Chapter Ten

In a single file we walked around the house, close to it's walls. Emmett nodded to it and jasper shook his head and nodded to the house in front of this one. The back door was still locked. The lock was broken quietly and walked in carefully. Usually the front doors were kept open to let air in, Forks was safe, but maybe it let other things in.

"Emmett check the upstairs, the rest of us will look for food and blunt force weapons."

I didn't think there was anyone here, because everything showed evidence of the beginnings of a mundane day, then urgency to get out. We found canned meat beans and vegetables in the cupboards and rotting food in the fridge. With 350 calories in each can, what we packed wasn't enough. 'Everyone's gone, it doesn't matter' I told myself.

There was no one upstairs and no basement, and nothing in the medicine cabinet to be used as first aid. But with a fireplace poker and a bat, we made our way out. On Forks ave, we looked south for anyone or anything coming up from the Thriftway there. There was an outfitters but we decided not to chance it.

"Can we go over there?" Eric asked. He pointed towards the area where Forks Community Hospital was located. "I have to see Angela. Just a quick look."

After seeing the abandoned cars in the Thriftway's lot weren't good to use, we jogged across another large open space to the part of Forks where the Church was. Angela was babysitting while her parents went on a date night. Knowing her, she would have locked herself and her brothers somewhere in the house. But she wasn't there. The inside of her house was a mess, like the Thriftway; there were no cans of food left and her room was overturned. I had been in her room once, she was helping me put the stamps on my college applications. She had a bright future ahead of her that's for sure. Eric sobbed quietly to himself.

Along her walls were photos of us, all of us, together. La Push, Prom, the cafeteria, graduation...her camera was still here, on her dresser. I took a few photos down and put them in my jacket's pocket. I was sure she wouldn't mind. Not knowing for sure if she was alive or dead seemed worse than knowing if she was dead. I shook my head when it concocted an image of her as a zombie. She'd never hurt a fly. I wished that wasn't her fate, or at least, that she was killed before she hurt anymore people. And odd thing to think about.

Angry, Eric insisted we go to the church Mr. Weber preached at, just in case. Even if we didn't find her, we could find survivors he said. But even I knew that it was closed. Of course no one would be there. It was on the way back to the 101 road, so we had no reason not to give a quick check. It was still locked. After Eric called out a few times for someone to respond if there was anyone there, we pulled him away, telling him to shush or they'll hear.

We went back from where we came, avoiding the hospital completely, and headed north to the Newton's Sporting Goods store, the only store like it in 60 miles. Same for the Thriftway. Other than this grocery store, there was two small ones. When we entered, we could barely contain our screams. There lay Mr. and Mrs. Newton, massacred, on the ground, a giant pool of blood under them. My stomach turned. This is what human death smells like.

Eric and I watched with our hands over our mouths and noses as Edward moved their bodies. Stab and bullet wounds were all over their torsos, and bruises in their faces. I had seen them alive and well, happy, just a day before they attacked my house. And now they were dead. Katie was nowhere to be found; hopefully she escaped. This place was picked to the bone; all hunting weapons (bows, arrows, guns, knives) and other necessary supplies for spending a week or more in the forest were gone. But what filled my head was how armed other people could be and what they were willing to do. We covered them with what clothing was left and stood around them for a silent moment before leaving.

With my hand in Edward's (admittedly I held tight with both of my hands) we walked up the avenue, heading towards La Michoacana. It sold imported goods from hispanic countries but we were there because they butchered meat. Thankfully the fridge was still on, and the containers of saved cattle blood were stored and still good. The virus had reportedly come from dogs and cats and only them, there were no cases of cattle being infected. We humans waited outside while they took a chance and drank what they could find.

"Why are we here?" Jacob asked.

"They're feeding." I said "When they come back, you'll see their eyes have turned gold."

"And when it's human?"

"...red. You just saw they have great control." I said defensively. Nikki and Eric couldn't help looking away when they came back out, but Jacob grabbed Edward's arm, stopping him, and looked at him straight into the eyes. Nikki and Eric could see then the change. They went ahead while he, Quil, Nikki, and Eric lagged behind them.

We went to the pharmacy to take things that we could barter or use. Soon, US currency would be worthless. Or at least here. Is the rest of the world faring better? The big things like ExpresX which increased red blood cell count, which would give our bodies more endurance, weren't here but we took all sorts of painkillers, and things that had the same effect. We managed to find some basic first aid things in the back, and a few boxes of pills for anxiety and some that were prescribed to patients that haven't been picked up.

There wasn't any rubbing alcohol left, but we took some bottles of vodka with a high ethyl alcohol percentage which could be used for wounds and as a disinfectant from Ron's food mart as well as some boxed dry food like crackers. Good thing. We came into contact with a hoard from Tilicum park that spilled onto the 101, the road we were taking to get to La Push. I fell being pulled by Edward. There were parents, elderly, teenagers, and smaller children; I couldn't look away from the monster-like children. Connor was among them. Even on the backs of vampires we still couldn't out-run them. So long as they could see us, hear our pounding feet, and smell the blood on us, they would come after us.

Sorry for not updating in almost a month. I'm too creative for my own good so the constant reminders that I can't make a living out of it made me depressed but Mommakat threw me a rope with her nice comments so now I can pull myself out. Your reviews and comments always leave a mark, and they mean a lot to me, comments and suggestions are of course welcome and VERY helpful so thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying Mommakat and thanks for following, as well as JeaLouS150.