Rochelle knelt beside Ellis and slowly drew him into a hug. Ellis clung to her as she rocked him gently. She stroked at his hair, hummed out soft meaningless noises and just let him cry out his frustration.

Ellis sobbed himself sick and he began to drive heave and gasp for air. His throat hurt, his eyes stung, his chest ached terribly, he was almost sure that he was dying. Rochelle sat patiently with him, allowing him to break down.

Ellis eventually wore himself out and his body gave in to its exhaustion. Rochelle sat with him, maybe because she felt obligated, or maybe because she wanted to really be there for him. Either way, she just kept her gaze staring at the young man as she ran her fingers comfortingly through his hair.

If this is what it meant for Ellis to lose Nick, it was only obvious that they would be down two, not one.

But, soon after, something amazing happened. It was the kind of miracle that renewed Coach's faith in the Lord he was beginning to doubt existed. Nick stirred.

…Pain. That was all he could feel. Nick let out a whimper. Pinpricks of agony erupted up and down his body. A breath escaped him in another moan. Coach reached over to rest a hand on his shoulder. Nick tried to open his eyes.

"Nick? Can you hear me? How do you feel?"

Nick coughed weakly. "Like how Keith did when he fell under that lawn mower." At least his sarcasm was still in tact.

Coach laughed. "God damn, Nick… I can't believe you're still here. Let alone talking to me. You're one tough kid."

"Am I that bad off?" Nick tried to move, but his body felt too weak. God, he could go for a cigarette right now. That and he could probably puke out his guts. Nick tried to focus on the taste of cigarettes and not the nausea that was making his head spin.

"You're pretty banged up, young'un. You're lucky to be alive… I ain't no doctor, but I'm going to advise you to go back to sleep and get your strength back."

Nick tried to shake his head. "Ellis?"

"He's fine. He's sleeping."

Nick forced his eyes opened again, trying to stare off into the room to find the mechanic. Coach kindly pointed him out. Nick's eyes blinked closed again, he sighed with relief. In an instant he had slipped back into unconsciousness.

When Ellis awoke hours later he was greeted with the news that Nick had survived the night and had even spoke a little. Ellis hadn't left his side since hearing the news. He was sitting now, legs drawn up with his elbows resting on them, just staring hard at the conman as though he expected he may die suddenly if unattended. He watched Nick inhale and exhale, watched as his eyes twitched slightly in his sleep, or when he grimaced from pain. Ellis just watched. He did not move or speak, eat or drink, he remained like a statue, waiting for the other to awaken.

Finally, Nick stirred again and Ellis moved forward, silently, waiting. A slit of green blinked out at the mechanic and soon a little grin found its way to Nick's face.

Ellis gripped the conman's hair in between his fingers tightly. It stung. Nick winced up at him. "Don't you dare do that ever again, Nicholas," Ellis whispered angrily. Nick gazed up at him wordlessly. "I swear to God, Nick. If ya do anythin' like that again, I'll kill ya myself." Nick tried to laugh, but he choked on it as his body refused to join in. Ellis' face melted into a softer expression and his fingers traced gently down to cup Nick's face and he pressed their foreheads together. Ellis could feel Nick's soft breaths against his face. "God damn you… What the hell were ya thinkin'?"

"I couldn't let you die," Nick's faint voice replied. His eyes were half-lidded, his smile weak, breaths shallow.

"God, Nick… You're so god damn stupid. When the hell will ya learn?" Ellis' lips met Nick's firmly. "I thought I had lost ya… I thought ya were gunna die. I really did…"

"Naw…" came the soft reply. "I promised, 'member?" Nick's eyes unwillingly closed again. God, he felt tired. Real tired. He could feel Ellis' warmth radiating around him. It felt good. "…I'm yours forever and ever, et cetera, blah blah."

Ellis laughed, kissing the conman again. Nick tried to kiss back, but even that was too tiring. He simply twitched at the others lips against his. Ellis pulled back, smoothing Nick's hair back. "Go to sleep, Nick. I'll take care of ya."

Nick had fallen back into unconsciousness.

It was the third time Nick had awakened in two days, but this time he felt a hell of a lot better. The only thing that was currently really getting on his nerves was the constant loud pounding in his temples. God, his head hurt.

"Ellis…?" Nick groaned, shifting. He realized he was no longer propped against the wall. His head was in Ellis' lap and the mechanic was gazing down at him. Nick licked at his dry lips, squinting. "Grab me a smoke, will you?"

"Later," Ellis replied gently. "I need to see if ya can get up and move. The military's bombin' has been closer and closer. We need ta start movin' if we don't want to get caught in the middle of it all."

Nick sat up, with Ellis' help. He rotated his legs, felt down his arms and pressed his fingers against anywhere that was throbbing noticeably. He could tell he was covered in small wounds but nothing was too dangerous. What hurt the most when prodded was his aching hip. He reached up to touch the back of his head and could feel that his hair was matted with blood. It was tender. That explained the headache.

"I'm glad to see you moving, Nick," Rochelle said tiredly from across the room. She looked as though she hadn't slept the last two days. In fact, none of the three did.

He gave her a half smile. "I told you before that you guys would miss me if I were gone." He shifted his weight forward and experimentally got to his feet. He leaned hard against the wall, feeling his hip collapsing under the weight. Great… "I think I'm fine. I can walk." Barely.

A rumble of jets shook the room and the four glanced up as bits of dust and ceiling broke away and sprinkled them in a fine white powder.

"Here," Coach said, handing the conman a few white capsules. "This should help with the pain."

"Bottoms up, I guess." Nick threw back his head and tossed the pills down into his mouth. He had to swallow several times until they finally went down his dry throat. He coughed. "All right… I guess we head out?" He turned to Ellis who let out a slow, suppressed sigh through his nose.

They gathered their weapons in silence while above the roof shook dangerously as more ceiling dusted their bodies.

Nick swung his assault rifle around his back and adjusted the strap. In the corner of his eye he could see Ellis staring hard at him. The conman looked slowly to him, offering a slight smile.

"Nick, I took your cigarettes," Ellis admitted.

"Huh? What? Why?" Nick reached down to pat at his empty pockets. He frowned at the other.

"'Cause," Ellis lifted his chin, trying to look intimidating. "Ya don't deserve 'em right now. When ya start listenin' to me and stop tryin' ta get yourself killed I'll consider givin' 'em back."

Nick laughed. "But, Virgil gave me those, not you!"

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away," Coach said, chuckling. "I'd do as the boy says, else he'll tear 'em up into tiny little pieces."

Nick shook his head slowly and reached up to pull Ellis' hat down over his eyes. "All right, kid, all right. Fair enough. You better keep 'em safe."

Then they were pushing the door opened, all grinning slightly, even as they were greeted by a crowd of snarling faces.

God, his hip hurt. Like fucking hell. Nick winced, leaning on the wall of some tattered down hallway as he tried hard to keep up. His gun was gripped in his other hand, and, shit, did it feel heavy. He had never felt so god damn old in his entire life.

"Hey," Ellis said gently as he sidled up beside him. The mechanic slipped his arm around Nick's waist and Nick leaned heavily on him. "Want a cigarette?"

"Fff, that didn't last long," Nick snorted. He watched as Ellis fumbled about in his pocket for a moment before pulling out a single cigarette. Smiling Ellis placed it between Nick's lips and then recovered the older mans lighter and lit the tip. Nick drew in a slow drag and then turned his head away to blow it out. "Ah, thanks, Overalls."

"You're welcome." Probably because he had enjoyed it the first time when they had kissed when Nick had been smoking, Ellis leaned over to kiss him. "But that's a nasty habit. When all this shit's done and over with, you're quittin'." Although, secretly, Ellis wondered if he would miss the taste on the others tongue.

"Ha! Kid, I've been smoking since before you were born." Or at least pretty damn close to it. Ellis scoffed at him with a little and-your-point eyebrow quirk that Nick could only chuckle at. So, he was gonna quit smoking after all this? All right, fine. He'd do it for Ellis.

They limped out to the street where Coach and Rochelle were standing by a manhole. Both looked displeased. Nick came to a slow halt, frowning hard. They didn't expect him to…

"Down the hole, I'm afraid," Rochelle said with a shrug.

"Oh, no. Oh, I do NOT think so," Nick said. He shook his head, puffing at his cigarette. He straightened and moved towards it, Ellis now standing idly by. Nick glared down into the dark abyss. "Fuck that shit. I am not doing this again. I hate sewers."

"Well, you can go ahead and start climbing all these barricades if you like, but I'm taking the shorter way," Coach said and then very promptly descended the ladder into the sewers below. Rochelle shrugged and followed.

"God. Damn. It." Nick took one last draw of his half-smoked cigarette before he threw it on the ground and snuffed it out. "Fuck, I guess we're going then, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Ellis gestured for the conman and with a sigh Nick climbed down the ladder.

When his feet left the ladder they found themselves in ankle deep w-water. Storm water. That's what it was. It was not a sewer. He was NOT walking through human filth. He was not. He was not. He was not. But it was no use. Nick let out a groan of pure disgust, "The smell is inside my head! God damn it!"

Had Nick forgotten the smell of the sewer from all those months back, he was clearly remembering it now. Oh yeah, the memories were coming back. Sloshing through dirty, filthy water while things you dared not look twice at again floated about. Nick gagged, totally appalled. He wondered how the other three were managing to appear not even slightly alarmed. Well, call him queer if they must, but Nick would never, ever, ever grow use to the smell. It was suffocating.

"Look, a ladder!" Rochelle called. "Come on boys, up, up!"

They all scrambled up the ladder, one at a time while filth dripped from their feet.

"Hol-lee shit," Ellis breathed. The four gathered themselves in a tight circle, eyes wide, swallowing thickly in almost perfect unison. The sewer had exited right in the middle of a sea of badly parked and disoriented cars. In the failing light it was obvious that many of them were alarmed. Well, fuck.

"Watch your step." Rochelle moved forward cautiously, gripping a machete tightly in both hands as she crept forward. It was becoming distressingly obvious that there was no way to cross through without having to climb and scramble over parked cars.

However, she lead them faithfully through with little complications—even when a few Infected nearby had stormed after them. Coach had silenced them before they came within reach of the dangerous maze.

"Look," Nick said softly. They all stopped long enough to gaze up at the mighty freeway looming above. Christ, they were so close. "We're actually going to make it, aren't we?" Nick continued, letting out a soft laugh.

"I told ya," Ellis chimed in from behind. The mechanic was finally smiling again and that little hop he had before was back. The man reached up for the ladder, one foot on the lowest bar. He looked to his companions, grinning that goofy grin that made them all smirk back. "I don't know 'bout y'all, but I didn't come all this way to look at it."

When they reached the top, they all stood staring down the freeway. Far in the distance they could see the bridge—their destination. Virgil had told them he had picked up some chatter about the East bridge. They were still evacuating from that area when the four had left the fisherman. They only prayed they still were.

But before any of them could move another step, a thundering above shook them. Two jets hissed overhead. Nick blinked up at them, but he didn't get the chance to gawk for very long.

An explosion rocked the freeway and the four went stumbling backwards. Rubble rained around them in a painful shower. Coughing from the smoke they gathered themselves, trying to figure out what had just happened. When the dirty black smoke cleared, it became painfully obvious. The former mile or two left on the freeway had just turned into an excruciating detour. The bomb dropped from the jets above had destroyed any way to cross.

"You have got to be kidding me," Nick growled. "Those fucking asshole! You know that they can see us! Jesus fucking Christ!"

Ellis brushed the concrete ash and pebbles from his shoulders. "Well, yeah, but Nick." The conman looked at him, face withering with fury. "It sure was cool to watch."

The anger from Nick's face melted away as a rough laugh escaped him. Beside him he could hear Coach and Rochelle joining him. Soon, all four were laughing. Maybe that was all they really needed—a good laugh, because soon the four were moving forward with renewed enthusiasm, seemingly unaffected by the thought they had just been robbed of an easy jog to safety.

They climbed carefully down the broken bridge, slipping and sliding down the rubble. Then they found themselves facing something none of them were really too pleased to have to cross through. It was a graveyard.

"So… This is one of those infamous above-ground cemetery's, huh?" Nick mused. "Creepy, but fancy… and creepy. Did I say that already?"

"It's just a graveyard, Nick," Ellis said. He hoisted up his gun. "But I guess it is kinda creepy with all these zombies walkin' 'round. Kind of like some scary zombie movie, huh? But these zombies didn't come out of the ground. I don't think, anyways…" He began to lead the other three, firing out bursts that took down groups of idling Infected. "Ah, man, this reminds me of the time when my buddy Keith spent an entire year livin' in a cemetery. It wasn't a dare or nothin' either. He just got kicked out of his house and he needed somewhere to stay, so he figured, why not? Now, he didn't see no ghosts or nothin' when he was livin' there—except for this one time when a ghost came up from behind him and stabbed him and took all his money—but I think it mighta been some homeless guy with a white sheet over his head with two little eyeholes cut out and—"

"Ellis," Rochelle breathed, "Sweetie, can this please wait?"

"Okay," Ellis replied automatically.

They moved through the cemetery quickly, ready to be out of it, but it soon became obvious that the stupid thing was built like a god damn maze. Whatever good mood Nick had been in earlier was no longer evident. Every corner they turned and found themselves facing a dead end he let out a string of curse words that even Coach flushed at.

The sun was setting in the horizon and the cemetery was growing eerie and dark. The groans of unseen Infected in the distance made them shiver. The graves were basking in a hue of orange, almost like the entire city was on fire. It was unsettling. But they didn't need to worry, about fifteen wrong turns and a novels length worth of curse words later, they finally found their way out of the cemetery.

Dusk was in full blush now. Maybe it was because the whole city was dead, but for the first time since being here, Nick could see stars. As they made their way towards a ghostly bar, Nick paused to gaze up at the bright twinkles above.

"Nick? What's up?" Ellis asked, tugging at the others sleeve. The southerner's gaze lifted with the others and he stared up at the night sky. "Lookin' at the stars?"

"You know," Nick said, reaching his hand out to take Ellis' comfortably in his. "I heard a poet once say 'stars that clear have been dead for years, but the idea just lives on'. I wonder if that implies to zombie apocalypses too?"

Ellis scrunched up his face cutely. "What do ya mean?"

Nick sighed softly, blinking himself out of his slow stupor. "I don't know what I mean. I just always think of those words when I see stars. I never see stars in the big cities… Anyways, come on, let's get inside before the other two have a shit fit." He led the mechanic inside, still holding his hand firmly in his. They found the other two standing outside the backroom of a bar. Apparently, it would be their home for the night.

The four moved inside and automatically began to pile everything they could in front of the door. When they were done they all found somewhere comfortable to lay down.

Ellis sat beside the conman and with a little smile he leaned his head against the others shoulder, fingers curling around Nick's. "Hey, Nick?"

"Hmm?"

"Whenever there was a meteor shower, my Ma would always drive us out into the country so we could watch it. When I got older, I use to go by myself some nights when I was feelin' bad to look at the stars. Ya can see the stars real well in Savannah's country. I'll show ya some day, if ya want."

Nick smiled softly, leaning over to kiss the top of Ellis' auburn locks. "I'd like that."

A/N:

The poetic line is from a beautiful song called "We Are No Where and It's Now" by Bright Eyes-my absolute favorite band. I adore Conor Oberst with everything in my soul. For some reason, I think Nick would appreciate the band because of the way the lyrics describe things so intelligently and so beautifully.

I really didn't want to write this long ass level and it probably shows. It was PAINFUL to write. It was like pulling teeth, seriously. Godawful. The Cemetery is super ridiculous long and obnoxious. And I kept gettin' distracted with my friend about L4D2 and her buying it for her PC. I think I'll get it for the Mac too when it comes out (/if, since Valve sucks at keeping promises) .

Obviously used Ellis' story about his buddy Keith in the graveyard. It makes me laugh every time. e_e I loosely referenced it, so if it's not word for word that's why.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I am very thankful to have you all spurring me along.