Chapter six.
I woke up to shaking the next morning and I look over to see Milo smiling down at me, "Good morning."
"Morning" I mumble.
I stand up and stretch, trying to ignore the cold on my body. "God, maybe we should have stayed in The Cullen house."
"Who?" he asks as he folds up our blanket.
"My ex's house, but I didn't think it would have been such a good idea being in Forks. People would know I was there and we could have been arrested, right? And then all the memories. I'd have a nervous breakdown."
"But at least we would have been warm, Bella." He says honestly and I instantly feel bad. Here he was freezing to death and I am leading him with no say in anything. "Do you want to go back?"
"No. You're right on a lot of this. I mean besides the emotional stuff, everyone knows you and your truck. It just makes everything messier. C'mon let's get some breakfast and get out of the cold. I heard some people talking about some doughnuts that are a dollar."
I can't help but feel guilty. "I'm so sorry, Milo. I shouldn't have given in to my selfishness. This is your life, too."
"Hey now... do not worry. I am fine. I was just being a little emotional myself. I don't think I could have stayed there either."
I nod and we walk out of the alley only to spot the people from last night huddled together in a circle to keep warm and smoking on their cheap cigarettes. We pass them up and make our way to my truck only to find that it's gone.
My face pales and tears spring from my eyes. "What now, Milo? What are we going to do?"
Why can't we get a lucky break?!
"You still have the money, right?" Milo quietly asks me and I nod. He takes my hand and leads me to the market. "First we are going to eat. I'll stay on this bench and you get us something to eat, alright? Just hurry."
I wipe my tears since there is no use in crying about it and quickly walk inside ignoring the curious stares of the people that live outside of my world. I used to be on there side once.
I walk hastily up and down the aisles and grab some food to last us a while, deciding a bottle of water won't hurt, either. I remember to grab two more toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste since ours were hijacked last night as well and make my way to the check out line.
As I pay, the cashier gives me a disgusted look. I blush and look away hoping I don't smell too bad. I can only imagine what I look like.
After grabbing the bags, I decide to make a pit stop in the bathroom. Lucky for me, it was a single bathroom. I look in the mirror and instantly regret it. My hair is a tangled mess and I look paler if that is even possible. Dirt smudges, line my face and neck. I grab some paper towel to get some of the grime off. I sigh when I know this is as good as it is going to get for me. I quickly brush my teeth and head out of the store where I see Milo dumping our pillows into the dumpster and I run over to him.
"What the hell do you think you are doing, Milo?!" I yell. "This all we have left!" As I yank his arm back, he spins around to face me.
He gives me an apologetic look and places his hands on my shoulders, "I'm sorry, Bella. We can keep the blanket, but we're moving on foot now. The pillows will only drag us down, too."
I don't say anything because I know he's right.
After he uses the bathroom also we take a walk trying to avoid obvious stares. We pass up that scary lady with her scratchy voice as she grabs a tiny bag out of someone's hands. I really don't want to be here for a drug deal.
We walk for quite a while and I don't know how long it was or where we were but I was getting very tired. I was cold and my body was aching from all different kinds of things. I don't know how Milo has done this for long because I don't know much longer I can take of this?
We walk over to the grassy area and there is a small stream running through the grass. It would have been beautiful in different circumstances. I notice a few people gathered around it and I nudge Milo.
Before Milo could say anything to me, an older man in his late forties approaches us. He looks a bit rugged but he has a gentle face. It reminded of me of Charlie somehow and I wanted to cry.
"Hey, are you looking for a place to rest?" He asks. "You're girl here looks dead on her feet."
I didn't realize that Milo had been supporting my weight as I leaned on him while carrying everything but one bag. I felt the guilt coming on again.
"I would appreciate that but I don't know how much we can give to in payment."
"What is this, the olden days?" he snorts. "C'mon, you can rest over by us. We've got a community fire going. It's makeshift but it's the best we can do for now."
We follow to wear the others are sitting and Milo pulls me to sit with him.
"You lay your head in my lap and I'll talk alright?" he whispers to me.
I nod and get comfortable as I lay my head down on his lap. I listen to everything around me and enjoy the warmth my friend brings.
"How far are we from civilization?" Milo asks.
"We ain't in the wilderness" someone laughs. "We're a few miles from them here in these woods. No one comes out this way so we're safe."
I hear their murmurings in the background but I focus on the scenery before me. It was never safe to be in the middle of the woods alone... not even with more humans. Vampires hunted out here and we were their prey. I shudder at the thought of any vampires coming into close contact with me.
I listen back to what they all are saying trying to ignore the feeling in the back of my mind.
"So anyway, I'm Jimbo, this is Danny, Patrick but he likes to be called Pat and Dana is on her way."
"Milo and this is Bella."
"How old are you guys?"
"I'm twenty-one and Bella is eighteen."
"You two been together long?" another man asks.
"No. We're just friends. We met in a shelter not too long ago."
"Oh. You seem close."
I close my eyes and smile. It's true, we are close and I don't know where id be if it wasn't for him. I open my eyes briefly and see a girl approaching us.
"Dana, is that you?" I ask.
Her head snaps my way and she smiles. "Bella! Milo!" she yells happily.
"Hey, Dana" Milo greets. "What are you doing here?"
"I left two days after you guys and then I hitched a ride out this way... and here I am. I've been hanging with these guys."
It was nice to see a familiar face even if she was a little nosey the first day I met her. Turns out she's been out here before and there are no shelters. Milo said almost the exact same thing earlier. He had said the chances of us finding another shelter around here were slim to nothing since the streets are covered with people like us.
Around nightfall as me and Milo are laying on the blanket huddled to one another around the fire, I hear Dana talking about her adventures when she was out earlier today.
"Yeah, they were absolutely beautiful. They were like nothing that I have seen before. It was so strange. I think it's inhuman to be that beautiful" she says in awe.
Inhuman?!
"What do you mean? The whole family was like this?" Jimbo laughs. "Dana, just because you saw some gorgeous men...."
"No, the women were gorgeous too!" she says in defense which makes the men laugh harder at her. I hear her give a humph and stomp off somewhere.
That only means one thing. Vampires were in the area and they may or not be vegetarians. Either way, this was not good.
I couldn't face Edward and I definitely could not face a red eyed vampire. Thinking of the three Vampires that were after me in the past was enough; I didn't need any more.
I snuggled more into Milo and tried to ease my pounding heart and hope whoever they were, they were moving on away from here.
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