A/N… I want to thank you for all the love you're showing for this new adventure. I'll let you get to it. We're back with Edward on this one…
~oOo~
Chapter 3
EDWARD
The chatter was loud inside the old restaurant in Sector B. The elders were talking to Alice, and her experiences made me angry and uncomfortable. I leaned back in my chair, staring out the window over the now rainy afternoon.
Despite the good food and the conversation on which I should've been focused, I barely heard a thing. I made sure Bella was eating enough, which was something I'd been doing since she showed up with my father in the apartment on the Sound.
After three months of witnessing sad brown eyes, fearful, jumpy demeanor, and having arguments with my parents about how wrong it was that Bella was in our home, I gave up on making them see how awful it was to own another human being. Instead, I did my best to help her, keep her company, and maybe just find a way to get her home. It was raining just like this the day I left the Sound with her, never to look back.
~oOo~
My gaze was locked on droplets of water rolling down the windowpane as I heard Bella in the kitchen. I was pissed off and grounded to my room for arguing with my parents. I was supposed to be doing my schoolwork, but the tablet in front of me couldn't keep my attention. School in the Sound was all electronic and remote; no real teacher, no classroom, no building. It was a program designed and maintained by the computer people downstairs. And despite the fact that we would've probably been in the same grade, she wasn't allowed in school.
In other words, they wanted their free labor to stay ignorant.
For the last few months, that was the nightly routine – dinner, school, dishes, bed. Bella said she didn't actually mind cleaning the kitchen after dinner because that was her chore with her own parents. It was after we were supposed to be in bed that things got ugly. I didn't know if my parents could hear Bella's crying, but I could. She was right on the other side of my bedroom wall.
The water shut off in the kitchen, and I stood, gazing outside the window. Looking out over the Sound, I noted how quiet it was, how still. In the distance, raiders drove their usual routes on the streets along the walls, and beyond that I could see fires and soft light.
I knew the people from the Outer Zone would sneak into the Sound. They'd steal and raid, sabotage and smuggle. I used to sneak out of the apartment to explore. I'd run into a few of them when I was out there. They mostly came at night, but occasionally, I'd see them out in the day.
I'd been told they were sick, that they were dying, which was why there were walls in the first place. Not a bit of it was true. They were normal, healthy, but they had been cut off from everything.
Emmett McCarty was a big-ass kid, but he was a happy, easygoing thing. He was the first guy my age I'd met from over the wall. He'd shown me the best way to get around the Sound without alerting anyone, and he was the one who'd told me about the break in the wall by the old apartment building.
The last time we'd talked, I'd told him about Bella, and he'd been pissed off because apparently, he knew her father. He said if I was serious about getting her out of the Sound and back to the Outer Zone, then the next time he was over the wall, there would be a bonfire lit on his side.
Once I saw the fire, I was to meet him in the garage of my apartment building.
I scanned the streets below, at the raiders making another round, and back to the fire on the other side of the wall one more time. However, it was the sniffles and sobs that made my mind up for me. I spun around, aiming for my closet. I grabbed a backpack that had once belonged to my dad. I took a couple of shirts, some pants, and some undies and socks. I pulled on a black, hooded sweatshirt and shouldered the bag, and then I stepped silently to the door of my bedroom, opening it as quietly as I could.
Across the hallway was my parents' room, and I could hear the soft snores from my dad. However, it was the door next to mine I needed, and I tapped lightly. When it opened, I put my finger to my lips for Bella to stay quiet as I walked in, closing the door behind me.
"C'mon, we're getting you out of here," I whispered to her. I gestured around the room. "Anything you need to take?"
"Edward, we—"
"Shh," I hushed her. "We're going, because this is some bullshit."
She smirked at me, folding her arms across her chest. "If you do this, then…they'll know it was you."
"Yeah, maybe, but I ain't comin' back either. This place is wrong, Bella. Wrong. They lie about everything – viruses, slaves, rules. Don't you remember from before? The world wasn't locked up into these towers."
She nodded. "Barely, but Edward, you can't—"
"I can't stay here. I can't live here knowing that you and I are the same, but they would own you like they own a damn refrigerator. What makes me different?"
She huffed a laugh and shrugged. "Your parents are important. At one time, you had money. I remember money, too."
Scowling, I shook my head. "We're leaving. If I have to, I'll come back."
We were about the same height, and her eyes reminded me of warm chocolate – her hair too. It was long, and she always braided it over her shoulder at night. However, something that I said made her sad, and her tears welled up again.
"If you come back…will I see you again?"
I studied her face, and I knew she was scared. And despite the circumstances, she and I had a lot in common. We liked the same shows – what shows they allowed on the Sound's televisions – and we liked to play the same games. But I found it was easy to talk to her, even though she was a girl. She wasn't spoiled like the kids in the building. She wasn't stuck up like the grownups. She was real and good and brave. And she was better than these assholes who said she was "less than," the ones who deemed her a slave, simply because she was from the other side of a wall they put up.
"C'mon," I said, offering her my hand. "Let's go."
"Wait," she whispered, turning toward her dresser. She pulled out some clothes, looking to me. "Turn around, Edward!"
"Oh, sorry." I did as she asked as she changed from pajamas to regular clothes.
"Okay," I heard behind me.
When I turned back to face the room, I could see she'd dressed similarly to me – jeans, dark-blue hoodie, and she was tying up her sneakers – black, high-top Converse that were stained and wearing out. I swallowed at the fact that the stains had been her mother's blood from when the raiders had shot her to take Bella. And sadly, she wouldn't allow anyone to clean them.
Before we left her room, she stopped me. "Are you sure about this, Edward?"
I nodded, offering her my hand again. "Yeah, let's go. Emmett should be downstairs."
Once we got to the door, I reached over and tugged her hood up, and I did the same to my own. I checked my pockets for my key in case I had to come back, but we left the apartment in silence, still hand in hand.
The stairs were next to the apartment at the end of the hallway. I'd noticed no one really used them, and they weren't monitored as much as the elevators. We took them quickly and quietly. At the bottom exit, I paused, pressing my ear to the door and opening it slowly.
Emmett's large form was leaning against the closest parked car, his arms folded across his chest. His shirt and jacket were speckled with raindrops, and his sneakers were soaked.
"I was hopin' you'd show," he said with a big grin. "Ready? 'Cause it's a long walk, and we gotta stay out of sight."
Bella and I both nodded.
Emmett smiled again, but this time at Bella. "Your dad's gonna be happy and surprised. I didn't tell 'im nothin' about meetin' you. I wasn't sure you could get away."
Emmett led us down into an underground part of the Sound that I'd never even known was there. It was block after block of old buildings and streets that had been built over by what were now all the towers where the people of the Sound were living and working.
When he finally stopped, it was at the bottom of a ladder leading back up to the street. He climbed, carefully opening the hatch above. It seemed to take forever for him to finally wave us up. We emerged out of the underground behind a dumpster in an old, abandoned alleyway.
"See that building across the street?" he asked us in a whisper, and we both nodded. "Good. That's where we're going. And don't go to the door. Aim for the back of the building. Okay?"
All three of us took off at a run, and dove into the shadows as the sound of tires on wet asphalt met our ears.
"C'mon!" Emmett hissed, leading us to the far back corner of the backyard. The Sound's wall sat askew at just enough of an angle for us to slip through it. Bella and I both froze when there were a few people on the other side.
Bella immediately ran to one man, who wrapped her up and spoke softly to her. It had to have been her father, because they had the same features – dark hair and eyes. Though Charlie had a most impressive mustache.
Something about seeing her reunited with the only family she had left felt right, felt good. And I swallowed nervously, shifting on my feet as rain continued to fall over us.
A hand landed on my shoulder. "What's your name?" the woman asked.
"Ed-Edward Cullen, ma'am."
"You risked a lot getting her back here," she said almost in a chastising manner. "They'll punish you for doing it."
"They gotta find me first," I countered.
"You don't want to go back?" she asked, and I shook my head vehemently. "They call me Grandma Sue. I'm Em's grandmother. You can stay with me. Both of you."
I looked to Bella, who was confused. "Dad?"
"Yeah, kiddo, I think you need to stay with Sue. Now that you're safe, I think it's time to fight these bastards." He snorted a little, glancing to Sue. "Once a cop, always a cop. I'll go undercover. We'll start from the inside out." He looked to me. "Your parents will send the raiders for you, son. But you got my daughter back to me, so I'll return the favor if you're sure you're stayin'."
"I'm staying."
"Okay, then let's prepare ourselves to hide you come morning," Sue added. "For now, I'd like you to get warm and maybe something to eat."
~oOo~
Those first few months had been hard on Oz because of me. The raiders were rabid and nasty when it came to bringing me home. However, Sue and Charlie, not to mention Alistair, all wrapped themselves around Bella and me. They knew if we were taken by the raiders that it was quite possible that I'd be severely punished, which could mean anything from imprisonment to heavy labor, and no, it didn't matter that I was only thirteen at the time. But even more, we were terrified for them to get their hands on Bella again. We feared they'd kill her for running away from her "owners." It was possible she'd be shipped off to a different walled city or given to someone who had disgusting intentions toward a beautiful twelve-year-old girl.
Back then, we'd all fought like lions to keep her safe.
It took a couple of years for the raiders to stop targeting Oz for the two of us. In that time, Bella and I trained and learned. Sue put us in a different kind of school, one more like the era before walls. They taught from books, urging us to learn math, history, and some basic knowledge we'd need as we got older. We slowly started to come out of hiding and began to immerse ourselves in the resistance against the Sound.
I often wondered what had called off the raiders. Was it their failure to find us? Or was it something else? Did they assume we were dead? All of the Sound was repeatedly told that Oz was sick, so maybe they assumed we were now infected and not worth bringing back.
Turning away from the window and back to Bella, I reached over to tuck her hair behind her ear. I needed that face. She had been the reason I'd left the Sound, and now, she was the one true thing that kept me fighting. Leaning over, I kissed the side of her head, and I tried to focus back on the conversation around me.
"I think our next step needs to be the train and the tracks leading into the Sound. Our best bet is that last railroad bridge. Salmon Bay. Take it down, and they'll have to really work to reroute their trains," Alistair stated, standing up to tap on the map on the wall.
This map was different than the one in the auto shop. This one had been stolen by Flash via the Sound's internet servers. He was and always would be smarter than those assholes in the towers. He was always taking information, train and ship schedules, and their tech. He loved taking their weapons, drones, and keycards and turning them against the raiders.
Flash joined Al at the map, tapping the bridge we were discussing. "There's another one scheduled a week from now," he stated, and he turned to face us. "If I'm reading this shit correctly, then you're looking at food and slaves, which as we all know are traded for medical supplies. So…which do we stop?"
"Food and slaves," I stated. "Medical supplies are… I've got that. But if we stop their ability to trade slaves and food, then we can start to make them sweat. If they can't trade, then they'll start to suffer. We stop the train, remove the raiders guarding it, and take it all. Only then do we blow that bridge."
"Shit," I heard Bella say through a soft sigh, and she looked my way. "If you're leading this, Edward Cullen, you'd better be fucking careful. I'm not kidding."
That wasn't even a threat. That was fear.
"We'll need trucks to move it and a place to store it. That will be a big haul," Alistair added as he nodded my way. "That's not even touching the slaves we'll have to house."
I leaned over to Bella's ear, whispering, "If you want to tell them now, we can. Because you will not be a part of this unless you're up and away from the heat of this shit. I'm not kidding, either. We have to do things differently, but that doesn't mean we hide. I know what you're saying, love. I do. So…let's be smart. Together."
She looked to me, and her eyes narrowed. "I need you. I need you to come home to me. We'll do this, but I'm still leaving a letter for my dad. I know you wanted him to know first, but—"
"Okay. You're right. This is an important discussion, and they need to know where we'll all be. And you will not be anywhere near trains or bridges."
She huffed a laugh but nodded in acquiescence. "Fine. It seems we're on the same page."
"Mmm," I hummed against her temple. "I certainly hope so, because my page is reading like one of those dirty novels you like to sneak into the apartment every once in a while."
Her laugh escaped her, and it caused the whole room to stop. And I grinned against her neck and pressed a kiss to her skin before standing.
"Sorry. But before we do this," I started, gesturing to the map and facing Alistair, "we need to make some changes to the group."
"What? Why?" Emmett countered, sounding like a really big, whiny kid, but Rose's gaze shot to Bella and back to me, and her smile made me grin briefly.
"Bella can't be on the frontline. We can put her in the bank building, we can set her up with a sniper rifle, or she can control the drone, but she's not on this mission. At least, she's not taking the train with us," I told them firmly.
"But she's the fastest runner. She's a damn good shot," Alistair argued.
"She's also pregnant," I told him, smiling at the gasps around the room. "I'm all for fighting, but I need to protect what we're fighting for. Understand?"
Sue's eyes welled up, and she rushed to me to give me a bone-crushing hug before she went over to Bella to cup her face and whisper shit I couldn't hear.
I looked back to Alistair, saying, "Take it or leave it, Al. We need to be careful."
His expression was frozen in an utterly pissed-off face, but it slowly melted as his smile spread. He glanced down to his feet, his shoulders sagging as he shook his head.
"Damn," he sighed, meeting my gaze and reaching for my shoulder to give it a rough squeeze. "Congrats, Cullen."
"Thank you. I gotta keep her safe, Al," I whispered to him.
He nodded. "Yeah, kid. I know." He pushed his hands into the front pockets of his pants. "Then let's get with Flash. See what he can give us to work with. According to the schedule, we've got four days to come up with a plan, set up for it, and take out that next train. And we're destroying Salmon Bay Bridge."
"You want me on the train or the bridge?" I asked him.
"The train."
I nodded, because I'd assumed as much, and he waved Flash back over.
"Yeah, Al?"
Flash was such a contradiction. He was a big dude, muscular, and could hold his own in a fight, but his true strength was his knowledge of computers, electronics, and weaponry. He could repair just about anything. He'd take all the shit we could steal from the Sound or salvage from abandoned places and put it to work for us. Even more, he used the Sound's computer system against them, taking and manipulating information.
"What kind of equipment can we count on from you for this, Flash?" Al asked him.
"Everything. I've got communications, drones, and all the vests we were able to remove from all the raiders we've taken down. Plus, I've been working on explosives, so that bridge will be rubble when you're all done," he rattled off.
"Vests…" I mused, trailing off but eyeing Bella from across the restaurant. "Vests are in. For sure. In fact, anyone actually taking the train will wear one. I don't care how much Sam and the cousins bitch about it."
Al laughed. "They'll consider it cheating."
I snorted, shaking my head. "I know, but they'll live to add up their fucking points. I don't even know who's ahead at this point."
"Jake."
"Whatever." I waved that away. "We should unhook the engine from the cars. Let the engine go down with the bridge. That will not only get some attention, but it'll also set them back months."
Al paced a little in front of Flash and me, nodding slowly. "I like it. The problem I'm having is this is a daytime mission. We'll be out in the open, not using the dark to our favor."
"There's camouflage for all sorts of shit, Al," Flash pointed out. "We've got time to survey our location."
Al finally nodded once. "Okay. Fine. We'll start planning tomorrow." He looked to me. "And you. Wanna talk about your parents? And does Charlie know?"
"Bella's going to leave him instructions tonight." I frowned, gazing out the window into the rainy afternoon. "I dunno, Al. Seeing them the other night… I saw two scared people, not the enemy I'd had built up in my head."
"Hell, Edward. Aro's manipulated all of us. He's put us all in this fucking rat maze, and we've had to relearn every-damn-thing." He grimaced a little. "Your dad, though, is high up there in the labs and hospital, so to remove him will be another giant middle finger to Aro, but—"
"But he'll really set the raiders on Oz," I finished for him. "Yeah, I know. I've thought about it over and over since I saw them, but Al, they not only knew it was me taking medical supplies, but they also started hoarding them for us. They had no idea if I'd ever come back again, but they did it anyway. That tells me something. You know?"
"Okay. Send Charlie to make contact. We'll let him decide what to do with them. Funny enough, kid, he doesn't hold a grudge either. Only you had one against them. We've all had our lives shaken up." He patted the side of my face. "Try to remember that. Try to remember that the lies started well before the walls went up. Okay?"
"Sir."
"Good. Meet at the shop in the morning," he instructed.
I nodded, walking away from him toward Bella, who was surrounded by all the women.
"C'mon, love. Al wants us to leave that message for your dad tonight," I told her, offering her my hand.
"Okay," she said, and we both smiled when everyone congratulated us again as we left the building. "You okay?" she asked, as we made our way back to our apartment. "That looked like an intense conversation with Al."
"Yeah. I'm okay. He wants your dad to make contact with my parents. See what they want to do," I told her, bringing her hand up to kiss the back of it. "I love you, and I don't regret coming here with you. I don't regret fighting or falling in love with you or marrying you, but I regret leaving them behind for so long. I need to fix that."
Bella stopped, reaching up to cup my face. "Okay, then we'll fix it."
~oOo~
A/N… There are a couple of flashbacks ahead in this story. I wanted to be able to show a few important steps as to how we got to this point.
We're back with Bella on the next chapter, which will update next Sunday. Watch for pic teasers on FB and X…or Twitter…or what-the-hell-ever they're calling it now. In a year, they'll probably change it to Rumpelstiltskin. What the hell do I know?
Anyway, see you next week. Until then… Mooches, Deb ;)
