Short Story 2: Keith

"Niiick"

There was a rustling in the dark saferoom. Bed springs creaked as Ellis crawled out of his bed.

"Nick?" The mechanic whispered again

The gambler groaned and turned over on a noisy bed of his own.

"Nick," Ellis poked the older man's cheek, "Wake up!"

Coach started snoring on the other side of the room.

Ellis continued poking Nick, then tried ruffling his hair.

A dark green eye opened and glared at the young mechanic and his heart skipped a beat.

'What do you want, Overalls?" Nick mumbled and sat up, wiping sleep from his eyes.

Ellis crawled onto the older man's bed and sat cross-legged in front of him with a stupid grin on his tired face.

"Did I ever tell you-"

"Ellis, this better not be a fucking Keith story," the conman growled in a tone that was so bored and tired it hardly sounded the least bit threatening.

A moment of silence passed before, "Are you gunna let me talk?"

Nick didn't say anything, so Ellis continued

"I'm pretty sure I ain't ever told anyone about this," the boy said with a gleam in his eye that Nick could see even in the dim moonlight, "So me an Keith were jus' hangin' out, right?"

Nick stares blankly at the boy

"Then we got to talkin' all serious like about families an houses an shit. We were all animated and arguing, leanin real close to each other cuz that's always how me en Keith argued. Though we didn't do so often cuz we was best friends an all."

Nick didn't seem the least bit interested in what Ellis was saying, but he was listening all the same.

"Then real quick and sneaky like, Keith kissed me."

That caught the conman's attention. The drifter's eyes snapped to the mechanic's.

Nick was a man that didn't often get jealous during the zombie apocalypse, but when he did, even the zombies turned and ran.

"That fuck-up did what?"

"Well he-"

"And you just let him!"

Well Nick, it was-"

"Oh if that piece of shit was here he would be dead!"

Ellis just grinned.

And suddenly Nick understood.

"You hick!" Nick growled, "You little mother fucker!"

The conman growled again before devouring Ellis.

It wasn't often that Nick got jealous. But when he did, it usually benefitted a certain mechanic.