Chapter 18 Execute
We struggled our way through the streets of Chicago, moving away from the seedy bus station area and deep into the city, warm sunshine not making our job any easier. "How in the hell did he get to be so damn heavy?" Jacob grunted.
"I thought you had super strength or something?" I wheezed. He was right, Edward was strangely heavy for a guy his size.
"So you know your way to the hospital?" He asked in a wary tone. That was when the though hit me that I really had no idea where the hospital was.
I stopped a passing stranger, a tall man in a suit. "Excuse me sir, could you please tell me the way to Michael Reese Hospital?" I batted my eyelids in hope they would counteract my haggard appearance.
"Why sure, missy." He replied in the most old timey, Pathe movie kind of way. "You need to keep going this way for five blocks, make a left, go that way until you see the church there, and then the hospital will be on you're right, see."
I was astounded. It sounded so very close. "Thank you sir." I said. He tipped his hat, winked and was off. How very helpful. Jacob was sniggering, most likely because of how much he sounded like a reporter or something. I smiled a little myself. Maybe it would have been fun to interact with a few more people from this time, but we couldn't mess around now. The end was in sight.
As we made our way along, now ignoring the funny looks we were getting from passers by, we tried to make idle conversation. Not easy when you are carrying what felt like a bag of lead weights. "You know, all this time travel and such, it makes you wonder." Said Jacob. I looked back, confused. "About the answer." He continued.
"The answer to what, Jake?" I asked, frustrated that he was talking in riddles.
"Oh, you know, the question. The ultimate question." I raised an eyebrow, almost daring him to go on. "Life, the universe and everything?" He said wistfully. I really could have slapped him right there and then but he brought us to a stop and looked up at the street sign. "This is where make a left." He said, all business like. I stared at the sign. 42nd street. Ok, tell me there were no coincidences.
We could see the old building as we approached, a flurry of activity outside as orderlies and nurses worked hard to retrieve the injured and ill from horse drawn ambulances. Compared to the relative calm of the city streets, this was a hive of activity. You wouldn't have known there was a pandemic in place if you didn't go anywhere near the hospital.
Then I saw her, a forlorn figure, standing outside the entrance, Elisabeth Masen, staring at the ground, wearing a simple outfit of slacks and jacket, which for her to be out in public, so shabby, I found hard to take in. As we drew near she looked up, almost sensing our presence. When she saw her son suspended between us, one arm at a strange angle, skin ashen white she let out a tiny shriek and ran to us.
"Elisabeth, what are you doing here?" Jacob asked, reaching out to take her hand. She all but ignored the question.
"What happened to him?" She sobbed.
"Those people." I said, slowly. "They caught up to us, one broke his arm." She started to look around frantically. "We chased them off, they won't be back any time soon." I sounded much more certain than I felt.
"Thank god for that. Let us get him inside." She said, forcefully moving me from under his arm and putting herself there instead.
"Elisabeth, why were you here?" I asked again. "Have you been crying?"
She stopped, standing still for a moment before gesturing to put her son down on a bench. "It's Edward senior." She wept. "I received a telegram, he has contracted the influenza, and will not make it through the night. I spent the last hour with him, and had just come outside for some air."
I hugged her. As dire as the situation sounded, it actually filled me with hope that we could actually make this plan work. I vowed to myself never to time travel again. Playing with the fates of loved ones was just too much for me. This would be the most difficult thing I would ever do.
After we had spent a short while on the bench we decided it was time to get inside. The afternoon sun was still high, but we would need all the time we could get, since our things were still at the Mason house and we couldn't afford to leave them to be found, and it would be nice to be on the train home before nightfall.
At the desk inside the hospital we checked in Edward, his mother explaining about his father, insisting they be situated near to one another. The nurse didn't argue. Surely she should question the idea, with the contagious infection and all. But she seemed incapable of such thought. That was a sobering thought. Had they not put it together yet? As we filled out the forms Elisabeth coughed and spluttered, her already red eyes becoming more bloodshot. She did not sound well. A little part of me died inside.
Then I heard a voice, buttery soft and silky smooth. "Masen? Very well, I shall take care of them" I turned to see a familiar smiling face, blonde hair glowing in the dull waiting area, face far too beautiful for its surroundings. He extended a hand towards Jacob. "Dr Carlisle Cullen, I shall look after your family." He said, and almost instantly Elisabeth fainted into his arms.
I stood by his bed, looking down through my tears. This was it, then. I leaned forward, kissed his pale white forehead and whispered goodbye. It must have been a trick of the light because I thought his eyelids fluttered, but when I looked he was still.
"Bella." Jacob touched my arm. I knew what he meant. It was time to go. We turned to see Carlisle eying us curiously. His eyes glinting golden.
"I get the strangest feeling around you two." He muttered. "Do you own dogs?"
I just smiled a thin smile. "Please look after them." I said. "And do anything his mother asks of you." He nodded, shook our hands and we were gone, leaving him to tend to his newest charges.
As we emerged into the late afternoon sun I wiped away another set of tears. "You realise what we just did, don't you?" I said, Jacob looked at me, confused. "We murdered an entire family."
"Bella, it was their fate." He said, taking my hands. "His dad was already gone, we had no control over that. His mom had the illness, she picked it up meeting his dad, and he would have died from the broken arm. You saw how fast he passed out, how quickly he was fading."
With that he ushered me into a carriage where he gave the driver instructions and told him to hurry. I sat thinking about what he had said. Once we had set things into motion, the only change had been Edward himself. His father was already doomed, and his mother would have gone to the hospital if Edward was there or not, so the only real change we had just made was stopping Edward from joining the army, where would have no doubt died in France. That was grim comfort indeed. But it was all I had right now.
The cab pulled to a stop and it brought me back to myself. Jacob rushed into the house and emerged moments later with our bags, throwing them into the seats and barking for the driver to get us to the station. The light was fading and it was time to go.
We pulled up outside the station as the sun was sliding behind the tallest buildings, an orange fire erupting in the sky. Neither of us had talked during the short ride, both pensive about our task. As we climbed down Jacob muttered "I wish we had a damn time turner." And ushered me into the building and out onto the platform where the familiar form of Quincey Harker stood waiting for us. He did not look surprised to see us.
"Ah, just on time." He proclaimed. "I trust you did what you had to?" I nodded.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"I lost him, tracked him here but the trail is cold. I don't know where he is."
"That could be a problem." I whispered, and then, right on cue, I heard it, a low guttural growl. The three of us turned and looked down the platform, the sun was now gone, its last light still burning in the sky, but the platform was illuminated by the lamps on the wall. And the shadows made the figure seem even more intimidating. The cane was gone, as was the bowler hat and any sense of gentleman. Instead there was a beast. He was backlit in the most peculiar way, an intense bright light behind him, growing with every second, and a cloud of smoke making him look like a rock star on stage. Was I hallucinating? This whole scene was very strange.
Then there was a hiss and the train clanked to a halt. I was tugged on board by Jacobs strong hand, as a tide of bodies switched places between carriages and platform. My eyes remained on our predator, his fixed on mine. He remained on the platform, an insane look about him. I was shocked he had chosen not to attack right then and there. But I would take the win, no matter how small it felt,
No doubt, however, he would soon re appear, to put a spanner in the works
