XD To Purple Infinity, your beloved Erik is a badass. That is all. Oh, please review.
"We can't stay holed up here forever," Charlie said and the look Mike's father gave could have curdled liquid metal.
"We will stay for however long we're safe here," Richard Newton snapped and Caroline, Mike's mother nodded. One could cut the tension with a knife; Bella figured that was why Jasper tried to stay away from everyone. Though she did sense his touch: generally people were calmer when the vampire was around, or if not calm, at least relaxed, despite the sudden terror of voices suddenly screaming late into the night. But it didn't make everything alright. Angela was a sobbing wreck- she would wake up late into the night in sudden screaming fits, begging for them to stop torturing the child. She said nothing of her parents but her silence spoke louder than words. And Mike…he rarely slept. Bella would wake in the middle of the night sometimes to see Mike clutching his pathetic pellet gun to his chest, panting as he paced up and down the aisles.
Only Erik and Jasper seemed mostly at peace with the chaos around them, and even then Bella would have to guess that was due largely to their combat orientated background. Which made her wonder yet again…just what had the two men gone through to make them so accepting (appearance wise at least) to the chaos outside?
She bit her lip as Charlie shook his head. "Rich," her father began, "you have to face the facts. This building is not invincible. And once they do, they will kill us Rich. Do you understand that? They will kill not just you but Caroline and even our babies! We need to leave."
Richard Newton gave a jagged laugh, running a hand through his short blonde hair. Bella had never noticed it before, but he looked a bit like an older version of Mike. "We'll die if we leave Charlie. Our best bet is to lie low. I bet the Webers tried to run and look what happened to them!"
Angela winced at the sound of her name as she sat beside Bella and she placed her hands in her lap. Her eyes were red rimmed from crying so much. She pushed her glasses a bit farther on the bridge of her nose and took a deep, shaky breath. Bella stopped biting her lip to give her a tiny smile in an attempt to make her friend feel at ease. Angela merely looked away.
Mike was the first of the teens to speak: his face was unnaturally pale in the sunlight. "Dad," he began, "do you honestly think they'll stop once they find no one out on the streets?"
"It's better then going outside son!" his father snapped.
"I have a plan-" Charlie began and Richard Newton shook his head.
"What? Go to La Push? These…monsters are killing everyone they find here in Forks. What makes you think they're not killing anyone down in La Push? Even if those people are werewolves!"
"Then why don't you fight?"
Everyone turned to Erik: the telepath was lounging on a lawn chair; long legs sprawled out before him, a cigarette dangling haphazardly from between his lips. Bella could see Jasper beyond him, looking out through some of the cracked wood on the doors. "You must be joking," Charlie began and even Richard nodded.
"We can't fight," Charlie said. "We can't take them all. We'd die. We're better off running."
"Or staying here," Richard added.
Erik smiled as he exhaled a cloud of smoke, watching it drift upwards. "Battle of Thermopylae. Sempronius Densus. The Alamo. The Battle of Rorke's Drift. The Battle of Wizna. The Viking at Stamford Bridge. Saito Musaashibo Benkei. Thomas Baker. Do you know what they have in common? All were last stands- battles, men who knew they would most likely go down and decided to go down with a fight.
"Will you die if you fight the Black Paradigm? Most likely yes. Will you shock the shit out of them? Yes. Take a stand- running will only prolong the hunt. If you fight now, if you fight to protect your loved ones, if you fight to defend your home, you will become a force to be reckoned with. And the Black Paradigm will not win."
"This is insane," Mike breathed and Erik tipped away the ash.
"This is war Newton," he said with a cool, calm air. "And in war, you must be willing to give your all if you even dare hope to live. So I ask of you, will you stand and fight? Or will you run?"
"I'll fight," Jasper said from where he stood by the door. He cast a glance at them. "This is what I had been turned for. This is what I'm good at."
Charlie looked at her and Bella wondered what her father was thinking. Memories of her as a little girl? What would happen if they did take off down towards La Push? Would the two of them suffer the same fate as Angela's family? And beyond that…could the two of them even run when they had a chance to do the right thing, to stay and fight and protect each other? Bella looked away first, into those dark green eyes. "I'll fight," she whispered.
"Bells," Charlie began and Bella looked at him. He fell silent before he nodded. "I'll fight too."
"We all will," Angela whispered her voice tight. Bella could see something in her eyes that she had never seen before: a mere glimpse of something strange. Of what Angela could become. Angela balled her hands into fists, so hard that her knuckles turned white. "I can't stand by and do nothing. Not again."
Mike lowered his head, looking down at the floor. Bella could see pinpricks of tears in his eyes. "We will never run," he whispered and now his family turned to look at him, his father aghast.
"Mike you'll die-" Richard Newton began as Caroline placed a hand on his arm.
"We all die someday hun," she murmured. "He has a point you know. This is our best course. To do what is right."
"But-" Richard began again and this time it was Mike who spoke.
"No buts dad. You and I both know what to do. We will never run. The people in this room," light blue eyes flickered to everyone in the room. "We will be the last line of defense in Forks. We can win."
Erik took one long drag on his cigarette, letting the smoke curl out of his nostrils. "Well," he said, a tiny puff of smoke going upwards. "Viva la resistance."