A while had passed since the rather strange conversation between Ellis and Nick. The older man still sat at the kitchen table, unwanting to get up because of his sore leg and also because he wasn't sure how much of this house was considered 'safe'.
"Hey Ellis," Nick started, thrumming his fingers against the table in an off beat rythm.
"Yea?" Ellis responded, sitting across from the conman.
"How long do you think we'll be able to stay in this house?"
"Well food's not really an'issue. Lot's a rations tha'kin last us a'least a few weeks." He said, nudging his chin towards a cubbort that he must have stashed the cans in. "An' I figured once yer leg's all healed up we kin find our way to the CEDA base. Maybe we'll find Coach and Ro there." He added.
Nick nodded in silence, contemplating the hicks plan. It wasn't a bad one, he was just concerned over how long the infected would stay away from this house.
"If y'all are worried about zombies, I havn't seen any since we fell of the bridge." Ellis included, seeming to read the elder man's thoughts.
"Doesn't mean they're not out there right now." Nick groaned, hooking a finger under one of the blind shambles and taking a peek outside, where sun managed to filter its way through dark clouds. A storm, Nick figured, must be on its way.
"Well then yew wanna take a look?" Ellis offered, standing up and seeming rather excited about getting out of the house for a bit, even if it ment a possible encounter with more infected.
Nick attempted to stand, but only ended up gritting his teeth at the raw pain in his thigh. "I can't do much in this state." He muttered, mostly to himself, feeling rather pathetic and pretty useless.
Ellis, despite being oblivious most of the time, gave Nick a sympathetic look.
"S'alright man, I kin take a look by myself."
Nick gave the kid an incredilous look as he raised an eyebrow. "What if you get snatched by a smoker? I won't be there to save your ass." Nick scoffed. "I might enjoy the peace and quiet, but truthfully, I need you overalls."
Ellis fixed Nick with an odd look, seeming to process what the man had just said. As he pieced together that, in other words, Nick seemed to start coming around and might actually like him just a tad a wide grin crept onto his mouth.
"Don'worry Mr. Gamblin' man. I'll jus' look 'round the house." Nick was about to protest before the hick could bound off, happy as a cricket. "I'll hollar if I need'ya." Ellis said as he grabbed his bloodied crowbar and headed out the door.
Nick watched the younger man head out the door, too late to argue with his idiocy. Had he even heard his warning or did he just not care? Either way, Nick sighed, realizing if they hadn't seen any infected in two days, then he didn't need to worry about the younger man, no matter how reckless he was at times.
Managing to stand upright, Nick hobbled out of the kitchen, using the wall as a support to keep the weight off of his injury.
"Might as well take a look around." He muttered to himself.
Ellis looked around the front porch of the ranch house, on the look out for any infected roaming the open plaines. It seemed pretty quiet, maybe the low civilization in the more rural parts of Savannah meant that zombie sighting's would be rare.
Deciding to explore a little more, Ellis jumped down the prch steps, looking out into the distance where the bridge, or what remained of it at least, was a far off speck on the horizon.
The river had carried them far from the city, and Ellis was starting to dread the length of uneven roads they would have to trudge through to get to the military base.
"A'least we're on the right side." Ellis mumbled to himself, fixing his hat.
He gripped his bat more firmly, swinging it in his hands as he strolled towards the back of the house to take a look at the backyard, figuring maybe he could find something interesting.
Ellis strode carelessly around, kicking chunks of fire wood out of his way and watching them roll to the side and swaying his bat slightly from side to side. His feet followed the log that rolled towards an old shed, its wood faded and splintered, the once vibrant green paint now a washed out color. He checked for weapons; hunting rifles, axes, perhaps even bags of ammo if he was lucky enough.
Ellis let out a dissapointed sigh when the side of the tool shed came up empty, nothing but more piles of wood lay in a messy heap beside the shed. Not even an axe was burried in the logs. Ellis figured he'd turn back if nothing of interest turned up, but just as he was about to head back to the house, he heard a twig snap.
Body tensing up, he gripped his base ball bat firmly and got in a ready stance, in case it was a zombie, perhaps the house owners that had been turned.
Instead, he was greeted by a beautiful dark body, curtain's of long, shiny black hair trailing down the creatures thick neck. Ellis stared in awe at the wonderful beast, and a look of both joy and amazement plastered on his face.
"Well ain't you a beaut." He said to the horse, taking a few steps towards it. It puffed out a finicky breath of air and stepped back as Ellis advanced. The young survivor noticed the horse's fright and got into a low crouch, holding his hand out in a coaxing motion as he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Shh shh shh, don' be afraid darlin'." He called out to the horse, waiting patiently for the animal to note that he wasn't its enemy.
Hesitantly, the horse took a cautious step towards him, and then another, and another. Soon the horse's snout was nuzzled against the hick's hand, and a smile of pure bliss crossed Ellis' features.
"A friendly thing, ain't ya." He said as he gently patted its snout.
Just then, Ellis remembered his partner, a wide grin making its way across his lips. "Nick! Ay Nick, come over here. I found sumethin'!"
Nick continued to hobble along the main floor of the house, not looking for anything in particular as he searched the cabinets and drawrs. Looking through one of the hall way drawrs he found a few bottles of pain killers and downed a few of the pills to numb his aching leg. Sighing with relief he continued his search for anything useful as he searched every nook and cranny.
Stumbling upon a half open broom closet, Nick figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look in there too. As he swung the door to the closet open, his spirits lifted when he layed eyes on the bottle of whiskey stashed away behind a few boxes.
Husband must of had a drinking probleme and kept a stash, Nick figured, not really caring at the moment as he unscrewed the top and took a swig from the bottle.
The alcohol went smoothly over his tongue and burned down his throat, giving him a warm feeling as the liquid sat in his stomach. Nick sighed in content as the alcohol also aided to numb his pain.
He continued to take drink after drink of the bottle, its contents rapidly declining. The bottle was nearly half gone by the time Nick heard Ellis' hollering. Nick jumped into action for a moment, fearful that the kid had gotten snagged by a smoker before he noted the tone in his voice. It didn't sound panicked.
Nick inched his way to the front door, limping out onto the porch and following Ellis' voice to the back of the house. "What is it?" He huffed, walking becoming a harder task when one of your legs were incompacitated.
Nick's shoulders stiffened slightly when he heard the whinney of whatever Ellis seemed so excited about. The gambler eyed the creature. A horse...the kid had found a freakin' horse.
"A horse?" He echoed his thoughts, giving Ellis an incredulous look.
"Yea a horse. Gosh Nick, ain't she a beaut. Man oh man do I love horses." Ellis gawked over the horse, petting along her neck.
Nick scoffed. "If you like horses so much, why don't you just go and marry it?" He chuckled, earning a slight glare from Ellis.
"Not in that way man, tha's sick!" Ellis' face scrunched in disgust.
Nick let out another breathy laugh, about to make some other crude joke when a loud boom of thunder sounded around them. Nick shifted his eyes up to look at the sky. Dark gray clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up rather quickly. The storm that Nick had predicted earlier that day was starting to brew.
"Come on, Kid. We should get inside before it hits hard." Nick stated.
"But Nick, wha 'bout the horse?" Ellis brought up. "Shouldn' we put her in her barn to make sure she don' get hurt?" The hick fretted about the horse.
Nick sighed, knowing full and well that with Ellis' stubborness he wouldn't be leaving until they made sure that god damnes animal was safe and sound. "Alright fine. Hurry and put her in there and let's go."
Ellis turned back to the horse, grabbing gently at her mane as he tugged her along, making little clicking noises with his mouth to encourage her to follow him. The horse followed Ellis, letting him pull her towards the barn just a few yards away. Nick scampered ahead of the two, opening the barn doors cautiously, just incase there were some infected they had missed inside the haven. All he could see were mounds of hay and a water hole.
Feeling a thick raindrop fall onto his nose Nick looked impatiently at Ellis. "Would you hurry up already? Its starting to pour!" He shouted, feeling more than just a single fat droplet fall onto his face.
"Hold your horses," Ellis retorted, giggling to himself at the pun. "We're alomst there." He continued slowly, not wanting to rush the animal and have her resist him.
Another loud crash of thunder exploded around them, startling the horse as it lifted onto its hind legs and let out a high whinneying sound. The shock of the horse kicking out its hooves made Ellis stumble back, falling onto his backside as he was pelted with rain.
Nick instinctively went to the younger male's side, helping him up from the knock down as the horse trotted into the open barn. Nick followed behind it with Ellis at his side, taking refuge in the barn instead of walking back to the ranch house in this blinding storm.
When the two men had shuffled inside the barn, Ellis heaved the big, barn doors closed, a hard task due to the relentless wind and rain pummeling him. When the entrance was secured, he turned to Nick with a worn out smile, taking off his hat and wringing out the soaked mechanic cap.
"That there storm hit perty fast." He laughed.
Nick pulled at his wet suit, the once white garment now turned a light gray from the water. His dress shirt was almost equally as drenched, as were his pants. "Yeah."
Ellis frowned at his own wet clothes, a small shiver running up his spine. He grabbed the bottom of his faded yellow, 'Bull Shifters' tee and began peeling it off of his body.
"What are you doing?" Nick asked, a small stirring in his groin as he caught sight of the boy's tanned, flat stomach.
"We're gunna freeze if we stay like this." Was his response, as he wringed out the wet shirt and placed it over one of the stable posts. "Barn's don' have heaters." He added as he started undoing the knot of his coveralls, stripping out of the water logged material.
Nick felt a twitch in his nether regions, eyes glued to the hick's torso where two, perfectly pink nipples greeted him. His eyes sauntered over to where Ellis began sliding the coverall's down his narrow hips, the baby blue boxers visible as he slid them off.
Feeling more awkward with his clothes on, Nick began to mirror the kid's actions. Taking off his heavy suit and hanging it neatly over the fence.
Ellis seemed to notice Nick mimicking his actions and it was now his turn to feel the uncomfortable stirring in his loins. He watched as Nick carefully undid every button of the blue button down, biting his lip as he could start to feel the heat pooling in his stomach. His heartbeat began to race as the elder man fiddled with his belt before removing it, along with his own pants. The hick's ears began to turn red at the tips now that the other man was standing there in his almost naked glory, the tight boxers doing an awful bad job of hiding the conman's 'goods'.
Ellis groaned at the slight hard-on he was sporting in his own underpants, and quickly padded towards the hay bale he'd be using as a temporary bed, knowing full and well the storm would most likely carry into the hours of the night.
Nick followed him, that being the only sizeable mount of straw in this barn other than the smaller piles. Ellis swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping that the other wouldn't notice the slight bump he had at the front of his boxers as he curled up in the prickly hay.
"W-what do yew say we git some shut-eye?" Ellis stuttered slightly, the other man so close to him he could feel the warmth that was radiating off of him ghost over him.
"Sounds good." Was all the other man said, getting as comfortable as he could in the make shift bed of hay that itched against his bare skin.
A bolt of lightening illuminated the darkness of the bar and another thunderclap echoed through the stormy night. Nick could feel Ellis tense up behind him everytime the thunder boomed, wondering what was making the kid so jumpy.
"You ok?" He asked, turning to face the kid but could barely see the hick's face.
"Y-yeah." Ellis murmured. "I jus' never liked storms very much. Rain's nice, but thunderstorm's always kinda scared me." He admitted in shame, expecting Nick to make fun of him for it.
"It's fine. I'm sure lots of people are scared of them."
Ellis was a little dumbfounded by the conman's understanding, surprised he didn't mock him. He felt a little better, but the thunder still continued overhead.
"I remember this one time..." The southerner started, figuring talking might distract him from the nasty storm. "Keith got locked in his uncles chicken coop. He was stuck there for two whole days cause his aunt an' uncle were out of town an' he was supposed to take care of their farm. Keith got so hungry, he 'ad to eat chicken eggs raw." Ellis let out a soft chuckle. "I tell yew, after that, Keith hasn't eaten anythin' chicken related since. Well, cept fer barbequed chicken a'least."
Nick only nodded as Ellis continued to tell him pointless stories about his friend Keith, and the occasional ones that involved Dave and Paul, Keith's older brother. But Nick didn't mind, as long as it kept the kid occupied. At some point after Ellis had finished talking to him about sometime when Keith had accidentaly lit his uncles whole crop field on fire one summer and attempted to douse the flames with only a wet T-shirt, that's when Nick began to just nod at the stories, giving off the occasional 'mhmm', to let Ellis' know he was still listening. At some point, Ellis had stopped talking and Nick wondered curiously if the hick had simply run out of stories.
The ex-criminal opened one closed eye and saw the peacefull figure of a sleeping Ellis, hands curled loosely by his head and cheast lifting up and down with every soft inhale. Nick bit back a smile and scooted a little closer to the warm, slumbering body.
"G'night kid." He whispered gently before closing his own eyes and waiting for sleep to wash over him as well.
A/N : Sorry if this one took a while, I have exams starting this week so I might not be able to update. But, hopefully the next time I DO update I can salvage a chapter that has a bit more plot :P Anyhow, until next time my little zombies!