Taken

Chapter Thirty Three--DENNY

Sarah and Ladd were gone by the time the soldiers had dragged us back to the cabin.  I fought and Haven fought, but Grady only let them guide him, head down.  He looked like he had just lost his best friend, and while we were in a sketchy situation, the emotion on his face didn’t seem to fit.

          They didn’t tie us up when we got there, they didn’t threaten.  They simply tossed us into the kitchen and guarded the doors and windows.  “What’s wrong Grady?” I finally asked, when I couldn’t take his miserable expression any longer.

          “Other than the fact that I most likely broke my ankle?” His sarcasm packed a punch and I was taken aback. 

          “Well excuse me for caring.”

          “I’m sorry,” he said, burying his face in his hands and laying his back against the wall.  He had sunk to the floor as soon as we got here, his ankle at an odd angle.  “It’s just that I failed.”

          “Failed?”

          “I failed to protect you.  And Haven.  I failed Jeremiah.”

          “I think we both failed Jeremiah,” I muttered bitterly, as a soldier spoke into his radio transmitter. 

          “We got them.”

          The room was filled with the static scratchiness of the waves trying to pick up something.  A muffled voice, then silence.  Then again, and slowly I began to make out bits of the speech.  “…Don’t let them go…be there shortly…”  a longer stretch of static then, “…alive.”

          Relief flooded my body as I realized we were going to live for a little bit longer. Grady crumpled, leaning his head on my shoulder, as I stroked Haven’s hair.   Before long his breathing slowed, and I wondered for a second if I should wake him.

          No, I finally decided.  He needs his rest.  We may not get any for a while.  So I slipped my hand in his, and laid my head back against the wall, taking a deep breath.

-

          It wasn’t until I awoke that I had realized I had fallen asleep.  My vision was a little blurry at first and I groggily stretched and yawned.  Grady was awake now, staring at something straight ahead, but I didn’t think anything of it, instead burying my head into his shoulder and closing my eyes.

          “Denny?” a voice, a familiar voice, asked and my eyes snapped open immediately.  I was wide awake, staring at Jeremiah in horror.  Staring at his horror.

          “Jeremiah?”

          A man wearing a heavily decorated uniform came to Jeremiah’s side and announced.  “I’m General Barnes.”

          I looked at Grady, but his expression was blank.  He was staring at the wall ahead of him, looking completely zoned out.  I immediately wondered what had happened before I woke up.  I was still holding his hand, so I wriggled away and watched as his fingers went limp against the hardwood floor. Tears began to stream down my face.

          “What’s wrong Grady?” I shook him a bit, turned his chin towards me.  “What’s going on with you? Talk to me. Grady, please.”

          His eyes watched mine, but he was out of it.  Haven was still asleep across my lap, but now she stirred and looked with sleepy eyes up at me.  The sun had plunged beneath the horizon and the eerie glow of the candle light shed a creepy light on the room.

          “What’s going on with ­you?” Jeremiah asked, glaring at me tending to Grady.  His arms were crossed over his chest as he shot me daggers, and I couldn’t help but notice the way Barnes stood purposefully beside him.  “I should never have left you with him.  I should have known.”

          “It’s not what it seems,” I said, but my voice faded off and he saw straight through my lie.

          Barnes laughed, a deep and throaty laugh that sent chills up my spine.  I shivered, then as the reality of my situation hit me, I began to cry harder.

          I looked desperately back over to Grady. I wanted him to console me, to help me, just like I knew he could and always did, but he kept staring at the back wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world.  Something was seriously wrong with him.

          “What did you do to him?” I asked accusingly, wiping my eyes and nose with my sleeve.  “What did you do to Grady?”

          “Oh don’t worry,” Barnes drawled, pushing the tips of his fingers together in a contemplating way.  It wasn’t at all reassuring. Nothing about Barnes gave off a good signal.  “It’s for the pain.  It’ll wear off.  Eventually.”

          He laughed again, this time glancing over at Jeremiah and clapping him on the back.  I looked at Jeremiah, tears beginning to stream down my cheeks again, dripping off my jaw.  I tried to will him to crack, to feel sorry for me, anything but hate me.

          There was a softness shining through in his eyes, and the only reason I could detect it was because I knew everything about Jeremiah.  I knew his moods, his habits, because we had been together for so long.  I didn’t have that with Grady though, and I felt a pang in my heart, wondering if it was regret, wondering if I had made the right decision.

          “Why don’t you tell them what my intention is?” Barnes asked Jeremiah with a grin and our moment was lost.

          I could see the hesitation, the pain of having to explain.  I sat in anticipation, eager to hear what this could possibly be about.  Jeremiah didn’t get anywhere though. 

          “Oh for Heaven sakes,” Barnes groaned dramatically.  “Get on with it!”  Then after another moment of hesitation, “Actually, no, you know what?  I’ll tell you.”

          He rubbed his hands together, ordered a soldier to get the fire going, and then said, “I have an adult army that will wipe out all the kids under eighteen.”

          He told it to us straight, right to the point, and I almost fainted, because none of this seemed like a happy occasion.  He may have wanted us alive until he got there, but probably only so he could see us be the first ones to go.