Melissa held her breath as she waited for Seth's response. She let it out in relief as he replied with a small smile. "Okay, I'll talk to Dean and Roman about it."
"What about Randy and Punk?" she asked curiously as they resumed walking.
Seth shrugged. "It's not exactly their decision. And besides, the Shield has the majority," he said.
"So we still have democracy, at least," Melissa smiled.
"I guess," Seth said with a laugh.
They finally reached the church. Melissa saw the car parked around the back corner of the church; the others must have opened the gate that led into the small parking lot. It's a good thing too, Melissa thought to herself. They couldn't possibly know who else might be nearby and it wouldn't really help to have someone come by and steal the car if it was just sitting on the street. Besides, it makes it easier to load up.
She followed Seth into the church to find the others moving back and forth across the room, trying to gather up everything that they had brought in. Even though it had only been a day, it somehow seemed like it had been placed all over the room with no thought for organization.
She knew her stuff could be loaded up fairly easily if she did end up going. It was all stored in boxes in the office; they only had to be moved.
She saw Dean and Randy bickering over something by one of the boarded-up windows. Seth went in that direction to try and stop the argument. Melissa looked around and found CM Punk quietly sorting through his pack on one of the pews in the back corner.
She sat down on the pew next to his bag. "Hi."
Punk looked up with a small frown. "Can I help you?"
"Actually, I was wondering if you needed any help," Melissa said.
"Nah, I'm good," he said, his frown disappearing. "Just trying to get things ready to go and trying to ignore them," he said, gesturing to the others. He rolled his eyes. "If they get any louder it's going to draw the zombies in."
She looked over to see Roman getting between Dean and Randy while Seth spoke to Dean. "I don't see how anyone can fight right now," she muttered.
"Why's that?" Punk asked curiously.
"There's no point to it!" Melissa said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, think about it, there are things out there that are worse than everyone in here…"
"I'm glad you think so highly of us," Punk interrupted.
Melissa rolled her eyes, but continued. "What I'm trying to say is that arguing gets us nowhere. We have to work together to survive, or we're all going to end up dead."
"We're all going to die anyways," Punk said with a shrug.
Melissa frowned. "That's not very optimistic."
"Who said I was optimistic?" Punk said as he resumed going through his stuff. "I'm realistic."
Melissa said nothing, so Punk took the opportunity to continue. "See, it's a challenge to see who the best is. We can't survive together if someone's weak. Fights just weed out the weak and leave the strong standing. Basically, it's survival of the fittest."
Melissa abruptly stood up, a bit unnerved. "I'm going to go see if they need any help over there."
If Punk heard her, he did not acknowledge her words as he continued sorting. Melissa didn't wait to see if he said anything more anyways. She hurried over to the other side of the church, where Roman and Seth had successfully separated Dean and Randy, who were still glaring at each other.
Melissa stopped just a few feet short of where they were grouped. "Do you need any help?" she asked cautiously, not sure if she was interrupting anything.
Seth looked up. "Why don't you help Randy pack his stuff that he has over there?" He pointed to the bag by the door, which was in opposite direction of Dean.
"I don't need help," Randy protested angrily. "And besides…"
Seth rolled his eyes. "Randy, just let her help. I need to talk to Dean and Roman. Alone." He put emphasis on the word alone.
"Fine," Randy said with an eye roll of his own. "Come on then," he signaled to Melissa, leading her across the church. Melissa's heart skipped a beat in nervousness as she looked behind her at the Shield talking quietly.
Randy motioned for her to sit on the chair in front of the door. Melissa did, first spinning it around so it was backwards. She rested her chin on the chair back, watching Randy start his own sorting, similar to Punk.
Randy was quiet for a little before speaking. "So you know what they're talking about." He didn't frame it as a question.
"I…how did you know that?" Melissa asked incredulously.
"You keep glancing over there every five seconds," Randy explained.
"No I don't," Melissa mumbled, knowing that she had been doing just that.
"So what are they talking about?" he asked as if she had just admitted to knowing.
"Um…" Melissa stalled, not knowing if she wasn't supposed to tell Randy.
"Come on, I doubt it's some dark secret," Randy prodded.
Melissa nervously twirled a strand of hair around her left index finger. "Seth's seeing if Dean and Roman will let me come along with them," she muttered quickly.
"Do what now?" Dean's raised voice came from where the Shield was gathered.
Randy shrugged, seeming unsurprised. "I heard Seth ask you to go last night. I'm sure that if Seth wants you to go along, he'll somehow convince Dean and Roman."
Randy's words soothed Melissa. "Thanks," she murmured.
"For what?" Randy asked, looking up from putting all his stuff back in his bag.
"For making me feel better," Melissa explained.
"Ah." Randy fell silent as he continued packing.
After a little while he was done and he sat down on the bench with a satisfied sigh. Suddenly Punk approached, sitting down next to Randy. "What's got the Shield's panties in a twist? I get within five feet of them and get the death glares of a lifetime."
Randy smirked. "Shield business. No worries, Melissa and I got booted out too."
"Well, we can't just sit around for the rest of the afternoon. We need to get everything packed and ready to go to load up tomorrow. I don't really want to try that in the dark," Punk muttered.
Randy shrugged. "I'm sure they'll be done eventually."
As if on cue, the Shield split up, resuming their tasks of packing everything up. Seth came over and said to Punk, "Dean needs some help finding the baseball bats we brought in. Do you think you could help him with that?"
"That's like asking if I want to have my head chewed off," Punk muttered. He got up and went to help Dean anyway.
"Randy, do you mind helping Roman get all of the stuff in one spot so we can have it ready for tomorrow?"
Randy shrugged, getting up to go help Roman, leaving Seth and Melissa alone.
Seth had his hands in his pockets, looking a bit nervous. "Just thought I'd let you know that we haven't decided yet."
Melissa's heart seemed to stop for a moment.
"Dean just wanted to finish the packing, so I'll talk to them again tonight. I think Roman's on board for you going with us, so it shouldn't be too difficult to convince Dean."
Melissa nodded, trying to contain her emotions. She wanted an answer now, but she knew she had to be patient. "Okay," she said as calmly as she could manage. "So do you need any more help?" she asked.
"Not right now," Seth told her. "For now you can make sure all your stuff is ready to go."
Melissa nodded, slowly heading to the office in the back, silently praying that Dean would allow her to go. She knew it was her only chance at survival.