Apparently, Nick was an early bird.

Before the sun had truly risen and the sky was still dark he'd shaken them all awake, not at all bothered by the violent, scared responses. Surprisingly, Coach had given the worst one, reaching for his rifle before recognizing the surly man. They'd been slow to rising however, all wanting to keep that peaceful night alive. Impatient, he'd started clapping his hands in the car, managing to lean over the lot of them as well and immediately becoming the most hated man on the planet in those first five minutes.

A title that suited him just fine.

Blankets and pillows were folded and grudgingly put in the trunk, and breakfast was a small affair. Nowhere near as good a meal as the night before and probably as good as it was going to get, at least if they wanted to keep their stock full for a while.

Now everyone was crowded around the Impala, checking their weapons and making sure the trailer was secure. Billy was kept in the car while they moved around, too liable to wander off aimlessly.

After a half hour they once again crowded in, rolling the windows up and moving out, just as the sky was starting to brighten.

Nick was once again the one to drive, a fact that everyone was grateful for after experiencing Ellis at the wheel. The young man in question was now cradling his crossbow, talking animatedly to Nick about his idea of 'Tactics'.

"I could ride in the back and guard our cargo. Hide under the tarp and jump out at the zombies like a ninja."

At that, Nick whipped his head around, giving everyone a mock pleading look. "Can he, please?"

"You think you're so funny, Nick," Ellis muttered, looking out the window. "Well, you're not."

The docks were like a second home to her and came as a simple nature. The smell in the air was of bitter salt, not of blood or green vomit. Alice breathed it in like the air was laced with the scent of freshly baked donuts. She almost tripped over her feet as she got out of the vehicle. It was like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and she had won a Golden Ticket.

"Alright," She rubbed her hands together, a determined look in her eyes. "Keep your eyes out for a study Charter or a Party boat if all else fails and I can't find a Ferry-"

"What about that one?" Ellis pointed out on the water to a pretty decent sized boat.

"That would be a medium size ferry." She slapped Ellis' back happily. "Good eye, El, good eye! That means we can bring Junior with us!"

"I hear that!"

"Now, we have a total of seven here so we might have to share rooms. Hmmm, Nick, you come with me. We're gonna make sure the boat doesn't have anybody in it, the rest of you watch our backs from the outside and get the stuff ready."

They walked around the pier over to the Ferry, Nick more cautious than she was. It looked like the dock was abandoned, but they all considered there were probably a few stragglers on the boat. She jumped from the dock over to the boat and she helped Nick over since he wasn't used to the quick change of gravity.

"Let's try not to use any guns, okay? I really don't want to put a hole in my new baby."

"Please tell me this boat isn't going to be like Ellis and that damn car."

"Sorry," Alice shrugged. "That's how it works for people like us."

They found an infected hiding behind a chair on the deck, and then a few in some of the rooms. When they were sure that they had taken care of all them, Alice went around making sure everything else was in order.

First, she turned on the engine. It purred and she maneuvered the boat over toward where the rest of the team were. "Alright, we've already got half a tank of gas, rope, working engine, and a big ass anchor. Lucky us, we got fishing rods out of the deal too!"

She backed up the boat even more and began to instruct Ellis on how to get the car inside the Ferry. "Alright, I need you to back it up right on this ledge, then we're gonna pull it in and it'll be inside the boat. I already checked, everything's working."

Ellis did this with surprising ease and she stole Ellis' hat and told him it was 'Captains Privilege' and only said Captain was allowed to wear a hat.

Despite their good fortune so far, Alice was now on edge. Through the roar of the ocean, everything was eerily quiet, much too quiet for comfort.

"Nick, you're on cleaning duty. I'm gonna end up sharing a room with Ro, so clean the Captain's quarters first so that she doesn't have to sit on deck and can get some proper rest. There's cleaning stuff in one of the bags. Coach, I want you handling the food, go put it up in the kitchen and take stock. Ellis, you're still on gas duty, put it all in one place and wait for me, I don't wanna put anything in the tank 'till I know how the boat works. Ro, stay with Billy. And you're with me, Walsh, you can help me make sure everything's put together right and won't break down on us. Alright, let's hurry, I want this done so we can leave already."

Walsh followed Alice on-board, already feeling the uneasiness start to set in. He'd never much cared for boats and the way they rocked in the water.

He stood around for the most part, basically useless as Alice rattled on, much more learned on the subject than he'd ever be. Though that could be subject to change soon enough if this plan followed through. Which it most likely would, and that made him that much happier. Five minutes in and he was looking around, mostly at the girl that was still checking the place out.

He hadn't really paid attention her or the others in detail, opting instead to take in their words and actions because of the situation at hand.

She was short, couldn't have been more than 5'2". Her hair that'd been in a high ponytail when they first met was now in a messy bun. She was dressed like the rest of them - excluding Nick - simple. His eyes drifted down, like they usually did when it came to women, and took note of her shoes, a dark pair of leather knee high boots with a wedge cut.

Cute.

She had a body that could work a skirt easily, something short but not too much, maybe a lime color to match the hair. The girl was devoid of jewelry at the moment, which he thought was a real shame, beads and copper would've looked nice. Eventually he found himself thinking about other things and realized that it'd almost been two years that he'd been single. Too busy setting up his business to bother with anything beyond a fling in some dingy bathroom.

And it was sure to be many more years now.

She began to run down her mental checklist. Everything seemed right by her standards The tank wasn't flooded, no holes, gas, the engine was running perfectly. Everything was in perfect condition...

Thump!

"What was that?" Alice yelped, dropping her wrench. Walsh had already went for his gun, Alice running toward the deck. What she saw made her scream. Nick was being pulled under by a long, viscous tongue.

"Nick!" She ran to the side of the boat, Ellis grabbed her by the arm to prevent her from going in after him and she screamed even more. "Let go of me, you son of a bitch! Nick!"

"Alice, you can't go in there, stop it!" He held her tightly to his chest despite the fact that she was elbowing him in the ribs hard enough to crack them. There was no doubt that they were bruised by now. The others were too busy trying to hold back a horde of their own, but the fury that was boiling inside the girl didn't go unnoticed. "Coach and Walsh will take care of it, just calm down!"

"We don't leave our own! Let go!" She'd shoot him in the foot if he wasn't careful.

Nick disappeared behind the wall of infected, and it was no longer clear if the splashing was his or the licker's holding him hostage under the water. The screaming died and all that was left was the slurping and the haggard breathing that fell on deaf ears. "NICK!"