"GET IN THE GODDAMN ROOM, ELLIS!"

"I'm goin' as fast as I can!"

Nick had to admit that he sounded a little harsh. Tense. On edge. But frankly, the situation called for it. With so many special infected swarming this place, and Ellis hobbling along at a snail's pace behind him, he was just eager to close the damn door.

As soon as the country boy was inside, Nick slammed the door shut on a zombie covered head to toe in mud. He exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding, and dropped his axe. Minor splinters in his finger stung harder than usual as he realized he had been gripping it with strength enough to turn his knuckles white even after he had shut the door.

His eyes snapped from the door's faded, dirty caution tape to Ellis.

The kid was a wreck.

He had managed to wedge himself in between a file cabinet and a wall, and was trying to stay upright. Nick recognized that pained-but-trying look on Ellis' face- his cap was skewed and part of his vision was obscured, but Nick didn't need to see both eyes to know that Ellis wasn't looking anywhere. His breathing was loud and labored, and as usual, he was coated in blood and boomer bile.

Heaving a loud sigh, Nick ignored the dull pain in his shoulder where he was sure he'd been scratched pretty hard by a common infected, and grabbed one of the four health packs laying on a small desk beside the door. He cleared the desk by simply swiping his arm down the middle, knocking guns, ammo and a pipe bomb to the ground, before gesturing to Ellis despite knowing he couldn't see.

"You think you're good to get up here, Overalls, or am I gonna have to carry you like a fairy princess?"

Ellis grit his teeth but smiled just a little, and managed to drag himself half the way before stumbling slightly and gripping his side. Nick sighed and crossed, helping him up onto the desk as though it were a gurney. He was careful of any back wounds Ellis nursed, and his head. The boy's legs hung over the side of the desk from the knees down, but it was a sacrifice they were both willing to make to have Ellis somewhat elevated so that Nick had a higher surface to work on.

"Let doctor Nick fix ya up."

"Heh."

Silence save for labored breathing and hisses of pain covered the room for nearly a half hour before Nick heaved a sigh and tossed the basically empty health pack into a corner.

"No wounds that won't heal in a couple days. You just got a lot of 'em." He mumbled. "We'd probably be better staying here till you're all scabbed up though. Don't think you'll last out there the way you are tomorrow." He scoffed a bit and kicked aside an empty box to make more room in a corner.

Ellis very slowly sat up, wincing all the while, and heaved a shuddering sigh. It burned to breathe.

"I owe you one."

"Please, you owe me lots."

Ellis laughed, but it was pained, and it made Nick's lips twitch up ever-so-slightly in a smile.

Ellis was able to get off the desk by himself, and then huddle into the corner to Nick's left. There was rustling as he got comfortable, and Nick stood again to shove the desk and a few boxes in front of the door, blocking out the daylight that would be heading in later. He grabbed a gun with a broken barrel and clicked on the flashlight that had been left with it, and propped it up in a box for light.

"Okay, we should probably hit the sack while it's still dark out." He removed his coat and draped it over the top of the file cabinet. He squinted at the edges and brushed off what he could of the dirt, but ultimately had long ago accepted his expensive apparel's fate. He rolled up his blue shirt sleeves and worked on flattening a few more cardboard boxes, kicking a couple to Ellis for help.

Soon after beginning to break them down, Ellis was grinning.

"Holy shit its Christmas!"

"What now, Ellis?"

Ellis had the biggest, most stupid grin on his face as he held up an entire unopened box of soup crackers and propped his good knee up, gesturing to six mini juice boxes in his lap.

Nick had to grin too. "All right!" he shoved a flattened box down next to Ellis and sat on it while Ellis opened one of the many packages inside the cracker box.

"Man, Nick, d'you know how lucky we are to've found these here supplies? It ain't really a normal thing!"

"Yeah, I guess we still have some lingering luck after all. I mean, it's no feast, but hey."

There was another bought of silence, and Nick noticed shortly after handing Ellis his juice box with the straw already in for him (Ellis had some pretty badly cut up hands), that a feeling of sudden tenseness was in the air.

Nick ventured a look- oh.

The shadows of Ellis' expression said volumes. He was staring down at the juice box, cap laying beside him on the floor, cracker package limp in his other hand. He was chewing his lip a little and didn't seem privy to Nick's attention.

"Hey, kid. Can't be greedy, gimmie the goddamn cra—-"

"Coach really loved Hawaiian punch. More'n any other flavor."

Fuck. How did he guess?

Nick heaved a sigh and let his head thud back against the wall.