Love Will Keep Us Alive
By: esmtz
Francis groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He was still on the ground and Ellis was clinging to him refusing to move.
"Kid, what are you…?" Francis asked.
Ellis didn't look at him and didn't even notice when Francis had started talking. Francis frowned slightly worried as he saw Ellis shaking and sobbing.
"Ellis, what's wrong?" Francis waited for Ellis to respond, but he still didn't answer or look at him, "Why are you ignoring me?"
"He's not ignoring you, Francis. It's because he can't see you now stand up already."
Francis's eyes went wide as he turned his head to the side and saw that Bill was there standing next to him looking completely annoyed as he smoked his cigarette and let out a puff of smoke. Francis immediately stood up and saw exactly why Ellis wasn't responding to him.
"Oh…" Francis said watching as Nick tried to pull Ellis off of his body.
"How can you forget that you just died, Francis?" Bill snorted shaking his head as he looked at him.
"Hey, I honestly thought I was ok for a second there alright, Bill? I just wasn't expecting to still be here. Speaking of which why are you still here, old man? Shouldn't you be up there by now?" Francis asked pointing at the sky.
Bill sighed.
"Why do I have to explain what's going on to you? It's obvious, Francis why we're still here." Bill said.
"Well for one, Bill it's because you're the only one who can see me right now and two, well you're good at explaining things so just tell me already." Francis replied looking at him.
"We're still here, Francis because we're still worried about everyone else and we refuse to leave until we know that they'll be safe." Bill told him.
Francis turned his head to look at Ellis who had now been grabbed by both Louis and Nick and were wrestling with him to try and get him to the van. Ellis was screaming completely ignoring the fact that the zombies were about to be on them again. Francis also watched in surprise as Coach picked him up and carried him to the van.
"What is Coach doing?" Francis asked.
"It was the only way that they could get the kid to get in the van." Bill sighed, "at least they care about you enough to take your body with them."
Francis looked at him.
"Bill, I'm sorry we would have gone back out there, but there was too many infected at the time even after the witches took off." Francis said looking guilty.
"Francis, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Those witches tore me to shreds and I seriously doubt any of you would have wanted to bring my body back in pieces let alone even look at what they did to me." Bill said.
Francis winced not even wanting to think about what the witches did to Bill.
"Well, now that we got that cleared up WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING, FRANCIS?!" Bill smacked him on the head.
"What the hell, old man?!" Francis said glaring at him as he rubbed his head.
Bill shook his head and glared back at Francis.
"I knew this was going to happen, but Francis seriously what you did was completely stupid!" Bill told him.
"How was saving Ellis stupid, Bill?! I was making sure that he didn't get killed!" Francis yelled at him.
Bill snorted.
"Did it ever cross your mind to pick up a molotov or perhaps look around for another pipe bomb?" Bill said pointing at a stray pipe bomb next to the stage that hadn't been with the other ones and then at the last molotov that was still on the table, "Maybe if you had, the tanks and zombies wouldn't have been on the kid the way they were and you wouldn't have done something so stupid as to stand next to a boomer and kill it and then charge at the infected!"
Francis rubbed his head feeling completely embarrassed.
"So, uh, you were watching?"
"The whole goddamn time!" Bill said, "In fact you said 'Bill's watching over us' to Zoey."
"It was just to comfort her. I didn't actually think you really were, old man." Francis replied.
"You honestly thought I would just up and leave without making sure you guys were going to be ok?!" Bill replied angrily.
"Well, uh, I assumed that once you…you know I thought that meant you crossed over already."
"What are you disappointed that I'm still here watching over your sorry ass, Francis?" Bill asked.
"That's not what I meant, Bill." Francis replied sighing.
Both of them heard as the others started driving away and saw as a tank tried running towards them to stop them, but as soon as they were out of reach it promptly died.
"Well, at least they got out ok." Francis said watching the van until it vanished from sight.
"We might as well follow them. We still need to figure out how to get you back in your body." Bill told them.
Francis raised an eyebrow looking turning back to look at him.
"What are you talking about?" Francis asked.
"I'm not letting you leave Zoey and Louis to fend for themselves and you're definitely not leaving that poor kid alone now that you've finally told him the truth which I never would have guessed, but it makes sense now." Bill replied looking at him.
Francis shook his head.
"Bill, I don't think there's a way I can be revived. What's dead is dead."
"Don't be so sure, Francis. Besides if you were to stay dead I'm sure the kid will do something drastic like try to get himself killed." Bill said.
Francis looked at him in shock and horror.
"He wouldn't…"
"Didn't you see the look on his face? I'm positive that he'll do anything to see you again even if it means death." Bill said looking at him seriously.
Francis had turned pale and couldn't seem to find a response to what Bill said.
"So, do you agree with me now that you need to be back in your body?" Bill asked.
Francis nodded and swallowed.
"So, uh, how exactly is this gonna work?" Francis asked.
"Well, let's just hope they manage to find a defibrillator soon otherwise you're more then likely going to be stuck here with me." Bill told him.
Francis scowled.
"You made it sound like we could do something about it."
"We can, since we're ghosts or spirits or whatever all we need to do is somehow let them know that a defib is nearby by making it fall off a table or make some kind of noise to alert them to it." Bill said.
Francis raised an eyebrow.
"We can do that?" Francis asked.
Bill sighed and nodded.
"I've come across a couple of other people here and they told me that we can. It just takes practice. Ever wonder why sometimes something falls to the ground and you're not the one who pushed it?"
Francis thought and shook his head.
"No, because that's never happened to me."
"Whatever, Francis. Let's just go to where the others are at." Bill replied starting to get agitated.
They both disappeared and then reappeared inside the van.
"How did we do that?" Francis asked.
"Simple, we thought about coming here so we did." Bill replied.
Coach was the one driving the van, Louis was in the passenger seat and everyone else was in the back looking at one another with worried looks. Francis's body was lying against Ellis who once again had his arms wrapped around tightly around him. Francis looked at Ellis sadly who hid his face from the others by laying his head on Francis's shoulder.
"The kids taking your death pretty hard. It's obvious he's blaming himself for it." Bill said.
Francis didn't hear him as he watched Rochelle try to approach him.
"Ellis, honey, look at me please?" Rochelle asked looking at him sadly.
Ellis slowly shook his head not bothering to look up. Zoey couldn't even look at them as she sat in the corner crying. Rochelle glanced at Nick and nodded her heard toward Ellis hoping that maybe Nick could say something that might get Ellis to look at them. Nick moved to sit next to Ellis and looked at him worried.
"Ellis, I know that I haven't exactly been nice to you at all since we've met and I'm sorry that I've been treating you like I hated you," Nick swallowed never having been good at apologizing to people, "I just wanted to tell you that I hope you're not blaming yourself because it wasn't your fault. I don't want to have to see you do anything drastic because I don't think…," Nick looked away for a second before swallowing again and looking back at Ellis who still had his head laying on top of Francis's shoulder, "I don't think I can watch you tear yourself apart because of his…" Nick couldn't say the word.
Nick already knew that Ellis was blaming himself and it was killing him seeing Ellis like this; not being his usual optimistic self who was always talking and telling stories about Keith.
"Well then don't, Nick. I didn't ask for you to take care of me." Ellis responded still not looking up.
There was an awkward silence before Nick spoke again.
"Don't you get it, overalls?! I don't want to see or hear that you got yourself killed!" Nick told him as he grabbed a hold of Ellis's left arm.
"I don't care, Nick." Ellis said coldly.
Nick looked at him with wide eyes. Everyone stayed quiet after that.
"Kid…" Francis whispered.
"He's worse then I thought." Bill said looking at Ellis then at Francis.
The van was suddenly brought to a sudden stop making everyone look at Coach.
"Why are we stopping?" Rochelle asked.
"I see a few things inside that store. Might as well check it out for a few supplies." Coach said parking the van and then getting out.
"Guys wait right here. We'll be right back." Louis said and got out of the van and followed Coach inside the store., "So what did you see?"
"I saw some drinks at the back of the store. We might as well get some for the road." Coach replied.
Francis and Bill appeared in the store and looked around.
"Try not to take too long looking for a defibrillator, Francis." Bill said as he started looking.
"Yeah, yeah. Try not to take too long getting back to the van." Francis responded.
Bill turned and glared at him, but Francis didn't see it as he looked around the other side of the room for one.
'Well, this sucks. I don't even know what one looks like.' Francis thought to himself.
Francis managed to find a couple of pain pills and pipe bombs, but nothing that looked like that could revive someone.
"I found it!" Bill yelled from the other side of the room.
Francis immediately appeared next to him making Bill roll his eyes.
"Couldn't you just walk over here?" Bill asked.
Francis shrugged.
"I guess, but it would have taken too long."
"Francis, just help me make some kind of noise." Bill sighed.
"So how much do you think we should take?" Louis asked having gotten a twelve pack of coca-cola.
"I guess this will have to do for now." Coach replied holding up a twelve pack of mountain dew.
"I guess we should get back to the van." Louis said as they started making their way back to the others.
"You know, Louis if you and Zoey want to tag along with us its fine. We'd be more then happy to have you guys with us." Coach told him smiling slightly.
"Thanks, Coach. I think we might have to accept your offer since we lost both Bill and Francis." Louis closed his eyes for a second then opened them again.
Coach was about to say something when a loud noise was heard coming from their right.
"What was that?" Louis asked.
"I don't know, but I gotta tell you if it's a zombie the only thing I got to fight with right now is this pack of mountain dew." Coach said.
"I got your back. Let's go see what it was real quick. Something probably fell off a shelf or something." Louis told him and they both slowly approached the area.
"It was just a bunch of packs of cigarettes." Coach said sighing with relief.
"That was weird." Louis frowned and then saw something on the floor, "Coach? What is that?"
Coach looked at what Louis was looking at and a smile spread wide across his face.
"Well I'll be…it's a defibrillator!"
Author's note: the drinks (coca-cola and mountain dew) are what my dad, brother and I have at home every single day. My fave is coca-cola and my dad and brother's is mountain dew. They all needed something to drink for the road so I chose mine and my family's favorites. Let me guess when I killed off Francis you guys had absolutely no faith in me that I would bring him back lol. That's ok I don't blame you for not liking me for killing Francis, but hey it was all a part of the story and he'll be back alive sometime in the next chapter. The next chapter might possibly be the last one for the story but I'm not sure yet so you'll just have to wait and see. I hope you guys liked and enjoyed the story. Poor Bill you'll have to say goodbye to him for real next chapter as soon as Francis is revived.