Here's Your Future

Disclaimer: I like to sneak in at night and play in Stephanie Meyer's sandbox but her characters will never truly be mine, you have been warned. Today's song is Here's Your Future by The Thermals.

"I repeat, residents are advised not to leave their homes. The CDC and the United States government have declared a state of emergency during this mysterious outbreak but assure us that the situation has been contained and is being properly dealt with. Nevertheless, the mandatory seven o'clock curfew for all non emergency personal is still in effect at this time…"

"Would you stop watching that crap?" A whiney voice pleaded as the television blinked off in the middle of a broadcast.

Bella Swan slowly turned her irritated gaze toward her bitchy baby sister Alice. "Oh I'm sorry," she replied, her voice dripping with acidic, biting, sarcasm. "Please, forgive me if I'm in any way upsetting you by trying to stay informed about what's going on in the world."

Alice let out an irritated huff as she uncrossed her legs and readjusted her stylishly layered clothing. "Whatever, I don't see why you're so interested in this junk. You heard the reporter. The outbreak is contained, no big deal. It's just like the swine flu a couple years ago, all hype."

Bella rolled her eyes. "It wasn't all hype Alice, people died."

"Yeah, foreign people. This is America in case you forgot and stuff like that doesn't happen here."

"Are you stupid," Bella snapped, "well yeah you are but really Alice? What does living in America have to do with anything? We don't have super immunity just because we live here. You know its people like you who are the reason the rest of the world hates us."

"Well - well," Alice stuttered searching in vain for a smart retort for her sister and failing miserably."You look like shit, it's no wonder you don't have a boyfriend."

"Ouch," Bella mocked while exaggeratedly clasping her hands to her chest, "you wound me deeply. However will I find the strength to carry on living?"

"Alright, cut your shit," their older brother Emmett's baritone voice interrupted from where his large form lay sprawled out upon the family's couch. "Alice, turn the TV back on, Bella's right, this shit is important," Bella let stuck out her tongue in triumph, "and Bella, go take a shower or do something. Alice is right, you do look like shit."

While it was well past noon, Bella had neglected to dress for the day, choosing instead to lounge about in her old tatty sweat pants and a holey Ramones' t-shirt. She saw very little reason to put much effort into her looks on a normal day, plain was plain no matter what you did to it, and knowing that she would be locked inside all day did nothing to inspire her to put on the Ritz, instead she had opted for comfort.

Bella's face immediately settled into a sour scowl in response to Emmett's blunt comment but surprisingly, she didn't argue with her bear of a brother's demands, instead she chose to mumble darkly under her breath while her siblings laughed at her expense. She momentarily struggled to peel herself off the loveseat she had become so attached to before clumsily climbing upstairs to the bathroom.

Once there, Bella she the door on her siblings' laughter and turned on the water before undressing. With a sigh, she released her thick mahogany hair from its perpetual pony tail. When the water was warm enough to fill the small room with steam and fog up the large mirror, sparing Bella from further reflections upon her plainness, she stepped carefully into the heated stream and urged her muscles to relax.

The past few days had been stressful. Some sort of new virus had begun quickly infecting community after community across the United States and the Swan children had been confined to the house. Their father, Charlie was a police officer and had been tapped earlier that morning to travel south and assist the authorities with a situation taking place in Tucson. Their mother, Renee, had died from complications after giving birth to Alice twenty-two years before, leaving the Swan children to interact without a neutral buffer for the first time since Bella had all but disowned Alice several years earlier. The stress of the unwelcome sibling bonding time and worry about the mystery virus was driving Bella mad.

There was very limited information being released to the public about the illness and Bella couldn't help but worry that it was perhaps worse than they were letting on. Sure Alice had a point about the Swine flu scare, as well as the Bird Flu and SARS hysteria years before but something felt different this time, more ominous.

Bella shook her head as she finished rinsing the last of the soap from her body. It was probably just her imagination running away with her again. She had always had an overactive imagination and during her childhood it had often caused more harm than good, contributing to a number of irrational fears, some of which she was still secretly working to overcome.

As the water began to run cold, Bella turned off the faucet before stepping carefully out of the shower. She wasn't known as the creator of the Swan Dive for nothing. After toweling off, she donned a set of more "desirable" clothing. Of course Alice would never approve of Bella's worn blue jeans and fitted western shirt but she couldn't find it in her to care, it was clean and comfortable and that's all that mattered.

Once she finished dressing, Bella turned to leave the confines of the humid bathroom when her cell phone began to vibrate from within her back pocket. A quick glance at the screen told her it was her friend Ben calling from Tucson.

"Hey Be…"

She was immediately interrupted by Ben's strained and urgent tone. "Bella I need you to listen to me, don't ask questions, just listen because I don't know how much time I have," her friend whispered urgently into the phone. "You need to pack up and get out of Phoenix, do you hear me Bells? Pack all the provisions you can in your truck and get out of the city, now!"

Bella inspected her nearly nonexistent frown lines before answering. "Ben, what the fudge man? What the heck are you talking about, I need to load up my truck and get out of Phoenix? Did you and your med school buddies get into the nitrous oxide?" Bella asked slightly amused as she continued to poke and prod at her flawless face.

"No, I didn't!" Ben replied indignantly, "Never mind. You have to listen to me Bella! This virus or whatever the hell it is, is so much worse than the government is letting on. It's already spreading through Tucson and it'll reach you before tomorrow night. You need to get out while you still can!"

"Ben I really don't think some kind of flu or whatever it is, is something to freak out about like this. We've been staying inside and taking all the necessary…" She never got to finish her sentence before she was interrupted by the words that would irrevocably change her life forever.

"Bella," Ben interrupted somberly, "it's the big day."

"What do you mean the… Oh hell no! Stop screwing with me Ben!" Bella exclaimed angrily. "This shit isn't funny anymore. I know we joked about it a lot and came up with elaborate plans but that shit just isn't possible…" Bella trailed of uncertainly. Even as she said the words they felt wrong in her mouth, Ben had never taken a joke this far before, why would he start now?

Ben's voice rose an octave and Bella couldn't suppress the chill that ran sown her spine in response to her friend's outlandish claims, "Bells, I swear on all that's holy. I'm not fucking with you. I wish I was, god I wish I was," Ben cried uncharacteristically into the phone.

By now Bella's knees had given out as the realization of what Ben was saying sunk in and she had collapsed into a heap upon the cool tile floor. "But the news said," she whispered without any conviction in her voice as she clutched her stomach.

"Fuck what the news said!" Ben shouted passionately. "Don't listen to that shit, they don't know any more than the rest of us! I know they said the government is dealing with the outbreak but Bella, I can see the National Guard from here and they're not helping. They've set up blockades around the city and are shooting at anything that moves and Bella, everything is moving," he whispered.

"Oh my god," Bella replied quietly while putting her head between her knees in an attempt not to be sick. "You're still trapped in the city?"

Ben was silent for a moment allowing Bella to hear for the first time the unholy screams and sounds of gunfire echoing in the distance. "Yeah," Ben admitted quietly, "I am. I was working at the hospital when the first victims were brought in and in a matter of hours the whole place was overrun and now, even if I somehow made it out of the building, there's no way out."

"Ben," Bella sobbed loudly into the phone as she clutched it to her ear like a lifeline, desperate to reach through space and drag her friend through to safety. "You have to try, you can't give up! There must be a way!"

"It's too late for me Bells," Ben admitted, crying openly into the phone now. "I was bitten just before I managed to barricade myself in this supply closet."

"No," Bella choked out in defeat before scrambling to deposit the pepperoni Hot Pocket she had eaten for lunch in the toilet.

Over the sounds of her vomiting, Bella could hear Ben's strained voice. "There's nothing you, or anyone else can do for me now but I need you to stay safe Bella, get your family out of Phoenix and follow the plan."

Sitting down Bella wiped her mouth "Like hell I will." She replied stubbornly. "I'm coming for you Ben, we'll figure this out. There must be someone I can talk to or Charlie could…"

"No Bella, you're not," Ben declared with more force in his voice than Bella had heard in all the years they had known each other. "I've been bitten. There is no hope of me making it out of here alive and you would never get to me before the door gives way anyway. But don't worry, I managed to pull the gun off the body of a dead cop after the world went to hell. It only has one bullet left and I plan to put it to good use. I won't be joining the rest of the unfortunate souls in their fate."

"Ben," Bella choked out weakly as she began to dry heave into the toilet once again.

"Just promise me, promise me Bella," Ben pleaded his voice thick with emotion. "Promise you'll follow the plan. I can't bear to go, knowing that I wasn't able to save anyone."

Bella closed her eyes before whimpering, "I promise."

"That's my girl," Ben wheezed, his voice growing fainter and more strangled. "I have to go now Bells it's almost time. Stay safe and remember, I love you B."

"I love you too Ben," Bella whispered sincerely before the line went dead.

The sudden silence over the line was startling as Ben Chaney, Bella Swan's friend and confidant since the first day of third grade, ended the call and moments later, his life.

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So while I'm still slowly but surely working on The World Spins Madly On, I had a stroke of genius in the middle of my genetics class and couldn't help but right it down rather than pay attention. I hope you enjoy the fruits of my over active imagination and let me know what you think!

XOXO,

Bellarella