Alright, here's chapter 16. (Wow! Already!) This chapter will be a little more dramatic than the others and there will be more fighting. I decided to merge two chapters into one, so it'll be a liitle long. (Which is probably good for you guys I guess!) I'll try to make this more interesting and as long as I can. Sorry this took forever, I was a bit depressed because my dog Pucca died :'( And he was like my bff, so yall could tell how much he ment to me. (R.I.P Pucca! Hope your happy up there buddy! *tear, tear*) Anyway, here's chapter 16. Again, sorry for the long wait!

"Hello Bella!"

Bella immediately started shaking when she heard the bone chilling voice of her father. It's been 8 months. 8 months since she ran away, since she last saw her father. Now seeing him after after all that time, was shocking and horrifying. All she did was stare at him in fear.

"Why so pale? Your not afraid are you?" he mocked and started slithering forward.

Bella was starting to breathe heavily. She tried to moving back, but was suddenly stopped. She looked up and saw Jake move beside her and wrap a part of his coils around her protectively.

Dalanar saw this, and raised a brow. "My, who do we have here?"he nodded to Jake. ""Seems like ya made some friends here Belle," he then looked at the townspeople. "In fact, ya made friends with an entire town! I wonder how ya did that, since your too stupid to make any!"

A couple of people gasped at his comment. Jake growled angrily and shook his rattle violently. The only one who wasn't the least bit surprised, was Bella herself. Although the comment still hurt, she knew she heard even worser remarks from him. Not to mention the pain was nothing compared to what he's done to her in the past.

Dalanar then turned his attention to Jake. "And may I ask, who are you curled around that pest!" he asked, motioning to Bella.

Jake hissed angrily. "The names Jake. And I suggest ya don't call Belle that again, unless ya want bullets lodged in yer brain!" he threatened.

Dalanar didn't seem to be affected by his threat. Instead, he chuckled a little. "Wow! For a moment there, I thought you actually cared for her!" he laughed again. "Listen son, ya don't wanna get hooked up with a good-for-nothing wrench! I mean look at her! Who would want an ugly ass, scrawny, pathetic looking worm? Trust me, she's not worth your time. Hell, she's not even worth a goddam-"

"SHUT UP!"

Dalanar was suddenly cut off by a royally pissed off Jake who looked like he would explode any minute. Each time Dalanar would say something cruel about Bella, his anger sky rocketed until the point where he couldn't take it any more.

When they heard the sudden outburst, everyone jumped and stared at the rattlesnake in surprise. Even Bella flinched when she heard the sharp tone in his voice. Never had anyone seen or heard a pissed off rattlesnake like Jake. Of course the townspeople know about his short temper, but no one had ever seen him that angry before. This caused them to go on the alarm, and to take a couple of steps back just in case. You never know what someone might do when their angry. Especially when that person is someone like Jake.

"Just shut the fuck up you pathetic bastard!" Jake yelled. "Don't ya dare talk shit about my Bella! I swear if ya say one more thing about 'er, then I'll fuckin' put so many holes in ya, yer guts would be spillin' out!"

Dalanar's small army were now starting to get nervous. Seeing the furious rattlesnake threaten their leader without any hesitation was without a doubt intimidating. Some even thought about high tailing it out of there as fast as they can! But most knew that if they left without the permission of their leader, they would suffer the consequences. Almost all of them knew Dalanar was indeed a cruel person.

They knew what kind of horrors he made his daughter go through. Some were more horrible than others. Almost all of them were for no apparent reason. It was as if he hated the woman! He'd showed no mercy to her and enjoyed the fact that she suffered through his torment. Even if the men wanted to help the poor woman, they were scared that they might lose their well payed jobs or worse. He might even do the exact same things to them just as he did to her! As much as they wanted to leave, they couldn't. So they stayed put.

After hearing Jake's little outburst, Dalanar was quiet for a while. But then, he raised a brow. " 'Your Bella' huh?"he chuckled. "So you already developed feelings for my daughter."

Jake didn't say anything. Instead, he remained quiet, and gritted his teeth.

Then Dalanar smirked. "Well that's gonna be a problem you see," he started to say. "I'm here to take Bella home."

When she heard that, Bella's eyes immediately went wide, and she gulped nervously. Jake however, hissed in warning and tightened his grip around her. "Like hell I'm gonna let ya take her away from me!"

"Oh I will. And I don't care if I take her away by force. 'Cause she will come with me whether she likes it or not!"he said narrowing his eyes at Bella.

Jake hissed again and rattled his tail in anger. "If ya want her, then yer gonna have to go through me!"

Dalanar wasn't the least bit impressed. Instead, he shook his head. "Your such a fool! How do you expect to protect 'your Bella' if your just one man fighting alone against an entire army?!"

"He ain't alone!" yelled a voice from the background.

All heads turned to where the voice came from, and were surprised to see the entire town of Dirt, all with their guns and weapons loaded, and ready for battle. There in the front, was Sheriff Rango with loaded guns in both hands and a smug grin on his face. Next to him was Beans, who rolled her eyes at how retarded Rango looked.

"Ya see here Mr, we can't let you take Miss Bella away. She's one of us now, and we will protect one of our own no matter what! That's a promise!"he said with a wink to Bella.

Bella on the other hand, was completely shocked. Never had she met anyone who would defend her or even consider her as part of anything. She always thought of herself as an outcast or a runaway. She never imagined herself to have any friends, since her father absolutely forbid it. She always thought she would forever be alone and had to stick for herself. But when she heard Rango say, she was 'one of them', she felt different. For once in her life, she wasn't alone.

Dalanar was surprised at Rango's statement as well. He then raised a brow. "One of you? Are you kidding me?"he exclaimed. "She's part of nobody! She's nothing! She's a pathetic low life who doesn't deserve to-"

BANG!

"Gwah!" Dalanar cried out loud as he felt excruciating pain on his side. He doubled over on the floor and when he looked down at the spot, he saw blood spilling down his left side. He looked at his wound for a bit, then looked up. His eyes and mouth went wide and everybody knew he was in pure shock and had no idea what just happened.

There was Jake with his gun pointed at Dalanar and smoke coming out of his barrel. "I told ya, to quit talkin' shit 'bout Belle!" he yelled.

Dalanar stared at him in surprise. Not moving or saying anything. But after a while, he closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes at him.

Right away, Bella knew that something bad was going to happen. Just by looking at Dalanar's eyes. The look on his face. The way he's glaring at Jake. She's seen that face too many times to not know what that meant. She knew that whatever was coming next, wasn't good.

"Fine then," Dalanar finally said. "Have it your way!" He then looked at his small army. "Men, take her, and kill whoever gets in your way!"

Upon hearing the order, Dalanar's troops responded with a, "Yes sir!" and started making their way to towards Bella.

...

Bella's eyes flew open wide when she saw the army moving towards them. "They're coming." Then she suddenly saw them take out their weapons. "They're coming!"she said louder. She was on the verge of panicking, when she felt Jake tighten his coils around her and bring her closer to him.

"Don't worry! They won't get anywhere near ya as long as yer with me!"" he said to her. "Now come on! We better get out of here if we don't wanna get shot!" And with that, he took her to a safe spot behind a small building where the small army would have trouble reaching them.

While they were on there way, Bella couldn't help but to think what was the matter with her? She was acting like a scared little kitten! She never behaved like this. All afraid and cowering in fear behind Jake. This was not like her at all! What the hell! She should suck it up, and start fighting for herself! That's what she should do, not cry about it like a wimp!

When they arrived at the building, they saw Bufard who was handing out guns and rifles to the rest of the townspeople who wanted to fight. Bella freed herself from Jake's coils and slithered up to Bufard.

"Hey Bufard! Ya think you could give me one of those?"she asked.

He nodded. "Sure thing!" Then he threw a rifle at her which she caught with ease. She checked if it was loaded, and was glad when she found out it was. She then turned to Jake who frowned when he saw her holding the rifle.

"I ain't gonna sit here and hide while everyone else is fighting out there just to protect me! It's my own damn fault that their in this mess anyways, and the least I can do is to help fight!" she exclaimed. He was about to open his mouth and answer her, when he was suddenly cut off by another voice.

"Are you sure about that Belle?" Tom said outloud.

Both heads turned to the weaselwho was looking at Bella with a worried frown. "Are you sure its safe to go out by yourself, when its YOU Dalanar's army is trying to get to?" he asked. "Plus, have you even held a gun in your entire life!"

"Have you!?" she snapped back.

"Yes, I have!" he said in a heartbeat.

She naerowed her eyes at him. "Well congratulations! And ya know what; I have too! And I'm NOT gonna get caught anyways!" She then turned to Jake. "I can take care of myself BY myself! I don't need anyone's protection! I could still kick some ass, even without this gun!" she said proudly.

Then she turned to Tom. "Is that enough for ya?"

Tom was about to say something, but knew it was hopeless. He sighed and shook his head. Then he raised his hands in defeat. "Whatever you say!" He then went to where Bufard was handing out guns and got a weapon of his own.

Finally, Bella turned to Jake. "Just trust me on this one! I promise I won't get captured or hurt or anything else! Just let me help fight."she said and gave him a pleading look.

He stared at her for a minute, then sighed. "Well as long as ya don't get caught and ya STAY with me," he gave her a meaningful look. "then alright then."

She smiled at him, then turned and noticed that everyone else had already started firing at the charging army. Even Tom already joined the rest of the townspeople in the shooting. She put a serious face on and quickly went near the corner of the building. She peeked out to see, which person would be her target. When she found someone, she clicked her rifle and aimed for that person.

She then felt Jake come closer to her and whispered to her, "Remember, focus on yer target." she did as she was told. "Then when ya get a clear target: Fire!" She pulled the trigger, and the bullet fired out of the barrel, and into its intended mark. She grinned in triumph. Then she started shooting the rest of the army who were coming there way.

...

It had been an hour since the fighting first began and the citizens of Dirt had made quite an impact on Dalanar's army. Although they were outnumbered 3 to 1, they outmatched his army greatly. Apparently Dalanar underestimated the town, which was a big mistake. Although his army was skilled, the townspeople were more experienced, which gave them the upper hand in the fight. So far the large army was getting quite a beat down from the people of Dirt.

Dalanar growled to himself when he knew he was losing. He looked around and saw that more of his men were getting shot down one by one by the townspeople. He was now getting to the point where he might need to go to plan B. Although he didn't really want to use it too much since it was difficult to control, he knew that if things continued to be this way, he had no other choice but to go through with it.

He continued to look around, until his eyes locked on the person he was looking for. There was Bella, shooting men down one by one like the rest of the townspeople. For a moment he wondered where the hell did she learn how to use a gun, until he saw Jake suddenly appear, and staying at a protective distance near her, shoot men down as well.

Dalanar narrowed his eyes at both of them. He had nothing but evil thoughts for both of them. 'Bella will come home with me whether she likes it or not!' he thought. 'I don't care if she's 'one of them.' She'll get the punishment she deserves for running away! One way or another!' He then looked at Jake who was still staying very close to Bella. And he'll pay for shooting me too! That thing hurt like a bitch! And it still hurts whenever I move!' He looked back at Bella and smirked. 'Wonder how she'll react if he was the first to be blown up right in front of her!"

Then he looked at his remaining men and yelled, "Fall back! We'll head on to plan B!" And with that, he and his men started retreating.

Once the people of Dirt saw this, they all stopped shooting and cheered. They knew they won. When they saw Dalanar and his army retreat they all lowered their weapons and made a loud cry of victory.

The only one who wasn't rejoicing, was Bella. She found it rather odd to see Dalanar retreat so easily. He wasn't one to give up and run away all of a sudden. Usually he would keep fighting to the end. This made Bella go on the suspicion.

'Why would he do that?' she thought. He would never retreat during a fight. So why would he...' The answer suddenly came to her. Her eyes opened wide and her heart suddenly stopped.

"Oh no!" she said out loud.

Jake noticed this and was immediately concerned. "What is it?" he asked.

She looked at him with a panicked expression. "He's not retreating! We gotta get out of here! We need to leave!" she yelled.

He gave her a confused expression. "What are ya talkin' about?"

"We need to get out of the way! He's gonna-"

BOOM!

Before she even get to finish her sentence, a loud explosion happened just a couple of yards away causing the ground to shake beneath them. They turned and saw dirt and sand fly everywhere. Some people were lying on the ground unconscious while others were trying to wake them up and on their feet. Everyone else was trying to figure out what the hell happened, until someone pointed at the sky and screamed, "Look out!" All heads looked up, but it was too late. Before anyone could react, another large bomb hit the ground and caused another explosion. More dirt and sand went into the air, and people went flying. The explosion was followed by more and more bombs crashing down on the ground, causing the air to be once again filled with more sand and dirt.

Bella desperately tried to warn people to run and get out of the line of fire, but no one could here her, and with all the debris flying all over the place, it was pretty difficult to breathe. She tried moving towards people and yell at them, but as the ground kept on shaking with very loud explosions, it was difficult to hear or even move forward in a straight line.

Then there was one bomb that hit the ground, which sent Bella flying, and crash down hard on the side of a large rock. The impact caused the air to be knocked out of her, and left her gasping in pain. Her body then went limp and dropped on the hard ground below. Despite all the dust and debris in the air, Jake saw her fall, and immediately slithered by her side. He picked her up in his coils and cradled her like a doll.

"BELLA! Bella are ya alright!" he said shaking her. She started coughing a bit, and eventually coughed out some blood, which almost made him go into a moment of panick. She tried taking deep breaths to get some air back in her lungs, but the action caused a surge of pain throughout her chest and made her cry out in pain. She knew right away that she had broken more than a couple of ribs, but she didn't want to worry Jake any further, so she tried to hide as much of the pain as she could.

"Yeah! I'm...I'm fine!"she said once she had enough air to speak. He then quickly started to carry her out of harms way.

Although she was hardly in a condition to move, Bella still wanted to help get the townspeople to safety. Despite the raging pain in her chest, she managed to speak. "W-wait! I still...need to..help...townspeople out of...here...!" she croaked out.

"Like hell I'm gonna let ya do that!" he barked. "Forget about them! Don't ya see yer hurt! Yer life is more important than the goddam townspeople!" he said without looking at her. "I need to get ya to doc! I can't afford ya to get even more hurt than ya are now!"

Bella closed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth due to the pain. 'God does this hurt!' she thought. Her entire right side was burning and she felt that her chest was about to explode any minute. She tried hiding the pain as much as she could, but with Jake carrying her and moving so much, he only increased the pain, and made it that much difficult to control.

"Please...Jake...hold on.. for... a minute..!" she tried to say. She opened her eyes a bit and tried to look up at him. She was about to say something, until she suddenly saw something from the corner of her eye. When she realized what that object was, her eyes flew wide open and she yelled, "JAKE! LOOK OUT!"

But it was too late. Just as he was about to look up, the bomb hit the ground just a couple of feet away from them. The impact send them both flying in opposite directions and made a huge cloud of dirt and sand to be blown everywhere. Nearly the entire spot was engulfed in that cloud. Nothing could be seen in or out of it. The impact was so powerful that even before Bella landed, she was already unconscious.

Ok, I think I'm gonna stop here. I want to save the rest for the next chapter. And because I want to be mean, and leave you guys on a cliff hanger! :) Again I'm sorry for the SUPER long wait, I was depressed for a little while since my dog died, and I just didn't feel like writing. But once I felt a little better, I started writing this chapter. And in my opinion, I give it a 2 thumps up! And just to let you guys know, I'm already working on the next chapter! XD Hopefully I'll be finished soon, but I don't think it would be as long as this one, sadly. :( Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to update soon! Please Review! :D