Time frame: Directly following the previous chapter

Rating: T

Description: Rescue, starting over

Of course with having so many people needing rescue, not everybody was able to pile onto Zoey's dirt bike and speed off to safety. The group agreed to start walking in the direction that she gave them and she'd ride as many people as she could to the shed, drop one person off, and come back for more of them until the dirt bike gave out. It was about four miles from the shop to the shed, and those that were walking were responsible for themselves until Zoey was able to return. Without having nearly enough bullets to kill off every zombie they came across, the group relied on melee weapons more than anything else.

Zoey decided that it was in everyone's best interest to take the doctor to safety first, not only because Ylaina was more qualified to provide medical care for Derek's gunshot wound, but also because with her leg being broken, she would not be able to keep up with the rest of her group. She was not yet able to even walk a few steps without agonizing pain.

When Ylaina was dropped off at the shed with Sid, Zoey went back to find her group, traveling in her direction as fast as their feet would carry them. As much as she wanted to get Louis out of harm's way next, she reasoned that he was an able-bodied man and would be better suited to help the others. Nick was the next in line for poorest-health, but he rejected help and chose to stay behind with his group.

She opted to take Danny to the shed next, not because he was sick or injured, but because he argued less about being assisted to help. He was not the same as his group members. He still had a soft heart and would rather avoid fighting if he could.

Step by step, Zoey forced more people onto the dirt bike, helping them along until she ran her only means of transportation into the ground with still six group members left out on their own.

Ellis, Keith, Coach, Nick, Francis, and Jared continued to make their trek as quickly as possible in the direction of the shed, while the sun began to sink. There was only one mile left to run and since there were no zombies to be seen in this area, they chose to just run the last mile to the best of their abilities. It was not muck of a problem for Ellis and Jared to run. Both were in great physical condition. Keith was keeping up pretty well, too. Nick, Coach, and Francis all needed to stop and catch their breath frequently but alas the remains of the group made it to the shed before night fell.

John came out of the shed to greet the remaining six members of his group.

"Sid's here. She's fine. She's been staying here with Zoey." He announced, seeming incredibly blissful at the news that his closest companion was alive and well.

In her haste, Zoey forgot to mention that she found one of the other group's missing companions, so Derek being alive and in her care came as a surprise when everyone was up to speed.

When he was awake again, the friends he'd made in his old group took turns visiting with him and helping Zoey take care of him, so that she had a break from all the work she was doing.

"It's nice to see you, Keith." Derek said quietly, moving to lay on his side, facing his company that decided to show up after both Ellis and Danny left.

"Hey…" Keith muttered awkwardly, "what did you do to your eye?"

Keith hung back while Ellis and Danny were visiting with Derek, so he wasn't brought up to speed on the nature of the man's injuries.

"Gunshot wound, believe it or not. It went clear through the back of my head and blew out my eyeball." Derek answered automatically, as if he'd answered this question several times already.

"The back? That means that you didn't do it yourself, huh?" Keith suggested.

Nobody shoots themselves in the back of the head.

"That's the thing of it. I guess getting shot in the head can fuck your memory up pretty bad. I don't remember a thing. The entire day around the time I got shot is a haze. I remember little bits and pieces but nothing helpful. I know that I didn't shoot myself, but other than that I'm at a complete loss." He replied slowly, still struggling to piece words together.

"You don't remember nothing? No people?" He asked, almost not wanting to know if there was some memory that Derek could place.

"It wasn't you, was it?" Derek asked, a weak smirk coming over his face.

Keith shook his head.

"I was mad at you, but you know I'd never-"

Derek waved his sentence away.

"I know. I know it wasn't you. You may be several things, but you're not a killer."

"Apparently neither was the person that shot you, though. Because, here you are, still alive n shit." Keith pointed out.

"I guess you're right. But it wasn't for lack of trying. After Ylaina examined me, she said someone shot me in the back of the head at point blank range. What idiot can't kill a handcuffed man at point blank range?" Derek scoffed.

"You were handcuffed?" Keith questioned.

In reply, Derek offered one of his wrists. The cuff itself was still on, but looked severely beat up. The chain that held his wrists together was cut. Derek's wrist itself appeared to have gained a few new lacerations, probably done accidentally when the cuffs were tampered with.

"Zoey and Louis managed to cut the chain while I was out. They tried real hard to remove the cuffs but they were only able to loosen them a bit. It's fine, though. I'll get them off at some point."

The wheels in Keith's head were spinning now.

Jared did this? Not only did he attempt to murder a man, he did it in such a cold, calculated way that there was no way to dance around his intentions.

"But…why would someone need to handcuff you?"

Derek shrugged.

"Complete and utter cowardice, I guess. Whoever shot me made sure that I had no way to defend myself."

"That's low." Keith asserted.

Very low. I told him. I fucking told him to let it go. Derek and I had our differences, our fights, and sometimes my hatred for him. But deep down, all things considered, we were pretty much square. We're both guilty of doing fucked up things to each other. Him more than me, but we were dealing with it.

"Yeah…but hey. At least you're talking to me again. I guess getting shot in the head wasn't all bad."

"Speaking of which…how far back does your memory go?" Keith asked hesitantly.

He had to know. Not only did he know and regret cheating on Jared, he wanted to know if he was the only one carrying the load. If Derek didn't remember anymore, there was less of a risk.

"I know what you're doing, and yes, I remember what happened at the lab. It's still our little secret." Derek attempted to wink, but with only one eye, the delivery was not the same.

Keith sighed a quiet 'thank you'.

"I can't help but notice, though. I've been awake for about an hour or so, and you haven't said a word to your boyfriend since you got into the shed. Not a word that I've noticed." Derek whispered, so that only he and Keith would be able to hear.

The rest of the group wasn't listening anyway. They were all at the other side of the shed, catching up and talking amongst themselves.

"We had a fight. We…broke up." Keith explained, hurt still very clear in his voice.

Derek tsked.

"Damn, I'm sorry. Hey, since I'm the only one that knows about it, if you want to talk…ya know, you can, right?"

Keith's eyebrows pushed together, skeptical and confused.

"Why are you being all nice to me?"

"Well," Derek started, "something about almost getting killed kind of puts things into perspective. I was hard on you the other day, said some things I shouldn't have said. Deep down, you and me are okay. We have more secrets between us than the Catholic Church, so it's only fitting to add some more secrets, right?"

Keith nodded slowly.

"It's only fitting."

"A gunshot? How the fuck?" Nick asked incredulously.

"I don't know. But that's what happened. Guy had a bullet rip through his brain and he's still awake and able to talk." Ellis clarified.

Nick shook his head.

"He's either tough as an ox or really lucky. Did he tell you who did it?"

Ellis faltered, the excitement of being in the know lost.

"No. Accordin to Zoey, he doesn't remember anything about it."

"You think it was one of us?" Nick asked under his breath, motioning subtly at the group off to his right.

The younger man pondered a moment.

Could it have been one of us?

On and off I've spend several months with these people. Are any of them capable of murder? Well, attempted-murder.

There's Nick of course, but he was with me when the gunshot rang out.

Derek himself was definitely capable of killing, but there's no way he did that to himself. The laws of nature wouldn't allow it.

Maybe John? But there's no real reason for him to have any bad blood with Derek.

Was it Keith? He's the only one that makes sense, but there's no way. I've known him since we were babies. He would never do something like this.

"I really don't know. I don't wanna believe that we've all been living with a killer, but Hell…what other explanation is there?" Ellis admitted.

Nick ran a hand through his hair, grasping at the fibers of reality for an explanation that was even close to as logical.

"A marauder, maybe?"

Clearly this was not a good enough explanation judging by the skeptical look on Ellis' face.

"Why would a marauder need to handcuff Derek, rather than just shoot him?"

Nick didn't have an answer for that. Hell, he didn't actually buy into the marauder theory. He just threw out the possibility to ease Ellis into a false sense of security. He'd already made up his mind. The shooter was definitely someone in their group.

"We could stop dancing around the elephant in the room, El. I mean, everybody saw Jared pop Psychopath Jones in the mouth when they first met. He's just as likely as anybody else to have been involved." Nick whispered.

"Hey, you're right. I kinda forgot about that. I also forgot about somethin that happened a few days ago. I walked out back for a second and Keith was standin around by the trashcans, real upset about something. Seems like he's having a real shitty last couple of days." Ellis explained in as hushed a tone as possible.

"We all have. Remember, Ellis? When we spent the last couple fucking days of our lives in a basement? Hmm, something too, about…zombies running around on top of us all day and night?" Nick replied, irritated.

"I meant especially. Ever since that day, he's not happy."

"We've all got our own shit going on upstairs, kid. Stubbs puts on his pants one leg at a time, too." Nick explained, not disregarding what the Southerner was saying, but not jumping to conclusions.

"But-"

"I'm not telling you not to pry around. If you think he knows more than he's letting on, find out." Nick instructed.

Ellis nodded, growing more excited about living out a childhood Scooby Doo-like fantasy.

"Right. I'll talk to him and kinda hint around to gauge where he's at upstairs."

"Okay, but be discreet, for fuck sake." Nick grunted.

With over a dozen people crammed into a 30-foot space, it was hard to have private conversations, but with the sudden lack of zombie activity after the horde was over slowly made it a little safer to go outside.

"Hey buddy." Ellis said quietly a full day after his conversation with Nick.

This had been the first time Ellis was actually able to get Keith alone for a private conversation. He had to wait until the lot of them were spending enough time outside to try setting up a perimeter around the shed, to add a little more safety to their dwelling.

Nick caught a glance at his partner grooming his best friend for some secret-sharing and decided to make himself useful by talking to Derek, who was awake and sitting out in front of the shed, getting fresh air for the first time in days.

With little supplies, the group was using what they had, which usually meant attempting to weave fallen tree branches about living trees, forming a hap-hazard fence. It was definitely a work in progress.

"Morning, El." Keith answered, attempting to point several sharp pieces of wood outward from between two trees.

It was possible he thought that the zombies had a chance of running into these pointy sticks and spearing themselves. Even though some of them were strong enough to tear through houses.

"I've been meanin to check in on ya. I just haven't been able to get you alone." Ellis started, not wanting it to seem like he was only after information.

If anybody cared, it was Ellis. He wanted to know what was going on in his best friend's life, especially if it was something that had him so choked up. That's what friends were for. They were supposed to help one another and making Keith feel better was always Ellis' initial goal.

"I'm okay. I was just havin' a pretty rough day is all." Keith started, hoping that answering with short replies would keep Ellis from prying.

"Come on, Keith. Don't just dismiss me like you do. Something's wrong and I wanna know what's eatin you alive." Ellis pushed, accustomed to Keith not wanting to talk about things.

He never did. He was always keeping his pain to himself. It was probably because he was taught that nobody gave a shit about him from a young age, but Ellis did. Ellis gave a gigantic shit about Keith.

Keith continued to busy himself, trying to appear that he was doing just fine and didn't have time to have a heart to heart with his best friend.

"I tell you everything, man." Ellis said sternly.

That was the truth. Aside from initially telling Keith about being in an intimate relationship with Nick, there wasn't a thing he didn't share with Keith. The guy knew him about as well as he knew himself. The way Ellis saw it, the two of them were like brothers, at least he always hoped. Being an only child was lonely unless his best friend was around.

"I know, El. I know, but sometimes there's shit I gotta deal with on my own."

Ellis scoffed.

"Sure, I get that." Ellis replied, pulling a half-empty whiskey bottle out of his coat and offering it to his friend. It was a kid gesture, but Ellis also knew that Keith's lips loosened up a bit when he had a few shots in him.

"Where'd you get that?" Keith asked, taking a hurried mouthful.

"It's Nick's, but he's not supposed to drink anymore, so it's yours now." Ellis smiled, watching his friend take several drinks over the next ten minutes before stowing the bottle away in his coat pocket.

After waiting long enough for Keith's movements to slow and his speech to slur slightly, Ellis tried again.

"So, you wanna tell me what's been botherin you?" Ellis asked, standing beside Keith and helping him weave some branches.

He did this not only to be helpful, but to close the gap between them, so that they'd be able to talk more quietly.

"I don't know, man…nothing's been goin' right. You're literally all I got left. Everyone I know is dead, and even with that bein so, shit has been harder than ever. You'd think with less people, there's be less problems, but that's so damn far from the truth." Keith ranted.

Well yeah, everyone we know is dead. Our families are gone, and we really do only have each other to remind us of the past.

"True, but aside from that, I thought things were goin pretty good." Ellis replied, ever the positive one.

Keith shook his head.

"Sure, there have been some good times, but even with everybody dead, my entire past is still findin a way to come back to bite me in the ass."

Ellis was confused.

"What past, Keith?"

Keith doesn't have a "past" to feel bad about. Shit, he's always been the life of the party. He was always having fun, when he wasn't recovering from a serious injury.

"There's things I didn't tell ya, before all of this happened. I've been worried that you're gonna find out from someone else and you're not gonna want to be friends with me no more." Keith started, saying these words as if some part of him was still desperately trying not to.

Ellis shook his head, placing his free hand on his best friend's back.

"Nah, buddy. There isn't a thing anyone can say to make me change my mind about you. You've been my best friend as long as I've been alive. I'm not gonna change that now just because you have some skeletons in your closet. But, truth be told, it's better I hear all this from you rather than someone else."

Keith took in a deep breath.

"Okay, El. Okay…" He nodded, "I don't know what to tell ya first."

Ellis noticed his companion was shivering and he didn't know if it was out of being afraid or being cold.

"One step at a time, buddy."

Keith pulled through the fabric of his mind for anything he could say that would soften the blow for all of the other things he was ready to confess. He had no idea if Ellis would still be by his side after all of this, no matter how much he promised he would.

"I got into some bad shit when I was young, shit that I kept from you. It's my fault Derek went to jail that first time. I let him take the fall for somethin I did. We were makin meth…and we were both usin and sellin it. The cops caught Derek in that garage. The lab was technically mine and I didn't step up. I was a minor still. Derek thinks I was 18 but I was only 17 and I woulda gotten into way less trouble than him. But I let him go down and I didn't help." Keith got that part out as quickly as he could. It was actually the easiest thing to confess.

Ellis stood quietly for a moment.

"That was a pretty shitty thing to do, man. But years have gone by. When I talk to him about you, he doesn't really have anything bad to say. Maybe he's let it go already?"

It was Keith's turn to shake his head.

"Nah. What I did was fucked up. According to Derek, I pretty much ruined his life. I got him into meth in the first place, and he was already crazy before that. It was my fault he slipped into addiction and went to prison after that first jail trip. I really fucked him over. I mean, we were supposed to be… um… together I guess."

Every muscle in his body tightened, waiting for the wheels in the younger mechanic's head to turn enough to where he understood.

"Together?"

Keith nodded.

"Yeah… I'm a queer, Ellis."

Now Ellis was actually surprised. Derek told him about the two of them messing around in the past, but he kind of figured that this was one of those Keith explores his sexuality things where he tried it with a guy and decided that he wanted to stick with girls. Hearing him self-identify as generally liking men was a shock.

"But…you always had a ton of girls in the past." Was all he could reply with.

That was an understatement. Keith had girlfriends and hook-ups all the time back then. He never had any trouble talking to women, and he always made his girlfriends feel confident and beautiful, probably because he looked so messed up himself that he wasn't intimidating.

"I know. I mean, I was lonely, man. Being with girls was the only acceptable thing I coulda done. We didn't really live in a friendly time for people like me. I still needed intimacy and I had fun when I had a girlfriend, but 10 times out of 10 I'd have rather been with a man. It just wasn't gonna happen. Everyone I knew woulda disowned me. My dad woulda murdered me, and I was terrified that you'd hate me. I couldn't have that, man."

Ellis wanted to protest, but he understood Keith's fears completely. Before he ended up with Nick, he probably would not have been as understanding in regards to his best friend being gay, but he still didn't think he could have ever completely abandoned him.

"So all that time, you were just doin what you thought everyone would approve of?"

Keith nodded again.

"Yea. I wanted a family, El. I was havin fun when I was young, but I was with Brandi for a long time. Even though with my injuries I can't actually father a child, I thought I still had a chance if I was with a girl. Like maybe we'd get married and somehow it would happen. I really wanted to be a dad, ya know? I wanted to have a handful of kids so I could be good to them and treat my family way better than my parents treated me."

That was crushing. Keith suffered this long out of being scared, and out of the desire just to be seen as a "normal" guy. It was easy to tell someone to just be true to themselves, but with the way Keith was brought up, it was no wonder at all why he kept his honest identity such a coveted secret.

"So you and Derek were…" Ellis started.

"Yep. I mean, we were hookin up a lot for a while. Remember when we got drunk and kissed on your birthday?"

Ellis nodded, "I remember you told me we did. But I was so hammered that night I don't remember anything after the concert."

Keith sighed in relief.

"Well, a little while after that, Derek and I started seeing each other secretly. We didn't want to tell anyone about it because of the obvious. Derek had experience, been with guys before so he knew what he was doing. Eventually he started tellin me how much he wanted to actually be with me, take me outta the South and shit when I turned 18. It was really only because of me bein a cowardly piece of shit that we broke up. When I let him go to jail, he never forgave me. Guy turned into a crazy motherfucker. Literally lost his mind over it. But here's the fucked up part, El. We've done some bad shit to each other, I'm talkin bad shit. I hate him…but there's still a part of me that wants him. I feel just disgusting over it."

Ellis could relate to that in a way. He was involved with Nick, after all. There was so much of Nick's past that was terrifying and not something to be proud of. The guy was a killer and an ex-addict. He conned people out of their money and was technically an organized criminal. But despite all of that, and despite their rocky beginning, Ellis loved him. He didn't know what this "bad shit" was that Keith and Derek put one another through, but he supposed it wasn't his place to know and it wasn't his place to judge.

"I just want ya to be happy, Keith. But if he's crazy and has been violent toward you, I don't recommend going back into that. I know there's a shortage of guys around, but don't put yourself into something that's gonna have you abused again."