Chapter seven - Another day

Chapter seven

 Mel hiss and shut her eyes in pain as the hydrogen peroxide foamed on her wound. Her right fist clench tightly on my arm as I swab pieces of flesh out of it.

“Ahh, this hurt as hell!” she yells. 

I feel her heart racing when she sights the iodine solution in the first aid box.

 “Are you ready for this?” I asked as I opened the small blue bottle.

 She shook her head and adjust her posture. “Let's get on with it”.

 I pour the solution on a cotton wool, mistakenly spilling half of it, then I dip it slowly into her wound, she jerks immediately responding with a loud grin, clenching her fist. I pulled out the blue wool tainted with blood and fleshy particles.

 Mel sighs in relief. Her face is covered in sweat, she looks weak like someone who's been battered, her eyes are red and bugled.

 “It's not done yet”. I said, shoving my hand into the first aid kit.

“What do you mean?” She asked, angrily.

 I sighed. “Remember, you can still get infected by bacterial. Tetanus is a deadly one”.

 “I thought we're Metas" She says, sounding disappointed.

 “Yes we are”. I draw out the thread tube and a surgical needle, then I face her, “We are not invincible. The predator claws almost killed you, but thankfully now you're healing like a normal human”.

 “Normal.” She scoffs. “It's been a while since I heard the word normal, nothing is normal.”

 I turn to look at her, “If the apocalypse ends today, do you think the world will be back to normal?” I ask.

 Mel shook her head doubtfully. “I don't think so, important lives have been lost and there's no way people will cope with the new world without looking above their shoulders. Life used to be normal, a cure can't bring normality back”.

 I sigh and cut the thread. “Aright then, let's get you stitch”.

 *********************

“Sally!”

 Mel startle me from my sleep. Quickly, I jerk from the chair and pull out my gun before turning to look at her. 

“What happened?” I ask.

“Sorry, it's a dream.”

“A dream about your ex,” I paused, then she nods. “Do you want to talk about it?” I ask.

“I don't think so” she says as she stands on her feet.

 Her face looked normal than before, and now that she's looking better, I know she's craving for something.

“Here you go” I say as I hand a pack of cookies to her.

 “Thanks,” She says. 

Mel return to the bed where she laid earlier, she tore the pack with her teeth and pour a mouthful of cookie into her mouth.

After last night incident, I decide to keep an eye on her, and now that we're not alone in this island, we have to be more than careful. After a while of roaming we discover an abandoned clinic with few zombies roaming about inside, most of them are in white overall lab coat, probably they are doctors who once worked there.  

 After clearing out the Zombies, I grab some medical kit to treat Mel's wound.

 “How are you feeling?” I ask. She shook her head in response, with her mouth filled with soft cookie I found in one of the rooms. 

 After a while, Mel emptied the cookie pack, tossing it away. She sighed in relief and smile at me, it's good to see her in her usual mood, I'm glad she's fine now. 

“I feel good,” She says, happily stretching her body. 

 "And how's the wound?” I ask.

She lower one side of her shirt, then I see the horrible stitch I did earlier. She touches the surface for a while, trying to feel something.

 “Does it hurt?” I ask.

 She shook her head. “No. I feel numb”.

 “I guess it's healing” 

 “I hope so” She said, then she buttons up her shirt.

I look through the window, watching the evening sun. For a moment, I stay silent, trying to figure out if we could spend the night in this place. The front door is destroyed,it seems someone hack it down with a axe while escaping. In no time, the night walkers will crowd the whole hospital, gaining entry from the open passage.

 “We have to go” I say to Mel as I stood on my feet. 

 “Where to?” She asks.

“Somewhere else, this place is not safe. The entrance is opened, and it'll give a free entry for the night walkers. There's a house nearby. It's on a hill, I'm sure we'll be safe there.”

 Mel stands on her feet, she wore her suit and gun, then she counts the bullets in her magazine before mounting it. “Ok then, let's move”.

****************

We walk through the forest, heading towards the hill Sometimes, we hide from hoards of zombies but most time we engage the few who sights us first 

 “You haven't told me where you learned to shoot so well,” I ask, as I pull out a knife from a zombie's head, I wipe the slippery blood using my handkerchief.

“My grandpa” She says as she moves closer to me, then we walk side by side.

 Mel continues; “He hunts once in a while with his rifle, and most times I'll tag along. My parents were not in support, they are anti-gun, but I insisted because I love guns. At thirteen, I killed my first game, an antelope. Ever since then, shooting becomes my hobby.”

 She smiles, but I try to avoid asking about her grandad, probably he's dead by now.

“So, how about you, Where did you learn to handle a gun?” she asks as we jump a big log of wood.

 I scoff. “ I don't know, I can't remember anything of my past. The last thing I recall is the sound of a slammed trunk. I can't remember anything before that, not even how i got into the trunk”.

“You're lucky” Mel mutters under her breath.

“Why do you say so?” I ask.

She pauses and turns facing me, I pull out my knife again and fling it swiftly at the zombie shuffling towards her from behind.

 Mel jerks immediately the zombie drops, she turned, staring at the lifeless body on the floor as congealed blood oozed out of its head.

“Do you know why most people didn't survive the first wave?” She asks, still looking at the lifeless body.

“They got turned or eaten I guess”.

“No. Most people already died in the inside. Adam, do you know how hurtful it feels seeing someone you love dying in front of you? Do you know the trauma most people had to go to to survive? It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, as long as you're human; you're doomed”.

 A tear drop trickle down her cheek, quickly, she wipes it off, “We have to get moving, it's getting dark,” she says.

 She walks past me while I stare at the dead zombie on the ground. Mel has never been so emotional, I guess she's still trying to get over it, the quicker we get the cure, the sooner these all ends. I'm fed up with having to kill innocent people.

 Finally, we are few miles away from our destination, a perfect place to spend the night, we'll be able to see anything approaching. The small bungalow with a chimney to keep us warm for the night, I hope the solar panel battery still works. Luckily, the window has no burglary; that way we'll be able to exit easily without having to use the door in case things goes south. Hopefully, we may find one or two useful supplies. Mel and I stand at the door for a while, waiting for the other to step in first.

“Ladies first,” I say, pointing at the door knob.

Mel smiles. “Lead the way, Mr. gentleman.”

“Oh really, I -”

“Go in, don't worry, I've got your back,”she says, then I face the door. 

The door creaks open as I turn the knob.

Fortunately, there's no sign of anyone inside, I turn to Mel, and tuck my handgun back to it's position.

 “You see, there's no one inside,” I shrug.

 "Down!” Mel shouts, pointing a gun towards me.

She pulls the trigger and a loud thud follows the echoed gunshot. Another moaning sound alerts me. Quickly, I face the Zombie behind me, then I pull out my knife and bury it into the chest of the fat old looking zombie dashing towards me.

 She growls in anger and jerk backwards with the knife hanging on her chest, slowly, blood drips from her chest, staining her already blood stained gown, her thin and long finger widened in rage. 

She charged to me but this time I crack my shotgun and squeeze the trigger, she drops immediately. 

"That was close," I say In relief.

 The old zombie lady laid close to the old infected man shot by Mel in the forehead. Their rough hand lay close to each other with similar ring on their fingers.

 “She turned him,” Mel says pointing at the bite mark on his arm. 

“Her neck is bandaged, I guess that's where she was bitten, but the old man took her in, thinking she's going to make it. Old stupid couples,” she scoffs.

 I stare at them, for once, I feel remorseful for a living dead. 

“Let's bury them” I say to Mel who's beginning to toss the corpse aside.

Mel scoffs. “Really, they were dead already”.

 I stand up and walk around the house, searching for something I can dig with. Shortly after, I returned with two shovels.

"Here, let's dig a grave for the both of them" I say, but Mel didn't seem to flinch at all.

 . “Are you going to help me or not?” I ask again.

Mel sighed. “Whatever,” she says as she tucks her gun back to its position. “But I'm not doing any digging.

*************

********

Mel stand on lookout while I toss the bodies inside the pit, it didn't take much time to cover the deep pit, despite the darkness and the momentary growls of the Nightwalkers roaming around. I still did what I intend to do. 

“Satisfied?” Mel asks.

“Yes”

 She lower her gun. “Let's go in, before the night walkers finds us outside.”

************

 Mel slumps on the couch, then she places her legs on the table in front. I turn on the lights to illuminate the house. Hoping it'll keep night walkers away. After a while, I return from the kitchen and place two small cans of Heinz beans on the table. Without hesitating, she opens it and brings it closer to her nose.

“It's surprising this thing still smells ok, though its expired last month” she says.

Mel scoops the baked beans, chewing like a starving lion.

“This taste great” She says happily. After a while, she stops to look at me, “Why aren't you eating?” She asks.

“I don't eat beans, it makes my tummy bloat”

“Still thinking about the old couples?”

I responded with a slight nod.

“They are gone now, you've buried them,”

“Yes but I'm concerned about the old man, despite knowing that he's going to get infected, he still brought her in.”

“That's love mixed with foolishness”. She laughs.

 Mel drops the empty can on the table and picks the other one. “Do you mind?” She asks.

 I watch her eat hungrily, our eyes meet again, but she looked away.

I scoffed and bite my lip, trying not to laugh too loud. It's funny seeing her eating like a hungry bear. She reaches for the bottled water, swallowing as much as her mouth can occupy. Suddenly she belch after she dropping the empty bottle.

I gave her a scornful look after she farts.

“What? Come on, at least I don't hide feelings” she says.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask.

“Come on, I overheard you and Larry the other night at the barracks.”

My heart raced but, still, I try to remain calm. “What did you hear?”

“Really? Now you are pretending” She laughs. “Just say it”.

“Say what?”

“Tell me you like me, say it straight to my face.”

She knows.

“What if I say I do like you”

“Who knows? We can spend the next five minutes doing intense smush."

I laugh.

She laid back and gave me this awkward smile. “Ok Adam, tell me what you meant by 'She's mine'”

I paused for a while trying to recall if I ever said so. 

“I don't know what you mean,” I look away, trying not to stare at her, I stand up and head to the entrance door to check if it's locked. Mel pulls off her boots and takes a deep breath as she wiggles her toes.

“Couch or bed?” I ask.

She laid on the couch facing the ceiling.

“Couch” she says.

 “Ok, I'll be in the bedroom if you need anything.”

 “Of course, I'll need a lot from you tonight,” she smiles.

 I have a feeling that she's up to something, but I hope she won't do anything crazy.

****************

 The bedroom seems better than I expected, the door is locked. I guess that's the reason the Zombie couples can't access the room.

 The white bedsheets with several pillows neatly made, flower vase on the left side with some novels on the small nightstand at the right. 

 I tossed the couple picture outside through the window after staring at it, to be honest, the lady looks charming when she's young, I wondered if they had kids but right now, it doesn't matter.

 A feeling of relief runs down my spine as soon as I lay on the soft, graceful bed. It's really been a long day and my foot seems tired. I toss my boots aside, placing my handgun beside me, making sure it can be in reach when I need it, you can't be too careful these days.

*************

 The slow creak of the door wake me up, quickly, I lift my gun and points it to the door.

“It's me, Mel” she says, raising her hand. 

I stare at her for a while before lowering my gun, she's in a transparent white skimpy gown and I could see her feminine features from outside. My eyes widened as she moved closer, I could feel my heart skipping a million beat, my gun dropped as she laid beside me.

“You said if I need anything-”

“Why are you…”, my voice trail off as I sent the aroma of her body.

 “Did you use perfume?” I ask.

 “Yes” she shook her head with a witty smile on her face. “I found this in the old lady dressing room, so I decide to change, never imagined it'll fit”

“Ok, but what are you doing here?” I ask trying not to stare at her

“I can't sleep alone, would you mind if we share the same room?”

“Sure” I say, as I place my gun aside.

 Mel climb and lay beside me.

I felt uncomfortable as she keeps shifting towards me. I throw back the covers.

 “Ok then, I'll sleep on the floor”.

 “No” She muttered, “I want you beside me”.

 I sigh, trying not to stare at her alluring figure, then I lay back slowly with my face staring at the ceiling. 

She shifted towards me and place her head on my chest and her lap on mine, I felt her soft cold skin on mine as it begins to rain.

“Adam” She whispers. “Why did you save me from the predator? You could have left like the others, that's the rules, right?”

I stare at her to catch a glimpse of her beautiful looks then I sigh, “I imagined the group without you in it and I figure out, it’s not going to be fun, though to be honest, I was afraid, but I did it out of-” My voice trailed off again trying to reconstruct what I intend to utter.

 Mel sat up and look straight at me for a while then she leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on my rough lips, it lasted than the last time, slowly, she pulls away. 

I felt cold chills running down my spine as she stares at me. I sat up, and slowly my face gets close to hers, this time I don't know who kissed who.

 She inhaled deeply, and we kissed again, this time it lasted longer than the first. She pulled away from an intense kiss, my hands placed on her waist, I pulled her closer. Furthermore, she sat on my laps, leaning backwards as she pulls her skimpy gown. For a split seconds, I was overwhelmed with the sight in front of me, Mel is stark naked, her red nipples pointing straight at my eyes, then her soft lips brought me back to reality. This time she quickly strip off my shirt, tossing it away. Then, she places my finger in-between her thigh as I feel my finger being dip into a slippery tight hole in-between her laps.

 She moans into my mouth as I rub my finger on the spot. She pulls her lip away and whispers in my ear, “I'm going to make love with you, I can't let this opportunity pass me by.”

 My finger is still between as she begins to moan softly, rubbing her hair and sweating, then suddenly she screams.

 “OH, Adam!!!”

 I quickly cover her mouth, but she pulls it away and again we lock lips.

 I can't explain if I'm being controlled by instinct, Mel unbuttons my pants, and she pulls it from me and toss it aside. Slowly she sat on my laps facing me with my back glued against the wall, I stare at her naked smooth skin, unsure if we should do this.

“Mel, are you-”

She cross a finger on my lips. “I want you tonight, that's not too much to ask ”. 

*********************************

The sound of birds chipping got me up from my slumber, I realize that I'm alone in the room. I lay back as images of what happened last night flashes in my head, at first, I shake it off thinking it's a dream until I realize that I was naked. The glimpse of a white short gown and a red bra snapped me out of my imagination. Quickly, I put on my balled up pants as a thudding sound gets closer, the door creak and slam almost immediately.

“You are awake” A familiar voice behind me says.

I turned to Mel, smiling as usual. “Good morning,” I say under my breath as I fastened my belt.

“Oh” She looked at my wristwatch on the floor. “It's half past twelve,”

I had to look at my wristwatch again to be certain. “How long did I sleep?”

She smiles. “How long did we sleep”

I scoff and move closer to her. She's on a light blue oversized shirt with the upper buttons unhook, showing her cleavage. I placed my hands around her waist, pulling her closer until no space left between us. This time I maintained eye contact, staring at her blue eyes.

 “Mel, concerning what happened last night was-”

She cuts in. “It's a mistake, I knew you were going to say so. To be honest, it isn't, I did it and I enjoyed every sec of it”.

I planted brief a kiss on her lower lip, she froze, slowly I pulled away and look straight to her eyes. “There's something I've always wanted to say to you” I whispered.

“And what's that?” 

“I love you”

“Oh really, now you're acting lover boy,”

 I let go of her.

“It's Larry's idea, I don't think the sentence is significant concerning what happened last night,” I say.

She smiled, but this time it seems different.

“I was hoping you'll say that,” she says.

That moment felt natural, as we stared at each other, the change in the apparent mood felt in the environment seem to last forever, Once in my life I feel safe, not even thoughts of a zombie appearing from nowhere or some bandit shooting at us matters at this moment.

Mel walks to the door without saying anything, I guess she overwhelmed. “The bathroom just down the hallway, freshen up and join me in the sitting room,” she walks out of the room and shut the door behind her. I sigh deeply and lay back on bed while I reminisce about the sweet feelings.

***********

(Hours later)

 “This is all we got,” Mel says as she places all the food stuffs on the table.

 “Well, this should last for a while.”

She zips the bag after placing all the canned food inside.

“Where do we head to?” She asks, facing me.

I switch my watch to compass mode. “North, the others are also heading to the facility, besides we're to meet at the river, or-” My voice trail off, thinking of any possible outcome.

“Or we complete the mission on our own” She complemented my statement.

I shook my head. “How may ammo do we have left?” I asked, facing her.

“Four fully loaded magazine, two stacks of shotgun bullets and few sidearm bullets”.

I stare at the rifle next to the shotgun on the table, deciding which one to pick. “Rifle or shotgun?”

“None” Mel says as she points to the double barrel hanged on the wall, probably it belongs to the old man who lived here. She walks to the corner to get the gun. “Reminds me of old days with grandpa, I'll love to test one of those,” she says.

 Mel placed it on the table before heading to the couch for the ammo, like she knew where it was, she lifted the couch and laugh,”These old men are the same,” she said as she shoves the pack of ammunition into her pocket. 

Providing we don't run into a hoard of zombies; our ammo is enough to last for a while.

“Anything else?” Mel asks.

 I turn to the door, staring at it for a moment. What I dread the most crossed my mind at the moment. Thoughts of running into the predator is enough to weaken me. I felt a slight touch on my left shoulder.

“Don't worry, we are going to go through this together” She says.

I pulled her closer to my side, she rests her head on my shoulder as I place my left hand around her waist. “I'm ready whenever you are,” she whispers in my ear.

“Ok then”

I pick up my guns from the table strap my backpack and cock the shotgun In my hand, an empty shell falls then I turn to Mel, “Let's proceed”.