Her Protector (On Hold)

Chapter 7: The Last Attempt

"CY!!!!" Rosalie's loud shrieks echoed throughout the large spaces of the empty and hollow edges of the construction zone we found ourselves in on the developing edge of town.

By this time, night had fallen engulfing the landscape in a black cloak to prevent any traveler from seeing too far ahead. Jack had led us miles outside of town to a parking garage that was currently under construction for the new outlets being built nearby. The project was far enough along to have a steady structure built on the lower levels.

Large blocks of concrete littered the spacious ground. Cheap, temporary lights were bolted into the low ceiling across the solid mass of a floor in order to aid the workers with light while they worked during the long hours of the night. Luckily, due to the events that happened earlier today, their night time routine was most likely canceled to ensure that no stray gunman came to kill everyone off while they worked. A few backpacks were leaned up against a column towards the middle of the floor we were on as empty water bottles littered the ground around them. It looked like my little family had been hiding here for quite some time judging by all of the trash they collected into a pile in the corner by the column.

A huge smile broke out across my face as my eyes fell upon the very people I had been worried senselessly about since this morning. Despite so much being on my mind with Tom, Chase, and Achlys, they, too, were on my mind. Relief flooded over me as I now had the solid proof that my closest friend, her father, and my mother were all safe. I sprinted towards my best friend with all the energy my exhausted body could muster and swooped her up tightly in my arms.

"Dammit, you scared the CRAP outta me!" Rosalie exclaimed, a worried frown etched across her flawless face as her hazel eyes bore deeply into mine. "I was worried sick about you!"

My smile never faltered once despite her mother-like reprimand,"Jack was with me the entire time. I'm safe thanks to him."

I threw back a grateful look to him before turning back to my best friend.

"It's so good to see that you're safe!" Mr. Anderson exclaimed from behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me up in the air briefly to give me one of his "monster hugs". Temporarily, my ability to breathe was taken away by his strong arms squeezing the life out of me.

"Okay okay okay okay!" I coughed jokingly. "I missed you, too!"

As he set me down, I met his green eyes with a smile before shifting my gaze over to my mother who stood sheepishly in the corner of the garage. She had isolated herself from the rest of the group, sticking herself like a fly to the wall in the shadows not wanting to be seen or talked to.

"Mom?" I called out to her, my smile fading from my lips. The last time we had spoken, I had stormed off when she had told me that my biological father was going to be at the competition just this morning. We never had the chance to talk about it once the gunners and boats showed up to the beach.

Her green eyes met mine with an overwhelmingly amount of grief and guilt written in them, but she didn't respond. Instead, she turned her gaze away and decided that the concrete wall next to her seemed more interesting to look at than me; her daughter...

My frown deepened as I felt Rosalie's hand grip my shoulder gently, giving it a comforting squeeze,"She hasn't spoken much since we got here."

"How long ago was that?" I asked, keeping my voice low to prevent her from hearing our conversation. It's not like it mattered anyways, she probably knew that we were talking about her.

Rosalie scoffed with an annoyed eye roll following behind it,"At least five hours ago. Jack told us to come straight here once the gunmen showed up on the beach and we only stopped to grab some water and snacks from my house along the way. It's been a long, scary day for all of us, but she's been taking it to a whole new level."