A/N: I guess long is the new short. LOL. This one came out pretty long too.
LadyEvil21: Thanks for the review! :) It really helps me want to keep going with this!
Melissa had already grabbed her screwdriver, ready for any zombie that might be waiting outside. Luckily there was nothing and she breathed a sigh of relief. She wished Dean had given her some warning before throwing the door open.
She followed the trio out before reaching behind her to close the church door. Dean signaled for her to lead, and she silently led them back to the front of the church. She peered down the street. There was only zombie, and it was several blocks down the street. If they were careful, they could get back across the street without a problem. She pointed to the zombie with her screwdriver in case the three men hadn't seen it. They nodded, catching onto her warning to stay quiet.
Melissa jumped the small picket fence before dashing across the street and stopping behind one of the cars parked haphazardly on the curb. She peeked back down the street at the lone zombie as the Shield joined her. The zombie was actually wandering in the other direction.
So far so good, she told herself. Her hands were already a tad shaky. She hated this…this feeling of being hunted, of being prey. She shook her head to try and clear it. It wouldn't help her to be thinking negatively.
"You alright?" she heard Roman whisper.
She nodded with a swallow, not realizing her fear had shown on her face. She started down the street towards the alleyway. She briefly paused at the street intersection before continuing on towards the wall.
She scrambled up and over the wall and dropped down, glad the other side was clear.
Dean pushed by her, clearly knowing his way from here. Melissa was all too happy to let someone else do the leading; it was absolutely eating at her nerves. Dean stopped at the entrance of the alley to check the street. He motioned for them to follow him as he stepped into the street. Melissa followed Seth and Roman, feeling wary. It was then she realized that the sun was slowly, painfully, making its way down the horizon.
"We need to hurry," she hissed. Seth looked up at her words, glancing at the sky. He nodded to reassure her that he remembered their conversation from earlier. He joined Dean by the trunk of the car.
Melissa followed, her gaze roaming the street. She peered into the trunk and had to refrain from whistling in surprise. They had almost all a survivor could hope for packed into the car; there was plenty of food, water, batteries, blankets, and other various bits of survival gear. She pointed to the large pile of baseball bats that took up part of the trunk. "What'd you do, rob a Sports Authority?"
"Maybe," Dean said with a smirk on his face. "What, you gonna turn me in?"
Melissa just rolled her eyes. "So what's the plan? Move stuff to the church until you get the car running again? Or are you going to get the car ready to go right now?"
Dean looked at Seth and Roman. "What do you guys want to do?"
Seth thought about it a moment before replying. "I think we should move everything to the church first. That way we have more time to figure out what to do about the car."
Roman shook his head. "It doesn't make sense to move everything when we can just get the car going again. All we need is gas, right?"
Melissa looked down at the ground while the three men were talking. She frowned as she saw a trail of liquid splatters leading down the street. She spoke up. "Um, just out of curiosity, which direction did you come into town from?"
Dean pointed in the direction of splatters. "That way. Why?"
"I don't think that car's going anywhere."
Dean frowned. "Why not?"
Melissa knelt by the splatters, carefully dipping her fingers in it. She sniffed it, catching the smell of fuel. She wiped her fingers on her pants as she stood up. "I'm no mechanic, but I think you have a faulty fuel line. My dad's truck had that once. It's practically dumping out all of the gasoline before you use it. It has to be replaced if you want to use that car. And I don't think mechanics had the consideration to stay open when the world ended."
"Shit." Dean nearly slammed his hand down on the car, but Roman reached out and stopped it about an inch from the car.
"Remember what happened last time one of us hit the car?" he said with a weak smile.
Dean dropped his hand to his side with a small shiver. "Well, I guess that makes my vote automatic. I say we should set up shop in the church while we figure out what the hell to do about the car."
"Do you have anything to carry all the stuff in?" Melissa asked, feeling jittery as the sun edged further down the horizon.
"There's some backpacks in the back seat," Dean told her. "Roman, why don't you get those?" Dean started sorting through the stuff in the trunk as the Samoan went and got the backpacks.
Seth started helping Dean sort what they felt was most necessary to take.
Melissa glanced at the trunk again. "We're never going to get that all in one go," she said.
Dean looked at her with a sort of "no kidding" expression on his face.
Seth spoke up, interrupting what looked to be a pending argument. "We can try though." He started packing stuff into the backpacks as soon as Roman brought them over.
"Can I help at all?" Melissa asked, feeling a bit useless.
Dean pushed an already full backpack towards her. "Carry that. And keep watch for any danger."
Melissa put the backpack on, almost tipping over because of the weight. "Jeez, how much stuff did you shove in here?" she asked as she turned back to watch the street, not really expecting an answer.
The trio soon had crammed more stuff into three more backpacks. Seth and Roman put theirs on as Dean quietly shut the trunk.
Melissa continued to watch the street, starting to have to squint in the dying light. "Are we ready to go back?" she asked.
Dean nodded. "We can come get the rest of the stuff tomorrow," he said as he swung his backpack up onto his shoulders.
Seth and Roman started heading back towards the alley. Dean followed, with Melissa trailing in the back.
The trio entered the alley as Melissa passed by the gym that sat on the corner. As she did, the glass of the window shattered outward. Melissa threw her arms up, trying to protect her face from the breaking glass. That's when a zombie came barreling out of the window right in front of her.
Melissa found herself frozen in fear as it came at her. All rational thoughts fled as she let out a blood-curdling scream. There was no way the any member of the Shield could turn around in the alley and get back to her in time, and her hand holding the screwdriver hung useless at her side.
Right as the zombie's hands grasped at her shirt, a crossbow bolt plunged through its head, the tip sticking out. The blood sprayed all over Melissa, which caused her to whimper softly.
The zombie fell forward, obviously dead for good this time. Melissa jumped backwards as it hit the ground with a loud thud.
Seth popped out from the alley first, grabbing Melissa from behind, spinning her around to face him. "Are you alright?" he asked, and then repeated the question when she didn't immediately answer.
She nodded slightly as Dean and Roman came back onto the street. She turned back to the direction that the crossbow bolt had come from to see her savior walking down the street, crossbow in hand. That's when Dean growled out to the approaching man, "What are you doing here?"