A/N: So I wrote this chapter kinda backwards, writing the end first and such. I couldn't think of what to put for the rest of the chapter so I had my friend help me and we kinda switched it up a bit, so let me know what you think :) and thanks, Shannon for the help. Enjoy!


"I swear to God, Ellis, if your stomach growls one more time, I'm going to shoot you," Nick grumbled.

"Sorry, I'm hungry," Ellis said.

Zoey stopped walking and bent over, hands on her knees. "Maybe we can stop and rest for a minute?" she suggested as sweat ran into her eyes.

Ellis took off his drenched hat and shook out his sweaty hair. "A break sounds real good right now," he said.

Nick sighed and dropped the backpack to the ground. "Fine, we'll take a quick break." The con man wiped sweat from his forehead and dug in the backpack. He grabbed the last remaining water bottle and opened it and drank greedily.

"Hey! No fair, man!" Ellis cried. He grabbed the bottle from Nick, making him choke. He put the bottle to his dry lips and started chugging.

"Save me some!" Zoey cried.

Guilt flashed across the young man's face as he lowered the bottle from his lips. A few drops of water were all that were left at the bottom of the bottle.

"Sorry, Zoey... I..."

"Good going, Overalls," Nick snapped.

"You drank most of it!" Ellis defended.

Nick removed his suit coat. "Doesn't matter, you finished it." He hung the coat on a tree branch and rolled the sleeves of the blue undershirt up and undid most of the buttons.

"The river should be close by. Go fill it back up," Nick tossed a few more empty ones at the kid. "These too."

Ellis caught them and scowled at the older man.

"I'll go with you," Zoey offered, her tongue feeling huge due to lack of moisture. "Nick can find a way to open the cans and probably start setting up camp."

Ellis looked at her then to Nick and shrugged. "Ok."

Zoey took a couple of the bottles as the two started towards the sound of running water a little ways off.

They came to the river a few minutes later.

Ellis shot the few infected hanging about on the other side before going about filling the water bottles. He held a bottle up and examined it.

The water was clear with only a few pieces of sand floating about. But that didn't matter.

"Looks clean," he said.

"And it's cold!" Zoey bent down next to the water, took in a breath and stuck her head under. Her hands went to her hair and she scrubbed fiercely. Blood, dirt and sweat made the water turn dark and the current quickly carried it away.

She lifted her head up and took in a gasp of breath and shook out her wet hair. "Man, that feels good!"

Ellis knelt beside her and put his face to the water. He drank greedily, mouthful after mouthful of water. Water had never tasted so good. When he was done, he looked down at himself and saw the dried blood, caked mud and crusty goo.

"I could use a washin'," he said.

Zoey looked at him. "No one's around," she said. She stood up and looked around. "I don't see any zombies."

Ellis looked around to double check. "Ya sure?"

"I'll keep watch," Zoey grabbed Ellis' shotgun. "I got a gun."

The young Southerner got up. "Ok, just holler if ya see anythin'."

Zoey smiled. "Ok."

Ellis walked down to the water and kicked off his boots. He pulled his socks off and stuffed them inside. Zoey watched as he slowly removed his shirt.

She bit her lip when she saw the angry burn running across his back and the slash marks on his sides and the scars that trailed across his shoulders.

Ellis stepped out of his coveralls and slowly waded into the water. "Holy shit! It's cold!" he cried.

Zoey giggled. "Told you!" she hollered. She watched as Ellis tried to lower himself into the water but yelped and stood back up.

Even though he had lost a bit of weight while in the base, he was still built fairly well. Being out and running around like old times was really helping him get his muscles back.

Zoey looked away when she realized she was staring.

Ellis took a deep breath and plunged under the water. He thrashed about and his head reappeared a moment later, his teeth chattering.

"You look cold," Zoey teased.

Ellis just nodded and shivered. He ducked back under and scrubbed his hair.

Something moved in the bushes and Zoey instantly became alert and stood up, gun raised.

Green eyes scanned the bushes but she saw nothing.

The bushes rustled again followed by a sadistic giggle.

Zoey cried out and fired multiple times at where the bushes moved. When the bushes didn't move anymore, she sighed and lowered her gun to her side.

A crushing weight landed on her shoulders and caused her to stumble. The gun fell from her hands as laughter entered her ears.

Her hands went to her face where claws dug in painfully. Whatever the creature was, it was causing her to stumble this way and that, almost like it was controlling her.

She tried to shake the thing off but it led her farther and farther from her original spot.

"ELLIS!" she screamed.

Through the claws digging at her face, she watched helplessly as Ellis jumped out of the water and began to ran after her.

He stopped just long enough to grab his gun and kept running at a full sprint.

The creature laughed and led Zoey farther away.

"Help!" she cried as the creature pulled her to the ground. She hit hard, tears exploding in her eyes, blurring her vision.

"Ya son of a bitch!" Ellis yelled and fired once, twice, three times.

Zoey wiped the tears as Ellis pulled her up.

"You ok?" he asked, worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Zoey replied, still shaken up a bit.

Ellis dusted off her back and went about examining the cuts on her face and neck. His blue eyes full of worry.

"Them Jockey's are nasty little bitches," he said.

Zoey shivered slightly. She looked down at the body beside them. The zombie was short with a messed up spine and huge hands and feet.

The college girl wrinkled her nose at it.

She turned back to her savior and found him looking at her, still worried.

"Ya sure yer ok?" he asked in his southern drawl.

Zoey smiled. "I'm fine, just a few cuts and bruises." She realized Ellis was still dripping wet and still in just his boxers from being in the river. His hands gently gripped her shoulders. She met his eyes.

She opened her mouth to thank him. Instead she found herself taking a step closer to him and pressing her lips against his.

Ellis tensed at first but after a second, he relaxed, kissing her back and wrapping his arms around her.

As quickly as the kiss started, it ended.

Ellis pushed Zoey away, catching her off guard.

Zoey turned to him confused and saw he had a horrified look on his face. He took a few steps back away from her, eyes wide.

"What?" Zoey asked, hurt.

All Ellis could do was shake his head and keep backing up.

Zoey took a few steps towards him. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

Ellis just kept backing away from her, shaking his head with that horrified look on his face.

"Ellis, what is it?" Zoey asked, starting to feel sick. "Am I disgusting or something?" Tears started to well up in her eyes.

"No!" Ellis finally found his voice. He made it back to his clothes. "I'm really sorry, Zoey. I'm really sorry..." he began to quickly dress, not meeting her eye.

Zoey stood still, just watching him.

The kid adjusted the hat on his head and muttered to himself. "Nick is gonna kill me..."

"Why?" Zoey asked.

Ellis looked at her, guilt heavy in his eyes. "If only yer memory would come back... Ya would understand..." he looked away and fiddled with his gun. "Yer not supposed ta like me... Ya really hate me..."

Before Zoey could reply, a figure barreled down the brush nearby and sent Ellis to the mud, gripping his jaw.

"I'm gonna kill you!" it growled before a black boot made contact with Ellis' abdomen.

He was tall, very tall. His arms were covered in ink and his hair was buzzed short. He was dressed in all black except for the stained white tank top under his vest.

He continued to kick the younger man while he was down, yelling and swearing at him in a deep voice.

It took a moment for Zoey to process who he was.

"Francis!" she cried out and ran at the big man. "Francis stop!"

She was shoved aside as Francis knelt down and began to punch Ellis. Ellis fought back the best he could but in his weakened state, he was no match.

"STOP IT!" Zoey screamed.

A flash of white sent Francis to the bushes next to Zoey.

Nick tackled the biker and began to throw a few punches.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Nick growled as his fist made contact with Francis' nose.

Francis growled and swung out and hit Nick's eye.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard!" Francis growled.

Ellis groaned and gripped his stomach as he tried to get up. Zoey ran to him and started to help him up even though the kid protested.

Once he was on his feet, Zoey turned to the two men fighting.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" she ran up to them and tried to push them apart.

"Zoey!" Ellis cried.

A fist hit Zoey's mouth and she fell and cried out.

Both men stopped fighting and looked over at her.

She spit blood into the dirt and let a sob escape her. Tears fell down her cheeks and she began to tremble.

"What's going on?" she asked between sobs.

Nick wiped blood from his mouth and stood up. "I was about to ask the same thing."

Francis got up as well and glared daggers at the youngest member of the group, making him squirm a bit.

"This inbred tried pulling shit," Francis growled, taking a menacing step towards the young Georgian.

"No..." Ellis began to protest.

Zoey glared up at Francis through her tears. "I kissed him," she said.

"What?!" Nick glared at her then at Ellis.

"I have no idea what is going on," Zoey went on. "Next thing I know, you're beating the living shit out of him and then Fancy Pants here joins in and shit just hit the fan."

Francis took a few steps closer to her, looking at her closely. "What do you mean you have no idea?"

Zoey sighed. "I don't know what is going on! I mean, who are you?"

Francis blinked. "Who am I?" he asked shocked.

"All I know is that your name is Francis and I traveled with you at one point and we got seperated."

Nick crossed him arms. "Now would probably be a good time to tell you that she hit her head and has no memory of what's happened the past few months," he said.

"What?!" Francis growled.

Nick nodded. "And to answer your question, Zoey, that brute is your boyfriend, surprise!"

Zoey's jaw dropped. "What...? How...?" She was at a loss of words. She spun around and met Ellis' sad and quiltly gaze. He quickly lowered his eyes and swallowed.

Her legs gave out and Francis caught her and lifted her into his arms. She just closed her eyes and let a few tears fall.

Francis looked at the other men. "Which way to the Safe house?" he asked.

Nick pointed over his shoulder. "No Safe house but camp is that way."

Francis nodded and carried Zoey the way Nick had pointed.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Nick turned on Ellis. He grabbed the kid's shirt and glared at him.

"What the hell did Coach tell you back at Rayford?" he snapped. "He told you to stay the hell away from her or else Francis would kill you, you're just damn lucky I came looking for you!"

Ellis shrank aware from the cold glare. "'M sorry, she kissed me and I didn't know that Francis was watchin'."

Nick let go of his shirt and shook his head. "We better head back before Grease Monkey eats all the food."

The younger of the two took a few steps forward before stopping. "Hey, Nick, what would you do if I said I liked it?" he asked.

Nick didn't look back but shook his head, cursing the young man. "I would kill you."

"That's what I thought," Ellis said before following Nick into the brush.

By the time they made it back to their supplies, Francis had already finished off the Spaghetti O's and was starting on a can of beans.

Nick ran up and snatched the can out of Francis' gloved hand.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Francis growled.

The con man scowled at the bigger man. "This is all we have left! And you fucking ate most of it!"

Francis wiped his hands on his pants. "Calm down, Colonel Sanders, we'll find more."

Zoey looked up at him. "We haven't found a safe house in days," she said.

Francis just shrugged and scratched at his beard. One of his gloves were missing.

Nick reached into his pocket and threw the other glove at its owner. "That's yours I believe, smells bad enough so it must be."

Francis glared at both the other men and caught his glove and put it back on.

Nick sat on a fallen log and Ellis sat next to him, eyes nervously watching Francis.

"So you gonna tell us what happened?" Nick asked. He handed the half of a can of beans to Ellis. The young man looked at them a second before digging in.

Francis snorted. "Sure, he gets to eat," he grumbled.

"You already had an entire can of Spaghetti O's, fatass!" Nick snapped.

"Just tell us your damn story!" Zoey said, trying to avoid another fight.

Francis looked at her before speaking. "Not much to say, Me, Zoey and Coach got separated from the rest of you when the Tank chased us off towards the woods. We killed it and tried to meet up with Rochelle and Louis but it started to rain and we got lost. Me and the big guy slid down some huge hill into a river. That's when I lost both Zoey and Coach, been wandering around trying to find them since." He glared at Ellis. "Instead, I run into you guys."

Nick sighed. "Well, you're no help then," he said.

Francis narrowed his eyes. "That's it? No welcome wagon? No 'are you ok'?" he asked sarcastically.

"I think you already got that," Nick cracked his knuckles and stood up. "Better get comfy, looks like we'll be camping here for the night."

"I hate camping," Francis grumbled.

Zoey looked at him. "Is there anything you don't hate?" she asked.

Francis chuckled. "She remembers something." He tucked his arm under his head and closed his eyes. Snores came moments later.

Nick shook his head and rested his head on the backpack. "His snores alone are gonna drag that Tank right back here," he muttered before he closed his eyes.

Ellis and Zoey didn't move from where they were sitting.

Nick's breathing slowed and deepened as he drifted off.

Ellis met Zoey's gaze after a moment.

He opened his mouth to speak but Zoey beat him to it.

"Why didn't you tell me I had a boyfriend?" she asked.

"I..." Ellis looked away and bit his lip painfully. The thought had never crossed his mind, he had figured Zoey would remember it on her own. The last thing he expected was for Zoey to start liking him. "I don't know..."

Zoey looked over at Francis' sleeping form and frowned. With a sigh she laid down next to him and let him wrap his arm around her in his sleep.

She was fast asleep moments later.

Ellis turned away from the couple and swallowed the rising bile in his throat. He closed his eyes tightly and let out a shaky sigh. He had only felt this way one other time in his life and it was months ago, in the driver seat of his childhood hero's car when he caught a glance of the rearview mirror. Up on the bridge, was the girl he had completely fallen for shooting frantically. Moments later, tattooed arms wrapped themselves around her protectively. Without realizing it, Ellis' foot pressed the accelerator to the floor, he didn't watch the road, just the couple in the mirror until he couldn't see them anymore.

The kid wrapped his arms around himself and rested his forehead on his knees.

"I'm an idiot..."

Something moved close by and Nick jumped, awake and alert.

He looked around the tiny campsite, taking a headcount.

Francis and Zoey were lying side by side to his right. Zoey sighed in her sleep and Francis pulled her closer, mumbling something.

Across from them was Ellis who sat with his legs pulled up to his chest, his head resting on his knees.

At first Nick thought he was awake and that he was the one that had made the noise but after calling out his name a few times quietly, he found the young man was asleep.

Ellis groaned in his sleep and fell over onto his side. He mumbled a few words but didn't wake up.

Nick stood up and grabbed the nearest gun. Something moved in the bushes behind Ellis.

Nick stepped over Ellis' sleeping form as he mumbled something about laughter and curled into a tighter ball.

Once he was in the brush, Nick clicked on the flashlight and swept the small beam over the nearby trees and brush. When he didn't see anything, he turned to go back to the others when he saw it. It was just a quick glance out the corner of his eye. He spun around just in time to see a dark figure disappear into the darkness.

Nick's heart began to pound.

He had figured that Francis was the figure he kept seeing in the brush. The height and build was about the same. But Francis was back at camp, fast asleep.

The figure wasn't Francis. It was too tall to be Louis or Rochelle and too thin to be Coach.

Nick turned and ran back to where the others were sleeping, fear spreading throughout his body.

Whoever or whatever it was was following them.


A/N: My brother has been playing a lot of Slender, can you tell?