Chapter 14: Consumed

BELLA

Three weeks had gone by since the "stitching incident." It had been the most excruciating experience of my life. People said childbirth was the worst, but having a large gash sewn up without anesthetic after being doused with peroxide had to be a close second.

However, one good thing that came out of the trauma was that I felt that it brought Edward and me closer together.

Edward had become very important to me, more than important. I couldn't imagine what my life would have been like in this new world without him. If I were being honest with myself, I probably wouldn't still be here.

Ever since he'd given my father mercy, he'd been very protective of me. However, he was only just now starting to let me in. Even though we were with each other 24 hours a day, he still resisted sharing anything personal with me. The little bit that I'd learned about him, I'd gotten from wearing him down.

Now, there was a tension between us. However, it was a good kind of tension that made my stomach quiver every time I caught him looking at me.

Even though he could be a jerk some times, I couldn't resist kissing him before he left me to get the first aid kit in order to stitch up my arm. Yes, it was a pretty terrible kiss, but I had to do it. He'd probably kissed plenty of girls. He was too good-looking to not have had girls all over him. However, it had been my first.

When I closed my eyes, I could still see his face barely an inch apart from mine. His eyes were wide and his breath puffed against my face as he gasped in surprise. He was the most handsome guy that I'd ever seen. So, before I lost my nerve, I mashed my lips against his.

I was not the most beautiful. The girls in my school always told me that I didn't live up to my name. I was too plain to be Bella. But if the saying "Not even if you were the last person on earth held true, minus the "not even" part, then, I had a chance with Edward. In the old world, he would have been way out of my league, but now his choices were slim.

Since the night he caught me bathing, I'd catch him staring at me a lot. However, he would often bolt when he realized I saw him. I didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

So, our days passed like that. We squabbled, we flirted, we settled into a strange sense of normalcy.

That was until the day we saw the sign on the road.

After I was completely healed, I started to go with Edward when he went to our vehicle for food and water.

It was a struggle getting to the SUV because there were more dead every day and I still felt weak at times. It took me longer to knock them down and was more of an effort to finish them off.

"I don't need your help," I grunted as I knelt on an elderly man's back and tried to jab him.

"If you say so," Edward responded with a smirk as he watched me from where he was leaning against our SUV.

"Shut up," I snarled, finally getting the upper hand and severing the dead man's spinal cord.

Edward chuckled and turned to open the back of the SUV.

We still had a lot of food left which made me concerned about how we were going to transport it when we left. I knew we were going to have to leave soon because there were more dead every day in the woods and their increased numbers was making us nervous.

Because of the dead, our normal route back to the cabin was overrun so we had to take a detour.

It was there that we found a sign.

WE COME IN PEACE, RED-HAIRED GUY.

WE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR GROUP.

SAFETY IN NUMBERS.

LOOK FOR US WHERE WE SAVED YOUR ASS.

E + R

"Are they talking about you?" I asked Edward in shock.

Edward merely grunted.

"You met other survivors?" I gasped. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I was beyond shocked that he hadn't told me anything about them.

"It slipped my mind," he said, dismissively. "Plus, it doesn't matter."

I stared at him, incredulously.

"What do you mean "it doesn't matter"? There are people nearby! Live people!"

"Other survivors can't be trusted, Bella," he snapped at me.

"How do you know? Do you know them? The sign says that they saved you," I demanded.

"I don't know them," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose in a gesture that I'd come to learn was a sign of frustration. "But survivors are dangerous."

"How do you know?" I repeated.

"I just KNOW, Bella. Will you drop it?"

"No-" I began, but was cut off when an overweight corpse lumbered up next to me.

Not waiting for me to take care of it myself, Edward strode forward and stabbed it through the eye with his bowie knife.

"Let's go," he ordered, stepping off the road and walking carefully down the hill.

"We're not done talking about this," I hissed at him.

I got no response to that.

When we got back to the cabin, Edward tried to distract me by complaining about our supper.

"This is pretty gross, Bella. Why the hell do we need to eat this? It's like fish flavored tissue paper."

"Seaweed has iodine in it. Sorry, I don't have any sushi to make a roll with it," I responded curtly.

"Uh huh," he said, popping a few more pieces into his mouth and then offering the package to me.

I glared at him as I took a couple of pieces.

"It's not working, Edward. You can't distract me. We need to talk about what happened back there."

Edward stood up and started pacing the room.

"Aren't we fine just the two of us, Bella? Don't you trust me to take care of you?" he asked, laying on the guilt pretty thick.

I sighed in frustration, not understanding him at all.

"Do you just plan for us to run forever? Eventually, we're going to need to join up with survivors," I tried to reason with him.

"No, we don't," he said, stubbornly.

"I want to meet them," I demanded.

"No."

"Yes."

"No," he said again, looking more and more angry.

"Why not? I need to know, Edward or I'm going to continue asking," I said, firmly.

He stared at me for a moment before his shoulders finally slumped and he sat down on the floor across from me.

"I was with another group before…"

I was so angry.

How could Jasper just abandon, Edward?

Edward seemed to think that Jasper had done the right thing, but he was wrong.

The minute Jasper got a replacement family, he'd told Edward to get lost. It was clear that he was just afraid that Edward would ruin it.

Edward said that it was because he'd become too dangerous. He thought that he wasn't meant to be with a family, but the Edward I knew would never have hurt Alice or her parents.

My heart broke for him when he told me about Garrett. He recited the story so matter-of-factly, but I knew him enough by now to know how much he was hurt by his death.

Edward felt like he had failed Garrett because he'd let his emotions make him weak.

Now that I knew his history, I was amazed that Edward had ever decided to be with me, a vulnerable teenage girl.

Once he was finished talking, we sat together in silence.

I could tell that Edward was lost in his own thoughts, so in order to get his attention I slid towards him so that we were knees to knees.

"Listen to me, Edward. I'm going to tell you this and you're not going to argue with me. Garrett's death was not your fault. It was James. Jasper was wrong to make you leave. You are not dangerous. You're fierce and protective. I've never trusted anyone more than I do you."

He began to shake his head, but I grabbed his chin and stopped him.

"I'm going to kiss you now and you're going to take it," I said and before I could lose my nerve, I lunged forward and pressed my lips to his.

As our lips crushed together, Edward held himself stiffly against me, his lips a hard line under mine. However, I didn't let it faze me. I worked my hands up his neck and wound my fingers in his hair, pulling him more firmly into the kiss. I didn't know what I was doing, but all I could think was that if this was my only chance to kiss him, I was going to get as much out of it as I could.

His hair was silky between my fingers and I couldn't resist carding my fingers through it and gently tugging.

For some reason, it was that small action that did something to him. I heard a little hitch in his breathing a second before he was kissing me back.

When our lips began to move together, it sent shivers down my spine. I hummed in pleasure at the sensation which caused him to wrap his arms around me and pull me against him, almost crushing me.

Edward shoved his hands into my hair, anchoring my head in place as he attacked my lips with ferocity. We were sloppy in our eagerness, but it was still the most amazing experience of my life.

But suddenly, he jerked away from me and I saw that his eyes were wide with shock and then they hardened.

I reached out for him, not wanting it to end.

"No," he said, sharply and it felt as if he'd slapped me. "Don't touch me."

My hand dropped to my side and I slid away from him.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than I saw a look of regret spread across his face.

"Bella, I'm sorr-" he began, but I refused to listen as I flushed in humiliation and anger.

"No… I'm sorry… I'm sorry that you're saddled with me. I'm sorry that I'm just a stupid girl that's become your responsibility," I said, jumping to my feet and bolting out the door.

Screw him, I thought. He didn't like me that way, but he wanted to keep me away from other survivors. Well, he couldn't have it both ways.

I ran through the trees with branches whipping against me and tearing at my clothes as I headed in the direction that I believed the river was in.

However, having run only a short distance, thoughts of Edward started to slow me down. I couldn't leave him like that. Even if he didn't like me as a girlfriend, he was my best friend. He'd taken care of me and protected me when I was alone and going crazy. How could I abandon him?

When I turned around to go back to him, I realized with a sickening sense of doom that I'd signed my own death warrant. Through the trees I saw a group of zombies weaving their way towards me, no doubt attracted by the noises I'd been making.

I couldn't outrun them. I'd allowed them to get to close. So, I'd have to fight. However, when I reached for my gun, there was nothing there.

I'd forgotten my weapons in the cabin.