Taken

Chapter 6- Forgive and Forget

The remaining 22 hours of being in the arena were hell for Julie Stevens. She did not speak a word to anyone, not even Jonathan. She was embarrassed and never wished to have Jonathan see her like that. She sat up against the wall and buried her face in her hands. She cried for hours and felt all alone. She felt that no one was ever going to be her friend in this place, especially Jonathan. It was her childhood coming back to haunt her.

Jonathan did not say a thing to Julie or Roy the rest of the time. Jonathan was upset with both of them, especially Roy. However, he was thrilled because Jonathan knew that Roy would never fall for a girl like Julie knowing what he knows now. Jonathan had the patience for Julie and he was willing to give her time to explain what happened. He loved her no matter what she claimed she was.

No one slept the remaining 22 hours. How could they after what had happened? Jackson woke up an hour after the incident, but sat on the opposite end of the room and continually shot Jonathan dirty looks. Jonathan, for the rest of the time, just sat there thinking about how he was going to handle Julie. He never dozed off during his thought process and was strangely not tired at all. Neither was anyone else.

Everyone was branched off in different groups periodically looking over at Jonathan and Julie with disgust. Everyone remained in these groups when security came the next day. 12 security men entered the building and took off the handcuffs for every group. Jonathan rose from his seat as Nikki came over to get Julie. Jonathan looked around for Roy and spotted him. They met near the doors of the arena. Security was going to take them back to their barrack.

"Hey man," Roy calmly began, "sorry about yesterday." Jonathan looked at him casually. He tried to hide the anger he had built up inside.

"Don't worry about it. Let's go back to the barrack." A security member approached them in an orderly fashion and ushered them towards the door. They both walked side by side with the security man in front of them. When they exited the room along with everyone else, all the groups branched off on different paths of the forest.

It was middle of the morning and the bright, gleaming sun greeted the world. Trees were surrounding the arena, suggesting that the arena was in the middle of the forest. Jonathan and Roy followed the security member off on their own path back to the barracks. It was a man made dirt path that wound through the underbrush and trunks of the trees. The trees whistled in the light wind and the branches swayed to the beat of nature. Once they were deep in the forest, the sun could hardly poke its way through the tops of the swaying trees.

"So Jonathan, about last night. I uh....."

"Just drop it Roy. It doesn't matter," Jonathan lashed at Roy. Roy looked down in shame and continued to stare at the ground as he trudged through the mud on the path. It had rained last night. This was evident from the leaves leaking water down to the moist ground. They walked for about a mile when Jonathan noticed something in the security man's back pocket. The object, nearly concealed by the rifle slung around his back was a stun gun.

Roy noticed at about the same time Jonathan did. Roy began to look around cautiously.  He looked over at Jonathan and ushered for him to take it. Jonathan looked at him funny and shook his head. Jonathan had never attacked anyone before. Roy began to get an excited look in his eye and began to usher even more. Jonathan kept shaking his head but eventually gave in. This was their chance to escape.

Without warning, Jonathan slid the stun gun from the man's pocket and shocked him in the back. The man collapsed to the ground and was twitching around on his back. Roy slid the rifle from his shoulder and swung the butt of the rifle across the man's jaw, knocking him out cold. He then handed it to Jonathan.

"Know how to handle a gun? I sure as hell don't," laughed Roy.

"No, but it shouldn't be too hard. All I do is pull the trigger and shoot. Now let's hurry before they come looking for us." After Jonathan's response, both boys took off into the forest. They ran the opposite way of the barracks and wove through the winding path.