To Fix The Gash In Your Head

Today's song is To Fix The Gash In Your Head by A Place To Bury Strangers.

The light pierced her eyelids like a dagger to the brain causing her to groan in pain and shift her arm over her head in an effort to escape from her fiery tormenter.

"Thank god." Charles Swan whispered as he breathed a quiet sigh of immense relief while he watched his oldest daughter begin to stir out of the corner of his eye.

Watching his children fight for their lives repeatedly the day before had been difficult for him to stand but when Emmett had radioed ahead to the Jeep and told them about Bella's condition he was certain his heart had frozen in his chest and ice water had been poured through his veins.

As soon as they were clear of Snowflake, Charlie had insisted that they stop the cars and switch places so that he might do what he could to care for Bella even if that just meant fixing the gash in her head and keeping a silent vigil while praying for her to open her eyes soon. It wasn't much but it made him feel better.

Thus far, the escape from Phoenix had been unbearably terrifying for the entire Swan family but for no one more so than for Charlie. It was not the fear of the undead that plagued his mind, it was the fear that he might lose one of his precious children that terrified him the most.

When he had lost Renee unexpectedly on the operating table years ago, he knew would have never had the strength to carry on were it not for his children. From that moment on, they had become his entire reason for living, they were his everything and the terrifying thought that he could lose any one of them at any moment did not sit well with him.

As the world began to deteriorate around them, it was going to become more and more difficult not only to survive day to day but also to get proper medical care and Charlie feared that because of her clumsy nature, Bella might just fall victim to something as mundane as in improperly treated cut or a mild concussion. If anyone were to be unlucky enough to succumb to an infection caused by a small splinter during the zombie apocalypse, it would be his accident prone daughter.

"Ugh, mother trucker," swore the young brunette loudly as she scrunched her eyes up tightly against the sunlight streaming into the cab of the truck causing her father to smile with amusement.

Even nearly unconscious, Bella continued to use her ridiculous substitutes for the F-word. The petite girl could curse like a sailor and quite often did but for some reason she found the F-word to be the holy grail of all curses and refused to drop 'the F-bomb' at any time. It was something her siblings teased her about regularly as they tried to goad her into letting one fly but failed each time. Instead they often found themselves using some of her creative terms instead.

"You alright there Bells?" Charlie asked as he watched Bella run her hand over the sizable lump and bandage on the back of her head and hiss in pain.

"Mmm," she groaned as she struggled to open her eyes. "If you mean am I alive? Then yeah but if you're asking if I feel good than my answer would be a resounding no. My mouth tastes like I licked a dirty litter box and my head feels like it got ran over by a Mack truck. What the hell happened? " She asked while finally managing to shield her eyes against the glaring sunlight enough to open them slightly. "I remember leaving the gas station but after that everything is just black."

"Well," Charlie paused long enough to take a swig from a water bottle he had thought to grab from the truck bed before they were attacked. "That would be a question better asked of your brother but from what I understand, some zeds were able to climb onto the truck and when Emmett tried to shake them off you hadn't managed to buckle your seatbelt and hit your head on the window. Gave us all a pretty good scare there Bells," he said while giving her a look you have to have children to master.

Embarrassed by her father's concern Bella chose instead to make light of the situation. "Zeds Dad?" She asked with a chuckle followed immediately with a groan as she clutched her throbbing head.

Note to self, she thought as she concentrated on suppressing the waves of nausea that were now crashing relentlessly over her, laughing after suffering a blow to the head is a terrible, terrible idea.

Now it was Charlie's turn to be embarrassed, "Uh yeah," he answered sheepishly rubbing his neck. "I may have watched a zombie movie or two in my time," he admitted with a shrug. "I'm up with the lingo."

After exchanging similar grins, the two Swans lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Alice's voice crackled over the CB. "We're coming up on a town. Em wants to know if we should try stopping or continue on?"

With a glance toward Bella, Charlie reached for the radio and depressed the small black button. "I think it would be best to just continue on since we refueled in Magdalena. If we run out of fuel we'll just have to dip into our reserves further up the road where it's bound to be safer. The word has to have gotten out by now so the further away we stay from large groups of people and local law enforcement the better."

He took his finger off the button and carefully replaced the small device. "'Bout how much further are we talking here Bells?" he asked earnestly. "Your brother's been following whatever map you gave him but I'm not sure where we are exactly."

Reaching for the dog eared atlas at her feet, Bella flipped it open to a marked page, traced their path and quickly began calculating how much distance they still had left to cover on a piece of scrap paper she had retrieved from the overflowing glovebox.

"You know Bells," Charlie said with a smile as he watched her jot down numbers, "you do have a GPS in here," he said while tapping the small device to prove his point.

Glancing up from her calculations, Bella gave her father a wry smile. "That would work, if we were planning on staying on the main roads but we're going to be going a little off the grid here," she explained as she turned her attention back to her calculations.

Charlie scratched his head. "Do you really think that's necessary? While I agree we shouldn't be making too many stops, do we really need to be taking back roads to…" he trailed off for a moment. "I know I should have asked earlier but where are we going exactly?"

With the final scratch of her pen, Bella put aside her scrap of paper and jabbed her finger at a small spot on the map. "Right here and we have about a hundred and ten miles left to go."

Puzzled Charlie removed his eyes from the straight dusty road before him and tried to make out their destination with little success. "I don't see anything," he admitted turning his attention back to the road.

"Yeah Dad," Bella replied with a roll of her eyes, "that's kinda the point. I've spent, awhile, selecting a location with just the right traits. It had to be within driving distance and we had to be able to reach it without passing through any major cities or towns. It also had to be located near enough to said cities or towns that we could raid them for supplies if needed yet far enough that the eventual hordes wouldn't make it out to us. It also had to be a location that could be defended easily and Dad," she exclaimed excitedly, "this place has all of those things and more! It really is the perfect place for us to hole up during Phase I."

"Phase I?" Charlie asked surprised. "How many phases are in this plan of yours exactly?" he asked eyeing the large notebook sitting on the seat between them.

"Oh you know," Bella replied nonchalantly as her face began to turn bright red, "a just one or two."

The seasoned cop's eyes narrowed as he sensed a blatant lie. "Just one or two huh?" he asked with disbelief knowing there was much more than just one or two. If he were to venture to guess he would bet money that his daughter had planned well into their future, should they all manage to survive that long. "And how much time exactly did you spend on planning these one or two phases young lady?"

"You know Dad," Bella replied as she tried her best to suppress her panic and channel the smooth talking talents she had witnessed her older brother employ on the many occasions on which he had wound up in deep shit. "How much time I spent on all this," she gestured to the notebook, "really isn't important, what is important is that I did and I think we need to remember that."

Feeling more confident that Charlie would let the issue drop Bella began to let her mouth run away with her, just like Emmett always did. It was just too bad she had regrettably forgotten in her moment of panic and that Emmett almost never got away with anything, ever.

"I mean, had I not spent any time on this we would probably all either be trapped in Phoenix or doomed to die out in the open because we couldn't come up with a plan fast enough. If anything I really should be commended for spending so much time on this and while it might be a bit over the top I wouldn't say no to Emmett and Alice naming their firstborn in my honor."

"Oh is that so?"

"Well yeah," she answered with a shrug, "I mean it's only right."

"I see." It was silent for a few seconds and Bella began to rejoice in her victory and sent her mental thanks toward Emmett's curly head in the car before them. "You trying to channel your brother there Bells?"

"What?" She gasped dramatically as all her rejoicing came to a screeching halt. "No, pft, please," she waved her had dismissively, "why would I try to channel that baboon?" She studied Charlie's moustache and not liking its positioning decided to try another tactic. "Alright, maybe just a little." She admitted. "Okay a lot," she amended quickly after evaluating the moustache's new position. "It's not working is it?" she asked with as resigned sigh.

Charlie shook his head and his moustache twitched, "nope."

"I should have gone for Alice huh?"

"Probably."

"Damn."

"Now, back to my original question."

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Thank you for your reviews so far and for all of the favorites and alerts I've gotten! This story is a blast to write and I hope you're all enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it. My only request is that y'all send me a few more of your zombie survival plans as I plan on integrating a few of them into the story in future chapters! Also to answer a few questions, yes most of the other Twilight characters will be making appearances but not for awhile yet and when they do they will be quite OOC for the most part but so far who isn't? Anyway, feel free to drop me a line either here or on twitter, http:/www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/u/2016157/Bellarella, with any questions you may have and send me your survival plans! Until next time my chickens sleep tight and don't let the zombies bite!

XOXO,

Bellarella