The four survivors quietly crept through the run-down motel, carefully watching the cars with armed with their shrill horde-attracting alarms and listening for the sounds of any dangerous infected waiting in ambush. It was hard enough reaching the motel with all of their limbs intact and mostly uninjured; they didn't want to attract any more unwanted attention from the local hungry zombie population by accidentally setting off an car alarm or encountering one of the various special infected. The lights from their flashlights danced across the floor, walls, and cars as they walked on.
"Check the rooms, there might be something useful in there," Coach growled as they reached the line of doors and broken windows, turning his flashlight and weapon to the nearest door. Rochelle nodded before walking past him and down the long line of doors and windows, ignoring the dull pain in her right leg with each step. She glanced through one shattered window after another as she slowly limped past them, shooting the occasional zombie lurking in the darkness of the abandoned rooms, until she noticed something in the last window before the stairs.
"Are those pills?" Rochelle mumbled to herself as she stared into the room. She smiled to herself as she recognized the small containers and their tell-tale labels, feeling elated at finding something useful. She quickly climbed through the window and started across the glass fragments and pools of congealed blood. The remains of two zombies lay curled between the two beds, eyes closed and unmoving as dark liquid seeped down from their mouths. She glared at them supsiciosuly and shot the two. The first one swallowed the bullets and remained quiet, but the second one shrieked in pain and thrashed around before eventually bleeding to death. Rochelle smiled grimly to herself before focusing once again on the pills in the bathroom. She counted three small plastic pill containers sitting on the bathroom counter, just enough for their group.
"There are pills here, guys," She called out, glancing back to see Nick climbing in through the window after her. She turned around and started walking, until a warm hand fell on her shoulder and stopped her. She couldn't help jumping in surprise, until she heard Nick speak.
"Let Doctor Nick patch you up," Rochelle laughed at herself, the laugh shaky and embarrassed.
"It's okay, Nick. Save your medpack, I don't need to be patched up right now. I'll just take some of those pills to take the edge off the pain and we can keep moving," Rochelle said as she batted Nick's hand away from her shoulder and smiled back at him. Nick's concerned expression quickly vanished and was replaced with faint annoyance.
"What pills, you don't have any pills on you?" He challenged, glancing at Rochelle's empty belt before staring back up at her. Rochelle sighed, which seemed to annoy Nick even more. The faint lines on his forehead deepened as he glared at her.
"I don't have them with me, Nick. The pills are over there. We have to conseve the medpacks. Make sure to grab one as well, you're probably gonna need it once we get closer to Whispering Oaks," Rochelle answered before turning back towards the bathroom. She only managed to take one step before Nick grabbed her by her wounded arm and spun her around. She grimaced as his fingers dug into the long scratch she had received from a Smoker.
"Rochelle, just let..." Nick started, the annoyance leaking into his voice.
"No," Rochelle interrupted. Nick frowned, jaw clenching at the interruption. He closed his eyes and waited for a few moments before speaking, slowly taking deep breaths to keep himself from doing something stupid like yelling at her and betraying their location. Rochelle waited for him to calm down and let go of her arm.
"Damn it, just stop being a bitch about it and let me heal you," He growled as calmly as he could manage, waving the medpack with the other hand. Rochelle felt a scowl threaten to break out, but managed to keep herself from allowing it to escape. Now wasn't the time to annoy Nick, now was the time to get ready and find safety.
"I said no and I mean it!" She replied before roughly shoving him away. Nick stumbled back from the force of the shove, landing on the bed with a soft thump. He sat there staring at her in astonishment before his face became clouded with anger.
"Rochelle…" He growled warningly as he stood up, fingers digging into the medpack.
"What's going on in here?" Coach asked as he walked into the room, a blood-drenched but unharmed Ellis trailing behind him. Ellis glanced between them and the open door with a faint nervous smile on his face, tapping his fingers against his weapon in anticipation of the next swarm of rabid zombies or special infected.
"It doesn't matter. Let's just grab the pills and move on before something notices us and decides it wants to attack," Rochelle growled before turning back to the bathroom. Once again, a hand grabbed her arm and stopped her in her tracks. This time, however, it was Coach who stopped her. She turned around and glared at him, but the glare didn't seem to bother Coach.
"What're you two arguing about this time?" He asked again, confused and slightly annoyed now.
"Rochelle's being a bitch and won't let me heal her," Nick growled, glaring at Rochelle before turning his attention back to Coach.
"I don't need to be healed, damn it! If I wanted to be healed, I would use my own medpack. I'll just take some pills and I will be fine!" Rochelle yelled, pulling her own medpack off of her back and waving at Nick for a couple of seconds so that he knew that she had a medpack. Ellis flinched at Rochelle's shriek and rushed to the door, sinking into a crouch and aiming his gun around the motel's parking lot in anticipation of an attack.
"That's it? You two were arguing about getting healed? Damn it, I thought you two knew better than to argue about something so stupid like that," Coach growled. Rochelle couldn't help but smile slightly as she put her medpack back, thinking Coach had taken her side of the argument.
"Ro, you need to stay in top condition. We don't need you dying when something bad happens. Just grow up a little and let him heal you," Coach growled, fingers tightening around Rochelle's arm as he glared down at her. Rochelle stared at Coach, mind suddenly blank at the realization that he had backed Nick up instead of her. Coach let her arm go and crossed his arms over his large belly, looking prepared to launch into some form of lecture about how she was stupid. However, he was quickly distracted when he noticed the pills in the bathroom.
"Hey, what do we have here? I'm grabbin' some pills!" Coach said excitedly, pushing past Rochelle to get into the bathroom and to snatch up one of the small plastic containers. Rochelle bit her lip angrily and glared down at the floor, silently cursing both Nick and Coach as Nick opened the medpack and took out a roll of snow-white gauze.
"Now don't waste this by getting pounced on, you hear?" Nick growled as he wound the gauze around Rochelle's arm, checking to make sure it was tight enough to keep it from becoming undone during a future fight. Rochelle waited quietly as he continued to heal her until he finished and tossed aside the useless medpack. The minute he finished, she shoved him away from her. Nick smiled slightly before pushing past her to get to the pills.
"You okay?" Ellis asked. Rochelle glared at him, a glare that he returned with a weak cheerful smile.
"Here, you can have this. I saved this for you," He said before slipping something into her hand and walking past her towards the bathroom. Rochelle smiled weakly before glancing down to see what he had given her. The smile vanished as she stared at the Adrenaline Shot clenched in her hand. She spun and stared open-mouthed and infuriated at them. The three men were walking back out of the bathroom only to stop in their tracks when they noticed Rochelle's expression, the three pill containers attached securely to their belts. They stared back at her, slightly confused at her anger.
"You damn bastards," She spat before storming out, ignoring Ellis's worried yell behind her. She slammed open the door, not caring as it made a loud crash against the wall. She glanced around and noticed the nearby stairs. The scowl didn't lift as she stormed over and started up the stairs to the upper level.
Rochelle was so busy cursing their stupidity that didn't hear the quiet sobbing until she reached the landing, turned around the corner, and stepped on something soft. The sobs morphed into a startled blood-thirsty shriek and Rochelle quickly attempted to flee the angry witch's outstretched claws.
AN: This is actually based on a true event, although it was a Tank instead of a Witch. That's when I learned that Tanks don't always make loud noises before they attack, only when they notice you. As I said, I wasn't very happy with my bots, especially once they once again healed me once I killed that stupid tank, wasting yet another medpack.