Tick Tock ➙ Edward Cullen

Chapter Twelve

Edward was driving as fast as he could through the woods of Forks, trying to make it back to the main land without colliding with any nearby trees. The boy was shaking behind the wheel as he tried to figure out a plan to keep Melinda and Bella safe.

"Okay, listen to me. James is a tracker. The hunt is his obsession, I read his mind. My reaction on the field set him off. I just made this his most exciting game ever. He's never gonna stop." Edward explained as he glanced between Bella beside him and Melinda in the rear view mirror.

"What do we do?" Bella asked while Melinda began feeling light headed from the reckless driving and the stress overtaking her body.

"We have to kill him. Rip him apart and burn the pieces." Edward answered. "Melinda, stay awake!" The boy yelled as he noticed Melinda's body start to tilt towards the middle of the backseat. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she tried to choke back the nausea that crashed down on her.

"I'm trying to." Melinda's voice was muffled by the piece of fabric as she leaned herself against the door of the Jeep, her body bouncing off of it with every bump Edward drove over.

"We have to leave Forks. We'll get a ferry to Vancouver." Edward announced, partially thinking out loud.

"I have to go home. You have to take me home." Bella said as she gripped the dashboard, all of this panic overwhelming the brunette.

"You can't go home. Neither of you can. He's just gonna trace your scent there." The pale boy explained as he focused on the road. "Melinda, is your aunt okay?"

Melinda inhaled heavily as she opened her eyes. "Yeah. She said he left. Edward, we need to protect our families. Cindy and Bella's dad...they aren't safe." The girl said in a soft voice as she mustered up the energy to even open her mouth. Her body was weak and her head felt like it was going to explode from the sharp pain that violated it.

"It doesn't matter! I need to protect you. Let me get you out of here." Edward snapped as he stared at the rear view mirror, feeling guilty at Melinda's shocked and worried face. She had lowered the fabric from her nose a bit to see if the bleeding had slowed down only to reveal the thin layer of dried blood just above her upper lip.

"We have to do something!" Bella argued, raising her voice at the boy.

Melinda sat in the backseat of Edward's Wrangler as she waited for Bella and Edward to come back out of Bella's house. They had come up with a plan to protect Charlie while on the way to the Swan residence and were now inside, carrying out the plan. Melinda could see their figures in the window, a pit forming in the depths of her stomach as she watched them pack a bag for Bella. Her body no longer ached and her heart had stopped racing but her head still pounded with a numbing pain that made her lie down on the seat.

The door closest to Melinda's head opened and the girl quickly sat back up, giving herself a head rush. Her vision went blurry for a second but the sound of Edward's voice subsided the panic faster than it formed.

"Sorry to startle you. Get in Bella's truck, we're leaving this here." Edward said in a rushed tone as he threw the keys for the vehicle in the front seat and held the door open for Melinda to get out. She got into Bella's rust coloured pickup truck just as the brunette came out of her house, slamming the front door behind her. She had a bag over her shoulder that she tossed in the back of the truck before opening the driver's door and getting in.

Bella sighed heavily with her hands gripping the steering wheel before reversing out of her driveway and leaving a miserable looking Charlie in the front window of the house. He watched her daughter leave, not sure what he did wrong.