It only takes one Bullet
Nick and Ellis sat in awkward silence in the small safe room. Their two other companions were out searching for supplies, which left them alone in each other's company. They didn't speak. They didn't look at each other. Each refused to acknowledge the other's presence.
The gambler sitting at the table was stripping down a rifle, cleaning it thoroughly for the third time since they had been left alone. He had to do something to prevent the formation of contact with the mechanic who sat in the pretending to read the scrawls on the wall. He had been doing it for the past twenty minutes there was no way they could have been that interesting.
Nick moved to cleaning his sidearm again. Ellis was thirsty and rose to get a bottle of water. Noticing the satchel with their supplies was next to Nick, he sat back down and returned to his pretence of reading. Nick drew the clip from his weapon and placed it on the table. He then racked the barrel to eject the round from the chamber. He held the small bullet up so he could see a faint, distorted reflection on its curved brass surface. With his free hand he lifted the clip and pushed the bullet in so that it would return to its rightful place. But his fingers, slightly greasy from cleaning the rifle slipped and he sent the little bullet bouncing along the floor. It came to a stop at Ellis' feet.
They looked to the bullet for a moment then each other, turning in their chairs.
"Can you…" Nick trailed off with a mutter and looked away, cursing his damned butterfingers.
"Sure." He reached down to pick up the bullet and tossed it back to the gambler. He caught it with one hand and they simultaneously turned back to their respective activities. After a few seconds of more awkward silence, the mechanic slowly turned to the gambler from his chair.
"Hey…Uh…can yew…throw me a bottle a water?" he asked nervously.
"…No problem." Nick put his gun down and reached for the satchel. Opening it he fished out a small bottle filled with water. He turned to Ellis and tossed the bottle lightly so he could catch it. "Thanks Nick."
Ellis turned back to the wall and took a deep gulp from the contents of the bottle. Nick returned to his cleaning, but couldn't concentrate fully. This was an unprecedented level of interaction between the two. Sure they had complete and efficient communication when fighting off hordes of infected, but when it was just them, alone, nobody around, they both ceased up. The transaction that just took place was paramount to a coup.
Ellis couldn't understand why they were like this. Whenever he met someone it took minutes before they were best friends. But with Nick, they just froze in the face of each other.
"So…Nick. Yew…uh…want ta talk 'bout somethin'?" Nick's eyes almost popped out at the suggestion. He turned slowly to the hick behind him who sat in nervous silence, looking at the floor and waiting to be told no.
"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" He said the words cautiously. Optional conversation with the mechanic was a new experience. Ellis looked Nick in the eyes with a small smile that he must have tried to suppress. His baby blues conveyed elation that his offer was accepted.
"Well, uh…where…do yew…live?" His joy at starting a conversation quickly being converted into the feeling of stupidity as he had no idea what to say.
"Don't really have a permanent place. I drift a lot, but I like Seattle. The weather keeps me alert. You?"
"Well, a live in Savannah, but then yew knew that already." He gave a short humourless laugh but it was not returned. Quickly clearing his throat he felt like an even bigger fool than before. "Well a've never really been far, except this one time when me an' Keith went ta…sorry, yew don't want ta hear 'bout Keith, forgot."
"It's all right Ellis, tell me all about it," the gambler responded with a smile. This wasn't so bad after all. The hick was soon beaming at the request.
"Really Nick? Yew mean you'll listen? Ta the whole thing?" His excitement was flowing now.
"'Course I will."
Ellis leapt to his feet and picked up his wooden chair. He scooted over to Nick, much to the gambler's surprise and sat beside him. The hick clearly had no concept of personal space, as the sides of their chairs were touching. When Ellis sat down, Nick had to lean back a little; else they'd be tasting each other's breath.
"Well yew see, a hadn't been really done any big holidays an' neither had Keith. So this one summer, we decided ta go tour Europe. We saved a shitload a cash up so we could get a boat, cause Keith don't like flyin', and we went all round loads a places an' did all sorts a cool shit. Oh man, it was awesome! Have you ever been ta Paris?"
Nick didn't have time to answer.
"'Cause there's this massive thang called the Eiffel tower, an' it's like this giant thang that's made a-"
"Ellis, I've been to Paris, and I know what it is." Now the mechanic was started, there was no stopping him. The hick rubbed the back of his head apologetically but kept on grinning.
"Sorry. But anyway, Keith went up ta the top, an' he fell off! Luckily he just hit the next floor down and didn't actually proper fall off, else he'd be dead. Anyway, next we went to some place in Spain an' that was hot! Man, Keith was all around the ladies over in Spain."
"Were you?" Ellis' smile faltered temporarily, but it soon resumed.
"'Course a was Nick! Handsome young man like me? Yew bet I was all over the girls!" Nick smiled with obvious scepticism and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. But either the childish redneck didn't realise or ignored it.
"So then we went ta London an' Keith thought it'd be fun ta try an' break inta the Queen's house!"
A laugh escaped Nick just then before it was swiftly kerbed. Of all the stupid things Ellis' crazy hillbilly pal had done breaking into Buckingham Palace sounded to be the dumbest yet.
"'Course he didn't get very far mind you. Those folks with the black thangs on their heads stopped 'im at the front gate. A don't even know how they can see from under them furry helmets, an' they must get really bored with jus' standin' there all day…"
Nick drifted off into a daydream as the jabbering hick beside him continued in a world of his own. When he asked Ellis to tell him the story he hadn't expected a verbal diary of Keith's numerous misadventures across Europe. Ellis kept talking for an indiscernible volume of time before a sudden silence brought Nick back to lucidity. The mechanic was staring expectantly at him.
"Sorry Ellis, what was that?" The young redneck's face fell.
"A thought yew were listenin' Nick," he mumbled. "Sorry man. Guess it ain't so interestin' afterall." Ellis stood to pick up his chair. But Nick stood first. With a hand on each shoulder he pushed Ellis back against the wall. The hick barely had enough time to let out a surprised yelp before Nick silenced him with a kiss.
It was tender at first, with Nick holding Ellis' arms against the wall. The mechanic instinctively resisted for a moment, then let himself melt into Nick's lips. Shaking his arms free of Nick's hands he pulled the gambler in closer so that their entire bodies were touching. Their mouths broke contact to let them gasp for air.
"Sure you want to do this overalls? 'Cause once we go down this road there's no going back."
"A want yew Nick. A always have," replied the younger, already out of breath.
"Then let's not waste time talking."