"Well, we gotta get some training in some time. And with us in the store tonight, we may as well use this time for it."
"Ok." I conceded grudgingly. "Fine. But if anybody is lying on their back, it"s gonna be you, pal." I poked his chest as we stood up together.
"Says the girl who won"t even take a swing."
"Ah! Well, I may have to change that rule. Like, right now."
"Bring it, gorgeous. I"m ready."
"Ok. Just don"t use your alien mojo on me," I said backing up like I was scared.
He grinned widely.
"Oooh. You are in so much trouble now," he rumbled and made an advance towards me.
I took off running. He could have beat me and overtook me in a second, but he didn"t. We ran all the way, him on my heels to the practice room, or old stock room, in the back and then he grabbed me, turning me towards him. He planted a quick kiss on my lips then knocked my feet out from under me, catching me under my back and legs before I hit the ground. Then he laid me gently to the floor.
"You were saying," he taunted before pulling me up to my feet.
We practiced the holds. The breaking maneuvers. I still refused to punch him, until we were using the practice pillows. I kicked and punched and blocked and felt pretty good when we were done. But sweaty, as predicted.
We took a quick shower and I pulled my wet hair up into a loose bun to keep from having to fix it. I followed Merrick upstairs. I hardly recognized the place.
For one, most of the shelves were empty. We hadn"t been able to get deliveries for a long time. The Taker knew people would avoid going to the store and just do that so he kyboshed the whole thing. So we had been adding items for the store to our normal shopping trips but it"s hard to stock a store that way.
We found Margo behind the counter, wiping. I envisioned her up here, hour after hour, wiping. She didn"t seem like the type to just sit and relax.
She looked up and saw us, he gaze focused on Merrick and not me. Again, she looked uneasy, she swallowed and put on a fake smile.
"Great, you"re both here. Let"s get started."
She showed us how to work the cash register, an older one. I got it in no time but Merrick was another story. She walked us through and told us what all the switches and b.u.t.tons were for. How to lock and unlock the doors. Emergency procedures for gas pump issues. Gas being the only thing that can be delivered, she also showed us the paper and procedure for that.
After an hour, my brain was exhausted and I felt like a gooey overfull sponge.
"Ok, Margo. I"m not sure I can remember much more, tonight. We"re here. Let us run things while you go take it easy."
She still refused to look at me so I thought maybe she just needed a break.
"Uh, well. If you"re sure."
I looked around at the store. Dead and not a single customer had come in the whole time I"d been up here.
"I"m sure."
"Ok. Well, be careful." She hugged me. It felt awkward and desperate. I was starting to think something was wrong that she wasn"t telling us about. "I"ll leave you to it then."
She left and Merrick looked at me questioningly.
"You noticed that, too?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"She"s still freaked. I"m sure it"s fine. Ok, what to do now?"
"Shelve chips?"
"Sure. Sounds exciting," I said with mock enthusiasm.
We shelved chip bags for a few minutes, then Margo stuck her head around the corner.
"Merrick? Can you come downstairs for a minute?"
"Sure. What do you need?"
"I- Can you just come down. Hurry."
She took off the other way. Merrick followed her quickly, thinking the worst I"m sure. He turned to me before reaching the corner.
"Stay inside, ok? Be right back."
I nodded.
Not a minute later I heard the door ding to alert me that a customer had entered the store. I shot up from where I was and smoothed the dirt from my pant legs for the floor, making my way to the counter.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
I looked up half way to the counter to see three Lighters standing there watching me. They didn"t look like they were there to buy anything. The last traces of the sun were disappearing behind the afternoon horizon and it cast an eerie glow over the three like angles. But they were anything but angels.
I tried to slow my pulse that had shot up to loud levels in my ears. I smiled and c.o.c.ked my head slightly when they didn"t answer me. I tried to be flirty or ditsy or something. Anything but myself so they wouldn"t suspect anything.
"Looking for anything specific?"
"Yes. And we"ve found it." The middle one blurred to me and grabbed me my upper arm. "You. Let"s go."
He started to tug me away. I wondered if they still had memories of me from the previous Taker. They didn"t say my name. Was the new Taker after me? Was that what they were doing?
"I can"t just leave. I"m working," I tried to reason.
"Not anymore you"re not."
He stopped me and looked me dead in the eye. His black eyes widened, focused and darkened even more, if possible.
"You will come with us and there will be no fussing. Understand?"
I realized he was trying to compel me. Well, Lighters don"t really compel but persuade with their Lighter speak. Merrick had explained it all. Taker"s compel. But it was apparent I was still supposed to feel some kinda pull and do what he said. He sat there looking at me close and expectantly. It was then I got it. They had no idea who I was or they"d know I was a rebel and immune to the Lighter speak. They didn"t remember me.
So what were they doing with me?
I did the only thing I could think of. Pretend. If I didn"t go along with them. If I tried to run, they would catch me and they"d find the others. It"d be an ambush, surprise attack. And they"ll know we"re here if they got away and could come back to finish the job.
I begged silently for Merrick to come back. But I could stall no longer. There was no way to alert Merrick without letting the Lighters know others were here.
"Ok. Yes, I understand. I"ll come with you. Can I leave my boss a note?"
"No. Move."
I moved, his freezing hand still on my arm as he lead me out of the store front. I tried to keep my face impa.s.sive and blank. I wanted to scream. Every vein and muscle in my body rebelled, making me shake but the Lighter didn"t seem to notice. The other two Lighters flanked us as we headed to a small black BMW. It was ironic, my only chance to ever ride in a BMW was with Lighters and I couldn"t even enjoy it.
"In," the Lighter commanded tersely and pushed my head to get me inside quickly and not gently. "Seat belt. Wouldn"t want anything to happen to you. Yet."
I put it on as the other two Lighters sat with me in the back and the other one started the car. I looked back at the store once, searching for Merrick"s face in the window, looking for me. Nothing. We drove away and I could hear the gravel crunching under the tires. It was the saddest sound I"d ever heard.
I knew they"d have no way to find me. No way of knowing where I was. And I also knew, they"d never stop looking. Merrick would never stop. Even if it killed him.
We drove for a while, the only light around us were the cars headlights on the road in front of us. No one said a word and the radio wasn"t on. Silence. I was getting antsy, I could see we were heading to town. But other than that, I hadn"t been here enough to remember anything significant about the place. Once I saw lights up ahead, street lights, I leaned forward to see better. The Lighter beside me pushed me back into my seat and then spoke.
"Now?" he asked.
The one driving met my eyes in the mirror.
"Now."
I saw the elbow coming from my right before I felt it, but it was too late to do anything about it. My head and face smashed into the window on my left.
And then nothing.
I woke with a gasp and felt a burning sensation on my face. That"s wasn"t all I felt. My eye was swollen and my ear and temple hurt. I blinked hard in the too bright harsh light. I finally focused and saw I was lying on a rough concrete floor. White floor, white walls, white ceiling and nothing else.
I was alone as I looked around. I tried to sit up, but immediately regretted that. My stomach heaved and wretched but nothing came up. I wondered how many times I"d thrown up already to have an empty stomach. I could see stars dancing in front of my eyes and my head pounded like someone was squeezing it between their hands to the tune of my heartbeat.
It was so hot. I was sweating and my shirt was stuck to my body. I pushed back against the wall, as far from the door as I could get. It took me a minute to understand the gravity of the situation. My vision blurred. My stomach still felt queasy. I had a concussion. I knew that much. I remembered the Lighter hitting me, I remembered leaving the store. I remembered everything.
Well, I think I remembered everything. Up until he hit me. Who knows what"s happened since then. How long had I been here?
I wrapped my arms around my knees to press on my stomach. Anything to make the nausea go away. I leaned my head back against the wall, taking deep breaths and tried desperately not to think about Merrick. Danny. Lily.
I felt tears come just thinking their names and the very idea of never seeing them again.
Oh G.o.d. Merrick has to know I"m gone by now. Had to. He would be frantic, setting up a search party as we speak. I hope not. Maybe Jeff can talk him down. Talk him into sense. They don"t have a chance in finding me. They"ll just risk everyone else. I hope Merrick realizes that.
What am I doing here? Why hasn"t someone come in yet?
I suddenly realize something and push all thoughts away. Can they read my thoughts through the door? If so, I wasn"t going to just keep feeding them information. Instead, I ran through all the words to every Beatles song I knew.
Hours pa.s.sed. Silent, except for my whispering words, hours. Long, painful, hungry, thirsty, hot, gut wrenching hours. I had no idea what time it was, or how long I"d been barely humming when I ran out of the Beatles songs I knew. There had to be a reason for this. They wanted something from me or they wouldn"t have brought me here.
Some of my hair had escaped the bun and was matted to my forehead and neck. My clothes were dirty and sweaty, it looked like they had dragged me through the dirt and I was missing a shoe. It was so hot. It wasn"t just hot, like naturally, it was blazing warm air as if they were pumping heat in the small room...on purpose. I"d thrown up but didn"t know where, I didn"t smell great, my breath was rancid. I could"ve drank five gallons of water and eaten who knows how many plates of lasagna.
I decided to see if my theory was correct, if they were listening. I cleared my mind of everything but one thought.
"What do you want with me."
I waited and repeated in my mind and waited and repeated. I stared an angry whole in the door. Willing someone to come through it. Nothing.
I slipped into a pre-sleep state. I didn"t close my eyes but just zoned out. I was a little worried. You aren"t supposed to go to sleep after a concussion are you? But I had been asleep already. I kept my eyes open and focused on the lines between the white bricks of the walls.
I moved on to 80"s rock ballads to hum mindlessly, then random annoying pop songs, then commercial jingles. I sang the Toys-R-Us jingle more the twenty times, thinking that would drive anyone insane and they would surely come stop me. But, no. I had to think of something else, something productive, but couldn"t risk them seeing it.
The hours stretched even longer and soon, I became so exhausted than I couldn"t not fall asleep. It had to have been more than a day. Had to be. The last thing I remember was sliding down the wall to the hard floor. My rear and back numb, pulsing and aching from sitting so long. My head hurt so bad I didn"t think I could take it another second without screaming, then...sleep found me, unwanted as it was.
I woke with another gasp, having no idea if it had been seconds or hours sine I"d fallen asleep. If felt like dej vu. I blinked, the lights still on and bright. I dry heaved and tried to balance out the stars and blurs in my vision with actual sight.
Then I realized, someone was in the room with me. I could hear his breathing. I rolled slowly over, trying desperately not to let the screams of agony from my head hurting and body cramping vocalize. I sat up to face the door to see a Lighter leaning his back on it. It was shut but he was just standing there, arms crossed, looking menacing and pensive.
He pushed off the door and came to squat in front of me. He had on a big long black jacket and blacks pants. His boots were almost touching my feet he was so close. He watched me carefully with his black eyes and I couldn"t do much but stare back and wait.
He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a bottle of water. He didn"t wait for me to take it or taunt me with it. He twisted off the cap and reached out, took my shaky hand in his ice cold one and put the water bottle in it. I put it to my lips, trying to savor it, save it, but no good. I was thirsting to death, literally, and without even meaning to, I guzzled the whole bottle in seconds.
He almost smiled - smiled? - and pulled out another one. Setting it off to the side near me. Then he pulled a granola bar out and unwrapped it for me. He pushed it towards me and I took it. I bit into it and closed my eyes at the pain of my stomach growling. I swallowed with barely chewing and bit again.
He sat the whole time right in front of me with fascination all over his face. Then he spoke as I took the last bite.
"Better?" he asked, his voice soft.
I swallowed hard and cleared my throat.
"Yes."
He nodded and pulled another bar out for me, setting it beside the water bottle. I was tempted to grab that one too, as I was still hungry, but something told me that might be my only meal for later. Then he held his hand out for me. I tentatively put my hand under his and he dropped two white oblong pills into my palm.
I should have been weary about the pills I guess but, if they wanted to hurt me, and they already had, I knew they could. They wouldn"t drug me, wouldn"t do it the easy way. I grabbed the water bottle and took one sip to swallow the pills, then saved the rest.
My stomach was not happy with the sudden intake of food after being so empty and I felt like I wanted to be sick again, but I took deep breaths to stave it off.
"How"s your head?" he asked quietly.
"Hurts," I answered just as softly.
"I"m sorry about that."
"You didn"t do it," I said, clearly remembering the Lighter who had sucker punched me.
He smiled and looked like he wanted to laugh at my joke.
"The medicine should help."
"Thank you," I said quietly and he nodded once.