EPOV.
The sound of the cabin exploding behind us urged me to rev the throttle on the bike harder, pushing us through the woodland at breakneck speed. Bella clung to me tightly around the waist; I could feel her breath on my back through the thin material of the shirt I was wearing. How in hell did they find us? Branches and foliage whipped at us as I steered us towards the lake. The escape route flashing through my mind as we went.
"Bella?"
"Y-Yes?"
"When we get to the dock, don't look back, just jump on the boat and get the engine started, I'll untie us and join you as quick as I can."
"W-what if they're there?" she asked.
"I'll deal with it, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there, just promise me, you'll do as I ask, and if that means heading off without me, you'll do it, I'll meet you at the rendezvous on the 35."
"Edward, I won't leave you behind."
"You can and you will, if it comes to it, trust me, I don't like it, but I promise I will always find you."
She squeezed me tighter then, not able to reply, I feel the same Bella, I hate even having to think like this. The woodland was starting to thin out, it wouldn't be long before we got to the dock, my adrenalin was coursing through me, I used to live for this shit, I guess my priorities have changed. I couldn't imagine not being with Bella now, even considering that possibility left me feeling hollow inside.
I could see the tree line breaking, and moonlight hitting water, not far now, we just need to get to the boat, a head start is all that we need. Then I heard it, engines. Shit! I chanced a glance behind us and caught the sight of twin beams breaking through the dark forest behind us, there must have been more of them than the six we saw. I pushed on the throttle some more, pleading for the bike to give us a bigger edge. I felt before I heard the tell tale thud of a bullet hitting a tree just to my right, barely an inch to the left and it would've hit me. Too damn close that's for sure.
Finally the trees broke and the lake appeared directly ahead of us, I steered us towards the dock not slowing down, Bella was still clinging to me like her life depended on it, I guess that it did.
"Bella, when I say jump, jump, tuck and roll, it's going to hurt, but I don't think we have time to stop and dismount the normal way."
"I trust you Edward."
"Okay, ready?" I slowed us slightly as we sped across the wooden planks of the dock, the mooring for our boat looming at speed.
Bella nodded against my shoulder.
"Jump!" I called flinging us from the speeding bike as it careened off the end of the dock and hit the water with an almighty splash.
We barely had time to tuck and roll as we hit the deck hard a spray of automatic weapon fire splintering the wood in our wake. Not daring to stop I grabbed Bella's hand and half dragged half threw her onto the boat.
"Get it started, I'm right behind you." I shouted, tossing my crash helmet to the side and pulling the Automatic rifle around and firing a few shots towards our pursuers.
They instantly dropped and moved into cover, firing haphazardly over the low wall that separated the dock from the road. I moved along the boat casting the lines that kept us moored before jumping onto the back, keeping my gun aimed at the dock.
"Bella! Get us out of here, I'm in." I called, not taking my eyes off those who meant us the most harm.
I barely caught my balance as Bella punched the throttle and sped us from the dock, but straightened myself out enough to fire on the fuel tanks of the other boats sat there. That would hopefully hold them off long enough for us to make some distance. The lake was quiet but for the roar of our engine as we cut through the still waters, leaving a frothy wake behind us. As we neared the middle of the lake I moved back towards the cockpit, my eyes constantly scanning the surrounding waters for potential trouble. Bella remained at the wheel, although she had throttled back a little now that we were for the most part well away from immediate danger.
"Did I hurt you when I threw you from the bike?" I asked worried that I had done her harm.
"Just a few bumps and bruises, we've had worse." Bella responded with a shrug. "So, what now?"
"I'm thinking we head south a little, before we head to Woods Bay, hopefully they'll think we're heading for Polson that way."
"Okay," she replied quietly.
I stepped forwards, placing my arms around her shoulders, hoping to give her some sense of comfort.
"At least I keep things interesting huh baby?" I tried joking.
"Ha! You know I think I could be happy with boring for a while, interesting is over-rated baby," she retorted.
"And that right there is one reason that I love you," I said placing a kiss on her nose.
"I love you too."
I scanned the dark moonlit waters around us; the shoreline was too far and too dark to establish if we had company waiting for us. Now that we were in a position where we had to use our escape route, I was undecided; do we continue south to Polson, do we double back to Kalispell, or do we continue as we are towards Woods Bay like we planned? I just wish I could read minds so I knew where these fuckers would be. The quiet of the lake, gave me a sense of peace as I came to a decision. Woods Bay here we come.
"Okay baby, let's head east, sooner we can hit Woods Bay, sooner we can get out of here."
Bella expertly changed course, cutting back the throttle once more, so that we approached quietly. Hopefully it would give us an advantage, just in case they were waiting on us. The dark dock loomed up out of the low level fog that always seemed to cover this side of the lake. Bella cut the engine and we coasted into the side in silence. We both stepped onto the dock, barely making a sound, my gun cocked and ready for action. Bella remained just behind me as we slowly crept along, stopping and crouching anytime we heard a sound. Eventually we made it up the bank and were crouched by the small stone wall that separated the shoreline from the highway. I carefully snuck a look over the top, hoping that I would find the coast clear. Thankfully it was and we sprinted across the highway to the parking lot of the Islander Inn. I knew instinctively that we needed to work fast, because it wouldn't be long before they considered looking for us here. With Bella's hand in mine, we slunk into the nearby tree line and moved silently towards our hidden cache. I quickly removed the camo net, and grabbed the survival kit that was stashed there, strapping it to my back and glancing around to make sure that we were still alone.
I gestured to Bella to put her helmet on, glad that we had some here as we'd both discarded ours when jumping on the boat earlier. We had two bikes this time, as much as I disliked the idea of not having Bella clinging to my back, we needed to be sure that we could protect ourselves, and to do that I needed to be able to fall back and fire without fear of Bella being hurt in the process. She'll be fine, she can ride, I've seen her ride, have a little faith. It didn't stop me worrying for her though. This had all sorts of means of being disastrous.
We wheeled the bikes out onto the lot, using the darkness to keep us hidden from sight. I have to admit; Bella does look hot sitting on the bike, but now is not the time to even think that way.
"Okay baby, I'm going to be behind you the whole time, no matter what, do not stop, follow the plan. Our first rest will be in St. Ignatious. Be safe," I said drawing her into me and hugging her tightly.
"Just promise me you'll not leave me," she responded, her voice muffled by the helmet.
"I'll try my best baby, but promise me no matter what, you'll not stop."
"I promise, I love you," she sniffled.
"Let's get going baby," I said walking her to her bike.
The bike rumbled to life as Bella prepared to move off; I jumped on my own bike, bringing the rifle round to sit across my thighs in readiness. I started my bike and looked over at Bella, nodding to encourage her to move off. We left the parking lot in convoy, two bikes out on the open road, the roar of our engines breaking the silence of our surroundings. The highway was quiet as we rode towards Polson, this was the one part of the plan I was unsure of, if they had considered us coming here, we could be riding into trouble, but short of going cross country through the heavily forested national parkland, this was our best chance of escape. All I could think was we have four days to get to Wisconsin and we had to avoid them asshole's to do it.
The ride down to Polson was quiet for the most part; minimal traffic passed us on the road as we sped along the eastern shore. I was constantly on the lookout for unwanted attention from the numerous cars that we passed, but was thankful when we merged with route 93. Hopefully we'd be able to disappear into the back roads once we hit St Ignatious. Bella continued to amaze me, she was so out of her depth, yet took to the bike like it was normal behaviour for her to be riding full throttle. St Ignatious soon loomed out of the dark, the quaint little town silent in the night-time hours. We sped through the town instinctually driven towards the mountain roads that would take us away from the main populated areas and hopefully away from any trouble too.
If we weren't running for our lives, I would've loved to stay and look at the view, but we couldn't chance it until we'd made some more distance. The Flathead National Forest provided us with the cover and security we craved as we sped further into the parkland. The mountains loomed over us like giants and the frigid air taunted us with its icy fingers. Still we rode on, not stopping until we passed through the trees and could finally hear signs of civilisation once more. We slowed as we eventually saw the highway in the distance, adrenalin was starting to be taken over by exhaustion but the need to get further away was still burning with me, the need to protect Bella at all costs pushed me to push us a little further.
We stopped just inside the tree line, Bella wobbled a little, her feet barely touching the ground from her position on her bike.
"Okay sweetheart, I think we can take a chance and head into Seeley Lake, fill up our tanks, hit the bathrooms and then we'll head out again, we'll take the 83 southbound, then join the 200 through the Helena National Forest, I think the less anyone sees of us, the better chance we have of getting out."
Bella looked over at me, her head resting on her arms that were hung loosely over the handlebars, she looked tired and it took everything in me to stop myself from dragging her from the bike and making camp where we are now.
"Sounds perfect baby," she replied, the initial spikes of adrenalin leaving her at a rate of knots.
"Let's get going before they have a chance to catch up," I said, gunning the throttle once more and motioning for Bella to head out in front of me.
I tucked my gun into the bag I had strapped to the bike, not wanting to raise alarm should we see anyone. We steered out of the woodland, dawn was breaking and the highway was waking up with traffic, we needed to get in and out of Seeley Lake as swiftly as possible. I directed Bella via the headset, pleased that it had been added to the helmets, it wasn't long before we pulled into the gas station. I offered to fill the tanks while Bella cleaned up and grabbed some snacks from the store, it gave me the opportunity to keep lookout for trouble, although hopefully we'd be unrecognisable or at least blend in with other locals should anyone pass this way.
It wasn't long before Bella appeared at my side a flask of coffee in her hand, she handed it to me while she moved to put the cap back on the fuel tank of her bike. I took a large gulp of the steaming brew, wincing a little as it hit the back of my throat, sure it burned a little but in all honesty I was enjoying the effects of the caffeine too much to care. Once we'd finished with the coffee we climbed onto our bikes turning them southwards and heading out of town as swiftly as possible, it wasn't long before we arrived at Clearwater junction, the rest area where the 83 meets route 200, turning eastwards at the junction we didn't stop to rest, choosing instead to make more ground on our potential pursuers. The road was surrounded by trees in parts and open plains in others, the Blackfoot river gurgled and meandered a short distance from the highway. We passed camp grounds and inns, as we followed the desolate highway, the traffic scarce at this time of day, shy of locals going about their day to day business. We pushed on, only stopping in Lincoln to fill our tanks and grab a bite to eat, my ass ached from sitting astride my bike for so long, I could only imagine what it was like for Bella.
I knew that our route was somewhat circuitous, and we could've made better time taking the interstate, but it left us too open for my liking, this way at least gave me more time with Bella, we eventually crossed into Great Falls, we'd been on the road for hours and exhaustion was gaining ground on my body. We pulled into a small convenience store, sighing as the bikes came to a stop and stretching our weary legs.
"I'm rethinking the plan baby, I don't know about you, but my ass hurts and sleep sounds perfect about now."
Bella yawned while nodding her head in agreement, neither of us had it in us to keep up this pace for too long.
"I'm thinking we find somewhere to bed down tonight, then first thing tomorrow, I find us a jeep or something, the bikes have done us well so far, but there's a good chance they know we're on them, so a change in vehicle will give us a bit more security."
Bella groaned, leaning against her bike, I could see the fatigue rolling off her in waves. "Sounds peachy baby," she mumbled sleepily.
I chuckled under my breath pulling her into my embrace, "Let's go find a bed and get some shut eye sweetheart, I'm beat."
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