Taken

Zoey (Chapter 30)

I woke up from one of the strangest dreams I had ever had.  I was getting my nails done in a local salon in Fresno when Robert Downey Jr. walked in and started working on another girl's nails.  I tried to steal her spot but with no luck.  I was about to punch her out of her seat so he could do my nails when I woke up...she got lucky.

I looked at the clock; nine o'clock!  It was that late?!  Had the Troop's tried waking me up, had I slept in too late?  I jumped out of bed and started getting ready as fast as I could.  I had no idea what they had planned for the day, but I didn't want them to be put behind in their schedule because of me.

I threw on a sweatshirt and jeans and pulled my hair into a high ponytail.  I put as little makeup as I could on; just some foundation, a thin line of eyeliner, mascara, and a little eyebrow pencil.  I cringed when I looked in the mirror; you could tell I had gotten ready in a hurry.  Oh well.

I was about to head out the door when I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up.  I stopped moving and stood still, trying to calm my stomach.  The feeling passed only to make me feel extremely tired all of the sudden.  I shook it off and prayed there was some good coffee downstairs.

I went right past the Troops room, assuming they were already downstairs since it was so late.  I didn't want to keep them waiting any longer.

I stepped off the elevator and into the lobby; they weren't in there.  I stepped outside to see if they were waiting out there, but they weren't.  Would they have left without me? I wondered.

Ignoring the strong smell of coffee, I rode the elevator back upstairs.  Maybe they were waiting for me in their room.  I walked down to their door and was about to knock when I realized something.

The door was open a crack.

My mind immediately flashed back to the day before with the goats.  I stepped away from the door contemplating my choices.  I wasn't like John, I dint have a gun, so what would I do if I went in there and someone besides the Troop's was in there?  But what if the Troop's were hurt and needed my help?  Of course, they could have left the door open on their own if they wanted a breeze or something.  But then why not open a window?

I took a deep breath.  I had to go in there.

I slowly walked in, being as quite as I could.  Nothing in the entry hall seemed to be disturbed, and looking out into the living room, all that was out of place was sheets on the couch, but I know that either John or Chris had slept there from what John had told me about their travels.  The only thing was that no one was lying on the couch.  I turned the corner to the kitchen and my heart stopped.

There was blood on the counter and the floor.  There wasn't too much, but enough to where I knew it wasn't a small cut.  There was also glass shattered around the blood, so I knew that's how the person had been cut.  The questions were who had been cut and how had the glass broken?  And if it was just an accident, why hadn't it been cleaned up?

By this time I had figured out that the Troop's were not in the room.  I saw John's pocket knife on the counter, something he had told me he had never left home without.  My heart dropped.  Why would he have left it unless he had been forced to leave against his will?  Tears involuntarily filled my eyes; they had been taken.

I ran back to my room, not wanting to linger in the Troop's any longer.  I threw myself on my bed and let out a few small cries into my pillow.  What was I going to do?  I was alone, in a place that I didn't know, without any clue as to what had happened to the Troop's and who had taken them.  I could just cry there all afternoon, but that wasn't an option.  I had to pull myself together for their sake.  I sat up on my bed and wiped away my tears; time to think.