"It's got me!" Ellis hollered, the charger lifting him high into the air. Nick whacked a zombie in the face with his AK-47, knocking it flying backwards, before swinging around and running towards Ellis. He pulled his gun up towards the charger's head and pulled the trigger. It clicked. "Damn it!" he shouted, looking for any sign of Coach or Rochelle. The charger smashed Ellis into the ground. "This thing's bashin' me intah shit!" he cried, desperately clawing and punching at the charger's arm. Nick knew if he waited around for Coach or Ro that Ellis would be flattened. Pulling his machete out, he lept onto the charger's back, drew his arm back and stabbed the blade deep into its ugly, bulbous, mutated head. It released Ellis and Nick hopped off, the beast uttering a guttural howl, before falling to its knees and dropping to the floor heavily. He ran to Ellis and knelt down. The charger only slammed him down once, but he could tell by the state of Ellis it was a hard one. "Hey. You okay kid?" Ellis smiled weakly. "He knocked the piss outta me man." Nick sighed. "Come on. Let's get you up." He grabbed Ellis and pulled him up, wrapping one arm around his waist, and the other grabbing his arm and placing it around his neck. They stumbled forward, a loud screech interrupting their bumbling attempt to make it to the benches ahead. Another screech, this time shorter, and they found what was making the noise landing right in front of them. The hunter landed on all fours, growling menacingly, turning his head toward Nick, then Ellis. Raising his back, he got ready to leap. "Oh shit man…" Ellis squeezed Nick's arm around his waist, getting ready for the worst. The hunter jumped, and Ellis scrunched his eyes closed. A loud bang made him push his head into Nick's neck, the both of them being showered in blood. Coach stood in front of them grinning, his auto-shotgun smoking. "Tell me honestly guys. I bet yall are glad to see me. Am I right?" He and Ellis laughed, while Nick breathed out a sigh of relief. "Shit Coach. Where the fuck were you? Ellis was nearly dog food, and I was trying to get the fucker off him, WHILE being attacked by about 20 hissing zombies. But yeah. It's great of you to make an appearance." Rochelle came up behind Coach, resting her hand on his broad shoulder. "He was helping me. I was jumped by a jockey." Coach laughed. "Yeah. An' believe me people. It ain't easy chasing a jockey while bein' followed by a group of zombies wantin' to eat yo' ass." Nick started walking towards the benches. "Yeah. Tell me about it. Can we fucking move please? Before I drop him?" Coach glanced around. "Yeah man. Seems quiet enough. For now." Finally making it to the nearest bench, he sat Ellis down, and grabbed his medkit. "Naw man, ah'm okay. Don't waste yer first aid kit on me man." Nick raised his eyebrow. "Ellis, come on man. Just let me heal you. Otherwise you're gonna slow us all down." Ellis thought for a minute before shaking his head. He looked at the kid, reaching his arm up and poking where the charger had grabbed him, making Ellis wince and cry out. "Hey, man! Watch it! Damn." "Why kid? You're okay remember?" Ellis looked down. "Aha. Just as I thought. Now shut up and let me do this." He lifted up Ellis's blood-stained shirt and saw the skin red and bleeding, several deep cuts left by the charger grabbing him with his razor like claws. Sighing, he opened the medkit and patched the kid up best he could. Coach stopped ahead, turning around. "Hey! Yall ready to go yet? I'd like to move before we get another welcoming party." Ellis stood up, clutching his chest. "Ah…shit this hurts. Nick…thanks man." He tipped his hat and nodded thanks, before trying to stand up straight. A sharp, shooting pain in his chest shattered his effort, and he leaned forward, hand placed against his dressed wound. Nick grabbed him, returning his arm around his waist. "Come on kid. Let's go. It's gonna be dark soon." Together, they caught up with the others and slowly made their way down the long path, continuing their mission to find a safe room. They were tired, hungry and needed to recover from the beatings they had received from the moment they got off Virgil's boat, they were getting worn down, sloppy…slower and if they didn't find somewhere to stop soon, they'd probably end up with one person less- at least.
"Well man. We just passed what looked like the picnic area. Surely there gotta be some houses around here somewhere. Providin' we can find our way outta this park. Hmm. Yall think I should go back and check if anyone left a basket there?" Ellis chuckled, still pained, but managing to walk on his own now thanks to the relief of a few pain pills. "Naw man, ah think we were lucky enough tah find that ammo…ahn' those pills! Bhut hey. Lemme ask yall. If yall could eat anythin' right now guys, whut would it be? Fer me, it'd hafta be a 12oz barbequed steak…chunky fries, ahn' plenty 'a gravy. Oh man. Ahn' a nice cold one tah wash it down with." Coach laughed. "Yeah man that sounds good. I'd love a barbequed bacon burger, a large order of fries, an orange soda with no ice, and a piece of hot apple pie. Mmm mm! Damn I am starvin'! How about yall Ro?" Rochelle gripped her axe tightly and turned her head away from the sun, which had started to set behind the never ending trees, towards the guys, a look of concentration over her face. "Well I think it would be my momma's spicy hot wings, covered in her sweet sticky sauce." Coach grabbed his stomach, and sighed. "Man it all sounds good! What about yall Nick? And don't say nothin' or that yall ain't hungry 'cause I know two things. We ain't eaten since yesterday afternoon, and two…everybody loves food!" He grinned at Nick, waiting for a response. "Yeah…some more than others..." He muttered, trying to see something in the distance other than trees. Coach snorted. "Are yall tryna say I'm fat Nick? It's true that I love food man... But fat? Me? Naw man. Hell no. You ain't right in the head boy. It's all muscle baby!" The group looked at each other before erupting in laughter. "Muscle..? Yeah I know why you think that Coach. I bet in your house you've got a full length mirror. Which you bought from a fun house right? Come on tell me I'm wrong." He grinned at Coach, the rest chuckling. "I bet you a thousand bucks if Ellis stood in front of one of those it would make him look normal." The laughter increased, even Ellis's did, before he stopped and scratched his head. "Hey! Whut yall mean? Ain't nothin' wrong with the way ah look! Jus' cause ah ain't wearin' a million dollar suit and mah hair slicked back, don't mean there's somethin' wrong with mah looks! Yer a dick Nick. Hey yall! It rhymes!" Ellis laughed harder, causing Rochelle and Coach to turn away, laughing almost as hard as he was. "You know what. Screw you guys, okay? You guys are about as mature as a bunch of three year olds." His pace quickened. Ellis raised his voice, jogging behind him. "Haha! Whut's a'matter Nick? Don't dish it out if yah can't take it! Ah mean oh man. We gotta laugh man! Otherwise, we'll prolly all go crazy! Man…This one time right, mah buddy Keith-" Nick put his hand on his chest, stopping him. He stood perfectly still, eyes wide. Coach and Rochelle stepped up beside them, looking confused. "Nick man, ah was only jokin' with yah! Yer a cool guy honestly! It was jus'-" "Kid! Shut the fuck up!" he whispered, turning his head. The ground started shaking faintly at first, gradually getting stronger. Ellis's eyes widened, like Nick's had a moment ago. "Oh shit…shit man…tank…." "Okay people. Stick together and we can-" He was interrupted by the pound of the tank's fists on the floor. They could see it now, hulking and angry, followed by a pack of zombies. "Maybe if we don't move…it won't see us." Nick whispered, clutching his AK-47 close. Ellis couldn't help but smile. The tank let out an almighty roar, and bounded towards them, with great speed. "Oh shit. I guess it saw us." Ellis giggled. "Shit! RUN! No, no, no, don't run...SHOOT! This gonna be fun!" Coach nodded. "I am gonna beat that tank's ASS." Rochelle sighed. "Guys. Am I the only one taking this seriously..?" Before they could answer, the tank smashed one of his ginormous fists into the ground, ripping up a nearby tree with great ease. "Well. At least we found our way outta here guys!" Ellis pointed to the spot where the tree once stood, they looked, noticing behind it a big black iron gate. "Come on! Kill it! You! Shoot the tank!" Nick shouted at Ellis, snapping his attention away from the gate. Rochelle and Coach ran to the side, Coach pelting it with a blast of shotgun shells, while Rochelle loaded the zombies around it with a round of bullets from her trusty m-16 assault rifle. Ellis ran backwards and got down on one knee, raising the sniper scope to his eye, and locking onto the tank. Nick got behind Ellis, lifted his AK-47 and aimed, ready to fire. He heard an inhuman scream and felt something wrap around his waist. "Shit! Smokers got me!" He shouted, doubting whether the others could hear over the noise of the tank, desperately trying to pull the tongue from around his waist. The smokers tongue was latched around tight, and it gave him a strong pull, knocking him from his feet. He hit the ground hard and groaned. "Smokers…Smokers got me!" his voice came out weak as he was dragged along the ground, the smokers tongue wrapping around his throat tight, its warm, sticky texture making him heave. He noticed the smoker above in a high tree, and knew he was about to be lifted up. With another strong pull the smoker pulled him to his feet, and carried on pulling until Nick was dangling high up in the tree, giving him a great view of the others ploughing into the tank. "Re – goddamn – loading!" He heard Coach shout, as he narrowly dodged the tree the tank rocketed at him. Nick dangled helplessly, the smokers tongue wrapped around his waist, arms and neck. He couldn't move. Whispering, his vision became blurred, his chest felt like it was going to explode, his head tipped forward. "Guys…I need…"