Hey y'all! Sorry it took me a while to update. Just took me a while to think of a new chapter. But don't worry! I never abandon my stories! Thanks for all my reviews! Now here's chapter 7!
It's Hard to Survive
Chapter 7
"Nick is going to give you hell when we get back, boy…"
Nick stood behind the bridge railing, waiting impatiently for the others to come back. He knew that Ellis had gone after them, which made his blood boil. He had told the kid to stay put, but no, the kid had to go after the others and put himself in serious danger. Nick knew that Ellis would be a target for the infected, as he was badly injured; this also caused him to walk more slowly than usual. In short, Nick was worried.
But Nick wasn't the only one that was worried. Louis and Francis were also anxious about Ellis. They had also witnessed Nick's anger, which they did not want to witness again anytime soon. They waited with Nick for Ellis and the others to come back. But they didn't have to wait long…
Nick soon spotted Bill, Coach, Rochelle and Zoey coming up to the bridge, but this time, they had someone else with them: Ellis. As they climbed up the bridge, Nick immediately saw that something was wrong. Ellis wasn't his normal self, physically and mentally. He looked really pale, and he wasn't the usual free spirit that everyone knew. He walked up to Ellis and the others.
"What happened?" he asked, slowly and quietly.
Even though he asked this slowly and quietly, the others could hear the anger in Nick's voice. Bill stepped forward.
"It's a long story," he replied.
"We've got all day," Nick responded, gesturing to Louis and Francis, who were standing behind him.
Ellis stepped forward nervously, not meeting Nick's murderous glare. He muttered something inaudibly.
"Sorry, kid. Can't hear you," Nick responded, as if mocking Ellis.
"I'm infected," Ellis repeated, barely above a whisper.
But Nick heard what Ellis had said. He stood there and waited for the news to sink in. He just couldn't believe it.
"Bullshit," Nick responded, not knowing who he was trying to convince: himself or Ellis. "This is one of your jokes, isn't it, Ellis? You're pulling my leg?"
"Nick, would I joke about something as serious as this?" Ellis asked sadly.
Nick stood there again, pondering over his thoughts. He knew what was coming. But he wasn't going to shoot Ellis. Someone else would have to do it. He just wouldn't be able to do the deed.
Ellis seemed to know what Nick was thinking, as he quickly stammered an explanation.
"B-but it's okay, Nick. I'm not a f-full zombie. I guess you could call me a were-zombie, but just minus all the 'full moon and no control' shit. But according to Bill, the right name is a Halfie. I'm one of them Howlers."
Howlers. This word repeated in Nick's head over and over. He had encountered one before, and boy, were they tough things! It took him a full ten minutes to kill it!
"An' if ya don't believe me," Ellis continued, "jus' watch."
And Nick watched. He, Louis and Francis saw the whole of Ellis' transformation. It looked painful to Nick, but he couldn't tell. When it was finished, Ellis got up on all fours and sat on his haunches, facing Nick, Louis and Francis.
"Y'all believe me now?" Ellis asked.
Before they could answer, a loud roar erupted down below the bridge. Everyone looked down and saw a Tank attempting to climb up the ladder. They all burst out laughing.
"That Tank is so thick!" Nick yelled between fits of laughter. "Can't it see that it's too big to-"
What the Tank was too big to do, no-one found out, as Nick was cut off by a Smoker, who had taken the opportunity to grab him and pull him right off the bridge! Coach, on instinct, shot the Smoker. This caused the tongue holding Nick to slacken, which then resulted to him falling towards the Tank waiting below! The Tank roared in what sounded like satisfaction, and threw out its fist towards Nick. Nick was knocked back towards the ground, incapacitated, but otherwise unhurt.
Before anyone could react, they heard a loud, angry screech. They looked just in time to see a blur of black and blue dash past them and jump down below the bridge. The blur was Ellis.
Ellis lunged in front of the Tank and crouched protectively over Nick. He growled and hissed at the Tank.
"Stay away from this human, Tank! He's with me!" Ellis snarled.
"Get your own meal, Howler! You have no business here!" the Tank roared in response.
Ellis screeched and lunged towards the Tank, landing on its head. He then proceeded to scratch the Tank's face. The Tank lashed out and knocked Ellis off. Ellis landed on the ground on all fours and immediately lunged again. His claws continued to tear at the Tank's face, until he heard the sounds of gunshots coming from the bridge. Ellis saw his friends coming down from the bridge in an attempt to help him and Nick. The Tank roared in frustration and anger, and grabbed Ellis' leg. The Tank then threw Ellis with all its strength towards a wall. Ellis spun through the air. He then released a loud screech of pain; his leg that was pulled by the Tank had taken the full impact of the Tank's blow against the wall. Ellis collapsed on the ground, unable to move. But then he saw the Tank try one last shot at getting its meal. It started to charge once again towards Nick. Ellis shot up on all fours and lunged again, releasing a loud, angry screech as he did so.
The Tank, now seeing that it wasn't going to get an easy meal, tried a different tactic. It avoided Ellis' pounce and then turned to face him.
"Fine, have the guy in the white suit," the Tank growled. "I think I'll prefer having the fat one instead."
The Tank then turned and charged towards the other survivors. But mostly, it was after Coach. But Ellis lunged in front of Coach and growled at the Tank. The Tank tried the other survivors, but Ellis would always lunge in front of them. There was one survivor that the Tank hadn't tried getting: Zoey.
When Ellis saw the Tank charge towards Zoey, he felt a great anger build up in his chest. He gave a howl of fury and leapt onto the Tank's back.
"You'll not hurt any of them!" he screeched.
Using an unknown instinct that he didn't know he had, Ellis grabbed the Tank's head and twisted it with all his strength, until he heard a sickening, yet satisfying snap, indicating that he had broken the Tank's neck. The Tank suddenly went limp and fell to the ground, Ellis now under its corpse.
Before the others could react, Ellis lunged out from underneath the Tank and despite his probably broken leg, ran towards Nick.
"C'mon, Nick! Get up, get up!" Ellis exclaimed, nudging him encouragingly.
Nick slowly got up, leaning against Ellis for support. The others ran over to help.
"So much for the Tank being so thick," Bill chuckled.
But Nick wasn't listening. He was looking at Ellis, who had gone very quiet at that moment. Nick also saw that Ellis had turned back to his normal self. He started to walk over to Ellis, but someone else beat him to it.
Zoey walked up to Ellis and started to check him over for any other injuries. Nick smiled, glad that the problem was taken care of, and turned to limp back towards the bridge with the others.
Zoey was glad that the others had left her and Ellis alone. She needed to talk to him in private. She got out her health-kit and got all the necessities out. But when she tried to use them on Ellis, he waved her off.
"'M fine, Zoey. Just tired, is all," he said.
"Ellis, you have a broken leg and possibly other injuries as well. I need to heal you," Zoey insisted.
Ellis eventually gave in, and she proceeded in healing him. During the silence that followed, Zoey decided that now was the time to talk to Ellis.
"Hey, thanks for saving me from that Tank," she said.
"No problem," Ellis replied. "Can't have a Tank hurt y'all, now can I?
Zoey decided a different tactic. She was going to get the truth out of him whether he liked it or not.
"But you seemed more angry than usual when the Tank attacked Nick and I. Now, I can understand Nick, but why me, Ellis? We've only just met and you're already looking out for me and protecting me most of all, next to Nick, that is."
Ellis blushed slightly.
"Well…I...uh…" he stammered.
"You have a crush on me, don't you?" Zoey asked, smiling.
Ellis' cheeks became much redder.
"Alright, who squealed?" he asked. "It was Nick, wasn't it? Knew I couldn't trust that-"
"Actually," Zoey interrupted, "I kind of figured it out on my own."
"How?" Ellis asked with his mouth slightly agape.
Zoey slid her hand into his.
"Because I have one on you," she whispered.
Ellis' face broke into a big smile. Zoey happily returned it. Ellis leaned in and locked their lips in a kiss. The kiss was hesitant at first, but soon grew more deep and passionate. After a few minutes, they broke apart for breath. They looked at each other and their eyes locked. They heard a yell from the bridge.
"I think we'd better get back," Zoey said.
"Yeah, I agree," Ellis replied, standing up.
They walked back towards the bridge, hand-in-hand. Ellis was suddenly hit with a thought. He stopped and turned to Zoey.
"Zoey, do ya like me even though I'm half-infected?" he asked hesitantly.
Zoey looked at him, gave him a small peck on his cheek and answered.
"Love has no boundaries, Ellis."
And there it is! From now on, italics will be zombie language. Also, it seems that the infected are getting smarter. I also made up the name 'Halfie'. Hope you enjoyed it! I'm still a bit unsure about the ending, though. This was my first time writing something with romance in it. But please tell me what you think! I love my reviews! They keep me going!
Until next time
D-ZombieDragon