Chapter 10 #2
We eat in silence for a few minutes and it’s surprisingly comfortable.
The food is again delicious. Roasted vegetables, a small salad, and meat of some kind—deer, I think.
One upside to the end of the world is that wildlife has absolutely exploded.
Animals are immune to the disease, both the initial sickness and whatever the hell spread from the Bloodies to turn you if you got bit.
They can still be torn apart by the damn things, of course, but overall, they’re thriving.
Which means, if you’re a halfway decent shot, you’ll never starve in this world.
“So, have you figured it out yet?” he asks, popping a tomato into his mouth.
I know what he’s asking. If I’ve figured out the truth about FOS, about him.
“I have some theories, but I’m still conducting research before I make my final deductions.”
He smiles as he takes a drink.
“Alright then. That’s fair, professor.”
I suppress a smile and take a few bites of my salad. Bolstered by the strange…pleasantness of the evening, I decide to ask the question that’s been on my mind all these weeks.
“I’ve held up my end of the bargain…have you?”
“Are you asking if Jonah and the others are alright? If I’ve harmed them?”
“Yes,” I say simply.
He leans forward and puts his forearms on the table as he holds my gaze.
“I’m a lot of things, Melody. Some of them not so great, some of them fan-fucking-tastic.
But one of those things is a man of my word.
If I make a promise, I keep it. I promised that no harm would come to anyone at The Cove so long as the terms of our little arrangement and Kevin’s punishment were upheld.
You’ve held up your end, and Kevin is still in his house—” I don’t even bother asking how he knows that.
I’ve long assumed he has spies in every settlement reporting back to him regularly “—so I’ve held up my end.
Your friends are safe and will remain that way. ”
“Alright,” I say, nodding. Our gazes lock and suddenly that terrible heaviness settles around us, the same one I felt in the kitchen back at The Cove.
I inhale softly and his eyes flare, and I wonder if he’d make the same decision as he did that first night if I crawled across the table right now, if I straddled him in that chair and wrapped my arms around his neck, leaned in and pressed my lips to his…
but a knock at the door breaks the tension before I can do anything so ridiculous.
His lips curl into his customary smirk, but it looks like a mask now and I narrow my eyes a fraction.
Had I just had a glimpse of the real him?
He rises from the table and I would swear there’s the tiniest flare of disappointment as he walks to the door.
He opens it wide to reveal Natasha and I groan inwardly. Not the cat in heat.
The woman gives him a sultry smile and his eyes dip down to take in her tight, skimpy blue dress.
It’s covered in sequins and cut into a v between her breasts clear down to her navel.
She can rock it, I’ll give her that, but…
Traeger’s eyes don’t widen as he takes in Natasha the way they had when I’d come in earlier.
Interesting. Doesn’t matter, I remind myself, dismissing the errant thoughts I’d had a few minutes ago. But…it’s interesting.
I toss my napkin down and waltz to the door. I have the strange feeling that Traeger’s trying to make me jealous, so I make sure to act completely unaffected.
“Can we try to keep the theatrics to a minimum tonight? I’m tired.” Natasha looks offended and Traeger looks amused. I just stop myself from winking at him before sauntering out.
The furious look on Jett’s face as I’m ushered into the Big Boys Club meeting the next morning is an unexpected perk of my new job assignment.
“You can’t be serious,” he scoffs, giving Traeger a disbelieving look.
“Deadly so, and if you have a problem with it, by all means, let us know.” Traeger’s voice holds a note of quiet, understated authority that makes me see how he’d managed to gain and maintain his position.
Men who talk like that can usually back up whatever claims they make, can handle their business and handle it well.
The ones who need the testosterone-filled bullshit theatrics, the ones who need to show everyone that they’re big and bad rarely actually are.
Traeger looks at Jett and waits expectantly, ready to have this out if his second-in-command really wants to.
Jett grinds his teeth, but eventually says, “Of course not, sir.”
“Great,” Traeger says with a winning smile to the group.
There are nineteen members of the official security team in addition to Traeger and Jett, and I’m glad to see that a small handful are women.
There are plenty more FOSers assigned to security detail as their job—guard duty, patrols, etc.
—but this is specifically Traeger’s personal security team.
“Introductions: Mel, this is everyone. Everyone, this is Mel.” I cast him a sidelong look.
He only calls me Mel when other people are around.
When it’s just the two of us, I’m always Melody.
Could mean nothing, but I’m coming to realize that something rarely means nothing when it comes to Traeger.
I get the feeling that every little thing is calculated and done for a reason.
After introductions and a run down of what’s going on, things noted on patrols, status of provisions and scheduled supply trips, and areas that need attention within the settlements, I’m assigned to be Wynn’s shadow for the next few weeks until I pass initiation, I guess.
He grins at me when the meeting adjourns.
“I’m glad I’m with you,” I say, fist bumping him.
“Well, of course he wanted you with the best,” Wynn says, spreading his arms wide and grinning, those pearly whites shining like he’s in a Crest commercial.
I roll my eyes but laugh and we make our way out to our assigned spot for the day.
We’re on guard duty on one of the platforms outside the gate that had been so well hidden, I hadn’t even noticed it on our drive in, which is really saying something.
“I heard you capped a Bloody at six hundred yards,” Wynn says when we’re settled into our perch.
“Maybe.” I hike a shoulder with a sly grin.
Wynn chuckles. “Jett was pi-issed about it. Dragging his knuckles and beating his chest like the angry gorilla he is.” In a cave-man voice he adds, “Me mad! Me manhood threatened! Me smash!”
I laugh out loud at his Jett impression and he smiles.
“Not his biggest fan, huh?”
Wynn’s smile fades, his eyes turning serious.
“He hasn’t been here all that long. Him and his two shadows, Collins and Bartlett, were all found together and Jett quickly found a place as Traeger’s second-in-command.
He’s a decent enough soldier, but he’s a prick, all three of them are.
I think he hid it long enough to get into Traeger’s good graces, so he’s not as dumb as he looks, but now his true colors are coming out.
And rumor has it they…take liberties when they’re out without the rest of us. ”
“And Traeger lets it slide?” I spit, annoyed.
“Well, it’s all just rumor, I guess,” Wynn shrugs, but he seems uncomfortable with the idea of Traeger letting it slide.
Then again, he knows better than most how fucked up this world could be now.
He’d had a rough go of it until he’d found FOS.
Or rather, until the FOSers had found him.
Wynn told me that he’d been captured and held prisoner by a feral group a couple of years ago.
They’d turned out to be very into cannibalism.
I shudder now even thinking about it. Traeger had gotten wind of the group somehow, and had come to shut that shit down, rescuing a tortured and nearly-dead Wynn and a handful of others in the process.
I’d reluctantly put a gold star next to Traeger’s name in my mental inventory for that one.
He’s a certified knight in shining armor, isn’t he?
“I keep my distance from him though,” Wynn continues.
“We’re all supposed to have each other’s backs, but I wouldn’t trust any of them with mine.
Steer clear of them, but especially Jett.
Collins and Barlett are mostly harmless unless Jett is there to pull their strings, I think.
” His tone is serious, as it so rarely is.
Has he seen the looks Jett had given me?
Or is he just guessing based on the bad vibes he gets from Jett in general?
I’m pretty sure it’s a combination of both.
“I will,” I promise him, though I add silently until it’s time to end him. I sweep the area with my binoculars yet again, but there’s still no trace of anything. Not a single Bloody in sight and no one else skulking around either.
“Is it always this quiet here?”
“Usually, yeah. A handful of Bloodies make their way here every now and then, usually more through the woods on the other side by the lake than on this end, but there’s an old rock query a few miles to the east full of abandoned cars.
We rig a few to blare their horns on a pretty regular schedule to draw as many of the Bloodies there and away from FOS as we can.
” I raise my brows and nod. It’s smart. Really fucking smart, actually.
I should mention trying to create something similar near The Cove to Jonah…
then I remember that I’ll never actually get to speak to him again.
Pain laces my chest and my eyes burn, but I force the tears away.
“Hey, I know you probably aren’t really supposed to, but the next time you go to The Cove…”
“I’ll let him know you’re alright, I promise.”
“Thank you. Tell him…tell him I said “you cheatin’, bitches!” and he’ll know I’m alright, he’ll know the message really came from me.”
Wynn laughs at my over-the-top Texan accent and I explain that it went way back to the early days of our friendship.