Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Based on the characters created by Stephanie Meyer, in her Twilight Saga series of books.

WARNING: This story will contain scenes of domestic violence, strong language and other forms of physical violence, up to, and including death.

Chapter 26

Transversing the Fog

Alice was in a daze as she walked west through the Naval Air Station property. She carried a very full carpet bag in her left hand, a backpack with attached sleeping bag on her back, and the slightly singed colorful quilt still tied across her body. The weight of all her things combined was nothing compared to the weight crushing her lifeless heart. The screams of all the people at the airfield, including those of the passengers of the fiery deathtrap, continued to echo in her ears. No new visions intruded to relieve her of the sight of the burning dead and dying. Nothing replaced the memory of her friend's head flying at her face, or watching his body burn with the others. So much death, both vampire and human, was unraveling her sanity. The storm that had hindered the arrival of the Hindenburg now beat down on her as she continued her slow walk west, but she felt nothing. Not the heavy rain. Not the constant heavy tempest, nor the violent gusts of wind. Not even the ground her feet tramped on. Her slow human pace of about two miles per hour, made her progress exceptionally prolonged, but she had nowhere to be. No destination in mind. She was functioning on an ingrained and instinctual level. As she moved through the night she avoided towns and farms automatically. No humans saw or heard her, and she stayed to the trees as much as possible. Her tireless pace eventually brought her to a river.

She entered the Delaware River at one of it's widest points on the northern end of the waterway; at Delanco, New Jersey, northeast of Philadelphia. Alice waded into the river and swam the mile or so to the other side, never varying her course west. She left the river at the mouth of Poquessing Creek. She had held her carpet bag and pack up over her head to protect them from the water, but the quilt was soaked as she stepped onto the shore of the river. She didn't even question the steps she found built into the steep escarpment as she used them to rise to the land above the junction of the two waterways'. When she reached the top, she replaced the pack on her back, gave an absentminded nod to the statue of the large dog she found at the top of the steps, and continued on west.

With the weaving she had done to avoid the human habitations, it had taken her nearly 20 hours for her to reach this point in Pennsylvania. For reasons she could not explain, her heart felt lighter. The weight of what had happened the day before was still weighing on her, just not as heavily. There was a sense of expectation that she couldn't explain or understand. There was no vision to guide her movement though, so she continued on her westward march.

She avoided the large mansion and a smaller cottage as she moved through the wooded area. She found a few deer to feed from, then buried their bodies deep. She was still operating on instinct and training; staying out of the sun and in the shadows, feeding from the wildlife in the area, and staying hidden from the humans. Her body was cared for, but her emotions were still in a tornado of vexation. The questions could not be answered. The confusion could not be alleviated. The screams could not be quelled. As she passed human habitations, even from the distance she always stayed from them, she was still able to hear the inhabitants inside their homes. She heard them as they cried at the news of the fiery deaths of so many on the Hindenburg. She heard their prayers, and their accusations. She heard the sorrow and the anger, and she still couldn't find peace.

As she ventured farther into Pennsylvania, It became more difficult to avoid the humans because of Philadelphia and it's many suburbs spread out along the Delaware River. She circled around the bustling city, traveling mostly at night, and remaining hidden in a large wooded area during the day. She fed daily to help with the temptation so many humans presented. When the weather was bad, she would travel during the day, but if it was bright and sunny, she would find a deeply forested area and try to work through her muddled thoughts.

She crossed the Schuylkill River at Bridgeport, choosing to use a bridge this time. From there, she began to angle south, toward Exton, but her course was still undeniably westward. The longer she walked, the slower she became. Days became weeks, but it meant nothing to her still-muddled mind. As she neared the Maryland border, she was drawn back into Pennsylvania. She crossed the bridge over the Susquehanne River at Hollywood PA. Her body directed itself to the west and away from Maryland. There was far less human habitation along the lower border of Pennsylvania; just a few farms scattered along the area. She began to relax her body, but she was still in an extremely emotionally muddled state of mind. Heartbreaking sobs still emanated from her aching chest every few miles. She cursed her damnable vampire memory, as the images remained crystal clear, but the distance from the crash site continued to increase. Why? Her heart cried over and over.

She walked a fine line between the Pennsylvania state line and Maryland. If she wavered too far south, it became imperative that she move north. She never felt the need to move too far north, so she stayed within five miles of the state line. She weaved through the farms and woodlands as she continued her way west. The terrain became increasingly rugged, as hills and mountains hindered her way west. Alice still held her course, jumping down cliffs only to climb up the other side. Sometimes she would just jump across the narrower expanses, those less than a half mile across.

Eventually she arrived at the top of Mount Davis, one of the highest points in Pennsylvania. She climbed the wooden fire watch tower at the mountains peak and stopped to look around her. She saw the farms to the east, and a few to the southwest, near High Point Lake. The area around Deer Valley Lake was clear of human habitations. There was a mountainous corridor to the north and south of Mt. Davis. A large wooded expanse, clear of humans, spread out in front of her, to the north.

As Alice turned in a circle at the top of Mt. Davis, all the fear, the anger, and the confusion rose in her chest. The screams and faces of the dead and dying. It all bubbled to the top and she began to scream. She didn't know how long she screamed at the mountains around her, at the sky, the clouds, the heavens. Eventually day turned to night, and her screams turned to tearless sobs. She collapsed to her knees and leaned back on her heels as her face fell into her hands.

"WHY?!" she screamed to the heavens. "Why?" she sobbed softly.

Alice spent a few days on the peak of that mountain, trying to come to terms with what had happened. Her love of life, all life, could not reconcile the disaster she had witnessed; that she had been a part of. She began to study her memories and the way Everett had smiled and laughed as he lit the stack of papers on fire. Realization struck her like a lightening bolt. He had wanted it to catch fire.

"My God," she whispered. "He wanted to create a disaster!" Alice sobbed again. "Is this the future of the world? Nazis? A whole country full of people having no respect for human life?" Her head moved slowly from side to side. "It can't be that way. They can't all be that way? Humans can't all be like that?" She prayed for a vision that never came.

She had no idea how long she roamed the mountain. She ate when she was hungry and stood as still as stone when she was not. Days flew by. Weeks, months, even years. Time had no meaning for her. The confusion did begin to lift slowly, but it took a long time for her to come to the realization that some people simply felt that they deserved to have more for no other reason than that they wanted it. The idea of a superior race was foreign to her. She had listened to the visions of Carlisle in her head since she had woken in the darkness of that cave. She had to spend an extraordinary amount of time to rationalize the concept of Supremacies. But all that really mattered to her was the vision of Jasper coming home.

Eventually she began to roam closer to human habitations and quickly caught up on the latest news. The peace and quiet of the mountains and forests of Pennsylvania had given Alice back her sanity, but the news that the United States had entered into a war with not only Germany, but Japan as well, upset her greatly. She was also shocked that nearly five years had passed, while she had explored the wilds of Pennsylvania. As her mind cleared, new visions began to appear.

Once again, she saw Jasper as he fought the Germans, and she was proud of him and his ability to conquer the Nazi vampires. He seemed to be working with a small group of other vampires. Alice frowned, watching as his friends fell in a battle close to the end of the war. Her heart burned for Jasper, and she sobbed for his loss. She longed for the day that she would be able to soothe his pain, and see him smile in genuine joy. The day would come, and she was sure it would be soon.

She continued to roam Pennsylvania. Black bears were easy to find along the Allegheny Mountains, and she enjoyed the taste much more than that of the plentiful deer and elk. The feral swine were also plentiful though not quite to her taste, but she ate them anyway because they were a menace to the land and it's wildlife. She worked her way north, along the mountains, then angled east. The area near the New York state line seemed almost devoid of humans, and Alice spent a long time dancing in the sun when she found breaks in the forest canopy. Her joy in life had returned as she made her way through the forests and mountains, far away from the prying eyes of the humans.

Again, years passed as she listened to the voices of the humans, when she was close enough to hear them. The news report of the dropping of the A-bomb was another thing that was hard for Alice to hear. Her visions had told her of an explosion that had destroyed thousands of people, damaging large areas of land and cities, but she never dreamed that the United States would be the ones to drop such a horrific bomb on the world. But a vision of peace followed that of the bomb, so she hoped that it would be the end of the killing, and life could return to normal.

Alice slowly re-acclimated herself to the human world, and considered how to proceed with her limited funds. She bought a newspaper and studied the financial page. When she came to a stock that was about to soar, she would have a vision. So, she took the last of her money, and found a stock broker in Scranton Pennsylvania. She paid attention to her stock market visions and let her money grow. Around 1947, Alice sold off half of her stocks and opened a bank account in Philadelphia. She had heard about a fashion exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and couldn't resist the temptation to catch up on all the fashion changes she had missed while she had been playing hermit in the wilds of Pennsylvania. She rented a suite at the Chestnut Hill Hotel, and began to acquire a few things that she had been missing. One of the first things she purchased was a Harper's Bazaar Magazine. The "New Look" fashions by Christian Dior had her ready to bounce through the roof of the historic hotel. It didn't take long for Alice to find a vendor of Dior's designs, and for her to fill the closet in her suite with the couturier's fine clothing. Alice also found pants designed for women as well as blouses to wear with them, or with the many skirts she had bought. Realizing that she would not be staying in the Hotel forever, she purchased a full set of Hartman luggage, then went in search of a car that could hold all her belongings.

The night after Alice had visited the fashion exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, she had a very strong vision of Jasper. She stood at the entrance to her closet, in her bedroom, still as a statue, as the images washed over her. She welcomed them with a broad smile and a longing sigh. It would be raining. The downpour would force him into the diner. Jasper, in his 501 Levi's with the cinch fastened tightly in the back, and his blue work shirt tucked into the waistband tightly. His hands were buried in the pockets of his Spiewak brown bomber jacket, and his brown cowboy hat, pulled low over his eyes, almost black from the rain. Alice felt a shiver run up and down her spine, as Jasper entered the diner and looked up into her eyes. His blue colored contacts hid the red of his irises, but she still saw what he really was; a human-consuming vampire. The feeling from the vision told her...soon. That she would see him in person, instead of her minds eye, very soon. She had been organizing her closet when the vision started, but she soon fell back onto her bed and rolled back and forth, as she giggled and murmured to herself.

"My Jasper. So soon. Please?" She repeated his name over and over, as she fell into a happy trance.

Alice sat up with a sudden start. She looked at her nearly full closet and realized that she had nothing for her dear Jasper. Panic began to set in, as she worried about the timing. Would she have time to purchase clothing for him? She studied the images from her vision and tried to estimate his size. She knew that she would be able to find everyday clothing for him, but he would have to go to a tailor for his better clothes. Alice thought on the problem as she paced through the rooms of her suite. This would mean more shopping. She grinned from ear to ear at the thought.

August 1948

It had been raining for days. Alice was glad for the time she was able to be outside, but she was tired of the damage to the numerous umbrellas she had to keep buying, as the wind whipped them until they were flipped inside out. She felt like she had searched all of Philadelphia for the diner that she was looking for. Alice felt that Jasper was near, but she couldn't find him. On Friday, August 9th, the morning rain was merely a mist, so Alice headed out for the Schuylkill river. As she skimmed through the wooded southern section, closer to the center of Philadelphia, she found a couple of bears to feed on. The predator blood helped to lift her spirits and she continued through the wooded river bank. Alice hummed as she walked, watching the sun flicker through the leaves of the trees as it faded in and out of the clouds.

Today was a good day for her. She was happy and felt such a sense of peace that she couldn't help but smile, as she danced through the forest. As she neared the end of the thickly forested west side of the river, she thought hard on jumping to the other side. A simple vision showed her that it was safe for her to do it, so she danced to the shore and leaped across the river, to the wooded area on the east side. She continued humming, the sound like the tinkling of tiny bells, as she moved gracefully among the trees. As she passed the art museum, she knew she was nearing the end of the forest and entering the heart of Philadelphia. She continued to hum, but at a level the humans couldn't hear, as she enjoyed the cloudy but rainless sky. Before long she got a vision of rain. Not wanting to ruin her new dress, Alice skipped into the nearest building, the 24th st. Diner. It was right across the street from the football field near the Parkway. She lightly stepped to the counter and ordered a cherry coke. She sat on the stool and twirled it back and forth. She was looking behind the counter when the rain began. She turned to watch the street flooding downpour when she noticed the familiarity of the windows and door.

Alice watched the right corner of the large front window, as a cowboy hat came into view. He quickly placed his hand on the handle to the door, and opened it, causing the bell above it to ring. Alice noticed the way his hat was tipped down over his eyes, and the collar of his Spiewak bomber jacket was turned up, to keep the rain off his blue work shirt. His tightly cinched 501 Levi's were tucked into his cowboy boots, and Alice thought he looked tired. She bounced off her stool and slowly walked over to him.

"Hello Jasper." she grinned at him. He lifted his head just enough to see her eyes. Alice gently placed her arm on his back, as she exuded joy and love. "You've kept me waiting quite a long time."

Jasper studied her for a long moment before here removed his hat, and held it over his heart, as he smiled at her. "I can assure you, ma'am, it won't happen again."