A/N… This chapter came a bit quicker. I'll let you get to it.

~oOo~

Chapter 29

BELLA

I pressed my back behind a large tree trunk, glancing up to the sky that had gone from a fairly sunny morning to a typical Pacific Northwest gray and rainy afternoon. It was already starting to mist, but Garrett summed it up sarcastically.

"Let's see what these sunny LA fuckers do with this shit," he whispered as he kneeled behind the next tree over from mine.

Paul snorted, nodding once, but he kept quiet.

"They're working their way over to the vegetable farms," I whispered back, ignoring the weather jibe because there wasn't anything we could do about it; we had to protect our people.

Peering around the tree, I took in another set of raiders terrorizing a small group of farmers. Before we could move or even make a decision as to how to take the next step, Flash's voice came over the radio.

"Bella, you guys might want to take the house first," he stated softly. "From there, you can come out the back behind those assholes in front of the barn."

"Copy that," I replied, clipping my radio back to my jeans.

I met Garrett's gaze, and then we both eyed the farmhouse. Flash was right; heading toward the house would give us the cover we needed.

The three of us used the trees as best we could before we darted across the street, through the front yard, and up onto the front porch of the house. As carefully as I could, I pulled open the door to see a handful of kids hiding in the living room. They gasped, but I put my finger to my lips to keep them from crying out.

The oldest walked to us, gesturing toward the door in the kitchen which led out to the back yard. "They've got our parents," he whispered.

Garrett gently took his shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Ronnie."

"Let us take care of it, Ronnie. I want you to take everyone in here to the feed barn. Can you do that without being seen?" he asked the kid who had to have been a little younger than Jake.

"Yeah. For sure." Ronnie nodded, waving the other kids over to him; they ranged in ages of maybe four to ten.

"Good. Go." Garrett pointed toward the door we'd just entered.

Ronnie scooped up the four-year-old, whispering to the rest to stay quiet and run straight out the door to the trees, but I walked to the kitchen window to assess the situation in the backyard.

One raider had his back toward the house, and another one was pacing back and forth in front of Ronnie's parents. Carefully, I set my rifle's muzzle on the windowsill and out the open window. Paul and Garrett caught on to what I was about to do and rushed out of the room to find other windows.

As the pacing raider violently asked his questions, his partner was oblivious to his surroundings. My aim was for the one that posed the most danger to Ronnie's parents – the pacing one.

He asked repeatedly how many people there were on the island, but Ronnie's father told the raider to go fuck himself. I nodded in agreement, lining the raider up in my sight. He started for Ronnie's mother, and I inhaled deeply, holding my breath and squeezing the trigger.

The raider was launched back a few feet, and the other one didn't even have time to turn toward the house. He, too, was knocked off his feet. I was out the back door toward Ronnie's parents.

"Ronnie took the kids to the feed barn. Go! Do it quietly but quickly, okay?"

"Bella," the woman called, and sadly, I couldn't exactly recall her name. "There's a couple more raiders making their way to the livestock pastures and the chicken coops. That's… That's my sister's house. Irina has a baby."

Nodding, I squeezed her shoulder. I remembered Irina had been due right around the time I'd first found out I was pregnant with Emily.

I nodded again – mainly because I finally remembered her name. "We'll do our best, Sasha. Just go!"

They nodded, not even bothering to look at their dead captors as they raced around the house toward the trees that led back to the barn.

There wasn't a lot of cover between Sasha's place and Irina's – a few trees, several fence posts, a water trough, an old broken-down tractor, and a tool shed. Those last two things would give us the better coverage.

I started for the shed, with Garrett hissing my name. However, I didn't stop because the closer I got to Irina's farm, the more I could hear that baby crying.

Ducking inside the tool shed, I rushed to the back window.

"Bella, you've got to be careful," Garrett chastised.

"And we've got to save these people," I argued softly, not even bothering to look his way. The baby's cries were coming from inside the barn that housed a few milking cows, which were letting out their own distressed sounds. I heard Garrett's frustrated sigh, so I turned to face him. "I'm being careful."

Paul chuckled deeply, stepping toward the window to get a look toward the house. "I think what Garrett here is afraid of is that if something happens to you, then he's a dead man. Edward and Charlie will fucking kill him," he said amusedly, finally glancing back at us. "Right?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at Garrett's nod and point toward Paul. "Relax. I know what I'm doing. I've been doing it since I was thirteen."

Paul nudged Garrett with his shoulder. "She's got a point," he muttered, jerking a chin toward the window. "There's nothing between us and them. They're inside the barn, so if we're doing this, it's got to be at a run and hope to hell they don't glance out the damn doors."

Garrett's expression looked defeated, but he took his own look out the window.

The sound of gunfire snapped us to attention, because it came from the barn we needed to get to as soon as possible.

"We gotta go, Garrett," I told him, waiting until he let his fears of the men in my life go. "Once we clear these farms, we've got to head back toward the market, the clinic, and the docks. Those two assholes are on this island, and I promise you, they'll never leave it. Not alive, anyway."

Garrett grinned evilly, gesturing toward the door. "Okay, let's go."

The three of us ran at a crouch, trying to use as much cover as some tall grasses could give us. However, scaling the fence put us out in the open. We were in the clear until someone stepped out to the barn's doorway.

Paul, Garrett, and I dropped to the ground behind the water trough. The only one who could truly see was Paul.

He kept his eyes sharp on the barn, whispering, "I've got a shot, but it'll draw the rest of them."

"And possibly put our people in danger," I added, glancing between Paul and Garrett and then finally studying the barn. I shook my head. "No, tell us when it's clear. We'll go in each door and the roof."

I pointed toward the ladder that was leaning against the side of the barn. Someone had to have been working on the roof – either painting or patching a leak – but there was an open hatch, which most likely gave access to the hayloft.

Garrett peeked around the water trough, nodding. "Oh, yeah. And you're going in up top, Bella. You're small, quiet, and they won't even know you're up there."

"Definitely," Paul agreed, his eyes still locked on whoever had stepped out of the barn. "When this asshole is done takin' a leak, we're movin'."

The baby's cry echoed out of the barn again, and it made me yearn for my baby girl. The feeling was almost painful, and I shook with anger and maybe even a touch of fear.

"Easy, kiddo," Garrett soothed.

"Okay, on me…" Paul trailed off, shifting a little. "He's in. Go!"

We scrambled up from behind the water tank; Garrett veered right, and Paul aimed left. I ran straight ahead for the ladder in the middle of the barn's side wall. The two of them paused at the corners, waiting until I climbed up as quickly and quietly as I could. Once I'd peered inside the open hatch, I waved them on and slipped through it into the hayloft.

Once again, I took in a couple of raiders holding my people at gunpoint. Irina was in tears, which was making her sweet baby scared. Her husband – Randall – was bleeding from his nose and a cut above his eye, but he was glaring at the raiders with fire and hate.

Two raiders stood at either end of the barn in the open doors, but they were facing in. They had no idea that they were practically offering themselves up for easy pickings. Garrett and Paul would grab them before anyone could see. My target was a rather large, brutish woman with a .45 pressed to Randall's forehead.

"I want to know how many are on this island. And where do I find who's in charge?" she asked the young family, specifically Randall. "You're going to answer me, or I'm going to put a bullet in your wife's temple."

The large woman swung that pistol toward Irina, which made Randall shake his head.

"No, no, no! I don't know how many of us there are," he rasped out. "We've grown since Aro was destroyed, since we moved from the Sound."

"And who's in charge?" she asked. "Who has that dead-in-the-water ship in your port?"

"That's… There's… That belongs to the president – Marcus."

"I wanna see Marcus," she stated, pointing the weapon back at Randall.

"He's…" Randall swallowed nervously, shaking his head. "He's not here. There are elders on the island, and there are military people on that ship…maybe not now. It sounds like they're kicking your ass over by the water."

I flashed a grin. Randall was ballsy. And he wasn't exactly telling a lie, because there were sounds of rapid fire and a rather large explosion coming from the distance.

Moving carefully through that hayloft, I shifted into a position that gave me a better shot down below and a place where I could see the two guards on either end of the barn.

I aimed my rifle between two bales of hay. In my peripheral vision, I caught movement from the two doorways, which meant Garrett and Paul were on the move. The large female raider down below pressed her weapon into the middle of Irina's forehead, causing the baby to scream, and I simply couldn't take it any longer. I pulled the trigger at the same time that crazy-big raider shifted a little, catching her in the middle of her chest. She collapsed back with the force of the shot, but she was wearing a vest.

I moved as fast as I could, hearing the struggle at either end of the barn. I trusted Paul and Garrett to do what they had to do, to be better than our opponents, because these assholes had to be stopped. There was a small voice inside my head that was asking why. Why were they here? Why attack first without warning or communication?

I shook my head, aiming for the ladder at the end of the hayloft. Thankfully, Randall caught up quickly, and he'd taken the raider's weapon. He was currently pointing it at her face.

"Who's going to get shot in the head now?" he spat – literally spitting blood to the barn floor.

The raider was still trying to catch her breath because that bullet to the vest had knocked the wind out of her lungs. I checked on Paul, who had his target on their knees. Garrett, however, was still in a struggle, but his patience ran out completely. With a swift elbow to his target's stomach, both turned just right, and Garrett wrapped his arms around the man's neck, jerking his grip. The sound of the raider's neck snapping made us all wince, but at least the family was safe.

I faced the large woman on the barn floor, my own weapon pointing her way.

Kneeling down beside her, I pressed the muzzle of my gun to her cheek, asking, "What's your name?"

Her face turned red, and she shook her head back and forth.

"Tell me your name, and I'll answer the questions you asked," I offered softly.

"B-Brenda."

"Okay, Brenda," I said with a nod. "The number of residents on this island outnumber any assholes you brought with you from Los Angeles. Everyone on this island is armed, trained, and they've been protecting themselves from raiders like you for most of their lives. You will not win. We've faced bigger problems and overcome them. You? You'll be locked up before the sun sets today."

I stood, nodding to Garrett, who was holding up some thin rope for Brenda. He pulled her to her feet, binding her hands behind her back. She was still red-faced and angry. But I could tell she was scared too.

I started to check on Irina and the baby, but I gazed over at Brenda again. "Oh! As for who is in charge? Well, right now? That would be me, along with a few others. You'll meet them soon enough because we'll all decide what to do with you and whoever else is still alive when we're through exterminating you from our home."

Raising an eyebrow her way, I waited until she at least acknowledged what I'd said with a nod my way. Finally, I checked on Randall, Irina, and the baby, but they were fine. Randall had both his girls wrapped up as he pressed kisses to their heads. Tears were drying, and even the cows had settled down.

"Did you see any more?" I asked Randall.

"No, Bella. They came in from the other side of the woods over there, spreading out to take the three barns. I heard her tell the two men that everyone else was focusing on the docks and the market."

Garrett looked to me. "We need to get over there."

I pulled my radio off my belt. "Flash, Nolan… Come in."

"Oh, sweet baby Jesus, you're okay! We could see everything because of the drone," Nolan rambled, and Paul and Garrett chuckled. "But it's still good to hear your voice. What's your status?"

I looked up and saw the drone hovering near the ceiling of that barn. "The farms are clear. I've got two of their raiders under my control. How's the docks?"

"Chelsea's people have cleared the ferry, and she's moved some of the Oz residents to Marcus's ship. No one's spotted the LA leaders just yet."

"They're here," I replied. "The first guy we caught told us that they're on the island dressed like us, so no raider uniform."

"Copy that, Bells," Flash answered. "I've got one drone looking for them. Give me some time. I'll let you know if I find them. Meanwhile, they could probably use you over by the market and the clinic."

"Shit, the clinic," I hissed, my nostrils flaring in anger as I squeezed my eyes closed. "Copy that. We'll head that way."

"Bells, wait!"

"Go ahead, Flash."

"I just wanted you to know that Dorothy and company checked in, and they told me to tell you to be safe but to take 'em all down."

I snorted, glancing Garrett's way. "That's Dad's message."

"That's probably all of them," he countered, sneering when Brenda struggled. He pushed her against one of the barn posts. "You'll move when I say you can move. Are we clear? Am I making sense to you? Trust me, lady, I've been meaner a lot longer than you. If I decide you're not worth the effort, I'm gonna dump you in the bay."

Brenda nodded reluctantly.

Before we started for the barn door, I put the radio to my mouth again. "Flash, please let Dorothy and company know…" I swallowed thickly because I missed my friends, my family, my husband. "Let them know I love them. I'll check in when I can."

"Yeah, Bells. I'll tell them."

I turned to Randall. "Can we borrow your cart? I need… My daughter is at the clinic with her grandfather. I just… I need…"

Irina nodded. "Take it. And thank you."

Garrett and Paul took Brenda by the shoulders, and I followed them out. I had to get to the other side of the island, and I had to find James and Victoria.

~oOo~

EDWARD

Jasper didn't return when I sent him to get Marcus. In fact, I was left alone with the three men for way longer than I should've been. The next person to step into the old police station was Pearson, along with two of his men.

"They're here to relieve you, Cullen. C'mon. Marcus wants to see you," he told me, waving me forward.

I closed the book I'd been reading, marking my place with the black and white picture of my girls.

I pointed to the end cell, saying, "We had to separate them earlier. They've probably calmed down enough to put them back. Your call."

The two men nodded, glancing nervously to Pearson, but they took a seat at the desks.

"What's going on?" I asked him once we were upstairs and out on the street.

"I'll let Marcus tell you," he muttered, looking pissed off or nervous or something.

Just before we opened the door to Caius's building where we'd basically taken over the whole first floor, I asked, "Did Jasper tell you guys what Caius said about—"

Emmett burst out the door, madder than I'd ever seen him. "They're attacking Oz!"

"What the hell? Who? LA?" I asked, rushing through the door he was holding open for me.

The cacophony of noise inside that lobby was almost overwhelming. I couldn't make heads or tails of it until I caught the one voice that I could pick out anywhere. Bella was calling for Chelsea.

Suddenly my team was updating me left and right.

"They came in on the ferry…from the fucking Sound!" Jasper said through gritted teeth.

"They've spread throughout the whole damn island!" Rose added.

"They killed six people to take that fucking ferry," Emmett piped up.

"We should be home!" Jake yelled, pacing back and forth in front of Sam and Seth. "Fuck this place… Ed, I wanna go home."

"We won't make it in time to be of any help," Charlie argued gently, his eyes barely leaving the screen in front of him.

I shook my head, not really knowing what I was feeling until Alice grabbed my hand.

"Bella's running this show, Edward," she said softly, wearing a proud smile. "You gotta see this shit. Flash and Nolan patched us into their network, and they're using drones to keep everyone organized and informed."

She pushed me down into the chair next to Valentine and Fowler. The screen in front of me was split into four feeds – three drones and one with Flash and Nolan.

Before I could even ask where Bella was, I saw her lead Garrett, Eric, and someone I thought was Paul – one of Sam's people – toward the barn that was under construction when I'd left. It looked finished and pretty damn big. Flash flew that drone just right, and inside that barn was a brief standoff.

Garrett and Bella stopped that shit quickly. As they dragged off one of the raiders, I glanced around.

"Why is she leading this? Where the fuck is Chelsea?" I asked, standing up and pointing to Marcus and Pearson. "You fucking promised me that they'd be safe if we left them behind, but even that asshole Caius knew these LA bastards would show up! How the fuck would he know that? How?"

"We can only assume he was privy to LA's contingency plan." Marcus's voice was subdued but no less pissed off than the rest of us.

I opened my mouth to cuss him the fuck out, but Valentine smacked my arm with the back of her hand.

"Oh, my damn. Bella's badass!" she cheered, glancing from the screen to me and back to the screen again. "Did you teach her? Or you?" She glanced around me to Charlie, whose mustache twitched a little.

"That shit is natural," I muttered, shaking my head and leaning forward to see Bella.

From what I could tell from Flash's drone, they'd secured one of the raiders and taken him back to the barn to move on. Garrett, Paul, and Bella took a farmhouse, sending kids out through the front door and back to the feed barn. Two raiders on the back lawn never even saw who killed them.

Shaking my head as the three of them aimed for the next farm over, I glanced at Charlie.

"Wh-Where's… If she's… Where's the rest of my fucking family?" I ground out through gritted teeth.

Nolan heard me over the computer. "Easy, Edward. Emily's with your dad at the clinic, along with a few of our men. Bella fortified that place before she left. Your mom is with Sue…right here." He spun his laptop around so I could see the two women in question. When he turned the laptop back around, he added, "Sue's guiding Chelsea's people. Flash has been guiding Bella and Garrett. And I'm currently searching for James and Victoria. Bella and Garrett were able to…question one of their raiders. Those two are on this island, but they aren't in any uniform…so finding them has been a bitch."

"Which means, they'll be hiding with our people. Posing as residents," Charlie surmised. "Their whole goal was to infiltrate and take over."

"Yeah," Nolan replied softly with a nod. "We think so. But they are running into so much resistance. I mean, we are Oz. We don't just lie the hell down and let someone step up and take over. Most residents are armed, and all of them reacted perfectly when the alarm sounded. Now we're just…hunting."

"Damn," Valentine said with an amused chuckle, turning to her girl. "We're totally on the wrong side of the country."

Fowler grinned. "No shit. When can we leave?"

Emmett and Jasper snorted into laughter. Charlie shot them an amused gaze, but he studied the screen.

"They just cleared the farms," he said softly, glancing my way. "And they've taken another raider. If I'm guessing? Bella's about to head back toward the clinic and market."

"That's a good thing," Flash said over the computer, but he wasn't in the camera view. "There's a few assholes over there." He rolled his chair over next to Nolan. "So far, Chelsea's held her own over by the docks. Some of our people are on Marcus's ship, some are in the feed barn – though that's mostly kids – and there's a group in the school." He huffed a humorless laugh. "We haven't forgotten what to do when raided, Edward. We're holding our own, and technically, we outnumber them."

I set my elbows on the table, rubbing my face roughly and sinking my fingers into my hair. "I want to know the fucking second those LA assholes are located. And I want them alive. You'll hold them until we get home."

My lip twitched in hatred and stress as I shook my head slowly. The fact that my wife, the mother of my baby was having to step up to take these people down made me absolutely raging pissed.

"Um, you wanna tell Bella to keep them alive?" Flash asked nervously.

I couldn't help but huff a laugh. "Yeah, I'll tell her." I picked up the radio, and on the screen, I could see that Garrett was pushing that golf cart as fast as he could from one end of the island to the other. I pressed the button on the radio. "Bella, come in, please."

"Edward?" she answered back.

"Yes, love. Flash patched us into the drones. We're all watching for those LA fuckers, but… I want them taken alive. Okay?"

She sighed. "Edward, I'm not making any promises."

The whole lobby burst into laughter, but I waved a hand to shut them up.

"I don't blame her," Rose muttered under her breath.

"I just need you to try. As soon as we're home, we'll decide what to do with them."

"And just when is that?" she snapped, and we all looked at Marcus.

He sighed, glancing to Pearson. "We owe them," he said softly. "If I leave you in charge of Atlanta, could you handle it?"

"Sir." He nodded once.

Marcus met my gaze. "Tell her we're packing up."

Grinning, I pressed the radio button again. "As soon as we can load up and go, love."

"Good. Now, let me find these assholes."

"Copy that."

~oOo~

A/N… As all my pre-readers said… Bella is just over it. LOL

There are probably a few chapters left of this story. If I had to guess… maybe three? But we're getting closer to the end of things, for sure.

According to the votes, Love Never Dies a Natural Death will continue into a bigger story. How big remains to be seen. But it was a landslide of like…everyone to three. I'll start to fiddle with that story soon enough.

Okay, so I'll see you as soon as I can. Until then… Mooches, Deb ;)