There was no sign that the peacefulness from the day before would continue. When they finally pulled the barricade down from the exit, it seemed as far as they could see, that there were Infected milling about. They bumped into each other, hands clawing at their faces as they let out little moans of pain. Some vomited violently onto their feet before they continued wandering. Yeah… so much for an easy stroll.

Rochelle paused, cracking the door opened again to eye the masses. She moved back in, closing the door quietly. "I think I have an idea. Ellis, lemme have that pipe bomb."

Ellis blinked blankly at her as if not comprehending what she had meant. Nick reached down to unhook it from Ellis' belt and handed it to her. Ellis decided not to mention that he had been holding onto the pipe bomb for 'good luck'. It was the very same one Nick had given him the day he had almost died. The mechanic had painstakingly remembered to not throw it. Oh well, 'bout time it came into use.

Rochelle opened the door and then lobbed the pipe bomb. It flew into the air, beeping and flashing in a way that seemed to madden the Infected. They howled in rage and raced after it, pushing and clawing over each other to try and silence it.

Then it exploded. Dozens of limbs flew through the air while intestines spilled about the ground like oily red paint on a canvas. The surviving Infected slipped on it, pawing at their wounds as they tried to get to their mangled feet. They didn't suffer for very long, however. The four Survivors came from the saferoom and mercy killed them as they went.

The four moved silently up a conspicuous flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs in an impressive and large plate read Bienville Park.

"Oh, fantastic. A park. This should be fun," Nick noted sarcastically.

The park fell far short from fun. Every corner they turned a group of dead-eyed Infected awaited them. The four had given up their guns in favor of their various melee weapons. They were too afraid to accidentally shoot each other through the narrow maze of leafy hedges. Why, Nick wondered, they had decided to go through it instead of around, he couldn't remember. It probably made sense at the time, but right about now it was starting to seem like whoever had offered the idea should no longer be allowed to make decisions.

Suddenly from above, like some badly disfigured hawk, a giggling Jockey leaped from the towering hedges right onto the conman's back. Its fingers shoved into his eyes and mouth, tearing and jerking him about. Nick found himself becoming disorientated, and worse, he was finding it hard to call out for his companions with the Jockey's fingers practically down his throat.

Ellis came screaming after him, his axe swinging down into the Jockey's back with a sickening crunch. It let out a wail of pain, flailing its arms as Ellis lifted it (embedded on the axe still) off the conman and then slammed it into the ground. He shoved his foot into its withering body, jerked the axe free and then hacked it into several pieces.

"Well, that's one way to kill a Jockey," Nick commented from beside him, spitting on the ground. He wiped at his mouth, grimacing. He felt nauseous with the taste of… God he didn't want to think about it.

"God damn back humper," Ellis practically snarled, kicking the corpse. "Go find someone else to hump, asshole!" He huffed angrily, pushing up his trucker hat as he looked hard at the conman. "Ya all right, man?"

"Yeah. I could use a tic-tac though." Nick spit one last time on the ground, face scrunched with disgust. He straightened, giving Ellis a smirk. "Thanks, Overalls."

"Ain't no one touchin' ya but me," Ellis said seriously, his face matching the tone. Nick laughed and Ellis relaxed, one side of his mouth twitching into a grin; realizing how possessive he had sounded.

Nick recovered his axe from the ground. "I never pegged you as the jealous type, Ellis." But then his memory recalled the day back in the mall when Nick had insisted he drive that stupid stock car and for the first time he had heard Ellis' tone turn to one of bitter stubbornness—no, Ellis had said, he would be driving. He had come up with the idea. Ah, Jimmy Gibbs, Jr. it sure is nice to have the kid on your side, isn't it?

"Hey, where the hell did you two go?" Rochelle asked after almost plowing them over as she rounded the corner. "We turned around and you guys were gone."

Ellis pointed his axe menacingly at the Jockey's corpse and Rochelle pursed her lips together in an unspoken 'oh'. Yeah, this park was becoming a hell of a trip.

Now regrouped, the four continued their way through the park, passing through it with general ease. The Infected seemed less inclined to sprint after them as they left the tight quarters and instead seemed to be standing in a stupor, staring up at the sky in blatant awe. The four decided to save their bullets and left them.

Far off in the distance they could hear the rumble of jets. Sometimes, they could even see a mushroom cloud of fire on the horizon. Shit, it seemed like the military's intent was to destroy the entire city, maybe the entire country. The four only moved faster, spurred by this sudden and terrifying realization that it was very unlikely that anyone knew that they were here, alive.

However, as they approached a mound of bodies they came to a stop. The bloody corpses were crumpled onto each other to form an open mass grave. Mothers clung to children, couples laid hand in hand, some laid several feet from the general mass as though they had tried to escape. Bullet holes littered their bodies and pools of dried blood soaked through their clothing. These bodies weren't Infected, they never had been.

"Jesus," Rochelle breathed. One trembling hand reached up to cover her mouth. "They just shot them… This is… this is horrible."

"People shootin' people? This ain't right…" Ellis agreed quietly. He swallowed thickly, trying to look away but something inside of him refused to. He felt himself starting to shake. God, why would they do this? How could they do this?

Coach and Nick exchanged solemn looks. Although disturbed by the inhumanity, neither was willing to allow themselves to break down like their companions. They had to stay strong so that they could get out of this alive, crying wouldn't help anyone right now. The two moved forward, Coach to take the softly weeping Rochelle around the shoulders and Nick to stand quietly beside Ellis. The southerner finally looked away from the corpses, tears in his eyes. He looked as though he was going to say something, but changed his mind and just sighed.

"Come on, we have to keep moving," Nick said gently. They moved on, careful to watch their step and leave the corpses undisturbed. Humanity, it seemed, was falling apart around them, but at least the four of them still clung what little empathy they still had left.

They moved inside of a small compartment that looked have been used for quarantining. They closed the door behind them and the room became suddenly air-locked. Coach approached the door on the other side and read the warning out-loud. "Alarm will sound if door is opened before clearance from the tower..." He frowned hard, looking out the small window. There was a long maze of fencing that may have at one point served as the line for the evacuation center. In the middle there was a long plank of towers. They could just barely make out the alarm box. Well, shit.

"I don't think we have a choice," Nick said. "Are we ready?" He looked to the others who all nodded glumly.

Coach let out a long breath and then pulled the lever and pushed. The room let out a hiss as the air escaped. Then the alarm began to blare. Next came the zombies, hundreds of them, all left behind by CEDA to mercilessly succumb to the Infection.

It was like a mosh pit in a concert, or something. The only thing that kept them from maybe pretending to enjoy it was the blood. They were practically soaked in it as they rounded fences, shoving the Infected away, weapon's slicing and tearing through bodies.

The tower was close—so close! God damn, Nick could see the ladder. He hacked through three Infected with one sweep and then glanced back to his companions. They were all struggling, almost drowning in the sea of bodies.

That alarm would just keep them coming, and at this rate, none of them would make it. Nick made the decision that he couldn't let that happen.

He threw himself forward, knocking over the rest of the Infected before the ladder and then scrambled up it. He shoved another one off the next platform and began to climb the next ladder, kicking off a few more that grabbed at him as he climbed. He reached the top, feeling hands grabbing at him, teeth biting at him. With strength he didn't even know he had, he continued to run, feeling his clothes being ripped. It became harder to shove them away, harder to swing his axe.

But he reached it. He reached the damn alarm. He smashed the button down and the awful blaring stopped. He spun about, shoving a cluster of Infected right off the tower to their deaths. He swung the other way with the axe. Hot blood splattered his face, soaked his arms.

Then he was suddenly jerked off the side of the tower. He grabbed and clawed at anything he could get his hands on, but it was fruitless. His legs and arms caught a few bars on the tower as he tumbled over the side, breaking his fall. He hit the ground hard anyways and he felt an explosion of pain down his side. He tried to stand but he was suddenly being dragged backwards. His lungs began to constrict as something around him tightened; it became hard to breathe. All around him the faces of Infected sneered and screamed as they clawed at him.

All he could think of was Ellis. Angry at him for dying. Screaming at him for being stupid. Crying because he was gone. His vision blurred with tears and blood. Everything began to grow dark.

"NO!"

The Infected all around him suddenly lurched back as a hail of bullets ripped them to shreds. The tightness around Nick's body disappeared and a cloud of dirty smoke filled his lungs. He coughed weakly, blinking through the haze of blood as his savior knelt over him. It was Ellis. Of course it was.

"Nick, Nick! Can ya hear me, Nick? Come on, Nick, talk to me!" Ellis had thrown down his gun and he was pawing at the bloody conman. He brushed the slick crimson from Nick's face. Nick's eyes fluttered opened. "Oh, thank ya, Jesus. Thank ya, God. You're okay, Nick. You're fine, man. I got ya."

Ellis ripped open his first aid and began pulling everything he could from it. Nick watched him with offhanded amusement—Ellis looked so serious.

Nick's lungs began to fill again with air. He felt dizzy, tired. His body ached everywhere. He could feel himself bleeding, it felt warm, but at the same time he felt oddly cold.

Ellis moved around Nick, pulling at his suit to expose wounds. He bandaged them tightly. Beside him, Rochelle had joined him as Coach stood watchfully over them. Nick let out a sigh, closing his eyes. He slipped into darkness.

"He's going to be okay, Ellis," Rochelle said, griping Ellis' arm. The southerner had began to sob, shaking at the conman roughly when his eyes had closed. "It's okay, sweetie, he's going to be okay, he's just unconscious. We'll have to carry him."

Wordlessly, because he was crying too hard, Ellis knelt as Rochelle helped pull the conman onto the southerners back. Limp and unconscious, Nick was surprisingly heavy. Ellis didn't care. He'd carry him forever if he had to.

With two men unable to fight, Coach and Rochelle had their work cut out for them. They moved as fast as they could, shooting down everything that came towards them, doing their best to keep Ellis safe and Nick alive. But, God, there was so much blood. Ellis could feel it, warm and sticky on his back as the conman continued to slowly bleed out.

Please, God, please no. Please anything but this.

Ellis prayed hard as he ran, prayed with everything in his heart and soul that Nick would be all right, prayed that they could find somewhere safe to hole up so they could tend to the conman more properly.

God must have heard him in all the chaos, because it wasn't much longer before they found just what they had been looking for. They fought there way inside of the small room. Ellis kicked one Infected crawling at him in the teeth. It was satisfying watching it spit out a mouthful of blood.

Then the door was being slammed shut as Coach and Rochelle threw their bodies against it. Rochelle turned quickly and began to drag a table in front of the door as Coach continued to hold it closed. Together they secured it, gasping and trying hard to catch their breath.

By then, Ellis had deposited Nick gently against the wall. The conman was still unconscious, his head was lolled limply to one side, his face pale, arms lifeless at his sides.

Ellis blubbered incoherently as he tried to find more wounds, but he was fumbling so badly that Rochelle pulled him aside. She and Coach poked and prodded at the conman carefully for more wounds as Ellis fell apart beside them.

If Nick's suit had once been white, it would never be again. Tonight it was painted a lovely shade of red.

A/N: ( super long rambling and not at all necessary to read).

Stupid Smokers and that stupid tower. Seriously happens to me every time. I also think that when survivors get down to a certain health (like in the red where they're doing that really painfully slow gimp) you'd should be able to piggy back them and consequently lose your ability to wield pistols, but they cover you with theirs. I nno, I always thought you should be able to do that…

Also, what is with the lame Mutations? Seriously? Only Room For One? It was super lame. My friend and I did Dead Center and he did all the work (as Ellis ) finding all the gas cans and throwing them down. And I'm like "Well… technically, if I put in the last gas can, doesn't that mean I win?" And, yeah. Yeah it does. It was totally lame. The Parish, however, was a pretty sweet death race. Ellis beat me by a freakin' hair. I was inside the 'copter with him and then it took off and we were like '!" and then as the copters taking off Nick screams "GET TO THE CHOPTER!" and we laughed upon realizing I had lost. But yeah, fun once, but I think I'm done with it. Gimme back Chainsaw Massacre B(

Also, if anyone happens to be going to Minneapolis Anime Convention this weekend (June 18-20th) I'll be a (or the?) bloody Nick walking around with Lucy from Elfin Lied. (Still really bummed my Ellis didn't get to come v_v) I may end up changing into my backup costume of Austria from Axis Powers Hetalia if my Nick cosplay fails hard because I know Austria will do well (it did at Anime Detour, anyways).

Again, thank you for putting up with my random rants, for reading and for reviewing. I really appreciate it!