Chapter 5: Defying Death

AN: Woo thanks for the reviews all Also, the story will be returning to the one character/flashback format of Stranded. It's going to be a little different…the flashbacks will involve the character the chapter focuses on, but it won't be from their POV. Instead, it will be an unknown narrator.

ROSE

"What do you have for me today, Asher?" I asked my coworker as he rolled in the body on the gurney. My fellow coroner pulled the white sheet off the body, and I looked down at a young guy who looked perfectly healthy—except for the fact that he was dead.

"Royce King III. 33 years old, died from an apparent heart attack."

"Who discovered him?" I asked.

"His brother, coming over to return a movie. Found him lying on the floor, dead. His wife had left him the same night. My theory is he read the note, flipped out, and died."

"Thanks, Asher. I'll take it from here." Asher nodded and left the room. Making sure I was alone, I tuned and looked at the dead body on the table.

"Royce, Royce, Royce," I said, shaking my head. I couldn't believe I was looking at my good friend, dead. "How could you let this happen? I thought you were making sure you were healthy." I sighed as I picked up my scalpel. "Well, let's get this over with."

I pressed the scalpel into his chest and made an incision. Since he was already dead, no blood flowed. I pulled back the skin and began my examination.

There were no internal injuries and no broken bones. I pulled out the heart and examined it—it showed that Royce had a heart attack right before he died. I sighed and sat down—it was exactly what was suspected. Royce had died of natural causes.

I looked at my deceased friend's face again and noticed something—there was some white powder on the edge of his lips. I took a metal scoop and brushed some of the powder into a test tube. Then, I capped the vial and labeled it. I sent it to the lab to be tested. Maybe this powder had something to do with Royce's death. After all, young guys did not normally die of a heart attack.

After I finished examining the body, I cleaned up the table and packed the body away in the cooler until the family arrived to pick it up. I sighed and went to grab a cup of coffee from Starbucks. Royce had been one of my best friends and I was depressed that he was dead. He had been an awesome person and real nice guy. Sure, he sometimes got drunk and pushed Rosalie around a bit, but other than that, he was an all around good guy.

Speaking of which, Rosalie's disappearance seemed slightly suspicious. She leaves him, and the same day Royce dies. It was very odd.

Just as I was picking up my vente coffee, my cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked at the caller ID and saw it was Timothy, the lab guy. I picked up my phone. "Hey, Tim. What can I do for you?"

"I have the results to your mystery white powder."

"And?"

"It's Potassium Cyanide."

"What's that?" I asked. "I have no idea what it is."

"It's a white powder. If someone suffers from Cyanide poisoning, it can cause a heart attack."

"Thanks, Tim," I said before hanging up the phone. I sunk down at the nearest table and thought about what Tim had just said. Potassium Cyanide caused heart attacks, Royce died from a heart attack. Royce beat Rosalie, Rosalie was now gone.

Something wasn't right, and I was going to find out what had really happened to my friend.

********

RPOV

"Wake up! Wake up!"

I groaned and rolled over in my bed. "No, go back to bed, girls. Mommy's still sleeping." I snuggled back into Emmett's chest.

"Rose, get your ass up now!" Alice shouted at me. I opened my eyes and remembered the day before. Plane. Crash. Island. Right.

"I'm up, I'm up," I groaned, opening my eyes and staring at Alice. If I remembered correctly, she had still been missing when I went to bed last night. "Al, when did you get here?" I asked, sitting up from my mattress. Emmett groaned and rolled over again.

"I got here last night, but that's not the point. I need to show you something. You too, Emmett," she said, pushing Emmett off the mattress with her foot. He groaned again as he fell into the sand on the ground. The two of us then got up and followed Alice out to the camp.

"So, what took you and Mike so long to get here?" I asked her as we followed her.

"I'll explain it later," she said annoyed. "We have more important things to deal with."

"Like?" I asked.

"Like that," she said, pointing to the group around the fire pit. When I first looked, I didn't see anything wrong. It was Edward, Bella, Mike, Leah, Seth, Cynthia, and Jasper, sitting around the fire, making breakfast. Just then, I realized there was an eighth person sitting with them. She had long brown hair, tan skin, and dirty clothes on.

It was Eva.

"Eva?" I asked, bewildered.

"Hey, Rosie," she said, smiling at me.

"Wh—what are you doing here? I thought you were dead!" I said, running over to him and pulling her into a big hug.

"We all thought you were dead," Emmett added.

"How did you get back here?" I asked her, putting her down.

"I think we'd all like to know that," Edward said quietly. "After all, not many of us can defy death."

Eva, Emmett, Alice, and I all took a seat around the fire pit, and Eva began her story.

"Well, you all were here for the whole island deal and the freighter. You know I was betrayed by my boss. He had those other men on the boat kill me and my team."

"But you're not dead," Bella said.

"I know."

"If you're not dead, then couldn't everyone else be alive too?" I asked, thinking of Carl, Savannah, and Steven. Eva looked at me sadly.

"Afraid not. Savannah took a bullet to the chest, Carl was killed by the men before he even got down the service elevator, and Steven was beat over the head until there was no life left in him. I'm the only one who managed to survive."

"But we blew up the ship!" Cynthia exclaimed. "I remember it. Edward pressed the button and detonated the C4. I remember watching the ship burst into flames as we rowed away. How did you get away and survive?"

"I jumped off," she said. "I got off right before the ship blew. I grabbed onto a piece of debris and floated for a few days before I ended up back here. I've been living on the island ever since. I've been living in these huts and going around the islands getting food. I've been using the waterfall you all used to use to bathe and get fresh water. I've been walking all over the island and I've gotten a pretty good idea of the island."

"Is there anyone left from the native's group?" Jasper asked.

She shook her head. "Not that I know of. I haven't seen anyone since I jumped off the boat. I haven't seen anyone in however many years I've been here."

"Eight years," I said quietly. "We've been off this island for eight years."

********

I straightened my tie and walked up to the large mansion in California. I rang the bell and waited for someone to answer it. A young woman in a black, lace nightgown answered the door. She had long curly blonde hair and was extremely beautiful.

"Can I help you?" she asked, looking me up and down.

"I'm here to see Rosalie Hale," I said, remembering from the one spread that Royce's widow went by her maiden name now.

"And who are you?" she asked.

"I'm detective Ian Grant," I said, holding out my fake badge and ID card. I had decided that I should go with a fake name so no one would ever suspect who I really was.

"What's this about?" she asked, looking slightly nervous.

"I'm here about her husband, Royce King III."

"Uh, give me a minute. You can sit right here," she said, leading me to a couch in the entry area. She ran upstairs and disappeared from sight. I took a seat and waited for the former Mrs. King to join me. I was finally going to find out if she was the one who had killed my best friend.

Just then, Rosalie walked down the stairs. My jaw dropped; I had forgotten how beautiful she was. She had on a tight tank top and short white boxers that showed off her best assets: her boobs and her legs. She walked over to me and sat across from me.

"Hi, can I help you?"

"I'm Ian Grant."

"I'm sorry, but do I know you, Mr. Grant?"

"No, we've never met before. I'm a police detective from Rochester, New York." Of course, that wasn't true, but I needed to keep up this lie.

"Mrs. King—"

"It's Ms. Hale now. I've been divorced for almost a year now."

"Sorry, Ms. Hale. Can you tell me about the day you left your husband?"

"I'm sorry, but what is this about?"

"Well, we've been wanting to talk to you for a long time to ask you these questions. I'm sure you've heard your husband died of a heart attack the week you left him." Actually, the day she left him.

"I read about it, yeah." Liar. I knew she was the one who killed him.

"Well, we just wanted to set up the timeline of events."

"Why? I mean, he died of natural causes. Surely you don't think someone killed him, do you?" She's starting to look nervous. Good. I want to see her sweat.

"We just want to cover all possibilities. So, the day you left him?"

"Well, I'd been planning on leaving Royce for awhile. I'd been saving any money I got, and I'd take any money he left lying around the house to help. That morning, I packed all my stuff up and loaded it into my car. I wrote him a note, saying I was leaving him, then drove like a bat out of hell. I stopped at motels during the night, but I paid with cash and used a fake name so he couldn't find me if he decided to look for me, which I knew he would do. So I came out to LA and eventually got a job working for Playboy."

"I see. Why did you leave him?"

"Because I didn't want to be married to him anymore."

"So get a divorce. Why go through all the trouble of uprooting your life and sneaking out when he's not there?"

She didn't say anything. I didn't understand why she didn't tell me about Royce beating her—unless she was trying to protect him for some odd reason. I would never understand women. "This wouldn't have anything to do with your trips to the hospital, would it?"

"What?"

"Your frequent trips to the hospital. You were there twice in January for a broken wrist and a broken collarbone, once in February for a shattered tibia, three times in March for a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, and a broken finger, and then once in April for a broken arm. That's a lot of medical bills."

"I'm just really clumsy, that's all. I fall down a lot and get hurt."

"Ms. Hale, I'm not an idiot. The doctors also make notes about the appearance of the wound and the behavior of the patient. Dr. Gerandy said that your injuries were usually accompanied by bruises, and you always seemed nervous and fearful when you were there, like you had something to hide." Again, this was all a lie, but I knew it was true. Royce would tell me about her always going to the hospital and how he was worried about her turning him in.

"He beat you, didn't he?"

She nodded. "Only when he was drinking. He was always the sweetest husband when he was sober, but he was so stressed at work that he began going out and drinking at night. When he would come back, he would snap over the silliest things. When he shattered my tibia, I had asked him how his day was."She broke down, sobbing.

"Ms. Hale, many women go through what you went through every year. You're lucky you got out when you did. I can't tell you of how many cases there are when it is too late for the wife. Her husband comes home one night and takes it too far."

She didn't say anything, but nodded in agreement.

"I only have one more question for you. Did you kill your husband?"

"No" she said, but her eyes said yes. I knew she poisoned him with Cyanide.

"Thanks for your time, Ms. Hale. I promise not to bother you again."

I got up, walked out of the mansion, and got in my car. I knew what I had to do now. I would get even with Rosalie Hale for what she did to Royce if it was the last thing I would ever do.

********

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Eva asked, looking at the ten of us. "I thought you were all rescued after Carl, Steven, Savannah, and I sacrificed ourselves four you guys."

"We were. We've been living our lives back home for the past eight years. I mean, Edward and I are married now."

"So are Mike and I."

"And Jasper and I."

"And Emmett and I."

"Seth and I just got married two weeks ago."

"So you decided to come here for your honeymoon?" she asked, confused.

"Of course not!" Cynthia said seriously. "We didn't come here for enjoyment."

"Our children were kidnapped," Emmett said.

"Children?" she asked.

"Sure," Bella said. "Edward and I have twin daughters, Olivia and Emily."

"Mike and I have three boys, Evan, Bryant, and Ryan, and a baby daughter, Maribel."

"Jasper and I have a son, David."

"Emmett and I have two daughters, Charlotte and Gisele."

"Wow, I can't believe you all have families now. It's incredible."

"I know," Bella sighed.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here," she said.

"Well, our kids were taken from us. During Seth and Cynthia's wedding, someone broke into the hotel room and kidnapped all of our kids while they were sleeping. We went to this women, who told us they were here and how to get here. We came here to find and rescue our kids."

"You think they're here on the island?" she asked.

"That's what we were told. We came here on another plane and it crashed on the island yesterday. Didn't you see it?"

"I haven't seen or heard anything," she said.

"So, you haven't seen our kids or who might have brought them here?"

"Nope. Like I said, I haven't seen anyone besides you guys since I returned back to this island after the freighter explosion."

"That's insane."

"I know. Do you have any idea who could have taken your kids?"

"None."

"Do you think It could be someone from the native group?"

"No, they're all dead."

"How can you be sure?" she asked.

"Because they came to find us," Edward said. "Aro survived and tried to kill Bella, but I finished him off."

"Aro survived?" she asked, stunned.

Edward nodded. "He came after us, but he's gone now."

"So, what do you plan on doing?" she asked. "How do you plan on finding them?"

"I have no idea," I said. "They could be anywhere on this island."

"Well, do you at least have an idea of where they could be?"

Alice shook her head. "No idea."

"Well, now you have an extra set of hands and an extra pair of eyes to help. You guys are so important to me; I'll help you do anything to find these kids."

"Really?" I asked. After all, it was no secret that Eva and I never really got along.

"Rose, I know we've had our differences, but I would never do anything to try and harm your children. I promise you that."

"Wow, I can't believe it," I gasped.

"Well, how are we going to find these kids?" Seth asked. "We have no idea where they could be."

"Well, Eva's been living here. Maybe she knows a place where someone could hide nine kids."

"Uh, maybe on the east side of the island?" she asked, not very confidently.

"What about the native's old camp? I mean, there were tons of buildings over there," Cynthia suggested.

"No way," Eva said quickly.

"Why not?" I asked.

"They're all destroyed. When we blew up the one building, it destroyed the entire camp. Plus, when the remaining natives left the island, they destroyed everything that remained from their lives here," she said quickly.

"Oh," Bella said. "Well, what's on the east side of the island?"

"Uh, there are plenty of hiding places in the trees. I say we start there."

"Sure," I said, looking at Eva suspiciously. She seemed like she was hiding something, but I couldn't tell what. "Is something wrong?" I asked her.

"What?"

"Is everything okay with you? You're acting…strange."

"Nope, everything's fine. Well, besides that fact that I've been living here the past eight years and haven't seen any friends or family in a long time."

"Okay," I said.

We split into two groups. Eva and the one group planned the route we would take to get to the east side of the island to see if our kids were there. The other group was planning on what we would do to the person who took our kids.

"Rosie, is everything okay?" Emmett asked, using the nickname he came up with when we were on the island.

"Yeah. Does something seem off about Eva to you?" I asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "No, she seems fine to me. Why?"

"I don't know. Something about her just doesn't sit right with me."

"Well, you haven't seen her in eight years. Maybe it's just that," he suggested.

"Maybe," I said, distracted. Something wasn't right, and I would find out what it was, just like I would find my kids, even if it cost me my life.

Okay, I'm really sorry about the long delay between updates. I wasn't kidnapped, murdered, or attacked by zombies. I was in Miami and didn't really have time to write. I updated this before my other story since I wanted to. I promise you won't have another long update like this without me warning you ahead of time. As always, please review. I love hearing what you guys think!