JO POV
I stretched, waking up from a nice, long sleep. I turned so that I could see my fiancée sleeping next to me. Yes, my fiancée. Who is he? I'll give you a hint: He has an adorable Southern accent. Yep! Ellis. I wrapped my arms around his sleeping body, burying my head on his bare, toned chest. I listened to his heart, steadily beating as he breathed peacefully. Then, he began to groan softly, waking up slowly.
"Good morning." I said, sweetly. He yawned and stretched, careful not to hit me in the face.
"Good mornin'." He smiled, looking at my tired, yet refreshed face. "Slept well?"
"Yep." I pecked his lips, unwrapping my arms from his waist and rolled out of bed. Yes, a bed. We're actually living in a legitimate house. You must be asking yourself, 'how could we be living happily in a perfectly-built house during a zombie apocalypse?' Well, it happened about two weeks ago with just a little luck.
"We're gonna crash!" Coach screamed as the pilot collapsed to the floor with a bullet in his head. Nick blew the smoking barrel of his pistol and put it away. "What the hell was that for, Nick? You shot our damn pilot!"
"He was an infected. Would you rather have your brains eaten?"
"Well, either way, we're dead now!" Coach attempted to pounce on Nick when Ellis pushed him back.
"Calm down!" I screamed, giving everyone a parachute. "Take this and jump!"
"But Jo, we don't know where-" Nick spoke.
"Do you wanna die?" I screamed at him, putting mine on.
"No, but-"
"Oh, just go!" I pushed him off the plane.
"What the fuck? You idiot!" He screamed while falling. Coach was the next to jump, followed by Ellis and I. As we fell, we held each other's hand, hoping for a safe landing. I watched the plane rapidly nosedive until it crashed onto a giant patch of land. I turned my head away from the bright explosion, watching dome flaming metal parts of plane fly right past us. We were lucky none hit us.
"Guys! Pull your strings now!" I screamed as loud as I could once we were close to the ground. And to our luck, we landed in a rural area with a big farmhouse.
And that's where we are today. Nick lives on the main floor, in his own little bachelor pad. I'm sort of afraid to go down there, due to the fact that I saw him move leopard-print furniture and other awkward bachelor shit down there. Coach lives in the basement. His room is right next to the kitchen, so he is quite content. he also has a whole bunch of football stuff in there: trophies, jerseys, and other things like that. I also remember helping him put up a giant poster of his favorite football star...he sometimes talks to it...its kinda creepy. I don't know how they found all this stuff either, but I'd rather not ask. As for Ellis and I, we live in a small room on the second floor. The only thing that we need is a bed and each other. *Wink* ...well, maybe some guns too. There's a barn by the house where we store them. We even turned the inside into a shooting range. Its a good way to bond and practice our shooting together. On occasion, some infected come to visit, but we just shoot them down and move the bodies into the woods. It's a simple life, when you really break it down. *Looks at a diamond ring on finger* I love Ellis, even though we've only known each other for a short time, but we had a real connection. Both of us. Besides, its a zombie apocalypse! Speaking of which, I sort of dread the idea of having to repopulate the Earth. I'm not saying I don't want to be a mother, and I'm definitely not saying I don't want to bear Ellis' children, but I don't want to have a shit ton of kids...and if I have to repopulate the Earth, I'm gonna have to fuck the other guys too...yeah, I don't think Ellis would like it very much either. I just pray that they come out with some kind of cure for this goddamn infection before then. I still remember how he proposed to me after we got settled into the house.
"Jo? How long have we've been seeing each other?" He asks me as we walked around our large farmland.
"For about...3 weeks or so. Why?"
"I feel like I've known you my whole life!" he says, holding my hand.
"Me too." I squeezed it tightly.
"And I want, no, need to have a badass, beautiful woman by my side in this terrible apocalypse!"
"Well, I'm here." I said, pecking his cheek.
"Good to know because I don't ever want to lose you.
"What? And I don't? Oh Ellis, you're not the only one with feelings in the relationship." I teased him and he laughed at my sarcasm.
"Yes, I know." He then stopped walking and I turned around to see why. "Jo, I may be the craziest person to do this, especially right now, but..." he got down on one knee, pulling a diamond ring out of his pocket. "...will you please marry me?" To be honest, I sort of expected it coming, but I was still surprised.
"Of course, Ellis! No need to ask." I smiled at him. He instantly got up, jumping and 'yee-hawing' in excitement. My Southern man...my beautiful Southern man. He slipped the ring on my finger, which fit perfectly. Then reality hit me. "Hey Ellis, where did you get this ring?"
"I found it in the house, but ring or no ring, I was still gonna marry you. My alternative was this." He held up a rubber band and I laughed. I actually imagined him trying to tie it around my finger.
"Well, it was a good thing you found it then. And by luck, it fits perfectly!" I look at the ring in all it's 14 karat gold glory, examining the one big diamond in the center. "Its beautiful, Ellis." I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him a long, passionate kiss. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me in. Then, for a second, he broke the kiss.
"I don't know how its gonna be made official though."
"It doesn't matter. I'm just happy to be here with you."
So yeah, here I am, engaged during a zombie apocalypse, living with three men. Suddenly, I heard a rupture and the ground shook.
"Ellis?" I ask him, feeling anxious. He read my mind.
"There hasn't been no Tank 'round here for a while. Let's just go downstairs." Just then, Nick and Coach busted through our door.
"Did you hear that?" Coach panicked.
"Forget hear. Did you feel it?" I looked at Ellis with eyes that read, 'I told you so.'
"Alright, then let's beat him down like we always do!" Ellis said in response to my look.
"What happened to 'Oh, let's just ignore that rumble and go downstairs', Ellis?" I put my hand on my hip, raising my eyebrow.
"Well, now that the others have heard it, I guess there is a Tank around. And I only told you to ignore it because you tend to overreact. Remember last time we heard a rumble and you freaked out but it was only the refrigerator?"
"Shut up. That was right after I got thrown into a car by an ass-hole Tank! I have a right to be anxious!" I hit him playfully, yelling a bit. But it wasn't an angry yell, just loud. I'm like that sometimes.
"I would just love to watch this adorable argument go on and on, but we've got some kind of infected here. So, I'd like to kill it." Nick interrupted.
"Oh, shut up!" We both said simultaneously and gave each other a small kiss.
"My God, they're like one of those obsessed couples!" Nick sighed in exasperation as he walked out of the room. "I'm going to the barn. The rest of you can get beaten up." Nick rushed out the door. We looked at Coach, who was rubbing his bald head.
"Uhh, guys...we should probably stop this thing before it attacks us." Coach awkwardly interrupted our kissing. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I took Ellis by the hand and Coach followed us out to the barn. After sneaking into the small, red house and catching up to Nick, we came out fully loaded with the most toughest weapons in our stash. Keeping our eyes locked on our target, we fired. My heart pounded as every bullet shot out of my heavy-loaded weapon. Red-colored trails of liquid gushed out from where bullet met flesh. The rumbles and loud thumps sounded as the Tank's muscled body hit the flat ground, charging towards us. We all dodged out of the way except for one, who just wasn't fast enough. The Tank blocked his body, so I was unable to see who got hit. Feeling my own adrenaline rush picking up, I bashed the back of the Tank with the end of my machine gun, getting his attention. It worked. I ran as quickly as I could, but nobody was shooting. Instead, the other two were tending to whoever got incapped. The Tank charged with full force, pounding the ground and raging after me. I could tell when he was a human, he must have had anger issues. I ran up to the farmhouse, then made a sudden turn, causing the Tank to crash into the side of the house. It broke down the whole left side, but I had no choice. The Tank was dizzy from the impact, so taking my chance, I fired like crazy at it's chest and head. The mighty beast dropped to it's knees, collapsing into a motionless mound of squishy flesh. I blew on my smoking barrel, feeling victorious for what I've just done. I turned around to gloat to the guys until I saw them huddled over the incapped man. As I ran closer to the group, my heart sunk more and his body became clearer to see.
"Ellis! Ellis!" I pushed the other two aside, kneeling down at his brutally damaged body. "Ellis, wake up! Please! Answer me!" I beg, pulling at his very blood-stained 'Bull Shifters' shirt. I saw heavy eyelids struggle to life as he gasped for air.
"Jo. I-I'll be okay. Pills...I...I need pills." With tears of relief in my eyes, I handed him the bottle of pills and helped him up, which was good because that meant his energy was slowly restoring.
"You've really prepared yourself for this zombie apocalypse, huh?" Coach smiled at me with impress.
"Hell yeah! Its not fun and games. Sure, its the best shooting range of all time," I winked at Ellis, "but its also the most dangerous. You must be ready for anything." I suddenly saw Ellis collapse again from the corner of my eye. "Ellis!" I shout in surprise, holding him up. "He's terribly injured...I think he might need surgery."
"Well then, get to it, Miss Prepared." Nick smirked.
"I'm not a surgeon, Nick. We're gonna have to call for help."
"In the middle of nowhere?"
"When we were parachuting, I noticed a city past the woods. I'm sure it has a hospital. We just need to get through." He sighed.
"Alright. Just let me get my-". Nick turned and stared in disbelief at the house, half-standing, thanks to the Tank. "Jacket." He said behind gritted teeth.
"You can sleep in another room, Nick." I said nicely, though I was purposely trying to piss him off even more. I don't know why, but its just too amusing. Surely enough, i did.
"Just sleep in another room? I worked hard on this room to make it my own space and I'm not gonna let some dumb Tank fuck it up for me!" Silence. Then, I really let him have it. "Nick, you may have a bachelor pad, but there aren't any girls anywhere...single ones at least." I gave Ellis a kiss on the cheek while letting him lean on me. I saw Nick twitch.
"You know what Jo? I could have asked you to marry me if this hick over here wasn't drooling all over you back at the Parish!" He gasped, his face turning red a bit. Ellis sighed, feeling almost bad for Nick...until he called him off.
"Y'don't have to call me a hick, man." I looked at Ellis and whispered in his ear. At first, he hesitated, but then he nodded. With Coach giving Ellis support, I walked up to Nick, who had his back turned to us. I touched his shoulder lightly and he peeked over.
"What?" He asked me with a hint of anger and embarrassment in his voice.
"I never realized...that you felt that way." In my mind, I wanted to say "you're like a pre-teen boy who has a hard time expressing his emotions." I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to tease him badly...but I know I couldn't do that at the moment. He turned around to stare at me with eyes of sadness...but not like he was crying. "Thank you giving Ellis and I a chance." I gave him a small kiss on the lips: not so much a peck, but not as long as a make-out. I could feel him resist the urge to kiss back.
"It's alright." He said when we broke the kiss. "I had to deal with a lot of painful shit, but for some reason, this one's a little tough."
"Love is powerful." I told him. "Cheesy, I know." Then, for a moment, I actually saw Nick smile. A real smile, not one of those typical smirks that he would always give.
"Well, that was fun, but now I think we should save Ellis over here." Coach interrupted.
"Oh, right." Nick said, about to run to the farmhouse to get his jacket. I'll be honest, its kinda weird seeing him with just his blue button-down shirt; he just doesn't look like his usual conman self. I can't really explain it, but its just the way he looks that kinda throws me off. Anyway, right before he entered the house, it started to tilt towards where he was.
"Nick! Get away from the house!" I yelled, sprinting before it was too late. Nick looked at me with a puzzled expression, then his eyes widened when he saw me coming at him. In one quick reflex, I threw him onto my back and ran as best as I could away from the falling house.
"What the hell, Jo! Put me down!" He yelled.
"I'm trying to save your ass again!" I yelled sarcastically.
"From what?" He asked, the tone in his voice lightening up a bit. When I put him down by the other two men, I positioned his body towards the farmhouse. It toppled over and I held out my arm to indicate the rubble.
"That." I said, with a look of 'I-told-you-so'.
"Thanks, but I still need my jacket." I sighed, face-palming as he ran to the rubble, trying to dig out his jacket.
"Jo..." Ellis suddenly said to me, wincing between breaths. Coach switched so Ellis could lean on me. "Don't...we have an emergency...radio in the barn?" Suddenly remembering having one, I asked Coach to contact CEDA.
"CEDA? Girl, that fucking rescue company did us shit!" There was more silence.
"Give me the radio. I'll talk to them." I said with a tiny hint of anger in my voice. I felt Ellis caressing my arm as Coach went in to grab the radio.
"Thank you...for helping me out, Jo."
"Well, I'm your future wife, right? I gotta take care of you like how you took care of me back at the bridge." He kissed my head as Coach came back with the radio. Taking it from him, I hit the talk button.
"CEDA! This is Blackhawk! I am at a farmhouse outside Mercy City."
"How do you know its Mercy City?" Coach asked me. I pointed to a sign that read 'Mercy City. 5 miles.' Suddenly, a voice responded.
"Blackhawk? We thought you were dead! Are you okay?"
"My right leg got pretty banged up, but I'm alright now. Listen, I'm with three other guys and one of them is badly injured. We need assistance."
"I can send a chopper on top of Mercy Hospital."
"Perfect. We're on our way."
"Good luck, Blackhawk."
"Thanks." I responded, giving the radio back to Coach.
"'Blackhawk'?" He asked me, putting the radio away.
"It's a codename. I work for CEDA." Coach swallowed hard a bit, regretting what he said about CEDA doing jack shit.
"Also...you mentioned...a leg injury?" Ellis asked me.
"Oh, that. Well, about two months ago, when I was in a CEDA chopper, the engine failed unexpectedly." Nick, who found his jacket, dusted it off and overheard the conversation as he walked toward us.
"Woah, woah, woah. You worked for crappy-ass CEDA?" Nick asked me with a bit of disappointment in his voice.
"No, I worked for FEMA." I said sarcastically. "Anyway, none of us had parachutes and we were nosediving. I told myself I wasn't gonna die. Not that day. So, with the right timing, I jumped off the chopper and I barely survived. I still remember seeing my friends get killed by the impact. It was quite devastating, but I knew that I had no time to grieve. I had many small wounds that went away quickly, but my right leg was dislocated and had a big shard of glass stuck in it. Acting fast, I had to crack it back into place, remove the shard, and stitch up my leg." I lifted up my pant leg to reveal a five-inch scar on the side of my calf.
"My god, Jo. You just gained more respect from me." Coach patted my back.
"Welcome to the club, Jo." Nick also patted my back.
"Wow. I'm surprised that I...never saw that when we-" Ellis caught himself. Nick and Coach shuddered a bit and I giggled.
"Anyway," Nick tried to change the conversation, "what are we doing now?"
"We got to go to Mercy Hospital in Mercy City, through the woods."
"Fucking lovely," Nick muttered to himself, "more crap on my suit."
"Suck it up and let's go." I said, patting his back hard and lifting Ellis up on my back.