CHAPTER ONE - FREEDOM
EDWARD POV
I lay awake on the thin dingy mattress and looks around the 6x6 room that was my home for the last year. I didn't even know what the time was let alone what day it was but I was sure that this would be the day, the day of my release. Just then I heard footsteps approach but I didn't move an inch.
"Edward Cullen, let's go" A guard shouted in.
I stood up from the bed and approached the steel bars.
"Open gate 26" The guard shouted.
The gate slid open effortless, and then I stepped out. I followed the guard down the hall ignoring all the other inmates' taunts and shouts from their cells. I followed the guard to the end of the hall and through another set of steel bars. We entered another hallway filled with inmates, then through another set of gates.
A few minutes walking around aimlessly I was in the holding area in the entrance.
"Inmate number 103890" The guard said to the guy at the desk before leaving.
The guard behind the desk went into the back and collected a brown bag and handed it to me.
"You must report to your school at 9am today, if not we will have your ass back here. If you violate your parole in any way we will be waiting with open arms, do you understand Cullen"
I nodded in response.
"Sign here" He said handing me a clip board.
I signed it then went to the changing room. I opened the bag and inside were my belonging before I came in here. I pulled my inmate uniform off and threw them on the floor before pulling out my pair of black jeans and black top. I quickly changed into them followed by my pair of black army boots and black leather jacket. I hated colours especially vibrant ones so black and grey were they only colours I ever did wear.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror before I left. My messy bronze spiked hair stood up and pointed in different directions which were nice because it gave it the rugged look. I examined the tattoo on my neck of a little black heart which had long been there and always will be. I used to be the leader of The Black Hearts until I was thrown in here, who ever have taken over now I did not know. I didn't get many visitors while I was in here even my brother or my cousin didn't even bother, but I understood that there loyalties lie with the Black Hearts because mine did.
I had no idea what the outside world was like anymore but I had the feeling that nothing would have changed. Violent fights and chaos was all what we knew. Forks was one of the places that became known as a free fire zone a few years back. The police were scared to enter and therefore didn't serve and protect so the whole town crumbled, leaving two gangs to divide Forks between them. Us, well I mean the Black Hearts owned and rules half of the town and the Razor heads ruled the other half. We are sworn enemies and on most occasions would fight to the death using guns, bars, bats anything and everything the we could get our hands on or stuff that we made ourselves. We didn't dare enter on each other's territory unless you wanted to become a dad man so we stayed on opposite sides. The only time we would ever see each other was when a call out was made and that was when either of us picked a time and place to fight to the death, and of course during school.
As far as rumours go then I heard that the DEAD and that's department of education and defence to me and you, that they had re-opened the school and then they apparently hired some new teachers to help bring order back to the school and area. Whoever they were would have had a pretty fucked up mind to come up with that idea. It was bad enough that I just got let out of this shithole but now I had to report to another shithole in a little over an hour otherwise I would end up back in this shithole.
I growled inwards to myself and left the changing room. I followed another guard out the entrance until I got to the outside.
"Good luck Cullen" The guard wished me before going back inside.
Fuck luck I needed a miracle to keep my ass from behind bars. I walked out the huge metal gates that slid open due to the other guard on the gate, and I got my first taste of freedom.
"EDWARD!" A familiar voice shouted.
I looked in the direction and sin Emmett's punked up jeep in the parking lot. Punked up meaning it had bars, pipes, nails you name it sticking out of it, but I must admit I couldn't remember seeing the spikes that was now stuck out of the rims before, that was defiantly new. He ran over to me in a black pair of jeans with a black top and red jacket, you could tell that by the fashion sense that we were related but I didn't care too much for the red though. I could see the little black heart tattoo under the right side of his eye as he made his way to me. Emmett was my cousin from my father's side. He was three times the size of me and I could guess you could say that him and me were pretty close.
"Emmett, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked surprised.
"Did you really think that we would forget your release date" He smiled back.
I'm glad in a way because I didn't no how the fuck I was going to get from Port Angeles to Forks in a little over an hour.
He picked me up unexpectedly and he started carrying me to the jeep.
"Put me the fuck down!" I growled.
He howled with laugher then set me down by the Jeep.
"You're so fucking gay" I spat at him.
"You're the one that was in prison" He laughed.
That deserved a punch in the arm.
"Ouch man, what the fuck" He moaned gripping at his arm.
"Your own fault" I smiled.
Just then I thought back to what he had said, he had said we so where the hell was...Just then I hit the jeep with a loud thud and without thinking I spun around and grabbed the culprits head in a headlock. I rubbed his head aggressively with my fist making sure to really dig my knuckles in.
"Argh" He screamed again.
I laughed and let his head go.
"Your such an idiot brother" I laughed at him.
Jasper was my kid brother, he was only a few years younger than me but still he was my baby brother. There were no tattoos visible on him yet and that was because you only get a tattoo when you officially become a member of the gang and that was no easy process. You had to be locked in a room with the rest of the gang and they would literally beat the shit out of you. If you survived then you were worthy to become a black heart. I didn't want that for my brother but because we lived in Forks you only had two options. Try to stay a normal civilian and don't be part of a gang and possibly die, or join a gang and hopefully live long enough to be accepted then die in a feud afterwards.
"Thanks for taking care of him" I said to Emmett.
"Fuck off, he didn't do shit, I took care of myself" Jasper perked up.
"Whatever" Emmett teased him.
I used this opportunity to jump into the driver's seat. It would be a long ride back to Forks and if I wanted to keep my ass out of jail then I better get to school, fast.
"Hey man I'm driving" Emmett moaned.
"No you're not now shut the fuck up and get in" I smiled at him.
Emmett grunted and ran to the passenger side as Jasper jumped in the back. Driving was like second nature to me I didn't fuck about with remembering how to drive.
"Where we going?" Jasper perked up.
"School" I replied.
"Fuck off man" He grunted in the back.
"So what's the deal with this school shit I've heard about" I asked Emmett.
"I don't know, about six months ago Special Forces came into town and started busting everybody asses" He told me.
"What do you mean, I thought Forks was a free fire zone"
"It is, these guys I mean these Special Forces there not cops they work for this department of education of some shit. Anyway because there's no law they couldn't arrest us for anything and they didn't have the power to do so. Anyway you remember what happened to the school a few years ago?" He asked.
I remembered all too well, the first minuet we were all good little students then as the weeks and months went by there were that many violent outbreaks the school was closed. When the violence started to spread the streets everybody got there asses out of Forks only leaving about a hundred of us left in the entire town. That's when the two gangs started up. I didn't quiet no how many members there were in each gang but there were a fare few, civilians as I would call them that were left. Civilians as in their not part of a gang and try to live a normal life within the shit that's going on. After the school closed the place got wrecked and torched just like everything else in the town.
"Yeah" I told him.
"Well during the six months these special forces guarded the school day and night. We didn't no what they up to and if you tried to get near the school the guards would turn you over to the cops in the nearest law abiding town for trespassing. So anyway a few months ago we found out that these department people had re-opened the school and they blackmailed us into attending it and if we didn't go they had the right to turn us in to the cops and we would be put in doghouse. Perfect fucking plan if you ask me. That's one way to go about things."
"That's stupid" I protested.
"Hey man it's either go to school and be left alone by the cops to do whatever the fuck you like or don't go to school and get your ass landed in jail where you will get charges for everything else then rot away in there for life. I think it's a fair deal if you ask me and besides we have only got like three maybe four lessons a day." He grinned.
"Fair" I scoffed "Emmett the cops don't enter Forks, they have tried before but every time they get annihilated by either us or the Razor Heads. So they left us alone and chose to forget about us so hopefully one day we would annihilate each other therefore there will be no one left for the cops to worry about. The cops have got nothing to do with this it's all this departments fault, there just using us for what I don't know and there using the cops to threaten us. Tell me how any of this is fair deal, its be used or well, be used." I told him.
"Your right cousin and don't worry you haven't missed much its boring as ever" He laughed.
"What's it like?"
"Oh man its fucking different they got bars on the windows, electric timed doors to the classes I swear man you have only got a few minutes between classes and when the bell rings you got like thirty seconds to get to class before the door automatically closed and if you're not in there by then. Well you're good as dead. The guards walk the hallways to see if there's anybody truanting, its proper fucked up man"
"Wait there's guards"
"Yeah there are Special Forces that patrol the place and at the entrance you get searched and you have to walk through detectors and shit just to get in the fucking building. You got to deposit all weapons before you enter the building and you can get then back when you leave."
It sounded so perfect, so fucking perfect that I wanted to jump for fucking joy. I knew my life could only get shitter
"I'm surprised the teachers have survived this long" I laughed.
"You're telling me, there's only three of them but they can hold their own, they don't take no shit from know one"
"Three teachers are you kidding me" I said rolling my eyes.
"Well beings as there's only about eighty kids in the town I'm not surprised there was only three and besides these teachers are so weird it's not like it used to be, like you had separate teachers for different subjects they all teach different subjects, you know what I mean"
"Not really" I asked confused.
"Ok it's like, let's take my schedule for example, I've got Ms. Conner's on Monday first thing for chemistry then the next day ill have her again for third period but this time she's teaching math, its weird but it works" He informed me.
So basically, there was roughly 25 kids to a class, and were getting taught by either very brainy or very stupid teachers.
"You know what, just change the subject this is too much to digest in a short space of time" I huffed.
I would figure it all out soon enough but I was grateful to get a heads up on what had being going on while I have been away. We had just come out of Port Angeles and we were now heading to Forks. I couldn't believe it but there were people, actually people staring at the car as I drove past them. The streets were fairly clean, no barricades up, no fires or burnt out cars what so ever. You could tell that this town wasn't touched by gangs or violence and it made me sad to think about how long it would actually take until Port Angeles looked like Forks. I knew it wouldn't be long, it was inevitable let's just hope the cops would do something about with before it happened, just because Forks was a lost cause didn't mean Port Angeles and anywhere else had to be as well.
"Hey, wont to get high" Emmett said shaking a bag of vials.
The vials were only small and there were all different coloured. I could see the clear liquid inside of them and I knew what it was straight away, it was what we called Edge. It was like cannabis but in liquid form and you sniffed it instead. It was the same drug that my so called fucking mother got addicted to that's why we never left Forks in the first place.
My father died when I was two so my mother brought us up on her own. I can't say I hate my mother because she wasn't always the self centred, heartless bitch that she is today. She used to be so kind, so caring and everything a mother should be but after what happened to the town and her Edge addiction she became, what's the word, that's it a fucking slut that sold herself for Edge. I would watch her come home every night with a different guy totally fucked out of her head and I would always be the one to clean the blood up when they slapped her around a few times. I used to love my mother but now I can truly say that I am an orphan because my mother died the night she chose drugs and men over her own sons.
Emmett passed a vial to Jasper and they both inhaled the liquid. They both started giggling like two fucking school girls.
"You want some" Jasper said leaning over into the front.
He pressed the vial to my face and I smelt the fluid straight away. I took it from his hands and through it out my side widow.
"What the fuck man" He scolded me.
"What the hell Edward, you used to love getting wasted with your cousin" Emmett said.
"Times change, cousin" I snarled at him.
"What the fuck happened to you in there?" Jasper asked implying prison.
"I woke up" I whispered.
Emmett was right I did used to get wasted with them, smash stuff up, started fights you name it but after they threw me inside prison for selling Edge to an undercover cop in Port Angeles being in solitude really brought my life into perspective. I hated living in Forks, and I hated all the violence but growing up around it in high school and after my mother abandoned us it was every man for himself. I had to learn to fight to survive, many people have died by my hands and I will admit I am now proud of it not one bit, but that's the way things were and still are now because in Forks it kill or be killed. I would not abandon my family, abandon Jasper like my mother did so as long as he was in Forks then I would be and besides I couldn't leave the gang because once you become a black heart you were one for life and if you left willingly then you might as well have been a member of the Razor Heads therefore you were an enemy and as good as dead.
I became a black heart on my 16th birthday as we all do at that age then I worked my way up. Listen to me I sound like it's a job or something and you have to get promoted. What I meant was the more Razor Heads you took out and the more you did for the gang the better chance you would have to be selected by the gang to lead them. I got that chance just before I turned 17 I led them for a couple of months before I was banged up. I celebrated my 18th birthday inside, alone with nothing but the flies to keep me company. I have also missed Jaspers birthday about a month ago and he had turned 16 so I knew that at the next meeting, well I mean rave as we call it that Jaspers time of waiting was up and he would have to face them all alone.
After about twenty minutes of silence we passed the boarder of Forks. I glanced at the clock and was grateful that Emmett's truck did 100mph. We still have a little less than twenty minutes to get to school but I would have to take a short cut to make it on time. I passed the sign to Forks which read.
The city of Forks welcomes you.
Population 3532
Well, that's what it use to say before someone removed the O and R out of Forks and replaced it the letters U and K. We passed another sign halfway down the main road as well which read.
You Are Now Entering A
Free Fire Zone
No Police Protection
Enter At Your own Risk
This also had graffiti on.
"Home sweet home" I sighed.
I could have continued to drive south and go the long way around to school but that would have only made us late, so instead I turned left at the junction and drove north towards the school, this way we would have gotten to school in less than five minutes. I drove slowly but carefully dodging the burnt out cars and pieces of glass and metal on the road. I Passed houses that were either occupied by civilians or emptied and torched. I didn't know why there were still civilians living here they either had nowhere else to go or refused to be pushed out there homes but a gang of delinquents. Either way they all new to arm themselves if they went out and arm themselves encase of a break in, which was highly likely. The Black Hearts never really bothered the civilians that much because we had our own places to hang out but I can't say the same for the Razor Heads. I think that's why some civilians had moved over to the south side because that it our territory and who the fuck knows maybe they actually prefer it better over that side.
"What the fuck Edward" Jasper panicked in the back.
"What?"
"Edward the fucking Razor Heads control this whole area" Emmett panicked as well.
"I know" I told them.
I knew that when I turned at the junction, stupid move I know but it was the quickest way to school. Just then Razor Head after Razor Head appeared from out of nowhere. They were throwing stuff at the Jeep and was grateful that Emmett had bars on the windows.
"Get us the fuck out of here Edward" Jasper panicked in the back.
We were not armed and totally outnumbered so of course Emmett and Jasper were panicking and I should have been as well but I wasn't. I took the next right and slowed down and came to a halt to a car that had been modified to look like a tank. Outside stood next to it was James the leader of the Razor Head. He had a TMP gun strapped to him with a smug look on his face.
"Ah, look what just rolled in from beyond the bars" He smirked. "Did you meet any nice boys in prison" He mocked me.
"Yeah, should have been there they would have liked you" I smirked back.
"See you at school FUCK FACE, HAHAHA!" Emmett laughed.
Time to go. I put my foot on the gas and rammed his car out way. I stayed low as he and all the rest of them sprayed bullets at the car.
"What the fuck Emmett!" Jasper shouted in the back.
"STAY DOWN!" I shouted to him.
I swerved in-between the debris on the road and took the next right followed by the next left. I smashed into a make shift barricade and sped back up another main road as fast as the Jeep would go. I slowly slide back up the seat and looked behind me due to the side mirror being smashed.
"It's alright there no one following us" I said to both Jasper and Emmett who were still ducking.
"Fuck sake Emmett you could have killed us and you Edward" Jasper scolded us.
"Alright, alright keep your hair on" Emmett laughed in the front.
I took a deep breath and slowly released the gas pedal as we pulled up to the school. I parked up in the parking lot and gasped at the sight before me.