The elevator doors pinged open, revealing a wall of thick black smoke and fire. Several inhumane wails could be heard as well as the multiple bangs and crashes of the building falling apart. Nick ran forward and bent down, grabbing some ammo from the conveniently placed stash on the floor, followed by Ellis, Rochelle and finally Coach. Once they were reloaded, together they turned to face what stood in front of them. A small group of infected ran straight towards them, barely seen through the smoke. Rochelle was the first to move forward, swinging at anything and everything that came near her, the sound of her axe slicing through flesh became louder as she grunted with effort. Coach had slipped into a small room on the right, but just as quickly ran out cursing. "Crazy neck!" he shouted, warning the others as a female zombie ran out squealing, her head bobbing on top of her lengthened neck, jaw hideously deformed, green looking saliva leaking from her mouth. She leant forward and shot what they thought was spit at them, several drops landing on Ellis's arm. He yelped in pain and furiously began wiping away the burning acid spit that covered him. "Awh great, now they're spittin' shit at us?" Ellis mumbled, barely able to see or hear the others, apart from Nick who he was guessing had also been hit by the green goo. "Ugh, what in the hell did that thing just do?" he moaned as Coach ran past him, pelting it with blasts from his shotgun. Rochelle who had managed to take out most of the zombies while the others were dealing with the spitting woman, turned to face him, squinting, her eyes stinging from the smoke. "It was a spitter!" she panted, blood covering most of her shirt. Finally the spitter was dead and they moved forward, entering a door just passed the one Coach had came out of, marked 'Kitchen'. Nick stepped over the Spitter's body, careful not to stand in the pool of acid that was leaking from her. He paused, leaning over her, examining her disgusting appearance. Ellis stood behind and waited to hear what joke Nick was going to crack now, since he had done for both the Hunter and the Jockey. He didn't have to wait long. "So. That's a spitter huh? You think she's single?" Ellis couldn't help the grin from spreading across his face. He loved Nick's sarcastic comments, it seemed to lighten the mood, even if only a bit.
Once inside the next room, fire blocked them on all sides. The only way across was over a counter that stood in the centre of the room. After scrambling over the counter, they noticed they could head left and around the fire, through another door, where luckily a clear path could be made out. They ran to the right, around the fire, and to the left to another door which could be seen through all the smoke. The group stopped once they had made it out of that room, gasping for breath, wiping the tears that ran down their cheeks. Looking into the room ahead, Ellis noticed it was cleared than the others. Daylight shone through the windows on the ceiling. There was still alot of smoke in here, just not as much as the previous rooms. Looking further ahead, he saw a door. "Safehouse ahead yall!" Ellis shouted, jogging forward towards to the red door, shooting the few zombies that stood in his way, and dodging the chairs and tables that were strewn across the floor, followed by the rest. When everyone was inside, Nick slammed the door behind them, barring it with a few chairs and a table. "Take that you mealy mouthed bastards!" Nick shouted, relieved they were safe. Ellis chuckled. "That's how it's done RIGHT!" Rochelle smiled, while Coach propped himself up against the wall, exhausted. He couldn't believe they had made it. Nick felt the same as he let himself slide to the floor, tipping his head back against the wall, hands resting on his knees, eyes closed, panting hard. They stood in silence for the next five minutes, the only noise heard was their panting and the moans of the infected outside. Finally Ellis spoke, scratching his chin. "Ooooh. Ah know a gun store we can stop at along the way, get ourselves some real weapons." Nick opened his eyes and stood up, grabbing some ammo for his desert cobra. "I guess living here's finally paying off." He smirked, reloading his weapon. Ellis watched him intensely, trying hard not to get caught gawping. Coach cleared his throat, causing Ellis to jump and quickly look away, feeling the others looking at him for jumping, his face flushing dark red. "Mr, I don't think I like your attitude." Coach spoke softly but sternly, facing Nick fully, a first aid kit in his hands to heal the wounds the Hunter had left. Nick however just rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Rochelle was looking outside through the gaps in the bars, shooting the zombies she could get a shot of. "My buddy Keith tried campin' on top of a bulidin' once, he was shootin' crows, buht the police were too busy tear gassin' him tah ask whut he was doin' up there. He screamed fer an entire year every single time he opened his eyes. Oh man. At first it was funny, then it jus' got sad, buht then it got funny again. Oh man." Nick interrupted him. "Ellis. Is now the best time?" Ellis nodded his head, smiling politely. "Okay." Nick moved past Ellis and stood in front of Rochelle, taking the bar off the sturdy heavy door. "What are we waitin' for? Let's go."
After the door had shut behind them, Nick stopped, putting his finger to his lip, signalling for the others to be quiet. "What's up?" Coach whispered, Nick waving his hand, listening intently. They stood in silence, Rochelle nervously placing her axe in her holster and grabbing her machine gun. "There!" Nick whispered, eyes wide. A low growling sound. Lower and more menacing than anything they had encountered so far. Cautiously, they walked past a fence, not a single infected left in sight. Ellis noticed a sign flashing and ran forward, excited. "Hey man!" He shouted to the others behind him, still walking slowly, "This sign is sayin' CEDA Evac/Liberty Mall! The mall ain't far from here man, Ah mean- OH, LORDY BIG ASS THING!" Suddenly, the ground began shaking violently, and Ellis furiously began shooting, unloading a mammoth load of bullets into something unknown to the others, a series of roars following. Nick's eyes widened as he ran towards Ellis, the others following close behind. He stopped when he'd reached him, turning to face the roaring beast that was pounding its way to them, Ellis now frozen in place. "HOLY SHIT, BIG FREAKIN' ZOMBIE! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" Coach quickly raised his shotgun and moved back, the others standing still, dumbstruck at the hulking monster coming towards them. It was humungous, it looked like a gorilla the way it used its fists to move. Dark pink/red in colour, its upper body was a huge mass of muscles. Its legs however, looked like a regular human's. No neck was visible, and it seemed like the bottom jaw was missing, as its tongue was hanging out. Coach snapped them out of it shouting loudly. "SHOOT THAT BIG MUTHA!" He didn't have to tell them twice. Everyone began running backwards, shooting continuously. The creature locked onto Nick, and was faster than they had anticipated, reaching him and batting him to the side with one of his enormous fists, as if he were made of feathers. Nick went flying and landed hard against an abandoned truck, groaning in pain, blood seeping from his mouth. He tried getting up but his vision was blurred, causing him to fall back against the truck, panting heavily, a sharp pain in his chest. "I...I need some help over here!" Nick tried to shout, wincing, his chest becoming tighter as he spoke. Ellis deserted his fellow teammates, and ran over to Nick. Awh shit, ah hope he's okay. Man, he gotta be okay. Finally after a huge amount of bullets had been pounded into the tank like creature, it slumped over, falling to the ground with a heavy thud. Rochelle and Coach stood, panting hard, staring at the Tanks' motionless body. "If I go, you guys are gonna miss me!" Nick chuckled, wheezing as Ellis knelt down in front of him. "Look at me. Yer gonna be okay." Ellis lifted Nicks' chin, looking worriedly at the injuries on his face. Nick stared hard, blinking repeatedly, trying to get his vision returned to normal. Grabbing his first aid kit, Ellis pulled out some bandages, antiseptic wipes and spray, and some closure strips. Squinting hard, Nick's vision finally began to return to normal, just in time to see Ellis leaning forward, his tongue sticking out, deep in concentration, one hand still holding his face, his other clutching a wipe. Gently, he began dabbing at the cut on Nick's lip, apologizing as Nick pulled away, cursing. "Nick man, ah know that hurts, buht ah gotta fix yall up." He smiled sympathetically as Nick sighed, allowing Ellis to continue. Once he was satisfied his lip was clean, he looked for any other wounds. Nick realized this and spoke quietly. "I'm pretty sure my chest has been caved in...But my hand...My hand is fucked." Nick mumbled, gripping onto Ellis' shoulder, trying to steady himself. A sick feeling had overcome him, and even though he was sitting down, he felt like he was going to fall. Ellis grabbed his hand and lifted it onto his knee. He could feel his heart racing a million miles an hour in his chest. This was just the excuse he needed. The amount of times he'd thought about getting close to Nick, and here he was, holding his hand. He knew it wasn't in the same way he wanted it to be, but he didn't care, he was content with stroking his hand, feeling the softness and warmth, not wanting to ever let go. "So...How's it look?" Nick muttered, snapping Ellis out of his trance like state. "Man, it's a good think yall get these stitchy thingies in here. That cut is perrrty deep. Buht...Yall live. Unfortunately." He grinned and winked at him. Nick chuckled, tilting his head back, closing his eyes and grinning. "Kay...Ah ain't gonna lie man, this might sting a bit." Ellis warned, pulling the cap of the antiseptic spray, and spraying the wound lightly. "Motherfucker! That fucking stings!" Nick cursed, tugging hard on Ellis' shoulder, sending him flying forwards, landing on Nick hard with a grunt, his face buried into Nick's neck. "Shit. Sorry kid." Ellis placed his hands onto the Nick's thighs and smiled, slowly pulling back, inhaling as much of Nick as he could get, feeling a twinge in his stomach, starting to feel slight movements in his pants. Even though they were in midst of an apocalypse, he couldn't stop his feelings. Hell, he didn't want to. "You guys all sorted? We gotta get movin'." Coach interrupted the moment, and Ellis turned his head, nodding. "Yeah man, almost done." Carefully, he placed some stitches across the wound and wrapped a bandage around his hand, pulling the pain pills out of his pocket. He popped open the cap, and shook out two, handing them to Nick. "Here man, yall gonna need these." Nick shook his head. "Nick, man, take 'em. Please. Fer me?" He smiled as Nick took the pills and swallowed them. He was more surprised Nick had responded the way he did. Ellis than began replacing the pills in his pocket and the first aid kit on his back, before hooking Nick's arm around him and pulling him up, wrapping his other arm around his waist. "Thanks kid. I really appreciate it." Ellis smiled. "Hey man, ain't no need. Ah know yall woulda done the same fer me-" Nick interrupted him. "That's the thing. No...I wouldn't of. But now... Let's just say you've changed my mind...about a few things. Seriously, thanks." Nick smiled, rubbing the arm around his waist. Ellis felt his stomach flip, and turned red, mumbling that it was okay. Together they followed Rochelle and Coach to the door at the bottom of the street.
Oh mah Gawd... He's so...Ah can't...Oh man, oh man, oh man. Ah wonder whut he ment by changed his mind on a few things...? Man...Fer bein' a zombie apocalypse ahn' all...This shit is awesome!