Octagon Project 1: Melody Halloway

~-7-~

"Tell him. " Zack whispered into Mel's ear for the eleventh time in the past four days as the four of them, along with a new recruit that was just as annoying as Dean, stood all around the kitchen island, raising a toast to the new kid's passing of his assessment. He was an eighteen-year-old shmuck with blonde hair that was flipped to one side and deep brown eyes that reminded Mel a lot of her younger sister Kaylee. In the first minute she met him, it was obvious that he thought too highly of himself. It'll only be a matter of time until he gets broken. Unless he was like Dean and thought that killing around for a living was an honor worthy job title. Mel shot Zack a glare as Roy watched them skeptically and when he caught her gaze, he jerked his head in the direction of the living room. They stepped away from the others and spoke in hushed tones.

"What was that about?" Roy asked, nodding in Zack's direction.

"It's nothing. " Mel replied in a bored manner.

"It didn't look like nothing." Roy countered, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Mel sighed and looked up at him.

"Trust me, it's nothing." Mel insisted. Roy gave a sigh and momentarily rested a hand on her shoulder, walking back to the group in the kitchen.

"So what's it like?" The new kid asked, looking over at Mel that stood near the thin window next to the door, leaning against the wall and looking out, playing with one of her prized  throwing knives in between her fingers. She looked over at him fiercely with a question. "Living with all guys." He finished. Mel tilted her head back slightly, looking down at her knife that she was still flipping. The rookie looked down at it, then back up at her, unmoved.

"Easy." Mel answered blankly. "Since I know how to deal with them." She added more sternly; her eyes shooting bullets at Dean who gave a shy smile as he winced. The rookie gave a slanted smile and Mel bristled.

"Justin, cut her some slack, bro. She is, after all, the only woman in this house." Dean teased cautiously, raising his glass and winking at Mel.

"Yeah, the only woman with more balls than you." Roy said, sticking up for Mel who was just about seconds from throwing her knife at Dean.

"Well, the last I checked it was you who went to the infirmary for having your nuts kneed so hard during her recruiting." Dean spat back. Roy's face reddened and Zack just looked around at everyone with observant eyes, taking a small sip of his liquor. His eyes landed on Mel, and he shook his head as he noticed the hand she held her knife in was clenched so tightly, her knuckles began to turn white. Then he saw the blood that was dripping in between her fingers and he sat up straighter, refusing to take his eyes off of her hand.

"Mel," Zack began in a warning tone, not realizing that he had completely zoned out on everything else that was going on. "Mel." Zack said again in a louder voice. The other guys stopped talking and looked over at Zack, who pointed down at her hand cautiously. She looked down and brought her hand up as she opened her fist. The blade lay perfectly still on her palm in between two straight and bleeding lines.

"Damn chick." Justin, the rookie said, looking at her hand with big eyes. He seemed surprised. "You must have hands of steel." He commented, looking over at Dean next to him and the two snickered. It barely took Mel a split second to hook the knife in her palm by the round circle at the end of its extremely short handle and launch it in the direction of the two immature boys. It stuck into the cupboard in between their heads, dripping with blood. Giving them one last nerve-rattling stare, she stalked off into her room where she pulled out the first aid kit she had under her bed and put it on the mattress next to her, grabbing an antibiotic cleaning strip and wiping away the blood on the cuts; clenching her jaw as it stung. Her bedroom door opened and closed from behind her. In a split second, she had the gun she kept under her pillow cocked and pointing in the direction Zack stood with his hands raised. Sighing heavily, Mel dropped her arm and shoved the pistol back under her pillow, grumbling curses under her breath.