As they walked into the room, Nick sighed, noticing a set of stairs in the corner of the room. He winced as he descended the stairs, one by one, still clutching tightly to Ellis, who despite everything, was still whistling cheerily. Rochelle and Coach began thoroughly searching the room, including the small dark room at the back, which was down a smaller set of stairs, while Ellis set Nick down on the bottom steps. He turned to face Nick, but before Ellis could speak, a loud bang on the door to their right interrupted him. Coach returned, followed by Rochelle, both nervously looking at the door. Nodding, they moved, standing just in front of the door, motioning for Ellis to open it, while Nick slowly rose to his feet. Ellis gripped the door handle, before looking back at Coach, who nodded quickly. Turning back to face the door, he slowly turned the handle. The door opened, and a loud howl pierced the silence. They could see it now, a creature bigger than they zombies, with a huge pulsating right arm. It threw back its head, letting out another almighty roar and grabbed Ellis, running forward into the room, bashing him against the wall, knocking Coach and Rochelle to the ground in the process. The creature lifted him high, then slammed him into the ground, causing him to cry out. "This thing's bashin' me intah shit!" He lifted him again, and Ellis squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to be pounded into the ground again, but instead he heard a gunshot, and the massive hand that had gripped him so tightly let go, and the monster fell to its knees. Ellis glanced up from its lifeless body to see Nick, standing clutching his side, shotgun smoking. "Heh. You know what they say about zombies with one big arm..." He grinned at Ellis, extending his hand to pull him up. Ellis chuckled, gripping Nick's hand tightly, feeling the sweat that covered his hand. The smile slowly faded from his face as he noticed the blood that had splattered onto Nicks' once white suit. Looking up, Ellis saw Nick was looking at their hands. He felt his stomach twinge, realizing he hadn't let go yet, but then again, neither had Nick. Oh man, oh man, oh man, ah could stand like this forever. He felt Nicks' hand slide off his own as Rochelle's' voice snapped them out of it. "Guys, everything okay?" Ellis nodded, smiling. Rochelle smiled and turned, walking out of the door, followed by Coach. Nick also turned, but Ellis grabbed his shoulder lightly. "Hey man," he started, glancing nervously to the floor. "Ah jus' wanted tah say thanks, yah know fer, savin' me from that...thing...so uhh, thanks man." He smiled as Nick stared at him, a look of confusion across his face. "Uhh, sure, no problem kid." Nick finally spoke, turning around and starting towards the door. Ellis's voice causing him once again to turn around. "Hey, Nick? Yall need help?" Loading his gun, he shook his head. "No thanks kid, I've got it." Ellis smiled and nodded, feeling disappointment land heavily in his chest as he watched Nick walk out of the room, still clutching his side.
After climbing over a dumpster, and being attacked by countless number of zombies, the group finally came to another building. Coach paused outside the door, tilting his head slightly to the side. The rest of the group stood still, eyes darting back and forth. Eventually they heard it. Sobbing. Coach moved away from the door, reloading his shotgun. "Heh, sounds like my ex-wife. Everybody, lights off." Nick whispered, moving forward and opening the door, his eyes wide. Inside the room, there was a woman walking around, head in her hands, crying loudly. Her fingers were long and dripping with blood. As Nick stood there, she walked closer to him, her sobs changing to growls, each time getting louder as she got closer. Rochelle pulled him back. "Nick that's a witch! Stop pissing her off!" She whispered, eyes wide with fear. "Pissing her off? I'm not doing a damn thing! It's her own fault for coming near me! Stupid-" Nick was interrupted by a piercing scream. Everyone's head snapped towards the witch, who was now standing with her hands away from her face, revealing a pair of glowing red eyes, which were firmly locked onto Nick. "Shit!" He cursed, slowly moving backwards. The witch let out another scream and ran towards him, arms outstretched. Luckily the pills Ellis had given him earlier were working, allowing him to turn around and hop over the railing, and continuing to run as fast as he could. "This bitch is chasin' me!" Nick hollered, hearing the witch's screams not that far behind him, followed by the rest of the group, unloading a mammoth amount of bullets into her back. Just before Nick hopped over the wall, the witch let out a final dying scream, and fell to the floor. Nick chuckled and sat on the wall, panting hard. Ellis ran up to him, a look of concern on his face. Before he could speak, Nick shook his head. "I'm fine. Honest. Come on. Let's just...let's get going." His voice was different. Cold. He stood up and walked towards the others, leaving Ellis confused behind.
Whut have ah done wrong? His voice...Man...It sounded like...It sounded like he hates me...Man, ah'm jus' bein' stupid. Buht...Whut if ah ain't...? Nick's words spun around his mind, as they stood upstairs, stocking up on ammo, and pills, also finding a few pipe bombs, which were sure to come in handy. Once they had finished, they slowly made their way outside onto the ledge overlooking a truck, conveniently placed, so they could make their way down to the ground. Ellis stood in the corner, down on one knee, popping the zombies scattered around on the floor with his newly found sniper from the room before, while Nick disposed of the Jockey that was climbing up the truck to greet them. When the area below them was clear, Coach jumped down first, taking care of a few zombies that couldn't be seen, then turning to help Rochelle down. Ellis went next, stopping first to assist Nick, who pushed him away, telling him he could manage. He knew not to try and reason with Nick when he was like this, so he clambered down, landing next to the others. Nick stood on top of the truck above them, a look of deep concentration on his face, as he slowly hopped down, grunting in pain, as he landed with a thump on his knees. Rochelle and Coach were already walking away, up the steps closest to them, so Ellis hooked Nick's arm around him, pulling him up. Nick wasn't having any of this however, and pulled away, muttering 'I'm fine'. "Hey man, listen. I know yall not wantin' any help ahn' shit, buht I know yer hurtin'. So cut out the macho act ahn' lemme help yall. 'Kay?" He held onto Nick, a warm smile on his face. Nick sighed and nodded, wrapping his arm around Ellis's back, finally managing to stumble ahead to catch up to the other two. Eventually they came to another set of stairs, after getting rid of a few zombies and also a hunter that managed to sneak behind them and pounce Rochelle. "Hey man, ah recognize this! That gun store's jus' up ahead!" Ellis exclaimed, his voice quivering with excitement, as he pointed up the stairs, Rochelle began jogging up them fast. "Hey man, c'mon! Let's get ourselves some real weapons!" Coach laughed, following closely behind. Ellis began to follow, but Nick pulled him back. "Hey kid...Wait up." Ellis stopped, immediately turning around to face him, relieved to hear Nick acknowledging him, but obvious concern washing over his face. "Yeah? Yall okay?" Nick nodded, pulling the pills out of his pocket. "I'm fine. I just need these." Ellis nodded, smiling as he waited patiently, the others stopping at the top of the stairs, shooting at something unknown. As Nick and Ellis got halfway up the stairs, it was apparent what they were shooting at, by the countless number of hisses and growls. A hoard of at least thirty zombies awaited them at the other end of the fenced corridor, with more crawling over the walls, and coming up the stairs behind them. "Grenade!" Coach boomed, throwing a pipe bomb aiming to get it over the fence at the end of the corridor, its bleeping instantly alerting the zombies, their heads snapping around to chase the flashing bomb. It landed just behind the fence, zombies crowded around, howling and hissing, fighting over each other to get to the foreign object. The bleeping got faster, and within the second, exploded with an almighty bang, blowing chunks of flesh everywhere. Rochelle walked ahead, turning around to address the others. "So. To the gun store?"