Chapter 11 - hunt.
I gnawed my bottom lip as my mind raced a million miles an hour. I looked at Jacob who was blankly staring out the window, watching the countryside slip by. "Jake, how in the hell can you be so calm?" I asked, snapping him out of his reverie. He looked at me questioningly but said nothing. "What in the hell are we going to do? Those two are going to kill us." I said, panic raising in my voice.
"Uh I think we have other problems." He whispered. Now it was my turn to stare back blankly. "You remember the night we travelled... Here?" He made a funny hand motion. Nice. Subtle. "Well my Dad told me I was going to change, right? I didn't tell you what he meant because I thought it was horse shit, but Bella, I think it was true."
"Jake I have no idea what you are talking about." I said, confused.
He sighed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "So, you know how Sam has kinda been an ass lately, and some of the guys have been following him around?" I nodded, having no idea where he was going with this. "Well it's like this, and don't laugh, but the Quileute are some kind of shape shifty, wolf type people. I know."
I was fighting to conceal a grin, and it was a shame because he looked so sincere. "Jake." I said, compassionately.
"Oh come on. You fell in love with a vampire and travelled through time for christ's sake!" I looked around to make sure no one heard. He took the hint and lowered his voice. "My point is, you know crazy shit exists, so why couldn't I be something more. I mean how much have I grown recently? More than a guy my age should, that's for sure." I shook my head, trying to take it in.
"So how come you suddenly believe it?" I asked.
He let out a dry chuckle. "Because I almost turned right there in the station." I looked at him in shock. "Dad said when we are phasing if there is a bloodsucker" he mouthed the word, "close, then we will shift. It's not something we can control. Lucky for us the woman hit me with some kind of mojo that stopped me. I ain't kidding, I could feel the hair starting to sprout one second, and the next I was frozen solid. I just wanted to do whatever she told me, and her voice was in my head telling me to sit down and shut up. It was like a calm washed over me. I got us out when I could but I've been fighting it ever since. If we see them again I'm going to change, I know it."
We sat in silence for a while as I tried to take it in. "Are you fighting it now?" I asked. He nodded, his face contorted into a pained expression. "What are we going to do?" I shuddered. "Did she read your mind? Does she know?" I asked.
"No, I don't think so. It wasn't like that, she wasn't in my head, it was like she was on my shoulder. I don't know why but it felt like I would do anything she asked. When she got distracted it was like someone ripped a blanket off me and I was normal again, but I'd had the time, being so relaxed, to subdue the wolf. Jesus I feel stupid saying it." He put his head in his hands, brow knit tightly.
I slid over to the seat next to him and held his hand, looking deep into those deep, dark eyes of his. He was still struggling, I could tell. I decided to move along the conversation. "Ok, so what do we do now? I mean, we don't even really have a real plan anyway."
He continued to stare out the window for a while. The sun was hanging low in the sky now and it was casting long shadows across the rolling country. "Ok." He sighed. "We need to get organised. This suddenly went from just hard to damn impossible." He turned to face me, completely serious. "We have to stay on plan, go to Shovelface and his mom, talk them into going to the hospital."
I pulled a face. "I wish you wouldn't call him that." I said.
He sniggered. "Sorry. Ok, so I'm gonna leave the talking to you." I made to protest but he held up his free hand. "Oh I think you got the easy part of the deal. I'm gonna keep an eye out for those two and keep them away from you."
Now I did protest. "And how in the hell are you going to do that Jake?" I asked, fire in my voice. I wasn't about to let him sacrifice himself.
His smile was sly. "They still have no idea what's waiting for them when they get close enough. If I'm anything like Dad says, and the rage in my mind tells me it's true, then the element of surprise will just be part of it." Now he was thoughtful. "But I don't even know if I can control it yet, so it would be best avoided. I say we stick to daylight and areas where there are lots of people. Try and stick together where we can and don't go wandering off."
I nodded. This seemed to make sense. "How am I going to get them to the hospital?" I mused. It was not going to be an easy task but I felt it was preferable to Jacob's. No matter what I said he would not be swayed. This was his duty, and he would carry it out to the best of his ability. It was a worry but I would need to put it out of my mind if we were to pull this off. Then a thought occurred to me. "Jake, how many more train changes do we have?" Worry filled my voice. We would be at our most vulnerable waiting on an empty platform.
He pulled the instructions from Quil out of his pocket and unfolded them. It had only been a few days of use but they were battered and torn from use. He squinted at them for a few moments. "Two." He said, now sounding very concerned. "La Crosse and Milwaukee. The second should be ok, it's a big station and we are only there for five minutes, but La Crosse might be a problem. We get there in two hours, and it's just getting dark. I remember it from before. We had to walk from one station to another and wait three hours. Not exactly a big place either. Shit."
Now I was worried. This was not going to be easy. We were going to die and we would never get a chance to put our present back together. This was not good at all. I racked my brain but came up short. "Suggestions?" I asked.
"I think we might have to wing it, but I'm not sure how. Maybe find some people to stick to, hang with them until the train comes?" It wasn't a solid plan but it was the only one we had.
Two hours later we were standing on the platform next to the train, and much to our dismay not a single sole got off with us. This was about to become even more problematic.
