Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
MELODY
Life at FOS has gone from pretty good, verging on great, to complete shit.
I hate how things are now, but I can’t let go of my anger, can’t just get over the fact that Jonah had almost died and I hadn’t been there, and it was Traeger’s fault.
Jonah had tried his best to sway me before I left The Cove, telling me that I was essentially a giant idiot, but I refused to give in.
He was right: I got scared and now I’m using Jonah’s accident as an excuse.
I’m still scared, but I…fuck, I don’t know how to let go of this fear and anger and uncertainty, even if I wanted to.
I feel like I’m tangled in barbed wire with no hope of escape now.
The more I struggle, the more ensnared I become, the more pain lashes through me from all directions.
I force all thoughts of Traeger and our relationship—or lack thereof, I guess—away and focus on the task at hand.
We’re about to embark into uncharted waters, so to speak.
No one has been on this little island in almost a decade as far as we can tell, and we could be walking into an entire community full of Bloodies—or survivors who like their privacy and might not appreciate visitors.
I tell myself that if the latter is true, then they would have done something to our guys when they were working on the bridge, right?
So I’m assuming it’s the former. Not necessarily a better option, but a somewhat easier one to deal with in a sense.
Hordes of Bloodies can overrun you quick, sure, but at least they can’t think and plan and coordinate attacks.
I’d take the mindless zombies over calculating humans any day.
I have complete faith in the construction and engineering teams, but I still hold my breath as we cross the bridge, glancing over the edge to the water below. You could survive the fall, if you didn’t land on a submerged car or something, but it wouldn’t feel good.
“Half expected the whole damn thing to collapse, not gonna lie,” Wynn says when we’re back on solid ground on the island.
I grin at him. “Same though.”
We all take a second to be still and scan the area in front of us, listening for anything. Bloodies, shouts, gunshots—anything. But if there’s anything out there waiting, they’re keeping it quiet.
One of the guys on the construction team used to live in this area and tells us that the island is mostly just houses—some absolutely huge ones—but it also had a convenience and bait store, a small medical clinic, and two little restaurants.
The silver lining to the entire island being infected almost from the very start is that all of those houses and businesses are most likely still very ripe with supplies for the taking.
Well, silver lining for us, anyway. Guess from the islander’s perspective there isn’t really shit to be happy about.
The plan is to split into five six-person teams and go house-by-house, making our way from one end of the island to the other.
Once we clear everything, we’ll work on going through and inventorying supplies.
We’ll be out on the island for a week, at least, so my pack is a bit heavier than usual to include extra clothes, gear, and provisions.
Once we get the initial area cleared and find some working vehicles, the group staying back to guard the bridge will bring over the rest of our bags and drive them to wherever we decide to camp for the night.
For the most part, our day will be spent on foot though.
It’ll avoid unnecessary noise, plus hopping in and out every few feet like kids Trick-or-Teating seems more annoying than just huffing it to me. Guess Traeger agrees.
Thankfully, the rain had stopped on the drive here so we aren’t getting drenched right now, but the ground is completely soaked and muddy from the weeks’ worth of storms that had hit this area.
“Alright, you know your jobs. Be safe and vigilant,” Traeger says before we all split off into our assigned teams. I tell myself not to notice how good he looks in his tactical gear, the tight black long-sleeve thermal molding to his chest and arms, the weapons strapped all over him giving him a lethal and sexy vibe that I’m inwardly drooling over.
Just because I’m not letting myself try anything again doesn’t mean I went blind and can’t see how attractive he is. Too fucking attractive.
He shifts his gaze to mine and holds there for too long before he says, “Let’s move out.”
I swallow hard and adjust the straps on my pack just to give me something to do with my hands. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore him, to ignore the things that I still want, despite still being so fucking angry.
Of course, I’m on his team. I don’t bother putting up a fuss about it. Part of me is even happy about it. That part needs to shut the fuck up.
“Get some,” Wynn says, holding out his fist towards me. I grin and bump my fist to his. I can’t deny that I’m excited. I need some action to take my mind off of everything else.
“Laissez les bons temps rouler, baby.”
We make it most of the day without much incident.
A few Bloodies inside some of the houses, but overall nothing too crazy.
Without even really looking too deeply, I know that we’ll get tons of great stuff from these houses, and, Traeger assures me without me asking, it will be spread equally throughout the settlements.
The properties here are good size, the houses a little more spread out than we originally thought, so we have to hike a good bit between some of them. I hate hiking. Running is fine, but traversing through mud and downed trees and overgrowth like a fucking frontiersman is not my idea of fun.
The three groups that are working this side of the island take a break.
The mud and slippery terrain is making it hard for everyone, so we can all use some water and rest. We find a a spot where the trees are a bit thinner, not quite a full clearing, but only smaller trees dotting the landscape.
It honestly looks a little creepy with the thin layer of fog hanging around because of all the rain and I rub the back of my neck at the prickling of unease that skitters up my spine.
I don’t like not being able to see clearly around us.
Wynn holds out his canteen and I take it gratefully, not wanting to dig through my own pack to find mine. I take a long sip and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand before holding it back out. I jut my chin to the edge of the trees.
“How far you think that drop is?”
This part of the island is elevated above the water and an inlet from the lake runs between two small-ish…I guess cliffs is about the closest thing to a right term for them, though it feels like a gross exaggeration.
“Sixty feet at least probably,” Wynn says following my gaze.
I nod and he takes another drink. “This is gonna be a huge haul when it’s all said and don—” He breaks off when screams ring out.
I spring up from my perch on a half-rotten log, muscles tense and ready.
I grab my gun, just as everyone around me does the same.
The only good thing that’s happened since Jonah is that my probationary period was lifted and now I can have weapons.
“Horde!” someone yells and then a group of Bloodies seems to materialize from the trees, as if they’d appeared out of thin air. They look creepy as absolute fuck lurching out of the fog and my heart thunders in my chest.
“What the fuck?!” I yell, catching Traeger’s eyes across the small space.
Shots begin to ring out as everyone starts fighting for their lives.
The Bloodies keep coming and coming. Ten, twenty, maybe more.
How had a group this big crept up on us so quickly?
Whoever had been scouting ahead must have been slacking…
or they got taken out before they knew what hit them. Shit, shit, shit.
I start taking them out as fast as I can, but we’re in relatively close quarters and I don’t want to risk hitting any of our own people.
I grit my teeth in frustration and sling my rifle over my back, reaching for one of the many blades I have within easy reach instead.
Knives are riskier since I have to get closer to the Bloodies to make the kill, but they’re safer for everyone else in the long run.
I stab and slice and duck and spin, my knife and body coated in thick, sludgy blood soon enough.
“Melody!” Traeger bellows my name as I bolt forward to take out a Bloody who has Martin pinned, barely keeping the thing’s snapping jaws from his throat.
I sink the blade into the Bloody’s temple and it goes limp.
I help shove it off of Martin and yank him upward, nodding before sprinting for the next one, then the next.
A blood-curdling scream rings out to my left and I whip my head that direction only to see a Bloody tearing out Amber’s throat.
Her scream cuts off in a low, wet gurgle, and blood pours down her chest. The Bloody follows her body down as it slumps to the ground, feasting.
Another joins and I grimace as the stomach-churning sounds of wet flesh being torn apart.
I grit my teeth but force myself to move on: there’s no help for her now.
I can only hope that they finish the job enough that she doesn’t rise again.
I keep an eye on Wynn and Traeger as I fight, needing them to be alright.
As complicated as my feelings are for Traeger, I don’t want to think about him being hurt or worse.
I refuse to think about it or think about what that means, so instead, I take out my frustrations on the undead all around me.
God, there are so fucking many of them. I scream through gritted teeth as one gets so close that I can see the bits of rotting flesh hanging from his gaping jaw—singular I suppose, since the entire bottom half of it is missing.
He forces the full weight of his desperate body on me and I nearly topple backward.
My boots slip in the mud, but even as we slide backwards, I keep my arms against the Bloody’s chest, pushing back against it with all my strength.
He may not be able to chomp down with only half a face, but if he gets his top teeth into me at all, I’m done for.
I scream again and shift my weight, spinning and following the Bloody down as his momentum takes him to the ground. I slam my knife into his skull and he stops struggling. I roll off of him, breathing hard, but only allow myself a heartbeat to lie there before springing up to find my next target.
Traeger somehow ended up on the edge of the clearing, near the drop off and three Bloodies are gunning for him.
My heart clenches, panic taking hold and strangling me.
I fight my way to him, desperate to get there in time, but by the time I do, he’s already taken all three of them out.
He turns towards me and arches a brow, asking if I’m alright.
I nod before I freeze, icy cold fear skittering up my spine as I look just over his shoulder.
Another Bloody lurches towards him, faster than the others.
It must have fed on one of our people already, the boost of fresh blood making it stronger, faster, more volatile and frenzied.
Traeger won’t have time to turn and get his gun up. The thing is already almost on him.
No.
Without thinking, I raise my arm, blade in hand.
Traeger’s eyes go wide, actual fear and confusion and a bit of hurt flashing in the green depths.
I let the knife fly and he barely has time to flinch before the blade sinks into the Bloody’s eye, mere feet behind him.
He whirls just as the body slumps to the ground, and stares dumbfounded for a second.
I close the distance between us and yanked my knife free, wiping the blade on the Bloody’s shirt.
I glance around and see that most of them have been handled.
I try not to look too closely at the bodies of our own littering the ground among the monsters.
Wynn is still standing and uninjured from what I can tell, so the fear clenching my heart eases up a fraction.
“Holy shit,” Traeger breathes as I straighten. “How…” He cuts off as the ground beneath us shifts. He grabs me, and I meet his gaze for a heartbeat before everything gives way and we tumble down the embankment.