2: Heading South
Ellis had a hard time getting any sleep, so he decided to go and join Francis and Louis who were keeping watch. To Louis it seemed that Ellis was disturbed by something, but it didn't seem to be a good moment to ask why. Francis spent almost the entire time cursing the 'vampires' and practically anything else that bothered him, especially what he considered to be "those lying CEDA bastards". What he wouldn't give to get his biker gang together and hunt some CEDA agents down.
Rochelle and Coach prepared a simple breakfast from the foodstuff available in the safe room's small kitchen. It was mostly canned food but none of the seven survivors minded. After breakfast, Francis sat with Louis, Nick and Ellis discussing plans. They figured they could cover the distance in two days, so they could be in the Georgia safe zone by the evening of the next day. The highway was probably the best bet. Maybe they could find a car to cover some of the distance but they didn't hold out too much hope, the highways had all been reported jammed with refugees in the weeks before and were likely totally blocked with vehicles.
Zoey mostly spent her time quietly sitting on the couch in the corner, and Coach and Rochelle joined her and they talked about some things, but neither Coach nor Rochelle could get Zoey to tell them what was bothering her. Coach thought to himself that Zoey looked like a woman with a strong will and great independence, but in his eyes she definitely needed to deal with the issues that were bothering her. He agreed with Rochelle that he would keep an eye on Zoey whilst Rochelle would do the same with Ellis. They needed everyone focused on the task at hand.
How Ellis longed to talk to Zoey. His courage let him down, and his manners held him back. His mother had raised him to have respect for women. He'd had girlfriends before, but none of them had been serious relationships. In fact, he had often failed to heed his mother's lessons and had often pulled pranks on his dates much like his buddy Keith also had done. He regretted all of that now, he would faithfully stick to what he had been taught as a child. And he promised himself he'd play no pranks or anything on Zoey. And if she ultimately rejected him, he wouldn't push further. But up to that point, he hadn't pushed at all.
He tried to switch his mind to other things. "Keith and Dave, I miss you guys", he thought. They'd called themselves the 'Bullshifters'. They even had procured matching shirts with a design by Dave on it. Ellis looked at his own shirt, he was still wearing it under his overalls. He'd often talked about Keith to Rochelle, Coach and Nick, much to the latter's annoyance. But he hardly ever mentioned Dave, and thinking about Dave made him feel sad. He'd forgotten all about his earlier enthusiasm of driving Jimmy Gibbs' car, though he regretted having to leave the car on the other side of the river that ran through the city.
"For all we know, this Georgia safe zone is overrun by zombies", Nick sarcastically said. "It's the only place we can go to", Coach admonishingly said to Nick. "But you can stay here in this safe room if you like", Nick disliked being lectured but grudgingly admitted to himself that staying behind by himself was the least favorable of the two options available.
The seven survivors had stocked up on guns, ammo, health packs and pills. Francis and Louis led the way out of the safe room, followed by Nick. Coach and Zoey were behind them and Ellis and Rochelle were last.
Rochelle felt a bit sorry for Ellis and because Ellis was so quiet she decided to try and strike up a conversation. "No stories about Keith?" she asked him. "No not right now", Ellis said, "I can't think about anything right now". Rochelle told him that she had seen him look at Zoey and said she suspected he felt something for Zoey. "Don't worry, I won't spoil your secret. But if you do talk to her, just be your own sweet self, OK? Don't be nervous or anything. You have got a lot going for you". Ellis replied that he thought a zombie apocalypse wasn't exactly a very appropriate setting to tell a girl about how he felt. "I don't even know her", Ellis said. "Maybe she's not into guys like me at all, she could do so much better". Rochelle comforted Ellis and reminded him that she thought many women would find his good looks and his natural charm irresistible, and that he really was nice. Ellis briefly looked at Zoey and convinced himself she was way out of his league, like Nick had told him.
Nick turned towards Zoey and said "You've done us all a favor, Cupcake. You got Ellis to finally shut up. He couldn't stop yapping. Non-stop talking for days about cars, some asshole named Jimmy Gibbs, a crappy band, horses and his annoying friend Keith. I swear to God, if I ever find this Keith he's always talking about then zombie or not I will wring his neck". Nick grinned at the prospect. Coach gave Nick an angry look and responded "Mister, I don't like your attitude". "Whatever", Nick said and turned away.
Zoey didn't say anything. Though she did wonder who this 'Keith' might be. He'd be a friend of Ellis, that was for sure. Her thoughts came back to Bill and what had happened since this 'before. She missed Bill. Bill had reminded her of her own father. She held in her tears but Coach noticed and briefly put an arm around her. "It's tough on all of us, this Green Flu and losing friends and family", he said. "But now, we must focus on our journey ahead". Zoey nodded but didn't respond.
Nick wondered what had happened to his ex-wife. "Definitely became a Witch", he thought. "Heck she became one the moment I put that ring on her. Dumbest thing I ever did". Nick hoped she would appear on their path, he would not hesitate to shoot.
Suddenly, out of nowhere a Boomer dropped right in front of the group and exploded. "Damn I'm covered in goo", Coach shouted. It wasn't long before they heard that peculiar sound of a horde of zombies approaching. The seven of them formed half a circle and managed to kill them all. It was unsettling however, it had been so quiet for so long. And this horde had been somewhat large, fortunately there had only been common infected. "Let's focus on surviving", Coach told the group, "we've been left for dead out here and we need to stick together".
All day long the seven survivors had to deal with hordes of zombies, often triggered by the appearance of a special infected such as a Smoker or a Hunter. But they managed to deal with all infected who crossed their path, even the two Tanks that appeared were dispatched without too much trouble. It had been easy going all day.
Darkness started to set in and it was getting decidedly colder, after all it was already late in the year. "There's a mansion up ahead", Louis said. "I believe it used to be a plantation house, and there might be a safe room in there." And indeed there was. In fact, the whole mansion was a safe building. The group had managed to cover about half the distance to the location of the Georgia safe zone in just one day.
There wasn't much food to be found in the mansion but it would be enough considering they would only need to spend one night there. The entire mansion had been fortified, all windows and doors had been reinforced and there was no trace of any zombies inside. Plenty of graffiti on the walls indicated that many other survivors had been in this place before them, including a certain Chicago Ted.
Rochelle, Francis and Coach went to the kitchen and checked what food was available. Francis was constantly chatting up Rochelle. Nick and Louis sat together discussing their earlier careers and Zoey sat on a couch in a corner of the large living room. Ellis looked at her and thought to himself "Come on man, just go sit next to her". After a few minutes debating the pros and cons with himself he decided to do just that. "Hi", he said. "Emm… I heard you didn't sleep so well either last night". "No", Zoey answered. Ellis was already blushing as much as a man could and he was looking for more words to say to her. An awkward silence came as the two alternated looking at each other with quickly looking away. "I don't really want to talk about it", Zoey continued. "OK", Ellis said, disappointed.
They were called over for dinner by Coach, and all seven of them had something to eat. Francis and Coach would have first watch. Ellis felt tired and went to the sleeping quarters, and quickly rolled up on one of the beds and fell asleep immediately. Zoey couldn't sleep, however, and kept rolling over to each side, restless and thinking about Bill and everything that had happened. She was cold, even shivering. She didn't want to disturb any of the others. She got up to find some more blankets, but as she passed Ellis' bed, he awoke very suddenly. Zoey saw a frightened look on his face. Maybe he just had a nightmare?
Ellis saw Zoey standing near his bed, and wondered where she was going. "Zoey, what are you doing?" he asked. "I'm cold", she answered. "I just had a bad dream", he said. She thought to herself that she had guessed right. She was curious so she asked him what the bad dream had been about. And what she heard stunned her. Ellis softly told her about what had happened when he and his friends had been on their way to the evacuation center. "The three of us were running, we only had minutes left to get to the whirlybirds. There were zombies behind us, and suddenly Dave stumbled. Keith didn't see it and kept running ahead. I stopped for a second and looked back…". Zoey noticed the tear that ran down his right cheek. "They were all over him… ah think they killed him. And I keep seeing this in my nightmares".
She sat herself down on Ellis' bed, and told the young man that she too had been suffering from a recurring nightmare. And it was not about Bill as he might think, but about her parents. They had been divorced. She had been living with her father and her mother had come over. Her parents were arguing about her future. Her mother had found that she had spent her first university semester holed up in a dorm room watching old horror movies, and that her professors had given her a choice: stop fooling around and get her grades up, or drop out. Her father had said he did not see the problem as Zoey could always become a police officer like him. Her mother and father argued all evening long until it happened. A zombie had broken into the apartment and attacked her mother. Her mother turned into a zombie within minutes and attacked her father, who had to kill her. But he had been bitten too and asked Zoey to shoot him so as to prevent him from turning into a zombie. When Zoey protested she couldn't, he asked for his gun, and said to his daughter that he loved her, and then shot himself.
"Oh no", Ellis said to her. "That's so sad, I'm so sorry." He thought to himself that he now understood why she had been so distant ever since they had met. And his thoughts of the day before had been right, they did have something in common. Though this wasn't something joyful.
He sat himself next to her and instinctively put his arm around her, almost expecting it to be rejected. But instead, she sank into his arms. He took out his handkerchief and clumsily tried to dry her tears. Both of them had quietly sobbed whilst sharing their stories.
Ellis' thoughts were running wild. He wondered what she was thinking, did she really like him or did she just need an arm around her. Zoey at the same time wasn't sure what she felt, but admitted to herself that she was somewhat attracted to this young man who now had his arms around her. Maybe she just didn't want to admit it to herself yet but she knew he had feelings for her, and she was beginning to feel more than just a superficial attraction to him. The strong independent woman persona she had tried to keep up for so long gave way. The warmth and comfort Ellis' arms provided is what she needed now.
As he lay himself back down on the bed she curled up into his arms and he pulled the spread over both of them. He felt like he'd died and gone to heaven. "Holy shit, this is the best thing that ever happened to me, I'm holding the purdiest girl I've ever seen. I'm in love. I will do anything for her.", he thought. Unbeknownst to him, just before she fell asleep, a similar thought passed through her mind "I could get used to this. He's so sweet." For the first time since the fateful events, both were able to fall sound asleep without nightmares.
When Coach came to get Ellis for his turn at guard duty, and saw him curled up with Zoey, he smiled and silently muttered "Thanks Lord". In a sense, Coach thought, Ellis was effectively on guard duty right now, and he let them sleep.