Bad Blood – Chapter One

I could hear someone grunting, followed by a cough. I opened one eye slowly, and then the other. Ellis and Francis were slumped on a couple of chairs, the latter's head tilted back.

They were both asleep.

I raised my head and slowly sat up. Nick's arm slipped from my stomach and onto my lap, and I turned my head to look at him. His mouth was slightly open, and he was obviously still in a deep sleep. His hair was slightly tousled, and I giggled.

He looked so adorable, even if he was slightly unshaven and quite dirty. "Adorable" wasn't a word I'd normally use to describe him, but that morning, he reminded me of a baby. One that had a week's worth of stubble and other facial hair.

I stood up and made my way over to where the weapons were, and chose two assault rifles (one for me and one for Nick). I selected the appropriate ammunition from the nearby pile of bullets and slid a clip into the rifle.

"Jen?' Ellis called, ruffling his hair as he walked over to me. "Where you going?"

"I'm going to try and reinforce the house a little," I told him. "Since we're staying here for a while, it'd be nice if we could spread out a bit."

Ellis nodded. "Cool. I'll come with you."

I was about to refuse when I hear Francis yawn and stretch. "Okay. Francis can look after Nick, then."

"Hey, I am not taking care of suit," Francis said loudly. "You stay here, and Ellis and I will barricade the doors and windows."

"But-"

"Come on, Jen," Francis interrupted. "What do you think Nick's going to do if he sees me when he wakes up? He'll probably go apeshit crazy. Stay here and Ellis and I will take care of business."

"Fine," I said, conceding. I set the assault rifle down and watched as Ellis and Francis grabbed their chosen weapons and headed into the house. Once they were gone I shut the door, sitting cross-legged beside Nick.

I wondered how many days we'd need to stay here; I had no idea how long it took for a broken arm to completely heal. I did twist my ankle during prom a few years back, but after three days I was back on my feet again. I sighed.

Fucking Tanks, I thought irritably. If I see another one I am shooting the shit out of it.

I could hear Ellis and Francis moving stuff around and I flexed my fingers, finally resting them on Nick's cupped palm. His fingers twitched slightly, and then I heard him clear his throat.

"Hey sweetheart."

"Hey. How are you?"

"Don't worry. I'm not done yet," Nick assured me. "Where's heehaw and the greasy monkey?"

"They're fortifying the house. We're going to be here for some time." I squeezed Nick's hand and stood up, helping him to his feet. I wasn't surprised when Nick picked up the assault rifle I had set aside for him and reloaded it with one of the clips. I knew he wasn't the type to just stand idly by, and despite having a broken arm he moved fast.

I opened a few cans for breakfast, and Nick and I waited for Francis and Ellis to come back. When they did, they assured me that the previous owners were probably the ones who had boarded most of the doors and windows, and that they didn't even have to do much.

"Good thing I'm invincible," Francis declared, chewing on some meatloaf. "Otherwise you'd all be screwed."

Nick snorted. "Screwed? I don't think so."

"Yeah whatever, Nick. If you weren't handicapped I'd challenge you to an arm wrestling match. That'll show us who's the bigger asset," Francis declared, grinning.

"Pffft. That'd easily be me. Your head's too far up your ass," Nick shot back.

"They really like going at it, don't they," I said, leaning towards Ellis.

"Yeah. They've got superiority issues. Best let them be, they'll stop eventually." Ellis smiled at me and continued popping pineapple chunks in his mouth.

I smiled back and ate a sardine. It tasted salty, but the sauce was good. I washed the fishy taste from my mouth and swirled the water around my mouth before swallowing.

Once we finished breakfast, we debated on what to do. Nick insisted his arm was fine, but I was having none of it. He and I had argued for some time before Francis loudly suggested that we wait for another day or two before setting out.

"No reason for you to go out there and get your arm twisted," Francis said. "I hate your guts, but I'm not leaving you behind."

"Wow, that makes me feel a lot better," Nick muttered. But it was decided, and so we looked for things to do.

Ellis had taken sniper position on the roof and was systematically taking out the Infected that were near the house. I joined him for some time before climbing back down to help Nick replace his bandages.

"Doesn't look bad," Nick said when I removed the strips of cloth. "I think it's just got a small crack."

I frowned at him. "Are you sure you're not downplaying this? Nick, you're as stubborn as I am, but we're not leaving unless your arm is healed."

"It's not!" Nick insisted. "I wouldn't lie about this, Jen."

"Okay. But we're still staying here for a day or two," I said firmly. I then applied the medicine and fashioned a new sling for him to wear. This amused Francis to no end, and he spent most of the day making jokes about Nick's handicap.

Nick wasn't the kind of person to let someone take a jab at him and let them get away with it, so Ellis and I had to listen to their banter all day long.

At first it was entertaining, but by the afternoon I was getting tired of it. I decided to go up to the roof and snipe for a bit, swearing that I wouldn't do anything rash, stupid, or foolish. I asked Ellis if I could borrow his sniper rifle and then pocketed two clips of bullets.

As I climbed onto the roof, I lay on my stomach and pressed the scope of my rifle to my right eye. I could see Infected in the garden of the house across the street, and I took these down as quickly as I could. I was able to make some particularly nice shots, but there were still some that went a little off course.

Dusk fell and I slipped the remaining clip in my pocket and went back inside. Francis and Ellis had found a battered chessboard in one of the rooms. They were on their second game (Francis had won the first) when I arrived. Nick was watching them, occasionally giving side comments.

"Who's winning?" I asked, setting the sniper rifle and clip down with the other weapons. "I see someone's about to get checkmated."

"Aw man I knew I sucked at this!" Ellis exclaimed, throwing his cap down in frustration. "You win, Francis."

Francis grinned widely and raised his hands in victory. I smiled and moved Ellis's bishop to a square, trapping Francis's king between a rook and knight.

"Busted," Nick said, laughing. "Guess you're not that good of a chess player, huh?"

"I hate chess," Francis said, getting to his feet.

"Big surprise there," Nick muttered under his breath.