"Fuck, how did these guys get the sneak on us?" Melanie muttered as she got out her gun and looked out the door, "I thought we had people on watch?"
"We were meant too!" Maria paused as she reloaded her gun, "Ellie? Ellie, we gotta run so just stay close to me and-"
A gunshot went through the glassless pane of the door and hit the wall opposite them, "SHIT!" Maria pushed Ellie down behind the table while Melanie fired her gun back at the intruders. She hit one in the head, killing him instantly while dodging another's attack.
"He's got a shotgun," Melanie told the others, "and these walls won't give us much cover we need to get out of here!"
"IN THERE! KILL THEM!"
Maria looked around desperately and then caught sight of the serving hatch that led into the proper kitchen, "Through there, Ellie, you need to go through there. We'll cover you!"
The two women stood at the same time and shot at the men trying to get nearer to ensure Ellie was safe but another came running around the corner causing them to duck behind the counter to avoid being shot. "We gotta run!" Maria said urgently "Try to get out of here!"
"I can help!" Ellie was half in the serving hatch and frowned "I can!"
"Get in that kitchen!" Melanie swore loudly as a bullet sliced her arm and fell back against the wall.
Maria's eyes widened, "Shit, did you get hit?" she shot a couple more times before taking cover left, "I think there's one more…can you hold out?"
"Yeah…yeah, it just grazed the skin…I'll be-I'll be..." Melanie tried to stay awake but felt her eyes grow heavy and as Maria and Ellie shouted her name, she felt herself black out…
"So, you pretty much work all the time then?" Melanie asked, holding the flashlight for Joel as he put something around the sink's pipe to stop water from spraying out again.
"Bills have to get paid somehow," Joel said casually "not much of a social life but I've got a roof over my head."
Melanie hesitated before trying to sound as casual as him, "Don't go out on dates a lot then?" she kept her eyes on the sink, trying to appear interested in what he was doing but could feel his eyes on her.
"I make exceptions for the right woman…"
Pretty sure she was blushing, Melanie glanced at him and seen he was back to concentrating on his work, "That's…good to know," she said quietly, with a small smile. God, it had been a while since she had flirted. She was rusty at it.
"How about you?" he asked, "Pretty young waitress in a bar…you probably have a man asking you out on every shift."
"If they come into this bar, then I probably don't wanna go out with them," she said jokingly, "lot of old truckers and married men with Harleys…the same old."
Joel snorted and stood up, turning the tap on again and this time it flowed normally, "I suppose that's not your type then?" he wiped his hands on a rag and smiled at her.
"I like my men unmarried and not twenty years older than me," Melanie switched off the flashlight and handed it back to him, "call me picky but I'm like that."
She turned around to pick up the phone when Joel's next comment took her by surprise, "So, what do you think of unmarried men…with kids?"
"Depends…the guy would have to be good-looking, funny…" Melanie said, glancing over her shoulder at him, "why…you know someone?"
Joel put down the rag and shook his head, "It's been a while since I asked someone out and I thought I could do it all coy and charming but I guess not," he leaned against the counter and gave her a half smile "Melanie, can I take you out for dinner sometime?"
"When were you thinking?" Melanie couldn't help the grin on her face.
"When you free?"
"I'm not washing my hair tomorrow night."
Grinning, Joel nodded "Well, then…if you give me your number then I shall take you out tomorrow night," his eyes shone when he smiled fully and Melanie could quite happily look at him, "I was thinking Italian."
"Sounds good to me," Melanie grabbed a pen and quickly scribbled down her number on a piece of paper, "give me a call."
Taking the note and letting his hand linger over hers, Joel nodded, "You can count on it, ma'am."
A sharp slap brought her out of her memory and Melanie hissed in pain as Maria stood over her, "Damn it, Mel…don't do that to me!" she whispered, relieved that she had woken up, "You've lost a shitload of blood."
"I'll be fine…I'll be fine," Melanie said weakly, trying to sit up on her own, "I take it you got the sons of bitches?"
Maria nodded, "Yeah…yeah we got them but there's more out there, I can hear the gunfire…" she looked over to Ellie and sighed "we should maybe wait here and-"
A gunshot behind them made the three of them jump but Melanie felt thankful when she heard Tommy and Joel's voices. Standing, she inhaled sharply as a sharp pain ran up her arm from where the bullet hit her, out of the corner of her eye, she seen Maria run towards Tommy and tenderly look over him for any injuries. Cupping his wife's face, he looked concerned, "You okay?" he asked, then glanced at Melanie as well, "Both of you?"
"Yeah, yeah. We're fine….we're fine," Maria started to say but trailed off as Ellie excitedly spoke to Joel.
"Oh man! Joel! They were coming in from every direction!" she told him waving her arms wildly "Then Maria was like 'We gotta run!'-"
Joel looked impatient as he tried to get her to be quiet, "Ellie, listen to me, are you-"
"-then this huge guy blasts in with a shotgun-"
Melanie smiled a little as she was reminded of Sarah suddenly, explaining to her in great detail about her soccer game championship. "Slow down, slow down, listen," Joel put his hands on Ellie's shoulders and shook her a little so she would look at him, "hey, hey, are you hurt?"
"No."
Watching as Joel then proceeded to look Ellie over for any injuries, Melanie glanced up in time for Tommy to sigh and shake his head. "Goddamnit."
"Tommy, what's wrong?" Maria asked worriedly.
He gave her a tired smile "I've just got some thinking to do is all…let's go see how everyone's doing. You better radio Nancy and tell her to start dinner a bit early. I think everyone could do with a feed."
Maria didn't look like she believed him, but as they walked away, she took out her walkie and Melanie could hear her talking to Nancy about preparing dinner. As she was about to leave herself, she heard Ellie mention her name.
"Shit, Joel, you should have seen Mel shooting! That girl has some aim!" Melanie looked around and seen Ellie grinning at her and Joel with an eyebrow raised.
"Really?"
"Yeah, she did like three kill shots in a row, it was all BANG! BANG! BANG! And they all fell dead!"
Melanie snorted, "Was clever enough to get shot in the arm but," she said and winced as she tried to move it, "I'm gonna go and get this sorted out."
"I can do it if you want," Joel's eyes had an expression in them that Melanie wasn't sure if she wanted to see or not, "not the first time I've had to patch you up."
For a moment she was almost tempted but after glancing at Tommy, she shook her head "I'll go up to the doctor…I'll see you all at dinner," she said to Tommy quietly and left without a backwards look at Joel, confused by what she was feeling.