Run

Edward

I couldn't really blame Bella for not believing my sob story. It was hard for even me to believe, and I was there. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little hurt that she didn't trust me. I thought we had made some progress with the whole friendship/trust issue. Apparently I was mistaken.

"Edward?" Bella asked slowly. "How are we going to get out?"

I inhaled deeply, trying not to snap at her. It wasn't her fault we were stuck in this mess. It was mine, if anything. I had forgotten about the territories. I snorted softly. The territories. Hah. It sounded like a scene from a bad mafia movie. They weren't any brand of organized crime. Zack and his friends were street thugs. Thugs that could possibly kill us, but thugs all the same, lacking any dignity.

"Maybe we should start by finding out where exactly we're being held in?" I suggested, trying not to sound amused. I could almost feel Bella roll her eyes in the dark. I shifted slightly and almost sighed when I realized I was strapped to some metallic thing with Velcro. Velcro. How stupid could these guys get? Either they were morons or they didn't expect us to wake up.

Which really boiled down to the same thing, when it came right down to it. They were sitll morons either way.

I slid off the metal bed-like thing after struggling for a while with the straps that reminded me horribly of asylums and hospitals. Seperating Velcro in the dark was a tougher job than I had imagined.

"Oof," I grunted, sliding down the bed as the train gave a particularly violent rattle. "Okay, let's hit the road."

I carefully stepped forward, my hands stretched forward to grab a hold of whatever was closest to me. I felt Bella grip the back of my shirt as I fumbled in the dark. After what seemed like an eternity, I found something that felt like a light switch. Praying it was a light switch and not one of those horror movie switchs that would make the floor fall away or something equally ridiculous, I clicked it.

"Thank God," Bella mumbled, letting go of my shirt as the little room was flooded with a dim light. I glanced upwards and saw the tiny electric bulb glowing. I frowned. It looked like it was about to blow any second.

"All right, so where are we?" I muttered, looking around the room. If our light source was about to blow, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

I moved over to the walls, running my hands over the smooth walls. "This doesn't seem to be a particularly modern train," I noted, listening to the loud rattling. If anything it was the type of train I would usually be terrified to set foot into. It was creaky, unreliable and altogether frightening.

"Right," I mumbled. "If we were in a passenger train there should be a door somewhere..."

"I don't think we're going to find any door anywhere," Bella said suddenly. I turned to look at her curiously. She gazed back at me steadily, pressing her right ear up against a wall. "I think we're in a freight train."

"Fuck," I mumbled, the panic surfacing suddenly. I had done enough research on trains thanks to my train-watching phase to know about freight trains. "You're right. We're dead."

"Why?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Didn't you ever pay attention in school? We're either in a boxcar or a modern freight train, and I seriously doubt it's the latter, because come on. What kind of modern sounds like this?" I gestured wildly at nothing in particular, meaning the loud rattlnig of wheels below us.

"So we're in a boxcar. Why are we dead then?"

"Because boxcars use side doors to load the cargo. I honestly don't think they're that stupid tp leave the doors open." I didn't need to explain who they were. She knew.

Bella bit her lip. "We should try anyway. Don't go all negative on me, Cullen," she joked feebly.

I frowned, wishing I had paid more attention during class. "All right," I agreed. "Let's try."

At that very moment the light bulb flickered threateningly. We glanced upwards at the same time before hurrying to try sliding the doors open. Just like I thought, none of them were unlocked, and even if they were, what were we going to do? Jump out of a train going at ninety miles per hour?

"Great," I groaned, slumping onto the ground, the reality of our situation settling in. I looked at Bella, who was still diligently trying open the doors I hadn't covered. I considered telling her it was no use, but then she would get mad and call me a pessimist.

Think, Edward, think. What did that old bald guy say about boxcars other than the fact that they belonged in a museum?

Now, Edward, what did I just say? You weren't listening? Well, that's just like you, isn't it? I said the boxcar is versatile and can carry most loads, because boxcars have side doors and some include-

God, I was an idiot.

I hopped up and ran to the end of the boxcar, feeling around for something, anything that indicated it might slide open. Bella watched openmouthed before coming over to help me frantically look for a latch. If this freight train just had to be one without end doors, we were doomed.

My right hand found a latch.

Bella gasped.

"Please let this work," I mumbled, twisting it down and pulling it sideways.

The door opened noisily. The sudden air almost swept me off my feet, but I planted my feet firmly apart and pulled the door back. Bella stood behind me, pulling along with me.

Once the door was open Bella stood next to me, one hand holding the door frame and the other holding my hand tightly. "How are we going to get out?" she asked nervously. My thoughts exactly.

"We'll wait until the train nears a hill, then jump," I said with more conviction than I really had.

It didn't take long for the train to near a hill. I could hear the rattling slow, and once I was sure that the train was going as slowly as it would I squeezed Bella's hand. I could almost feel the nervousness radiating off her. "One...two...three!"

~C~

It was dawn.

Which, essentially, was a horrible thing, because the last time I had seen the sky it was night. Meaning a lot of people would be terrified out of their wits right now. I didn't mention this to Bella, firstly because I knew she would panic, and secondly because I had no idea how to bring it up. Oh, and Bella, have you realized we've been gone for over six hours now?

Nope, not a good idea.

"My back hurts," I complained suddenly.

Bella rolled her eyes at me. "Your problem, not mine."

Jeesh. I didn't even get any sympathy. She did indirectly cause my back injury.

After jumping out of the train, we had both somehow survived, albeit with a few injuries. Bella was limping with a sore ankle, and my back hurt like hell on account of Bella toppling over me, which was why she got off with an ankle injury and I was bent over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with a back that throbbed horribly.

We had hiked through forest and were now on a trail, which I hoped would give us a hint of where to go. I only hoped it wasn't a deer trail like Bella thought, or we were doomed to wander around in circles. I had voiced this concern out to Bella. Her only response was to glare at me and tell me to start thinking positively. Something to do with thoughts affecting actions. Whatever.

"I think we're going in circles," I said presently.

"No we're not," Bella answered distractedly.

"How can you be so sure? All the trees look the same to me," I said, squinting at a particularly strange-looking tree before realizing it looked like an owl.

Bella pointed to something in the distance. "Look!"

I squinted over the trees, trying to make out what she was pointing at. It took me a moment to comprehend. Then I saw it-thick smoke was clearly visible from behind the trees, spiraling upwards. Bella smiled at me brilliantly. I grinned back at her as we started to jog towards the smoke.

After a while we could hear waves crashing, and I realized we were probably close to La Push. I wasn't sure about the time, but my feet were sore and we had taken several periodical breaks already.

At least, I hoped we were close to La Push, and not some other beach.

The trees cleared out abruptly after a few minutes, and I realized with some relief that it was La Push we were at. Bella squealed very girlishly, reminding me of Alice, and basically attacked me. I staggered backwards, laughing as she squeezed me to death.

"We're back! We're back!" she shrieked. I didn't have the heart to tell her my back was aching and I couldn't possibly hold her up without falling. She would probably slap me.

"Yes," I said, grinning at her. "We're back." My grin grew wider. "We also have to decide how long we've been gone," I added. Bella looked at me in confusion and I pointed into the far off distance.

Flashlights were bobbing around, fairly close to the water. Over the crash of waves the sound of shouting voices was clearly audible. Bella turned to me, her face pale. "Is that..."

I nodded enthusiastically. "We have a search party."

A/N: My flu's bugging the crap outta me. I'm sure me eating popcorn while reading fics doesn't help. Anyway, for some reason I have a Twitter, so you can drop by over there for updates on how much progress I'm going on my stories.