The two stayed on the beach for little over 2 hours, talking about bands from the 80's, kissing, and nodding off in each others arms. Jamie decided that 2 a.m. was late enough, and that the others were going to be worried if they knew they were gone; so they walked back to the safe room.
Ellis and Jamie crept in, barred the door, and laid on the floor next to each other. They smiled at each other, happy to finally be together, and closed their eyes.
Exactly twenty three minutes later, Rochelle turned the lights on.
"Come on guys, we've got to get moving. Other survivors are might be waitin' for strays at the next evac center," she said, wiping her eyes.
Coach let out a big yawn, and helped Nick, silent at the moment, to his feet. His shirt was open, and Jamie noticed his gashes were stitched closed. She tried to remember seeing Rochelle stitch them up, but she couldn't. Everyone was asleep before they left...
Or so she thought. She feared that the others knew that she and Ellis snuck off, but ignored it. No one said anything, so she wouldn't either.
Coach and Jamie grabbed their shotguns, while Ellis, Nick and Rochelle strapped on their assault rifles.
"We should move fast, but not too fast. We don't want to put a lot of pressure on Nick," Rochelle said.
Nick looked to the floor, a little ashamed. Needing to be watched over stole a little of his pride.
Coach took the bar off the door, and started jogging up the alleyway. The four followed him up to the street, which was brightly lit with bar signs. Nick and Rochelle checked to the right, and noticed a tattoo parlor.
"Hey, anybody wanna tattoo? Not ones with color though." He looked to the rest of the group, who returned his blank, awkward stare.
"Can't do ones with color," Nick finished.
Ellis thought it'd be a little weird, but he asked anyway. "I do. I want one just like Jamie's," he smiled.
Nick raised an eyebrow. "What'd you say overalls?"
"Yeah, see it?" he pointed to it, and she cringed. She covered her stomach; the front of her shirt was torn off from earlier, and she didn't like the unexpected attention.
"You serious, Ellis?" Nick grinned.
"Yep."
"Uh, boys, we have other things to do. Like maybe getting outta here, surviving the apocalypse and the like," Rochelle said.
Nick shooed her away with his hand. "Nah it's ok, you two go on ahead. We'll catch up with you later," he said, pushing Jamie and Ellis into the shop.
He closed the door behind him, after he saw that Coach and Rochelle had ran off.
"Sit over here, Ellis." He pointed to the first chair on the right.
Ellis sat down, grinning at Jamie while Nick rummaged through the cabinets beside them. Jamie rolled her eyes at him, mouthing that this was ridiculous. He mouthed back, that this was going to mean something special. She crossed her arms, smirking, and leaned on the wall. Nick sat a box of tools on the table next to Ellis, and pulled in a stool to sit on. He took off his suit jacket, and hung it on the top of the partition that displayed various tattoos and drawings.
"Jamie, come closer."
She stepped right next to Ellis. Nick started to fumble with the equipment in the box, but Jamie paid no attention. After a few minutes, Nick finally picked up the tattoo gun. He told Ellis to lift up his shirt, but Jamie noted that he probably couldn't hold it in place for too long. She knotted his shirt, and held back her laughter at how silly he looked.
"Aw, come on Jamie don't laugh. I'm doing this for you," he smiled.
"Sorry," she said sweetly.
Nick raised an eyebrow at it, but made no comment. For now.
A half hour passed, and Nick was almost finished. He just needed to finish the last letter.
"So, where were you two a couple hours ago?" Nick asked, smirking at his deviance.
Jamie's heart throbbed so hard, it was all she could feel of her own body. Ellis didn't move, but he did glance at Jamie for a moment.
"We went...for a walk," Jamie stammered.
"A walk where? You guys must've went far, you were gone for two hours."
She frowned. When it came to Ellis, she realized that Nick would always step out of his place. "Does it matter? It's really none of your business," she asked.
"It does matter." He stopped, then leaned back to check his work. "I thought me and you had something. We were gonna get out of this together, without anyone else. Remember?"
"Nick, stop it," Ellis begged, biting his bottom lip. He began to tremble with guilt, and anger.
"I was gonna look out for you, do anything for you. I was hell bent that you and me were it..." he added a little ink to his finished result. "So you're choosing Ellis over me now, huh?"
"When did this become a competition? I never said I was choosing anybody."
Ellis looked down into his lap, disheartened. She wouldn't claim him...
"Then why is he getting the same tattoo as you? And why were you two alone for two hours in the middle of the night?" Nick frowned.
Jamie turned her head away, keeping quiet.
It seemed like an hour passed in that silence, and Nick was finally done with Ellis' tattoo.
"So what's this mean, anyway?"
Ellis and Jamie looked at each other, sharing the same expression.
He squinted at Jamie. "Well?"
"...It's Latin for love," Ellis finally blurted out.
Nick blinked at Ellis, and then turned to Jamie.
"Now that's just grand," he snarled.
"You're the one that insisted he get the tattoo," Jamie said, focused on the floor.
"Sorry, Nick." Ellis said, pleased with Nick's reaction.
He put the tattoo gun on the table, and smoothed out his pants.
"It's fine." He got up, and took the bandaging from his first aid kit, then he wrapped it around Ellis' middle. He stepped back, and crossed his arms.
"I dunno what else to do from here out, Ellis. Got no clue how to clean it, stop it from fading, what you should put on it, none of that..." he laughed.
"Aw, what the hell! Why'd you do it if you don't know how to take care of it? Not cool," Ellis cried.
"Don't worry, I know how to take care of you," Jamie smiled, running her fingers through his soft brown curls.
Nick hurried to the table where they sat their guns down, hiding his disgust. "Can we hurry up and get moving?"
Ellis let out a snort of laughter. He saw that Nick was unsettled, and found it amusing.
"Ellis!" Nick heard Jamie whisper.
He only shook his head, leaving the tattoo parlor without a word.
Nick was far ahead of the two, but still in sight. Jamie wanted to run up to his side, and say she was sorry, but she couldn't- she'd already tossed Ellis' feelings aside once today. She knew she had nothing to be sorry about, but she just wanted to clear the stale air between them...
The path was cleared thoroughly for them, or so it seemed. There were almost no infected left behind; Rochelle and Coach packed the punch of a four man team on their own. With only speed being a factor, the three eventually reached a silent street on which they spotted a young woman, an injured man, and the vest wearing monkey from earlier on the sidelines of the bridge.
They were all gawking off into the distance, near the generator, Ellis assumed. Without words, the three of them began shooting at the same thing. The ground spread out a heavy rumble as a Tank approached the three on the bridge. Nick had rushed toward it in their aid, firing away. Ellis and Jamie went separate ways, with separate concerns. Ellis wanted to find Coach and Rochelle immediately, while Jamie ran behind Nick, holding fire until she was close enough to the Tank to accurately hit it.
The Tank seemed to be confused; he couldn't choose who to kill first- the easy pickings on the bridge, or the two little birds on the ground. After minutes of swiping at Nick and Jamie, being shot at, and hurling chunks of concrete at the three on the bridge, he decided to go for the two little birds. He roared at Jamie, and began running toward her.
"Nick, it's fucking coming for me," she yelled as she tried to run as far away from it as she could.
pumped fire into the Tank's face, while running backward. Nick was behind him, and they figured this Tank was in the bag. It was only a matter of time before the Tank would keel over in defeat; the woman and vest wearing-monkey were more than a big help, and the injured man on the heavy machinegun deemed himself worthy even while being the dead weight. Everyone let their last bead of sweat fall, while in a whirl of pink and white, Nick was hurled off to the side.
Ellis frantically opened the doors in the building, searching for Coach and Rochelle. He called out for them, getting no answer in return for his yelling. He then exited the building and back tracked toward the generator, since there was nowhere else to look. Running up, he found Coach exiting the generator room, while Rochelle was inside, pouring fuel. Coach and Rochelle picked up the pace as they heard the bawl of the horde getting closer and closer.
Jamie let out an 'oh shit' as she heard the horde approach, and rushed toward Nick. There was a second Tank, and it was more aggressive than the first. Nick hurried to his feet as fast as he could, but dammit, it wasn't fast enough. The Tank swiped at Nick, sending him toward the ground below the steps by the other three survivors. Jamie ignored the sound of blood flying, bones snapping, breaking, whatever. Nick is going to be okay. Because you can make it. You've saved him before, it can be done again. Remembering the Tank behind her, she wasn't so sure.
The vest-monkey was trying to hurry over, and assuming he'd distract it, she slid past, and in front of the Tank who was about to crush Nick into the concrete. In perfect timing, the constant fire on his backside caught the Tank's attention. She lifted Nick's weight onto her shoulders, and lugged him away from the second Tank, fearing the first Tank before she'd even processed it was in sight. She cried out in fear as the first tank swung an enraged fist at her and Nick. She dropped to the ground, letting her amazement at her second lucky save out as she heard the heavy machinegun-guy call out to her. "We'll take care of them!"
She struggled as she lifted Nick back up, and couldn't help how hard she was huffing as they limped into a nearby building. She thanked them mentally as the greasy vest monkey and girl ran down the stairs, drawing the attention of both the Tanks.
She had propped Nick up against a wall, stood back, and was covering her mouth with both of her hands. His blood was everywhere, and she had no first aid kit. Tears began to form in her eyes, and she tried to stubbornly suck it all up. But she couldn't. He was going to die.
She slowly walked over, and knelt in front of him. He was staring at her, emotion-less, as blood ran from his nose onto his chest. She blinked away her tears, and reached out for his shoulder.
"I hate to ask..." she looked away from him. "But do you...feel ok?"
"Be better if you came over here," he managed to smile.
She sat down next to him, and scooted as close as she could get.
"Sucks to die un-loved. At least I'm not alone," he said lowly.
"Yeah," she answered, letting loose. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she let out a sob before muffling it with her hand. "I'm here for you, always will be."
Ellis could hear Nick and Jamie's voice in the next room over, and he knew that something was wrong. He placed his hand on the doorknob, almost as if waiting for something bad to happen.
Ellis pressed his head against the door, hearing Jamie sniffle, and Nick tell her everything would be fine. Nick said he was going to miss her, and she said she'd miss him too, between sobs. There was silence, and for a second Ellis felt awful for Nick's health not being foremost in his mind. Nick was in the next room dying. Why hadn't he just gone in and tried to help Nick already?
Get a hold of yourself, Ellis.
He burst into the room, watching Nick kiss Jamie on the forehead a single time, while he held her head close to his chest.