Listen To Your Heart

By: esmtz

It had taken some time to get as much gas as they could find since occasionally Francis and Louis had run into some of the infected, but they were able to take them down with hardly any cuts or scratches as they managed to finally get the gas cans back to the car.

"About time guys. It took you long enough. I was beginning to think that you guys might have been in trouble and had gone too far for me to hear." Zoey said as soon as she saw them head towards the car and placed the gas next to it.

"Sorry about that, Zoey. We were attacked a couple of times by the infected and then Francis here accidentally shot some of the cans so we had to look for some more otherwise we would have been back here earlier." Louis told her.

"Hey, I'm sorry ok, Louis? I was just trying to kill a boomer that looked like was about to vomit on us." Francis replied.

Zoey sighed shaking her head.

"So, are you guys alright? Did anything come by here?" Louis asked.

"We're fine. Ellis is still resting and I kept my guard up and there were no signs of any of the infected." Zoey told him.

"That's good." Louis smiled at her.

Zoey frowned slightly.

"I guess, but I'm starting to wonder if the infected are even in this area at all."

"So? That's a good thing!" Francis told her.

Louis punched him on the shoulder and sighed.

"What?" Francis asked looking at both of them.

"Francis, don't you find this a little strange at all?" Louis asked already knowing his answer.

"No and who cares? This just means we can get out of here safely!" Francis replied.

"Well, let's just hurry up and fill up the car. Someone should go and wake up Ellis now." Zoey said and started to move to go back inside the house.

Francis rushed past her making her stop in her tracks and sigh.

"Well, I was going to do it, but I guess you can do it instead." Zoey said quietly to herself.

Ellis was already awake, but was still lying down on the bed wondering if Francis and Louis had returned yet.

'It's takin them along time to bring back that gas. I wonder what's keepin them.' Ellis thought 'I hope they're not in trouble or nuthin.'

Just as Ellis started to sit up, the door busted open making Ellis jump in surprise and turn to face the door.

"Well, you're awake already! Here I thought you were still sleeping." Francis grinned as he noticed Ellis's startled expression, "Sorry about that, man. Didn't mean to surprise you like that."

Ellis sighed with relief and smiled at him.

"It's cool. I'm just glad to see that yer back finally." Ellis told him.

"Yeah, sorry we got held up." Francis said, "Zoey said that we should wake you up now because I guess we're just about ready to get going. All we need to do is fill the car up with gas."

"Do y'all need any help with that?" Ellis asked as Francis went to him and helped him stand up.

"Nah besides we couldn't find that many so we're going to have to find more while we're on the road." Francis told him.

"It took you a couple of hours and you couldn't find that many?" Ellis asked looking at him.

"Aw, shut up." Francis said blushing slightly as Ellis started laughing.

"Well, hey I'm just sayin that I coulda helped you bring back more." Ellis told him.

"We actually were, but Francis shot them." Louis was heard outside of the room.

"Dammit, Louis!" Francis yelled at him as he helped Ellis out of the room and towards the car.

Zoey already started filling the car up with gas as Louis went back inside to get whatever he thought they would need on the ride all the way to California. Francis rolled his eyes as he opened the back passenger door for Ellis and helped him to sit inside and then went for a gas can.

"Louis is actually making you do the hard work?" Francis asked shaking his head and started pouring the gas into the car as soon as Zoey was done with the one she already put in.

"No, I decided that I would do it while he goes and get us some food and drinks from the house. I know you guys don't get along, especially after Bill was killed, but do you have to make it sound like he isn't helping us?" Zoey asked looking at him.

"Zoey, don't bring up Bill again and yes and you want to know why? It's because he's become more of an ass now then he was before!" Francis replied.

Ellis's eyes went wide as he looked at Francis and Zoey. Zoey sighed.

"Francis, if it wasn't for him you would be dead."

"HE LEFT BILL TO DIE! I was trying to go back for him and all Louis was doing was trying to get us to leave! Bill was right there, Zoey and you and I both know that we could have gotten him out of there!" Francis roared making both Zoey and Ellis flinch.

"Francis, there were just too many zombies blocking our way to get to him and the tanks had already shown up that there was nothing that we could have done to help him." Zoey whispered.

"LOUIS HAD A FUCKING PIPE BOMB! He could have used it so we could have gotten Bill out of there!" Francis responded angrily.

"The tanks would have gotten to us before we could get to him. They were just too close to us." Zoey swallowed and looked down guiltily.

"You know what? Fuck you, Francis. I fucking saved yours and Zoey's lives by getting you guys into that helicopter. Even Bill knew that he wasn't going to make it and he shook his head when you guys tried to go to him. He didn't want you guys getting yourselves killed for him so excuse me for at least saving two of my teammates!" Louis yelled bringing with him bottles of water and some fruit in a bag and put them in the car before getting up close and personal with Francis.

"Guys, please you shouldn't be doing this not now! You could alert the horde with how loud you guys are being!" Zoey told them looking from one to the other.

"In doing so you let Bill die!" Francis growled clenching his fists.

"There was no other choice, Francis! There were just too many of them!" Louis told him.

"Really? Well I guess I can say that when you're the one who's about to die. I fucking hate you, Louis." Francis said.

There was an awkward silence as Francis and Louis just stood there glaring at each other.

'Shit, compared to these guys I had it good with Nick.' Ellis swallowed.

Zoey sighed.

"Well, now you've done it. Looks like someone's found us." Zoey said.

Ellis looked in the direction that Zoey was looking at and Ellis was completely shocked to find that Nick and the others had found him. Well they were actually looking at Francis and Louis so he assumed that they hadn't seen him.

"Uh y'all can we go now?" Ellis asked his voice just above a whisper as he slowly backed up into the car so he could actually sit in it and try to hide from the others.

"Sure we can go as long as these guys stop their staring contest!" Zoey said as she got between the two of them.

Neither Francis nor Louis spoke another word to each other as Francis made his way on the other side of the car to sit next to Ellis and Louis made his way to the driver's seat. Zoey was just about to get in the front passengers seat when she heard someone yell out Ellis's name. Ellis groaned and sunk in his seat.

"Are they the people you were talking about, Ellis?" Zoey asked.

Ellis nodded as Francis rolled his eyes.

"Terrific."

"Ellis, sweetie there you are!" Rochelle said as she made her way to Ellis's side of the car and smiled at him, "We were worried about you."

Ellis rubbed the back of his neck and looked towards Francis as he felt Rochelle lean towards him and give him a hug.

"It's good to see that yer doin alright there, Ellis." Coach said and looked at Francis, Zoey and Louis and grinned, "So I was right that Ellis had help from other survivors. Thanks for helping the boy out."

"Yeah no problem." Zoey said starting to feel a bit awkward as she got in the car, closed the door, and then opened the window, "I'm sorry normally we'd be talkative and introduce ourselves and all, but…"

"Yeah, we heard sorry about that." Coach told her.

Francis was glaring at someone and Ellis already knew who it was as he felt himself turn bright red as Rochelle let go of him and was immediately trying to be dragged out of the car.

"Overalls, what are you doing with them? Come on let's go we're wasting precious time here." Nick said having both of his hands on Ellis's arm and was pulling him out of the car.

Francis got out of the car, slammed the door, and walked over to Nick.

"Let go of him already. He isn't with you guys anymore." Francis told him.

Nick glared at him.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Ellis is with us."

"No, he's with us now. I asked him if he wanted to join up with us and he said yes." Francis smirked at the look on Nick's face.

Nick was shocked as he looked from Francis down to Ellis who was still managing to stay in the car.

"Ellis?" Nick asked.

"It's true, Nick. Y'all don't have nuthin to worry about anymore. I told you last night that I was leavin. I also meant what I said, man. I don't hate you for not wanting me around." Ellis whispered the last part still refusing to look at Nick.

"Wait, don't you guys know that there's an evac station here? Where are you guys going?" Rochelle asked looking at them and then at Ellis sadly.

"California, only because we think there might be actual safety out there and not some trap leading us into another infected city or town." Zoey told her.

"But, we're still not so sure." Louis said looking out behind him towards Ellis's open door where he could see Rochelle.

"Plus, Zoey's got a thing for killing pilots so best not to risk it." Francis said.

"Heh, so does Nick actually." Coach said.

Nick ignored him as he continued to look at Ellis and still hadn't let go of Ellis's arm.

"Are you serious, Ellis?" Nick asked.

Ellis was tempted to look at Nick since he sounded genuinely hurt, but continued to look the other way and nodded.

"Yeah, Nick I am. Y'all might want to get to the station sooner rather then later cause I don't think that chopper or whatever is gunna still be waiting for you for long." Ellis told him.

"But, Ellis…you're still hurt and what about your hat?" Rochelle asked almost ready to cry as she held out his hat.

Ellis turned to face her and immediately regretted it as soon as he saw the look on Nick's face.

'He seriously does look hurt, but why?' Ellis thought to himself.

Ellis swallowed and shook his head.

"Keep it and don't worry about me. Zoey already patched me up." Ellis almost felt like he couldn't breathe. It was killing him having to leave Nick knowing how much he liked him and knowing that he was having to let him go.

'It's better this way. At least this way he'll live.' Ellis thought as he took a deep breath in and let it out.

Ellis quickly threw his arms around Nick and hugged him tight. Nick hadn't expected it and was completely surprised.

"I'm gunna miss you so much, Nick. Just promise me you won't die out here alright?" Ellis said as he reluctantly let go and roughly pulled his arm away from Nick's grasp.

Francis picked up the rest of the gas cans they didn't use and put them in the trunk. Then he went back to his side of the car and got back in. Both he and Ellis closed their doors and Louis started driving them out of the town. Nick, Rochelle, and Coach watched until the car was no longer in sight.

"Find some gas and a car." Nick suddenly said making Rochelle and Coach look at him.

"Are you serious, Nick? You can't mean…what about the evac station?" Coach asked.

"Fuck getting rescued. I'm going after Ellis." Nick told him.

Rochelle and Coach looked at him in surprise.

"Seriously?" Rochelle asked.

"Now!" Nick said looking at them.

"Uh, right. How much you want to bet they took the last gas cans?" Coach asked.

"Ever heard of a gas station? They might not have had money on them, but I still do." Nick replied pulling out his wallet.

"You mean the money you stole from before?" Rochelle looked at him.

"Whatever just hurry up and find a car and whatever source of gas you can find!" Nick said getting annoyed as he pocketed his wallet.

"This might take awhile." Rochelle said and all three started looking for a car.

Author's note: Good news this story might be longer then what I first thought. Second I'm thinking of planning of killing someone else off plus an attempt of suicide so this will make the story longer so yeah. I don't know why but I have a thing for drownings or almost drownings if you look at almost any of my stories it almost always includes a water scene. This time there will be no bringing back people from the dead so yeah sorry. I guess it wasn't a good idea to wait this long to update. I almost got lazy to the point of not doing it so next time I won't wait so long or at least I'll try not to. I'm glad some people are into this story so it makes it a little easier to keep going. Anyway I wanted to say thank you to the reviewers so far. Even though i don't expect you guys to I'm still very grateful for your feedback. I just hope I don't somehow get you guys uninterested in the story because that would suck losing readers T_T.