I'm going to take another run at my vampire world story again, the one I originally posted as The Insurgency. I'm telling my unabashedly Mary-Sue style Bella story from the start, as she sets off across the Aro's vampire-controlled world, seeking to free her people. The human race.
Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I just like playing with the characters.
The backstory to my story comes from hitntr01's amazing In Need of Rescue. You should read her story, as it's better than anything I have ever written, and is very scary. I am using her concepts of the farms, the vampire language Vampiri, the Rules, and the machines that are used to draw human blood with her permission. Everything else is my own concoction, and I freely take the blame for it.
Chapter 9 – Fishing in the Wild
March, 2037
(Author's note – this chapter contains one of my favorite episodes in the entire story – when Bella makes friend with the bear)
I watched as Crazy pulled away, not knowing that instead of a long weekend, it would be months before I would see her again. Grabbing my backpack, I trekked into the woods
I focused on the scenery, trying to shake the troubling voices I kept hearing. It was beautiful and looked just like the photographs in the book. There were huge green trees, dripping with water and heavy layers of moss. I heard the sound of a river, so I followed a dirt road down an incline and found a clearing by the river, where I decided to set up camp. There were fish jumping in the water, and as I walked along the bank gathering wood for a fire, I came across a small wood and metal building with a t-shaped dock in front. Pulling open the door, I found a motor boat inside along with several canoes. I pulled the boat out and put it in the river, watching it float for a few minutes before carefully climbing inside. It rocked but didn't leak, so I went back into the building to look at some fishing rods that were hanging on the wall.
Apparently, the owners had been renting fishing equipment and boats, because there were instruction manuals in a display on a counter. I flipped through a few, as well as a flyer on boating safety, and decided to try fishing.
"Don't forget to take a life jacket," one of the voices said.
Well, that was a good idea, so I grabbed a life jacket and went back to the boat. I decided not to use the motor, since not only I didn't know how to handle it, but also I didn't want to scare off the fish I was hoping to catch.
After a couple of hours of practicing using the fishing rod, I was excited when I caught a fish. It wiggled and flopped in the bottom of the boat after I pulled it in, its scales reflecting the light in iridescent flashes. Rowing back to shore, I was cold but exhilarated. After building a fire, I cleaned then cooked my fish, following the directions from one of the manuals. Nasty work, but it felt good to make something myself.
The next morning, I went back out in my boat. While I was casting, a movement on the shore caught my attention. I turned and saw an enormous bear.
"Grizzly!" one of the voices in my head told me.
"Shut up," I said aloud, staring at the bear on the shore. He went up onto his hind legs, almost waving at me. "My fish," I said. I started to row toward the other side, and the bear plunged into the water. I knew if he put one of those paws on my boat, it would tip over. The water was icy cold, and I would have trouble trying to swim to the shore fighting the current. So I threw the bear my fish.
He caught it and seemed quite happy, turning it over in his paws.
"Well, at least somebody's eating," I said aloud, watching him turn the flopping animal in his paws before putting it in his mouth. Plenty of fish left in the river, I thought, and I quickly caught another one.
The bear stood up, waiting.
"This one's for me," I told him, paddling downstream. He lumbered alongside.
Finally I threw him the second fish. When I landed my third fish, I cut it in half. I threw him the half with the head and rowed back towards the small wooden dock, chilled. He ate his half and stared at me, but didn't chase me. I got the fire again and ate my half as quickly as I could, before he changed his mind.
The next day, a light drizzle started, making sitting in a metal boat on the cold river even chillier. I worked my way further north up the river, my large friend close by. For every three fish I caught, I got to eat half of one.
On the third day, I noticed new tracks in the mud near the dock. They were smaller than the bear's, but they indicated the presence of another predator nearby. I kept my eyes open while I was fishing, and eventually saw a movement in one of the trees. An enormous cougar was watching us from overhead.
I debated sleeping in the boat shed, but I didn't want to risk having the bear damage it by pushing the door open to check it out. So that night, as I slept by my dying fire, I kept my knife handy. Some instinct woke me up later, and I saw the glow of eyes above me. Sure that the cougar was about to pounce, I got my knife ready. Roll to the right or left? I had a fifty-fifty chance of making the right choice.
I almost laughed at the irony of being attacked by the cougar here in the wilderness. Having survived being around vampires, I was now in danger from a mortal predator. I didn't have long to wait.
I saw movement on the branch above me as the big cat crouched, preparing to pounce, and I rolled left. But the cougar never hit the ground. I heard a roar, and the bear sprang from the brush, charging across the clearing and whacking the startled cougar away from me with one of his massive paws. The cat snarled in frustration and ran into the darkness, not wanting to fight such a large adversary. When it was gone, the bear snuffled a few times in my direction before shuffling off towards the river.
I guess I was now the bear's pet.
It made me feel somewhat better about sitting in the boat, shivering in the light spring drizzle as I fished for both of us. The next day, as the bear lumbered off up the hill, I followed it.
He seemed to be digging for something, and as I examined the holes, I couldn't figure out what it was. As we got higher up the hill, I heard the sound of an engine. I found a clear spot and looked down the mountain to see a train approaching. I watched it, and tried to figure out exactly where the train tracks were, as the railroad line was hidden by the trees.
After it passed, I wondered what was in those cars. I decided to climb down for a closer look. It turned out that I wasn't too far from the tracks, and I found a spot where the untrimmed trees had grown so low over the railroad tracks that the train brushed the lower branches as it passed beneath them. Deciding to get a closer look, I climbed one of the trees and realized that I might be able to drop onto the train if I wanted to. Probably dangerous, though.
When I climbed back down to the ground, I went back to the shack beside the river, hoping for a few fish of my own. Pushing out my boat, I didn't see my friend, but as soon as I caught my first fish, he magically appeared on the shore. So we shared my catch again.
The next day, I followed the bear up the hill, determined to figure out what he was digging for. I heard the sound of the train approaching, and as I watched, I saw two vampires leap off of the one of the cars. From the direction they were headed, I realized they would soon run across my scent. I scrambled down the hill and barely got to the trees over the tracks before the train arrived. Thinking of my backpack, which had the cellphone I was carrying for calling Crazy, I looked back toward my campground and saw my bear-protector had followed me. It was too late to go back for the phone, and I was quite sure that even a grizzly couldn't protect me from an immortal predator. I decided to take my chance riding on the back of the train, as the wind would blow my scent away from the lead cars. I would just have to hope there weren't any vampires in the last car.
As the train passed beneath me, I took a deep breath and dropped onto one of the railroad cars. Though there were grips along the top, the train was moving too fast for me to catch hold. For a few terrifying seconds, I slid backwards along the roof, but when I went over the edge, I landed on the metal balcony at the back of the last car. I grabbed onto the metal railing, put my head between my knees and closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath.
When I finally opened my eyes again, I saw the bear on his hind legs, staring at me, growing smaller by the minute as the train plowed ahead.
I felt I had lost a friend.
After a short time, though, I was shivering from the cold wind flowing off of the train, so I cautiously opened the door and was hit by a deep, musty scent. Large animal eyes gleamed at me from the darkness of the car. Even more importantly, a rush of warmth accompanied the smell. What were they?
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