The car was out of gas again. Nick cursed as Ellis grew silent, eyes narrowing as his eyes and pressing on the gas pedal. "I... I think I shoulda drove, Nick." Ellis commented, once, but Nick just grit his teeth and demanded Ellis either shut up or move to the back seat. Ellis spoke not a word since then.

"Damn, Ellis, you're quieter than that time Nick's heart stopped."

Ellis tipped his hat and sent a glare Coach's way, and Coach laughed because the red that tinged the boy's cheeks was only for one reason.

It grew quiet, after that. "Aww, shit. Shit..."

"Ellis, shut up."

"But Nick! Do you fuckin' SEE it?" Ellis pointed out his window, and Nick had no time to react, because the horde was coming at them and the car was screaming for gas. "Park the car, man, park the car!" Nick's fingers curled around the wheel, turning the car to park in one of the garages with the door open. Great timing, too, because almost immediately after, the car stopped working. "Aww, shit, get outta the car!" The four quickly exited the vehicle. The horde was coming closer. "Baby... damn, I apologize. I 'ope nothin' gets ye..." Ellis pat the car.

"Uhh, Ellis? You're going to have to cut that short."

Ellis looked over, eyes wide as he heard the roar of an infected he knew all too well. "Charger..."

"TANK! TANK!" That voice was coming from the horde.

"THAT'S NOT A TANK!"

The Charger roared and bowled through the horde, and it was only then the four survivors found four other survivors. A girl was shooting her pistols straight at the creature while the four that had been in the car stumbled back. Zoey stopped, staring at the four. "ZOEY!"

"Oh! Right!"

Ellis was already there, though, shoving an axe into the thick skull of the Charger. He reached out a hand to the man. "Shit, haven't seen 'nother survivor in... well... since these guys. Name's Ellis."

The man took the boy's hand, brushing off his shoulder. "Name's Francis. The chick there is Zoey. The black guy's Louis, and the grandpa is Bill. You'll see 'em in a sec."

Rochelle mumbled something to Coach, who took a couple of steps forward, towards Zoey. "Name's Coach. Ellis just told you his name. Rochelle's behind me, and then the idiot that got us stuck here is Nick."

"Like it's my fault we ran out of fuckin' gas."

Francis shrugged. "It's better than what happened to us. Zoey shot the pilot."

"DAMN IT, FRANCIS." Zoey grit her teeth, "The man was INFECTED."

Ellis leaned against the wall. "Hey, Nick did that too!" He laughed. "It was stupid, 'cause we got stuck in a swamp then, tossin' with the gators. Heck, none of the gators were there, though. So no gator wrestlin'."

Francis growled. "I hate gators."

Ellis' eyes widened. "Naw! This one time, me'n my buddy Keith were wrestlin' gators, and he went under... 'n..." Ellis was rambling again, but Francis was listening. Zoey rolled her eyes, and Nick did, too. Nobody even noticed Bill and Louis join the circle. "So... wait. Yeah, you should hate gators, never mind."

"I like you, kid." Francis wrapped his arm around Ellis, offering a grin.

Nick looked onward. "Hate to break the love fest, but we've got a road to be walking down. We've gotta gas up that car again, there's no way we're walking through this."

"Pussies. I hate pussies."

Louis snickered. "Gay."

Francis growled. "Not what I meant. I hate double meanings."

Ellis frowned. "We ain't no pussies. We just gotta get ourselves to N'awlins, and fast."

Nick took Ellis by the hand. "Ellis, get over here and explain to me what kind of diesel we're using. It's obvious the kind we used had a chance of fucking up the car..." Nick had no idea what he was talking about, but he must have said something right, because Ellis jumped from Francis and hurried to the stock car.

Zoey, Rochelle, and Coach were scouting ahead while Louis and Bill tended to their wounds.

Nick's eye twitched as Ellis bent down, shamelessly lifting his lower body into the air as he stared at the car. "Hmm, well, lookin' at it, the gas we used did just the trick, it did. So we just need ta get to the nearest gas station... aww, damn, how're we gunna get it to the car?"

Nick shrugged. "We got eight people now." The man rolled his eyes as Ellis moved around, so flamboyant that Nick just couldn't take it. "Are you gay? Seriously, you have to be."

Ellis blinked. "A-Am I..." His cheeks tinged pink. "No! 'Course not!"

"You claimed you'd have a man's child, and you blushed when Coach talked about you missing me."

"Th-that's... Umm..." Ellis tipped his hat. "Maybe." Nick chuckled. "Shuddap, Nick. You still have that hickey on yer neck since when I first met you, an' the lipstick's stainin' your collar. Yer not, so what's it matter?"

Nick subconsciously reached for his neck, rubbing it. "I was just questioning. No need to get defensive." He growled.

"I'ont see why you hadta ask. Gunna tell everyone else that I'ma freak?"

Nick should have felt bad. Instead, he felt the anger well inside him. "It was a question, you inbred bastard! I wasn't going to tell anyone, I was merely making sure my assumption was correct. Damn, you're more sensitive than my ex-wife, and her sensitivity is the reason I divorced her."

It grew eerily quiet. Ellis' light eyes seemed to darken, then shine, and then, finally, he turned away, tipping his hat. "Best ye be leavin', Nick." Ellis' voice cracked. "I wanna say goodbye to the car 'fore we head off fer gas."

Nick said not a word, turning his heel and leaving. Francis was waiting outside. "Dude, what'd you do to the kid?"

"Why don't you ask him." Nick turned, raising his voice. "The little fag won't talk to me."

"SHUT. UP. NICK."

Nick blinked, not quite accustomed to hearing the southern hick so... upset. He brushed it off, though, eyes narrowing even more. "When have you ever shut up for more than a second, Ellis?"

It grew quiet, for no more than a second. "G-Git outta here, Nick."

Nick growled. "Calm down, Nick." Francis' words were uneasy, as he didn't know the man. "I'll talk to him."

"You're the last person he should be talking to."

Francis ignored it, though he knew he was going to save the thought for later. He turned into the garage, slowly, footsteps light as if he was sneaking around a witch. The sobbing was quite like one, only much, much quieter. "I c'n shut up..." He whispered. "I can, I jus' don't wanna." Francis rest a hand on the boy's shoulder. Ellis jumped. "Don't touch me, Nick!" He didn't even turn around, just jerked away.

"Woah, woah. It's your good buddy Francis." It was awkward, all of a sudden. He hadn't heard real crying since... well, damn, a long time ago. Zoey hadn't shed a tear, because she was badass enough not to. Louis had almost cried once, when a hunter had nearly killed him, but he hadn't... yet, this kid, Ellis, was crying... "Now tell me what just happened so I should know how bad to rip Nick up."

Ellis was shaking, and Francis noticed this. "W-Well, Nick'n I were jus' bein' normal and stuff, and then he suddenly grabs me'n..." Francis' eyes narrowed. "No, no. He didn't do that... but... he asked me my orien... orientashun? Think that's the word..." Ellis laughed, a broken laugh. "An' I told 'im, all defensive like, 'cause he asked fer a reason, right?" The boy clutched at his heart. "An' it's all my fault he's mad at me..."

"Ellis."

"I shouldn'ta been defensive. He just asked... An' I did tell 'im, but now he prob'ly hates me 'cuz I like men..."

"Ellis..."

Ellis shook his head, almost as if he didn't hear the man, continuing his rant. "I can't help it, man! I was born like this! If he don't like it, he don't hafta, but he shouldn'ta asked, anyway. He did... maybe I shoulda lied? Naw, that's stoooopid." He drawled the word, and Francis could tell he was crying again.

"Ellis!" This time, Ellis stopped, eyes filmed over with tears. "Damn, I hate criers. Especially over someone like Nick. He's an idiot, and-" And lips were pressed to his. Francis leaned forward, at first, then pushed the boy away. "Woah, woah woah. Kid..."

"I... I didn't meanta, I swear it's just that-"

Francis rolled his eyes, pressing another kiss to the boy's lips. "This is the only thing that shuts you up, isn't it?" The boy blinked, nodded, and rubbed at his face. "Stop doing that." Ellis whimpered, uncharacteristically moving his hands and biting his lip, looking away and forcing the older man to move his chin. "Look at me." It got deathly quiet. "You. Don't know. What you're doing." Ellis blinked in understanding. "You're confused. So... I'm going to help you up, we'll go look for some fresh water or something, and then you'll be fine." Was he babysitting? He swore to god he hated kids. Ellis was like... like a five year old. With a gun.

Not that he had much of a problem as long as the gun wasn't pointed at him.

Erm. So... I can't explain this, but... hehe, yeah. .__. Sorry for all the language, but if YOU were in a Zombie Apocalypse, I bet you'd be cursing a lot, too. Nick DID just ask a random question concerning Ellis' sexual orientation, because we ALL wanted to know.
And, yes, for the record, the first batch of survivors do NOT know what a Charger is, and, honestly, sometimes I mistake Chargers for Tanks, too.
I make no promises for fast updates, or updates with this many words, because I really just got carried away and couldn't find a break-point between paragraphs.
Review? You don't hafta, but Ellis quite likes reviews, and reviews make me attempt to get them more in character. So, review for the sanity of the characters~