Hailey woke abruptly and choked on what attempted to come up her throat. She sat up coughing and then gagging.

"Oh god," She cringed as she scrambled away from the bed frantically searching for a garbage pail.

Then she couldn't hold it back any longer; she lunged forward onto her hands and vomited. The room became muted and she clawed her nails into the ground. She'd managed to grab an empty cotton candy bag; if it was going to hold up she didn't know. Breath filled her lungs as her stomach ceased supplying her with pink and red sick. She shakily wiped her mouth and took another long breath. With the room spinning she took as many deep breaths as she could. The urge came back quickly though and she felt herself retch, hanging over the bag for support. This time more blood and water came out, it looked like flesh chunks as well. She gasped and held the bag away from her, blood dripping from her mouth.

"You woof your cookies?" Ellis faintly asked from behind her.

She turned and looked at him with her glazed eyes and bloody chin. He nearly strangled himself trying to jump out of the sleeping bag,

"Holey Christ in a hand basket!" he cried scrambling out of the bedding.

"DON'T," Hailey shouted holding her hand up, stopping him dead in his tracks, "You will rip your stitches moving like that... just get me some water."

Ellis slowed his movements and grabbed two water bottles from the cooler. He grabbed a blanket and reached to seize the bag from Hailey but she pulled it away from him.

"I'll get rid of it," she muttered.

She grabbed the blanket and wiped her face before closing the plastic bag. Hailey saw a biohazard bucket and disposed of her puke. She chugged back the water and clutched onto her hands to stop them from shaking, Ellis placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and glanced up at him, her throat hurt and she felt horrible.

"Come," he said softly, "Come lie down."

Hailey reached up and took hold of Ellis's open hand; he pulled her up into him. The room spun and she took hold of his arms for balance. They crossed the room towards the makeshift bed; Ellis seated himself and Hailey lay down next to him on the sleeping bag.

"Here," he whispered, "roll on your side, my ma used to do this for me when I was sick like that."

He placed his hand on her back and stroked her toned muscles. He started from Hailey's shoulder down to her lower back. Admittedly she felt better and was glad she could trust him, but could he trust her. Her past from not so long ago, 6 days now... was catching up with her.

"Thank you," she whispered weakly.

He squeezed her shoulder in response.

***

Ellis opened his eyes after dozing off; he soon realized that Hailey was completely pressed against him. She was cool to the touch but her hands were warm; she lay sleeping quite soundly and her chest rose slowly enough to indicate she was in a deep sleep. He sat up measuring his time, he dare not wake her. Hailey needed the rest, her eyes still bore dark circles and yet even in the back of Ellis's mind he still doubted that rest would fix that.

He looked through the army food for something that sounded moderately edible but only found powdered soup mix. He put it back and checked on their water supply; he discovered another row of water bottles below the first layer of ice. He pulled them to the top and grabbed one for himself. Ellis took a seat on the sleeping bag and felt his side with a delicate touch. Pulling up his shirt he awkwardly gazed at his scabby wound, it looked a lot better and it didn't hurt as much...just felt itchy.

Ignoring the urge to scratch the hell out of it he glimpsed at Hailey still sleeping; her lips were naturally pouted. He took a longer look and studied the features of her face; he felt himself grow even more concerned that she had been asleep for this long. But then again he didn't know what day it was to begin with, or how long he had been asleep next to her. Counting on his fingers he heard Hailey begin to cough like before. He reached for the biohazard bucket and pulled it under her just as she became sick. Heaving over the container she was relieved when it was only a watery vomit.

"Thanks," She whispered taking hold of the bucket.

Ellis placed a hand on her back and rubbed again but she stopped him.

"I'm okay," She tried her coarse voice again; "Let me see your wound."

Ellis complied and pulled up his shirt showing her the wound. She nodded and pressed on a few locations that still remained bruised. Ellis made a sound as she did this but he tried his best to keep himself quiet. He needed to keep going, he had to find Coach and Rochelle. He didn't know if Nick was dead, for all he knew, Nick could have gone down the ravine without him. Nick had probably told them that he was dead, which wasn't true, not in a long shot. He was very much alive.

"How does it feel?" Hailey asked still staring at the injury.

"Itchy as hell, but I'll live," He smiled.

She couldn't help herself but smile as well. His face held so much more than honesty and rugged features, he was nice and truly a good person. Ellis had no hidden agenda, no tricks, nothing but compassion for his fellow man, or woman in this case. He valued people as much as he valued himself; which was in good terms. His smile truly sparked happiness within her and for moments at a time her dark incident at the beginning of the apocalypse did not surface in her mind.

"Shall we find your friends?"

"Sure will," Ellis replied while he grabbed a gun off the table and began to get ready.

Hailey knew sooner or later that she would have to leave him, but for now, she needed his help. They had to stick together.

A/N: Kind of on the short side, but I have to run to class. I'll try to update more because I really like this story. Anyhue, tell me what you think [REVIEW]. THANK YOU :)