Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to VALVe

A/N: This is my first fic ever... English isn't my first language so sorry if I fell a bit short on vocabulary, this was mainly an attempt at writing in english, since I've never written any long-ish stories in that language ^^' I'm definitely gonna improve my writing in future works, so any feedback is appreciated c: I hope you enjoy it.

The military chopper took off as the bridge they had fought through exploded before their eyes, the debris falling into the river.

"We made it! I can't believe we made it! Oh my god…" Said Ellis as he let himself fall down to the floor, exhausted.

"Don't get too excited, Ellis. Remeber these are the same guys that were dropping bombs on us a few minutes ago." Nick said, looking outside the small windows on the side of the helicopter, down to what was left of New Orleans.

"I know, I know, but man, if they didn't wanna save us, the would've taken off a long time ago, and we'd have been left for dead!"

"I don't trust these guys. I've never trusted the cops, let alone the military."

"But we had no other choice, Nick. It was either this or getting beaten to death by the infected." Said Rochelle, with a bit of anger in her voice.

She was getting sick of Nick's attitude towards Ellis, the boy had done nothing wrong. In fact, in these last few days, he had only tried to fit in, being nice to everyone, maybe a bit too much.

The apocalypse seemed not to be a problem to him, he always had a smile on his face, and he even seemed to enjoy it. But there was something about the young man that puzzled her. Sometimes she would look at him when he played with his pistol, leaning against the wall, with his gaze lost deep in his own mind. His eyes looked empty, and they reflected the thoughts of a fragile soul, of a soul that didn't know anything, of a sould that hoped for everything. She didn't -

A growl of pain came from the other side of the cabin, Coach was lying on the ground, his side bleeding from a nasty scratch.

"Oh man, I didn't even notice this." He let out a painful chuckle. "That sneaky son of a bitch… He gon' pay!" He said as he popped a pain pill.

Rochelle rushed towards Coach, and kneeled beside him, with a medkit in her hands.

"Oh my god, Coach! That looks real nasty!. Stay still, or I'm gonna mess this up." She said as she cleaned the wound as best as a news producer could. Coach grimaced with pain, the alcohol burning in his side, but he stood still, she could be a bit more gentle though, but that was all he had, might as well have gotten used to it.

"Okay Coach, now get ready for the worst part." Rochelle said as she took a needle and a strand of thread, as well as a roll of bandages from the healthpack.

"Holy shit! Ya ain't thinkin' of sticking that thing in my skin, are ya?" Coach's eyes widened in surprise.

"I'm sorry, Coach, I don't enjoy doing this, but I have to do it."

"GIRL YOU AREN'T EVEN A NURSE! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DO THIS!"

"I think I've gotten enough practice from healing you guys in the past few days, don'tcha think?"

Coach frowned, took a deep breath and shut up, ready for the pain.

"OK, here I go."

Nick was sitting on the floor of the chopper, across from Ellis, who rested his head against a corner, sleeping, as well as the other two. The twilight sun softly lit the inside of the cargo cabin, and that made him wonder for how long had they been flying. The soldiers hadn't spoken a word since they took off, or at least he didn't hear them. He closed his eyes, trying to get some rest. Thinking…

"What did they mean when they said if they were equipped for carriers? I mean, I know were carriers, were immune, but I doubt they were talking about that thick little window between the cabins. There must be something else we dont know. Why did the military fail so hard at stopping the infection? They have trained soldiers, they have the equipment, the weapons to stop them. Its like they didn't even try. Why was every evac center overrun? Most of them were guarded by the military, and from the guns we found on the way they surely had enough firepower to stop a small outbreak in the center, but there were absolutely no signs of the military being there, except for the guns. The virus isn't airborne, so I'm sure it would've been pretty noticeable if someone was trying to pass the virus onto someone else. Was the military behind all this? Was CEDA just a pawn in their game?"

He sure wouldn't be getting his questions answered by them, so there was little to no point thinking about it. He stood up and walked over where Ellis was sleeping, now laying on the floor, and looked outside. They were flying over thousands of square meters of unhabitated land, empty hills covered by the orange sunlight of a star that was almost hiding behind the horizon, leading to who knows where.

He was worried, he didn't know where those men would take him and his partners, the ones who saved his life more than once, the ones who put up with his attitude and bad temper through all of this.

But mostly, he was worried about Ellis, that innocent, warm-hearted mechanic who, even when everything was going to hell faster than he ever thought, even though Nick had treated him like crap most of the time they were together, still stood by his side in every moment, trying to make him like him, taking care of him. He could do all of that by himself, he didn't need him, he was a lone wolf that spent most of his life running away from everything, from his family, his friends, from his problems, and the cops. Not many people treated him the way Ellis did, no one could stand him, his attitude wasn't the best, he knew that, but everything he had gone through in his life had made him create a shield to protect him from the people who wanted to hurt him. Somehow, Ellis had managed to trespass that shield, not to hurt him, like most people in his life did, but to make him realize not everyone in this world was as bad as he thought. His jokes were annoying as hell, and he could've lived without listening to his stories about Keith, but there was something about them that he liked, not the jokes or the stories themselves, but the intention behind them. There was something refreshing about his optimism, Nick was used to bad things, so he always looked at the world in a cold way, and he didn't believe someone could actually smile in a place like this. Ellis trusted them enough as to be himself around them, he considered them his friends, his family, he felt happy… And Nick couldn't ignore that.

A tear dropped from his eyes, and his chest tightened. He was scared. He was scared the military would take his family away, something he had lost long ago and finally gotten back. He was scared about Ellis, he didn't want him to lose that smile, that optimism and joy.

He cried softly with his face between his crossed arms, he had never been more scared of losing somebody than now, he felt safe with them, at home, something he hadn't felt in years.

A hand softly touched his leg. He quickly wiped the tears with the sleeve of his suit, he couldn't let Ellis see him cry, he didn't want him to think there was something wrong, he had to protect his happiness, plus, he was too proud for that.

"Nick, are you okay?" Ellis said with a sad gaze, he had heard Nick sobbing, and that really worried him. They were safe now, if anything they should be celebrating, but Nick had fear in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah." Nick said as he turned towards the inside of the chopper, and sitting on the floor, next to Ellis.

Ellis felt sad and disappointed, but didn't say anything. Why would Nick lie to him? He knew there was something wrong, and after everything they had gone through, he thought Nick would trust him more, but maybe he was wrong after all.

He knew Nick wasn't the type of guy who trusts easily, he didn't have such a nice past either.

Sometimes, when Nick had to guard the saferoom, Ellis would sit next to him, to give him some company. One of those nights, Nick got a bit drunk, since he had found a hidden bottle of vodka somewhere in the saferoom, and drank more than half of it by himself. He was sitting next to the saferoom entrance, and Ellis sat next to him.

"Nick, give me that bottle, you can't be drinking now man! What if something happens and we have to get outta here? You won't be able to run around like that! And I'm not leaving you behind!" Ellis said while he tried to take the bottle away from Nick's hands.

"Let go Ellis! What difference does it make? It's not like we're getting out of this alive isn't it?" He said angrily, as he pulled the bottle away from Ellis' hands.

"C'mon Nick! We can do this! We're getting closer to New Orleans!" Ellis eyes were filled with hope, they showed how sure he was of that.

"Do you actually think that's gonna happen? Ellis, we've almost died a shit ton of times out there! We've been almost ripped to pieces by those fucking hunters! I've felt my ribs almost cracking because of that smoker! Do you even feel our smell!? We're tired, we're not being rescued, every evac center we've passed through has been overrun, do you really think this is gonna get better?" He was loud, but surprisingly, he didn't wake anyone up, it had been a very long day anyway.

"But yet here we are, Nick. We're alive, and I'm not giving up. Maybe nobody's going to save us, but at least we won't die without having tried, and I'm not letting you give up either. We've come this far not because of luck, but because we can do it. We're a team Nick, and no one gets left behind."

"Do you even know how many times people have said that to me before? A lot. What makes you think I'm gonna buy that? A broken leg and I'm just dead weight, Ellis. I've had that happen to me before, not gonna let it happen again." He stood up, walking away from Ellis.

"We won't leave you behind! I'm gonna make sure that doesn't happen, I care about ya, Nick." Ellis said firmly, as he took a step forward. "We've all been through a lot, we can't live without each other, everyone needs you, I need you, Nick, and you need us, too."

Listening to the mechanic say his name so many times made Nick feel vulnerable.

"You need to sleep, we have to keep moving tomorrow, and you need to be at your best." Ellis said as he gently patted the gambler in the shoulder."

Nick hated him for being so optimistic, but his warm words made him feel strange. Somehow, he found himself dropping the vodka bottle and walking towards the matress laying on the ground.

Seeing Nick sleeping made Ellis feel peaceful, Nick's mind was as chaotic as the world outside of it, he felt happy he could at least control the storm inside Nick's head. The infected wandered around the safehouse, growling, fighting. In that hopeless world, those three people were the only ones that kept him from giving up. They were all he had now, his friends had probably di― No, he had to stay positive, they were safe, Keith was safe. His mother had to be safe, she had traveled to the west, away from the infection. Even though he hadn't spoken to her since he moved out her place, he really missed her, and wanted her to be next to him right now, to tell him everything was going to be okay… He missed his band, his workshop, his friends… He missed everything…

The chopper softly came to a stop, and slowly started going down, as the now dark room got filled with the strong light of the spotlights.

Nick stood up quickly, and looked outside the window, Ellis did the same.

They looked in shock at what seemed to be a military base, there were trucks roaming around, carrying who knows what, soldiers walking around in facemasks, giving orders and following them. But what surprised them the most was that there were other people, without uniforms. Were they carriers as well? Most likely. They formed two lines, men and women, waiting to enter a building that looked like some sort of hospital, they all were handcuffed and wearing facemasks too.

A soldier pointed at a woman, and other two grabbed her and took her to another building. She tried to free herself from the soldiers' grasp, with no result. What were they doing to them?

Ellis was scared, without even thinking about it, he grabbed Nick's hand and held it tightly. Nick looked down at his hand in surprise, then into Ellis' eyes, and he noticed a few tears escaping from them. He noticed the fear in his eyes, and he grabbed Ellis' hand even tighter. Rochelle and Coach had just woken up, and were staring outside the window, paralized. The helicopter finally landed, and the cargo door opened.

The shadows of three soldiers were drawn against the bright lights, waiting for them with assault rifles in their hands. Rochelle and Coach walked out the chopper with their hands in the air, and the soldiers took them and handcuffed them. But Ellis' and Nick wouldn't move. Nick hugged Ellis' tightly and held him against the wall, the boy crying in his shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Ellis. I'll be there with you" He said, kissing his forehead.

The soldiers entered the chopper and took them, Nick let go off Ellis', whose clear eyes filled with tears shined bright from the strong lights. He fell to his knees, and another soldier took him by his arms and dragged him outside. Ellis watched the soldiers take him…

"I… I lo-" He tried to say, but his chest tightened, and no more words came out, he just broke down crying.

Two more soldiers came in and took Ellis, who didn't even try to fight back… He saw as they took Nick inside the same building they took that woman a few minutes ago, the soldiers holding Ellis followed them, and entered the building through a wide door, into a dark hallway only lit by a few lights on the ceiling.

Nick looked back, to discover Ellis was behind him, and he smiled… It didn't matter where they took him, as long as Ellis was there too. Where was Rochelle? And Coach? He could only hope they were fine, they hadn't come this far to die now…