Promise Me

by TheEleventhIncarnate

Based on Dark Carnival. The survivors find themselves getting ever closer as they fight their way to safety. Ellis, their battery, their motivation, does his best to keep them all going, even through the hardest of times. Very slight Ellis/Rochelle. T for later swearing and violence. Rating might change.

1. Prologue

Promise Me

Prologue

"Promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"Never stop smiling."

When such an intense feeling of fear and dread becomes 'the norm,' everything gets bumped down a slot on the scale. So when Rochelle peered out of the hijacked stock car's window on a more than sleepless night, to say that she felt a sensation of fear and dread is to say that she felt something even worse would happen today than what was already generally anticipated. Yes, there were infected life forms shambling around, attacking everything that moved. Yes, civilisation was in ruins. Yes, the four survivors hadn't seen another 'living' thing since prior to the chaos at Savannah's long burnt down by now hotel-slash-abandoned-evac-station.

But something else was creeping up on them. A new twist in an already bad dream. That feeling, that premonition hung over her like a dark fog; smothering, closing in, hiding the something from her, just out of reach.

"You should be resting."

Rochelle was torn from her concerned wonderings by the driver's soft remark. Ellis spoke just loud enough so that the other survivor could hear him in the back seat, but Coach, long asleep in the front passenger seat, wouldn't be disturbed. Her eyes met his in the rear-view mirror and she could see that he smiled, although with worry that patiently awaited a response.

"Can't sleep," she replied in an apologetic tone.

The night was silent. Jimmy Gibbs' car engine hummed smoothly, an attribute Ellis had gone on about for a good ten minutes when their little road trip had first started. That felt far away now. Very, very far. Nick and Coach slept soundlessly on and the highway was empty. Desolate. Rochelle felt strangely alone. The last of the day's light was just beginning to disappear behind the horizon. The sky was clear, but she still felt that suffocating sense of impending strife.

Something was terribly wrong.

"We'll be alright," Ellis said suddenly, causing Rochelle to snap her gaze back to him. The shock must have shown on her face, because he uttered a quiet laugh. "We will."

Had she accidentally vocalized her thoughts? How had he known?

She looked out the window again.

Neither said anything more.