CHAPTER II
A/N: Here's the next chapter! Keep reviewing/favoriting/following to keep your writers happy happy happy.
Itchin' On A Photograph – Grouplove
Spotlight – Mutemath
What You Wanted – One Republic
Howl – Florence and the Machine
They call it going on a "run", but really it's more like a slow, terrifying crawl. There's not a lot of running, because there can't be a lot of noise: noise attracts the Cold Ones. As does movement, light, and blood.
"Where are we going?" Bella whispered as the door shut behind them. They were in a diamond formation, their go-to for any run. They had learned from other's mistakes not to break ranks, that it was easier for the cold ones to pick you off when you were standing alone.
"UMD." Edward says.
"The university? Don't you think everyone will have thought of that already?"
"I agree with Bella." Quil says, Embry nodding his ascent.
"UMD's the dumbest idea I've heard yet." Lead adds.
"Then you come up with something better. Did you consider that everyone will go there because it's worth going there?"
"You are truly a gift to us all, Edward." Bella rolls her eyes. "Fine. Let's go."
As a group they head up the hill, trying to cover the few miles between them and the college. It's not too far, but entirely up hill. Bella is once again thankful it's nearly summer and the leaves offer some coverage.
They're nearly halfway, when Tyler indicates he hears something, using his elbow to gesture behind them. Bella raises her colt, and Tyler, who managed to score a riffle on one of the earlier runs, aims his gun as well. Embry has a bat, Quil a crowbar, and Edward a knife, despite Bella's earlier protests. Leah had somehow ended up with a machete, and refused to explain how she found it. But even with one arm, she managed to look like a warrior wielding it.
Edward tries to move forward, taking the lead, but Bella steps up first. Behind her, the group fans out, Leah watching behind them. If it comes to it, Quil, Embry, and Edward will move forward to strike. They avoid using the guns, both for noise and to save the ammo.
"Get ready." Quil murmurs under his breath.
So far they had come across 28 Cold Ones. They hadn't lost anybody yet. They had been lucky.
The leaves on a bush at the end of the block rustle before a body bursts from them.
"Goddamn shit motherfucker." Leah says, struggling to keep her volume down.
"GUYS!" Charms yells.
"Shut the fuck up." Quil whisper-screams, Charms still running up the hill, waving his arms.
"DON'T SHOOT IT'S ME!"
"Like that's incentive to not shoot." Tyler mutters.
"No shit it's you. Stop. Yelling." Quil lowers his crowbar.
Charms finally reaches them, out of breath and panting. So much for his "athletic abilities" he was always bragging about.
"What the hell happened to staying back?" Edward asks, eyes raging.
"It's the type of guy I am, always in the action. Always on the scene."
"For fucks sakes," Bella says, dragging her hand over her face "We need to get a move on, we're way too exposed here. Not to mention all of the noise."
"For once, you're not wrong. Let's move." Edward says.
"I think we should come up the south side." Charms pitches in.
"Considering we're coming from the south, what other side would you suggest?" Leah says.
"Come up the south, heavy on handle, moving in real stealth like."
"What are you even saying?" Even Embry, the quiet one, is not immune to Charms' antics.
But Charms had stopped listening, instead turning on his feet to bellow "WE'VE GOT A LIVE ONE!"
Bella turns in time to see a Cold One making its way from the direction Charms had just come from.
"I've got it." Quil whispers. Bella doesn't miss the anxiety that passes over Embry's face.
Quil moves forward, waiting for the Cold One to draw closer. The Cold One wears a torn-up bus uniform, his jaw hanging dislocated. His left foot drags uselessly behind him, chunks of scalp and hair missing. But like all Cold Ones, his eyes are eerily alive, unsettling moaning noises filling up the block.
"Quil. Do it. Quick. Before there are others." Bella urges him, unable to look away from the gruesome sight before her.
Quil misses the head on his first blow, hitting the thing on its shoulder. But it doesn't slow the Cold One down, or seem to deter it from reaching them. He raises the crowbar again, this time meeting the mark, a clean hit to the head. The only way to kill them.
"Nice, bro." Charms says, followed by an "ouch" as Leah backhands him on the head.
They leave the corpse in the street, continuing towards their destination.
It's midafternoon by the time they reach the college. They pass the bird statue, noticing the once pristine wall of windows is laced with gunfire.
At the beginning, when the government was "taking preemptive measures to control the spread of the disease", the university was one of the first places they sent the soldiers.
As a group, they continue to move through the campus, agreeing that the side entrance of the dorms is the best place to try and enter.
"We should pair up and split up, we'll cover more ground that way." Tyler suggests.
"Me and Embry'll take the lib arts wing." Quil says.
"Our lit department was doing a food drive a couple of months ago, there may still be some stuff left." Embry chimes in.
Leah volunteers to go with Tyler to check the staff room in the psych department. Bella suspects it's an effort to avoid getting stuck with Charms, but it backfires as soon as Charms latches on as well.
Which leaves Bella with Edward. Great.
"Guess I'm stuck with you, Swan." He says, voicing her thoughts.
Bella watches as everyone heads off in their respective directions, with the agreement to meet up in 1 hour. They head up to the Dining Center and Food Courts, hoping that something remains untouched.
"So. Glad to be back on campus?" She asks, trying to diffuse some of the tension.
"It's not really a campus anymore though, is it? More like a graveyard."
"That's cheery."
"Go check in the kitchen, I'll cover the backroom." He says as they reach their destination
"You're not the boss here!" She yells to his retreating back, muttering asshole as she does what he says.
They meet back in less than a minute, arms empty.
"Nothing?" She asks, because despite her earlier reluctance to come here she was hoping to find something.
"It's been cleaned out."
"Gee, that sounds familiar. Let's head to the food court."
They walk in an uncomfortable silence that reminds Bella of the first few summers she spent with her dad in Washington. Desperate to both break the silence and push back the memories, she starts to chatter.
"Is somebody paying you for words-per-minute?"
"What?"
"The incessant chatter." He explains, miming with his hand.
"Sorry, I forgot you were the broody-asshole type. Are all pre-med students so above small talk?"
"Yes. It's a requirement to get into the program."
She almost misses that he's joking, but catches the small crooked grin.
"Whatever." She rolls her eyes. "So, how does a cowboy end up in northern Minnesota anyway?"
Any amicability they had built vanishes as he tightens his mouth, standing up straighter.
"Who says I'm a cowboy?"
"The accent and the boots pretty much do that for you."
"I've been in Minnesota. Did my undergraduate degree in St. Paul, and started here last fall."
"Okay…but why not Texas?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you ask too many questions?" He retorts, sulking off into the food court.
Once again, caught off guard by his mercurial moods, Bella is left to ponder the brooding cowboy, currently ignoring her behind the food counter. They decide to again split up, him taking one half and her the other.
Edward is finishing his unsuccessful task of searching a fridge in the backroom when he hears Bella's screams.
"Swan!" He yells to her, against his better judgment.
Wishing he had a weapon more substantial than his knife, Edward moves forward, afraid of what he will find around the corner.