Hey guys, its Yobloc20 here. Sorry about the last chapter being so short! I was working on it late and I really wanted to update so sorry! This one will be longer. Favourite, Review and Enjoy! Valve owns all the characters.
Chapter 12: Fresh Starts
Ellis was stuck again. There was no walking away. She was standing right there, in the doorway. Her emerald green eyes focused on him as he tried to work out what he was going to do. It was almost like time had frozen as seconds were feeling like hours. She spoke first.
"Ellis, we need to talk." Is all she said as she continued gazing at him. That sentence mad him turn pale. He started to distract himself with the bottle of water in his hands. "Uhh, y-yeah sure. W-what is it?" He was barely able to reply. His heart was pounding a million times a minute. He never knew he could be this bad around girls. Usually he was fine around them.
"You've been acting strange today. What's up?" Zoey asked as she took a step forward to the mechanic who was only getting increasingly nervous. Ellis racked around in his brain for an answer, an excuse, a lie. Anything.
"I am fine Zoey. I-I'm honestly fine." He tried to reason with her but she knew something else was on his mind. She shook her head, rejecting that as a viable excuse. "I know there's something on your mind, you can tell me Ellis. You can trust me." She urged him, obviously still curious about the incident between them earlier.
Ellis just shook his head. Why wouldn't she let it go? Ellis composed himself again. "Goddamn it Ellis, you can talk to a girl." He urged himself. "I was just thinking about an old friend of mine, ma'am." Ellis lied to her without stuttering, much to his surprise. Zoey raised an eyebrow at the mechanic. "What happened to him?" She asked with some curiosity. Ellis just shrugged. "I dunno ma'am. I think he might be alright. He was a crazy son of a bitch." Ellis admitted, suddenly becoming genuinely sad as he thought about Keith's fate.
"I'm sure he's okay Ellis." She remarked as she edged slightly closer to him, her hands behind her back. "If there is something on your mind Ellis, you tell me okay? You know I'm here for you, right?" She commented to the young man, who nodded back in response. His stomach did a flip when he heard that. "Oh and what did I say about calling me 'ma'am'?" She exclaimed with a smile. "Oh yeah, sorry about that Zoey." He responded with a grin. He was finding it much easier to talk to her, and to think properly for that matter. Ellis was grateful she didn't bring up what happened earlier, as he had no explanation for it.
"We probably need to change your bandages by the way." She added, pointing at his arm. "Oh yeah, I should probably do that, shouldn't I?" He replied with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. She gestured at him to follow her as she walked out of the kitchen. Ellis put the water back in the fridge and walked back into the sitting room, where they had applied the bandages yesterday. She patted the couch beside her with a big grin on her face as he took a seat on the worn out sofa.
Zoey started unravelling the many layers of bandages she had put on his arm the previous day. Ellis tried to hide his wincing as she examined his arm with a gentle touch. "I'm sorry, am I hurting you?" She quickly asked as she noticed the pained expression on his face. "Nah, it's alright. I'm fine." He reassured her with a smile. She began softly cleaning his arm with a wet cloth, careful not to rub too hard. She applied more of the weird smelling spray onto the bruised area and got out a new roll of bandages.
Zoey took her time re-bandaging his arm as to not deal big amounts of pain for Ellis. "You're good at this medical stuff, ain't ya?" He commented with his signature grin, noticing her skill and focus while wrapping his arm. She looked up at him and returned the smile. "I learned through experience I guess." She responded.
Ellis grinned as she carefully inspected his arm some more. "Shit Ellis, I can only imagine how much this hurt." Zoey flinched as she ran her fingers delicately over his arm. "Aw it's nothin'. I've been through worse." Ellis tried to play it off, Zoey giggling at his attempt at male bravado. "Oh really? You must be a real tough guy huh?" Zoey joked. Ellis laughed and shrugged. "I suppose that would make me a tough guy, wouldn't it?" Ellis replied.
She rolled the bandages around his arm one more time before cutting it and putting the remaining bandage roll back in the first aid kit and zipped it back up. "All done." She added as Ellis inspected his arm. "Thanks a bunch Zoey, really." Ellis said as she got up off the couch.
"Don't worry about it Ellis." She replied as she looked back with a smile. And with that, she was gone. Ellis slumped back onto the couch and took a deep breath.
"Man oh man, she is beautiful."
Zoey strolled back down the hall. She was happy she had got to clear some things up with Ellis. She was still in the dark about the whole incident earlier but decided to leave it for another day. She went to check on how much progress the others had made. She had told them she was going to change Ellis's bandages but she had taken a while to do it. They were probably wondering what was taking her so long.
Ellis was a really nice and friendly guy. She was happy there was actually someone her age that she could relate to on some matters. There were only so many conversations you could have with a biker and an IT technician. From what she had seen from Ellis so far, he was mainly an optimist. But he could also act very strangely sometimes.
He also had a pretty cute smile.
Zoey instantly wiped that idea from her mind. She had no time to think about that. She arrived back with the others who were waiting for her to come back. Nick had his frying pan in his hand while Francis had his usual machete, blood stains dried into the sharp metal.
"What took you so long?" Francis questioned, wanting to get this done. "Oh nothing. Just re-bandaging his arm." Zoey explained. "Alright everyone ready to go?" Coach enquired and got a nod from mostly everyone in response. Nick opened the door, which creaked heavily. There was a long, wooden staircase down to complete darkness. Nick clicked on his flashlight and began aiming it down the stairs. Dust particles passed through its beam as it revealed another white door at the bottom of the staircase.
Nick and Francis lead the group down, Louis stayed at the top of the stairs due to his leg. Rochelle turned on her flashlight as she shone it over Nicks shoulder. The conman was the first to reach the bottom of the staircase; he waited for the others to get behind him. He placed his ear up against the door, trying to hear whatever was on the other side.
Dead silence.
He slowly turned the knob which gave a click and the door creaked open. Nick shone his flashlight around the place, trying to draw any immediate threats to the open. The group advanced through the darkness as they stuck close together. Nick and Rochelle aimed their flashlights around the dusty room, searching for any danger.
"There, the light switch!" Coach called out as he ran over and pressed a few switches. And sure enough, the bar lit up in a hazy glow, revealing no infected in the building.
The bar was half stocked with fine alcohol, much to the survivors delight. The barstools were up on the counter. A pool table sat in the middle of the room, two cues lying horizontal across it. A few tables with the chairs stacked on top were here and there, while a line of booths, with red cushioning and a large dark brown wooden table sat in the middle of each. They were all lined up along the wall.
A few neon signs were at the bar, turned off of course. Some fridges stocked with bottles of beer behind the counter. The survivors had hit an alcoholic goldmine.
"Holy shit, why didn't we open up here sooner?" Nick exclaimed Nick in an unusually cheery tone as he hopped the counter and began examining the booze this place had to offer.
"Nice thinking Rochelle!" Francis remarked as he began taking some of the chairs off the tables. Rochelle gave a shrug and smirked. "No problem, I could sense the alcohol down here." She got a reply of laughter. Ellis came bolting down the stairs as he desperately wanted to see the bar, and he was not disappointed.
"Oh man! This place is awesome!" The young man chirped as he strolled over behind the counter. "They have beer too y'all!" He exclaimed like an amazed child in a candy store. Louis hobbled carefully down the stairs not too long later and was happy the group had made such a useful discovery. "I didn't go to many bars before this but I could sure get used to this place." Louis said as he examined the pool table with great interest. The survivors were very happy with their new expansion; there were even eight or nine packets of the classic, over salted bar peanuts under the counter. It was a very fruitful discovery in the end overall.
An hour later
The group of seven had now returned back to the main room, waiting for dinner which Coach and Louis were preparing in the kitchen. Ellis and Zoey were now sitting in the corner of the room by themselves, chatting and laughing hysterically at the misadventures of Keith. It was a surprise to most of the group that Ellis could actually speak properly to Zoey now, and with some confidence. Nick walked up beside Rochelle and leaned down to her. "Looks like Overalls grew some balls." He whispered to her with a chuckle as Rochelle tried to hold in her laughter. Francis sat at the table, cleaning his machete with a worn out cloth.
"And this one time, Keith fell down an open manhole." Ellis chimed away.
Nick heard Ellis mutter the sentence and groaned to himself. How could Zoey find his annoying stories entertaining? Nick had found them irritating after barely a day. He watched as Zoey would gaze at Ellis with a smile, listening intently to his every word about how Keith escaped from the sewers after being paved in, and then burst into more immature laughter again. Nick shook his head in mere disbelief.
"There is no way in hell Zoey could possibly like him back." The conman thought to himself.
Coach and Louis emerged from the kitchen with some five bowls of pasta; the other two were in Tupperware boxes. They handed them out. Everyone was starving after a long day, so no one hesitated in wolfing down the surprisingly delicious pasta. Conversation filled the room as the survivors laughed and talked in harmony, ignorant to the constant death and war that raged on outside of these walls.
Rochelle swallowed her pasta and gazed over at Louis. "Thanks so much for this Louis. It's so nice!" She exclaimed as he shook his head, smiling.
"Hey, we look after our own." He replied.
