely holding me against his chest.
“Just a bad dream,” Charlie speaks up when I appear to have lost my voice.
“Not a future one?”
“No.” Charlie sounds sure of himself, but his arms squeeze me tighter.
“Okay, want to help me get the others up? We’re supposed to be leaving this place within the next half an hour and no one has even gotten out of bed yet.”
“Sure, just give us a minute and then we’ll get Rose and Dean moving.”
Will nods and walks into the kitchen. They had gotten back two days earlier, and it had been decided today will be the day we leave for The Core. This is just for surveillance. We’re not breaking in yet.
“Zoe, trust me. We’re going to make it through this.”
I nod simply to please him. I know deep down something is going to happen and nothing Charlie says can change it. I move back inside now and walk upstairs, heading into our room to finish packing while Charlie quickly moves to Dean and Rose’s door, banging on it loudly.
I grab my bag and roughly throw in the few things I’ve left out. One is the dress Rose had left me. I resist leaving it behind. I had taken it off after my shower that night and it hasn’t moved since. It’s a reminder of how messed up things are with Charlie. The tension between us is so much worse, and now touching him is like I’m merely asking for trouble. It’s a reminder that we’re in desperate need to remain safe, and Charlie can easily and accidently change that.
I close my eyes and shove in the dress before zipping it up. Charlie comes in moments later, picking up his already packed bag and mine. He walks them downstairs and loads them into the car where Will has already placed his things. The small amount of things Will takes with him always makes me feel silly for having so many clothes to carry around.
I stay in the lounge and stare at the couch that had been where Charlie and my first date had gone awry. Something started here that couldn’t ever be finished, at least not for a long time. The date had done one thing though; it proved my dream to be definitely wrong. I hadn’t thought of it at the time, but if that was our first official date, then I definitely hadn’t been wearing a blue shirt. The dress was teal and it was not a shirt. It’s another hole in my dream, and my hope of that future with Charlie is officially sunk.
“Remembering something fun?” Rose comes up next to me and places her arm around my shoulder.
My eyes look up, immediately falling on Charlie who is standing on the other side of the couch. I realize he has already been staring at me. If it isn’t obvious I’ve been remembering the other night with him then it is now.
“Shut up, Rose,” I sigh and then turn to face her, moving in for a hug.
I hate moments like this. Do we say goodbye just in case something goes wrong? Or do we simply pretend we aren’t in a lot of trouble and assume we will see each other in the two days it’ll take us to drive to Washington D.C.?
“You guys stay safe, no doing anything dangerous,” she lectures me.
“Same to you.” I’m relieved a horrible feeling isn’t popping up right now. That’s a good sign, right? I’m not fearing for Rose and Dean’s life. They’re going to be fine, I hope.
Joel is going with Dean and Rose and we get Will. I think we get the better end of the deal, but no one is going to ever suggest Joel go with Charli
e and me.
Dean gives me a hug after Rose let’s go. I see more hugs and handshakes for the others. I ignore Joel and watch Dean lock up the cabin and place the key where he had found it, by a large rock at the front door. Rather obvious place for it, but since no one even knows it’s here, it doesn’t really matter where they put the key. Locking it is pointless for that reason, too.
I feel so distracted the whole drive on the first day that I don’t even protest when Will asks Charlie if he can drive. After a few awkward stops and starts, Will is out on the open road with a smile on his face. He mentions feeling better because he is the one driving, making it the entire trip without vomiting, a first for him. I feel the opposite. My stomach already feels queasy from the horrible wake up this morning, and now I’m being subjected to random jolts and swerves in the backseat.
It reminds me of when Dana and I learned to drive. Drew’s older brother, Sam, had taken Dana out for a test drive because her parents had gone on a short book tour. Since Mom worked crazy hours at the publication house, we were left alone for a long time after school. We both had taken the test and gotten our learner’s permit, but without a car or someone to teach us, we didn’t get much chance to drive. So, when Sam had offered to lend us his car and driving expertise at the local Wal-Mart parking lot, we had jumped at the opportunity.
Looking back, I think Dana agreed because she hoped Sam and I would hit it off. She must have had dreams of Drew and her double dating with Sam and me. Unfortunately for her, she reversed his car into a pole first thing and smashed his tail light. He was so angry that the one time I spoke to him, he snapped at me and left Dana and me in the parking lot alone.
Drew had been working on the other side of town at his after school job, packing shelves so he couldn’t get us. We had contemplated hitch-hiking, but the horrible feeling I had thinking about it made us change our mind. Walking was also out of the question, especially with a snow storm forecasted for later that night. The only real option we had was to call my mom.
However, the person we called was Sam. We begged for him to come back, even though we knew he wouldn’t and we promised to pay to get his car fixed. I had a little bit of money and Dana had saved every piece of pocket money she had gotten for that entire year. She was the type to put it away for a rainy day. If there wasn’t such a thing as a library where she could borrow books, then she would have been poorer than poor.
Eventually, Sam had given in and picked us up. He was so angry at us, though. I would never forget that car ride home. It felt like this one with Will. Sam’s anger made him take risks and he ended up not breaking in time, sliding on the slippery roads into a tree. It was so scary. No one was seriously injured, but Sam felt bad about what happened. Said he should have been paying more attention. I think it was partly the reason why he used to serve us a beer at May. He was worried we still blamed him, or something, and he was trying to make it up to us.
I feel a strange feeling coming over me while I slide in my seat as we sharply turn a corner. I have a feeling I’ll be blaming myself for something soon, something that is right in front of me.
***
It’s on the second day it happens. We’re moving through Kentucky when I hear a loud bang from the front of the car. We then violently swerve to the side of the street and hit the guard rail so hard that I think I see sparks flying. We jolt off that and then back out into the road. We finally skid to a stop as I watch in horror as an approaching car slams on their brakes, but they’re unable to swerve in time and end up colliding into us head on.
I’m sure my neck tries to dislodge from the rest of my body upon impact, while my scream is stuck in my throat as glass smashes all over me and my legs get pinned to my seat. My head bounces violently into the dashboard, which is suddenly a lot closer to me than it should be.
A horn is blaring, and I slowly turn my head to find Will resting his head forward on a partly deflated airbag. I reach out a bloody hand to him, seeing cuts scattering my arm from the broken glass. I touch his arm and try to push him hard, but only manage a light shove that barely moves him.
“Will?” I screech at him, fear biting my insides that he is seriously hurt. My seatbelt digs into me and I use my right hand to click the button to free me. The seatbelt flies up and I pull my arm back to unhook it. I lean over and this time I’m able to put my entire hand on Will’s shoulder.
“Will!” I scream this time, trying to be heard over the loud horn.
Will jumps at his name and lifts his head off the horn. The sudden silence is deafening. I sigh in relief when I get a good look at him. His nose is bloody and possibly broken. A large gash above his eye starts to close up before my eyes, and I know his body is healing him. He is going to be okay.
“Charlie?” I call out, trying to turn my head, but my neck protests. I can’t swing my body around either because both of my legs are trapped under the crushed dashboard.
I don’t hear any noises from the backseat and new fear washes over me. Is this the dream I can’t remember from yesterday morning? Is Charlie killed in this car crash? Is this how I lose him?
“Charlie!” I scream again, thrashing in my seat.
“Zoe, calm down,” Will growls at me, and I stop moving to watch him push his car door outwards when it won’t open by the handle.
“Smart move, you idiot! I just shot out the tire, and you decide to drive right up to it to take a look?” a high pitched yell comes from the car in front, the one that crashed into us.
“I didn’t realize it was going to fucking come at us,” a male voice grunts back.
“It was a freaking moving car! It wasn’t just going to stop!”
Worry runs through me as I slowly comprehended the words I’m hearing.
“Will, we’re in trouble.” My voice shakes as I try harder to get out of the seat.
“Ocean, get me the hell out of this car so I can shoot you!” the same female voice screams again.
I hear a groan and then loud twisting noises. I squint forwards through the wetness in my eyes and see a large man twisting the door of the car we have hit. He twists it in odd angles. It’s completely impossible what he’s doing. He’s acting like the door is nothing more than folding a piece of cardboard. In fact, he looks like he did what Will has just done to the door. That’s not possible.
“At least you’re good for something.” The woman has calmed down now. I watch in horror as she pulls out a gun with her. She appears to be hugging her side carefully. Blood trails down the side of her face. The man she called Ocean looks to be injured, too. He limps away from the car with his nose and eyes bruised already. It makes me think he might have a broken nose as well.
Will stumbles out of his door and before I can call out to stop him, I hear a moan from the backseat.
“Zoe, what happened?” Charlie’s voice sounds weak and I awkwardly move my head around to try and see him again. I have the same luck as before.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so. Are you?”
“I’m stuck. We need to get out of here. Those people caused us to crash,” I rush to say, panic building inside me.
I turn back, watching Will hop up onto what is left of the front of our car and slide over to my side. He pulls on my door and, much like he and Ocean had just done, he pulls my door at weird angles, twisting the metal away from me.
“Stop moving or I’ll shoot,” the woman yells at Will, and he freezes next to me.
“Leave us alone,” Will demands as I try to get my legs free. My door is far enough away from me that I can get out, except my legs are still pinned down.
“Which ones did we catch? State your name,” she demands.
“He’s obviously that kid like me. Parker.” Ocean rolls his eyes at the woman. I notice he doesn’t have a gun.
“Fine, who are the other two, idiot?” She appears to have a short temper.
“Deep breaths, Maggie; they’re not going anywhere.” Ocean straig
ht away gives me the impression of being calm and light-hearted. I have no idea why I think that, though, given the fact that he has just caused us to crash and is obviously working for P.A.G.E.
“Tell me their names,” Maggie demands of Will.
“Zoe and Charlie.” I’m surprised he outs us so easily, but then, he does have a gun pointed at him. I would have most likely caved, too. They’ll figure out who we are eventually anyway, no need to get shot over it.
“Where is the other one, Montgomery?”
I see Will biting his lips, almost like he is struggling not to answer. I even see a small amount of blood coming down from his lips as his teeth bite into the skin, but it doesn’t stop him from speaking. “Heading to Washington D.C., like us.”
“Will!” I shriek as loudly as I can, immediately regretting it. My head pounds with pain.
“Get out of the car, now,” Maggie insists, but my legs are stuck. I can’t move. I hear another door open behind me and know Charlie has moved out of the backseat. “Slowly,” Maggie cautions.
“Maggie, calm down. They look really hurt. We should call an ambulance.” Ocean seems genuinely concerned, and I have an overwhelming urge to thank him. I have a good feeling about him. I only hope it will help us get out of this situation. This can’t be my nightmare. This will not be where I lose Charlie.
“Are you seriously this stupid? We’re here to kidnap them, not coddle them.”
“They’re like us, except they don’t know what they’re doing is wrong. They’re just confused is all.” Ocean takes a step towards our vehicle, but I see him stopping straight away and wincing. He may appear to be strong like Will, but he definitely doesn’t heal like him.
“You know, maybe you’re the one who needs an ambulance. Go sit down before you screw this up further. I’ll handle this.” Maggie looks to be worse than Ocean, but the gun she holds with her good arm is steady. My vision, however, is beginning to waver.
Taken By Force (Taken Trilogy Book 2) Page 25
