Awake and Alive
Chapter 1: Save Me from the Dark
The quarter moon caused shadows upon the darkened trees as the wolf ran through the forest with his friends and now family, Carlisle and Edward Cullen. The hunting had been good and the earthy aroma of the nighttime air filled his lungs with a sense of peace, yet his anticipation to visit Renesmee caused power to surge through his body as he ran ahead. Edward chuckled as he read Jacob's thoughts and increased his speed to match. Suddenly the wind shifted and the foreign smell of airline fuel, burning plastic and blood filled their senses, bringing them to a stop. Carlyle turned to face the scent and looked back to his "boys".
"We had better check it out; someone could need our help." He said, and then headed deeper into the forest with Edward and Jacob following.
Within minutes they came upon the wreckage of a downed airplane spread out over a quarter of a mile and quietly made their way to the largest piece which looked to be the cabin. With their enhanced eyesight, they could see several survivors huddled together in the cold, all but one looked asleep.
Edward could hear the bundled woman's erratic thoughts as she shivered in the cold; she wanted to go home, but was filled with grief over someone nicknamed three; then skipped to internally cursing Seattle Grace Mercy Death. And when a scurrying sound came from the forest, her thoughts began to fearfully think about animals eating someone.
Just then, the Wolfs ears twitched at a faint sound and with a soft whine turned away from the survivors to head deeper into the forest. The Cullen's followed and found the wolf sniffing at the pale outstretched hand lying under the wreckage of the plane's tail.
"Carlisle, Jacob says he can hear a heartbeat." Edward whispered.
"Yes", replied Carlisle, "I can hear it now too, but it's very weak." The wolf moved away, transformed back into a young man, and then slid on a pair of shorts Edward handed to him. Carlisle laid down to look under the wreckage and found that the hand belonged to a young beautiful woman, reaching out he touched her face then neck to find her pulse.
"She's dying", he said with the sound of professionally contained grief in his voice, "we need to get this piece of airplane off her before I can fully ascertain the extent of her injuries."
Moving on one side of the tail, Edward and Jacob reached under and easily lifted, then flipped the metal away from the unconscious body. The squealing metal and crash echoed through the forest and startled not only the animals, but the survivor sitting awake at the other crash site.
The scent of her blood was overwhelming, but Edward held his breath to control his blood lust and looked down at her damaged body in horror. He could see that her lower legs were twisted at odd angles and that her left hand looked to be nearly severed from the crash.
"Can you save her? Asked Jacob as he gulped back nausea and watched as Carlisle examined her body.
"No, her body is too badly damaged." He replied sadly. "She has a massive Hemothorax in the pleural cavity of her chest, internal bleeding and crushing injuries to her lower extremities, which have caused compartment syndrome to her legs. She should have died hours ago, when she slipped into a coma from the shock. But I think that the cold weather lowered her core temperature enough that it slowed the blood to her heart and it allowed her to survive longer."
Slowly standing up he turned to face Edward and Jacob. "But she might survive a transformation to one of us." Looking at Jacob, he continued. "I won't change her without your permission, Jacob. This is part of our treaty with your people and even though this woman will die, I will abide with this law."
Jacob cringed at the responsibility of being his people's leader and the harsh reality of what this woman would become if he accepted Carlisle's proposal. But he knew that if something wasn't done soon, she would die and her life would have been wasted.
"Do it." he said harshly and watched as Carlisle acknowledged with a nod and knelt back down to begin injecting his venom into her neck and several key veins, then took his handkerchief to wrap around her left wrist so that it remained attached to her arm. Once satisfied, he gently picked her up and cradled her in his arms.
"We'll need to hurry home, so I can reset some of the damage bones, before they knit back together and get her where we can watch her when she wakes up hungry. Being around her injured friends would be too much for a Newborn's blood lust."
Hearing rustling coming toward them from the direction of the other crash site, Jacob asked. "What about them? How will they explain her missing body?"
Edward just shook his head and said, "They already believe she's dead. If you leave wolf prints and drag marks going into the woods, they will think her body was taken by animals."
Jacob shuddered at the thought and agreed before pulling off his shorts to being his transformation back into a wolf.
"Don't worry, Jacob." Carlisle said as he watched him change. "I've loaded the crash sites coordinate into my phones GPS and once we are far enough away, I'll call the State police so that the rest of the survivors can be rescued. They should be home by tomorrow." Readjusting, the woman in his arms, he continued. "We'll meet you back at the house."
The wolf nodded and watched as they turned and ran into the woods back to Forks. He sighed and began his task of making the site look like animals had taken the woman's body, by walking over the human foot prints and creating drag marks from the blood soaked into the dirt where she had been laying.
So intent on completing his task and worrying about Sam reaction to a new "Cullen" being created, he didn't hear one of the survivors coming through the woods until they crashed into clearing.
Startled, the wolf instinctively swung around and jumped at the intruder with his hackles raised and gave a menacing growl. The Asian woman stopped and squeaked in terror at the large dark mass towering in front of her, its glowing eyes reflecting off the moons weak light. She began to shake and hyperventilate while she waited to be ripped apart by the giant wolf standing in front of her. Realizing how much he had scared her; Jacob lowered his hackles, whined softly and turned to run away into the opposite direction. Her terrified sobs of relief followed him for miles until he found the Cullen's scent and followed their trail home.