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( Terribly Desirable ) ✝︎ ─── 13.
❝ Pretty Much Dead Already. ❞

     MELODY SCATTERED the seeds on the ground for the chickens to eat, a dull ache between her legs each time she moved, a reminder of what she and Rick had done. Not that she needed one, he had left a bruise on her chest that neither her bra or shirt could cover. The chickens scurried around as the coop door bangs closed.

Melody groaned when she seen Shane, pulling her shirt slightly higher up to hide the bruise. Shane ran his hand over his head, standing in front of the door, blocking Melody from getting out. Melody sent him an annoyed look, rolling her eyes at him.

"What do you want, Walsh?" Melody huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, her hand hiding the bruise. She took a small step back when he walked closer to her, her eyes darting around the coop for something sharp just in case.

"I saw you and Rick," Shane says, walking even closer to her. She tensed up, her eyes snapping towards him and taking a few steps back. She cursed under her breath when her back hit the fence, knowing that she shouldn't have walked backwards like she used to see in every cliche book. "Saw how pretty you looked while getting fucked, had my dick begging to be sucked by those pretty lips of yours."

Melody grimaced in disgust, slapping his hand away when he tried to brush his thumb against her lips. She glared hard at him, knowing that he was stronger than her and could most likely hurt her badly if she tried anything. "Fuck you," Melody glares at him, her hand searching around the fence behind her for anything she could use.

Melody looked over his shoulder when she seen the coop door opening again, relieved to see Carl standing there with a confused look on his face. Shane turned his head to look at who opened the door, moving away from Melody when he seen it was Carl. She glared at his back as he walked out, hearing Carl say her name a few times before she looked at him.

"What was that about?" Carl asked her, wearing a concerned expression. Melody shook her head, ruffling his hair with a smile.

"Don't worry about it," Melody hummed, placing her hand on his shoulder as they walk out of the coop. "Just Shane being an asshole as usual." When Melody seen that Rick and Lori were sitting around the small fire that Carol was cooking on, she patted Carl's shoulder and moved her hand away.

Carl sat down on the chair next to his parents, taking the plate of food that Carol held out to him.

Melody sat next to Daryl, wincing as she crosses one of her legs over the other. She moved her hair to cover the bruise on her chest, the dull ache between her legs worsening. She huffed in annoyance, uncrossing her legs, she would be glaring at Rick right now if it wasn't for the fact that Lori was right next to him and Shane was lurking somewhere, most likely just waiting for the perfect moment to tell everyone about what happened in Melody's tent.

"You good?" Daryl asked, looking over at her when he noticed her constant shifting. "You got ants in your pants or something?"

"I'm fine," She responded, deciding on sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest. "Can't get comfy on these stupid things."

Daryl looked around to see if anyone was listening in, taking something out of his pocket and sitting it in the arm of her chair. "Why was this in the tent?"

Melody felt her face drop when she seen the ring that belonged to the man that was currently sitting with his wife and son. She shrugged her shoulders, picking the ring up to hide it from the others without it being obvious. "I asked him to get me more arrows from my bag, it must've slipped off when he was looking through it."

"The same bag that has all your clothes and shit in it?" Daryl asked, raising his eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes at him, putting the ring in the pocket of her shorts. "So, you're telling me that he seen your. . .?" He didn't want to say the word ❛underwear❜.

"You're acting like it's illegal for someone to see my underwear," Melody groaned, looking over at him. "It's not like he stole them."

"You never know these days," Daryl grumbles, eyes narrowed as he looked over at Rick. "Never know who's out there."

Melody rolled her eyes, again. She was sure her eyes were going to get stuck like that with how many times she rolled her eyes in a day. She glanced over at Rick, catching his gaze before quickly looking away. Carol passed her a plate, sending her a smile when she smiles up at her.

"Um, guys," Glenn gains the attention of everyone as he stands in front of the group. "So. . . the barn's full of walkers."

Everyone looks at him, each of them wearing a different expression. Shane was the first one to start heading towards the barn, everyone started to follow after him. Melody glances at Rick as she follows after her dad, each of them wearing a frown.

When they got to the barn, Shane walked up to the door, peering in through the gap. Melody could hear the muffled groans of the walkers, her hand holding whoever was next to her when she heard one of the walkers thump against the door.

"You cannot tell me you're alright with this," Shane storms towards Rick.

"No, I'm not," Rick moves out of Shane's way as he speaks. "But we're guests here, this isn't our land."

Melody rolls her eyes as the two men start arguing, noticing that it was Carol who was standing next to her. She sent the older woman a soft smile, resting her head on her shoulder when Carol wrapped her arm around her. "Personally, I think we should just leave it, not our barn, not our problem. Simple as that."

"Of course, you'd agree with Rick," Shane scoffed, shaking his head at her. Melody sent him a glare but kept quiet, deciding to just ignore him. "We either got to go in there, we got make things right, or we just got to go. Now, we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time now."

"We can't go," Rick snapped at Shane.

"Why, Rick, why?"

"Because my daughter's still out there," Carol spoke up, subconsciously pulling Melody closer to her as she mentions her daughter.

"If you even think about saying what we all know you're gonna say, I'll open that door and let the walkers get to you," Melody threatens, glaring hard at the man. Even if she knew that Sophia hadn't survived ── the odds were not in her favour ── she was on Carol's side no matter what, especially since the other side was Shane.

"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind."

"I'm close to finding this girl, I just found her damn doll two days ago," Daryl argued. Both of the Dixon's had the same glare in their eyes as they stared at Shane. Shane chuckled sarcastically.

"You found her doll, Daryl, that's what you did, you found a doll," Shane retorted, getting more pissed off by the second.

"You ever wondered what a shoe feels like when it goes up your──" Melody got cut off when Rick put his arm in front of her, stopping her from getting closer to Shane. Shane shook his head when he looked between them.

Melody blocked out what Shane said when he started shouting, her hands covering her ears. Carol pulls her out of the way when everyone started arguing, Daryl and Shane trying to fight. Carol places her hand on the back of Melody's head, tucking it into her neck as she rubs her back comfortingly.

When she didn't hear the muffled sounds of raised voices, she slowly removed her hands from her ears, lifting her head to look over at Dale as he started talking.

"Hershel sees those things in there as people," Dale began, trying to defuse the situation. "Sick people, his wife, his stepson."

"You knew?"

"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel," Dale nodded. Melody put her hands back over her ears just in case they started yelling again.

"And you waited the night?"

"I thought we could survive one more night," Dale snapped back at Shane. "We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"Wait, you knew too?" Melody asked, looking over at Glenn. "Why didn't you tell me?" Glenn looked around, gesturing towards the group with a sigh.

As Shane starts yelling again, the walkers start banging on the barn doors, the chains rattling and the wooden beam across the door starting to slowly split.

☾

MELODY SLOWLY opened the door to Harrison's room, noticing him laying on his bed sleeping. She shut the door behind her, her hand reaching for the switchblade tucked into her shorts. She hadn't forgotten the way he looked at Carl, how he had tried to touch him until Melody slapped him in the face and told him to get out.

She walked over to his sleeping figure, glaring down at him as she flicked the blade open. He wakes up when the floorboard creaks under her foot, his eyes widening as he seen the switchblade in her hands.

Before he could speak, Melody slid the blade across his throat, his blood spurting out of the open wound. He gurgles on it, his hands reaching up to fight Melody off. She rolls her eyes at his attempts, pinning his hands down, only letting go when the light left his eyes.

She left his room after wiping his blood on his shirt, closing the door behind her. Thankfully, her shirt hadn't been stained with his blood. She'd only need to wash her hands. She didn't care that Hershel and his family would kick her off the farm, she just wanted to get rid of him.

For Carl's sake.

☾

     MELODY CHASED after Leona when she stole an arrow from her, groaning in annoyance when the dog picked up speed. She slowed down when she realised who she was heading towards, debating on just letting Leona have the arrow. It wasn't that important, it was just a piece of wood. She could make more if she needed to.

Leona stopped and turned, looking to see if Melody was chasing after her. She barked to try and get her to follow after, her tail wagging. Her barks gained the attention of Rick, the man stopping to let Leona run to him. He crouched down to scratch behind her ear, the dog dropping the arrow in her mouth at his feet.

Melody walked over to them, putting her hands in her back pockets and feeling the ring she had forgotten to give him back. Rick looked over at Shane who was staring at them. Melody cleared her throat, taking the ring out of her pocket and dropping it in his hand. Rick gave her the arrow that was at his feet, standing back up.

"Shane knows," Melody says, crossing her arms across her chest. "He said he watched us, which is totally not creepy at all, I love it when I get watched having sex, gives me an adrenaline rush."

"Sarcasm?" Rick asked, raising his eyebrows at her. Melody looked at him with an expressionless face.

"Of course, it's fucking sarcasm," Melody snapped. "You need to do something about it, make sure he doesn't go flapping his stupid lips to Lori or Carl, or y'know, my dad."

Rick nodded his head, rubbing his jaw as he tries to think of a solution. "I'll think of something."

"Better think fast."

☾

     MELODY WAS sat on the railing of the porch, her back resting against the support beam. She had stolen one of her dad's cigarettes, ignoring the glares she was receiving from everyone as she smokes it. It wasn't like she done it often, she just wanted some stress relief. Leona was laying on the porch, chewing away on some chicken.

When she seen her dad and Carol walking up, she quickly stubbed it out, hiding the burnt out cigarette behind her back. She sent her dad an innocent smile when he sent her a glare.

"Rick told us he was going out," Carol continued the conversation that Glenn, Andrea and T-Dog were having.

"Damn it, isn't anybody taking this seriously?" Daryl asked. "We got us a damn trail, oh, here we go." Shane walks up with a bug of guns, already holding one in his hand. "What's all this?"

"You with me, man?" Shane asked Daryl, handing him a gun. Daryl agrees with him and takes it, ignoring the glare he received from Melody. "Time to grow up."

"I'm not taking part of this," Melody rolled her eyes, glancing at the dried blood on her hand that she didn't wash off properly. He had most likely turned into a walker by now, and was probably banging on his door to get out. Not that Melody was caring.

"Rick just has you wrapped around his finger, doesn't he?" Shane rolled his eyes at Melody, who glares hard at him. She made sure Carl wasn't looking before flipping him off. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe but now we know it ain't."

"I'm taking full offence to that, Walsh," Melody huffed, gesturing to the daisies laced through her belt hoop that she, Carl and Beth had picked a few days ago that Beth had then made bracelets for both Carl and Melody with which had snapped after a few hours so Melody decided to put them on her shorts instead.

Shane ignored her, passing the guns out to everyone which causing Maggie to start arguing with him. Melody blocked them out again, placing her hands over her ears to block them out while staring at the pretty daisies on her shorts.

She looked up when she noticed that Shane had started running towards something, the rest of the group following after. Melody groaned, jumping down from the railing and running after them. Leona looked up to see where everyone was going before continuing to eat her chicken instead of following them.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked Rick, trying to keep the walker away from the group. Melody pointed at Shane, shrugging her shoulders.

"Ask dick-face over there."

"Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?" Shane yells, circling around Hershel, Rick, Jimmy and the walkers. Men and their need to be dramatic.

"No, why? What is it?" Melody asked sarcastically, crossing her arms across her chest. Shane ignored her as he started yelling with Rick and Hershel again. Melody blocked them out, the sound of his voice was hurting her head.

She jumped when Shane shot the walker Hershel was holding, feeling Carl slip his hand into hers when he reached her. She zoned out for a minute or two, only snapping back into focus when she seen the barn door opening and walkers beginning to come out.

Melody pulled Carl into a hug, he pressed his face into her side, arms wrapped tightly around her waist as he stares at the scene in front of him in shock. Melody covers his ears with her hands, knowing that the sound of the guns would be too loud for him, her heart dropping when she seen just how many walkers were in the barn.

One of them was Sophia.

Carol ran towards the barn, crying out Sophia's name as Daryl caught her, the two of them falling to the ground as Carol cries for her daughter.

Melody felt her shirt getting soaked from Carl's tears, causing her to turn them around, not wanting Carl to watch. She flinched when she heard a gun go off, a few tears slipping out of her eyes. Melody held the back of Carl's head in her hand, the sound of him crying and Carol sobbing breaking her heart.