"Ellis, wait up, sweetie ..." Rochelle spoke, finally catching up with the man after a wild chase. Or, not so much of a chase as an everytime she caught up, he moved further ahead with a whine of sorts, probably thinking she was Nick. But now that she'd grabbed his shoulder and spoken in her soft, mellifluous tone, he allowed himself to pause, head hanging and gun lowering.
"There you go." the woman said, moving to push his gun further down as she turned him to face her. "I know you must be hurtin' from what Nick said, but he doesn't mean it. You know how he is." she continued, smiling sweetly as she tried to get him to lift his face, managing after a few tried, only to see the face that reminded her so much of a lost puppy. Adorable. "C'mon, sweetie." the woman coaxed, starting to walk ahead of him and shooting some of the common infected that dared to prance in front of her. "Let's walk a little bit, shall we?"
---- [ Coach & Nick ] ----
Nick sighed, shaking his head and furrowing his brows, running his fingers through the hair that he swore was falling off of his head. "For fucks sake, I told you I was going to apologize when he got back!" the man yelled, slapping at his leg and looking over at the older man who, for the thousandth time, had decided to scold him about what had happened between him and Ellis earlier. Yeah, he felt bad about it! Of course he did! Not like he meant to hurt the stupid Hicks feelings, it was just ... He was so exhausted from all the sleepless days and nights, and the fact he was so hungry he could probably eat a horse. The thought made him snort, and think of Ellis, too. That kid loved horses, if his memory wasn't failing him.
"Yeah, well has the thought occurred to you that those two might not be coming back? Shit, have you even thought about going after them? It's already almost night, and here we are, still waiting for those two to come back!" Coach yelled, strapping a healthpack to his back and grabbing his gun. "I don't know about you, but I actually care for my team, and I care to stay alive. So you can sit here and get your ass eaten by those lesbian bitches, or you can get moving and help me find our teammates."
It hadn't even occurred to Nick that Rochelle and Ellis had been gone that long. Now, as he looked up at the sky, fear rushed through his body. "Fuck, whatever ..." he grumbled, standing and frowning as he grabbed his own gun and healthpack, following the chocolate colored man with a grimace on his face, and worry hidden deep within him.
---- [ //// ] ----
It was at least half an hour before they finally found where both of their friends were laying, motionless on the ground. And, even when Nick, surprisingly, wanted to rush over to Ellis and shake the boy awake, he couldn't. Another weird encounter was, unfortunately, the biggest obstacle.
"Fucking ..." Nick hissed, hiding behind a tree on the opposite side of Coach and looking at both the hunter and smoker who where so happily, if he could describe it as that, holding hands and ... Shivers ran up the mans spine as he thought of those tongues wrapping around the smokers hoodie as kissing. And there, right beside the two of them, were Rochelle and Ellis, both bleeding profusely, and neither looking as if they were breathing.
Coach tightened a hold of his gun before shaking his head. "You wanna risk this?" Coach hissed, staring at Nick and waiting as he watched the smokers tongue remove the hunters hoodie, only to make him grimace at the horridly disfigured face. Well, better looking then most of the infected, he'd give them that much. "Damn lesbian, homosexual zombies ... What the hell kind of an Apocalypse ..." And, right at that, nick jumped out and started shooting, grimace still evident on his face as he parted his lips and screamed, "Is this!?"
It took a few minutes, but soon the smoker was dead, and the hunter was running of screaming what Nick was hoping weren't promises for vengeance. But, as soon as that special infected fled, he rushed over to Ellis' side and inspected him, resting a hand on his bleeding chest and cursing aloud as he removed his healthpack and started to bandage the man up while Coach tried to take care of Rochelle.
Soon, thank god, soon Ellis was awake and Nick was slapping him across the face, yelling at him for being the fool he was and inwardly sobbing with thanks, wishing more then anything to hug him and ask for forgiveness. And it was sad, how he knew it was too late when the man rested a hand on his cheek and scowled, clenching his hands into fists and spitting out something that went unheard before moving over to Coach. All Nick could do at that moment was glare and tell himself this was for the best. Best not to get to close to a guy like him.
"You be good, Ro." Ellis murmured, Nick's ears perking up as he stumbled over, looking at the lifeless figure of the reporter. "Aw, shit ... Rochelle ..." Nick murmured, rubbing at his forehead. She hadn't made it. The wounds had been much too deep and, even with the help of a wasted healthpack, she wasn't reviving. Too bad there were no defib units around.
"I can think of two other people I would have rather seen go first." It was instinctive, and he regretted it the moment the words came out. He seemed to be hurting that hick more then usual today. Or maybe the guy was just overly sensitive and he'd never known that until now.
"Well shittt, din' mean to be a bother!" Ellis spoke, standing up and giving a sigh. "C'mon, Coach. Nick wants ta' be alone." the hick spoke, not noticing the somewhat apologetic look that was plastered on Nick's face. "Well, I think I'm gun' stay here just a while longer. You two go ahead. Don't wonder off alone." Coach spoke, giving a stern look to Ellis who first spat, then huffed and started to walk, Nick following behind with reluctance.
He jsut couldn't understand why, the first time in his life, he was feeling so bad for offending a hick. Maybe it was because Ellis was just so puppy-like, and he did admit, those things were pretty damn cute. Ellis had that charm, and it was ... Man, that guy was getting to him. He would not give in. No, for the sake of his sanity, he could not give in to the charm of a hick.