.:Blackout:.
.:Preface:.
Jasper was the first to hear it. A snap, a couple miles north, then east of where he was standing. Emmett was the second to hear the clicking thuds of their fleeing prey. He was farther from their intended meal than Jasper, but not as far back as Alice. Alice was the third to hear it, but the first to see. She was fed the future in vivid clarity and her vision had already pushed her. She was running. Jasper and Emmett began to move, too. But only one could win this race.
In the end, it was close; so close, in fact, that Jasper had snarled instinctivley at Emmett, when Emmett had done the same to Alice for claiming the prize elk just moments before he did. Once the human sides of their personalities overran the predator instincts enough for them to realize who they were with and the game they were playing, Jasper and Emmett took off after the remaining, smaller does.
Alice had won the game, snatching the biggest for herself. It was something she constantly managed to do with her sixth sense (a reasonable excuse for why Emmett never liked competing against her). But just as Jasper closed in on the second largest, Emmett thought fast, redirected his position, and lunged with all his might. Jasper lost his chance at second place; he would now have to settle with third and last, and the tiniest meal. At least, for this round.
This was a game the Cullen siblings liked to play once in a while, when activities became repetitive, and mealtime became more of an irritating necessity than it already was. Usually it was played without Alice, though, for her future sight was more of an advantage than the others preferred to tolerate. Today, though, Emmett and Jasper were kind enough to include her. She promised to go easy on them. She didn't. And knowing their forgiveness was soon coming, she was unashamed. Yet, it was all in good fun, they knew. They enjoyed it.
While Alice and Emmett were in the middle of devouring their meals, Jasper finally caught up to his. He sprang at it just before it made a desperate attempt to cross a paved road. Jasper was not startled from seeing the street until after he had consumed half of the blood from the now animal corpse in his hands. When his brain triggered the realization that he shouldn't have been hunting this close to human inhabitants, it was already too late. He heard the chugging of an old motor; spinning rubber against concrete; a faint country voice singing about their love for that special someone, and something (either a foot or a finger) tapping to the music; and the beating of the driver's heart.
Jasper did not hold his breath.
Jasper did not run in the opposite direction of the incoming vehicle.
Jasper did not have time to register what was happening or what he was going to do. Something he was hearing was odd, almost unnoticeable, and for a millisecond he was aware of it. But a millisecond would not help him. The world changed around him too quickly; trees twisted together, the world blurred, his body numbed, and suddenly everything went black.
A mile away, Alice screamed.