"Oh my god!" Zoey laughed once the large bundles of Islands came into view. "We made it!" She cried again and again as she ran around to hug each of her comrades. First was Francis, he lifted her up and spun her around several times before planting a kiss promptly on top of her head. Second was Louis, who accepted her in a bone-crushing hug. Third was Rochelle who was just as excited as she was to see the landmass. Forth was the jolly as every Coach who crushed her into his arms and placed her feet firm on the ground. Fifth was Nick, he was actually smiling as he gave her a one armed hug and sent her on her way to find the rest of the crew.
"Bill! Bill!" She laughed kicking open the door to where Bill was steering the ship, "We're here!" She laughed and ran up and kissed Bill on either of his cheeks, "we made it!" She repeated squealing.
There was one person that was missing though. One person she would have thought to be diving off the side of the boat in excitement and perhaps even dragging her along with him. Ellis was nowhere to be seen.
Zoey ran out of the room and onto the deck, she searched up and down for the boy until she finally found him, hanging his feet off of the rear end of the boat and taking in the sights of the waves crashing behind them.
"Did you see?" Zoey asked sitting down next to him,
"See what?" He questioned never pulling his attention away from the water behind the boat.
"We're here!" Zoey smiled, "We made it to the Islands! The Florida Keys!" She clarified if he didn't understand.
"Really?" He asked, his voice not his normal cheerful self.
"Yeah." Zoey smiled at him and pushed a lock of her hair back behind her ears as the troublesome wind blew it around her face.
"Wow." Ellis smiled and began to stand. "That's…" he paused before extending a hand for Zoey to help him stand, "amazing." Zoey nodded vigorously and threw herself into his arms. She crushed him in her hug and he returned the gesture with a bit less strength so he wouldn't hurt the girl.
"Come on!" Zoey motioned for Ellis to follow when the two released each other. "Let's go help the others start unloading and making sure that there's no infected here." Ellis nodded and allowed himself to be lead away by the over happy girl that made his heart flutter whenever she came near him.
"Yeah, let's go." He whispered low enough so that only he could hear himself.
"Need any help?" Zoey asked the rest of the gang as they began to unpack their items onto the island.
"Why yes." Bill sighed and straightened up, his back cracking loudly as he did so. "You and that boy there need to go scout." He told her, "wait Zo before you go come here. Boy you go pick out some weapons." Ellis and Zoey both did as they were told. Zoey stepped up the to veteran and leaned in as he motioned for her to.
"What do you need?" Zoey asked with a questioning look on her face.
"You like that boy?" Bill demanded, Zoey shook her head.
"I never really thought of him like that." She responded simply and Bill leaned back, but the scent of cigarettes still lingered in Zoey's nose.
"Well he likes you. It's easy to tell." Bill told her, she nodded, she had gathered that much information herself. "Now, I don't want you being pressured into anything, here's where I'm going to trust you." Zoey laughed, Bill actually thought Ellis would try to make the moves on her?
"You can trust me." Zoey smiled. Bill shrugged maybe not believing her, but still he waved her off,
"Fine, fine. Just make sure you get every little inch of land covered." She leaned in and kissed Bill lightly on the cheek,
"I'll be back." She told him and began to make her way to Ellis, who handed her a baseball bat,
"Guns barely have any ammo left." He informed her and tightened his grasp around the axe he held in his hand. She nodded at him to show him she understood where he was coming from, hopefully Bill was right and there were no infected on the island.
"Over here!" Zoey whispered after a while of walking a couple feet apart. Ellis walked over to where the brunette was and leaned down to see what she was investigating. It wasn't on the ground like Ellis had suspected, it was far above them. Ellis trailed his vision along the slender form of the trunk and went all the way up to the very tip.
"Food." Ellis smiled, "You think I can climb that?" He questioned, Zoey shook her head in disapproval,
"Ellis we have to finish our rounds, then you can climb it." Ellis frowned this time and stepped away from the tree,
"But there's nothing out here!" He told her with impatience clear in his tone.
"There still might be!" Zoey argued, Ellis laughed, not wanting to argue with Zoey, she was too pretty to argue with.
"Alright, we'll keep lookin." Ellis smiled and hoisted the axe back up and on to his shoulders.
The two began walking once again into the island, they were both really quite other than Ellis once and a while attempting to start a conversation between the two.
"Wait! Hush!" Zoey hissed and stepped forward, she pulled a few branches out of their sight so they could step forward. Ellis pulled his axe off of his shoulders and held it at the ready. That's when the building came into view. It wasn't a small building, not in the least. It was an enormous building, a hotel actually. It appeared to be in the making but there were no people there. Only large trucks from several companies that must have been brought over by a boat.
"What do you think happened?" Ellis mused,
"Probably heard about the sickness and rushed back home." Zoey suggested, Ellis agreed,
"Hey do you want to go back to the others and have them help us look through the building, or do you and me just want to go up there and check it out?" Zoey thought about this for a moment before shrugging and stating bluntly,
"I think you and me could handle it." Ellis nodded, "Besides I don't want to trouble anyone." Ellis shot her a goofy grin and began making his way to the site.
The hotel was certainly large, built several stories up into the air. Ellis seemed ecstatic as he ran forward and pushed the doors to the hotel open. Nothing came out of the doors like they were so used to, no zombies attacked Ellis, going for his throat or ripping at his flesh. No, nothing happened.
Zoey ran up to Ellis and pushed past him into the building. Looking around frantically, she couldn't see anything of grave interest.