Chapter 4: The safe house
Louis was the one who woke the group the next morning.
While getting ready, the males stayed in the bigger room, while the girls went into the bathroom.
Nellie and Zoey giggled with eachother as they got changed and did their busniess while Bill, Louis, and Francis did the same in the bigger room, minus the giggling.
After about half an hour, everyone was about ready to walk out the door. Everyone but Bill. He needed to ask Nellie something.
"Hey, Nellie, I need to talk to you," Bill said and grabbed Nellie by the arm. He walked her to the bathroom and shut the door after them.
"What's wrong, Bill?" asked Nellie, reloading her pistols.
"Nellie, did something happen last night when I went to sleep?" he asked bluntly.
She shook her head.
"No, unless you count Francis taking watch," she calmly said. "That's really all that happened."
Bill shook his head and murmured something under his breath. He avoided looking at Nellies eyes. "Are you sure that's all that happened?" he asked.
Nellie sighs. It's like he doesn't trust me. And he's been acting like he's hiding something from me...
She nods quickly. "Yes, Bill," she said and looked sadly at him. "Why, do you not trust me?"
"No I trust you," said Bill quickly. "I just don't trust that son of a bitch..."
"Francis?" Nellie says, shocked. "Why don't you trust him?"
Bill doesn't answer.
He opens the door and leaves, leaving Nellie behind.
Now I know he's hiding something from me... But what?
She walks out the door and Zoey runs up next to her. "Did Bill do something to you?" she whispers with concern in her voice, while holding Nellies arm. "He came out looking pissed. Did he do anything to you?" Nellie shook her head.
"No, not really. He just lied to me, that's all," she said and Zoey let go, holding her hands over her mouth. Nellie kept on walking.
She walks past Bill, not even glancing at him, and walks straight to Francis. She grabs his arm and drags him to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
She turns around and looks Francis in the eye. "Why doesn't Bill trust you?" she asks. "He never answered, so I'm asking you straight forward."
Francis never saw a girl so angry in his life. Her eyes had flames and her hands were in fists. She was not a happy-camper.
"Calm down, Nellie," he says and pats her head. "It's not a story or I did anything to him. It's just the fact that I am a biker and got in lotsa trouble before all of this happened."
Nellie sighs and rests her hands on his arms.
"I thought that you did something to him for a second there," she says and looks into his eyes, and he could tell she was sad. "But I know he's still hiding something from me. He won't look me in the eyes."
Francis inhales and glances at the door.
"I have no idea what he's hiding Nellie," he says and sighs. "He's a man of mystery."
She sighs and lets him go.
"Go," she says. "You don't want them to think that you love me, do you?"
Francis looks at her and slowly walks to the door. He opens the door and left her behind like Bill had done minutes ago.
He shut the door after him.
"The only person who ever loved me other than my family was... Nick..."
She sighs.
"Nobody's very trustworthy in this damn group," Nellie murmurs and takes the bag off of her shoulder. She pulls out an IPod on full battery and headphones. She plucks them into her ears and turns a song on.
Pulling one out of her ear, she opens the bathroom door and looks around the room. Louis and Francis stood in one side, glancing around the room. Bill and Zoey sat on the other side of the room, whispering to each other until she came out the door.
Bill glances up.
"It's late, we're going to have to stay here overnight," he says.
Nellie smiles to herself and sits in the middle of the room. She whispers the lyrics to a song while Zoey and Bill talk. Francis sleeps and Louis stares out the door.
After a bit, Zoey came over to Nellie and sat beside her.
"What are you singing?" she asks.
Nellie glances over.
"Deify," she says. "Disturbed."
"Deify, by Disturbed?" Zoey asks.
Nellie nods and glances at Zoey.
"Are you okay, Nellie? You seem upset..." Zoey says.
Nellie sniffs and stares at her lap. "I have to be, Zoey... for them..."
Tears form at the corners of her eyes.
"Answer me truthfully, Nellie. I know your upset. Why?"
Nellie turns so she is facing Zoey and starts crying. "The truth? I'm upset. I'm not okay. I haven't been. Bill lied to me, my parents died, the whole world is dead... And I don't remember anything about my family other than my parents... There's something I'm forgetting, I know there is. I remember playing at my grandparents house when I was very little, but I can't remember their faces. I don't remember what they looked like. I know I spent my summers there and I can't remember them..." Zoey was hugging Nellie by now, she was crying hard. "There's something wrong with my brain, Zoey. And I don't know what or how to fix it... Please, Zoey, please help me..."
Nellie was balling, crying while Zoey held her tight. Francis woke up and Bill watched her in horror. Francis did, after he realized what was happening.
(#)
After a few minutes, Nellie calmed down.
"So, what do you remember?" Zoey asks.
"Well, I remember that when I was little, I would spend my summers with my grandparents," she says. "I remember that there used to be a guy that I used to spend my time with, his name was Ellis. He told me he had to move and he did, but it turned out that he was moving right next to the house that you first saw me in. So we became neighbors and best friends. We went to the same school and had the same classes. I became friends with all the males at that school, because he was. He was always a people person... Well, anyway, I remember one day him telling me that he loved me while I was at my grandparents. My grandfather was so shocked, I remember he was looking over my shoulder. My grandmother was so happy, but that soon changed because my grandfather had a heart-attack. They told me he died, but his docter told me that he didn't trust my family with the life of my grandfather. He told me that my grandfather would be taken away, and I was to never tell my family if I wanted my grandfather to live. I remember him saying that to do this, he was going to have to take away any memories that I ever had of him. But I would remember that moment when I was needed to..." She pauses and looks at the floor. "I remember that Ellis ran away with another girl and two other guys the other day..." She looks up to Zoey. "Have you guys run into any other groups?"
Zoey thinks. "Yeah.." she says.
"Really?"
Zoey nods. "I met this one group before coming to this one. It had four people. Lets see," she says and thinks. "There was another female, black, her name was Rochelle. The rest where male. There was Coach, black, and fat. Hmmm... there was Nick, who looks cute but complains about everything. And then there was...!" Zoey jumps up. "There was an Ellis!" she says.
Nellie smiles.
"Well, explain to me what he was like," she says.
Zoey nods. "Well, he was very nice. He was always talking about some guy named Keith, and he lived in Savanah," she says. "He always wore a hat and before we left, we went to a place called 'Kiddyland'. He said he'd been there before when he was young."
Nellie smiles and nods.
"I remember Keith. He was so stupid..."
Zoey smiles.
"Hey, Zoe?"
"What?"
"Did they say anything about where they were planning to head?" Nellie asks. Zoey nods.
"They were heading to where we are going: the safe place. Everyone is," she says. "Why?"
Nellie stands and stretches. "I haven't seen him in forever... not since he left with that group you told me about."
The Next Day
Nellie was up early and ready to go. She had to wait another few minutes until the rest of the group woke up and got ready, also.
They stand in a circle, reloading the guns they held.
"Is everyone ready?" asks Bill.
They nod and he turns to face the door. Bill opens the door, immeditly shooting the infected in front of him. The infected a few feet from them looks over and runs. The group moves as a pack, reacting to every movement and sound as one.
After a few moments, every infected was dead. Bill steps out of the room, Francis following quickly behind him. Nellie comes next, Zoey fourth, Louis last. They stop and walk out.
They walk down an ally. "Where are we?" asks Nellie.
"An unfinished construction site," Louis says.
"A place for a bunch of infected," Francis complains.
Nellie smiles and walks to the front of the group next to Bill."Let's go," she says and runs.
"Nellie no!" all of them scream in unison.
"Listen to me," she screams back. "When I was little dad had something implanted in me. I've been like this ever since." Infected come from around the corner. She smiles and jumps into the air. She hits one of their heads and starts shooting the others, jumping from infected to infected. The group shot some, but Nellie did most of the job. Once she was standing on the last one, she points her guns down. "Die." She whispers and shots. The body falls and she jumps off and hits the ground. "Now where do we go?"
"Looks like we go there," Zoey says and points to a barricade. "We can probably use fire."
"It figures, the only thing in the damn city not on fire is the one thing we need to burn down!" Francis says and walks inside the building. They grab a few cans and walk them to the barricade.
"Now get back," Nellie says. "I promise I won't do what I did. There's going to be a horde, to many of them. They'd drag me into the middle of it."
"Hey, wait. Before we shoot, I need to talk to Nellie," Bill says. She smiles and shoots.
"Sorry, Bill, I don't want to be trapped here," she says. "You can talk to me at the base, it's safe there. Perfectly safe. Sorry, but that safe room does have somethings wrong."
Just then, the horde comes running. They shoot, Nellie hiding in the background shooting the ones that got past the group and to her.
Minutes later, the horde is down and they are breathing heavily.
"What was that?" Bill asks Nellie as they sit and catch their breath.
She smiles. "I wanted to get to the safe house as quick as possible. I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend a night out here."
"We've done it multiple time with witches, figuring stuff out and such," Zoey responds and gets up. "We need to go now."
Francis gets up and groans. "Don't we always 'have to go now'?" he questions and smiles. "Let's go old man."
"Be quiet," Bill says and stands. Louis follows, staring at Nellie. He is blushing.
"Let's just go," Nellie says and jumps out the window and hits the floor. She walks over to the barricade and the group follows. "Okay, back in formation." Bill and Francis go back in front of Nellie, and Zoey and Louis stay behind her.
They walk down the ally as the infected come running at them. Only Bill shoots, because the rest of the group was afraid they would shoot him. Francis kept complaining that his arms hurt. Once they were out of the ally, lots more infected seem to pop up out of every corner. Nellie and Zoey check each building for signs of Ellis and his group. Each building turns up negative for them.
Before they move forward, Francis pulles Bill aside.
"Why are you being all protective of the girls?" Francis whispers.
"I don't want them to get hurt by you. Louis I can trust but you I can't with them girls hearts," he responds and stares coldly at the other man.
Nellie walks over. "Like I said before, we can have these moments at the base. We have to get there before anything else," she says and drags Francis by the arm away from Bill. "Now let's get to that safe house."
They walk through the road and into the grounds of a power plant. They shoot the infected and countinue to walk. They then reach the parking garage.
"Great-"
"Don't even bother complaining, hotshot," Nellie says. "I am not in the mood." Francis keeps quiet and the rest of the group smiles.
The group shoots the infected in the darkness. They go up level by level, working their way up to the top. Once they are there, they enter the safe room and drop to the ground. Nellie closes and blocks up the door.
"Are you happy now, Nellie?" Francis complains. "Sorry, had to get that out." He drops to the ground and slumps against the wall.
"Very. I didn't want to spend the rest of the day stuck out there in that hell. Now we can relax and talk everything out. Bill, this is the base for the day, so you can tell me what you wanted to tell me now."
"I can wait until we reach the real base," he responds and puts out his cigarette. He then lights a new one and put it in his mouth. "Can't live without a smoke," he grumbles as Nellie slides to the ground and sighs.
Authors Note
Sorry it's been so long. I've had so much to do. I was moving and my moms computer had this chapter on it (not on the interwebs) so I could only write it there. Now that I've moved everything's okay so I'll try writing more often than this.
Thanks for putting up with this for so long.
