Chapter Fifteen

In For the Kill

This was ridiculous. She was a grown woman, she shouldn't be worried about doing this. It should have been easy, pee on a stick and see what the result was and yet, Melanie sat on the couch looking at the pregnancy test and was unwilling to do it.

Sighing, she ran both hands through her hair and felt her heart beating fast as she picked up the box and Melanie slowly took the test out from the box. "Don't even know if I could pee right now," she whispered.

"Well, go drink some water or something!"

Jumping, Melanie turned quickly and saw Lucy standing behind her and glared at her sister, "What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I couldn't sleep," Lucy said quickly, putting her bag down on the counter and coming over to sit on the couch with her, "I was up all night thinking about it. If it was a boy or a girl… how you were going to tell Joel. Can I be godmother?"

Rolling her eyes, Melanie put the test back in the box and shook her head "Jesus 'Luce, I don't even know if I'm pregnant yet," she muttered, standing up and walking towards the kitchen.

"Well, just take the test already then!" Lucy said exasperated, turning her body to look at her, "I don't know why you haven't done it yet!"

"Because I'm not ready to find out yet!" Melanie snapped, slamming the box down on the counter and making Lucy jump, "Just mind your own business Lucy, okay?"

There was silence in the apartment and Lucy's eyes softened as she slowly stood up and walked over to Melanie, who was shaking slightly and pressing her lips tightly together, "Just do it when you're ready," Lucy whispered, putting one arm around her and hugging her tightly, "and we'll deal with it then. I'll be here for you 'sis. Every step of the way."

"Thank you," Melanie murmured, giving her a small smile "I'm just… just…"

"Hey, no need to explain," Lucy smiled, rubbing her back comfortingly "in your own time, yeah?"

"Yeah…"

"But it will be today, won't it?"

As she shut the door, Melanie felt her heart thudding in her chest and forced herself to breathe – scenarios of Ellie getting caught ran through her head, each more unpleasant than the last. "Don't doubt her," she thought to herself "she's a tough kid and she's been going out hunting all winter. You thought she would get hurt and she didn't."

But no amount of positive thinking made her feel better.

Since they had come to this town, Ellie and Melanie had gotten closer, they would sit up talking through the night. Tell stories of before and confide in each other. While they had been travelling before reaching the University where everything had went to shit, Melanie couldn't help but feel like she was left out when it came to the three of them. Not that she resented the obvious bond between Joel and Ellie but now that feeling was gone.

Now, she was more protective of Ellie than she should be.

Heading back toward the room Joel was lying she paused in the doorway as she looked at him. He was still unconscious but his colouring had improved, the antibiotics must have kicked in and she wondered how Ellie had acquired the medication. Melanie herself had been in the abandoned houses looking for supplies – ammunition and medication – and had only found a little. None of the good stuff.

Walking over, she sat on the ground beside Joel and covered her face with her hands, hating her situation and wishing she had demanded Ellie stayed with her. She should have made her stay. "This was meant to be a simple job," she murmured between her fingers, "take the girl to the Fireflies and then get back to the compound. Then you decide to come along and stir up old feelings, you jackass."

"Your wife kinda scares me… and I don't doubt that if something happened to Mel, then she would make good on her promise. I don't want her coming after me so…I'm gonna tag along with these two and make sure nothing happens."

"It's okay for you," Melanie whispered, sitting up straight and looking at him "you just lay there and leave all the hard decisions for me. Ellie's out there right now risking her life when it should be me-"she stopped when her voice hitched in her throat and sighed shakily "she's so damn… stubborn and headstrong. Takes after you far too much," she added, looking over at his still form, "not that that's a bad thing… in some areas."

Joel mumbled something intelligible and frowned a little in his sleep. Melanie couldn't help but smile as she remembered how he would talk in his sleep, tell her they were going to Bora Bora… and that he was 8 months pregnant. She would always wake him up with his laughing and he wouldn't believe her when she told him what he had been saying.

"It's supposed to be me out there," Melanie said quietly, feeling ashamed of herself that she was in here safe while a young girl was out risking her life, "if something ever happened to her… I'd never forgive myself. After Sarah…"

Sir, there's a little girl

Melanie bit her lip hard as she felt her eyes welling up: considering her situation, now was not the time to think about Sarah.

She wasn't going to go through that again.

"Could you please… could you please just wake up?" Melanie asked, looking over at Joel and hoping he could hear her, "This would be a lot easier with you… it was always easier with you…"

She stopped talking and looked over Joel's face… there were new scars along his cheeks, some more wrinkles in his brow with all the frowning he did… and the grey in his hair. He was a different person and yet… there still was a bit of the old Joel there. That moment in the University had showed her that… it had taken all of her willpower not to-

The sudden sound of gunshots made Melanie's heart stop and she ran over to the washing machine and quickly climbed on top of it to look out the window and heard the men shouting. "Shit!" she hissed and ran to Joel's pack and grabbed the pistol as it had the most ammo, Ellie and herself had used it sparingly incase of an emergency arising. And now was definitely an emergency. There wasn't much ammo, so she would have to make every shot count. Rolling her shoulders, Melanie was relieved when there was no pain in her arm: all those exercises had paid off.

"I'm gonna borrow this," she said quickly, pulling on the thick jacket and putting a box of ammo in the pocket, "I won't let anything happen to her. I promise."

Heading out of the door, Melanie ducked low behind a wall and while crouching, ran towards the source of the shouting. The tracks in the snow were easy enough to follow and with every gunshot, she just prayed that it had missed its target.

"SHOOT THE HORSE! BRING IT DOWN!"

Running forward and not giving a damn about her own protection, Melanie ran around the side of the house just to see a bandit raise his gun and this time, the bullet found its target. The noise that the horse made when the bullet ripped through his body made her blood freeze, Melanie watched in horror as Ellie and Callus fell off the path and disappeared from sight.

"No…no. Fuck, please no!" Melanie whispered, trying to get as close as she could. She was Ellie's only hope now, getting shot wouldn't help her any and she mentally shook herself for forgetting that earlier.

"She's on the move! THIS WAY!"

"I'll stay here in case she double backs!"

Waiting until there were only one bandit left, Melanie put the gun in her leg holster and brought out her knife, "That's it asshole," she said quietly, deciding the quietest way to get rid of him "one less to deal with."

Sneaking forward, she jumped up on his back and covered his mouth before he could shout out and jammed the knife into his neck, hitting the artery as blood spurted out from between her fingers and stained the snow red. Letting him fall forward, Melanie searched his pockets quickly but didn't find anything useful and pushed his body over the edge and felt her heart ache when she seen the broken body of Callus.

"I'm sorry…" Melanie whispered, feeling truly sorry for the horse that had served them so well.

Standing up straight, Melanie seen signs for a nature trail and frowned a little when she seen the large lodge they hadn't yet checked in the distance. Plenty of hiding places inside, she just hoped that Ellie would think the same and head there too.

Pressing on, Melanie was lucky not to have to use her pistol, only killing bandits that strayed too far from the others who were looking for Ellie as if their lives depended on it. She wanted to know why capturing Ellie was such an important mission. Surely they wouldn't have this much of a hatred for someone stealing a little bit of medication? But, it was a changed world now. She had witnessed brutal murders back in Boston just for looking at someone wrong.

There was more gunfire as Melanie approached the lodge and she seen two corpses with arrows sticking in their throats in the middle of the street and heard the others shouting threats as they approached the lodge. "This is a good thing," she thought, taking cover behind the wall and getting out the pistol, "she's still alive."

Before she was going to take her shot, Melanie froze when she saw a man come out of the lodge carrying an unconscious Ellie and looked towards the remaining bandits. She was horribly outnumbered.

"Back to the town," the man announced and Melanie wondered if he was the leader, "we have the girl, our business is done here."

One bandit seemed to disagree, "What about the fuckers that helped her kill our guys back at the university?" he demanded, "I want them dead!"

There were nods and shouts of agreement but the man carrying Ellie shrugged, "She needed medication desperately and was out alone," he said calmly, "I doubt they'll last long without her and die slowly and surely. But a group of you can stay behind if you like and keep an eye out for them."

Sliding down behind the wall, Melanie thought desperately about her next move. Trying to grab Ellie would be suicide… and Joel wasn't in any condition to help.

She was about to play a very dangerous game of cat and mouse with these assholes… the only thing was… she didn't know if she was the cat… or the mouse.

Pregnant… she was pregnant.

Melanie didn't know how long she had been pacing her flat, arms crossed with one hand covering her mouth as her eyes remained widened in surprise. She didn't know what her next move was… she had to tell Joel, she knew that. But whenever she tried to think of the words to say, her mind would go blank.

Staring at the test, Melanie shook her head as she once again looked at the two little lines that meant she was pregnant. Or did it? Tests could be wrong sometimes… Daisy had had a meltdown when she took one and it said she was pregnant but then the doctor had told her it was a false alarm. Maybe that was what was happening to her.

After all, they had always used protection whenever they were intimate.

Deciding that the doctor was her next move, Melanie grabbed her keys and headed for the door. There was no point phoning Joel or Lucy until she definitely knew if she was pregnant or not. Getting in the car, she took out her cell and made a quick call for an appointment with the doctor and was immensely relieved when she was told to come in now while the doctor was free.

The nerves kicked in while she was driving and as she stopped at the red traffic lights, she glanced down and put a hand on her stomach unsure if she wanted there to be life within her or not… being pregnant wouldn't be the worst thing ever. And she wouldn't be alone… whatever the outcome, she would be able to handle it.

"Finally have an excuse for eating so much…" Melanie whispered, smiling a little, "eating for two and all that."

As she turned to look out the window, it was as if time had slowed down as she saw a large truck come straight towards her… the driver slumped over the wheel. There was no time to move, not even time to blink before it hit the side of her car and everything went black…