" 'Ey, how about we sing uh song tuh keep our spirits up?" Ellis suggested a few days later, as he and the other survivors made their way through a thick forested area.
"Ellis, we need to keep our wits about us." Coach said, eyes darting from side to side as he stepped over a knotted root that stuck half-way up out of the ground, waiting to trip anyone who wasn't paying attention. "Singing would just distract us—"
"LIFE IS UH HIGHWAY! AH WANNA RIDE IT AWL NIGHT LOOOOOONG~!"
"Oh please no." Rochelle buried her face in her hand, shaking her head.
"IF YER GOIN' MAH WAY, AH WANNA DRIVE IT AWL NIGHT LOOOOOONG~!"
"Ellis!" Nick shouted.
"Keep your hick voice down!" Jack hissed, kicking the mechanic in the shin. "You're going to alert a horde!"
"Shit!" Ellis doubled over, rubbing his now bruised shin. Jack snorted and kept walking.
"Hey!" Nick grabbed his son by the back of his shirt. "You better change your attitude real fast, or I'll let the zombies change it for you."
"Oh, I'm so scared." Jack rolled his eyes and shrugged out of Nick's grasp, following Coach and Rochelle as they set the pace towards the next safe house.
Nick growled, shoving his hand into his pocket and grabbing his pack of smokes. That kid was driving him to the edge. He quickly stuck a cigarette into his mouth and lit it, letting the tar and nicotine fill his system.
"Two left…" He muttered, slipping the pack and lighter back to their pocket. "C'mon Overalls, you're falling behind."
"Ah'm comin', Ah'm comin'." Ellis hobbled along, eventually straightening himself as his shin stopped feeling like it was broken. "Shit, tha' kid can kick. He'd be good on a soccer team."
"Ellis, he just kicked you in the shin. You should be pissed at him, not complimenting him."
"But havin' uh strong kick ain't uh bad thang, Nick."
"… Remember when I said you had a strange way of looking at things? I didn't mean it in a good way." Nick snorted and put distance between him and Ellis as quickly as he could. He wasn't in the mood to argue with the mechanic's point of view, which was quite obviously wrong. "If you're going to be a loud mouth, then stay behind and have fun fighting the zombies that your off-tune singing attracts."
"…" Ellis's smile faltered just slightly; what on Earth had he done wrong? "… Ah'll be quiet." He said, jogging to close the ever-growing distance between him and the rest of the group.
But… was it him, or was the distance just growing bigger? Every foot step seemed to push him away, not draw him closer. He could hear Coach and Rochelle's enthusiastic conversations fading away; even Nick and Jack's arguments were growing quieter.
"H-Hey! Wait fer me!" Ellis shouted, reaching out to them. "Guys, seriously! Wait fer me!"
No matter how hard he screamed, no one seemed to hear him or pay him any mind.
"Coach! Ro! Jack!" Ellis saw each of them disappear into the horizon as he called their names. "… Nick! Nick, please dun' leave me behind! Ah'm sorry!"
Nick didn't even look back as he too disappeared, leaving Ellis utterly alone. And for the first time, Ellis was consumed by fear.
"GUYS!" He shrieked, as dozens of mottled, rotting zombie hands grew out of the ground and began to grab at him. "COME BACK! COME BACK, YEW FERGOT ABOUT ME-!" He looked down as a few hands gripped at the bottom of his rolled up overalls, eyes widening as the zombies' faces began to press up out of the ground. "G… Git away! GIT AWAY AH SAID!" He kicked free and started to back up, but everywhere he went, more hands grabbed at him. The faces were disturbing; they were all smiling at him, as though they didn't have a care in the world. As though their life's goal was to eat him. And as Ellis stared down at those faces, he realized that he was being pulled down into the ground. "No! Ah dun' wanna die!"
Overalls…
"Nick! They're gunna git me!" He screamed in pain as he was brought down to his waist, and hundreds of razor sharp zombie teeth broke his sun-kissed skin. "SHIT! THEY'RE BITIN' ME!"
It was too late; the bite of an infected was all it took to spread the virus.
What's wrong, Overalls?
"Nick…!" Ellis could only call out for his closest friend, as he slowly sank down into the ground. He was up to his ribs now; he could feel the warmth leaving his body as he became one of the dead.
Overalls, snap out of it!
"Ah'm dead…" Ellis's chest was swallowed up by the zombie-riddled ground. Blood started dripping from his eyes; infected cried blood.
C'mon, kid!
"Ah didn't… make it…" Ellis's chin hit the ground, and he stopped, joining the ranks of the smiling undead. A carefree smile came onto his face. "Ah'm comin'… tuh see yew again, Ma…"
ELLIS!
\ . / . \ . / . \ . /
"AUGH!" Ellis's eyes flew open, blue irises flitting around rapidly to try and discern where he was; was this heaven? No… No, it wasn't… Then was that… all a dream? His heart was pounding fit to burst from his chest, which was heaving with rapid breaths as he tried to get enough oxygen to his buzzing brain. His clothes were soaked through with cold sweat, sticking to his skin and causing him to shiver violently as a cool breeze brushed against him.
"Ellis!" Nick's face swam into view above his. "C'mon kid, snap out of it!" He gently slapped Ellis's cheek, his palm wet with water from their supply. "Shit, you gave us a heart attack…"
"Whu…?" Ellis blinked a few times, realizing that his head was resting in someone's lap. Rochelle leaned over so her face was in view.
"You started screaming in your sleep, hun." She said gently, running waifish fingers through Ellis's damp curls. "What makes you think we'd forget about you…?"
"… Ah wus screamin'… in mah sleep…?" Ellis struggled to put the information together. "… So… So Ah ain't uh zombie?"
"No, El, of course not." Rochelle looked surprised.
"Is the hick done having a fit?" Jack grunted from his sleeping spot. "Can I go back to sleep?"
"Jack, shut up." Nick snapped.
"Son, let Ellis have the attention for once." Coach reprimanded, lightly whacking Jack on the head.
"Why would we forget about you?" Rochelle asked Ellis again, gently brushing a cool hand against his face. "… Oh El, honey, you're burning up…"
"Is he sick?" Nick seemed concerned. Ellis glanced over at the conman, who was running his fingers through slicked-back hair. "… What is it, Overalls?"
"… When we wus at thuh bridge…" Ellis mumbled. "Yew threatened tuh leave me behind…"
Nick's hand paused. "… You're still hung up on that?" He asked, slightly exasperated.
"Nick, you said we'd leave him behind?" Coach asked sharply.
"I didn't mean it!" Nick defended himself. "I was just sick and tired of his incessant babbling about Keith and wanted him to shut up."
"Ellis, we're a family." Rochelle assured the mechanic, who was waiting for affirmation from Nick that he wouldn't be left behind. "We'd never leave you for any reason."
"…." Nick could feel everyone's eyes on him. "What? What do you want from me?"
"Tell him." Rochelle coaxed.
"I just said I didn't mean it!" Nick rubbed his forehead, sighing loudly. "… Ellis, regardless of what I might say… we'd never leave you behind. There. I said it. Can we go back to sleep, please?"
"You go ahead." Rochelle nodded to him and Coach. "I'm going to see if I can get Ellis's fever to go down."
"Ain't uh fever…" Ellis's protests were feeble at best. "Jus' worked up…"
"El, I can tell the difference between being worked up and having a fever." Rochelle tore her shirt and got it wet, gently pressing the cool cloth to Ellis's forehead. "Just take it easy… Do you feel sick at all? Do you need to puke?"
"…" Now that Rochelle mentioned it, Ellis could feel his stomach doing somersaults. He nodded a little.
"Alright, c'mon." She eased him to his feet and supported him on her shoulders as they walked through the safe house door and a few feet away. "It's alright, let it out."
Ellis could feel the vomit rising in his throat and scooted away from Rochelle out of courtesy, dropping to his knees and expelling the half-digested contents of his stomach in violent retches that shook his whole body. He could hear wind rushing in his ears as he heaved, even as nothing came out.
"That's it…" Rochelle gently crooned in his ear, rubbing his back to comfort him. "Poor thing… Just get it all out…"
Ellis willed himself to stop and spat a few times, bringing a shaking hand up to his mouth to wipe the sick from his lips. "Ah'm… Ah'm fine…" He gasped, sweat pouring down his paling face and mingling with a few tears on his cheeks.
"Ellis… it's okay." Rochelle continued to rub his back. "You don't have to act like everything's alright all the time. We won't think any less of you if you tell us how you really feel every once in a while."
"…" Ellis slumped against her, shaking like a leaf. "… Ah…" He started to sob, his mind hazy from fever and sleep. "Ah'm not… Ah'm not fine…"
"Shh…" Rochelle wrapped her arms around him and gently rocked him, like a mother would.
"Is he okay?"
Ellis glanced up with half-open eyes; the glow of a burning cigarette was all he could see through the dark of the night.
"He's sick, Nick." Rochelle answered, holding Ellis's head against her shoulder. "Do you think he could use your jacket? He's shivering."
"Yeah. That's fine. Just try not to get puke on it, okay Sport?"
Ellis felt a warm jacket being draped around his quivering shoulders; the scent of smoke wafted up into his nostrils, oddly soothing him.
"C'mon… Let's get you back inside so you can get some sleep." Rochelle helped him to his feet and guided him back to the safe room.
"Christ, Ellis…" Nick shook his head, following them and putting out his cigarette before it was even half-smoked. "What are we going to do with you?"
"Nick." Rochelle warned, reminding him that that was close to a touchy subject. Ellis gently pushed her away and slumped down against the wall, huddling under Nick's jacket as he curled up on his side.
Nick sighed. "Fine, fine…" He glanced at the miserable Georgia native. "… If you need anything, Ellis, just wake me up."
"Hmph…" Jack muttered, as Nick laid down beside him. "Bet if I was puking, you wouldn't care…"
"Jack… just shut up." Nick yawned, smacking his son on the head before rolling onto his side. "Go to sleep."