“Please hold your arms out. We’ll start there,” he said softly. I nodded and did as I was told. The water was frigid and I gasped when it hit my skin.
“Sorry,” he murmured. He grasped my arm and ran his rough palms up and down my arms, rubbing away the muck, to find clean skin beneath. His eyes searched my arms and then my hands for any broken skin. He inspected my hands, running his fingers over my right palm gently. “You’ve roughened your right palm from using your knife and gun often,” he said as he met my stare. I tilted my chin and raised a brow.
“I have taken care of myself for a long time now,” I answered. He smiled with a look of admiration.
“This is going to be cold,” he said as way of apology. Then he held the hose over my head. I squealed.
“Holy shit, that’s freezing,” I gasped. He chuckled and let the stream of water run over me to wash away the worse of the gunk that coated me. Pretty soon the water felt good. “I’m pretty sure I have zombie in my hair,” I moaned. Tex laughed loudly, making me jump. I opened my eyes and met his shining ones.
“Nothing sexier than zombies chunks in a girl’s hair,” he said with a wink. I laughed and did my best to get it all out. “Here, let me.” His hands ran through my hair and he felt my scalp, I assumed to check for lacerations.
“If you had some soap and shampoo, I just might marry you,” I said with a laugh. Tex stiffened and I was sorry for saying something so stupid to someone I didn’t even know. “I was joking,” I said softly. Tex smiled sadly and then ran his hands along my shoulders and back and then had me lift my legs to check for bites on either one.
“Looks like you’re good to go,” he said after a moment. He walked over to a small cabinet and pulled out a towel, white tee, and drawstring pants that would barely fit me. He grabbed my filthy clothes off of the chair. “I’ll be sure you get these back,” he promised with a wink. “Go ahead and dry off and get dressed,” he said, turning his back to me once again. I dried and dressed quickly, wondering if I should push my luck and ask Tex about what was going on in the compound. Would he tell me anything? I wasn’t sure and even though he seemed like a decent guy, I still couldn’t trust him just yet.
“You’re not old enough to be military, but the way you handled yourself out there …” Tex trailed of and I froze as I was tying the pants around my waist. Keep to the truth as much as possible, I reminded myself.
“My dad was military. He taught me well,” I said after a moment. Tex nodded his head, accepting that. It was the truth after all.
“And your friend out there?” he asked softly. My heart sped up. Tex turned to face me, his eyes assessing and searching my face.
“Jude? Jude was army for two years before the outbreak,” I answered with a shrug. That’s the story we came up with. It was believable … saying Jude wasn’t military at all just wouldn’t fly. He was a soldier and anyone would be able to see that. We just had to make them think he had nothing to do with any military anymore. Tex stared at me a moment longer before he turned and put a hand on the door knob.
“What’s your name?” he asked with his back to me.
“Melody,” I answered quietly.
“Let’s go, Melody. Hope you’re ready for this,” he muttered cryptically. I followed Tex back out into the hallway. Jude was there wearing the same nondescript clothing I was, of course his pants fit him better than mine did. He strode to my side, his eyes never leaving Tex’s.
“You okay?” he asked harshly. I nodded and moved closer to him. Jude turned to face Tex and they squared off, each one sizing each other up, Jude clearly making it known I was off limits and he better not have tried anything. Jude looked ready to rip Tex’s head off, but Tex just stood there, his bulk speaking for him and his eyes bored with Jude’s show. I put a hand on Jude’s arm and squeezed.
“I’m fine, Jude. He didn’t hurt me or get out of line,” I whispered. His arm stiffened beneath my touch and then his entire body relaxed, but just barely.
“If you’re ready now?” Tex drawled with a raised brow. He turned and walked to another door. Jude reached an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his side.
“We need to talk,” he whispered next to my ear. I nodded as we both followed behind Tex into the compound. We walked through a series of corridors with metal, industrial-looking doors until we came up to a large door that Tex had to open with a series of numbers entered into a keypad, much like the smaller, hidden, underground base we’d come from. The door opened and I was once again bombarded by the beautiful sound of living, breathing humans instead of death gurgles.
We entered on a small metal platform above a large, open room filled with people. A metal staircase led down into the room. The four other men began making their way down the stairs and Jude stepped forward, a look of surprise on his face, reflecting my own. There had to be close to a hundred people in this room alone. How many did the compound hold then? Two hundred? More? How many prisoners did they hold and where? My mind spun in twenty different directions. Tex came up close to me and leaned in to whisper a warning near my ear.
“Be careful, Melody. Don’t ask too many questions and keep a low profile,” he whispered just before stepping back. Jude turned around and eyed Tex, who was now a foot away and whistling a little tune.
“Well, how about we get you folks a little food?” Tex drawled as he walked toward the stairs. We followed him down the stairs, noting how everyone got quiet as we approached. They must not have had many newcomers. Where they were located, I wasn’t surprised one little bit. This place took “keep your enemy close” to a whole new level. We followed behind Tex as he led us across the room and down a hall to enter another large room ... their mess hall. Another thirty people were in the mess hall eating and joking around when we entered, it didn’t take me long to realize how few women of children were living in the compound. I probably passed five in the common area, two were eating lunch, and four working in the kitchen area. A short, blading guy wearing glasses came up to our group.
“Germain wants to see you,” he said in clipped tones, his eyes barely flicking over to me and Jude. I glanced up at Jude, but he gave nothing away. Tex eyed me before pointing over to the line for food.
“They should take care of you there. I’ll be back to show you both around as soon as I can.” He nodded at us both before turning and heading back through the door with the little guy trying to keep pace with his long, sure strides.
“Let’s grab some food,” Jude said without looking at me. I followed him and knew without looking up that almost every single eye in the room was on us. Jesus, it felt like high school all over again. A woman who looked to be in her mid-forties handed us a tray and I only just kept myself from hugging her. Our tray had a small pile of white rice with a ladle of piping hot canned beef stew poured on top. There was a fresh mini bread roll and a cookie with it. I smiled widely at the woman and she smiled back, aware of how much such a simple meal could mean to someone.
We sat in the back of the room and I opted to sit in front of him, instead of next to him, even though that put my back to the exit and almost everyone in the room. Jude raised a brow, but didn’t remark on it. We both dug into our food, grateful for the warmth and the mutual silence. I moaned as I bit into my peanut butter cookie. Jude’s eyes met mine and I steeled myself. He was pissed.
“Jude, I …” He held up a hand and I stopped mid-sentence. His eyes bore into mine, intense and hurt.
“You gave up, Mel,” he said so low I could barely hear the words. “You were just going to stand there and let those fuckers have you.” My eyes closed and I felt a fist squeeze around my heart. He was right, of course. I did give up and I hadn’t even given a second thought to how that would affect him. I had been selfish.
“I’m so sorry, Jude. I was being a selfish bitch,” I whispered thickly. I met his eyes and sat up straighter in my seat. “It won’t happen again.”
“You better fucking believe it won’t,” he said a
ngrily. I reached my hand out tentatively and placed it on top of his. When he didn’t jerk his hand back, I gave his a squeeze.
“Is that an order, Agent?” I whispered, my eyes wide to keep from crying. Jude’s intense stare took my breath away.
“Damn straight, woman.” I rolled my eyes at that and pulled back to finish off my cookie. When I eyeballed Jude’s cookie he sighed and broke it in half and offered me the bigger part. I grinned and took it quickly before he changed his mind. He just chuckled and shook his head, muttering something about females and driving him insane.
“Looks like Germain is someone in charge,” I said quietly as I bit into the cookie and then took a swig of water. Jude nodded.
“No telling who this guy is or how in the world he could have taken the base,” he said with his eyes on his plate. “Look at this place, it had to have been damn near impossible to break into. But to take it over completely?” Jude shook his head and clenched his jaw. “It had to be someone already here … someone they wouldn’t suspect.” He met my eyes. A traitor. I nodded. Someone dangerous and maybe even unstable.
“We need to find out if there are any prisoners,” I said in a whisper. Jude nodded in agreement.
“They won’t trust me, hell, they already hate me.” I flinched. He said it so certainly.
“Why do you say that?” I asked perplexed. “Maybe they’ll want to recruit you or something.” Jude smiled, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile.
“I know because I have something almost every man in this place already wants for himself,” he said caustically. My mouth popped open to ask him what in the hell he could possibly have when it struck me with the force of a small hurricane. Me. Sweet baby Jesus. I was a hot commodity. I fidgeted in my seat and barely restrained myself from turning around to see if all the eyes I’d felt on my back were still there or not.
“Exactly,” he said through gritted teeth. “I hadn’t thought this through well enough.” His hand ran over his face and I could tell for the second time that day he was truly worried for my safety.
“Maybe I can use it to our advantage,” I said gently. Jude drew back, his eyes going wide. “Not like that,” I said quickly. Jeepers. “I meant that maybe I could get some information from some of the guys … maybe from Tex.” Jude eyes hardened and his fist tightened on the table. I spoke hurriedly. “It’s just that he was respectful in a situation that could’ve been very bad, Jude. I don’t think he’d intentionally hurt anyone, so he might be our best bet.” I said as I bit my bottom lip.
“Alright, but be careful and if you feel even a little uneasy, just forget it. It isn’t worth your life. Nothing is.” He waited for my nod. He breathed a sigh of relief when I nodded my agreement. We finished our lunch quickly and left the mess hall to go to the common room and walk the halls without an escort. An armed guard followed us several steps back as soon as we left got up to leave, though. Jude put a hand on my back and steered me into the common room and over to a small seating area. There was a teen boy, a woman with curly, brown hair—probably in her late twenties, and a small girl with strawberry-blonde hair sitting there. The little girl was playing with a doll on the floor and the teen was looking extremely bored. They all eyed us warily when we sat down in their area.
I glanced around the room, taking note of the sixty or so people walking around, playing games, or otherwise entertaining themselves. I also took note of several people who seemed to be a little bit too interested in me and Jude. I stood up and stretched after twenty minutes of inactivity and pointed to a book shelf across the room when Jude glanced up at me.
“I’ll be right back. I’m just going to check out what they have to read,” I said with a smile. The bookshelf didn’t have much in the way of novels, but it did have the entire Harry Potter series. I picked up the first book and remembered the day my mom had bought me the entire collector’s set for Christmas one year. I smiled to myself and thumbed through the first few pages.
“Hey, sweet thang, how ‘bout you come over here and play a few games with me and my friends,” the guttural voice came from directly behind me and my good memories immediately vanished into a wisp of thin air. I glanced over my shoulder at Jude, who had already risen halfway out of his seat, and shook my head. His eyes flared in anger, but he sat back down. I didn’t look at the guy who spoke to me.
“I’d rather not,” I said indifferently. A few cat calls and guys laughing at their friend’s rebuff made the guy bolder.
“You think you’re too good for me or something?” he said in a hiss.
“Not at all,” I said with a shrug. “I’m just not interested.” A hand gripped my shoulder and spun me around. The guy pushed me up against the bookshelf with a hand around my throat and brought his face close to mine. “You don’t know what you’re missing, little girl,” he said against my cheek, his foul breath fanning my face. An armed guard came up next to us and put a hand on the man’s arm.
“Back off, man, she’s off limits,” he said, sounding slightly panicked, slightly scared. I wondered for only a second exactly who he was afraid of, but it was of no consequence. I pushed myself into the guy, catching him off guard when my body crashed flush into his own, knocking him back a step. What he and the guard failed to see soon enough was my hand darting out and snatching the ten inch blade from the guard’s leg. By the time either of them had time to react, I had already swept the septic-breathed dude’s legs out from under him and rode his body to the ground with the blade pressing directly into the hollow of his throat. The guard let out a surprised gasp and that only made me smile. I pressed the blade into his throat enough to draw a line of blood. He whimpered, his eyes wide. The entire room was deathly silent.
“You don’t seem to know how to take no for an answer,” I hissed down at the guy I was perched on top of. “Guys like you would be behind bars right now, away from the rest of society and such. But, things are pretty fucked up right now, so worthless, pieces of shit like you think you’re above the law, huh?” I pressed my knife down a little more. The guy didn’t dare breathe too deeply. “Maybe I should drive this into your throat right now. I’m sure it would go in just as easily as it does one of the hundreds of undead I’ve taken out. Maybe even easier.” I smiled, letting the jerk see in my eyes that I meant exactly what I said. “I’d be doing what’s left of society a favor,” I said as if mulling it over.
“Melody, don’t,” It was Tex. I didn’t look up or acknowledge him. I leaned down and brought my mouth up close to the guy’s ear to whisper.
“I swear to God and on all that is holy … if I ever hear of you hurting someone, or even looking sideways at some helpless woman or girl, I will fucking find you and cut your throat without even blinking. You understand me?” A very small “yes” as an answer. I snatched the knife from his throat and removed myself from his prone body in one smooth movement. I held the knife out to the guard and turned to face Tex. Jude was standing there too, like a large storm cloud about ready to rain down a torrent of booming lightening. I shrugged.
“So much for keeping a low profile,” Tex muttered with a sigh. “Follow me. Germain wants to see you both.” Tex took off, leaving Jude and I scrambling to keep up. So much for stealth … it looked like we were going to be led straight to Germain himself. Time to meet the man who overthrew the secret, Charlotte army base.
The layout of the base was much like the one close to Midtown, but it was a lot larger and a bit more complicated with extra corridors and blocked off spaces. Too much for me to memorize as we strode briskly by.
“So, Germain … he some kind of leader or something here?” I asked Tex nonchalantly. He laughed loudly and turned to wink at me.
“Something like that,” he answered without really answering. I turned and caught Jude looking at me, his expression matched my own. What on earth was going on around here? We stopped in front of a door that had a guard posted outside of it. When we approached the guard moved to the side for Tex and the rest of us to pass thr
ough. Tex was important. Good to know.
We entered a large room that looked like a meeting room with a huge table in its center. At the head of the table there sat a man with a shaved head and a goatee who watched us enter with hooded eyes. I could tell immediately he was someone in charge, someone who commanded authority. I did a quick search around the table and room. There were five other people in the room seated and standing close to the man sitting at the head of the table. Four men and one young woman. I didn’t pay them much mind, I wanted to find out about Germain.
“Melody Carter,” the man intoned from where he sat. I raised my chin and met his steely, blue gaze. “What are you and this army man, Jude, doing here in Charlotte?” he asked, getting straight to the point.
“I have family and friends in Charlotte,” I said truthfully. I did have friends in Charlotte a long time ago. “I needed to see if anyone was left, if we could find any of them.”
“Why wait so long?” he asked. “Why wait two years after the outbreak if you were so concerned?” I swallowed and licked my lips.
“I lived by myself in the woods for almost two years before I met Jude.” I motioned toward Jude and he put an arm across my shoulders. “I didn’t think I could do it by myself. But with him, I thought maybe I would have a chance … but the city was worse than I ever imagined.” I finished softly. A chuckle came from the young woman standing close to Germain. Jude’s arm tightened on my shoulder. Something niggled the back of my mind, something I should have noticed earlier. I sucked in a breath.
“How did you know my last name?” I hissed. Jude’s entire body became rigid beside me. “I only told Tex my first name, but you called me by my last name as well.” I narrowed my eyes at the man whose face hadn’t shown a single ounce of emotion or surprise.
“Ah, Mel, you always were a smart one.” The feminine voice rang out loud-and-clear through the room from the young woman, who now moved directly behind the man I’d been speaking with. She placed a hand on the back of his chair. “Do you know who I am?” she asked with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Surely, I’ve not changed so much that you wouldn’t recognize your best friend,” she said with a wicked gleam in her eye.
State of Decay (Omnibus (Parts 1-4)) Page 11
