Octagon Project 1: Melody Halloway

~-24-~

"Is this some kind of sick joke?!" Mel shouted into the empty space. The creaking of a person's weight on the boards above them caught her attention and she shared an alarmed glance with Zack before they both scrambled to their feet and carefully walked up the creaky, aged, wooden steps to the second story. Mel clenched her fists around the handles of her large knives so tightly that her knuckles turned ghostly white as she peeked above the landing just in time to see a person disappear through a crevice in the floor boards. "Damn it..." Mel growled as she quickly hopped down the steps again with Zack following closely behind. As Mel's feet hit the concrete ground of the first floor again, her eyes narrowed threateningly at the hooded man that ran for the door. Zack froze for a split second on the steps to check his gun before aiming quickly and firing two shots at the man whose body tripped and collapsed as he took the bullets through the back. A third shot ran through the air, echoing around the building which made it difficult for Zack to tell where it came from. But none of that mattered as he watched Mel's body drop from where she stopped, sliding across the ground toward the victim Zack sent down.

"No!" Zack shouted, his voice distant as though he just recovered from a large blast. Without a care in if he was the next one to get shot, he ran towards Mel and scooped her up in his arms as he knelt there on the ground. Drawing back her leather jacket, he looked at the hole the bullet made from penetrating just below her right collarbone; the blood spreading and soaking her grey T-shirt. "Mel?" Zack asked, his voice rough as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He ran his fingers along her face before resting his hand on the back of her head, holding it up as his vision went blurry. Mel gave him a weak, sedated smile as she attempted to lift her hand to his face. He grabbed it and held it against his jaw line as this eyes searched her face beggingly.

"I was right." She laughed softly. Zack looked down and shook his head. How could she say something like that?! "Zack..." She murmured. Zack looked up at her as her eyes began to shut, her mouth gaping open in words that she was having difficulty in saying.

"M-Mel," Zack stammered, shaking her head gently. Her lips began to move and he pressed her up against his chest, holding her close.

"I love you..." She whispered so quietly, Zack barely made out the words.

"I love you too." He replied. When there was nothing, no breath, no reply, no movement, Zack pulled Mel back slightly to stare at her paled face, her fiery green eyes closed forever and her mouth gaping open from her last words. "No, Mel," Zack said shaking her, the lump in his throat growing so strong it was nearly impossible to breathe. "Mel please!" He cried before looking up at the floor boards of the second story and shouting with a voice so full of sorrow that was nearly foreign to him, "Whhhyyy?!"

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"Dude," Dean said as Zack came into the house, looking like the living dead with his dark hair a shaggy mess, face pale and eyes red. Blood coated his hands and shirt from holding Mel- a picture he was never going to forget no matter what he tried. "Was it that bad?" Zack didn't reply as he began to numbly walk towards the hall with his head down.

"Mel?" Roy asked as Zack passed him, giving Roy a single side look that made Roy's words disappear from his mouth as he stood there, gaping. Zack walked into his room and shook off his jacket, going towards the little box he kept on his dresser and grabbing a vile, downing it, and letting himself collapse to the floor. Roy rushed in the moment he heard the thud from Zack's room to find him on the floor with an unlabeled vile next to him. Roy quickly felt for a pulse, and when he got none, he cursed and fumbled around for his phone.

"Vanessa, Dean, one of you get the car ready!" Roy shouted hoarsely, biting back tears of anger. Vanessa came rushing in and took one look at Zack with Roy still checking for a pulse, his phone balancing between his ear and shoulder, then took off to start the car. "Linda, I need to talk to McHall." Roy quickly said.

"I'm sorry, he's in a meeting-" Linda began on the other end.

"I need him NOW! It's Zackary! And get a medic!" He shouted, grabbing Zack and dragging him out towards the car as the call was redirected to McHall's office.

"What is so important that-"

"Zack just tried to kill himself!" Roy shouted.

"Bring him here as quickly as you can!" McHall ordered, hanging up and running his hands through his thick, greying hair. In one day, he just lost his best agent and now his son is trying to kill himself... What more could go wrong?

"Still no pulse." The doctor said as they had Zack in and hooked up. McHall cursed and turned about in a circle, doing all he could not to shoot the doctor. Another doctor came in and pulled McHall into the hallway to speak with him.

"Agent Royce Anderson brought in a vile he saw lying next to Zachary." She told him. "I checked the contents to find pure tetrodotoxin."

"Son of a bitch..." McHall grumbled under his breath. "Any news about Agent Melody Halloway?"

"She's gone sir. Zero heart rate. The body Zachary brought in earlier had lost too much blood by the time they got her to the clinic. The bullet was a Barrett 50 Cal laced with faint traces of tetrodotoxin. If there was more on the bullet it must have already entered her bloodstream." She informed him. McHall made a tight fist and lifted it to his mouth before lowering it again and releasing a heavy breath.

"That damn sniper again... Thank you Doctor Tracy." He sighed in defeat before the doctor that was with Zack rushed out.

"Mr. McHall?" He asked, leading him back into the room where Zack lay there on the bed, looking off to one side with a defeated look on his face. His heart rate on the monitor screen was barely there, but it was something. The doctor left the two alone at McHall's order and Zack refused to look at him.

"What the hell were you thinking Zachary?!" He asked, getting no answer. "Tetrodotoxin? Are you freaking kidding me?!" Still nothing. "Zachary Levi McHall." He growled. Zack turned to look at him with his eyebrows furrowed tightly in anger, catching McHall off guard. "This is unacceptable behavior." McHall stated, "I better not see this happen again. Get yourself together and be the agent you were trained to be." Zack looked away as McHall left. A single tear slipping down his cheek. Nothing was ever going to be the same.