Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TRAEGER
“GO!” I roar, dread coiling around my spine like an icy fist. I fire my pistol into the mass of rotting corpses spilling out of the broken storefront, some with bone showing through their ribcages, others with half-severed limbs hanging uselessly at their sides.
The black blood oozes and drips from their gaping mouths, rotting teeth flashing in the sun.
I shove Melody behind me. This wasn’t how this was supposed to have gone down.
She wasn’t supposed to have been in danger, not like this.
I know that in this world, nothing is completely safe anymore, but fuck, I really thought it would be fine.
I shouldn’t have brought her, not until she was allowed to have a weapon.
But my stupid fucking need to be near her won out over logic.
Melody is becoming a problem. A problem I in no way want to be rid of, but a problem all the same.
She’s quickly upended everything that I’ve created and worked so hard to put into place over the last few years, and while I should be pissed about that, I’m not.
I fucking love it. I crave it. I need more of it.
But now isn’t the time to be worrying about any of that. Now, we need to get the fuck out of here.
We have no choice but to leave the cover of the mail bin, and as soon as we make a break for it, the gunman on the roof rains down bullets.
By some miracle, we don’t get hit—Mel was right: they are pretty shitty shots—and Landry bolts into the street and takes the guy out while he’s distracted firing at us.
“Come on!” Melody yells. I run backwards trying to keep the Bloodies back as best as I can while we retreat. I cap a couple, clean shots right through the skull, and they drop, but the flood keeps coming, trampling right over their fallen brethren like they’re nothing.
“Traeger, forget them and fucking RUN!” Mel screams. She latches a hand onto my arm and tugs, and I give in, turning to run flat out for our lives. We sprint down the street and turn, only to find another group of Bloodies coming towards us.
“Fuck!” I shift to place myself in front of Melody again, and I swear I can feel her roll her eyes from behind me. I’m not doing it because I think she’s weak or can’t defend herself, I’m doing it because…I don’t want to think about it right now.
“This way!” Landry yells, nodding down an alley between two buildings that connects to the next street over. We’re moving away from the main square, away from the rest of our people, but we have no choice. We’ll circle back as soon as we can.
“We need wheels,” I say and Melody nods in agreement.
“Looks like there’s a parking lot full of cars behind that building,” Landry says, nodding to a crumbling brick building in the distance.
We just need to cross another street and a small field to get there.
“Probably our best bet—” He cuts off with a yell as a shot rings out and he stumbles back into the wall.
Melody and I both turn to find the shooter, but she’s faster.
Two more bodies drop. I knew that she was good, but damn.
Seeing her in action is something else. It’s fucking sexy. Don’t ask me to explain.
Landry slumps against the side of the building, his left hand clamped over his right shoulder, and Mel takes up a protective position a few feet ahead of him, rifle at the ready and head on a swivel.
“Traeger, get him!” she demands. She doesn’t turn to make sure I follow directions, just keeps scanning the street ahead and the buildings around us for threats, undead and otherwise.
I honestly don’t know whether to be annoyed or impressed that she’s barking orders—maybe a combination of both.
I drop down beside Landry and check his shoulder.
He sucks in harsh breaths through his teeth, but nods, telling me that he’s ok.
Or ok enough to get the fuck out of here anyway.
Two Bloodies emerge from the end of the alley. Mel dispatches them quickly, but all the noise is going to bring more and soon.
“We gotta go,” Mel says. “Wynn, you good?”
“Good,” Wynn grits out.
“Mostly just a graze and bullet went straight through. He’ll need stitches, but he’s alright,” I confirm.
I tear a strip from the bottom of my shirt and wrap it around his arm.
He hisses in quick breaths through clenched teeth, but holds still as I tie it as tightly as I can.
It’ll have to do for now. Mel glances over her shoulder as I help Wynn up.
His arm is soaked with blood, but he’s steady on his feet.
He nods to Mel and the three of us sprint to the mouth of the alley, pausing just long enough to make sure there aren’t Bloodies or gun-wielding assholes lying in wait, and quickly cross the cracked asphalt and the field beyond.
The grass is thick and waist-high, so it’s a bitch to run through, and I can only hope there aren’t any Bloodies hiding within, like sharks lurking beneath the surface of the ocean.
We eventually make it to the parking lot on the other side with no surprise attacks. We scan the choices and Mel runs towards an old 4Runner in the corner.
“Seriously!?” she yells in frustration when she tugs on the door only to find it locked.
“Out of the way,” I grunt, and she shifts, turning her head as I bring the butt of Landry’s rifle down against the driver’s side window.
The glass shatters and I reach in to pop the locks.
I hiss in pain as a shard of glass slices my forearm, but I don’t have time to worry about it right now. I’ve most definitely had worse.
“Get him in the back,” Mel says as she uses an old For Sale sign to brush the glass out of the driver’s seat.
She throws her pack into the passenger side and dives into the driver’s side floor, yanking the panel off to access the wires beneath the steering wheel.
I eye her with interest for a heartbeat, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
I get Landry into the backseat and then jump into the passenger seat, settling her pack on the floorboard between my feet.
“Come on, come on…” Mel begs quietly as she fiddles with the wires.
“Melody,” I say, trying to keep my tone calm. There are at least twenty Bloodies closing in on us fast from three directions.
“I’m trying!” she grits. “Come on you piece of—hell yeah, baby!!” The engine roars to life and she sits up, smiling triumphantly with a hint of justified cocky thrown in, but it fades when she sees the Bloodies. “Oh fuck.”
She throws the car into drive and slams on the accelerator, and I thank whoever might be listening that the SUV still has gas.
Gravel flies as the tires spin, but a heartbeat later we’re hauling ass around the group of Bloodies, clipping one and sending it sailing over the hood with a sickening thunk.
Black blood streaks the windshield and a piece of a flannel shirt gets caught in the windshield wiper.
“Good work,” I tell her after a few minutes, my heart still hammering inside my chest. I can see why she was the unofficial head of security and the point person on most runs back at The Cove. She’s a huge asset, that’s for damn sure.
And I almost lost her today.
I clench my hands into fists and force the thought away.
She’s not even mine to fucking lose because I haven’t figured out how to navigate our situation, but still—it’s been a long, long time since I’ve felt fear like I did today, and it had nothing to do with bullets raining down on me or flesh-eating zombies trying to get a taste.
“Thanks” Mel says, meeting my eyes for a moment and tucking some strands of hair that had escaped her braid behind her ear.
It seems like there’s so much more that she’s not saying, but I could just be imagining it.
I know that she’s attracted to me. I know that she’s thawing a bit, maybe even actually starting to like me.
But could she ever actually want anything?
Could I change everything if she did? Could she ever forgive me for taking her away from The Cove?
She clears her throat lightly and looks to the rearview mirror.
“Wynn, you alright back there?”
His dark skin looks a little gray and I know he’s losing too much blood, but he smiles.
“?a va, cher. Right as rain.”
“I can’t believe you got hit,” Mel says with a grin. “Fucking couyon.”
She’s playing it off but I can tell that she’s rattled.
She drives like a bat out of hell a few miles out towards the farmland before deeming it safe enough to pull over and get a better assessment of Landry’s wound.
Mel checks him out while I sweep the area, but it looks like we’re alone for now.
She pulls out a first aid kit from her pack—I guess it’s a good thing she keeps it on her at all times after all—and gets some QuikClot into Landry’s arm.
I wince when he yells through gritted teeth at the pain.
I’ve been there and that shit fucking kills.
I hand him a canteen and he takes a few big gulps.
I squeeze his uninjured shoulder and he nods, letting me know he’s alright.
Melody gets a bandage over the wound and we make a makeshift sling out of an old sweatshirt from the back of the SUV.
“Holloway, how’s it looking back there?” The voice that crackles through the walkie isn’t Holloway.
“Ackers here, sir. Holloway…he didn’t make it.” I close my eyes and lean my forehead against the walkie for a heartbeat. Holloway was a good man. I say a silent goodbye and thanks and open my eyes. Melody eyes me but I continue on because that’s what you fucking do in this world.
“Status.”
“The hostiles have been taken care of. Bloodies are running rampant though.” I hear gunfire in the background and my body tenses.
“On our way.”
“I’m good,” Landry assures us. “Let’s get back and help the others.”
We make our way cautiously back to the others and start clearing streets as we go.
Melody is scarily efficient and I know when the time comes, she’ll be a huge asset to our patrols and runs.
We’re dirty and exhausted and covered in thick, sludge-like blood when we finally rendezvous back in the middle of the town square like we originally planned.
“Report, Mendoza,” I bark as we stride towards him. Helene jogs up and hands me a rag, then helps Melody get Landry over to a bench to rest and get looked at again. I wipe some of the worst grime from my face as he lays it out for me.
“Four dead, nine injured, sir. Most are gunshot wounds—two are pretty serious—but…” He clenches his jaw and I already know what he’s going to say before the words pass over his lips. “O’Leary and Harrison were both bitten.”
“Fuck,” I grate.
“Harrison, uh, took care of herself as soon we got everything under control.” I clench my jaw but nod.
I can’t say that I wouldn’t have done the same if I were in her shoes.
“O’Leary is around the back of the hardware store, sir.
He requested you.” I nod and steel myself for what I’m going to have to do next.
“I’ll take care of them. Any survivors from the other side?”
“No, sir.”
I honestly don’t feel one way or another about that.
I’ve been in this game too long and know that while the human part of me wants to save as many people as possible, the survivalist reasons that these people had attacked us and would have gladly killed us all.
Tried their damndest to do just that, no questions asked.
So, fuck them. In the end, I choose me and mine, just like they would choose them and theirs.
Whether you’re the hero of the story or the villain completely depends on which side of the line you’re standing on.
In this story, from my perspective, they’re the bad guys who had tried to hurt my people and we’re the heroes who fought back and won. The end.
I glance automatically to Melody and clench my jaw, replaying every second of this day over in my head, seeing all the ways it could have gone so, so wrong.
Her features harden and her body goes tense as I watch and I frown at the sudden change.
I follow her gaze and see Jett leaning against the end of the hardware store, half hidden in shadow.
The look he’s giving her makes my blood boil and a quiet fury begin to prowl inside my chest. I’ve heard the rumors.
I’ve seen his true self slip to the surface a time or two when he thought I wasn’t watching.
He hides it fairly well around me, but I know the truth.
I’ll be taking care of this little situation soon enough, but it has to be done in the right way.
There are always reasons and plots in everything I do.
I force myself to leave it for now. I know he won’t do anything while I’m here, but as soon as he’s given the chance, I know he’ll make his move. Soon, fucker. We’re going to dance real fucking soon.
I take a deep, settling breath and head to the back of the hardware store. I pull out my pistol as I go and check the chamber.
I’ll only need one bullet for this part.