Trust

Today's song is Trust by Old Canes.

The eldest Swan children flitted around like people possessed and perhaps in some ways they were, possessed by the desire to survive and the fear of the approaching unknown.

Being an avid hunter and worshipper of his police officer father, Emmett had taken it upon himself to properly pack the cache of weapons he had managed to gather in the few hours since Charlie's life changing phone call. He possessed a near encyclopedic knowledge of not only most common handguns and rifles as well as crossbows and hunting knives but also how to properly use and maintain said weapons yet still felt unprepared for the unknown foe he was sure to face. He had a hard time keeping calm as he discreetly loaded the family's small arsenal into the back of his oversized Jeep.

Ever since his mother's death decades before, Emmett had taken on the role as his sisters' protector whenever his father wasn't around, and such a pressing amount of responsibility for his family's wellbeing was weighing heavily upon his broad shoulders. He was used to dealing with overzealous boys and the like but nothing had prepared him to protect them from hordes of the undead.

There was nothing he wanted more than to throw his two sisters into the back of his car and drive as fast and far from this madness as possible but that wasn't an option. He had to think about the future and his family's continued survival. Even if they managed to escape the approaching hordes, they couldn't outrun starvation. Thankfully, he had Bella and her eerily detailed survival plan to keep him focused.

As soon as the siblings had made the decision to collect weapons first, Bella had turned and sprinted toward her bedroom stumbling twice on the way but managing to stay upright before she flung open her door and began tearing through her mess.

Confused by his sister's behavior, Emmett had quickly but warily followed her clumsy from. Peering inside the one room into which he dared not go, he was forced to duck out of the way quickly as a large genetics textbook came flying toward him followed by a pair of worn out cross trainers and a small garden gnome statue.

"Um Bells?" he said as he tried to catch her attention before stepping carefully into the disaster area. He was answered with a muffled 'wa?' as Bella dove deeper under her bed. "Uh yeah, I thought we decided weapons first and unless Charlie changed his rules, I'm pretty sure even you don't have anything like that in here."

Bella specialized in the random as demonstrated by the vast garden gnome collection littering the floor and shelves as well as the hodgepodge assortment of strange photographs covering the walls but storing weapons beneath her bed just wasn't her MO.

A small hand waved him off as its owner wriggled around beneath the bed. After a few more moments a red faced Bella emerged and began waving a dog eared notebook above her head triumphantly. "Found it!" she exclaimed excitedly bouncing toward him.

Emmett let out an amused snort. "A notebook?" he asked in disbelief. "What are you going to do, paper cut them to death?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "No idiot, this notebook is going to keep our asses alive. This, my dear brother, is my zombie survival plan," she explained with an air of pride and superiority as she stroked the black cover reverently.

"You- you actually wrote it down?" he sputtered in disbelief as he snatched it from her hands and began flipping quickly through the pages. "Geez Bells, obsessive much?" he asked as he passed pages of detailed strategies and sketches. "Is this what you've been wasting all your time on since…" he wisely trailed off before finishing his sentence. There was no point in opening that can of worms right now, or ever.

Snatching the precious collection of information back from Emmett's oversized hands, Bella brushed past him on her way toward the door. "I'm not obsessive, I just like to be prepared." She replied indignantly. "Besides, this 'waste of time' is going to keep our asses alive and out of danger. Now let's get ready before Charlie gets here."

She strode quickly back into the living room, plopped down upon the couch and flipped to the first section of her book.

After laying it down upon the ancient coffee table she jabbed her finger at something on the first page. "I've included a list of everything we'll need. Now while things like flame throwers and swords sound cool, they're heavy and impractical so we'll need to stick with lighter weapons that will keep us as far away from the zombies a possible."

Peering over her shoulder, Emmett was shocked to discover how comprehensive her list was. She had a laundry list of weapons as well as what type and how much ammo each needed. She had even included a section on what maintenance items were needed. He let out a low whistle. Even with his weapons background, he never would have remembered to pack up the tools necessary to clean and repair his guns.

"I was thinking," she said distracting him from his perusal of her zombie survival manifesto. "It would be best if you were the one to get the weapons together. The people at the gun shop know you and Charlie are hunters and won't find anything strange about you picking up new guns and ammo. If I went with you it might draw attention. Besides, while you're there it will give me time to head to the nearest sporting goods store as well as the grocery store in order to load up on survival equipment and dry goods. We're going to need to pack the essentials yet keep things light because…"

Emmett zoned out a bit as he stared in amazement at a very animated Bella with a sense of shock. He hadn't seen her so animated in years and while the circumstances were far, far from ideal, he couldn't help the sense of relief he felt as he watched her come back to life. Ever since he, Emmett didn't even like to think that bastard's name, had left, Bella had walked around like a zombie herself. The irony that zombies were apparently what were needed to snap Bella out of her zombielike state and bring her back to life was not lost on him.

"… so extra socks would be good." Bella finished before snapping the notebook shut and turning her chocolate brown eyes toward his. "Any questions?"

"Oh so very, very many," Emmett admitted with a nod of his head. "But I'll save them for a time when we aren't trying to outrun the undead. For now let me see that list so we can get the hell out of Dodge as soon as Charlie shows."

That was a few hours ago, now Emmett found himself trying to pack as many rounds of ammunition safely and within arms distance in his Jeep. Bella had even figured out which of their vehicles to take with them. She had tried to explain her reasoning to him but he had told her that he trusted her and began following her directions. They would be taking his Jeep and her old truck. Charlie's sedan and Alice's sports car would be left behind since, while both got better gas mileage, both the truck and Jeep had four wheel drive and could take a severe beating if necessary.

"Ugh," Bella's muffled moan floated up from beneath the Jeep where she was performing an impromptu oil change. "This shit is gross. Em you have to take better care of you car," she chastised.

Emmett just rolled his eyes and chose not to comment as he thought back to the toxic mess she called a room. He might be the hunter in the family, but much to his dismay Bella was a much better mechanic than he would ever be. It was just one of the many skills she had chosen to acquire over the past few years. Now he couldn't help but wonder if it had been merely a distraction or if it had been in preparation of incredibly unlikely predicament they now found themselves in.

After a few more grunts, an oil stained Bella rolled out from beneath the car and after wiping her greasy hands haphazardly on the dish towel she had thought to grab, ambled over to check his progress. "Looks good Em," she said with an approving nod toward his cache of weapons and supplies. "We'll of course have to resupply regularly but this should get us over the border and set up for the short term."

"We're going to Mexico?" Emmett asked in disbelief. "Isn't that toward Tucson, where we know the zombies are? I thought you had this all planned out?"

"No Em. Not Mexico, New Mexico," Bella replied in a tone that left no room to speculate on what she thought of his intelligence level at the moment. "We're going to Acoma Pueblo. Didn't you read the plan?" Bella chastised while struggling to tie down the large tarp over her truck bed currently holding the majority of their survival provisions.

"Oh, oh I'm sorry," Emmett answered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes before gently knocking Bella's small frame out of his way and cinching the straps tightly with a grunt. "I was a little busy. You know, trying to avoid the zombie apocalypse and all."

"Don't be such a dick." Bella snapped with a huff and a cutting glare. "There is no place better for us to set up camp. I would explain why this place is so perfect for us but since you're obviously far too busy to listen to me, you'll just have see it when we get there. Trust me, it's a good location."

"Alright," Emmett conceded too tired to waste time arguing about something so stupid, especially since Bella had apparently researched and planned every minute detail. "I'll take your word for it since you seem to have put a lot of thought into this," he gestured to the outfitted cars before them before continuing. "Speaking of which we're going to be having a long conversation about just why you've put so much thought into this but we'll worry about that later. Right now we've got to wait for Charlie and somehow convince Alice we're not fucking with her and get her into the car before those things get here and we're trapped in the city."

With a tired sigh, Bella's shoulders sank as she glanced toward the window from which their younger sister had been watching them for the past few hours. As soon as her tired eyes made contact with a pair of angry blue ones, the filmy pink curtains snapped firmly back into place, cutting them off.

"On second thought," Emmett said with a sigh, "let's just let Charlie handle that one when he gets here," Emmett jerked his thumb toward the house. "Right now I'm going to pack some clothes for Charlie and me. I would suggest you do the same but I have a feeling you did that long ago." Bella blushed but nodded in agreement, too embarrassed to make any sort of snarky comeback.

Following her brother's retreating form back into the silent house Bella mumbled something about making a phone call before dashing back into her room and slamming the door leaving Emmett shaking his head in disbelief before retreating toward his own room to pack for an unknown trip and an indeterminate amount of time. So long as Bella wasn't trying to get in touch with that asshole of an ex-boyfriend of hers, he didn't feel the need to question her actions.

Now where to start? He thought as he looked around his slightly more organized room. After a few seconds of indecision, his eyes landed on the locked box beneath his bed and he moved eagerly toward the small metal treasure chest. Porn, yes porn and probably lots of it would be important if he was going to survive this shit fest long term.

III

III

III

I hoped you liked the chapter, I plan on writing lots of short quick chapters for this story rather than very many long drawn out ones. To answer some questions, yes most if not all, of the Twilight characters will make an appearance eventually but you'll have to be patient since I've spread them out somewhat. In the mean time, please leave me a review and let me know what you think!

XOXO,

Bellarella