A/N… Yeah, it's an early update. That being said… Please keep all hands inside the fic until it comes to a complete stop. Note the point of view here, but I'll let you get to it. See me at the bottom, please.

~oOo~

Chapter 7

CARLISLE

The hospital corridors were busy but quiet. After making my rounds, I started back to my office. It had been several years since I'd treated the flu-like symptoms of the virus. Only one of my patients was sick like that at the moment, and her bloodwork was normal. She simply had bronchitis that was pushing toward pneumonia. We just needed to get her fever down.

What used to give me pride in my work now made me question things. Armed with Linda Harris's medical chart, I sat down at my desk and signed onto my computer.

I had to do this a specific way, but ever since Charlie's visit two nights ago, I hadn't been able to stop thinking about my son, about the state of the world, and Charlie's news.

Grandparents. Esme and I were going to be grandparents.

I shook my head. Edward was a grown man now, with a wife and a child on the way, and according to Charlie, he was some sort of savior in the Outer Zone. Charlie spoke of Edward with respect and reverence, and it saddened me greatly that I didn't know my son. I didn't know him now, and I wasn't sure if that was my fault or Edward's.

I knew the boy. I knew the child. Edward Anthony Cullen had been a gift to Esme and me, and he'd been a beautiful baby, sweet and happy. As he grew, he'd become extremely intelligent, curious, and headstrong. All those things he'd inherited from both of his parents. And it seemed it was those things that culminated into who he was now. Only on a much larger and more dangerous scale.

When Aro had gifted me a slave, I'd no more wanted one than a hole in my head, but Aro's insistence gave me no choice. He forced Bella on me. I gritted my teeth as I remembered him shoving a traumatized twelve-year-old girl at me all while wearing a menacing grin as he told me to enjoy her.

Enjoy her. There were rumors as to what Aro did with his slaves, but if anything confirmed it for me, it was that statement.

I'd seen what happened to people who refused Aro, who argued or denied him. His temper, his vengeance was harsh and unrelenting. Refusal would've been suicide.

Bella had been a beautiful girl, and really, Esme and I had talked about another child, but it simply never happened. I had been fully prepared to treat her as our own.

And that was where Edward was probably braver than his parents.

I huffed a humorless laugh. Where I should have been proud of my son for doing the right thing, for standing up for someone weaker, my fear of Aro, of stirring up trouble, of causing a rift, had turned from pride to anger. I should've talked to Edward; I should've explained the seriousness of the situation. Hell, I should've sat down with Edward and Bella and told them the truth – that saying something could put a target on my family.

Instead, my teenage son simply stood up for what was right and walked away. He'd probably felt unheard and dismissed and invalidated. So he did what he thought was best. He saved a girl who cried herself to sleep every damn night.

And now he was married to that same girl. He was going to be a father, and regret and guilt racked my frame at how I'd missed it. All of it. Again, I couldn't decide if I was mad at my son or myself, but I was leaning toward the latter. Hindsight was always going to be 20/20.

Sighing, I went back to my computer and pulled up Linda's file. I noted her progress, ordered the meds she'd need, and then started to search through her history. She'd been in the Sound since the beginning. She was married to one of the computer specialists in the basement.

However, she'd lost a teenage son to the virus. He would've been around Edward's age. Following that piece of information, I pulled up her son's file. I hadn't been Lance Harris's doctor, but I could see that they'd put him in the trials for the vaccine, because Linda had requested that we do anything that we could to save her son.

The list of his medications was long and complicated, and I noticed that he'd been given two different vaccines.

"Damn it," I breathed, shaking my head at the fact that he'd been given a placebo.

Without thinking, I checked into the vaccine. There were two – the real thing and something that wouldn't have even helped with a basic flu. Both had been created at the same time by the lab in this very building. And it seemed the real vaccine had limitations – low stock, specific waiting list, and list of cities to which it had been shipped.

I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole following the history of these medications until I reached something called PMP. According to the records, PMP had been made in mass quantities back in 2016.

Pulmonis Mors Pestis. If my Latin was up to par, then it meant Lung Death Plague.

And it had been shipped everywhere.

My heart sank and then proceeded to pound in my chest. PMP was created and shipped from here. Lung death. The largest symptom of the virus was massive fluid in the lungs. In fact, that was the first thing to start the illness – flu-like or pneumonia-like symptoms that progressed so rapidly that the patient essentially drowned in their own fluids. Once they reached the point that they couldn't breathe on their own, then they were intubated. And that was usually the beginning of the end. We'd lose the patient not long after.

I exited out of the medications list, going back to Linda's file to save my notes, and I sat back in my chair to gaze out the window. I wasn't particularly worried about my searches. My history and reputation in this hospital would speak for itself. It wasn't uncommon for me to research a patient's history or family lineage, and I'd state as much should someone come asking.

From my seat, I could see the Outer Zone in the distance, the walls surrounding the Sound, and the constant patrol route of the raiders. Were they keeping the residents of the Outer Zone out? Or us in? If the people on the other side of the wall weren't sick, and if my son said they were "free," then what the hell had truly happened to the world?

My eyes drifted around my office, finding my diplomas and photos. I took in a painting Esme had given me with the Hippocratic Oath – First, do no harm.

"Shit," I sighed, rubbing my face.

How much damn harm had been caused by the building in which I was sitting? How much loss of life? Was Aro responsible for a virus that completely shut down everything we ever knew? Were we merely a cog in the machine that had torn down civilization?

Those questions floated around in my mind for the rest of my shift at the hospital. By the time I told my staff goodnight, I was paranoid that maybe my computer search would flag me. And now, I honestly had a thousand more questions for Charlie.

But I needed to set eyes on my wife.

The sun was setting when I finally set foot inside our apartment. My heart fell to the floor when I saw that my wife was sitting at our dining room table with a man in uniform.

"Carlisle, how was your day?" Esme asked, and I forced a smile her way as I kissed the top of her head.

"Quiet, for the most part. Mrs. Harris is showing improvement."

"That's good, sweetheart," Esme sang, seemingly unfazed by the man at our table. "Carlisle, this is Demetri. He said he needed to see you."

"Demetri," I greeted, reaching across to shake the man's hand. "What can I do for you?"

I knew who he was, the commanding officer of the raiders. He answered directly to Aro and no other. The man gave off a deadly vibe. His movements were calculated and almost forced as he wrapped a hand around a coffee cup.

"I received word that you did some unusual computer activity today, Dr. Cullen. I just wanted to touch base because some information is red flagged. I told them down in IT that you had high clearance, but they wanted me to at least question you."

"Oh? What activity?"

"Searches on the virus, some medication inquiries…" He trailed off on purpose, watching my reaction, but I kept my face stoic.

"Mrs. Harris. She's been showing signs of the old virus, and despite her bloodwork, I wanted to verify whether she'd ever been in contact with someone infected, which she had. I plan to run more tests tomorrow because I wanted to know if it was possible for it to lie dormant," I explained, not really lying, but he didn't know that. "Her son succumbed to the virus when it started several years back. I needed to know how he'd been treated and with what medications."

Demetri's smile was slow and not exactly friendly. "See? I knew there would be a good explanation. Smart man, by the way. We don't want to see that nasty virus on this side of the wall. Did you happen to ask her if she'd ever been in the Outer Zone?"

"No, I didn't. But I don't imagine she has. She's a resident of this building. Has been since we moved here."

Demetri grinned wolfishly. "Excellent!" He looked to my wife. "Mrs. Cullen, I thank you for the coffee. It was delicious and just the pick-me-up I needed to start my long night shift." He stood up from the table, and I followed his lead, walking him to our door. Just as he reached for the knob, he paused and faced me again. "By the way, you wouldn't have just happened to have any contact with your son, have you?"

I shook my head sadly. "No, he's been gone fifteen years," I answered carefully. "I'd love to set eyes on him, but I hold no hope that he's survived the Outer Zone with how sick it is." Even now, I wondered how I'd ever believed that lie.

Demetri's lips lifted in a half smile. "It's a good thing that you called off the search for young Edward back then. You're probably right. He's most likely dead, or if not, he's…tainted."

That bastard just lied to my face. He knew Edward was still alive. He knew he wasn't sick. However, he truly wasn't sure if Edward had ever made contact with us. And something akin to pride welled up in me because my son was smarter than this man in front of me. Edward had clearly outwitted the raiders for years if he was wanted so badly, according to Charlie.

"Perhaps you're right," I said through a weary and sad sigh, smiling a bit. "Please let me know if there's ever anything else I can do for you, Demetri."

"Thank you, Dr. Cullen… Mrs. Cullen," he said, nodding once before exiting the apartment.

I closed the door behind Demetri, slowly clicking the lock into place. When I faced my wife, she was pale but curious.

"What did you do?" Esme barely whispered aloud.

I shook my head, getting her away from our door. "I think it's time to talk about Edward's and Charlie's offers," I said softly against her forehead. "I want you to get a bag ready. Keep it safe and hidden. Just in case."

She shifted in front of me nervously. "I already have."

My eyebrows lifted high.

"I want to see my son, Carlisle. I don't care about Aro or walls. If my son says it's the right thing, then I want to trust him."

I studied my wife's expression. She'd been inconsolable back when Edward had first left us. I think there was a part of her that would've followed him then, but we didn't. And I could see that Edward's and Charlie's visits had changed us both. We'd been living in a bubble until Edward showed up a few weeks ago. We'd been numb to it all. After Charlie, it was like we'd finally woken up after a long sleep.

"Okay. Then from this point on, we'll play our part, but you need to know what I found out today."

"Okay, but you… You called off the search for our son? When?"

"Two years after he left us," I told her, guiding her to the couch and sitting on the ottoman in front of her. "A raider running the investigation advised me to let it go, that Edward had vanished and, with him, Bella, too. He didn't want us holding on to false hope, because if he couldn't be found, it may have meant the worst possibilities. I stopped the search. I let him go."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she glanced down. "But he was my baby, Carlisle. He was our boy. You… You just…stopped caring?"

"No, Es. Not one bit. Not a day has gone by that I don't miss our son. But he wasn't wrong. It took me too long to see it. And now I know he was completely in the right to do what he did. I stopped the search because the harder they searched for them, the higher the possibility was that he and Bella might have gotten hurt. There was a part of me that believed he could've been sick, but I knew if he wanted to come home, he would have. He didn't.

"And now, I think our son is scaring the shit out of them. If they're asking us about him fifteen years later, if they're lying about whether or not he's alive, then he's got them on edge."

"He so strong, Carlisle," she praised, sniffling a little. "He grew up so smart and strong and confident and, my God, so handsome."

I grinned, kissing her lips. "He is all of those things. And I think when he comes back, then we need to be prepared to go with him." I sighed, shaking my head. "I don't want to miss out on our grandchild. We've missed too much already."

She nodded again, swiping at her tears, but I reached up to do it for her with my thumbs. "Okay, then tell me what you found out today."

~oOo~

EDWARD

"Explosives are set," I heard Jasper over the radio on Emmett's hip.

Nodding, I checked my weapon and my vest, tugging my hood up. It was strange attacking in the daytime, but we'd prepared for it. We were wearing lighter clothes – gray to match the steel buildings surrounding us. I gave a quick glance down the tracks to check everyone's locations.

Sam, Jake, and Seth were hidden just inside the doorway of an old factory a few blocks down, along with a handful of people who were there to simply load shit; they wouldn't fight, but they would save us time. We needed to be as fast as we could be doing this.

Above us on the rooftops on either side of the tracks was Alistair, Angela, Maria, and Ben. I didn't know Ben well, but Reverend Weber vouched for the boy. Apparently, he and Angela were a thing or some shit. Those were our snipers. And all of them were decent shots.

Jasper ran at full speed so he could tuck away in an alley across the train tracks from Emmett and me. He held up the remote for the detonator, wearing a cheesy grin, which made Emmett chuckle.

Lastly, I checked on the truck. We'd set it up to look broken down and useless, like it had always been rotting away right there, but it wasn't. It was covered in garbage and old pallets leaned against it. The roll-down doors were closed, but inside that truck were two of the smartest women I knew. Rose was a hellcat behind the wheel of any vehicle, and Bella was fast and a damn good shot. Both women had automatic rifles and handguns. Tucked away in the cab was one of Flash's drones. They'd set that thing outside the safe house once they'd parked the truck inside.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock," Emmett muttered under his breath, rolling a grenade lightly back and forth between his hands. "You know what I can't wait for?"

"To throw that grenade? You're scaring the piss outta me. Stop fucking fidgeting with it."

He grinned, clipping said grenade back to his belt. "No, asshole. Thanksgiving. Sector B is gonna have all the good stuff out."

Smiling at that, I shook my head. Sector B did a good job with holidays. Alistair and Sue said that the way they did it was like street fairs from before the walls. There was food and music, dancing and games. There were traditional Thanksgiving foods, but there were different things from different cultures, too. It was a good time.

And if we took this train down, then it would be a celebration too. At least, I hoped it would be a celebration.

A sharp whistle met my ears, and we glanced up to see Alistair giving the signal. The train was inbound. Emmett picked up his radio and gave the alert. Everyone slipped into shadows.

A glance down the track to the south, and I caught sight of the train. It wasn't speeding, but it would need slowing down. We needed to give it a reason to slow. They needed to see the tracks explode.

As it straightened around a corner, I gave Jasper the signal to hold for a few seconds before blowing it. He pressed the detonator, and the four set charges went off one right after the other – bang, bang, bang, bang.

The squeal of brakes and metal were loud as the engine slowed down. By the time it was nearing Emmett and me, it was almost slow enough to hop on, but from where I was, I could see the train was crawling with raiders. They were on top of and in between the cars, and they were guarding the engine. I couldn't see the last car, but I could imagine it was just as heavily guarded.

"Fuck me," I sighed. "Wait for it."

The engine passed us by, but not by too much when it finally came to a stop. However, the raiders were ready for a damn fight. A few hopped down to the ground to make their way up the tracks to inspect the damage, and we all stayed silent and still because it was Alistair's snipers who were going to start this fight.

The sound of high-powered weapons shattered any silence. The group investigating the now ruined tracks were taken down at the same time the guards riding on top of the cars were removed. Raiders fell to the ground from up top, but it was Alistair on the radio we needed.

"Top is clear. Go, go, go," he rattled off quickly.

"Let's do this," Emmett grunted, taking that grenade of his and pulling the pin as we ran toward the engine. "Fire in the hole," he called over the radio, tossing that thing in between the engine and the first car.

It was loud, but so were the screams of raiders as they spilled out of their hiding places and onto the ground. Emmett and I immediately opened fire. I could hear gunshots all the way down the train as he and I stepped up behind the engine, coming face-to-face with Jasper.

"I'll take the top to the back of this car. You two take the inside," Jasper told us, climbing up to the top of the first car.

"On me," I said, waiting until Jasper disappeared up top.

Emmett and I busted through the door, weapons at the ready. We found two raiders just inside, ending them quickly. One was at the back, but as soon as he slid the door open, he was done.

Emmett pulled out his radio. "First car…clear!"

We rushed to the end of the car that was filled with food – fresh vegetables, dry goods, and what seemed to be bottles of wine. The next car was the same, and inside were two more raiders. Emmett called that one clear before we aimed for the third car.

I slammed open the door, popping off several shots. It seemed a whole team of raiders were hiding in this car. And for good reason; it was weapons and ammo.

"Watch your fire," I told Emmett. "You'll blow us all to hell."

"Yeah, got it."

Once we got through the third car, Sam's voice came angrily over the radio. "Keys! I need keys! Or bolt cutters," he yelled. "They've chained these people to the car."

"Motherfu—" Emmett grumbled, spinning around to start checking these assholes for keys.

"I'll check the ones up top," I volunteered, reaching for the ladder on the fourth car. Once I was up there, I gave a sharp whistle, pointing toward the first car. "Start loading! Now, now, now!"

The team from the far-end factory spilled out of their hiding spot and ran toward the first car at the same time the box truck's rolling door slid up.

"Don't you move," I ordered, pointing at my gorgeous wife. "You let them do this shit. You're there for guarding only."

She flashed a grin, giving me a silly mock salute, but my girl readied her weapon. Rose, however, started helping load the truck. She took whatever they set on the bed and arranged it in the back so we could fit it all.

I jumped from car to car, checking the fallen raiders for keys. If they came up empty, then they were rolled off the side. The snipers had taken down what seemed to be a dozen or so, but I didn't have time for a count.

We were in a time crunch as it was. We knew they'd call in the attack, but we were betting on how long it would take to ready a team of raiders, load them up, navigate through the Sound, and make it to us.

Someone called out that they had found the keys, so I made my way up to the engine to keep watch on the direction that they would come at us. A glance back to the last car, and I shook my head at the people being guided toward Bella and Rose. There were more slaves than there had been raiders. Luckily, the safe house would hold them temporarily until the sun went down.

My eyes were trained toward the gate the raiders would use, and so far, it was still. I heard calls of clear and loaded. I spun to see Bella slam down the box truck door, and the truck sped away, the garbage and pallets falling to the ground.

A sharp whistle came from Alistair, and he pointed toward the north. "We're about to have comp—"

Before he could finish that sentence, shots rained down on me, and I fell down flat onto the roof of the first train car.

"Shit," I hissed, glancing back when I heard Emmett call for me. "Take cover. They came from the sides!"

I crawled to the ladder, but shots pinged around me, so I stayed flat, aiming my weapon haphazardly toward the alleyway. I fired off a few rounds to give myself cover so I could finally get down off that damned roof. I was sitting fucking duck up there.

The sniper fire was loud, and it came from different directions than we'd placed them, so it seemed Alistair was shifting them around in order to catch all the raiders aiming our way.

I was finally able to slip from the roof to the space between the engine and the first car, falling into the now empty space for cover. Bullets slammed into the side of the car, but they didn't pierce the train's metal.

Movement behind me made me swing my weapon around, but Emmett joined me, rushing to drop to a knee at the door.

"We need to keep their attention long enough for the truck to get away," he stated, pulling out another grenade. "You and me. We'll make a run for it, make them focus on us. We'll trap them over by that old diner. Ready?"

"Yup," I said, checking my ammo and readying my weapon. "On you. I'll take the back."

He met my gaze for a split second, inhaling sharply before pulling the pin on that grenade and exiting out the train. He and I hit the ground running and firing, but he threw that grenade toward the alleyway.

We heard the raiders call to split up, so Emmett and I ran toward the next block, taking a right, a left, and another right. They took the bait and gave chase. The diner Emmett mentioned had a stash of ammo in it. However, it wasn't the newer safe house. We were putting ourselves way too close to the Sound's walls and too far from the place Alistair and I had set up. It didn't fucking matter, though; if the truck got away, then we'd succeeded.

The raiders opened fire on us as we crossed the next street. Emmett and I slid behind an old rusty car, panting heavily. The diner was right there, and I needed it because I was running low on ammo.

Emmett peeked around the bumper of that old car, ducking back quickly when they shot at him.

"Diner, Edward. We gotta make a run for it. Ready?"

Nodding, I glanced back through the car windows, and they shattered. "On three… One, two…three!"

It was going to be close. Emmett threw his last grenade without bothering to look. It exploded behind us at the same time I felt fire and pain slam into me full force. It started in my leg and caused me to not only lose my balance, but also push me through the glass window of that diner.

Emmett's voice sounded distant, but my ears were ringing, and my vision went blurry as I clawed to stay conscious. I needed to fight, but my whole world fell into darkness.

~oOo~

A/N… I know most of you were with Bella on this one, that it was dangerous. I know everyone is worried, but the next chapter is done and will post next Sunday.

Guys, I'm doing my best to keep up with all the things, which is why I'm updating early. Depression and anxiety are a real true thing when you're constantly living in survival mode. I've got huge troubles with my car, and at this point, I can't decide whether to keep patching it with duct tape and bubblegum or just surrender the bastard. I can't afford to truly fix it. A mechanic is a fucking luxury. I don't know, and it's overwhelmingly exhausting. It's hard not to just walk away from it all. I'm doing my best to keep up with this story. You know?

However, the next update will be Sunday, with a pic teaser in between. Until then… Mooches, Deb ;)