I mentioned in chapter 9 that the military had taken over, telling everyone to hide or run inland. It's officially out of Charlie's hands. But I reckon he will be needed sooner or later.
CHAPTER 11
I was sitting at the breakfast bar the next morning, staring at my plate of French toast and bacon. Jasper was an amazing cook, among other things. The way he moved around the kitchen, occasionally humming a tune I didn't know. He was so natural and comfortable. I was in awe of him, and curious as to why he always wanted to cook for me.
"I want to look after you, Bella. It's my duty, and honour to do this for you every morning." Jasper said with a smile. How did he..? "Empath, remember?" Jasper said with a grin. Right. I was obviously slow this morning. I smiled and dug into my breakfast. It was delicious.
"When will Peter, Charlotte and Garrett get here?" I asked.
"I'm guessing mid afternoon, but they could turn up any time."
"Are we going to train some more today?" I asked.
"If that's what you would like to do today, then that's what we will do." Jasper said.
"Is there maybe something you would rather do? It seems all we have done is do what I want. I feel like I'm neglecting your needs." I said, feeling bad for being so self centred.
"I like doing what we have been doing. I enjoy training you. While it's incredibly sexy watching you do all those stretch's and concentrating on blocking my attacks, it's something that has to be done. And once Peter, Charlotte, and Garett get here, it's going to get a whole lot more interesting." Jasper said, an all knowing smile on his face, similar to the one on Alice's face not too long ago.
"I see your point, things will be a lot more interesting. I'm so excited to meet them!" I exclaimed.
"They are, too. Finish your breakfast and we can start training." Jasper said. I complied and finished up my breakfast. I was looking forward to our training session. Although it had only been a few days, I felt I had been getting better.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I'm supposed to do target practice with Charlie today. I'll ring him and find out when."
"Sure Bella, I may even join you." Jasper said with a wink, and he wandered outside, no doubt, to have a cigarette waiting for me. I rang Charlie, and as always, the call was brief. He and Billy had a hangover. There would be no target practice today. That was fine, more time with just Jasper and I. As I walked out onto the front porch, sure enough, Jasper was waiting with my cigarette, his own in tow.
"Charlie has a hangover?" He asked.
"Yep." I said, popping the 'p'.
"Well, he did drink a fair amount last night, and he isn't as young he used to be. He doesn't bounce back like you do." Jasper said, playfully poking me in the ribs.
"That may be so, but I'm glad he did drink last night. He seemed so carefree. I wish he was like that all the time." I sighed.
"Alcohol can do some amazing things to you." Jasper said.
"Don't I know it." I mumbled.
"Can I join in with your training for a while?" Rose asked from behind me. Jasper looked at me, obviously she was talking to me.
"Sure, Rose, but I only know the basics. I'm not sure you would like it." I said. She shook her head and managed a small half smile.
"I'm not worried about the slow pace or how bad or good you are, I'd just like to join you and maybe help a bit. It will do you good to learn from more than just Jasper. I know Jasper's friends are coming and they will be helping you train as well, but I would like to join you today, if you will let me." I was speechless. Rose wanted to join in? I know we had made a truce the night of mine and Jasper's first date, but this was unexpected.
"Of course Rose, I'd love for you to train with us." I said. She smiled a little wider.
"Thank you. When will you be ready to start?" She asked.
"Now, if your ready." I said, butting out my cigarette. All three of us headed out to start training. The session was a lot more intense with Rose. While Jasper would attack me from the front, Rose thought it would be good to attack me from behind. It was twice as exhausting, but I'm glad Rose joined in. Knowing Jasper and what he had told me about his friends, they would probably all come at me at once.
"Maybe we should stop now." Jasper said. He felty fatigue.
"Yes, I agree. Your starting to get sloppy, Bella. You will probably need a hot bath for those sore joints and muscles sooner rather than later." Rose said, making her way back to the house. While that was blunt, she was right. Every thing was starting to hurt.
Jasper carried me back to the house and into his bedroom at vampire speed. He gently sat me on the bed and went into the adjoining bathroom to run me a bath. I decided to find some new clothes to put on while I was waiting. I went into the cupboard, looking for one of Jasper's shirts to put on. I found a loose fighting black t-shirt. Yes, that will do. I made my way over to the draws and found a pair of baggy, comfortable, white cotton pants.
"The bath is ready, Bella." Jasper called from the bathroom. I walked in there to see the bubbles in the bath were so large, they looked like a big, fluffy cloud. It looked heavenly.
"Thank you, it looks wonderful and inviting." Jasper smiled and kissed my temple.
"I'll leave you to it. Just call out to me when your done. I'll give you a rub down when you get out." He said, leaving the bathroom. I was a lucky girl. After my bath and rub down that turned into so much more, Peter, Charlotte and Garrett still hadn't shown up, so I thought Jasper and I would take the trip into town that we were going to take the night before. Jasper drove, but I didn't mind. I loved his truck, it was large and comfortable. I pretty much had to jump to get into the passenger side. It made me feel safe and it smelt like Jasper. That was my favourite part. We got into town, and it was worse then I expected. It was deserted, not a soul in sight. There were bits of newspaper and plastic bags dancing in the wind and the slight showering of rain, going no particular direction. There was a car or two abandoned in the Main Street, but most things looked intact, until I saw a few of the stores with broken windows. They looked thoroughly looted. It was eerily quiet. We started heading to the edge of town, and that's when I noticed a few men in military uniform, guarding the outskirts of town.
"How have you guys managed to keep the fridge thoroughly stoked with human food and managed to keep both of us with smokes?" I asked, curiosity peaked.
"When the military took over, they organised a truck of sorts to deliver food to the places that are safely contained. That didn't stop a lot of people from looting, as you can see. And I'm not saying that Emmett and I didn't do some of the looting first on one of our patrols." Jasper said with a chuckle. "Carlisle and Esme even had a go. They went to places that were already over run. Of course, the corpses pose no threat to us unless we drink from them. You know that little greenhouse out the back of the house?" Jasper asked me.
"Yes. I've never been in there. I just figured it was various types of plants. I'm not much of a green thumb, so I never ventured out there." I said distractedly. I had no idea where he was going with this.
"Well, Esme has a vegetable and fruit garden in there. She donate's them to different shelters. So, that's where the majority of the fresh food comes from." Jasper clarified.
"So, she has been growing all the fresh food?" I asked, a little gasp escaping me. I was not expecting that.
"Yes." Jasper chuckled.
"And the cigarettes?"
"One of the first things I looted for. Picked up enough to last us at least a year." Jasper said, laughing this time.
"It seems I've been blissfully ignorant in more than just one area." I muttered. Why had my mind closed itself up? I normally noticed everything, observed the little things. Made mental notes of slight changes...
"I noticed that, too. But I have a theory." Said Jasper, breaking me out of my train of thought.
"Oh, yeah?" I questioned.
"So much has happened to you in the last year. I think your mind has closed itself off because if it allows itself to finally digest everything, it might not cope." Said Jasper.
"I'm fine." I said a bit defensively.
"It's not a bad thing, Bella. I don't want you to have a breakdown. It's a defence mechanism." Jasper said, grabbing my hand. I sighed, I wasn't going to argue, he was most likely right.
"Do you want to keep looking around or head home?" Jasper asked, pulling the car over and looking me in the eyes. "yes. I'm sure Peter, Charlotte and Garett will be along soon anyway." I answered, staring back into his eyes. The moment was suspended in time. We could have been staring into each other's eyes for seconds or hours. I got lost in his eyes, and he in mine. I'm not sure how, but we ended up back in the Cullen drive way. Jasper broke eye contact with me and got out of the truck. He came around my side to help me out and stiffened, putting an arm around my waist. I looked up at Jasper's face, then looked over at the tree line and saw three red eyed vampires. They must be Jasper's friends.
"Major." The one in the middle said. He looked similar to Jasper. Same blonde hair, except his was shorter. Roughly the same height and build, only minor differences separated the two. They could be brothers. Charlotte was beautiful of course. Petite frame, luscious long blonde hair tied in a loose bun, and Garett, he looked older than the others. He must have been turned in his late twenties. I didn't know vampires could have stubble until I saw Garett. He had brown hair, just about the same length as Peter's, and while his build was slightly smaller, he stood just as tall as Peter and Jasper. Just as intimidating... There was one thing they had in common other then the red eyes; they were covered in blood splatters.
"Captain." Jasper said with a nod of his head. Why were they being so formal?