Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Atonement

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 10:

BPOV

“This is dumb.”

“It’s not dumb Miss Swan.” Connolly said once again once again not changing my opinion that this was dumb.

We were in a big airplane. It was loud. Very loud. I was glad the venom in my body controlled my temperature. Judging by the way Connolly and his team were sweating it would have been hell to be in here as a human.

“I don’t need a parachute.” I grumbled.

“We are all wearing chutes Bella.” Garrett said softly in my ear.

“I can’t die from a fall. I tried. No matter how high I fell from I always landed in one piece. No chuted needed.”

I guess that caught Jason’s attention. Maybe Garrett didn’t tell him about my failed suicide attempts.

“Ma’am we need to go down together. That way we all land in the general area. Plus you coming down at three hundred miles an hour may alert the enemy to our location. We would like to keep this as quiet as possible.”

“Fine.”

“Okay. We go in three teams circling the last known location of the SRT team in a five mile radius. Look for any possible survivors. These guys in SRT are special ops too. There may be some holding on. Look for hostile forces. Anticipate that they may possibly be werewolves. All weapons are loaded with silver. Blades are silver. Stay in teams of 4. Garrett is in charge of one team. Ty another and I am running the third…”

“Hold the fuck up.” I said.

Connolly stopped talking. Ty looked away.

“Yes Miss Swan?”

“Why do Garrett and Ty get to lead a team and I don’t? I’m a vampire.” I unnecessarily pointed out.

“Do you have any experience leading special ops teams against a possible werewolf enemy, Miss Swan? If you do I will be glad to step aside.”

---

“Do you have any experience?” I countered. I mean how many werewolves could he have really fought?

“I’ve led teams on fourteen different occasions against werewolf packs.”

---

“I guess you can lead then.” I mumbled.

“What was that Miss Swan? It’s loud in here. I didn’t quite catch that.”

The asshole was smiling. I shot the finger at him and bared my teeth.

“Okay. We land. Spread out. Radio is very sensitive. Speak at very low volume. Let’s talk about what we know about werewolves. Strong in human from. Vicious. Can turn at any time into a four legged killer. But strongest and deadliest during full moons, the only time they have to turn. The last few days have been gearing towards tonight. A full moon. We will be touching down around sunset. If we don’t get any survivors out tonight there won’t be any survivors. They will most likely be in tree tops.”

“What are the expected enemy numbers sir?” One of the dumbasses asked. Garrett answered.

“Unknown. A single werewolf could have caused this damage to an unsuspecting team. We only suspect werewolves because this area has a history of them. They live in the wild even as humans and are extremely feral. Their only goal will be death. They kill what is in front of them. Humans or vampires. If the teams were taken down this quickly I would assume that there is more than one. That means a pack. I would say from experience, ten or so. Be prepared for anything.” Garrett looked at me as he said this.

“Jump in five minutes. Let’s get ready.” Jason finished.

I walked towards my pack when Garrett held me back.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” I told him more confidently than I felt.

“You remember what we talked about? Don’t let them bite you. Use your rifle and sidearm so you don’t have to get closer than necessary. If you get in close combat you are stronger but not much. Use your blade. Let the Seals take their shots. That’s what they are there for. Connolly has these men trained to fight werewolves and similar creatures. Trust him and do as he says. Okay?”

“Yeah. I got it Garrett.”

“Just… just come back to me in one piece. If they bite they can tear you apart. It would hurt to get put back together. Let’s make sure we don’t have to okay?”

“I know. I’ll come back to you.” I promised. I hoped I could keep that promise.

He leaned down and kissed me on my cheek.

“Team X prepare for insertion!” Jason yelled. Ty giggled. Garrett and I looked at him.

“Come on man. He could have said prepare to jump. He does that shit on purpose.”

Garrett shook his head and then checked my pack one more time.

I walked to the door and looked out. This was a lot different than parasailing and jumping off mountains. I did those activities during the day. The sun had set and it was dark. The moon lit up the sky but still…

“C’mon Swan! You want to live forever? Oops. Never mind.” Connolly laughed. He then jumped out of the plane. His three team members followed him without hesitation. Shit. I walked to the edge and paused.

“Have a nice trip Bella!” I heard Ty say at the same time his hand hit my back, sending me falling into the abyss.

I really loved him sometimes.

Falling at one hundred miles an hour through darkness while screaming was not one of those times.

“Bella?”

Jason? Oh yeah. Radio.

“Yes?”

“Stop screaming. We are trying to sneak in, remember?”

“Oh. Sorry. Can I scream until I hit the ground?”

I heard static in my helmet. Then his voice again.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t. This is an open mic you know?”

Oh yeah.

“Sorry.”

“No problem ma’am. Pull your ripcord in five seconds. Oh… Garrett wanted me to remind you to pull it gently. Like tying your shoes.”

Okay.

I pulled. It didn’t break. The chute flew out… Oh shit!

Damn that jerked.

I hit the ground and forgot to roll. Instead I just landed. Standing straight up, the chute fell over me. I moved out from under it as quietly as I could.

“Bella?” Connolly whispered over the radio.

“Yeah?”

“You make it down?”

“No. I’m stuck in the air.” I whispered through the radio. I could do sarcasm too.

Silence.

“Liar. I see you.”

I turned and saw the others about fifty feet away. I was in front of him in a second. They took off their chutes. That reminded me. Yeah. Jason just gave me a look. A look that said the dumbass girl forgot to unhook her parachute.

I ripped the clips off and felt it float away.

“Stay next to me.” He whispered. We were all dressed in solid black. I even had black face paint on. I’m not sure why.

“I’m the vampire. You stay next to me.” I whispered back.

I turned and smelt it. Holy shit. That was a strong smell.

I turned back to Connolly.

“I think I smell werewolf.”

“Get down!” Connolly had his gun drawn. I hit the ground and he fired his silenced weapon.

A werewolf body fell in front of me.

I looked up and saw him smirking.

“I told you I smelt werewolf.” I mumbled.

“I doubt that’s the only one. Try using your eyes and not just your nose.” He grinned.

So he got the first one. The rest were mine. Garrett was right. This guy was an asshole.

GPOV

My team hit the ground safely. Bella had stopped screaming half way down. I checked the surroundings. Mountains all around us. We were in a valley surrounded on all four sides. A natural kill box. If this pack of wolves lived in the nearby mountains and had the high ground the idea of killing them all goes out the window. We needed to find if there were any survivors.

“Connolly do you have any targets spotted?” I asked over the radio.

“Yeah, Bella sniffed one out that nearly decapitated her as soon as we hit the ground. Target is now neutralized.”

Oh dear God. I should have kept her with me.

“Is she okay?” I whispered.

“I’m fine.” A low growl came over the airwaves. She sounded annoyed.

Okay then.

I took a whiff of the air. This was bad.

Wolves had to be everywhere to saturate the open air with this scent. The land stunk with them.

“Jack. Get the drone up. Infrared. We need to determine hostile numbers. Quickly.”

“What do you have Gar?” Ty asked.

“Do you smell it Ty?”

“Yeah. I smell it here. Smells like they are everywhere. I ain’t ever smelled wolf this strongly.”

“Ty we need to run in and find the crash site and battle sites. See if we can find any survivors. Then we are getting out of this area. This terrain is in their favor. No point risking any more than necessary on a full moon night. We can come back and clear the area during the day.”

“Copy G Man.”

I turned to the others and saw they had frozen. I looked in the direction they were staring and saw them. All ten of them.

Snarling, approaching slowly. My scent must have them wary but they would attack.

A chorus of howls filled the air all around.

We came for a fight. Looks like we are about to get one.

“Garrett?”

“Yeah Jack?”

He motioned for me to silence my mic. I did so.

“How did it go this weekend?”

What?

“What are you talking about Jack? Let’s focus on the werewolves approaching us.”

“I am. We got them in sight. We were just all wondering. Everything go good?”

“Yes Jack. Everything went good.”

“Did you kiss her?”

I smiled at the memory. Then my mind came back to the present.

“What difference does it make? Focus on the fight.”

“It’s just the guys all know you have been alone like… forever. Least since the United States has existed. It ain’t right. We just are kinda hopin this works out for you.”

“Thank you Jack. Yes, we did kiss.”

“Way to go Garrett. She’s hot man. Even for a vampire. Especially considering how she looked when she first showed up. She cleans up real nice.” Malcolm said from behind me.

“Thank you Mal. Now mics on. Let’s kill some wolves. The wolves took that moment to charge. We opened fire. Even me. No point in getting close if I don’t have to. Four went down immediately. Six came through and we continued to fire.

“Cover me with fire. I’m going to get close.” I said. In my mic I heard fire open up elsewhere. I could hear it coming from Bella and Ty’s location. I charged one wolf and hit him in the snout. Another tried to jump me from the side and I tore his jaws apart. I felt one behind me and turned to see him falling out of the air. One of the Seals shot him.

“On your six!”

I turned and saw four more wolves had descended and were charging my Seals from behind. I picked up a wolf body and tossed it over their heads, knocking the two closet wolves down.

I heard a scream over the radio. I had to get my head straight. I had to concentrate and kill these wolves. Then I had to get to Bella. This was too much. First she fights a demon on her own and now I bring her to a werewolf convention.

I pulled my blade and turned, slicing the throat of one wolf behind me.

“Think we should retreat?” Bobby asked.

“Retreat hell. We just got here.” I responded.

BPOV

“Jesus that’s a lot of fucking dogs.” I whispered. We were surrounded. By at least ten of these fuckers.

“Is this normal? I whispered to Connolly. Our mics were off but I could hear the battles of the other team. I had to kill these wolves and get to Garrett. Ty too.

“No. A pack of ten is large. Judging by the action goin on around us I would say we were in the middle of an infestation. We need to work our way to the middle. That’s where the crash site is. Let’s move.”

Connolly opened fire at the wolves in front of us while the guy named Derek fired behind us with his two friends. We slowly started moving forward. I started shooting my rifle. I had only practiced a few times but my enhanced eyesight made me a hell of a shot. I shot two in the head. I had a long blade strapped to my back in case I ran out of ammunition. One got through.

He was heading for Jason. I jumped over him and tackled the wolf. We rolled and he was on top of me on the ground. What did Garrett say? Don’t get close.

Oh damn he was snarling and wolf spit just landed on my face. I kicked him in the air and a bullet struck him in the midsection rolling him over.

Damn what a rush. I wiped the spit off my face with my sleeve and ran to my team.

“Thanks.” Connolly grinned.

I didn’t respond. I was busy looking for the next target. I picked up my gun and one was on me. I fired point blank and hit him in the skull. The silver bullet cracked his head and blood covered my face.

Great. Blood and spit. Damn this was nasty.

We continued to move and had made it approximately one hundred yards. The wolves had gone for cover but were still trailing us.

“They are herding us.” Connolly said. “Make a break for it. Stay tight. Bella stay behind and cover our backs.”

They took off running and I ran behind them. Movement caught the corner of my eye. A grey wolf shot out and I fell twisting his neck by his ears as he went by. They can heal from what Garrett told me so I took my blade and slammed it in the top of his skull. I heard growling and realized quickly it was me.

This was amazing. What a fucking rush!

“Hold up!” Connolly yelled. I turned back and saw they had six wolves in front of them. Gunfire sounded closer. I suppose we were all making our way towards the middle. I ran past my team jumping over their heads as they lay down fire at the dogs. They attacked me. Two were struck with bullets before they could get to me. I took my blade and started cutting at the other four. I saw teeth, fur, blood and silver flashing. More gunfire. I sliced the throat of one wolf nearly decapitating him.

The gun fire ended. I looked around and saw my team on one knee facing every direction in a tight formation.

“Bella get back here.” Jason said. I ran back and stood in front of them. We began moving.

We made it about another two hundred yards with no resistance. I saw the chopper but not the other teams.

“Garrett, Ty. Check in.” Jason said quietly over the mic.

“My team is good. We have approximately eighteen kills.” Garrett responded. Thank God he was okay. Why wouldn’t he be though? He knew what he was doing.

“I’m good. All team accounted for. I think we have moved past the major resistance. Moving to the site.” Ty responded.

“Copy. We have reached the site. No sign of survivors. We are going to check and blow the Hawk. Check radius for survivors.”

“Copy.” Garrett and Ty both responded.

“Bella you smell anybody?” Jason asked me.

“In this stink? No. I don’t think so.”

“Okay. Blow the Hawk men. We are getting out of here.”

I watched the men wire explosives to the chopper. Connolly was scanning the area so I pulled my small gun strapped to my waist and did the same. I heard a scream. I smelt blood. Human blood.

I looked and saw a wolf had jumped out of the chopper and hit the Seal named Toby. Fuck. The other Seal, Jonesy I think his name was, was struck with a paw in the head and went down. Jason and I fired at the same time and the wolf collapsed on Toby. I rushed to him and tossed the wolf away.

The smell hit me hard and I froze.

“Oh damn.” Jason whispered. Toby was laying on the ground shaking. The wolf had gotten his leg. Red, red blood that I could see clearly even at night was spurting out of an open would on his thigh. I remembered high school biology. Femoral artery.

This was not good.

Garrett POV

My team met Ty’s.

“Any survivors?” I asked.

“Yeah. One. I pulled him out of a tree. He was bunkered in. I guess the wolves gave up trying to get him. He’s dehydrated. He’s delirious. He most likely will think the big black vampire pulling him from a very tall tree was a delusion. We’re good.” Ty responded.

“Garrett?” Connolly’s voice crackled over the radio.

“Go ahead.”

“Circle the teams around our position and contact the base for a helo evac. We need to get out of here. We have two men down. Bella and I can handle that. Keep the hordes who get brave off of us and let me know the coordinates of the LZ.”

Bella was okay. Two men down but not dead. Okay.

“Copy. We have one survivor.”

Silence.

“One is more than I thought we would get. Keep your eyes open Gar. We need to leave. Now.”

I couldn’t agree more.

BPOV

Oh God. Oh God. So much blood. Oh God.

“Bella? Bella!”

I turned my attention to Jason.

“I need to get this packaged and covered. Hold this clip.”

I looked at his hand which was practically inside the wound. He had a plastic tip attached to an artery in Toby’s leg.

“I… I can’t.” Damn my throat burned when I spoke. My damn mouth was drooling.

“I’m sorry. I…”

“Bella he has a wife and kids. Three kids. All under the age of eight. If I let go of this clip he bleeds out before I can get a packing on in and get his leg stabilized for transport. I want to go home. Toby needs to get home to his wife and kids. We need you Bella.”

“I’ll break it. My touch…”

“Is fine. Running out of time Bella.”

Shit. I held my breath and bent down reaching towards his hand slowly.

“Stop shaking. You can tear the artery worse.”

I froze my hand as best I could. My hand was soaked in blood. Damn I wanted to lick my fingers. I gently grabbed the clip and Jason took his hand off.

“Talk to him Bella.” Jason whispered.

“Hey Toby. How you doing?” I asked quietly trying not to breathe in.

“Oh you know. Got my leg torn open by a werewolf. Other than that pretty good. How was your weekend with Garrett?”

What?

“It… it was great.”

“Yeah? What did you do?”

“We went parasailing. We went to a Jimmy Buffett concert and he made me wear this ridiculous outfit. He took me to a play. It was a comedy. How… are you hurting?”

“Not really. I’ve had worse.”

“Really?” Because this was a lot of damn blood. The clip however was slowing it down.

“Yeah. So how was your mother?”

“You know about my mother?”

“It’s a small team. We talk. Great job killing the demon.”

“Thanks Toby.”

“No problem. We were investigating a Yeti at an Antarctic research station once and ran into one. Garrett took him out but they are some tough bastards.”

“Wow.”

“So you and Garrett had a nice time?”

“Yeah. It was really great.”

“So did you…”

“Did I what?” I asked.

“He wants to know if you kissed.” Jason said beginning to wrap Toby’s leg and pulling out a splint.

Damn his blood smelt so good. I was so hungry. I swear my stomach just growled.

“Yeah… Yeah we kissed.”

“Damn it!” Connolly spit out.

“What?”

“We had a pool going in the team. Half of us didn’t think Garrett had the guts to make a move.”

That pissed me off a little. But I couldn’t be angry. If I let go of this clip the blood was going to get ten times worse. Plus Toby would die. He had a wife and kids. Please Bella. Don’t kill him.

“Bella you are drooling. I would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t eat me.” Toby sort of chuckled.

“As if.” I laughed, sounding more confident than I felt.

“So how is your mother? You never said.”

“Much better. She seems okay. She’s different. Changed. I’m almost afraid to see my dad. I don’t know. I nearly killed my mom and now my dad never took good care of himself before and I’m worried…”

“Okay. Stabilized. Bella I am going to clip the other side of his artery and then put a better clip on the one you are holding. We are going to put him gently on a board. I will carry Jonesy out. Your carry the board and get him to the LZ. Okay?”

I nodded. A minute later Toby was secure.

I heard Garrett give out coordinates. I didn’t know where they were so I kept up with Jason who was carrying Jonesy out. He believed he was just knocked out.

We emerged out of the woods into a clearing. Garrett and Ty along with the rest of the Seals were there.

A chopper was landing.

Garrett and Ty looked at me and then the bloody man on a board who I was carrying in front of me like an offering.

Seals grabbed Toby from me and rushed him to the chopper.

A howl rose from behind us. We turned and out of the tree line I saw a monster emerge. He was at least eight feett tall. He was hunched over but standing on two legs. His body was massive and his head was shaped like a wolf. A very large wolf.

“Connolly, get your Seals out of here and get Toby treatment. Then send the chopper back here.” Garrett told him.

“What about you three?”

“We are going to finish this.”

GPOV

“Garrett what the fuck is that?” Ty asked.

The chopper lifted. I don’t imagine the pilot had a chance to see this monster.

“That is the pack master.”

“And we are about to light his ass up.” Jason said from behind me.

“Didn’t I tell you to go back?”

“Yeah. Show me the chain of command where I answer to you and I will accept my official reprimand for disobeying a direct order.”

He slammed a fresh clip in his rifle. I looked at Bella. She was covered in human blood but her only focus at the moment was on the monster I front of us.

“Okay. Let’s introduce ourselves. Ty?”

Ty stepped forward and the pack master stumbled. He fell to his knees and then rose.

“Huh. Tough motherfucker. We gonna have to go old school on his ass.” Ty said.

“He’s old. If he can stand up while being hit with your power Ty he is one tough son of a bitch. Bella stay…”

Before I could say back she charged.

“Time to deliver a beat down.” Ty charged.

I ran after them. I was almost there when Bella was tossed back towards me. I caught her in the air and landed her behind me. Ty took a hit, hit the ground and came back up, striking the beast in his bottom jaw. Connolly opened fire. The beast took three to the chest and smoke rose from the holes. He howled but began staking towards us. I stepped up and he swiped at me. I dodged and kicked him in the stomach. He bent over a bit more and I hit him with an uppercut. Bella jumped on his back and planted a silver blade in the top of his skull. She couldn’t get it all the way through. This fucker must be thousands of years old.

He swung at me again and I drew my blade. His paws struck it slicing three of his fingers off. Ty hit him in the eye. Bella grabbed another eye from her perch on his back. I grabbed his jaws. He turned his head and Bella flew off taking his eyeball with her. Ty began concentrating again. Perhaps without an eye and one bruised eye his power may work better. I grabbed his throat and pulled. I couldn’t rip his throat out but I could crush his larynx.

He kicked me off and fell to his knees clawing at his missing eye with one hand and his stomach with his other. I suppose Ty’s power was wearing him down. Connolly ran up and placed his rifle into the eye socket hole and opened fire. The bullets finally worked their way out of his skull. I jumped back on him and hit his chest. I continued to hit his chest. His breast plate finally broke. Using my fingers I struck into the now soft tissue and grabbed his beating heart.

I squeezed and ripped it out.

We all stepped back and looked at his mutilated corpse.

Connolly took a deep breath.

“That was easier than last time. Having help makes a difference.” He noted. I had to agree.

I turned and checked on Bella. She was breathing hard. She dropped the eyeball in her hand and I grabbed her, tracing her body and sniffing for injuries.

“I’m fine Garrett.” She sort of laughed.

“If you want to feel me up for injuries you can Garrett. I’m good by the way.” Ty offered. Connolly laid down on the ground and began laughing.

“God what a fucking life! How do people live without this?”

Ty and Bella looked at me and I nodded in response to their unasked question. He was slightly insane.

“Jason there is something I don’t understand.” Bella said.

“What’s that Bell?”

“If Toby has three young children why is he on this team? Shouldn’t he be doing something safer?”

“Toby? Toby doesn’t have children. He has a different woman every time I see him.” I said.

Bella glared at Jason.

“You lied to me?”

“Seemed like a good idea.” He shrugged.

“So anybody got any idea how long it’s gonna be before that chopper comes back?” Ty asked.

I shook my head. Ty apparently had an idea for passing the time.

“Well since we got time why don’t we all have a seat and you two can tell us about your weekend. Especially the kissin part. What about it Bella? Can Garrett kiss good or is he all sloppy, tongue everywhere drooling like a teenager getting to second base?”

“Yeah Bella. Give us the details?” Connolly agreed.

Where the fuck was that chopper?