Coach- N/A
Ellis- N/A
Nick- banjo?
Rochelle- N/A
The survivors had been driving down the road in an armored school bus for several hours, running over various zombies and finally having a chance to relax for awhile. Nick had found a banjo in the back (A/N: remember at the end of the last chapter: 'anything WORTHY of scavenging). He often plucked strings and sang with a heavy southern accent.
"My name's Nick," the conman sang with the accent, "and I've been told I'm a dick. That there is Ellas, and he likes the fellas." Coach snickered in his seat while Ellis glared at Nick who continued. "That big boy drivin is Coach, approach him and get a fist to the face! But only if you're a drooling infected bitch. I've got an itch… There's Rochelle, she's probably killed a Michelle."
"What makes you think I've killed anyone Nick," Rochelle questioned, somewhat offended by the statement.
"You've shot a bunch of zombies. Guy zombies, girl zombies, and probably even a few transvestite zombies. I bet at least ONE of those zombies was named Michelle."
"At any rate, I'd suggest you stop that damn rhyming. You suck at it."
"I'd like to see you do better Fat Albert."
"Hey, hey, hey," Coach said jokingly.
"Do we have any idea where we're goin," Ellis asked.
"Away from zombies is fine with me," Nick replied, leaning back in his seat as he placed his banjo down.
"Yeah, but we could be headin north, south, or even east! We need to be headin west right?"
"Calm down Ellis, I got a compass up here."
"Oh good, cause this one time me and my buddy Keith got lost for sixteen hours in his mom's minivan. We finally found out where we were goin, and then we pull over cause Keith has to pee right? Well out of nowhere, this random hawk swoops down and tried to snatch Keith. He freaks out and falls down this really steep hill and rolls down it, cuttin himself up good. I got him home and into a hospital. Nothin too bad compared to what usually happens to him."
"Hey, we're comin up on a city," Coach announced. "It's gonna be a long trip. Who wants to get some supplies?"
"I'll do it," Nick replied as he raised his banjo into the air. "I need to break this puppy in."
"I'll go with him," Ellis offered. "I don't see a cowboy hat on yer head Nick, so you're gonna need help."
"Alright, well let's just hope that-,"
"Coach look out," Rochelle shrieked.
Coach turned his head forward, swerving to the side and swearing at the same time. Rochelle, Nick, and Ellis all held on tightly as the bus tipped to one side. It was evened out, more or less, whenever something crashed into the side of it, almost tipping it over on its other side. The survivors groaned as they got themselves up to their feet.
"What the hell was that," Ellis asked. Coach shook his head and looked outside, seeing two heavily armored military vehicles.
"Awe yeah baby! We saved!" Coach quickly opened the door and ran outside. The other three looked out and saw the same and immediately followed Coach.
The survivors got outside and walked over towards the vehicle that rammed them. The bus seemed to be the only thing damaged by the accident.
"Hello," Rochelle called out, "are you all alright?"
Suddenly, the vehicle in back opened up and four soldiers with automatic weapons came filing out, aiming their guns at the survivors. Even more soldiers stood towards the rear of the vehicle, holding their weapons just in case.
"Whoa, hey," Ellis exclaimed, immediately raising his hands above his head.
"What's all this shit about," Coach shouted.
"Hands above your head," one of the soldiers called. "I won't say it twice!" The rest of the survivors slowly raised their hands up. "Go check on the captain," the soldier ordered another.
One soldier ran up to the first vehicle and pulled the door open. The driver fell out of the side, either dead or unconscious. The soldier stepped away and looked up to see the other seat empty.
"The captain is gone sir!"
"He's not gone," a voice shouted. The soldiers and survivors looked over, seeing a man walking out from the other side of the vehicle with a pistol held to the head of a uniformed officer. "He's right here."
The man holding the gun had a thick, scraggly beard and wore a flannel shirt, looking very much like a lumberjack. The man whistled, and three more survivors came from behind the vehicle as well. One of them was a young woman with dark blonde hair, and sparkling green eyes. There was a young boy with blonde-red hair, glaring at the soldiers. The last of them was a young girl with short brown hair that stuck close to the lumberjack with a gun.
The soldiers turned their weapons on the lumberjack when they saw he had their captain. The lumberjack simply laughed mockingly as he pressed the gun against the officer's head.
"Oh-ho-ho, what's with all the hostility? I'm sure we can get along here can't we? Just put your guns down and I'm sure we could talk about this."
"Drop the gun and step away from our captain," a soldier shouted.
"Now normally I'd love to, but then there'd be nothing stopping you guys from shooting me. I'd rather not be shot. Drop your weapons men, or your captain gets a hole in the head."
"Now hold on," Coach interjected, "we ain't gotta go shootin each other do we? There are zombies out here. Why don't we just get in the vehicles and head to the nearest evac point alright?"
"Evac point," the lumberjack repeated. "Hell no! We did that, lost a few people, and we thought we were safe with these assholes! But it turns out that these guys think we're carriers and they want to dissect us to find a cure for the virus!"
"No way," Rochelle muttered.
"Believe it sweetheart. These guys threatened us at gunpoint, so now I'm gonna shoot em if they don't drop their FUCKING WEAPONS!"
"Alright, screw this," Nick shouted. "Why don't we just take one of these vehicles in exchange for their captain back?" The soldiers and second group of survivors glared at one another, uncertain if they'd accept that bargain. "If not that's fine, I'm sure we could just shoot each other and wind up zombie meat anyway."
"Hunter," Ellis hollered. The soldiers looked up, seeing a zombie flying through the air and landing on the soldier in the center of the group, knocking the others back.
"Open fire," one of the soldiers shouted. The lumberjack looked around, seeing a small horde of zombies coming at them and decided to ditch the officer.
"Get inside," he shouted.
The lumberjack moved towards the vehicle that crashed into the bus while the other three moved towards the rear. Ellis quickly fled towards the military vehicle. Nick wanted to go for their weapons, but decided to follow Ellis along with Coach and Rochelle.
Bullets and blood flew all over the place as soldiers and zombies started killing each other. The lumberjack started the engine of the heavy vehicle, backed out of the bus and raced towards the city the southern survivors were heading towards anyway.
"Shit," Ellis shouted, unable to stay still after that random course of events. "What the hell just happened?"
"We got fucked over that's what happened," Nick shouted. "The god damn military is so useless!"
"You got that right," the young boy agreed. "Those bastards were going to kill us."
"I'm done relying on the god damn military! Fuck those guys," Nick continued.
"Amen," the boy agreed once more.
"Great, now we got a Nick Junior," Coach muttered.
"Andrew, shut up," the older woman with blonde hair hissed. "Sorry about him. My name is Amy and this is my little brother Andrew."
"My name's Coach."
"Nick," the now enraged survivor replied quickly.
"Rochelle."
"Ellis," the mechanic replied, trying not to blush at the sight of such a pretty young woman.
"I'm Kelsey," the other girl with brown hair said.
"The crazy guy with the gun is Nelson," Amy added. "It's nice to meet some other survivors again."
"Again," Coach repeated. "You mean there are more out there? Are they captured by the military too?"
"I'm not sure," Amy shrugged. "Nelson rescued Andrew and I and then the three of us headed for a boat where we met Father Jackson."
"Yeah, then we rescued a group of five survivors, then we headed for a small town where things went to hell," Andrew stated angrily.
"I fucking hate when things go to hell," Nick muttered.
"Yeah, and for no reason too," Andrew added. "When we got to the town there were like fourteen of us and like five of them died because they got scared and ran off on their own!"
"Andrew," Amy hissed, "for the hundredth time: watch your mouth!"
"So what happened to the others," Rochelle asked.
"I'm not sure," Amy replied. "When they were evacuating us from the town they brought three of these vehicles. I hope Alan and the others got out safely…"
"So what happened after you got rescued," Coach questioned.
"The military assholes took us to a checkpoint and told us that we were being taken into captivity because we were carriers," Andrew explained angrily.
"God damn military with their stupid theories," Nick shouted, stomping on the metal ground beneath him. "There are no such things as freaking carriers!"
"I know," Andrew agreed. "There was even a little girl who wasn't immune to the virus and she never became infected!"
"Really," Rochelle asked with bewilderment.
"Yep," Amy nodded. "She was a part of Alan's group."
"So where are we headin exactly," Coach asked, changing the subject before Nick and Andrew started angrily agreeing with each other again.
"Well the military said that they were taking us to Tennessee to another checkpoint," Amy replied. The southern survivors looked up, eyes wide with shock. "So we're obviously not going there."
"Tennessee," Nick repeated.
"Yep, they were gonna stick us in some chopper and then take us to some place to be studied," Andrew said. "Luckily you guys came along and fucked their plans up."
"Andrew," Amy seethed, this time smacking her brother in the back of the head. "Watch. Your. Mouth!"
"Damn it," Coach muttered.
"So Tennessee's a bust," Nick added. "What next big guy…?"
"We don't have a lot of options," Coach sighed. "We still gotta go to Tennessee…"
"Are you freaking crazy," Kelsey exclaimed. "They'll shoot you on sight, or take you in and dissect you like lab rats!"
"You got a better idea sweetheart," Nick questioned. Granted he agreed it was totally crazy, but after their time together Nick knew that Coach never joked about a plan. "What's your plan anyway?"
"Our plan," Andrew asked, "we just got freed and we're supposed to have a plan already?"
"We'll have to talk with Nelson," Amy replied. "If he's all for it then we can go together." Coach nodded then leaned back, realizing that his last plan could save them all, or get them killed.
After a few moments of silence in the back of the vehicle, Nelson stopped the vehicle to get supplies, go to the restroom, and talk to the others. The survivors got out and walked into a convenience store while Nelson and Ellis ran quickly for the bathroom. The group started milling through the snacks and drinks that the store had, finding a limited number of goods. After Nelson came out of the bathroom, Amy and Coach approached him and told the lumberjack their plan.
"Well shit, that sounds extraordinarily life threatening, dangerous, reckless, and Tennessee! Do you have any idea how many zombies are between here and there!"
"I know it's crazy but-," Amy held her hand up to Coach, telling him to be quite.
"Shit let's do it," Nelson shouted. Coach's jaw dropped a bit as Nelson walked past towards the liquor section.
"He likes killing zombies," Amy replied with a shrug before walking off to the store.
Andrew and Nick were looking through the candy section, finding everything gone or the remaining candy to be crap.
"This sucks," Andrew muttered.
"Trust me, Coach has proposed crazier ideas than heading to Tennessee."
"Like what," Andrew asked.
"We had to start a rock concert to signal a helicopter pilot." Nelson, who was now on the other side of the candy rack, shot up like a bullet, eyes wide with shock, as were Andrew's. "Yeah, so don't talk to me about crazy."
"Damn, that does sound crazy! Reminds me of that one kid we met on the boat," Nelson said, looking down.
"Oh, one of the guys who died in the town," Nick questioned.
"HELL no," Nelson shouted. "This kid didn't have no crazy plans, but when he was killing zombies, whoo BOY was he crazy! Him and his friend Alan, big guy who loved to kill zombies more than I do, were on the deck of the ship singing that one song 'I'm on a Boat,' while they were killing zombies on a boat!"
"Damn," Nick said after letting out a low whistled. "Sounds better than any of Ellis' Keith stories."
"And he threatened to beat the shit out of Andrew there," Nelson added with a mocking tone.
"Why," Nick questioned.
"Andrew tried to rape his girlfriend," Amy answered from across the store. Andrew looked down, a frustrated blush forming across his face.
"Kid, I don't care how young you are: that's just not right."
"Yeah, well…shut up!"
"Very mature," Nelson muttered, grabbing the nearest six pack. "On top of that, he jumped on a Tank's back with a long ninja sword, while his friend Alan was stabbing the Tank's face!"
"God damn," Ellis exclaimed, his tone impressed.
"I don't care if that did work, that's just reckless," Coach replied.
"That's why those kids were amazing," was Nelson's response. "Now what else, what else…oh, in the small town that we were in, there was an endless horde of zombies right, then out of nowhere, a Tank shows up, and what does Jamie do? He starts running the opposite direction with the Tank following him!" Nick's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he dropped everything he was holding. "Then he comes back with TWO Tanks chasing him! I swear I've never seen anything so crazy in my life."
"What was his name," Nick asked frantically, whirling around to face Nelson.
"Uh…Jamie," Nelson replied, slightly confused at Nick's change of demeanor.
"Jamie who! What's his last name!"
"I didn't ask his last name," Nelson shouted.
"Then what'd he look like?"
"He had long brown hair and brown-ish eyes. Why, what's it matter?" Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle had overheard this and all eyes were on Nick and Nelson.
"Did he say anything about a family," Nick asked. "What about Kathy, or Edward?"
"What the hell are you talking about," Nelson questioned.
Coach placed a firm hand on Nick's shoulder, seconds before he was about ready to pounce on the lumberjack. Nick's breathing became heavy and irregular, causing the second group of survivors to look at the conman quizzically.
"He has a nephew named Jamie," Coach explained calmly. The new survivors remained silent, understanding Nick's outburst.
"Well…I might be able to recognize a picture or something if you had one," Nelson offered. Nick quickly pulled out his wallet and the newest picture of Jamie he had. Nelson took the picture and examined it for a moment before handing it to Amy.
"It kind of looks like him I think," Amy said, looking up at Nelson. The lumberjack nodded, taking the picture back. "They definitely have the same hair color."
"Did he make it," Nick asked, taking the picture back.
"Well…last we saw him he wasn't dead," Nelson muttered, "which is more than we can say for some. With the group he's with, I think he'd make it." Nick nodded, put his wallet back in his pocket then walked towards the exit.
"Where are you going Nick," Rochelle asked worryingly.
"I've got to go look for Jamie."
"Now who's crazy," Coach replied. "He could be anywhere in this zombie infested country! How do you think you're just gonna find him?"
"I don't know damn it," Nick shouted. "I can't just sit here wondering about my goddamn nephew! I don't care if I have to search this entire god damn continent! You guys can head to Tennessee but I'm looking for my family god damn it!" Without another word, Nick stormed out of the store and into the streets of the dead city.
Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle stood in the store, now faced with an impossible choice. If they left with Nelson and his group now, then they could head to Tennessee and get away from this nightmarish hell once and for all. But if they chose that course of action, then they'd have to live with the fact that Nick was zombie meat. Granted Nick had gotten all three of them out of some jams on various occasions, but no single person could survive out there on their own.
Coach looked down and sighed heavily before peering over to Ellis and Rochelle who seemed less reluctant than he. The heavyset man shook his head and knew that if he were in Nick's shoes he would do the same thing. Coach approached Nelson and extended his hand out.
"Thanks for everything Nelson," Coach said. The lumberjack smirked and shook the man's hand.
"Thank you for saving our asses," Nelson replied.
"I may not be there next time so be careful," the coach said with a smile. "I'm sorry, but I can't let that idiot go out on his own."
"I understand. Good luck Coach."
"You too." Coach turned and walked up to Ellis and Rochelle. "I ain't gonna make either of you choose, and I ain't gonna hold a grudge if you leave. If you do go with these guys then I'm just gonna say I'm proud of you two, and I'm gonna miss you." Coach wrapped his arms around Rochelle and Ellis' necks, only to be pushed away by them both.
"What the hell you talking about Coach," Ellis questioned. "You think we'd leave Nick to take care of you?"
"Take care of me," Coach repeated.
"I'm sorry honey, but you're way over the hill. If anything, Nick's gonna have to be watching out for you if it's both of you alone."
"Oh ain't you two the comedians? Say goodbye and catch up with us." Coach moved out of the store to follow after Nick.
"See ya'll," Ellis called out, turning to the exit.
"If you see Jamie tell him and his gang we said hello," Andrew called out, eager to earn their forgiveness. If they were still alive that is.
"If you see Alan tell him I'm alive," Amy shouted. Rochelle nodded at the door before following the rest of her team.
Nick walked through the streets, focused on one objective. Suddenly there was another person standing next to him, panting lightly. Nick looked up and saw Coach grinning at the conman.
"What the hell makes you think I'd leave you after everything we've been through?" Nick opened his mouth, but a slender arm moved around his back.
"Honestly, without me you men would be nothing but a group of immature boys," Rochelle continued. "And you probably would've killed Ellis by now sweetie." Nick was suddenly knocked to the ground as Ellis attempted to go Jockey on Nick's back.
"And how're you gonna be entertained without my Keith stories man? Seriously?"
"Ellis, get the fuck off me," Nick shouted. The mechanic got off, allowing Nick to stand to his feet. "Christ, I didn't say you all had to follow me on a suicide mission."
"We got to man," Ellis said. "We're a team, we gotta stick together."
"Hell yeah, we're gonna see everything through together," Coach added.
"And it's only a suicide mission if we don't have guns," Rochelle pointed out, looking at her empty hands. The boys looked at their equally empty hands then turned around, seeing the second group of survivors standing by their vehicle with smug smirks on their faces.
"Forget something," Nelson called out, pulling out an automatic shotgun and a grenade launcher.
"Awe yeah baby," Coach boomed before moving back to the vehicle. Rochelle and Ellis followed after Coach while Nick trailed behind with a grateful look to his friends and a warm smile across his face.
Okay, well I have a feeling this story is going to come to an end soon. Why do I think so? Because I was planning about two or three more chapters before the sequel of Back 4 More. I also want some opinions on a better title:
Pray 4 Mercy or
All 4 One
Leave your opinions in the form of a review please =)