A few hours later, when the survivors had closed the gate and checked the whole city out for Francis and Louis using the binoculars, they had found nothing and eventually given up. It was soon getting dark, so they decided to go to a nearby Safe-House to rest for the night.
Considering Zoey didn't find Louis and Francis, she was filled with sadness and guilt, she felt as if she shouldn't have left them, I mean, what if that Tank did get them? Meanwhile, Nick, Rochelle and Coach were sitting down on a long couch opposite Zoey and Ellis who were both sitting on a small one-seated sofa each.
"I'm bored" Nick said.
"Why don't we do something together, the all of us?" Rochelle suggested
"Like what"
"Maybe a game of truth or dare of something" she replied.
"Truth or dare sounds like my type of game, let's do it, whose gonna go first?" Nick asked. Straight away Ellis tried to leave the room, knowing that one of the dares would include him and Zoey, and boy as much as he wanted it to happen, he was just too embarrassed. "Hey Overalls, where do you think you're going?" Nick asked even though he knew exactly why he was trying to leave.
"Oh, well, you know, I'm just feelin', a... uhh... lil' bit tired that's all" he nervously said. Nick wouldn't accept it.
"Nope, this is truth or dare, you have to play"
"Fine" Ellis sat down back on the little one-seated sofa and mumbled underneath his breath, eventually they had gotten the game started, and once it had started it was hard to stop, so far the most embarrassing, yet hilarious thing that happened was Coach having to dance to his favourite song while singing it, it was obviously One Bad Man by the Midnight Riders. Everyone was in hysterics, even Ellis was, and he loved the Midnight Riders.
"Ok, my turn now, I choose Zoey" Rochelle said.
"Oh man," Zoey chuckled in amusement not knowing what she would be doing next.
"Truth or Dare"
"I'm gonna go for truth"
"Okay, well this is kind of split into two questions. Number one, how old are you and number two have you ever had a boyfriend" Rochelle asked, winking at Ellis.
"I'm actually only 21, and no i've never had a boyfriend in my life, i've never been in a relationship" she answered truthfully, straight away Ellis was overjoyed, and he had to say something to let Zoey, and the group acknowledge him.
"Well damn, and I thought I was the youngest in the group"
"How old are you like?" Zoey asked
"I'm only 23, not too far off huh?" he said with a smile.
"And have you ever been in a relationship?" Rochelle asked laughing.
"Nah, never really had time on my hands for a girl, I was too busy hanging around, having fun, working at the garage and playin' pranks"
They continued playing, and soon it was pitch black, and everybody was either tired, cranky or both, but not Ellis, he was too busy being happy because he found out Zoey was only two years younger than him plus they had never been in a relationship before, it was like a dream come true, well marrying her would be a proper dream come true. Zoey was almost dozing off asleep into the couch when Rochelle came along and shook her awake "Zoey, sweetie, would you be fine sharing a room with Ellis again?"
"... what, yeah, he's a nice man..." she said, unaware of what she was saying due to being tired, Rochelle just laughed and helped her up off the couch into the room they were sharing.
Although it was dark inside the room, you could clearly make out the shape of two sleeping bags and a mattress in the far corner of the room. She took off her jacket and sneakers and socks so she was only wearing her tank-top, and jeans. Zoey raised her hands up in the air, and yawned, as she did a silhouette of a person rose from the floor "Zoey? That you" you could distinctly hear that it was Ellis' voice.
"Yeah"
"Uh, c-can I talk to you?"
"What do you wanna talk about?"
"That guy you mentioned earlier, Bill"
"... oh..."
"It's just that, when we met at the bridge 'n when we were filling up the generator, I saw him... I saw his body in the room beside the generator... and I read one of his badges, it said that is was awarded to him because of his bravery, courage and excellent leadership skills. And it got me thinkin' he must have been a really good man" Ellis explained. Zoey moved towards Ellis and sat down beside him on the floor and rested her back against the cold, smooth, wall. Ellis soon followed in her footsteps, and shuffled back to sit beside her too, with his back also against the wall. "Yeah, he was a good man; he was like the grandfather I never had, he'd always lead us in the right direction because he had the most life experience, plus he was a veteran in a war I think. But now that he's gone, I had to take the lead, and I don't think I can do that, especially because I lost Louis and Francis, what kind of leader do you think i'll be when they find me or if I find them? A crappy one I suppose"
"Nah, I don't think that, we all make mistakes"
"... yeah, I guess we do, but-"
"But what? You just need to have a bit more belief in ya, believe me, i'd never think i'd be able to pass my grades just for me to be a mechanic, but I believed and here I am... or was considering all those nasty sons-a-bitches zombies took over"
"Yeah... but the worst part was, we didn't know Bill was going to sacrifice himself, and I was really frustrated with him"
"Why is that?"
"Because he made us leave people behind to die, I never thought he was like that, and one of them was a doctor, that doctor could have helped us!" she nearly yelled in sadness. Tears started to flow down her cheek and Ellis was immediately surprised by her reaction even though he would know it wouldn't be nice. He relaxed himself against the wall, took his truckers-cap off, held it in his hands and bowed his head down. Zoey managed to wipe her tears from her eyes enough to see him bowed down; she looked at him, with a few tears still rolling down her cheek. "Mighty Lord..." he started "... tell our friend Bill, that Zoey is deeply sorry for her actions, let Bill know that, not only so that he can move on, but so if he feels guilty, that the guilt inside of him can perish into little pieces of happiness and respect. And also let the light shine upon Zoey and every other survivor that inhabits this world, and help them get through this time of guilt, fear and horror. In the name of the Lord, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen" he prayed. Ellis lifted his head up and placed his hat back on his head.
Zoey's tears stopped falling, "Yeah, amen" she said. Unexpectedly, Zoey started to chuckle, Ellis was really surprised now, at first she was crying, now she was laughing at herself? "Man, I'm sorry, sometimes when I cry, I later realise it was stupid and I laugh at myself for being a wimp" she quietly laughed. Ellis smiled.
"Nah, sometimes you just gotta let it all out, y'know, if I cry, it makes me seem less of a man, but it don't really do it?" he asked. Zoey smiled and shook her head, an awkward silence fell between them, a one that not even Ellis could think of anything to say to break it, Man oh man, she would make an even more of an awesome girlfriend when you come to think about it, then wife Ellis repeated in his head ...and then mother, Ellis smiled when this thought crossed his mind.
He's so nice, i've never met anyone like it, I wonder what he's thinking?
Just imagine, me and Zoey together with kids... ho man, if our first baby is a boy we're gonna have to call him Jimmy after Jimmy Gibbs Jr! And if it's a girl we have to name her Jennifer! He thought. Zoey interrupted the silence that fell between them, with a question she thought was important to her.
"Ellis, y'know that thing that spit acid out at me that you helped me from?"
"Yeah, Spitters"
"Earlier I said i've never seen them before, so if I haven't seen them, do you think there's other infected out there that I haven't seen"
"It's a possibility, tell you what, you tell me all the special infected you know, and i'll tell you if there's any I know that you haven't heard of"
"Okay, well I've seen Boomers, Hunters, Smokers, um... Tanks and Witches, and now the Spitter" she told him. Ellis counted on his fingers how many she has seen and heard of, but she was missing 2.
"Ho man, I can't believe you haven't said two others"
"Two others?"
"Yeah man, the Charger and the Jockey"
"Sound dangerous, what do they do?"
"Well" Ellis said, whilst placing his arm over her shoulder and bringing her closer to him "First of all Chargers, the clue's in the name, they have incredible strength and speed, once they have their eyes locked onto you, there's no way you can undo that, you're like their target. And when you are moderately spaced out between your friends, that is when they charge at ya at full speed! If you don't move quick enough they will bash you into a wall or something', then grab ya and pummel you into the ground like shit!" he explained "But, the good thing is, once you are their target and they start to charge it's hard for them to change direction, so if you just step aside they will go dashing into a fence or somethin'"
"Whoa, they do sound pretty dangerous, what does the Jockey do?" she asked, shifting herself closer to him in interest of what he was going to say, Ellis started to chuckle.
"Man, I dunno even how to explain this" he said in a light, humorous tone of voice "The clue is also in the name, human Jockey's ride horses, am I right? Well infected Jockeys ride humans, it's easy to recognise them because of their crazy maniacal laughter, plus they are really small and skittish, but evil. Anyways, when they ride you, they steer you into all sorts of crazy shit like Witches, Tanks and sometimes even off building ledges. But the thing that is making me laugh is, that when they ride you and steer you into stuff, it feels like they're humping your back, man, when I first got ridden on like that it felt like a human violation, man it looked so wrong!" he laughed, Zoey laughed along with him, then suddenly yawned, I guess all the talking she had done with him had made her tired.
"I knew I was tired, but I didn't know I was this tired" she chuckled.
"Yeah, me as well" Ellis yawned. Zoey stood up and moved towards a red, blue, green and white chequered sleeping bag "Hey, why don't ya take the mattress tonight?" he offered.
"No thanks, I don't wanna leave you on the cold floor in an un-comfy sleeping bag all by yourself, while I'm on a comfy mattress"
"Just take it; I don't really care if I'm un-comfortable anyways" he said. Zoey smiled, sighed and nodded as if to already give in with him, she paced her way back into the far corner of the room where the mattress was placed and lay down on it. Although it seemed a bit scruffy and dusty at the sides it was also quite comfortable and rather soft, but the one thing that bothered Zoey was that there was no duvet to cuddle into to get nice and warm.
I know I'm tired... but I still want to talk to him... Zoey thought.
Man, I wish she didn't get to go to bed now, I still wanna chat with her, she looks cold as well... man oh man I wish I could just cuddle her just to keep her warm Ellis wondered.
Zoey crossed her arms and held them close to her chest to trap the warmth in her from escaping and shivered. Ellis could see her shivering, so he decided to head out of the room to fetch a little something for her. Nick was still sitting in the Living Room of the Safe-House reading a magazine with pictures of girls posing on nearly every page, he looked up only to notice Ellis heading out of the room. "What's up overalls?"
"Just lookin' for a lil something for- what the hell are you reading?" he interrupted himself from finishing his sentence, due to seeing a pretty girl posing on the front of the magazine. Nick looked at the front cover and laughed.
"What's the matter? Never read a magazine with pictures of beautiful girls posing on every page?" Nick asked.
"I haven't, actually, and I don't think I want to either" Ellis stated. Nick laughed again and put the magazine down on a small cabinet standing beside him, "but anyways, like I was saying, I was wonderin' if ya had seen a blanket lying around anywhere"
"Why do you need a blanket?"
"For Zoey because-"
"Zoey, huh? You two haven't been getting into anything un-holy have you?" Nick playfully teased. Ellis exactly knew what he was pointing out, despite the fact it when you do that it isn't un-holy, it's just considered as 'repopulating'.
"What the hell Nick? 'course we haven't been doin' that! We've just been talkin' that's all!" Ellis snapped back. "Can I continue? Zoey started to yawn, so I told her to take the mattress, but I saw her shiver so I decided to get her a nice warm duvet". Nick once again laughed and nodded, he walked behind the chair he was sitting in and pulled out a thick duvet and handed it to him. Ellis took the blanket happily, he turned around and just as he was about to head back into the room, Nick stopped him.
"Overalls, I wanna let you in on a little secret" he started. Ellis did stop and drew backwards from the door and back to Nick "You wanna score with this girl don't you?" he asked, Ellis nodded his head and Nick continued. "Well, to get in lucky with her, you gotta be by her side, not just mentally, but physically as well"
Ellis nodded in acknowledgement, even thought he must have only understand half of what Nick said.
Ellis headed back into the room; luckily Zoey hadn't fallen asleep yet and was still cold. He quietly approached her and gently covered the warm duvet over her; she tightly gripped the blanket and snuggled into it. He climbed back into his sleeping bag and smiled. She didn't even have to even turn around to know it was Ellis that done the good deed for her, "Thanks" she said in gratitude.
"No problem" he replied back.
He is the nicest man i've ever met, I should have moved to the South ages ago, southern people are so nice... Zoey thought.
The warmness of the duvet trapped Zoey in a cosy heaven, and the heat of the sleeping bag trapped Ellis in a warm heaven too. And it wasn't too long before they both had fallen asleep, only to dream of a paradise filled with fantasy things and make-believe people that was once real.
Authors Notes: The fourth chapter is finally finished, as you can see friendships and relationships take time to develop, and this my friends, is a friendship/relationship bonding chapter. I hope you enjoyed it =)
