Chapter Fourteen

"Hey...he's paler." I said.

"He's not dead yet." Jasper said after a quick look.

"We don't eat humans." Edward said to the still name-less man.

We ran close to the river, a few feet from it hiding in the trees in case the helicopters were searching for people. We could still hear explosions behind us.

I didn't understand. Why would they want to kill us? Was Forks unsalvageable? Were we all infected somehow? We couldn't be...

After a few hours we couldn't hear anything; no bombs or the chopping sound from helicopter blades but we didn't slow down. After a few more hours and going around the small community of Elwha we made it to edge of Port Angeles. Port Angeles was over five times more populated than Forks which increased the chances of running into hordes, but at least it decreased the chances of seeing a zombie-fied Mike or any of the others. I missed them.

We kept to the patches of trees just in case. From there I could see the place was as trashed as Forks was and empty. Or was it? Should we call out a warning? No, considering what our group was made up of it was best to stay away from everyone else. We ran out of patches as we closed in on the marina. We stopped and Jasper slowly laid the man back down but he still groaned in pain.

"Do we take a boat or go around?" Rosalie asked, covering her mouth and nose with her hand.

"I'm not sure." Carlisle said, sounding stressed. He worked fast, changing the gauze he bled through.

"The Canadian army might be protecting it's borders, keeping the infection out." Jasper thought out loud.

"You mean they'll try to kill us?" Eric asked in a high pitched voice.

"I highly doubt their hospitality extends this far."

"I can't see anything from here." Edward said. "We should try and hope we strike luck. It'll take longer if we go around."

"Only one should go; if there's anyone there, they'll see us if we all go."

"Lines are down." Rosalie commented. I caught her putting her phone away. Jacob still whined. Should I be crying too?

"I'll do it." Emmett said. Before anyone else could say anything he took off running.

"It's only ten blocks away." Edward reassured Rosalie who was going to run after him.

"I let him go, I shouldn't have let him go!" Jacob said through his teeth. He was quickly covered with a blanket. Esme kept it tight around him and he didn't push her away.

"There wasn't anything any of us could have done. None of us were expecting that." She said softly. Jacob had his hands on the handles of the wheelchair, set in front of him, ready to push him up a ramp to safety, to a future where hopefully they were reunited with his sisters. Now that and his mother's grave were gone.

I felt...sad. Here was my sun, no longer shinning bright. I've only ever seen him happy and silly. I crawled over and laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned and sobbed into my chest. I sat still as tears slowly filled my eyes. How could I be the big sister when I was an orphan too? I sobbed and rocked him. Quil came and phased back, and cried into Jacob's shoulder. How could I be the big sister of two orphans? My mind began to flash the faces of everyone I knew, who made me one of them when Edward was gone, those of who I just met, talked with before...

They were the only ones who could keep us company when we had to keep the secret. Now they were turned to ashes, blown away by the wind. Absolutely gone.

Emmett was back before long. There was a Coast Guard Station right in front of the marina in this area and the army had made a base out of it. There could be another camp here, soldiers roaming the place. Port Angeles could be next.

It was said we would go through the islands east of here, onto the mainland and cross the border on foot to stay off of the U.S. Army's radar. It would take about five hours maybe less. With Edward's special ability we could avoid people.

It was as trashed as Forks was. We raided a house here and there to add to our food. Without thinking twice I swallowed a can of corn. I had to make Jacob and Quil eat a few; it was less than what they usually ate, they claimed to not be hungry, but they ate something at least. We would have to constantly replenish our stock. We only took beans or canned meat. The high protein content made up for the space it took in our bags.

We kept heading east in a straight line and any zombies were dealt with swiftly. Jacob took the bat strapped to Nikki's backpack and eagerly took part. There were schools here, and in a highly populated area there were many youth. Jasper took care of them for Jacob. The other Cullen's still had trouble doing it but were able to kill them in one swing. These run-in's inspired us to go faster each time.

It got dark quickly. Half our day gone by the time we arrived here, covering 12 hours travel in 6. To save time, any time, we swam through Sequim Bay and continued on to Discovery Bay which we swam through too, a quick dinner in between. The sun was beginning to set but still there were many strips of land water to get through and, still, the mainland to cross. It would take another 5 hours to get to the mainland. There we could get a car and drive close to the border and sneak through via the forest there. It would be the last hour of urgency. Hopefully.

...

As soon as we made it to Everrett on the mainland, we changed into dry clothes and crammed ourselves into a tinted-window van and started driving north. When we got close to the border, we went back on foot to hide amongst the trees. There was a wire fence with signs that warned it was illegal to cross but we jumped over it into Canada.

"You should have lt me carry you." Edward said, checking my hands. They were scraped and a little dirty.

"There are some things I should do myself I think." I responded.

Things would have been better if Canada wasn't already infected. What if what they reported to be a new flu strain or rampant cold was really the zombie virus? In a country so big there could be well over a hundred big airports and a few smaller ones. Virus heaven. America had already begun to sterilize, was Canada planning on the same? I didn't want to believe any country did this on purpose.

Driving up, the amount of clear fields increased and continued in, what I guessed to be, British Columbia. All we needed to do was kep going north and make a left turn and bam, we were minutes from Denali. Edward had made the trip in a day so easy-peasy right?

We'd be back in U.S. territory but I was sure we'd figure something out. Just one more day.

So why is the U.S. army killing civilians, some of you asked. Well, when decomposing, and there's lots of bodies doing that right now, the body fills up with gasses and expands the skin 'til it can't any longer and the body explodes. Here, it would spread the disease. So long as the host is alive so is the virus and so the germs in the gas, which are still fresh and alive, infects everything around it. Plants including trees get viruses too, weird eh? XD and some can move into humans so...it all had to be destroyed to kill everything and make WA zombie-virus free. There's so many trees in Washington! And the Cullens can't stay there until the 'remodelling' is done. So yeah. Feel free to ask anything, I love interacting with you guys!