The snow was coming down in thick waves from the murky, grey sky. The ground was covered in the cold, soft stuff, and Ellis brought his knees to his chin, huddling underneath the tent he was able to scrap up from digging around an abandoned house. He had never seen snow before, but it was already starting to get old. He could practically say he was sick of it, having to deal with the weather with a dingy jean jacket and small sleeping bag.
Nick promised to meet him up on the mountain ledge before nightfall, but as he looked up into the sky he honestly couldn't tell what day it was or if it was morning or night. He shivered tremendously, slipping his arms between his legs and chest, trying to warm his body. He tried starting a fire, but the snow completely wiped out any spark of warmth he tried to create.
The only thing he had was a lantern, so he hugged that in his lap and soaked up the light bulb heat that it created. There was never a moment that he felt so alone, so afraid and so damn empty. His stomach grumbled in pain, and he patted it, feeling the emptiness. Like he was saying before, Nick promised he would be up to meet him soon and he needed him to come here quicker.
The team had split up a while back in Mississippi, when CEDA had failed to help them in the end. The far eastern and southern part of America was still in one piece and the zombies were scarce. Coach and Rochelle had decided to stop in an abandoned, zombie free town a couple miles after they found that CEDA was gone. Ellis and Nick had been pressing on for New York, and were only halfway there.
They tried car, but that only got them a few miles. The snow had started the minute they got out of the dead car and started walking through the rolling hills to Kentucky, and upward. The more north they went, the colder it got, and now here Ellis was, waiting blindly in the cold for his only savor to come back with supplies he promised to find and bring back.
The two men's relationship went from angst and annoyance, to tolerance. Hell, Nick seemed to almost like the kid that he had spent weeks with walking and driving through the country. Maybe Ellis could call Nick a friend, for how long they've talked and dealt with each other.
If it wasn't for Nick, Ellis would probably be dead and rotting in the road while zombies took turns ripping him apart. If it wasn't for Ellis, Nick would probably be caught in that dangerous factory explosion that had hit the town they just came from. Ellis had just caught the gambler in time to pull him free of the snag he was stuck on. They were busy getting gasoline for the truck, which didn't work in the long run. Man, you should have seen the look on Nick's face when the car wouldn't even start.
A silhouette caught Ellis's attention as he got out of his haze of flashbacks, and he grabbed the shotgun that leaned on the tarp wall of the tent. He shouldn't have kept the door of the tent open, but he was worried for the older man, and wanted to watch for him. The hazy shadow far off started to clear as it came closer, and it was Nick.
His once glistening clean white suit was plastered with dirt, muck, and blood. The white shine it would give off had long since vanished, and his hair had long since lost its vibrant character. His eyes had dulled to dark, murky green and his grim expression from that day on the Hotel roof had gotten grimmer. But it was Nick, and Ellis could have just knocked the tiresome man right there and attack him with warm welcoming hugs.
The gambler was carrying a large black box, and slung around his shoulder was a knapsack. His gun quivered against his back as he stumbled through the snow, and Ellis shot up to his feet to run through the freezing ground to his aide. Nick didn't give an acknowledgment of the kid as Ellis took the large black box off of his hands and hoisted it on his shoulder.
"Yah look all horrid Neek." Ellis stated, slipping the man's gun from his back and helping him into the tent. Nick grumbled profanities under his breath as he stumbled into the tent and onto a sleeping bag. The warmth was welcoming, and he sighed into the fabric as he started to thaw from the long two mile trek through the mountain to find supplies.
The kid didn't hesitate as he shuffled through the box to see what the gambler had found to scavenge up. Two sweaters lay at the bottom of the box, and on top of them was an extra first aid kit, and on top of that was food wrapped in tin foil and cloth.
The knapsack had extra ammo and pills. "Yah must be all ex'austed Neek." Ellis said softly, crawling over to where the Nick lay sprawled over the sleeping bag. Nick didn't exactly respond, only tiredly mumbled something into the cloth. "C'mon now." Ellis said getting on his knees and grabbing the man's shoulders.
"Yah need tuh git warm now." The hick stated, and rolled the exhausted gambler onto his side as he unzipped the sleeping bag and practically stuffed (with great effort) Nick inside of it. "Nn…uh..." Nick mumbled into the warmth of the sleeping bag. Ellis took that as a thank you, and moved over to the front of the tent to zip it up. Of course, it wouldn't exactly make a difference in temperature, but it would help tremendously with blocking the heavy snow from entering their fortress.
"Ells…" Nick mumbled through the safety of his sleeping bag. Ellis looked back at him, from where he stood patiently at the front of the tent. He needed to keep watch. "C'me here…" He mumbled tiredly, twitching his fingers as a sign of beckoning.
Ellis crawled over to the exhausted gambler and leaned on his knees next to the older man, "What'zit?" He asked softly, compassionately. He didn't stop himself as he reached out and stroked the older man's hair as Nick tried to gather his thoughts.
"You…look cold." He said more clearly, moving his head so his mouth wasn't covered from the sleeping bag. Ellis kept silent, no matter how much he wanted to nod and agree. His bones were frozen, his heart seemed frozen, and he could barely feel the beats in his chest. His nose was numb and uncomfortable; his cheeks stung from the angry snow, and his legs were numb from the vulnerability of the thin jeans.
"'m not, Neek. I'll be fine n' all, just sleep." Ellis reassured the frozen gambler, but as he went to pull up the sheet of cloth over the gambler's cheek, he felt the gambler's fingertips graze his own. Shocked silence fell over Ellis and him, and Nick looked up at the hick with those same dark, murky green eyes and mumbled, "You…need yer sleep too, kid. C'me 'ere…" The gambler closed his eyes again, and Ellis obeyed the gambler's request.
He scooted his own sleeping bag right along where Nick's was settled at the back of the tent, and wiggled down into his. His body greeted the warmth greatly, and he let out a sigh of relief at the change in temperature. He felt Nick shuffle in his own sleeping bag so they were barely an inch apart from each other.
Ellis felt his cheeks flush a light pink, but didn't protest. The older man was extremely cold from his trek and needed the warmth, and was obviously too tired to know what he was doing right now. But…for some reason it didn't matter. The gambler almost seemed to snuggle up against Ellis and drift asleep.
The hick didn't know if he should get up and guard the front of the tent again, or keep Nick feeling safe and warm in the back of the tent. His mind screamed to get up, but his body protested and held its place in the sleeping back and curled up with Nick's body. They needed the warmth, and who knew what tomorrow would bring.
Would there be more snow, or would the sun be gleaming happily up above on the mountain? Ellis hoped it was nice enough that they could start moving again. Seeing all the snow and feeling the cold and feeling the worry that he did made him not just use to the cold but sick of it.
As he watched the gambler sleep, he smiled to himself. The only bright thing about the snow was seeing Nick so…vulnerable and…well nice.
With that peaceful train of thought, Ellis too drifted into slumber.
oOoOoOoOo
Ellis woke up as the first rays of sunlight licked the sky in velvet and orange. He got up, careful as to not wake Nick who was still asleep in the sleeping bag next to his, and stretched his frozen muscles.
The snow met Ellis's shins as he opened the tent cover. The air was crisp to the point where his lungs stung from the cold, and he coughed harshly into the crook of his elbow. Grabbing the snow jacket that Nick had found on his journey last night, he made his way through the snow to take a piss.
After relieving himself in the snow, he zipped himself up and stood out in the snow, looking over the vast plains that was scattered down below the mountain ledge they had camped on. Not one zombie dotted the landscape before him, and he frowned. Didn't the epidemic hit everywhere in America? Or did CEDA already take care of this part of the US?
Grabbing his pistol and an extra clip, Ellis decided to go exploring. Careful as to not slip down the almost sharply steep ledge, he edged his way down the rocks and met the ground. The snow was thicker here than on the ledge, and he had to push harder through the thick snow to move forward.
He thought of looking for supplies, to try and make it up to Nick for his almost killing route he took in the storm. The landscape resembled an abandoned farm, and acres upon acres of frozen trees along fertile land stretched out in front of Ellis.
The hick knew there would probably be nothing to pick with the winter being so rough, but he still looked through the bushes and trees as he made his way through the farmland. A barn stood a mile or so off to the west, which looked promising to him. He trekked there, ignoring the cold that nipped his legs as he pushed through the snow, and shoved the barn door open through the snow.
A couple cows, long since dead and decayed, lay in a heap in one of the stables of the barn, and Ellis had to cover his mouth with a cold hand to try from gagging. Mice, still full and alive, were scurrying through the holes and ledges of wood that kept the barn upright and vanished the minute Ellis came in too close.
Barrels and crates stood at one end of the barn, probably full of food and supplies. He used the butt of his gun to break the lid of one of the barrels, and to his horror and shock, an acrid smell blasted out of the barrel. All of the food was rotted and frozen, and Ellis stumbled back against one of the stables in disgust.
"Christ!" He hollered, covering his nose up again and knocking the barrel over so the contents spilled out over the moldy hay. The loud crash of the barrel startled something outside, and Ellis whipped his weapon around and pointed it to the entrance of the barn.
Another smell mixed with the rotten food; it was rotten flesh. In stumbled a living corpse, its body covered in blood and vomit. Its eyes were glazed and milky, and it stumbled against the uneven hay as it moved toward Ellis. This Infected didn't run at him, like so many in the past, and Ellis could see why.
The zombie's knee looked as if broken out of place, and before it made it to Ellis, it fell over on its stomach. That didn't stop it, for it started to crawl toward him slowly. A good shot to the eye stopped the zombie in its tracks.
So, there were zombies out here. The hick didn't want to stay out here any longer. After he stepped over the dead zombie and walked out into the fresh air, he looked around nervously, his eyes flickering across the landscape.
A movement caught his eye, and he swung his gun around to the east, picking up an acrid scent on his nose. More zombies.
It seemed as if a whole family of zombies was heading his way, stumbling through the snow. There was a woman, probably no older than Nick, a man maybe two years older than the woman, and two children. All were infected, and heading toward Ellis as fast as they could run through the snow.
The hick loaded the gun, aiming it at one of the parents and firing away. The bullet hit the woman in the jaw. A ripping sound filled the air as her jaw was dismembered from her skull and lay dangling by a thick piece of flesh from her head. She stumbled a moment, falling into the snow, and didn't get back up.
Another bullet almost missed the target, and only seemed to graze the man's neck. Blood spurted out, spraying the white ground with splatters of crimson, but he kept on going. Ellis stumbled back more, losing his footing and meeting compact with the hard snow. His body felt immediately numb as he fired again at his enemies.
The man went down shortly after, but the children were the problem. Ellis couldn't bring up the guts to fire away at the zombie children. Even though they're eyes were glazed milky white, and their body was caked in blood from God knew what, he just couldn't do it.
They were just children.
Ellis knew that he couldn't lift his gun up into the faces of the children that were only a couple feet from where he lay. The hick felt tears well up in his eyes, facing the fact that he was weak and couldn't bring himself to end their pain and misery.
Before the children were upon him, Ellis felt a shuffle of shoes against his back, and a handgun fired off into the children. The younger of the two girls went down with a bullet burying into her eye and coming out of the back of her head. The last girl stumbled over the body, meeting compact with the snow as the handgun fired at the back of her head.
Everything was silent, not even birds overhead twittered their morning song.
Ellis felt hands grab his back, and shove him to his feet. The hick knew it was Nick, and faced the man who seemed half awake and half asleep. But one thing was clear with the gambler, he was surely pissed.
"Why in your goddamn mind would you leave the camp without me? Did you think there weren't going to be any zombies out and about, kid? You practically gave me a heart attack when I woke up this morning to find the sleeping back empty and the camp deserted!" Nick's voice rose to borderline hysteria as he grabbed the hick's collar and practically lifted him off of the snowy ground.
Ellis felt his body shrink from the rage the older man displayed, and he wouldn't look into Nick's piercing green orbs. "a'sorry Neek…I…I was lookin' fer supplies. I wuhs tryin' tuh pay back when you were uh…out n' about in the snow last night." Ellis mumbled guiltily, his eyes cast down at the snow-covered floor.
Nick noticed his rage toward the kid, and knew he only meant to help Nick while he was sleeping. The hick was right; he had a bad night last night trying to survive out in the blizzard. It was almost…touching how much the hick wanted Nick to be happy. The older man let go of Ellis's collar, brushing the kid off, and turned back to the direction of camp.
"Let's hurry back and pack up our stuff, kid. We can leave the tent and everything, but we should get the food and supplies ready to carry." He stated, swinging the gun to hang on his shoulder as he started the trek up the steep hill back to camp. Ellis followed, his legs still shaking from the scare he got.
Back at camp, Ellis quietly got his few belongings up in a knapsack, and helped Nick roll up the sleeping bags. Of course, they didn't have the patience or time to carry the bags through the snow and ice to their next stopping point, so they had to leave that at camp with the tent.
Nick stood on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the plains that Ellis had ventured into. "Found nothing out in that barn, I figure?" Nick asked, not glancing at Ellis as he came up behind him.
The hick scrunched up his nose in disgust, shaking his head, "Nuh uh, nothin' worth eatin'. Ever'thin' was spoiled n' nasty." Nick nodded slowly, chewing on a thumb nail. "Right." He said.
He headed to the right of the slope, finding a less steep place to put his weight on, and started down the hill toward the farmland. Ellis followed without any questions. Ellis had only been in Louisiana and had never stepped foot in any other state, until now that is.
If he was going to trust anyone with finding their way to New York, it would be Nick. The gambler had claimed to have visited many places since he was a young teenager. Hell, Nick even shared that he had been to Europe.
Oh, how Ellis envied his friend.
The plains soon turned to dense woodland in a matter of hours. The bare, dirty ground soon became covered in pine needles, so their footfall was practically silent. The dawn soon became dusk, and Ellis was about ready to collapse in the place he stood as he waited for Nick to finish taking a leak.
Nick stepped out from behind a tree, zipping up his dirty white suit pants and looking around. "We should really just stop wandering around and try to find an old cabin or something to sleep in." He stated, looking around. Ellis nodded his head, his eyes half lidded and cast down at the pine needles that littered the forest floor.
He could barely think straight, but he agreed to the mumbling he heard from Nick anyway.
The gambler bit his bottom lip, walking over to Ellis and clapping a hand to the back of his head. "Wake up kid; we got probably an hour or so to go. Stay with me now."
It was all too obvious how Nick couldn't remember last night during the snow storm. The way he wanted Ellis to practically stick to him like glue. Maybe it was just the fact that Nick was freezing cold and needed body heat to stay warm, or maybe it was the fatigue making Nick seem…well not how he normally was.
For whatever reason, Ellis liked that kind of Nick. After about an hour of walking through the forest, while following a half frozen river, Nick came across an old shack. The place didn't look promising to both men, but it was shelter and the clouds looked like they were about to let down rain, snow, or both. They practically collapsed through the door, into dust and debris of course.
The room was very small, with only a fireplace and one dust-covered bed in the corner. "Oh dang," Ellis exclaimed as if it was the most exciting thing he'd ever come across, "a bed! Neek, they got a bed up in 'ere!" Nick smiled as the hick excitedly ran toward the bed and leapt onto it, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
While the hick got the place clear of dust and spider webs, Nick decided to do some snooping. He checked out the roof, and of course spotted a few cracks and holes. He dug around the closet, only to find a dead dog laying in the back and spoiled and rotten food in a crate. Nothing really special to work with, and Nick was glad he saved the food he had scavenged from last night.
He yawned, and wiped the sleep from his eyes as he went to work on the roof. Grabbing pieces of plywood from the floor, Nick got up on the bed and leaned over to wedge the wood into the holes. The cracks, well they'd just have to cope with the cracks. Nick yawned once again, this time almost losing his footing on the edge of the bed.
"Aye Neek," Ellis asked, leaning over so Nick could look down and see him. "I think I should uh…work on that? Yah look tired n' yew need thuh sleep. Aft'r yesterday, you should be tha first one tuh hit tha hay."
Nick didn't argue with that statement, and climbed into the bed without any hesitation. He watched Ellis work the plywood into the holes that littered the ceiling. It only took about 20 minutes, and by that time Nick was about to drift off. Before Nick closed his eyes, he watched Ellis grab pieces of broken limbs and twigs and make fire in the fire place with matches he had found in the shack.
It wasn't long before the door was closed and the place was filled with warmth. But by that time, Nick was already in deep sleep.