Octagon Project 1: Melody Halloway

~-10-~

Mel spent a good hour pacing around the kitchen and staring at the computer, biting her lower lip nervously, staring outside the kitchen window next to the door, and downing cups of coffee. The three boys had left after Justin woke up a few minutes after Mel knocked him out, so Zack and Mel were at the house alone. Just watching how restless she was made him anxious as he lay on the couch lazily. A double beep came from the laptop and Zack sat up quickly, looking over the back of the couch as Mel stopped her relentless pacing and rushed to it with big, anticipating eyes.

"What's that mean?" Zack asked.

"Information." Mel answered as Zack got up and rested a hand on the edge of the island counter, looking at the screen as Mel got to work. How she understood anything that was going on around the screen was beyond him. Seven or eight different tabs were all open with black backgrounds and grey or bright blue lettering and codes that made no sense to him. He knew how to program a computer, but whatever was going on was flat out confusing. Mel began cursing under her breath as a tab closed. Then another, and minutes later, another.

"What's going on?" Zack asked, now curious and worried that the only lead they had at all was failing them.

"I don't know." Mel grumbled each word through gritted teeth as her fingers flew and her eyes darted back and forth. In a matter of moments, all the tabs shut down and a single one popped up. The bar above it had green as though it was loading for something. Mel fumbled around with her phone and snapped as clear enough of a picture as she could of whatever was on the screen when her eyes widened and she pushed Zack back towards the couch, bouncing back and pulling out her gun, shooting the laptop a good three times without hesitation. Zack jolted at the first shot and stared at Mel with wide eyes as she shut the damaged laptop and began to walk out the door. Little shards of glass fell from the broken screen as she swiped it off the counter.

"What the hell was that about?!" He cried. She looked at him with an empty face and walked off towards the car, tossing the laptop in the backseat and slamming the car door as she hopped into the driver's seat. Zack ran and got into the passenger's side as she pulled out the driveway. "Mel, what is going on?" He asked, moving his hair away from his eyes.

"B.L.A.K most likely had a hacker on the other side that was aware of what I was doing." She told him. "Someone better than me who knew what they were doing. They set it for self-combustion which would trigger a remote tracking GPS to our location."

"Holy crap..." Zack muttered, holding a hand to his forehead and breathing in deeply as he looked at the trees whizzing by. They stopped two miles out of Jacksonville's city limits and drove off into the trees for one more mile when Mel grabbed the laptop from the backseat, tossed it onto the ground and grabbed the grenade she always kept in case of an emergency. Tying a string around the pin, she made it long enough to the car several yards away and put the grenade in a tight spot around the computer, jogging back to the car and setting the gear in drive. The moment she pulled the string, she pushed down on the gas pedal and they dashed onto the main road minutes before a boom sounded from the trees. Zack looked back at where they had just come from for a moment before looking at Mel in astonishment. She was hell on wheels for sure. When they got back to the house, Mel tossed Zack the car keys and looked down at her phone as it buzzed.

'Captive is in the spare room. Any luck with the laptop?' McHall texted. Mel quickly sent him the picture she took from the laptop and shoved it back into her pocket, taking in a deep breath. It was a good thing she had some steam to blow off. She's gonna need it for what was going to happen next.

When they opened the front door, the first thing Mel saw was the black bag McHall gave to her on the counter with the zipper open and Roy standing there with his arms crossed, looking down at it. Zack looked at it momentarily and decided to walk off to his room after seeing the look on Mel's face. Roy looked up at her with a grim expression and she clenched her teeth. Movement in the living room caught her eye and she turned to see Justin and Dean laughing with some girl that had short black hair in a pixy cut with small brown eyes and a slender body. When she saw Mel she froze and gasped, staring with eyes as large as full moons. Dean and Justin looked back and forth between the two girls in confusion.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Mel shouted, pointing in the girl's direction, looking at each of the boys in turn for an answer. Justin, not fully realizing the weight of the situation answered.

"New recruit. Darling, this is-"

"Melody?" The girl asked, interrupting Justin as he was introducing her. Mel growled and tossed her throwing knife at Justin who ducked and it stuck into the wall behind him. Mel turned her gaze to him.

"I said don't call me that." She growled. The girl looked petrified and utterly confused. Roy gave Dean a curt nod and Dean began to lead the newbie off to where she was going to stay. Abigail's old room. Justin muttered under his breath and followed. Mel went to fetch her knife as Roy took a deep breath and squared his tense shoulders.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

"About what?" Mel snapped, turning to look at him. "About why my friend from seventh grade is now a damned recruit?!"

"Why don't we start with the tools in your bag." He said calmly. Mel pushed her tongue into the side of her cheek as she looked away and then walked towards him, grabbing the bag, zipping it up, and walking off towards the hall. Roy thought for a brief second that she was heading to her room, and wasn't about to interfere, but when he saw her turn toward the hallway and into the weight room, he ran after her, giving Zack, who had just come out of his room looking like he was about to fall asleep a concerned look. Mel walked off to the corner of the exercise room where the door to a separate and empty storage room that they had was. She opened the door and Roy could vaguely see a man tied to a chair with strong cords and duct tape over his mouth.

"Mel!" Roy shouted, jogging over. "Don't do this." He told her, getting closer.

"Too late." She answered, shutting the door behind her. It clicked shut and he knew she locked it as he leaned against it. Zack and Dean appeared in the doorway, curious.

"What's going on?" They questioned.

"Mel's about to make the biggest mistake of her life." He said, sounding suddenly winded. What is going on with her? She's turning into the monster she was made into four years ago. His brain offered and he cursed at himself for thinking such a thing. Too much has been going on in such a short day.