Silent Lucidity

By: esmtz

It felt like hours had gone by since they had gotten rescued by the helicopter. They were still anxiously waiting to see where the helicopter was taking them and of course during the whole trip so far there was an awkward silence between them ever since Ellis said that he was going to try and help Nick no matter what it took. Keith kept glaring at Nick who was obviously noticing since they had nothing else to do but stare at each other making him frown slightly wondering what Keith's problem was. Rochelle was off in the corner still crying about the fact that not all of them had made it. Ellis moved to sit next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry, Ro. I never wanted for any of us to see well…. Y'know." Ellis said still grateful that he still had Nick and the others but was also sad about the fact that Coach didn't make it.

Rochelle sniffed and nodded.

"I know. I just was expecting that all of us were going to make it that I forgot that this is a zombie apocalypse and something was bound to go wrong eventually." Rochelle admitted sadly as she choked on a sob, "Everything went right for us before so I thought to myself why would this be any different? I feel so stupid for even thinking that we would be fine like we always are. I feel like a complete bitch for not making careful sure that all of us would be ok." Rochelle said as she clung on to Ellis and let the tears fall down her face.

Ellis rubbed her back as he looked at her sadly.

"It ain't yer fault, Ro. We all know that you, Keith and Nick did the best that you guys could. I on the other hand…" Ellis shook his head feeling completely ashamed that all he ever did was run off and kill zombies like it was a fucking game and now with Coach gone it just proved to Ellis that he was a complete idiot for acting the way he did. He was seriously lucky that they all made it despite how he handled every situation that was thrown at him.

"Don't do that to yourself, Overalls. It wasn't your fault either. Things just happen that we can't control and Coach just ended up on the end of a bad draw of luck. No matter what there was nothing we could have done to prevent Coach's death from happening. I'm just glad that the rest of us made it and don't you think that Coach would rather it be him dead then us? I'm sure he would rather have things end the way they did then to watch one of us die." Nick told him looking at him with a serious look on his face.

"Yeah I guess yer right Nick it's just…I can't believe I thought that this whole zombie apocalypse thing was just a fucking game. I mean y'all coulda died a hell of a lot sooner if it wasn't for the fact that y'all still had each other." Ellis tightened his grip on the back of Rochelle's shirt feeling completely guilty that that's all he ever was to them a burden even if none of them wanted to admit it, "If I had done something sooner maybe Coach wouldn't have…"

"Ellis, this isn't your fault." Nick said emphasizing each word to make himself perfectly clear.

"Nick, Coach actually helped y'all get here and he was supposed to get out as well. If anyone shoulda died it shoulda been…"

Rochelle was wide eyed as she already knew what Ellis was going to say. Nick growled as he got up and walked over to Ellis and put his hand on Ellis's shoulder gripping it tightly making Ellis wince.

"Don't you dare fucking say that. Coach helped ALL of us get here." Nick told him.

Ellis swallowed as he nodded.

"Yeah Nick he did but I didn't do anythin really to help out and after all yer the one who said that I was going to get everyone killed! I did nothin Nick nothin. All I did was cause more problems than what y'all needed." Ellis said not looking at him.

Rochelle was going to say something but instead moved away from Ellis because it was clearly obvious that Nick still wanted to say something. Not saying anything Keith continued to watch as Nick forced Ellis to look at him.

"Don't." Nick growled, "For fucks sake Ellis you're the one who healed me and gave me your adrenaline when you also needed it!"

"That was only recently Nick and yer wound wasn't all that bad. Just admit it please. You too Rochelle I was and have always been a…"

Ellis was cut off when Nick suddenly smashed his lips against his completely surprising everyone in the helicopter. Keith looked simply furious while Rochelle started to feel her face turn red. When Nick pulled away Ellis simply didn't know what to say as he opened and closed his mouth his whole face turning a bright red.

"Ellis, you've done plenty to help all of us out alright. Sure running on ahead wasn't the best of ideas but you did kill a lot of the infected that would have probably given us trouble and you did give us pain pills and adrenaline when we did need it."

Ellis sighed shaking his head.

"That wasn't enough Nick and you know it. How many times did I not notice when y'all were having trouble with a tank or witch or hell any special infected in general? How many goddamn times did I leave you guys just to go off on some killin spree and y'all were havin trouble keepin up because y'all were badly hurt? HOW MANY TIMES DID I NOT EVEN BOTHER TO MAKE SURE Y'ALL WERE SAFE!" Ellis practically yelled out the last bit as he clenched his fists tightly at his sides enough to draw blood.

Ellis's vision started to become fuzzy because of the tears that were starting to form and fall down his face. Nick looked at him sadly really regretting that he ever opened his mouth in the first place.

"Ellis, sweetie it really wasn't that bad please believe that." Rochelle said looking at him worriedly.

Ellis shook his head already knowing full well that it was bad.

"That's probably because Coach was helpin out a lot. I'm sorry that he died and y'all got stuck with…"

"Ellis shut up." Nick told him before sighing as he ran his hand through his hair, "You want to know how you've helped me? Without you there's no way in fucking hell that I would still be alive right now or even with this group. There was just something about you that kept me here alright?"

Ellis's eyes went wide not sure if he was hearing what he was hearing.

"What?" Ellis asked.

It was clearly obvious that Nick must have forgot that Rochelle and Keith were still there either that or he simply didn't care as he looked at Ellis straight in the eyes.

"I wasn't kidding when I said that the first chance I get I was going to leave." Nick told him.

"Then why did you stay?" Ellis asked.

Nick shrugged.

"Like I said something about you and your fucking happy-go-lucky carefree personality. I swear it's like you didn't even know that the world was ending."

"But Nick you must have known that I was totally worthless. You SHOULD know after all that we've been through together up till recently so why are you…"

Nick once again cut Ellis off as he put both his hands on Ellis's shoulders and gripped them tightly.

"For one you're not worthless because you're the reason why I kept fighting sport and two there's no way in hell that I am about to watch you die because…" Nick hesitated never really good at telling people how he really felt, "…just because."

Nick turned to look away making Ellis look at him curiously. Rochelle smiled at them amazed that Nick finally admitted that he actually cared about Ellis. Keith still sat where he was at completely fuming with anger.

'What the fuck?! It's only been a few months and already Ellis found someone else to be with. I am seriously gunna hafta talk to him about this once we get to someplace a little more private then I'll show him that he's supposed to be with me!" Keith thought to himself.

Just then the guy who was flying the helicopter announced that they had just arrived at their destination. Nick and the others moved to where they could see out of the windows and saw that they weren't the only ones arriving at this destination. There was at least two or three other helicopters bringing people in and they watched and felt as the helicopter slowly descended to the ground. As soon as it landed the helicopter's door opened and Nick and the others slowly made their way out of the helicopter and onto what looked like a safe zone.

"Where are we?" Rochelle asked looking around.

Ellis frowned as he saw people entering a building which he assumed was where everyone was going to be staying. It looked to be at least five stories tall and it looked to be about as big as a mall.

"The place doesn't seem all that big does it?" Keith asked as he looked over the entire building.

"They're probably not expecting a whole lot of people." Nick said not exactly surprised considering how many zombies they had to fight through just to get here.

Rochelle bit her lip hoping that there had to be other safe zones besides this one.

'I wonder how Francis and the others are doing.' Rochelle thought to herself wondering about Francis's team.

"I still think this place isn't going to hold up for very long. Sure it looks deserted for now and I'm assuming they barricaded whatever areas that the infected might come in through but I still don't trust this place to be safe or secure." Nick said looking at the place with a look of distrust.

Rochelle sighed.

"It's not like we have a choice Nick. It's either this or go back out and deal with the zombies." Rochelle told him.

"I think I'd rather deal with the zombies than this." Nick replied making Ellis frown and look at him.

"Why? You don't trust this place, Nick?" Ellis asked.

Nick didn't reply as he kept glaring at the place almost like he knew that this wasn't a good idea to just simply stay here and assume everything was ok.

"Look it might just be me but if we all think that something fishy is going on around here then we all leave ok?" Nick said as he looked at the others figuring they would have said no if he demanded to leave.

"Yeah alright but seriously Nick you should learn to trust people more." Rochelle told him as they started making their way towards the building.

"In this kind of situation? You can't trust anybody Rochelle except those in your group." Nick told her as he followed right behind her.

Keith watched Nick with a look of pure hatred on his face as he followed right behind him.

"Hey Keith you doin alright?" Ellis asked as he walked next to him looking at him worriedly, "You haven't said anythin since we got rescued."

"It's nothin I was just gettin tired of being out there all the time fightin for our lives." Keith told him before glancing at him, "Listen El we need to talk."

Ellis rubbed the back of his neck nervously already knowing what this was about since Nick did kiss him in front of Keith.

"I know. I was going to tell you but…"

"Wait until we get us a room or somethin so we can talk in private. I don't want anyone to listen in on our conversation." Keith said looking at him.

Ellis nodded not wanting Nick to know that he and Keith had been going out before the zombie apocalypse started.

"Yeah ok." Ellis said before catching up with Nick and Rochelle.

Keith kept on glaring at Nick even as they entered the building.

'Ellis is mine you hear me MINE!' Keith thought to himself angrily as he tried to figure out how to get Nick out of the picture.

Author's Notes: Um…hi. Yes I am alive and the only reason why I didn't update before was because I was waiting on reviews for my last chapter for weeks and when none came I got lazy again and before you know it another two years pass (sweat drops) before I decide to update again. This is what happens when I have no inspiration for a story I simply ignore it for long periods of time and it's a miracle literally if I update again like this one or more specifically this exact story and amazingly I STILL know how I want to end this story or rather two possible endings but hey probably will post both who knows if I miraculously update again. Anyway it's been so long that I'm sorry if this chapter kinda sucked I just eventually wanted to post another chapter to the story so here's another chapter so yeah 0.0'