The next few months were very hard on Bella and it seemed to her that they were years instead of months.
She had first gone to Philadelphia, the center of Monroe's power and after a while of asking questions to people without looking too suspicious, had learned that there were rumors of Miles Matheson hiding in Chicago. She had rushed there as fast as she could but when she arrived, finally finding the right bar, was told that he had run off with a group of people after killing a few militia men.
Of course she was happy that they hadn't caught him but sad that she had missed him. Then she remembered that in the books she loved to read, nothing came easily. If she wanted to spend time with her father and get to know him, she probably had to go through some trials, survive the journey, make an effort, go out of her way and fight. She was ready to go through hell if it meant she got to spend some time with her father.
After that, Bella always missed her father by a few days and even if she learned a few things about her father by talking to people, she still grew tired of always being late.
On the way, she learned that she had cousins, Danny and Charlie and that her father was helping Charlie get Danny back from Monroe, who wanted him for some reasons.
Her first idea had been to simply go back to Philadelphia and wait for her father there but it hadn't worked.
She had found a place to stay in the city, a place that was under the radar, but it was far away from Monroe's palace and even if she tried, she couldn't get close to the man or even to the people he hung out with. To top it all, Edward was stationed in the city and she had to go out of her way to avoid him, knowing he'd get suspicious if he saw her in a town she hated, near a man she hated.
Well, maybe she hadn't tried hard enough to get closer but she didn't want to grow too close to people her father was fighting against. She didn't want it to come back to bite her in the face.
When Miles did come, she didn't hear about it until he was running out of the town, on the opposite side from the one she was in of course and then she had to chase him again, Monroe's pursuit of him making it only harder, slower and more dangerous.
Being a girl alone on the road didn't make it any easier. People believed her to be an easy target because of her small size and even if she did know how to defend herself, it was tiring to always be on her guard, to always have to look out for potential threats. Plus, it did delay her.
A few weeks after leaving Philadelphia, she learned that her cousin Danny died while helping the rebels, killed by Monroe's men and that Miles was now working with the rebels, always on the move, trying to bring Monroe down any way he could.
Bella didn't mind.
She had hidden and healed a few rebels over the years, ignoring her mother's complains and even hiding it from her most of the time, she knew a few of them and they trusted her, she knew it. They knew her name, that Bella Swan was skilled, generous and willing to help them and she hoped it would help her find her father before someone got him killed in his fight against Monroe's army but it took her a while before she could find a clue that would really lead her to her father.
Standing over her cousin's grave, Bella wanted to do something nice for him. It was customary to place flowers on top of it and the ones that were already on it, probably placed by her aunt and cousins, maybe even her father, were starting to dry up. Deciding that her cousin deserved fresh flowers and knowing that his family wouldn't be able to give him some anytime soon, she went in the woods and ended up finding a few bushes of wild roses. It was the first flowers she crossed and she didn't want to waste too much time looking for something different. They were very pretty and so Bella dug up one of the bush and replanted it behind Danny's grave. He'd at least have fresh flowers in the spring.
.
After months of chase, Bella was sure that it was it.
She had just fought 3 men with Monroe's mark on their arm and after knocking them out, thanking internally Carlisle Cullen, their ex neighbor that had helped her learn how to fight at the same time he had taught his 3 sons, she followed their tracks back and found herself in front of a large building that men had called "The tower", even though it didn't go up in the sky.
According to what the men were saying before they found her hiding in the bushes and attacked her, trying to take advantage of her so called weaken woman state, they were saying that Monroe was on the run and that Miles was in "The Tower", fighting other people whose name she didn't care to remember, even if one was familiar and one she had heard a lot in the past few months: Tom Neville.
She truly didn't know why that man was still alive. If she didn't like killing people, Bella still believed that Neville was one of those men that caused more trouble alive and always found a way to survive, a way that always included hurting the people around him, not caring if they had helped him or not. He only cared about himself and his own survival. Bella was sure he'd be capable of sacrificing his own son in order to assure his survival. The only cure to people like him was a bullet in his head.
After fighting her assailants and knocking them out, being left standing with a few bruises and cuts, Bella ran in the direction the 3 men had come from and now she was facing the building, next to an empty military camp where the only thing out of place were the dead bodies lying on the floor.
"Please be open… Please…" Bella begged as she tried to open the door but of course it was locked and she knew that she wouldn't be able to use the electronic lock.
Trying her luck, she simply knocked on the door, then pounded and called out for about an hour but nobody came and she just knew that once again, she had been too late. Her father had left the place and she had no idea where to look in order to find him next.
If she was a good tracker, Bella knew that she had no chance of finding out which footprints were her father's and whose were soldiers or other people's. There just was too many for her to decipher.
Desperate, Bella turned to the woods behind her and yelled with everything she had:
"Miles! I'm your daughter! Miles!"
She heard her own voice but deep down she knew that if it had carried away, her father was already too far to have heard it clearly. She had missed her father, again.
Letting out a sad breath, Bella couldn't help it, she started crying as she let herself down on the floor, in the middle of Monroe's empty camp, surrounded by dead bodies of young men who had made the mistake of believing in Monroe.
"At least I have a reason to cry, I'm dying. What's wrong with you?" A weak voice said from around her.
"Who said that?" Bella asked, standing up and looking around her, her sword at the ready.
"I did. Down here." One of the bodies said weakly, obviously having a hard time talking.
One of the men she had thought was dead was actually still alive. He was very pale, bleeding heavily through the stomach and the pool of blood around him was huge.
"What's wrong? Besides the bleeding I mean?" She asked him while she got her little healing bag out and started to see if she could help him.
"I can't move."
"I… I'm sorry… I can't help you… The bullet hit a big artery… You've lost too much blood." She told him, truly sorry not to be able to help someone.
"I knew it somehow… Now, why are you crying?" he asked her and, seeing as he was dying anyway, she figured that she could trust him not to spill her secret and she told him.
"I've spent my entire life looking for my father. A few months ago my mother finally tells me his name, it's Miles Matheson and so I go looking for him. Ever since that day I've always been a few days too late, always getting somewhere a few days after he was gone… Today wasn't any different… Only this time I don't know where to look." She explained.
"He walked right by me with his fat friend, his niece and Rachel Matheson. The blond lady looked out of it, a bit crazy or in shock or something. They were talking about taking her home to her father." He told her, speaking slowly and taking big breath between words.
"Do you know where that is?" Bella asked him softly, trying not to get her hopes up.
If she had learned through her travels that Rachel Matheson's maiden name was Porter, she had no idea where her father lived.
"Willoughby, Texas." He replied.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"I guess you'll be leaving now." He asked her.
"Not yet, no. I'm not about to leave you here alone… I'll wait for you to..."
"Die?" He cut her off.
"I didn't want to put it that way but yes." She nodded.
"Thank you."
Then Bella started a fire near him, dragging the other bodies away and she kept on talking to the hurt soldier until he simply stopped talking and he was dead.
Before she left, Bella took the time to look through the camp for something of value to take with her, something that could be useful for the big trip she had ahead of her.
Searching the dead soldiers and the tents, she ended up with a few diamonds, ammunition for her gun, even though she liked her sword and knives much better, and some canned food. Obviously people had left in a hurry and if some soldiers had tried to take as much as possible, there was still plenty left behind for her to take with her and fill her backpack to the maximum.
Now started what she hoped was the last step before she finally found her father. After all of that, she hoped he'd at least want to talk to her, give her a chance.
Second part complete. The real changes to the series' story line start now.
Who do you think will be paired with whom?
Don't forget to leave me a review please!
Lorelei Candice Black