The Taking

Sneak Peak: Book 2

Start writing your story

The Awakening: PROLOGUE

Unknown POV

My fingers were stiff and numb from the cold. Nothing was new. I did the best I could wrapping myself up with the wool blanket that I had been given by a kind woman from the local homeless shelter. They had no more rooms for me to occupy and sadly that was also something I've grown used to. She handed me this blanket, wishing me luck against the cold. 

It looks like I was going to have to find another bridge to sleep under tonight. 

My feet, sore from the distances I've traveled, crunched against the snow. I wasn't always so sure of where I was headed, I just knew that I had to continue walking. Like I had to be somewhere, but I don't know where. 

Where do I go? I don't know. A few years ago, I'm not sure when because I lost count, I was found nearly dead--naked, battered and bruised--thrown at a bottom of a River bank. A jogger had found me while he was talking his usual hiking path. 

I was taken to a hospital. No ID, no recollection of who I was and who my family was. Did I have a family? Where did I belong? There were no clues. People were baffled.  

After 6 months being hospitalized I began hearing a voice in the deepest part of my brain telling me, "Find them." Whoever them was, I tried my best to find out. Some subconscious part of myself was trying to tell me where I could figure out my past. 

People who heard my story were eager to help the Stranger, a name the local newspaper had given me. For some time I was a big headlines for a small town to awe and share to the world. Investigators who challenged themselves to solve my case like some mystery game were faced with dead ends. It was like I had been dropped down to earth from the sky. 

As my existence became a publicity, I began feeling confined and prodded like some animal. 

I ran. I ran from the people who were trying to cage me as their personal showcase animal. 

Deep in my gut, my instincts told me to hide -- and I did. 

Years passed, many distances scaled and none of my memories prior to when I was found had come back. 

I was probably walking in circles, but I didn't care. 

"Find them." The voice in my head has always been persistent. 

When I felt like giving up, the voice growled at me to keep going. 

"Get out of my head," I argued back. Find them...

I was going crazy with this voice. I didn't know where it came from. 

"Hey!" I heard someone yelling at me. "What are you doing in private property!" I saw a silhouette and next thing I knew a flashlight was being shined in my eyes. "Get out of here. You aren't allowed to sit here." 

 I was able to see the  man's face better as he stood closer to me. He was a police officer. 

"Get out or I will have to remove you by force."

I didn't want to argue, so I nodded slightly and complied. I was so cold, that my muscles were barely working. From looking at me, you would probably think I wasn't moving. 

The officer grabbed my upper arm forcefully.  "Hey, did you not here me?" 

I didn't know where the emotion came from but I was suddenly very angry. 

"I heard you." I growled. 

The officer was frozen silent. His eyes widened in fear. 

Shocked what just came out of me I froze too. "Uh...Sorry. I didn't mean to should that way." I stuttered. 

The officer's wide eyes blinked once and nodded. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Yeah..ok." He said fearfully. 

I looked at the shiny silver plate on his chest. Kyle Trenton.

Why does that sound interesting to me? Trenton...Trenton...Trent--

"Find them." The voice rumbled loader in my head that I nearly passed out. 

I grasped my head in pain and the blanket around my body fell into the snow. The cold wind engulfed me into it's deathly grasp and squeezed by body until it pained. 

"Find them." The voice grew angry--louder even. 

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" The officer called. 

I hissed in pain as the voice repeated the phrase. "Find them" over and over. 

From the background, I hear the officer talking into his radio for backup. 

"No." I said. I needed to run away. 

I didn't need anymore attention on myself. 

"I'm going to take you in bud." The officer said. 

Right as he was about to grasp my hand, my head snapped and my entire body started shaking. Waves of pain rolled through me in quick increments. 

My ears stopped working. I could hear nothing. But I felt--I felt my every bone in my body popping. 

"What the hell." The officer muttered. 

From the corner of my eye, I see him pull out his gun. 

Revenge. Find them. For the first time the voice said something besides those two words. 

To my horror, my arms against the stone started to darken. For a moment I believed that I was going blind. 

I hear the cop gasp. "What the freak are you?!" He shrieked.  

The pain was excruciating. My back coiled forward and I fell to my side against the stone. The cloth on my back tore and my pants followed. Opening my eyes, I see my face elongating..changing. What was happening to me?! 

BOOM. 

I hear the sound of a bullet being fired, then it puncturing through my skin. 

Losing all sanity, I howl in agony as my pain doubles. 

REVENGE. The voice shouts now. 

It was like I had no control over my body. My back twisted in an odd angle. 

Behind the sound of my bones cracking, I hear the faint sound of the cop screaming in horror at the sight of me. 

"Monster!"