Hey guys, its Yobloc20 here. Chapter 10 already? Dammit I've been writing fast. And here's to ten more! (I'm not sure.) As always, I appreciate the reviews more than you would ever know so please don't hesitate! Anything you want to say to me or about the story, feel free (Except hate.) Favourite, Review and Enjoy! Valve owns all the characters.

Chapter 10: Pulling Together

The sky was grey. Bright blankets of low hanging clouds blocked off any of the blue sky or the glorious sun to make an appearance but it was bright and at least it didn't look like it was going to rain. Three survivors manoeuvred through the streets, trying to make as little unnecessary noise as possible. They hadn't encountered any difficult problems, they were well able to handle the idle infected, who only noticed them when it was too late to even react while Coach had popped a Boomer before it could get itself within a dangerous proximity of the search group. They had found some boxes of cereal, more bottled water in a half looted store and much to their luck, two sleeping bags in a pawn shop, as well as some beef jerky.

Things were going relatively well. But the three never lost the feeling of realism. This was the apocalypse. Things could go bad at any minute and they had to be ready for it.

"So eh, cupcake." Nick began mockingly, knowing well the name irked the young woman. "It's Zoey, Colonel Sanders." She snapped back with narrowed eyes. "Yeah um Zoey, how did you manage to make it this long?" Nick questioned. Zoey was unsure whether or not he was genuinely curious or if he was insulting her again as the question possibly implied. She went with the former. "I already knew had to shoot a gun before all this. It helped." She said bluntly. Nick shrugged and kept an eye out for anything of interest.

He could sense he was pissing her off but he decided to continue anyway. "I have to thank you though; you actually managed to shut Overalls up for once." Nick remarked as Zoey raised an eyebrow. "Overalls?" She repeated, confused. "Ellis." Nick corrected himself. "I did? When?" She asked, still confused. "When we first met you guys, he couldn't say a goddamn word around you. First time he has been quiet since I've met the bastard." Nick explained.

The pair heard Coach give a muffled laugh as he listened in, knowing exactly what Nick was talking about. "Why?" Zoey questioned, remembering how she could barely understand Ellis yesterday. Nick thought for a moment. Ellis would be upset if he found out he had told Zoey about his feelings but it would be hilarious to see Ellis attempt to talk to Zoey after that discovery. He weighed up each option and decided to go for the much unused moral high ground. Nick just shrugged again. "No idea. It was pretty hilarious though." Zoey seemed to not be listening anymore. "Yeah…" She faintly said as the group kept moving.

Suddenly, the group heard hysterical laughter, but it didn't sound normal. It sounded very psychotic and disturbing. And nearby. "I hear one of those Jockey bastards about…" Nick muttered warily, looking over his shoulder to watch his back. "I hate those crazy ass back humpers." Coach said in a low tone. The three continued with caution.

"Look over there!" Coach pointed down the street to what looked like a pharmacy. The sign above it read 'PHARM'. The 'ACY' had become faded and unclear. The three moved stealthily towards the store. Nick observed a stumbling infected with caution and pulled his AK-47 Rifle over his back and was now gripping his frying pan. The infected man suddenly jolted back at the sound of the advancing survivors. Before it could even react, Nick smashed it square on the forehead with his melee which let out a *SPANG*. The skull of the zombie cracking easily under the force of the hit, almost like an egg. It fell limp to the ground. Nick gave a small sneer at the corpse as the other two stepped past him in silence and into the store.

The place was generally in a good state. Most of the produce was still on the shelves. There was no blood or bodies around the store. It actually looked fairly untouched. There was however, a shattered window over by the second entrance, broken glass covering the floor in that area of the pharmacy. They heard the crazy laughter again. The three all knew they had to scavenge quickly.

The three were quick to get searching for anything of value, which there was abundance of to the relief of the survivors. Medicine, bandages, disinfectant were all swiped from the shelves, and Coach found some bottles of pain killers from behind the counter. There were even some energy bars on the actual counter which they didn't hesitate on taking; any food was useful to them.

"I'm gonna go search 'round the back." Coach informed as he walked out to the back room of the pharmacy. Nick nodded "Don't wonder too far." He commented as he moved over to the broken window. Zoey continued to search but didn't find any valuable supplies; they had already picked the place clean of anything valuable.

Suddenly, Nick let out a pained yell as he crashed into one of the shelves, knocking it over with a loud crash; its contents spilling onto the tile floor. Zoey swung her Hunting Rifle back from her shoulder and into her hands. There was a wretched creature latched onto Nick's back. "GET IT OFF!" Nick shouted desperately, trying to fight the mutation off his back. Zoey stood there trying to get a good shot. Whenever the creature lined up in her sights, it would violently jolt Nick in the way, as if it knew what she was doing. She didn't know what to do. The thing laughed crazily and pulled him back.

Coach ran in from the back room, holding his shotgun by the barrel. He jabbed the creature in its bloody face and it fell onto the ground, staggering back. Coach switched ends of the shotgun and rapidly pulled the trigger, sending a hail of shells into the mutation. It was probably dead after one shot. It fell dead and with its last breath, it let out a defeated chuckle. Zoey had never seen one of those before in her travels in the infection. The infected are changing.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She heard Nick yell behind her. Zoey turned around and saw the conman staring at her, rage evident in his steel eyes. "I-I tried to get a shot. It kept- Zoey tried to explain herself but Nick wasn't having it. "Oh I'm sure! I know you don't like me, but the least you can do is help me when I'm being ridden like a goddamn horse over here!" Nick butted in. "Nick! Enough!" Coach intervened before things got ugly. "We don't got time for this shit! We gotta keep moving!" The big man exclaimed. Nick stormed out of the store. Zoey was about to follow when Coach stuck out a hand to stop her.

"Don't mind him girl. He just took it the wrong way. Don't let him get to you." Coach explained, look of sympathy on his aging face. Zoey just nodded in response and left the pharmacy. Coach took a deep sigh before following in suit.

Back at the docks

Francis knew his way around the docks. He had been here before, after all. His group had passed through here on the way to the bridge about a week ago. It felt like yesterday. Any of the boats that remained at the docks were in a bad state. Riddled with holes, rusty and old or even half submerged in the water. Rochelle walked ahead of him. Francis grinned to himself. Rochelle was an interesting woman, to say the least; Francis couldn't keep his eyes off of her. She was extremely attractive and shared the same 'In-your-face' humour that he did. "If only I had met you before all this shit." Francis thought to himself.

Their scavenge at the docks was not going well. It was a long shot to begin with. What were they going to find of use at the docks? Francis saw at the corner of his eye some infected sprinting behind him. He snapped around and fired two shots at either zombie, a pump in between. They both fell in a bloody heap. "Too close." The biker said to himself. He turned his attention back on Rochelle.

She was unloading a magazine into a small group of advancing zombies. Her accuracy was superb; she caught some in the head, crumbling in on themselves. The reporter was more than able to look after herself.

She looked back at Francis, a look of frustration on her face. "I don't think there is much here of use to us." She remarked. Francis nodded "I was thinking the same thing." He replied. The sound of the water gently crashing into the battered sea wall was soothing but this wasn't the place to relax. They were silent for a moment. Both of them knew they should probably keep looking for something but they also doubted there was anything useful here. All this search was succeeding in doing was bringing back memories of Bill for Francis, which didn't help.

"Shall we keep looking?" Rochelle asked, snapping Francis out of his trance. "Uh, yeah sure." He replied in a stutter, making Rochelle look at him with a raised eyebrow. "You okay?" She questioned in slight concern for the man. "Eh, I'm- Yeah I'm good." Francis reassured her unconvincingly. She gave him another look before they continued on down the harbour. Not sure what they were looking for in particular.

"Francis, if something is on your mind, just say it." Rochelle urged him. "It's honestly nothing." Francis responded in a low voice. She gave him another strange look before turning around and firing her FN-SCAR at the emerging infected. Francis then spotted something interesting a few meters ahead of them.

"Look!" He called out, running ahead of Rochelle further down the pier. She was confused but followed closely behind him. In the water, floating leisurely in all its glory; was a sizable boat in good condition. "This could be our ticket to the Florida Keys!" The biker remarked in joy. Rochelle felt the tiniest bit deflated; this meant little to her as her group were trying to find a new vehicle to go in the opposite direction and they would not be going to the Florida Keys. She was happy for Francis and his group however; they had a means of escape. At least they would be safe from the infection.

Francis tried to motor but it failed to start. "Low on gas?" Rochelle guessed, everything seemed low on gas nowadays. Francis nodded. "Yeah I think so. But there might be something else." He added as he walked to the other side of the boat and lifted up a hatch, which revealed the engine below.

He examined it and didn't really know what was right or wrong with it. He was an expert at bikes, not boats. "I don't really know what's up with it." Francis explained "It's low on gas but there might be something wrong with engine too." Rochelle nodded. "We could get Ellis to have a look at it? He might know a thing or two about boat engines." She suggested. "Better than nothing I suppose." Francis replied as he clambered back onto the harbour before turning around, extending a hand to Rochelle, which she took. He pulled her light body up with ease. "Will we head back?" Rochelle asked "Tell the others about what we found?" Francis gave it a thought and nodded. "Sure darling, lets head back." He said, a little bit curious about how she would react to him calling her 'darling'.

She smiled at him with a raised eyebrow. "Darling? I didn't know the big bad biker was a gentleman!" She commented with a smirk. Francis returned it "Don't judge a book by its cover." They both laughed as they turned around and started making their way back to the bridge.

In Rayford

The trip back to the bridge was mainly spent in silence. The only words spoken were calls about advancing infected. Coach was angry at Nick for picking a fight with Zoey. Nick was driving a wedge between the two groups and it was becoming a problem. Coach reminded himself to speak to him about it later.

The bridge was now in sight, much to their relief. They stepped their way over the corpses which were slain the day before, strewn all over the street. The three walked up under the balcony. "Ellis! Louis! We're back!" Coach called up. There was a moment of silence before Louis opened the balcony door and looked down at them. "Oh you're back!" He exclaimed in a cheery tone. Ellis emerged from the building onto the catwalk and strolled over to the ladder. Unlocking the latch and sliding the ladder down to them. Zoey climbed up first but before Nick could follow her, Coach stuck out his arm.

"Nick, these people have given us food, shelter and a place to sleep. Goddamn it boy, if you fuck this up for us, there will be hell to pay!" Coach growled, his stern face telling Nick that a sarcastic reply was not a good option. "You tell the girl to save my ass when I am being pounced by one of those freaks!" Nick responded in equal anger. "She has saved our asses twice already Nick! Just because she messed up once doesn't give you any right to yell at her!" Coach fired back. Realizing he was only digging his own grave, Nick just sighed. "Fine. But tell her to stay the hell away from me." Nick said before clambering up the ladder. Coach gave cursed under his breath before following in suit up the ladder. Ellis welcomed him at the top.

"Hey Coach! How'd it go?" Ellis called out with a little excitement. "We got some good stuff boy." Coach answered as he helped Ellis raise the ladder again. They both walked to the building, seeing Louis and Nick digging through the contents of Nick's bag. Zoey was sitting on her own in the sitting room, arms crossed and a blank expression on her face. Her bag of supplies was on the table. Coach sighed and gave Ellis a nudge with his elbow. "Go talk to her." Coach said, it was more of an order than a suggestion. "Me? B-but I-" Coach cut him "Nick gave her a hard time. You need to talk to her." Ellis was about to protest some more but realized that it was getting him nowhere. "Okay, 'I'll talk t-to her." Ellis was already stuttering.

He awkwardly walked into the sitting room. He was extremely nervous but he had to stop himself from looking like an idiot. He took a deep breath before continuing.

"C'mon Ellis, you can talk to a girl."

Ellis was stuck. In front of him was the most beautiful girl in the world in his eyes. He couldn't talk to her without sounding like a fool. He knew he had to talk to her though. She needed someone to talk to.

Ellis seriously doubted if he could do this. He then looked up at her and sae that she was staring at him in blatant confusion. Ellis froze to the spot. He was stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Either turn around and get out of their which his mind was screaming at him to do or continue and most likely make her think he was a stuttering idiot.

"Oh man, I hate making these decisions."