As the world falls down

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"Oh come on... You really expect me to believe that?" The young woman shook her head and continued to clean the glass she was holding. "So let me get this right, the guy smashed a fist clean through your window, while you were driving, and tried to take a chunk clean out of you?" She clarified, a dark eyebrow raised in amusement. "Seriously, Jackson, if that were even a little true, why are you here in my bar and not squealing to the cops like a good little citizen?"
"Cleo! Come on!" The man who had been addressed at Jackson wailed. "I'm in shock here! Some guy tries to chow down on me, and you're not even a little worried for my well being? That's cold... Even for you!"
Cleo smiled and gently set the glass down before leaning her elbows on the bar to come face to face with Jackson, the waves of her dyed silver hair slipping over her shoulders. The bar owner always wore matt red lipstick and lots of black eyeliner around her pale blue eyes. The hint of her natural hair colour was the slice of ebony in the side of her blunt cut bangs that stopped just above her eyebrows.
The young woman often did this, stared people down until they simply cracked and told her what she wanted to know. But Jackson wasn't changing his story, which bothered her more than it should.

"No matter what happens to me, promise me you will never trust anything my brother might say to you?" Ben breathed, glancing back over his shoulder. "He's gotten it into his head that you will belong to him."

The sensation of bouncing on a rather soft bed and the sound of cursing roused Cleo slightly. The young woman knew her bed wasn't this soft, and she never brought any men home with her anyway. She was trying to force herself to open her eyes, but her body seemed unwilling in that moment.

"I don't think it's in the way you're thinking." Haley said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Ben, you need to calm down. Just because things are getting out of hand doesn't mean your brother is trying to get at me."

"Stay asleep." Edward uttered, lowering his long frame into an ornate chair across the room. He stared at her, narrowing his eyes. This woman was dangerous to him. He was already doing things that didn't make sense.

"Honey... You don't know Edward, once he sets his sights on something, or someone... You can't stop him." Ben breathed. "My best hope is simply to keep the two of you from ever meeting, and he can't fall for you like I did... have."

Cleo only complied for maybe another hour or so. It took only that long for her body to jerk awake, like she was falling from a great distance, and then she sat up, her strange eyes wide.

Haley laughed at this. "Don't be silly, Ben. I learned a long time ago that I'm not a real prize. I'm the girl you take home to mom and then take home. Not the one you really want for yourself. I don't think you have anything to worry about." 

Edward had somehow managed to nod off. It was rare for him since he didn't even trust himself. He snored softly, his chin rested against his chest and his fingers tightly gripping the arm rests on either side of him.

"I'm sorry I've made you believe that." Ben whispered. "But it was always you, Haley. You the one a man spends the rest of his life with, not the one he makes a stupid mistake with."

Cleo's gaze fell on Edward and was quick to assess her situation. It only took a few seconds for her to realise he was sleeping, and a few more to creep her way to the door.

"That's probably that problem." Haley whispered. "I'm nothing special. What did she call me? Sunday school?" She snorted. "It's okay, Ben. Really. I am who I am and I'm not going to change any time soon." 

Outside the door was much worse, it turned out, than inside. The two soldiers had gotten loose from their new cells and were stumbling around, very hungry and very dead.

"Shelly was a mistake, Haley. I knew she was bad news, but I..." Ben paused and ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't want to be alone, and I didn't have to impress her, which with hindsight... Should have set off alarm bells; she didn't care who I was, only that she was getting laid."

One of them cam stumbling towards Cleo, apparently in some very basic way remembering a different kind of hunger he had had for the young woman when he had been alive.

Haley wouldn't have time to answer. People from the library began pouring out onto the streets. Most of them had injuries that they had shouldn't have survived from. They were looking toward the couple, snarling and baring their teeth, slobbering like they were starving. 

The other was behind her. Grabbing her and pulling her to the ground. He was snapping at his former friend, hovering over Cleo.

Ben recognised this from the other town last night. He was quick to take Haley's hand and pull her with him. "He can still see us..." Ben murmured. "How else does every mouthbreather seem to know exactly where we are?"

Cleo slammed one of her heavy boots into the first man's face, almost screaming when she saw his jaw suddenly hang from his face by no more than a few piece of sinew.

Haley wasn't so sure these people were breathing anymore. "B-ben..." she stuttered, seeing the way some of them went even stopping for a massive fire that separated them from the couple. "We...we need to move!" 

Edward had woken up and was now watching Cleo, prepared to step in should he need to. But a dark side of him wanted to see how far she would go with this and what she would discover.

Ben was in complete agreement. He was still pulling Haley along with him when a storefront they were running past exploded. The sheriff had pulled his companion against him, shielding her from harm, and still didn't stop for long even though his own cheek was now sliced rather deeply and bleeding.

Cleo hated this part of herself. She had always been a fighter, or perhaps the more accurate word would have been 'survivor'. The young woman didn't go looking for trouble, but she was always prepared for when trouble came looking for her. The silver haired woman was clearly trying very hard to keep it together as the second man tried to take a chunk out of her slender arm, forcing her to jab her thumbs into his eyes, horrified by how easily they burst.

The amount of blood was drawing more of a crowd than it should have. Haley couldn't help but notice the people from their town stumbling out of doorways and alleys, their eyes dull and yet alive with hunger. "Ben...we need to to call someone. This is turning the way the other one did. The pharmacy over there has a first aid kit and a phone."

Edward was pretty sure he was in love. But he couldn't figure out if it was the action or the girl. The thought that it might have been the latter only served to make him angry.

Ben could feel the warm blood sliding down his cheek, and despite his efforts to simply wipe it away, it kept flowing. "I agree we need the first aid kit, but it isn't safe to call anyone, who do we even trust?"

With both 'men' now injured Cleo scooted back a few feet before scrambling to her feet. The young woman's chest rose and fell quickly beneath Edward's shirt, though it wouldn't be clear if it was out of fear or exertion. Cleo didn't give the men time to realise their injured body parts were meaningless, she simply turned and sprinted down the hallway. It didn't matter where she was going, so long as it was anywhere but right there.

"My sister, Ali. I've told you before she hates my guts. But she can help I have faith in that." Haley said, tearing the bottom of her shirt to dab at his face.

Edward was waiting at the exit. He was leaning against the wall, a cigarette hanging from his lips,   "going somewhere?" He purred.

"You really want to put her in danger?" Ben asked gently. "Edward has a taste for you now, honey... He wont just give up on finding you."

Cleo skidded to a halt just in front of Edward, her strange eyes narrowed hatefully at him. The young woman was a mess of tear smudged make up and smeared blood, but that didn't stop her shoving Edward roughly.

"I don't think we have to worry about him. He'll take one look at me and laugh himself silly." Haley said softly. "I think we'll be all right. Besides we really need help at this point." 

Edward grabbed her wrists against him and pressed his lips to hers. He would later curse himself for it but right now that didn't matter. He couldn't help himself.

"One look and he'll be smitten." Ben corrected with the ghost of the devil may care smile he had had before all this began. He had no idea his brother was currently focused on a different kind of woman completely.

Like many girls in her town, Cleo had had to learn at a young age to defend herself from unwanted male attention. The silver haired woman bit Edward's lip hard, while at the same moment she slammed a knee up into his privates.

Haley rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No one has to worry about that. Even you are okay." She snorted. "Now Ali on the other hand...she's another Shelly. We might have a problem there..." 

Edward lost his temper, grabbing a handful of her hair and jerking her head back. "That is not how we thank someone who just saved you." He hissed at her. "I should have left you to get eaten by my pets...when they were still human." He muttered, tasting blood.

Ben snorted too, very much in disagreement. "I'll get you to your sister, then I'll have to take care of Edward myself."

"Saved me?!" Cleo hissed, brave enough to spit in Edward's handsome face. "How about we start with your goons knocking me out and bringing me here, then you locked me up, sedated me, somehow removed my top to replace it with your shirt before letting your 'pets' run loose!"