Hello Chapter 4! I made a quick stop at Starbucks to post it for the weekend =D Enjoy!

I do not own Twilight, I do however own the Volvo that will be taking me to see SWATH this weekend. (;


CHAPTER 4:

THE WALKERS

Morning came quicker than I anticipated. I woke up groggy and saw that I was one the only people left down in the basement. Events from the night before started rushing through my brain as I struggled against gravity to stand upright. I started my way to the stairs slowly as I stepped over Krystal and her boyfriend, Ross that were still sleeping. When I reached the next floor I gasped in shock. Glass was everywhere. Broken windows, bar glasses, and the floor was damp. I still didn't see anyone, so I started my way up to the next floor. The kitchen area wasn't as bad as the floor below, and I was met with Jessica who was cleaning up.

"Hey, Jess."

"Oh, shit!" She yelled as she clutched her chest. "You scared me Bella."

"Sorry!"

"It's fine," She replied smiling. "Did you sleep alright?"

"As good as can be expected," I stated truthfully. She nodded her head in agreement. "I'm sorry about all the damage done to your new place," I said sweetly.

"Yeah, it sucks, huh? Our first weekend here, too. Although, Mike and I knew that storms are something that you need to prepare for out here."

"How many acres are you on?"

"God, I can't even remember, to be honest. A lot, I know that much."

"Where is everyone else?"

"The boys were bringing trash outside, and Lauren headed to the deck to start cleaning it up."

"Where do you want me to start?" I asked as I grabbed a broom that was leaning against the counter.

"How about some coffee first?" She said smiling.

"Please," I replied giggling. She went over to the counter, pulled out another coffee mug and handed it to me.

"Creamer?"

"Yes, please." I poured the dark liquid into the mug that was apparently from the San Diego Zoo.

"Caramel, or vanilla?" She questioned. I shot her a knowing look.

"Caramel," we said in unison before laughing. I mixed up the coffee and took a large sip. It burnt all the way down my throat but it tasted too good for me to care.

"So, how much more damage is there?" I questioned lightly.

"Well, there are several windows that blew in, and some hail and branch damage to the porch, but nothing that isn't fixed easily, thank God. In fact, we have a few window replacements left over in the garage from when the house was being built that the boys will install. I'm so glad we went with a metal roof."

"Oh, good. I was worried last night," I replied softly.

"Shit, me too. That storm was crazy. Unfortunately it doesn't look any better outside weather wise. I mean, the rain has stopped but the sky is as black as ever."

"Damn. I guess what Emmett heard on the way up here was right. It's going to be hitting us all weekend."

"What's going to be hitting us?" Mike chimed in as he came in through the side door with the rest of the guys.

"The storm," Jessica replied.

"Oh, yeah. Everyone needs to sit and discuss it all. Babe, can I help you make breakfast? We're starving."

"Sure thing. I've already taken out the stuff needed to make pancakes," she said smiling. The boys all hollered in excitement. Jake came and stood by me protectively causing me to shiver slightly at our close proximity. He noticed, so I took a sip of my coffee quickly before smiling at him.

After breakfast everyone decided to meet in the main living room and discuss plans for the weekend. Edward came into eat later than everyone else, and didn't look at me once. It was worrying me like crazy and having Jacob at my side every second wasn't helping. I sat down on the edge of the couch next to Krystal leaving no room left for Jacob. Instead of finding another seat, he stood next to me while Edward stood on the opposite side of the room with his arms crossed. For the first time since I had met him, I wasn't able to read the expression on his face.

"Okay, so I thought we'd all get together and see what everyone wants to do," Mike began. "Like, if you still want to stay the weekend or leave."

"I think we should all stay," Emmett said from sitting on the floor. "The storms are just going to keep coming and no one should be out driving in it."

"I wonder if Hurricane Ephraim hit home..." Lauren asked distantly.

"I think It did. It would explain the weather pattern..." Emmett replied.

"Well then I have to get home," Rosalie said frantically standing up.

"I really don't think you should, babe," Emmett said softly and he touched her arm.

"But my parents and sister!" She cried.

"She's right. We have to get back to our families," Krystal said. "They could be hurt."

"We could all get hurt if we leave, though," Said Emmett easily.

"Does anyone get cell service?" I asked. Everyone in the large room began shaking their head slowly.

"I may be able to if we walked up the mountain high enough," Mike replied.

"I think we should try and find out how bad the coming storms will be, and if our families are okay, before we go anywhere. I mean, what if the hurricane didn't hit and it was just a bad storm? Hell, we could have gotten it harder than they did."

"Bella is right," Jacob said in his deep voice.

"Alright, a few of us can start walking, while the rest stays here to finish cleaning up," Jessica suggested.

"The walkers need to stock up on water, and wear good shoes," Mike chimed in.

"Yeah, and we need as many different cell carriers as possible, because who knows which one will work," I said.

"Good point. Everyone divvy up your phones and we'll pick the best ones from each carrier." Emmett stated. I wanted to be one of the walkers immediately and was secretly wishing that Jacob would stay behind, and Edward would come with.

Fifteen minuets later we all came together again with cell phones and hiking boots. If it weren't for Jessica being such a shoe and clothes junkie, I would have been shit out of luck. I laced up the last boot of her new Timberland's and put my hair up in a messy ponytail.

"Alright, looks like we have Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and Boost Mobile," Emmett said as he examined each phone carefully.

"Good selection," I said sounding hopeful. "So, who's going to walk?"

"Well, I can a read map easily, but Mike knows the area better," Emmett replied.

"Yeah, but I can't read a map..." Mike replied sheepishly.

"I want to go," I said lightly.

"You do?" Edward and Jacob asked at the same time. Everyone looked toward them with eyebrows raised.

"Yep," I said simply not bothering to look at either of them.

"Jacob!" Lauren cried as she came running inside. Everyone jumped and looked at her with wide eyes. "Can you help me with my car?" She asked in a whiny voice.

"Uh," Jake mumbled.

"I don't know what's wrong with it! Please?" She asked again, this time rubbing her body against his arm. Jacob sighed but looked like he was wavering which had me happy instantly.

"Bella, be careful, please," He asked sincerely before kissing my cheek.

"Always," I replied. As soon as he turned around, I wiped my cheek of with the back of my hand.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Lauren gushed. She grabbed onto his arm and held tightly.

"Girl, you probably let the battery die," Jake said while his voice faded in the distance as they went out front together.

"Well, I want to go as well," Edward said suddenly. "I know a thing or two about radio towers. In fact, we need to bring a radio. Mike, do you have a battery powered alarm clock?"

"Sure thing," Mike said before running off into one of the bedrooms.

"Excellent. Anyone else?" Emmett asked. We looked around at our remaining friends who all shook their heads respectively. "Alright then, let's go." I watched as Jessica and Rosalie kissed their men good-bye before I started my way out of the house, water bottle in hand.

"So, how long is this hike?" I asked Emmett as we descended the stairs out back.

"Eh, just over and hour, I'd say," he replied while he looked at the map before him intently. We all stopped at the bottom of the stairs as Emmett pulled out a compass and held it in the palm of his hand. "This way," he said pointing to our right. We all followed suit and came up on the river. I noticed an old two seating canoe with one ore tied to the rickety dock.

"You can float down that river and make it home quicker than driving," Mike pointed out.

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yep. It leads straight to the ocean." I could feel Edward on my heels, so once we hit forest, I slowed down a bit so that we were walking side by side.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly.

"I'm fine," he said in a strained voice.

"You're lying."

"Let it go, will you?"

"Why? Have I done something wrong?"

"Let's just say that I'm not looking forward to the rest of this weekend." The venom in his voice stung me.

"I don't understand. Is it because of what happened between us last night?" My heart felt like it was shaking within my body. Edward didn't answer me.

"Is it?" I hedged on a bit louder suddenly feeling incredibly embarrassed. I looked ahead of us to see if Emmett or Mike noticed my higher tone, but they were laughing and shoving each other playfully.

"It's just better if we keep everything on the down low until we leave, alright?" He seethed. I slowed my pace and started to run through events in my mind. Why was he doing this? My answer was known almost immediately.

"Jacob," I stated harshly. "He said something to you, didn't he?" Edward didn't answer me again. "God, now it all makes sense. He's been following me around all fucking day. What did he say, Edward?" I asked angrily.

"Bella, please." I stopped walking and pulled on his arm causing him to spin around and face me. Before I spoke, I peered around him to see Mike and Emmett still walking and joking amongst one another.

"What did he say?" I asked slowly, the venom clear in my voice. Edward bowed his head.

"We were bringing some trash out and he started talking to me about you."

"What about me?"

"About how much he's in love with you and had planned on asking you out again this weekend..." He trailed off and looked as if he was ashamed. "And If I could help him by making you realize how much he wants you." Jacob wanting me wasn't new information, but I was angry at him for how he was handling it by getting Edward in on it.

"That wasn't right of him to ask that of you."

"How wasn't it, Bella? I'm his friend, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't try? He sounded so helpless."

"I don't want him Edward. Never again. Not after..." I started before I stopped myself abruptly.

"Not after what?" He hedged.

"Hey, slow pokes! Get a move on! We don't want to be on top of a mountain when the next storm hits," Emmett called out down to us.

"We'll talk about this later," Edward said as he began walking again.

"Whatever."

An hour later we had reached the top of the mountain we had been climbing. Mike had informed us that the peak was called Recovery because of the single radio tower that stood on it. Apparently, back in the day, it was used for coal miners' radio's to be able to work in the tunnels. The view was breathtaking because we couldn't see anything but more of the Appalachians and the impending luminous clouds. The forest around us was still as green as ever in the month of August. School was going to be starting back in just three weeks. I made a promise to myself to come back here in November when the leaves were bleeding colors of orange and red. I reached in my pocket for my iPhone and began snapping a few pictures.

"Hey! You can kind of see the house down there," Mike said pointing. I looked down and could see a glimpse of the metal roof. Emmett walked up to the tower to examine it.

"Fuck!" He yelled.

"What?" The three of us asked together.

"Pull out the cell phones," He replied angrily. I looked to the top left corner of my phone only to be met with disappointment.

"Mine still says, 'No Service,'" I sighed.

"Same with the Sprint and Boost Mobile," Emmett said.

"Mine says, 'Searching,'" Edward called from beneath the tower.

"Try calling someone!" Mike cried.

"Nope. Nothing," he said hopelessly.

"It looks like the tower was damaged in the storm," Emmett huffed.

"That's not entirely a bad thing," Mike began, "Doesn't that mean they'll come out and fix it?"

"Not likely. It's not really a top priority since they have built new towers in better locations."

"How do you know?" Edward asked.

"Because I work part time as a forest ranger and patrol areas specifically checking on the towers."

"What about the radio?" I asked. Edward took his backpack off and pulled out the small clock radio. He began fidgeting with it intently. I looked up to the tip of the tower and noticed pieces of it broken off.

"Guys!" Edward called. "Come here, quickly." We all jogged over to Edward anxiously. "Listen," he replied quietly. A news broadcast could be heard behind static.

"Hurricane... Severe Storm... Flash Flood... Warning... High winds... Shelter... Stay off roads... Tuesday." The radio cut off completely and we all groaned.

"Tuesday, what?" Mike asked.

"I think it meant that the storms will be coming through all weekend and into Tuesday..." Edward replied worried. I sat down harshly and sighed.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We get back to the cabin and wait it out," Emmett replied. "No one can leave, and we need to prepare for more damage."

We made it back down to the house quicker than we made it up to Recovery. Once inside we could see that every thing had been cleaned up nicely. The rest of our friends were all sitting down eating lunch.

"You're back!" Jessica said excitedly. "What did you find out?" The four of us grabbed some food and sat down with everyone else.

"Well," Emmett said between chews, "No one needs to leave for a while."

"What? Why?" Rosalie asked in panic.

"We didn't get any cell reception, but were able to pick up a radio news broadcast."

"What did it say?" Krystal asked now in panic as well. I looked at the skinny girl with dark hair and olive skin. I recognized her from high school, but we weren't ever friends. I knew Ross slightly because I had been with Jacob when he bought weed off of him a couple times. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He was round, had a big red beard, and didn't talk much.

"The storms are going to keep coming and they warned for people to stay indoors and off the roads until... Wednesday," Mike announced. Everyone gasped and started talking all at once. I looked over to Jacob who was sitting next to Lauren and could see a small smirk on his lips.

"Jesus Christ!" Paul yelled. "Calm down, people. We're all adults here, and we can handle this shit. It's just some thunderstorms! Besides, who knows how accurate the weather is. It changes quickly, so we could be out of here by tomorrow, who knows."

"Paul is right," Jacob agreed.

"How do you all propose to leave on Tuesday if no ones car works?" Lauren asked shakily.

"What?" Edward asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Jacob checked my car and it's fried! Jessica and Mike's, too." I looked to Jacob skeptically. Everyone stood up and went for the front door, including myself. I walked out to my truck and noticed that my driver door was unlocked while the rest of the doors were still locked. I locked my car, that much I was sure of. I reached in the shorts that I still had on from the previous night, and took out my truck keys. I opened the driver door and jumped in quickly putting my key into the ignition to start it. I turned it and turned it but kept getting a strange clicking sound before no sound came at all. I slammed my hands onto the steering wheel and cursed to myself. I then hit the button to pop my hood praying that it was just a dead battery. Everything under my hood appeared normal to me until I noticed some blood next to my engine. I leaned in closer just to be sure my eyes weren't fooling me.

"Everyone's car is dead," Edward said startling me so bad that I lunged upward from under my hood, and banged my head.

"Fuck," I seethed.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked apologetically.

"Yep," I replied annoyed as I rubbed the forming knot on my head. "What do you mean everyone's? How is that possible?"

"Mike has a battery charger and even that isn't working... Jacob thinks it was the lightening."

"Oh, I'm sure he does," I retorted.

"What do you mean? I thought he was like an expert with cars or something," Edward replied confused.

"He is, but that isn't always a good thing apparently." I leaned against my truck and sighed heavily.

"Bella, what's going on with you?" Edward asked sternly as he walked around to stand in front of me at the drivers side.

"I'm fucking pissed, that's what is going on!" I snapped. I looked back up towards the house and noticed everyone bustling about, paying no mind to my truck parked way out here in the grass against the mountain.

"Look, we're all going to be fine and get out of here. Jacob is going to start working on Mike's suburban in the garage since it can hold more people."

"Jacob is the one who fucked us all, Edward," I snarled. I needed to tell someone, especially since I now knew that he wasn't out here for the greater good last night.

"What are you talking about?" I rolled my eyes and thought back to the previous night.

"Last night when we were trying to get back inside," I started quietly, "I saw Jacob out here amongst the cars running around."

"And?" He said waving his hand for me to continue.

"And I noticed him close the hood to that car over there," I said pointing up to Lauren's red BMW. Edward still looked confused and didn't reply. "Edward, why the hell would he be out here looking underneath her hood in the middle of a storm? And why is there blood on my engine? And furthermore, how could lightening affect Mike's SUV in a closed garage?" I questioned. Edward glanced over the side to look in my truck and see the blood stain.

"I don't know, but there's more," He started slowly. "When we got back and were all eating in the dining room, I dropped my plate and when I went to pick it up, I noticed Jacob's hand on Lauren's thigh underneath the table."

"He's a whore, Edward. No big deal," I said shrugging.

"Then why would he talk to me about wanting you not 3 hours before?"

"Because he wants what he will never have again!" I said angrily. "He'll never give up."

"Fuck him, then. I don't give a shit. I want you, and I should be able to have you."

"Edward," I started. My heart was beating hot in my chest, and it was a feeling I welcomed back gladly.

"Do you honestly think he'd fuck with everyone's vehicles?" Edward asked skeptically. I shook my head and started to wonder if I was crazy again.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "But he was out here doing something that he shouldn't have, right? I mean, that's some shady shit."

"What were you going to tell me back on the hike?" Edward asked remembering the abrupt end to our conversation earlier today.

"Is yours dead, too, Bells?" Jacob suddenly said from behind us. I leaned off my truck quickly and stumbled for my words.

"Yeah, it is," Edward replied for me.

"Damn, that's crazy," Jake replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah, crazy," I said sarcastically.

"Edward, do you want to give me and Paul a hand on the suburban?" Edward looked to me then back to Jake cautiously.

"Sure thing," He replied easily. He started to walk away from me as Jacob came towards me.

"It's all going to be alright, babe," Jacob said into my ear as he hugged me. I looked over his shoulder at Edward who was fuming and stopped walking to watch us. I smiled at him knowingly as I started my pull away from Jacob's too tight of a hug, and I swear I could feel him smell my hair.

"Jake," I said startled. "What happened to your hand?" I held his hand within my own, seeing a long a deep cut laced on the inside of his palm. Jake recoiled his hand instinctively and started to laugh.

"Oh, I dropped my beer last night out on the deck with the boys and it broke," He said continuing to laugh at himself, "And when I went to clean it up, a piece of glass cut me. No big deal, Bells." I couldn't help but notice the stained grease and oil that was around his cut as we re-examined it.

"You need to clean it."

"I will, but I've gotta get to work," he said simply putting his hand back down to his side.

"Work. Sure," I said distantly. He turned and started jogging back up the driveway pulling on Edward to follow him. Glancing back to the smeared blood on the insides of my truck a deep shiver crawled up my spine.