Shots Fired

Cara stood in the shower, goosebumps crawling over her flesh as the cool water rained down. Her face however, was on fire, flushed red with embarrassment and a touch of anger. Mel wouldn't leave the room until she had fully undressed in front of the other woman. To make matters worse, being naked was not enough, she had to be carefully inspected all the way down to the undersides of her feet. It was standard practice Mel said, they had to protect themselves from taking in anyone with a zombie bite.

Cara understood the reason but that didn't make her any less uncomfortable. To add insult to injury; her shower wasn't all it was cracked up to be. They did in fact have running water, thanks to being on well water and an electric generator, but the hot water heater was busted. Mel explained all that and more in an attempt to fill the awkward silence as she examined Cara's body. For instance, Cara now knew that Mel was short for Melody, and the reason they burned candles wasn't for fragrance or ambiance so much as it was for conserving energy.

Even though the generator was running right now to power her shower, the bathroom like everywhere else she'd seen, was lit by candlelight. There were no windows for daylight to shine through, just candles of different shapes, colors, and sizes scattered across the vanity and the back of the toilet. The shower curtain they used was one of those clear plastic types, which helped with visibility. Cara tried to make it quick, but once she started scrubbing she realized how much she needed it and took her time washing off. The shampoo smelled really nice, and she forgot for a moment about the inconveniently cold water.

When she turned off the shower, the sound it made was instantly replaced by the spray of bullets. Freaked out, she ducked down while simultaneously reaching for the edge of her towel and yanking it to her. She wrapped it around herself as best she could while staying low to the ground. What was going on out there? Had the house been breeched? If so, by which of the two terrors? The gun fire came to a sudden halt and she strained her ears to hear if there were any voices. 'Please let there be voices,' she thought. Not hearing a word, the blood drained from her face as she realized what a vulnerable state she was in.

Cara carefully crawled out of the tub and put her dirty clothes back on as quietly as possible. Just when she got her second arm through her cardigan sleeve, the bathroom door burst open and she yelped. Mel stood there with some folded up laundry and a perplexed look on her face, which cleared when she drew the wrong conclusion.

"Oh sorry, I should have knocked," she said apologetically. "I got you some clean clothes, I think these should fit." She held the clothing out to Cara, who still looked on edge. "I'll take your other clothing and get it washed once you've uh, changed back out of it." Cara didn't say a word, she couldn't yet because her neurons were still firing a million fight-or-flight signals a second. She did accept the bundle of clothes from Mel, who then retreated from the room and shut the door.

She couldn't decide which was more disturbing; that someone was just spraying bullets a second ago, or the fact that Mel seemed completely unperturbed by it like it was perfectly normal to have a gun fire this close to the house. "Would nothing ever be peaceful again?" Cara lamented on a sigh.

Freshly dressed in new(ish) clothing, topped off with a black, white, and grey flannel; Cara carried her used clothes out of the bathroom and back toward the laundry room they'd visited earlier. On the way she passed by one of the rooms they'd skipped before and noticed Ethan was inside. She paused a moment to look through the doorless entryway and considered asking him where she could find Mel. But stopped to look around the room, which was so different from all the others. It was clearly the living room at one point, but they must have moved out the conventional furniture to make room for... whatever this was supposed to be.

Besides the mashup of chairs and benches, Cara's attention pulled toward the string of multi-colored Christmas lights zigzagging up and down the wall behind a short table. So much for the 'no using lightbulbs rule,' she thought. On the table were a number of needles, tubes, cotton swabs, bandages, and bags. 'If I see a scalpel, Im out of here,' Cara promised herself. Seeing all these things laid out like that made her feel uneasy and she decided maybe she should find Mel on her own. Before she could slink away though, Ethan looked up and noticed her.

"Speaking of..." he said with his eyes on her. "There she is now."

Cara was momentarily dumbstruck. She hadn't heard him speaking of anything to anyone, and she certainly hadn't seen anyone else in the room. Her eyes did a quick sweep from wall to wall and only then did she notice the figure dressed in all black hiding in the shadows. She remembered that outfit, she remembered those voluptuous curls, and she hoped to never see either again. The woman turned to look Cara's way and seeing the surprise on Cara's face, she smiled with insidious satisfaction.

What was going on here? Was Ethan selling her out to this vampire wretch to save his own skin? She felt sick and desperate to run away. 'Where do they keep all their guns?' she wondered, thinking maybe if she could just find one... but then she heard that dreadful whooshing sound and in the blink of an eye, the woman was merely inches from her face.

"Is that really necessary?" said an unfamiliar voice. A moment ago Cara had been standing in the hallway alone, and now, on top of having a vampire breathing death down her neck; there was a hooded man by her side, with one hand around the other woman's arm, holding her at bay.