Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MELODY
“Alright!” Traeger calls, bringing everyone to attention after taking out O’Leary from what Helene told me. I admire him for being willing to handle things for his guys, but man, I can’t imagine having that on my shoulders.
“Teams of four in each building, starting on this street and working our way North. Let’s fuckin’ get this done.”
Now that the fighting is done and the aftermath and the Bloodies have been taken care of, it’s time to do what we came here to do in the first place and scavenge for supplies.
It’s going to take a little longer than it originally would have since we lost so many to death and injury, but we’ll get it handled.
Traeger strolls over to me as I stand to join my group and holds out his hand expectantly.
“Seriously?”
“It isn’t that I don’t trust you,” he says, and I know it’s true.
It’s the rule and, despite the emergency situation earlier, there’s no reason for him to bend the rules for me.
Again, I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.
So I sigh and hand my—his—gun over. He takes it and starts to turn away, but I grab his wrist.
“You need a bandage.” I look pointedly at his forearm and his brows draw down as he follows my gaze.
“Oh,” he says, seemingly surprised to find that he’s bleeding.
“I’m fine.” I give him a level look, he sighs.
“Alright, play nurse if you must,” he grumbles.
He sits down on the curb and I grab supplies from the med kit Helene left out.
She was an EMT back before the world ended, so she’d be much better at this than me, but I know enough.
She has far worse injuries to attend to right now, so I can handle Traeger.
“Would be more fun if you had one of those outfits though,” he adds when I come back and start cleaning his wound.
“Into role playing, huh? Wouldn’t have guessed that based on everything I’ve heard.”
He laughs and I give him a small smile before I get to work picking small pieces of glass out of his arm. He inhales sharply and clenches his jaw, but other than that doesn’t react much.
“You shouldn’t have come after me,” I say quietly as I finish disinfecting and wrapping the cut with gauze and tape. “You could have gotten yourself killed.” I glance up to meet his gaze and wonder if he can see the unasked question there: why? Why risk his life like that?
“I had to, Melody. I…” He swallows hard but before he can say more, someone calls his name. He sighs and stands, his shoulders tense and straining under the weight of the world suddenly resting there. God, is he ever able to rest?
I nod, telling him to go ahead and do what he needs to do. I inhale softly when he reaches out and wipes his thumb across my cheek.
“You had some dirt,” he says in a low voice.
“Oh,” is all I manage to get out before his name is being called again.
He drops his hand and walks away, and I blink, telling myself to get a fucking grip.
I check on Wynn, who promises he’s fine, just tired and excited for the pain meds to kick in, and then join my assigned team to start sweeping buildings for supplies.
“Looks like there’s a big closet in the back if you want to check that out,” Wilson says a couple of hours later, nodding back towards the boutique he’d just exited, a box full of t-shirts and socks in his arms. I finished my assigned buildings, but don’t mind helping out some of the other groups to try to get things done quicker.
I duck inside and look over the clothes as I make my way towards the back of the store.
Cute stuff. I eye some of the dresses, half tempted to snag a few to bring back with me to FOS.
There’s a “store” set up in the old gift shop where extra clothes are kept for anyone to take as needed.
I decide to bring a bunch of stuff from this place back with me, knowing the female population of FOS would be very appreciative of some new cute items.
I finally make it to the closet Wilson mentioned and find a pretty good stash—paper towels, tissues, soap, toilet paper, a couple of cases of bottled water—when I hear someone else come inside the main door, the little bell still ringing happily to announce new visitors.
“There’s a few things back here!” I call.
“I need a box or maybe they have bags at the register—” I turn to find Jett leering at me from just outside the closet.
Every muscle in my body goes rigid. It was too much to hope that a Bloody tore him to shreds during the fight.
I’d even have settled for a good old fashioned bullet to the chest. But, alas, I’m not that lucky.
“Need some help?” he asks with a disgusting grin.
“I think I’ve got mouth breathing down, thanks,” I say dryly.
His grin only widens as he swaggers towards me, rubbing his chin and shaking his head.
“I can’t wait to put you in your place, little girl.” He leans in close but I don’t back away, only glare. The only thing I hate more than being told to behave is being called little girl. “Can’t. Fucking. Wait.”
“Mel?” Timmons calls from the front of the store.
“Back here,” Jett calls back, holding my gaze before taking a few steps backwards, smirking. Timmons comes around the corner and smiles, not seeming to notice anything amiss.
“Wilson said you might need this,” he says, holding up a big cardboard box.
“Yeah, uh, thanks. Got a few things in here,” I say, taking the box but keeping my eyes on Jett until he’s out of my line of sight.
He’s barely keeping himself from acting.
He’s like an addict jonesing for that next hit.
He can only hold back for so long. Whatever he’s planning, he’s going to do it soon.
And when he does, I’ll be fucking ready.
Three days later, we’re stopping for the night before making it back to FOS tomorrow, maybe the next day depending on Bloody traffic and weather.
It looks like a storm is rolling in, but I’m hoping it holds off until we’re at least on the road tomorrow.
I’m not in the mood to camp out in the fucking rain tonight.
This site is a large open clearing near the river.
A small cabin used to be perched in the center, but it toppled what looks to be a long time ago.
Now it’s just a heap of time-worn wood that’s probably a fantastic hiding spot for all kinds of critters I want nothing to do with.
I make a mental note to set up my camping spot as far across the clearing from it as I can get.
The river runs on the southern edge, so it’s a great spot for refilling our water containers, and through a small thicket of trees, there’s a small offshoot that forms a small pool—perfect for bathing. And dear God do I want a rinse.
“How’s the arm?” I ask Wynn as I help him spread out his bedroll.
“It’s fine,” he assures me. “Really,” he adds when I give him a hard look. “Sore, but could have been much worse. I’ll be back to my old self in a few weeks, and I’ve still got my shooting hand, so at least I’m not useless.”
“Ehh, that’s debatable.” His mouth pops open in mock indignation and I snort.
“Mel!” Traeger calls over the rush of the river.
“You’re up.” He hikes his thumb back towards the trees he just exited, telling me that it’s my turn at the pool.
He’s been more tense than usual for the past couple of days, but we haven’t had any time to talk.
Every time I try, he’s called away or needs to handle something.
Part of me thinks he’s avoiding me, but the other part thinks that one is just paranoid.
“Oh thank God,” Wynn says, wrinkling his nose. “You smell terrible.”
I punch him in his good arm and he laughs lightly. My gaze shifts to Traeger again, because when the fuck doesn’t it lately? Johnson leans in to say something quietly in his ear. He tenses but nods.
“Landry! Wilson! Tucker! You’re with me.
We’ve got an issue at Checkpoint Romeo Eight to handle.
Jett and Mendoza—you’re in charge here for the night.
Meet us there tomorrow.” Traeger meets my gaze again and gives me an almost imperceptible nod, so small, I’m not entirely sure I actually saw it at all, but I can’t shake the feeling that he’s trying to tell me something.
I want to ask him what’s going on, but he seems to force himself to turn away without so much as a wave goodbye.
I frown and shift my gaze to Wynn. He looks as confused as I feel, but hikes his uninjured shoulder.
“Well, guess I’ll see you tomorrow, cher.
” He cuts a look at Jett and then adds, “Stick by Timmons for the night while I’m gone.
” I roll my eyes but agree when he gives me a dry look.
He walks to the waiting Hummer and the five of them pile inside.
I give the vehicle a wave in goodbye as it pulls away, and grab my pack.
I work through different possibilities in my head as I walk through the trees towards the pool.
Something is going on, I just know it. That look from Traeger, the nod… I know he was telling me something.
And then it clicks.
There’s another smaller clearing once I break through the tree line.
The river rushes by on the right, but straight ahead, a bit of the land juts out and creates a calmer pool.
I drop my pack and fish out my soap, heading over to the pool for a quick wash down without getting undressed.
I would love to dive in and take a proper bath, but I’m not about to be caught naked right about now—I have a good feeling that I’m going to have company very soon.
When the cat’s away, the mouse will play, right?
As if on cue, I hear their heavy footfalls in the trees behind me.
I guess they aren’t worried about sneaking up on me.
I take a deep breath and that familiar calm settles over me.
Here we go.
I straighten at the edge of the pool and turn to find Jett and his two fuckhead shadows making their way into the clearing.