Jamie had no idea of what she was going to say to Nick.

Hell, what exactly could she say? Uh, that's nice of you, Nick. I just don't like you that much, that's all...

Or maybe she did, she just didn't know it yet.

"That's...sweet, Nick...never knew you liked me so much," she smiled awkwardly.

Unlucky for her, she answered, and she didn't have to. Somebody wanted his attention.

"Um, Nick..."

Startled, he looked to the left, then to the right.

Ellis.

"And just what the hell do you want?" he asked, moving his arm away from Jamie.

"I wanna talk to you for a sec," he said sweetly.

He paused for a minute, then left Jamie standing by the car. He looked back at her, signaling that he'd be back in a minute. She hoped not.

Ellis had led him a little...far away from the rest of the group, leaving Nick to wonder what he'd gotten himself into.

Ellis finally turned around, his warm and innocent smile long gone.

"What the hell is this about, exactly," Nick asked.

"I'll try to get to the point, so calm down."

Little attitude there, eh Ellis? he thought to himself.

"I don' like startin' drama or anything. An' I think you're a pretty great guy."

He knew what this was about; and prepared to snap at anything Ellis could come up with.

"But, don'chu think you should leave Jamie alone?"

He frowned. "If I did, it would be between her and me. How do you find yourself in the position to ask me to stay away from her? There's nothing going on anyway," he spat, crossing his arms.

"I wasn't askin' you to stay away from her. It's just...I kinda like her. Never met anyone I had such a good gut feelin' about."

"And...what's that got to do with me?"

"You're kinda takin' that away from me."

"No. I'm not," he said, laughing sarcastically.

"So you don't actually like her? You're just doin' this for fun?" Ellis frowned.

"Doing what for fun? And it's none of your business. If Jamie decides she likes you more than me, I'm sure she'd let me know. But until then, she doesn't belong to anyone, and you can shove it up your ass." He turned from him, and started walking back towards the car.

Ellis hoped that this would've been easy. He wished that they would've walked back to the car together, still buddies.

Ellis began back to the car soon after, hands in pockets, kicking dirt along the way. Jamie jogged up to him, noticing the frown on his face.

"Ellis, what's the matter?" she asked.

He looked up, anger subsiding as soon as his eyes met hers. "Nothin'," he smiled.

"You sure? You can tell me if there is." she whispered, looking into his eyes.

For a split second, he contemplated if he should tell Jamie about Nick. Her concern gave him second thoughts.

...Nah, he finally decided.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks for askin' though Jamie."

"Sure thing," she said, realizing that there was indeed, something wrong.

She and Ellis walked back to the car, and Nick flashed her a smile through the window.

She shivered on the inside, but Jamie worked up the courage to half-smile back at him. It was probably going to be hard to fight Nick off, and he probably didn't take rejection too well.

Guess it's time to start now, she told herself.

Immediately after Ellis sat down in the back seat, she slid into his lap. Ellis clung onto her the same as he had while they were asleep.

Perfect.

He began telling stories about his buddy Keith, sharing laughter over her shoulder. Jamie actually listened to him, gaining take in the conversation from Coach and Rochelle. Nick sat quietly, ignoring everything. He was hoping Jamie would notice how he glared at her in the rear view mirror, so she'd stop humoring Ellis. No luck for an hour.

Nick screeched at a sealed off bridge, pounding on the wheel at the man leaning over the banister.

"The fuck's going on here? Lower the bridge, asshole!" he shouted out of the car window.

"Mmmm." he rested his chin in his hand. "No can do, buddy. As much as I'd like to, the generator's outta juice. Get over here, and we could help you lower it though," he smiled.

"Ok. Thanks a lot!" Rochelle called out, smacking Nick in the back of the head. She took it back when the man in the vest walked off telling some girl that the only other survivors in the world were a bunch of assholes.

They got out of the car, and stretched for a little while. The five passed through little brick garden, a handful of zombies scattered about. Nick stayed in front, clearing most of them out. Everyone kept quiet, and followed behind. He appeared to be irritated, noted at the rate bodies sank to the floor. Apparently she couldn't take this silence, or the feeling of dejection among the five of them.

Rochelle softly called out to him. "Nick, you okay?"

He continued walking down the halls, opening the doors on the second floor of an unidentifiable store. At the end of the hallway, he stopped to check the room to the left.

"Yep. I'm fine," he said blankly. He entered, walked through the restaurant, peering out of the doorway into the rain. The five emerged from the building, picking off zombies around the courtyard before they went down the stairs. Nick still appeared to be irritated, as he claimed most of the kills.

"Somebody lighten the mood," Rochelle whispered.

Without thinking, Coach took advantage of a random memory. "Anybody eva' heard of this song called 'I Just Want To be Your Everything'?"

"Yep," Jamie and Rochelle said in unison.

"Actually, yeah. My mom used to listen to it a lot when I was little," Nick said.

"Ellis? You ever heard it?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah...Keith's ex-girlfriend used to like it. When she came over to the shop, they'd listen to it together. Doubt he liked to though."

"Know the words?" she smiled.

"Sort of. If you sang em', I'd probably remember."

"Oh, no. Don't sing anything," Nick said, trying to speed ahead of the four.

Rochelle began to hum the intro, and was soon joined by Coach. He even air drummed out the last part.

"For so long," Rochelle began to sing, while Jamie hummed the rhythm.

"Jamie. I expect this from them, but not you. Don't ruin it," Nick pleaded.

She jogged to catch up with him. "Why don't you just lighten up, then?" she smiled.

"Fine, whatever." He faked a huge maniacal grin, making her laugh.

They walked into an alley, and Nick stopped.

"What's the matter?" Jamie asked, the rest of the group stopping in front of her.

He held a finger up to his lips. "Shh."

They were silent for a second, and Jamie turned around to shrug to the rest of the group. She spun around, hearing the struggle of his dress shoes scrape against the concrete.

"Something's got him!" Jamie pointed, running after him.

She shot it's tongue, and its' edge shriveled away as the Smoker tried to run off. Ellis sniped him in the back of the head, causing him to fall forward out of view. His scorched tongue still dangled over the ledge above them.

"You ok?" Jamie asked, helping him up.

Nick wiped the slime from under his chin, and shook it off his hand. "Yeah."

"We should probably move a little faster, guys. The zombies are gettin' a little aggravated," Rochelle suggested.

Jamie and Nick nodded, jogging up to the three. They began running; Coach and Nick in front; Jamie, Rochelle and Ellis covering the back. The rain was pouring now, cooling their skin as they worked through the alleyway.

They'd gone in the back door of a half-finished apartment building, and up two flights of stairs after collecting miscellaneous supplies from the rooms inside. The building had a bedroom and a bathroom, so it wasn't vacant. That didn't explain the empty first floor, though, lazy construction workers. They'd exited the building through its front door, happy to get back out into the rain from the humid, dusty building.

Rochelle and Jamie covered the left end of the block, Coach and Ellis the right end, while Nick scouted out the park ahead. The five re-grouped a little past the park's entrance, hearing growls of presumably many infected. The night swept over the small suburban town of Rayford, without notice. No one could see much of the park, except for what light was shining on. Ellis and Jamie stayed close together, fearing that something they bumped into would not be so kind as to remain still. Even Nick didn't want to be in front; he let Coach pass him up. While inching closer to a charming venue in the center of the park, Rochelle heard a soft, youthful voice in distress.

"It sounds like a little girl's crying. You hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounds like my ex-wife," Nick chuckled.

"You were married?" Rochelle and Jamie asked in unison.

"Yep."

Rochelle and Jamie bombarded him with questions. "What was her name?" "What was she like?" "Why'd she like you?" "How'd she love you?"

"Her name was Mindy, and she was a bitch. That's all you need to know," he answered promptly.

"Wait, wait, no! What'd she look like? And what happened," Rochelle demanded.

"Yeah, and do you have any kids, too?" Jamie added.

He sighed in disgust. "She kept her hair platinum blonde, had brown eyes. She found out I was a con artist, and no. I don't have any kids."

"Huh. I knew there was something off about you," Jamie laughed. He didn't seem moved by her laughter at all. The last thing he wanted, among all other 'distractions' between he and Jamie, was for her to think less of him for...who he was. She'd have to find out soon, but not this soon.

"Can we get back to looking for the little girl," he insisted.

"Sure, Nick," Rochelle smiled. "Thanks for sharing about your wife."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

They split up, searching the corners of the park. Ironically, the little girl was in the center. Nick slowly walked up to her, kneeling beside her. He thought he heard a little mumble come from underneath her unusually long, bloody hands. Well, not a mumble, a growl. A mumble sounded more believable at the time, though.

"Hey, little girl," he whispered.

Jamie saw that he'd found her, and started towards the center of the park.

"What the hell are you crying for? Don't you know there are zombies all around here? You should be the happiest little shit in the world."

"Nick, what are you doing," she snarled.

The little girl stopped crying, reducing her tears to sniffles. She started breathing heavily, and with each breath, came a deeper, more disturbing snarl.

"Hey, you don't have to get mad. I was just tryin' to help," he frowned.

She let out an ear-ringing shriek, and threw a claw at Nick. Yeah, a claw. He stumbled backwards, and she lunged for him. She tried to swipe at his face, but he rolled over just in time to stretch the slash across his chest to the back of his right arm. Nick let out the loudest, most heart breaking scream Jamie had ever heard.

She felt even worse when she realized that there was a possibility she might not reach him in time. Ellis, Coach and Rochelle started to run back to the center of the park, but they wouldn't have made it to him fast enough. Jamie picked up the pace, her heartbeat so strong, it felt as though she would keel over and faint on the spot. The pressure was too much! If she fainted, Nick would die. If she didn't run faster, Nick would die. If the little girl moved any faster, Nick would die.

All in a matter of seconds, a lot of things would change. The little girl was about to run her fingers into his chest, but in perfect time, Jamie kicked her down with all of her strength. She blew her head apart, but not before stomping her face one good time. Ignoring how horrified she was of herself for killing the little girl, she fell on her knees, rolling Nick over.

"Shit. Are you ok," she cried, taking off his jacket slowly. She unbuttoned his shirt, ignoring her childish urge to take advantage of this opportunity. She slipped it completely off.

His eyes were tightly shut, and he was chewing his bottom lip. "You're gonna be...okay, I promise," she stammered. She picked up his jacket, and started trying to rip the sleeve off.

"No," he managed. "Thousand... "

She blinked at him, and understood. "You're kidding me, right..."

She grumbled in disgust. He was worried about his three thousand dollar suit being ruined, even though he was going to bleed to death. She started to pull on her own shirt, ripping a strip from the seam on the side. She bunched it together, pressing it against the deepest of his gashes, which ended under his right pectoral. The others had finally reached them, revealing concern, confusion, and shock all at once with their facial expressions.

"What happened?" Coach asked.

"The little girl tried to kill him," she said lowly. "Can somebody put pressure against the rest of his wounds?"

Ellis quickly started to untie and tear off the top half of his overalls, then pushed them against Nick's right arm. He looked to Jamie the whole time he did this; he didn't want to look at Nick. It wasn't his fault, but now, Jamie was going to divert all her attention to poor ol' Nick.

"Um, I'm not a doctor or anything, but we need to keep his legs elevated above his head so he doesn't...die...from shock... and we need something to keep him warm," Rochelle offered.

"I thought I saw a safe house just outside the park gate, maybe we can carry him over." Coach said.

Jamie nodded. "Well, wait, should we move him? I don't want to make it worse," Nick heard her say. Almost sounds as if she was worried.

"I'm not sure. We should hurry up and do something, though," Rochelle said. "I'll help carry him, and Jamie, you back us up."

"Ok."

Rochelle kneeled above his head, waiting for Coach to signal that he was ready. He looked up, nodded, and they lifted him off of the ground. Ellis pushed him upwards from the side, helping Rochelle level his back. While Jamie picked off the small bunch of infected near the safe room, they hurried across the street inside. After Rochelle set Nick's head gently down on the ground, she barred the door, turning around with her hands on her hips.

"Now about keeping him warm...how're we gonna do that?" she asked.

"Well hopefully there are some blankets in here..." Jamie said.

It was a small, cramped safe room this time, only housed with a few shelves and a desk. They all began searching for a blanket, with no luck.

"Okay, so now what?" Jamie asked.

"One of us is gonna have to keep him warm, that's what. And it ain't gonna be you," Ellis said.

Rochelle and Coach exchanged glances, apparently on the same boat. Although Coach didn't seem to actually catch on, Rochelle did, and kept quiet for now.

"...Okay then. So Coach is gonna have to do it." Rochelle announced.

Nick heard that, and what Ellis said. He'd pretend he didn't hear what Ellis said though, for now.

"Don't," Nick grumbled.

"Aw, hush boy. I don't want me to be touchin' you either," he frowned.

Coach walked over to him, sat down in the corner between the desk and a shelf, and pulled Nick into his lap. He didn't say a word, but the look on Nick's face screamed "HELP." Rochelle and Jamie couldn't help but laugh behind their hands.

Jamie walked over to them, sitting down next to Coach. Nick moved his hand. To try to grab Jamie's, or to move it away, Ellis didn't know. Rochelle had taken him outside before he could look.

"Ellis...you don't have to tell me everything..." she paused. "But, is there something going on between you, Jamie, and Nick?"

He looked down, focusing on the brick pattern in the concrete. "Nope."

"Oh come on. You're lying. Why didn't you want Jamie to help him?"

"I never said I-" She held a hand up.

"You didn't look at him all the way to the safe room, almost as if you couldn't. And what you said a few minutes ago? It wasn't gonna be her that kept him warm?"

He looked off to his right, silent. After a few minutes, he gave up.

"Nick is competing with me for Jamie. An' this gives him an unfair advantage."

"Competing," she said, confused. "Advantage...?" He looked at her, hoping she would understand.

"Well that's..." she looked to her left, scratching her head. "That's gonna cause some problems..."

"Yeah, I know..." he said, returning focus to the ground.

"I'm not telling you to be ashamed of yourself for liking her, but is now the right time to be fighting with Nick in some love triangle? You used to like him. Almost as if he was your favorite out of all of us. Now you don't care if he dies, and you probably hope he does."

"Wait a minute now, I don't want him to die," he exclaimed.

"Well now. That's a step," she smiled.

"But I don't want Jamie all over him either."

She laughed. "I'm sure if you're your own sweet self, she'll like you enough."

"Enough might not be enough, Ro. He has to be eliminated."

She found his determination hilarious. "Just try to be subtle about it, ok?"

He nodded and smiled, the way he did when they first agreed to kill all sons' a bitches.

They walked back into the safe room, hearing Nick scream to 'knock that shit off, or he'd rip Coach another hole,' and Jamie's laughter. The first thing Ellis and Rochelle noticed when they opened the safe door, was that Coach was stroking Nick's hair, laughing hysterically, and that he was holding Jamie's hand. Rochelle looked to Ellis, and stared. She gave him a slight nod that said 'Remember, subtle...'

He looked back to Jamie, then at Coach, as he slumped down against the opposite wall of the room. He drew his legs up, and buried his head between his knees. He dozed off for about an hour.

Ellis woke to find that it was almost midnight. Or past midnight. He couldn't tell. He looked up, searching to see if anyone else was awake, and was startled when he saw that Jamie was laying on her side. She was staring past him, off into the darkness.

She smiled. "Hey Ellis," she said softly.

"Hey," he whispered, smiling as well. "What're you doin' up?"

"I can't sleep." She hesitated for a moment. "Nick keeps squeezing my hand every five minutes..."

"Oh," he said, still content to find her awake.

She sat up, and drew her hand away from Nick's.

"Know of this band called The Police? I love them."

"I don't really like old bands, but I think they're alright. I think there was this one song... Demolition Man?"

She nodded, smiling. "One of my favorites. I wish I could hear it now. It's the one thing I don't like about a zombie apocalypse- no music," she sighed.

"I could play it for you. I kinda used to play bass in my band," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You were in a band?" she smiled. "That's pretty cool. When are you gonna play for me?"

"Whenever I can find a guitar," he laughed.

She walked over to the door, and signaled for Ellis to come over. He got up and hurried to the door, eager to see what she wanted. She leaned on the door, peering out into the dimly lit street.

"I'm going to miss nights like this," she whispered.

The street seemed anything but remarkable, but what she meant was the starry, summer night sky in the distance. The humidity during the hours of night struck some sort of comfort in her, and the delightful scent in the air after the rain always made time seem endless. After it rained, the world would...come back to life. Fresh almost, having all troubles and pain washed away. Ellis knew what this was like; He remembered that this was sort of...his savior before the outbreak. All he ever looked forward to when things were difficult was to enjoy watching the world after sundown. It filled him with a sense of security, like everything would get better the next day, some how, some way.

Remembering this feeling struck him with an idea.

"I wanna show you something," he whispered, taking the bar off the door.

"Huh? Show me what," she asked, eyes wide.

"Jus' trust me," he said softly.

Ellis carefully opened the door and extended his hand, showing her out. He closed the door just as slowly as he opened it, and grabbed her hand. He playfully yanked her out into the street.

"Wait! Why couldn't I at least put on some shoes?" she laughed.

"Shh," he whispered, pulling her off into the park.

She was giggling to herself, wondering what was going through Ellis' head.

This was probably supposed to be some spontaneous romantic adventure, she chuckled to herself.

They'd reached the center of the park where they found the little girl earlier, and slowed down. The wet grass and mud slopped underneath their toes while they walked, forcing a soft "ew" from Jamie. Ellis wanted to laugh at how she was such a girl, but noticed a dark figure shuffling things about near the little girl's dead body. He held her back with his arm and told her to shush; whatever it was hadn't noticed them yet. It was mumbling to itself, but it'd started getting louder the longer they stood near. Ellis couldn't understand anything, but Jamie could make out one word:

'Mine.'

Something was his, or going to be. It looked like he was going to take the girl's dress off, but Ellis had started running off. She couldn't tell.

He led her past a lot of apartment complexes, children's parks, and corner stores; places that made the area seem ordinary before the outbreak. She was a little confused when they'd ran in between two huge factory buildings, and down an alley. A drastic change in scenery, she noticed. She had no idea where they were going, since the end of the alley way led to a lake. Until she and he jumped off of the ledge at the end of the alley, she saw that he'd taken her to some sort of closed-off beach. He was walking in the sand now, still holding her hand.

"It's not a real beach, but it's the closest thing I know of," he said softly. He sat down in the sand, wiggling his toes.

"...Thanks." she said, sitting down next to him.

"What for," he asked.

"For taking me here. You might not think it's much, but it means a lot. I'll probably never see anything like this again...

I appreciate it."

"Sure thing," he whispered. He may not have noticed, but he couldn't help staring at Jamie. He wanted to move forward, but wasn't sure how.

"I'll always remember this, Ellis." she smiled, looking off into the sky.

He scooted closer to her, and she glanced at him before returning her gaze to the summer sky.

"Jamie?"

The warmth in his voice tickled her ear; she tilted her head a little to the side to ease out the sensation.

"Mhmm," she answered.

"I'm glad I met you," he said.

He was trying to get her to turn to him. She smiled at him, gold meeting sapphire. He congratulated himself on this little victory; their faces were just as close as they had been when they first met.

"Can I kiss you," he managed, trying to calm the flutter in his stomach.

Her heart jumped in her chest, weakening her handle on the moment. A little startled, she couldn't grasp what was about to happen, or where this could go. She parted her lips and nodded, but nothing came out.

Ellis leaned in, paused a moment, and drew back- before placing the lightest kiss on her upper lip. She was beginning to smile at him, and so was he; A signal to press on. The wind blew their worries away all at once, revealing a new sensation for them both to look forward to:

Lust.

He crawled in front of her, his body now facing hers, and took hold of her forearms. The familiar feeling he couldn't place with any memory immediately swept over him, and he wanted to press himself against Jamie's body, right then. A wave crashed against the brick wall of the beach's foundation, unsettling Ellis and Jamie's nerves. He couldn't help himself anymore, and Jamie put an end to her resistance. He stood on his knees above her, and pulled her arms around his waist.

"You an' me can have so much more than this, Jamie..." he whispered, holding her face up to his.

She ran her hands up his back, and pulled him forward as they collapsed into the sand.

The spotlight was on them; it was so right. This was how it should be, the start of their beautiful relationship. Ellis hadn't realized how much he ached to be close to Jamie, and he wanted her to ache for him, too. He teased her with his tongue, sliding it between her lips. She accepted him, and they continued playing with each other's young, uncontrollable feelings of the night.