In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

The Insurgency, Chapter 8 – Going to Vampireville

Day 6938 (June 30, 2039)

(Bella's POV)

My uninvited visitor has been back. As a result of the poor diet on the farm, I am very small, nearly four inches shorter than I would have been about twenty years ago. And vampires were generally tall, as they were often selected for change based on looks. I can get into places they cannot, unless they want to tear down walls. And some would do just that, due to the smell of my blood.

More food has been put out at the entrance to the tunnel, but I won't come out for it.

I run a small diversion, to see if I could lose my unwelcome visitor, going out into the city sewer system and welding one of the sewer lids behind me closed with my blowtorch. He followed, but I got to another part of the building.

Now he's outside again, and it's time to act.

I come out, and there he is, a blond vampire wearing a white coat with an embroidered name on it. He may be a doctor, and the Human Council has rules about killing or harming doctors since they aren't graduating any more from medical school. I turn on my torch to full blast, flicking it down a hallway as the brightness of the interior flame showing it would incinerate him. He watches the torch's flame then sets down the food he brought. I pause, relying on my sense about the danger he may pose, and decide to eat the food. His eyes never leave the torch.

He holds out his hand, saying, "I'm Carlisle Cullen," then says something about not being able to think about leaving me here in the cold.

I'm only in the cold because he is forcing me to leave my warm hiding place. He tells me I don't need to be afraid of him, and that, as I can see by his topaz eyes, he only drinks animal blood. Well, pal, your eyes are pitch black. Guess you noticed my smell. Oh well, guess I'll go with him. Upstairs, into Vampireville. Rats, I hate these places.

We go up into the hospital, a full-fledged Vampireville. Many stares are directed our way as I am being led by the hand, fresh from the wild, with my "wildchild" hairdo-short and filled with twigs. There is so much interest that he picks me up and runs to his office.

Well, I'll go with him and then ditch him soon. I won't talk to him in these places. This building is laced with mind-readers. They can't read my mind, but I can feel it when they try. It's like a pressure on my head. If they are in front of me, it's like they push on my forehead, then they go to the side, and I quickly feel another push from that side. Sometimes I want to ask, So why don't you just stick your nose in my ear, see if you can get a better view that way? But you don't talk to them. If it really gets bad, and they become suspicious, I give them with a blank look and then mentally run a loop of Heckle and Jeckle cartoons through my head while l look at the ceiling, then letting the ceiling view cut in between the cartoons. That stops their curiosity. They just shrug, thinking "another crazy human".

But, as it is against the rules for a vampire to speak in a human language to a human, as long as I remain silent, this doctor won't get into trouble on my account. You never know but I might be able to turn a doctor to an Ally. And we need Allies in this war.

So it's off to his office. And, almost immediately, into the shower. My mudpuppy look isn't cutting it with this suave, well groomed vampire. He sighs when I won't answer his questions then starts washing me. He looks carefully at my scars, especially at the bite-mark over my carotid artery on my neck. That always gets 'em. He looks at the bruises on my arms, from my recent Living Death Camp visit, and then my ankle scars, a gift from one of the guards on the living death camp. Guy gave me a complete anklet on my left ankle, one scarred dot at a time using his cattle prod, and was working on the second ankle. Said he was planning to buy me when I got old enough, so he could take me home and see what I looked like with my feet really in shackles. I got out before that could happen.

This doctor seems nice enough, and he has food and a hospital bed for me. Eventually he'll leave that outer office, and I'll slip out and get to my car in the garage across the street. Maybe I'll go back to Texas, back to Isaiah's ranch, and ride my pony. Maybe I'll call my cousins and go live with the Home coven. Or maybe I'll keep heading west and check out the few remaining colonies I haven't visited and been kicked out of yet. California is supposed to have a few colonies, including the mobile ones sheltered by the surfer dudes. These vampires follow the waves, just as they did when they were human. They are rumored to take in humans and teach them to surf. If any trackers or owners show up looking for their new surfing buddies, the surfing dudes just kill them and move the group elsewhere along the coast, always searching for the next wave.

There are options for me, getting kicked out of the Resistance (oops, ordered to "stand down," they said) at the age of sixteen isn't the end of the line for me, I just know it.

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