As the car slowed to a stop, Nick let his hand fall from the wheel, to his side. His movements were lethargic; eyes closing and opening in slow, rhythmic motions as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Ellis." He said, slowly.

"Mnnnh." The boy responded, just as slowly, rubbing his eye with his free hand. "We there yet?"

"The car's out of gas, let's go."

Ellis unbuckled, rubbing his eyes. "So we're walkin'?"

Nick opened the door. "Unless you see some other car here, we are."

Ellis scrambled out, stretching his arms. Nick grabbed his gun, and Ellis took his. "Ya got the pills, right?"

"I got 'em."

"Good, good." Ellis shut the door, as did Nick. "I'mma miss this car... man, we gotta get somethin' ta eat." Nick didn't answer, so Ellis reached for his hand. Nick adjusted his gun and settled it on his shoulder, much like Coach used to. The silence was eating away at Ellis, however. Within a minute, he was speaking again. "Y'know, I been thinkin'. Unicorns? They gotta be some sorta reptile or some shit. They ain't horses. They gotta horn, an' my guess is it regrows, like a lizard's tail or somethin'. So they gotta be reptiles, thinkin' back on the evolutionary shit. Then they got wiped out with the dinosaurs..." Nick was staring at him, smirking. "What?"

"Like a hick like you even believes in evolution."

"Nawww, Nick! Seriously!" Ellis realized a bit late that he had left his ax in the car, but didn't mention it. He wouldn't need it. "Don'tchu think that they gotta be reptiles?"

"Unicorns don't exist."

Silence. "Nick, I ain't never gonna say this again, prob'ly, but yer stupid for sayin' that. I mean, everybody knows that Unicorns exist, or existed, jus' like fairies and mermaids and all that."

Nick closed his eyes. "Unicorns don't exist. Fairies don't exist. Mermaids don't exist." He replied, not bothering to wait for an answer because he knew what it was. "Don't be a child, Ellis, I don't need to deal with it. I have a headache."

"Well, it's 'bout to get worse."

"Why...?" Nick opened one of his eyes, to see Ellis reaching for his jacket sleeve and tugging him to the side.

Almost immediately afterward, he heard it; the loud music, the gunshots, the groans of the horde. He recognized the music, of course he did, it saved his life. Ellis' eyes had lit up like he was about to meet his fuckin' idol – wait... he was. If it was who he thought it was, anyway.

"Holy shit, man! That bus... that's the Midnight fuckin' Riders!"

It slowed, and Ellis rose his gun to contribute to shooting the horde, hands on his gun. Once the zombies fell, he stood straight, watching the bus open and three of his favorite four band members emerge. His face flushed red. Nick rolled his eyes. "Well, howdy there!" One boomed.

"Oh. My. God. Dusty... it is the Midnight Riders, Nick!"

"See the look on my face, Ellis." Ellis turned. Nick's face was blank. "I don't care."

Ellis pushed him, facing the lead guitarist with wide eyes. The man laughed, crossing his arms. "Nice to know the infection hasn't taken our fans away."

Jake stepped out, next, looking down awkwardly. "We have to get going, man, before Smitty wakes up. He's got a wicked hangover."

"Smitty's in the car, too?! Jake?! Aww, damn, I think I could die happy now."

"We stand around, that'll happen."

Dusty took off his sunglasses. "Y'know, I don't like you, Mr. Suit." He ushered Jake back in the car. "You make sure Smitty's got enough alcohol when he wakes up, and I'll settle what we'll do with these guys, kay? Say hello to the fan!"

Jake stepped into the bus, flashing a grin to Ellis. "What's your favorite song?"

"Sunup Shakedown, man, damn. One Bad Man is a close second, though."

Jake nodded. "We can keep 'im. That's a true fan, there."

Ellis was shaking. He was talking to the greatest artists in history. History. "...Hey... Where's Ox? He make it?" He asked.

"Nah. The Flu don't stop the Riders, man, but one of those monster steroid beasts took him out in one swipe."

Ellis shuddered. "Tanks."

"Now don'tchu be standin' there, fool, get inside!" Dusty put his sunglasses back on, grabbing the boy's arm and forcing him in. "Yer friend might as well not die out there, too... though I don't know if I can spare anything for someone who ain't a fan."

Ellis laughed. "He ain't gonna deny that you saved his life just last week. Down at Whispering Oaks, you were gonna have a show there – I'd had tickets for that shit with my buddy Keith, we weren't gonna sneak in like any other time – an' we used your recordings to call a chopper to get us outta that place." Dusty blinked. "Then Nick here shot the pilot."

"He. Was. Infected. For the last damn time."

"Oh yeah, well he looked clean ta me!"

"You didn't see him lunge at your face? Geezus! He was going to kill you!"

Dusty laughed. "Ain't that sweet? Bickering like a married couple." Nick flushed, growling and grumbling to the floor. Ellis just laughed along. "I'm speechless... hey, I never got your name. Since you already know mine-"

"Ellis." The boy choked out, still grinning. "Name's Ellis."

"And don't call him Elle, or he'll flip."

Glare. "That's just... why you gotta bring that up?!"

"Well, judgin' by yer shirt..." Dusty chipped in, and then Ellis blushed.

"Nick over there got it for me. Mine was all bloody. It was nasty. One of them Hunters ripped me up, wanna see?" His eyes sparkled, and Dusty nodded enthusiastically. Nick rolled his eyes when the boy lifted his shirt to show the bandage. Typical rednecks. "It was nasty. Couldn't see straight or think straight an' my mind was foggy. Thought I was gonna die, for a second. But I've had worse."

"You've had worse?"

"This one time, a Boomer – you know what that is, right? 'Course you do – exploded right next to me, 'cause I shot it, and then I couldn't see and ran straight into a Smoker, who wrapped me up in his tongue and started clawin' at my back for what seemed like hours."

"You're welcome."

"You didn't do that!" Ellis cried in response. "Ro did! She found it, she shot it, and then you just watched her back as she took her med kit out and wrapped up my back. I couldn't breathe without coughin' for an hour." He was smiling as he said that. "Though, this one time, my buddy Keith got strep throat. He had a presentation that day, though, and his teacher refused to let him skip it 'cause he'd been absent too many days, so he had to come to school with it and talk in front of the class. Man, it was funny."

Jake snorted in laughter in the background. Dusty smirked. "Really, Ellis, now isn't the time to be reminiscing. This is a zombie apocalypse." Nick grumbled. Ellis rolled his eyes. "We should just get going to California."

"Cali? Ain't the next evac in Texas?"

"Every evac I've stopped at has been overrun or cleared out. I'm heading to California."

Ellis sighed. "I think I had enough of the military. Fuck the po-lice." Dusty nodded. "I mean, they ain't dun nuthin' for me yet."

"Except give us every safehouse in the country."

Ellis shrugged. "Touche, Nick. Touche."

"Ooh, big word there. Who taught you that one?"

Ellis flushed in embarrassment, eyes narrowing in a glare. "Hey hey, stop the fightin'." Jake held out his hand. "If Smitty wakes up 'cause of you, I'm throwin' yer rears outta this car. Ion't need to deal with ya'll bitchin' and moanin'."

Ellis smiled again. "I fuckin' love you guys." His eyes closed. "Oh, man, Coach would kill to be you, Nick. To be sittin' here with what's left of the Midnight Riders... oh, I can't wait to tell 'im what he missed. Shouldn'ta sent us out there alone."

"It's not like there's a big difference in numbers. I had five bucks in Zoey shot herself within the hour after she learned Bill died, followed by Louis shooting someone out of sheer insanity of all the chaos, leaving the others to shoot him. So, that leaves it with Francis, Rochelle, and Coach, and God knows if that Tank managed to get one of the others before it burned to death."

Silence, for a while. Ellis' eyes had opened to stare. "Naww, Nick, Zoey's a tough-ass chick. She ain't the type to do that. Louis was a cool dude, too. They ain't gonna die..."

Nick stood, lowering his head so not to bang it on the roof of the car. "Whatever, kid. I'm heading to bed. Too many rednecks in too little a space." He walked past Jake, onto the lounging couch that sat on the end. Carefully, he lowered himself on it, closing his eyes.

Ellis blinked. "A'ight..."

Jake soon retired, as well, but Ellis spent the night talking to Dusty.

The morning rolled in smoothly. Ellis woke first, rubbing his eyes. The car was moving, he noticed. "Wh-What's goin' on?"

"Gotta get ourselves to fuckin' Cali, is what's goin' on." A gruff voice replied, instantly recognized as Smitty. "I got a hangover that could kill, so keep yer trap shut like yer friend there and we ain't gonna have a problem.

Ellis looked to the back of the bus, where Nick sat, eyes closed, seemingly calm. When Ellis crawled to the seat next to him, however, he pushed Ellis to the side. "Now's not the place." He said, finally.

"Fer what?" Ellis replied, crawling closer only to get pushed away again. He groaned in annoyance, sitting farther away from the man. "My buddy Keith used to do that when he was punishin' me fer somethin'. I never knew what it was, but he got mad, and wouldn't let me get near him."

"Don't associate me with your hick friend, or ex-boyfriend, or whatever he is." Ellis visibly tensed. As Nick opened his eyes, he could see one of those stupid band members staring at them. Jake, or whatever. "What are you looking at? You weren't included in this conversation."

Jake rolled his eyes and turned away, turning his attention to the front of the bus to sit in the seat next to Smitty. Ellis finally spoke, voice wavering. "He ain't never been my boyfriend, Nick. Why'du have to say that in front of them?"

"Oh come on, Ellis. You're so obviously queer that I don't think it really matters." Ellis pushed himself away this time. Nick blinked. "Why is Keith such a touchy subject with you? Build a bridge and get over it."

"It's just... you wouldn't know." He sat up, looking behind and watching the road pass by. "He'd been my best friend fer years, 23 years, and then I was given the task of shootin' him in the face." How was it that Ellis could say that without his voice wavering, his eyes watering? "Not Dave, not Jeremiah... I had ta do it. Not pretty, I promise ya. But after that, shootin' anything just isn't tear-jerkin' like that."

"Why do you continuously think you'll see Keith again?"

A pause. "Well, I mean, I didn't exactly shoot him like I promised I would. He didn't look sick 'r anything. He'd just been coughin' a lot and Dave freaked. So I just dragged him to a chopper. Unfortunately, there was no room, so..." He shrugged. "Dave wanted to get on, so I shot 'im. Jeremiah ran off after that, scared or somethin'. Keith got on the chopper, though." Nick's eyes were wide. "What? Dave coulda been infected, that's what I told the people in the chopper. He was runnin' like one. The next evac was the one I met ya'll, and the chopper was gone by then..."

"You shot someone you knew for no reason?"

"He wanted Keith's spot! Keith's more important."

Nick's hands shook. Fear. Wow, he hadn't felt that in ages. "You're crazy. Crazy."

"But you love me just the same, hmm?"

Nick frowned, mouth opening to tell him no, that he was just bat shit insane and he'd never associate himself with someone like that. "I suppose..." The words shocked him, though not Ellis. Ellis just smiled that innocent hick smile and looked to the back window again.

Nick rubbed his temples. He had a lot ahead of him.

Yayyy~ So umm... I can explain this chapter. 'Cause... Ellis is crazy, we all know that. We do, right? It isn't just me? I base Ellis a bit more off me than I should, I suppose.
I am in love with the Midnight Riders.
That just about sums it up.
If you don't know them by name, then go to their website. It's even my homepage. Squee! xD
I actually think I might end it here, or like, next chapter just have them skip to Cali and have it end there. 'Cause I really ain't no good at romance.
Ughhhh, writing in accent is rubbing off on meeee... I have to get it right, though, for any con I'm going to. I'm saving up for a full blown Ellis costume... It costs... a lot of money. Dear god.
Bleed Out made me cry, readers, it did. I continuously got the teams that wouldn't stick together, and because I'm so used to versus, I ran ahead and beat the zombies up. But, of course, then I stop and wait because they're a mile behind me and a smoker pulls me or a hunter grabs me and I die. I'm so used to the "run run run" command when playing versus that I don't even play campaign anymore. Dx Not online, anyway. The bots are faster than you'd think. And they're epic good at saving you when no one else would.
So, if deathracing, I recommend a team of 2 people, 2 bots. Preferably at least Coach bot or Nick bot, 'cause Rochelle bot and Ellis bot have some major issues.