Hey, well I got an overwhelming amount of reviews for the last chapter, more than I've gotten for any chapter of a Lord of the Flies story beofre, so all of you just take a moment to pat yourself on the back. To be quite honest, I'm not sure why anyone liked The Fate of the Boys- I personally thought it was rather suckish- and I'm not very much surer of why people like this, but since you do, as long as you all review like that there will always be chapters of Taken coming out. THere's not much plot development in this chapter unless you look kind of close, but I hope you'll still like it anyway!

Amber threw her arm out with as much force as she could and felt the corners of her mouth twitch up slightly as her fist made contact. She then pulled her arm back to her side as quickly as she could and punched again with the other. The girl she was fighting rocked backwards on her heels, a sign that she was growing weaker. Amber allowed herself to smirk this time. She leaned her weight on her back foot and delivered a swift kick to the girls stomach, grunting slightly The girl's knees buckled and this time she fell to the mat. Their instructor grinned at Amber and clapped her on the shoulder.

"Well done Amber," He said approvingly. Amber helped the other girl to her feet and then went to get a drink of water. In ten seconds flat, she'd done her shoelace check, guzzled down some water, wiped the sweat from her face, adjusted her gloves and was back in the center of the ring for practice. There were very few things she had in common with her adoptive dad, and at the very top of that brief list was their twisted obsession with violence: violent video games, boxing, kickboxing, karate, wrestling, movies rated R for gore, etc. Roger couldn't get enough of it, she'd grown up with it, and now she loved it about as much as he did.

Amber's training partner had only gone one round with her and she was already pretty beat up. Amber really hoped she had some great cover up, because that was one helluva shiner she was sprouting. The instructor blew his whistle and the girl tried to get a jump start on the fighting this time, sending a very poorly executed left hook flying toward Amber's face. She easily ducked it. Too easy. Amber gave her a good hard punch in the stomach then one to the face, feeling immense satisfaction as the girl stumbled back drunkenly. Next she went for the roundhouse kick, which nearly sent the other girl toppling to the floor. Man, just a little harder, she'd be down. Next time. Amber took one angry swing at her, an incredibly sloppy one, and the girl easily dodged it. She was about to go for the win, punching between the fists beneath the chin, when and excited squeal split the air.

"Amber! You'll never guess what I just found out!" Drea burst into the gym, briefly wrinkling her nose in disgust at the smell of countless sweat kickboxers. Her best friend's excitement distracted Amber just long enough for her opponent to land a perfect punch to her eye. The shock made her lose her balance and she landed hard on her ass. Damn. The girl came and helped her up.

"Nice arm you got there." And the sportsmanship award goes to Amber McAllistor! She smiled sheepishly.

"Thanks. Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard." Amber smiled.

"It's all right. Now we're even. Black eye for a black eye." Out of the corner of her eye, Amber saw Drea beckoning her emphatically. She kind of looked like a little kid that really had to go to the bathroom. "Can you tell Mr. Barnes I'll be right back. Apparently my friend has something important to say." The girl nodded and Amber walked over the sidelines.

"Guess what Amber! You know those two houses on my block that have been for sale for, like, forever?" Drea started the second Amber was within earshot.

"No, Drea I'm absolutely fine. It's not like I'm getting a black eye or anything. No, go right on with your news," Amber said sarcastically. Drea didn't seem to be paying any attention to her.

"And you remember those kids we met at the mall? Katie and her shmexy brother Sam and their hot friend Ricky who, by the way, was totally checking you out!" Drea continued as though Amber hadn't said a word. "They're the families that moved into those two houses! So now you and Ricky can, like, fall in love or eat chocolate cake or something romantic like that!" In Drea's mind, anything involving chocolate was the epitome of romance.

"Lovely," Amber replied as if there was nothing in the world that interested her less. "I wonder where they keep the ice packs locked up in this joint." Drea chose this moment to smack her upside the head.

"What you talkin' 'bout fool! There is are two unbelievably shmexy guys living on my street, and you're thinking about ice packs?" Drea shook her head at her. "You make me sick."

"Lovely." Amber repeated. "Later!" Before she could escape, Drea pounced into the ring, grabbed Amber's ear and began dragging her out the old fashioned way.

"I will have you and that boy falling madly in love with each other if it kills me Amber McAllistor!" She yelled dramatically. "If it kills me, if it kills you, if it kills Ricky! As long as it doesn't kill Sir Hotness, cuz then I'd have nothing to stare at from up in heaven!"

"But Dre! I'm in the middle of class!"

"Not anymore you're not! Come on McAllistor, get your head in the game." Drea shook her by the shoulders. "There is a hot guy at stake. Aw man Amber, what are you wearing?"

"Um, I don't know, head gear, boxing gloves, you know, the things I need for Kickboxing practice which I'm supposed to be in right now!"

"Come on Amber," Drea sighed. "We have to get you prettied up." If I die, it will be death by accessories. Lovely.

After escaping from the diabolical clutches of the evil Dr. Drea, Amber suited up in her Spandex and joined Super Mini Skirt in the age old battle against fashion crimes. Or, well, something like that. To be quite frank, she suited up in her waitress uniform, which was sadly lackng in Spandex and was in itself a fashion crime, and joined the crew and Rusty's Burgers in the age old battle against bad service. The fight against cheesy restraunt mottos such as 'Service With a Smile!' was taken up by none.

Dressed in an itchy red blouse and a black mini skirt that would have given her real father a heart attack, but only made Roger mildly uncomfortable, Amber glanced longingly at the clock and picked up a tray from the kitchen counter. Just hang in there Amber, she thought supportively to herself, One hour till showtime, that's all. With that and a quick prayer that her friend PJ, the idiot busboy, wouldn't smush cherry pie in her face today, she put on her absolute cheesiest smile and walked into the restraunt.

"Hello, welcome to Rusty's Burgers!" She greeted a family as she walked up to their table. "My name is Amber, I'll be your waitress this evening. Can I start you off with something to drink?" She looked around the table and was slightly caught off guard. The first person she noticed was a forty something year old woman who could probably pass for twenty if she didn't look so sleep deprived. Her chestnut brown hair was cropped short, and despite her obvious tiredness her emerald green eyes were alert. She looked unexplicably familiar. Sitting there with the woman who could only be their mother were none other than Sam and Katie, the kids she'd met at the mall. They were all still looking at their menus. The woman was the first to speak.

"Um, would you mind giving us a few more minutes? We're waiting for some other-" The woman looked up and her eyes widened slightly. Apparently something about Amber was familiar to her too. She shook it off quickly, "-people."

"Oh yea, that's fine, I'll be back in a few minutes." She was about to walk away when Katie looked up.

"Hey, I remember you!" She exclaimed. Amber turned back around and smiled. The woman grabbed Katie's wrist gently and shook her head as if she'd done something wrong. "Relax mom, we met Amber at the mall the other day." Something in both Katie's and her mom's eyes changed slightly, as if something about Amber's name set them off. Once again, they shook it off. Sam took no notice of his family's strange behavior.

"Yea, that little dunce neighbor of ours got lost, as usual, and Amber had to help him find us," he said teasingly, even though his friend wasn't even there to be teased. Katie elbowed him for Ricky. Amber was about to walk away, but Katie began chatting her up like they'd been best friends their whole lives. Amber didn't really mind though, Katie was a pretty funny girl it turned out.

"Hey Leah!" A voice called from a few feet behind them. Amber turned and saw Ricky pushing a man with slightly greying hair in a wheelchair. It was the man, who looked just like an older version of Ricky, who spoke. "Long time no see, huh kids?" He said, grinning. Katie and Sam's mom, who was apparently named Leah, looked concerned.

"Are your legs bothering you again Ralph? I thought Lyza was going to take you to the doctor to have him check that out." Ricky's dad, Ralph, just rolled his eyes.

"You worry too much! Maybe I'm just feeling lazy. A man has a right to feel lazy still doesn't he? Of course, my son here could certainly use more in the muscle department, so pushing me around won't be hurting him any," he said teasingly. Ricky rolled his eyes, and then blushed upon seeing Amber standing there awkwardly. "Lyza's out parking the car, she told me to order for her." Ricky pushed his dad's chair up to the table and then sat down next to Sam.

"Why don't we start ordering so the waitress doesn't have to stand around watching our fun family sitcom all day," He said, smiling apologetically at her. The group proceeded to order drinks and Amber was eventually able to go back to the kitchen to get their drinks. She returned to their table and saw Ricky paging through Help Wanted ads in the paper. She gave them each their drinks and turned to him.

"Are you looking for a job?" She asked. He looked up, then shrugged.

"Thinking about it. Cash is always fun," he replied. She smiled.

"Well, there's an opening here if your interested in waiting tables. One of the normal waiters just left for college, so we're short on waiters." He smiled.

"Cool, that sounds fun." Amber rolled her eyes. What a kiss up. "Well, as fun as working can be. I'll apply for it." She grinned.

"Cool." After taking their meal orders, she returned to the kitchen and shrugged her duty's off on the first girl she saw. Her shift had ended, she wasn't sticking around no matter how cute that kid was. Besides, she was getting paid for this part of her day too.

The owner of Rusty's Burgers had it stuck inside his head that if there was live music in the restraunt, more people would want to come. So he hired a band. A band which for whatever reason had no name, and Amber was part of. As it was mentioned before, Amber had only two things in common with her adoptive father Roger. The first was violence, the second, which in a way sort of contradicts the first, was music. For everything that man lacked, his singing seemed to make up for it. And then some. A demon with the voice of an angel. Oh the irony that no one could possibly get.

"There you are!" Drea exclaimed. "You had us worried!" Amber laughed.

"I'm right on time, what could you possibly have to worry about?" Drea didn't answer, just kept fiddling with the settings on her keyboard, then looked up with an expression that screamed Can't you let me freak out in peace!

"Stacey just called, she's got larengitis," PJ filled Amber in on why Drea was flipping out.

"you're kidding me!" PJ shook his head solemnly. Stacey was their band's lead singer. Drea tossed Amber a microphone. "What's this for?"

"It's called a microphone. You talk or sing or make random noises into it, and it amplifies them." Amber rolled her eyes.

"Why are you giving it to me you dolt!"

"Because we can't really do these songs the justice they deserve without a singer." Drea said, rolling her eyes right back at her. Honestly, she thought her friend was the dolt in this relationship. Amber promptly began to freak.

"WHAT? But- But I need to play the guitar!" Drea and PJ shrugged.

"Do both." She looked around the room frantically.

"Make Chad or PJ do it, you know I have stage fright!" She exclaimed, continuing to look desperately for their band's bass player. He walked into the room.

"Sure, I'll sing. But be warned, I only know the words to "Three Wheels On My Wagon."" Chad replied jokingly.

"Right there with ya buddy!" PJ laughed, giving his best friend a fist bump. Drea quit her fussing briefly to put her hands on her best friend's shoulders and focus her.

"Amber, you're the best singer of all of us, better than Stacey even. And don't you deny that, because she says so all the time. You need to get over your freaking stage fright because I need this cash man!" She shook Amber's shoulders frantically in an attempt to emphasize her point. "Now let's go, and blow these people's freaking minds!" Chad and PJ hooted and the four of them walked out.

Showtime. Amber gulped, put the microphone on its stand, then put the strap of her guitar around her neck. Everything was sort of a blur. She was sort of conscious of being on stage and Drea introducing the first song, then the next one, and the next. She was pretty sure they even played the songs too. The only thing she was sure happened was the first song they played, a favorite of hers. Her heart was thudding a mile an hour. That's not normal man. God I hope there's a doctor out there. I think I'm gonna be sick! Then the song started playing, she felt her fingers playing the chords on her guitar and then the words came out without permission.

"I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah

"Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

"Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah

"Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah" The chatter in the restraunt had died down quite a bit by this time; people were listening intently to the song. Not only did Amber really have a beautiful voice, but there was something in the way she sang this particular that had them completely entranced. That certain element also made Ralph and Leah's brains fuzzy, as if there was an almost memory in the back of their minds, some kind of connection they just couldn't make that had been bugging them since they first saw Amber that was just growing worse.

"Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
But love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

"Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

"There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah

"Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah" Something about this song made Amber's stage fright go away for a while. As soon as the other songs came, her courage was gone. She still sang, but she was terrified. This song had a memory, a distant memory, but a memory still. It was back when she was one or two years old. She didn't remember much, but she remembered a little red-headed girl who'd hold her in her lap and hold picture books up in front of her face, and there was a woman with bright green eyes just like her own that would sing this song to her. And then sometimes there was a really big man with red hair that used to sing along too. It was her only memory of her real family.

"Maybe there's a God above
But all I ever learned from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who has seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

"Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

"You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken hallelujah

"Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

"I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but hallelujah

"Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah" Amber paused for just a second to do what she'd promised herself she wouldn't do: look up at the crowd. Every pair of eyes were trained on her face. Not a single person seemed to dislike her voice. She grinned a little.

"Hallelujah."

Wow. 3,248 words not including that author's note at the beginning. May I have a round of applause here?
Roger: No
Hammsters: Quit being such a poo Roger
Roger: ...No
Hammsters: Grrrrrr. Just ignore him. Leah and Ralph are here! Yay! Sorry, I just had to put that song in there to tie into The Fate of the Boys. I wonder if RalPh and Leah will figure it out... Hope you liked it please review!