Chapter 25: Silence is golden


“Y-you…  Ah can’’ even begin to…”  Coach was very obviously beside himself with anger, but to who or what it was directed, neither Nick nor Ellis could tell.  Not that they were going to find out anytime soon: the man was stumbling over his words, his eyes darting between Nick and Ellis who had now pulled their shirts back around themselves to at least cover themselves.  And then, as if to add to the chaos, Rochelle rose from her own corner, rubbing her eyes drowsily.

“Mnnnh, w-what’s…  Coach, what’s-?”

“These two’re… they’re…”  Coach said, mercifully taking his eyes away from the two, a moment which they gratefully used to put on their underwear again.  They didn’t even dare let their fingertips brush over each other’s hand out of fear that Coach would flip out and kick them out.  “…They’re sleepin’ t’gether…”, Coach finally ground out, and Rochelle sighed.  It was a regretful sound more than anything, and the eldest of their group picked that up effortlessly.  Now, he glared at Rochelle.  “You knew?”, he said softly, before raising his voice.  “You KNEW an’ yeh didn’’ tell me?!  What ‘bout sayin’ Nick’s sick fer wantin’ t’be with the boy like tha’?  What ‘bout protectin’ yer ‘li’l brother’?!  What ‘bout our survival, R’shayle?!!”

“Coach…”, Rochelle said feebly, sleep still clouding her mental faculties, obviously.  But it was Nick that worded the very things her mind had been trying to formulate.

“Coach, come on, you know better than to think this has anything at all to do with our survival – and when I say our survival, I mean all four of us.  Myself and Ellis, but also you and Rochelle.  What does it matter if Ellis and me sleep together?  I’m still fighting during the day, right?  I’m not missing shots or letting you all run on while I have fun with him, right?  …Look-“

“No, you look, Nicolas!”, Coach thundered on, but the next thing that happened had the man staggering back.  He’d advanced on Nick threateningly one moment, taking just one step in the con man’s direction to grip his shoulders and shake some sense into him when Ellis had intervened and pushed him away, standing in front of Nick, glaring Coach down just as harshly as the black man was eyeing Nick before.

“Ah’ve had ‘nough!!  Ah don’’ care what yew think, Coach, ah don’’ care if’n yeh think ah’m doomin’ mah soul or some shit like tha’ – ah love ‘im!  Y’asked Rochelle why she ain’t agree with’cha – but ah’m askin’ yew now, if’n it’s so wrong or sick or whatever th’hell y’think … then why’d God put us t’gether?  If’n yeh’re so worried ‘bout me, if’n yeh really look out fer me like y’say yew do, Coach, yew would see ah’m happy, that Nick makes me happy… like Ro’ did, an’ does.”  Coach stood, shellshocked, staring at the mechanic.  Rochelle’s words of the previous day came back to mind – ‘stop mothering over Ellis in a way he doesn’t need’ – and it was at that point that Coach realized that Ellis was like a son to him now.  But at the same time, the fact that Ellis was neither his own nor a child anymore pressed itself urgently into his mind.  However, Ellis’ eyes softened and he continued a bit less harshly.  “Ro’… she ain’t all happy ‘bout me an’ Nick either, an’ ah’m not askin’ yew t’be overjoyed or nothin’, but ah’m askin’ yew now, Coach, if’n yeh have any respect fer me, any respect at all, let me make mah own decisions an’ worry ‘bout mah own happiness.”

“I…”  Between Ellis’ resolved and yet hopeful looks, the way Nick looked absolutely ready to pick up his pistol and actually shoot him, and the way Rochelle looked like she’d rather forget anything ever happened, Coach knew he wasn’t about to get any sympathy whatsoever.  Yet he couldn’t say the words Ellis was obviously hoping for, and he took a hesitant step backward.  “Sorry, young’un, but ah… ah’ can’’.  Yew can’’ expect me t’jus’… to jus’ watch while yeh make a real big mistake…”

“It ain’t no mistake!”, Ellis said, his voice rising again to that panicked pitch it’d had when he’d been so worried over Nick – ‘huh, tha’ makes more sense now…’, Coach mused almost bitterly as he looked at the wall, not even able to look the two other men in the eye anymore.

“Look, Coach…”  This time, Nick’s voice sounded level, and almost suave – but his eyes displayed an almost brutal openness and honesty, which the black man couldn’t overlook even if he tried his hardest.  “I love him.  You may think I’m lying, you may think I’m only after sex or that I’m using him to survive… but Ellis knows that’s not how it is.  Because there were moments when I almost died trying to keep you all safe.  Because I couldn’t ever leave any of you behind.  Because when things got rough, I stuck around.  I saved Ellis from that Witch back in the swamp, I kept the horde from Rochelle when she got puked on, I ran halfway across a goddamn park to pick off a Jockey that was takin’ you for a joy ride.  Because I care, goddammit.  And God help me, I love him.  I love him and I’m not about to stop just because you can’t handle it.”  Nick ran a hand through his hair, messy as it now was, and then sighed.  “Look, why don’t we all just go back to sleep?”

“No way in hell ah’m lettin’ yeh-“, Coach started, meaning to advance another step, but this time it was Rochelle that spoke up, clearly having passed the drowsy stage.  Her voice was commanding enough to keep everyone else quiet.

“Nick’s right.  We’re going back to sleep.  Whatever Nick and Ellis did, and whatever they plan to do in the future, we need sleep or we’ll die tomorrow.  That’s a given.  So please, go back over there, pull that blanket up over your ears and cover your face if you need that to get settled, but sleep.  That goes for all of us.”, she added with a look over to Nick and Ellis, and both the mechanic and the gambler nodded meekly, picking up the remainder of their clothes and getting dressed again in silence before sitting down again where they’d been before their little tryst – Ellis in the corner near the door leading in, and Nick against the table near the door leading outside.  “…Okay, Coach, you too.”  When the eldest of their group looked at her, Rochelle had a look on her features he knew all too well – a look that told him he’d better listen to him or there’d be hell to pay.  Grumbling, he walked back to his own corner, snatched up the blanket he’d wrapped himself in before turning to look at the others – and when he saw the both of them peacefully asleep, looking at each other, their longing for closeness even apparent as they were in the realm of dreams, he sighed.

“R’shayle, tell me yeh ain’t okay with them bein’ t’gether either…”, he asked, hoping that with the two men asleep she’d admit that she wasn’t okay with it either.  However, she disappointed him greatly.

“I’m not going to lie to make you feel better, Coach, I’m perfectly okay with what they do to who… now go to sleep.  We need you alert and focused in the morning.”  And with that, the woman turned around, leaving the man to lay awake for a bit longer, wondering when exactly the people he depended on had started to go behind his back.  Wondering how Ellis could be deceived by Nick.

Wondering how the hell he could save his fellow Savannahite if he didn’t want or think he needed saving.


“…That way.”  The next morning, the four were more than glad, for the first time in a long time, to leave the safe room and spread out.  Nick and Ellis had sat close together before Coach had gotten up, but they moved five feet apart from the moment their elder woke up, and though neither Nick nor Ellis reacted to any comments from either one of them about what had happened that night, they made sure their displeasure shone through.  Which had in turn prompted Coach to stick to a rather grumpy, moody quietude.  And surprisingly, that led to the fact that Nick was the one speaking up now, having taken over the leading role Coach had gotten into lately.  Rochelle kept her distance to both sides, feeling unwilling to get caught in that particular crossfire.  There wouldn’t be any winners to the argument, she knew, and she felt like she had to remain focused on their trek anyways.  A trek that Nick and Ellis seemed to focus on with abandon now, while Coach’s attention lay more with the two other men than their destination suddenly.  “That fire’s got to mean something…”, the con man added, and Rochelle nodded.  She felt the unease building up again.

“That’s probably where the army guys cooked… I mean, look at it, they built something easily defensible there with the fences-“

“Nah…”, Ellis said softly, looking around the fire to see a few pillows or sleeping bags crumpled up at one side.  “…There ain’t no ammo or guns layin’ ‘round… an’ judgin’ from the way them concrete blocks are layin’ here, ‘easily defensible’ ain’t zombieproof.  If this was the army, they sure picked a helluva bad spot t’be campin’…”  He looked at Nick for a split second, but then looked away again, sighing.  Nick didn’t notice, and if Coach had noticed anything, he didn’t mention it at all, but Rochelle had seen her friend’s shoulders sag and she moved to walk next to him as they moved off, Nick leading the way and Ellis lagging behind uncharacteristically.

“…Hey, sweetie…”, she said softly, and Ellis looked up to her, his expression softening a bit from distant frustration to a neutral, slightly apprehensive look.  “…how’re you holding up?”

“’Bout the zombies or ‘bout Coach bein’ a jerk?”, Ellis asked, and Rochelle sighed.

“Do I really need to answer that, Ellis?  …He’s not a jerk, he just worries about you, and you know that.”, she added, and Ellis sighed, nodding softly.

“Yeah, ah know.  C’n yew believe it would be easier if’n he were a jerk?  Now’s jus’…  It ain’t right’a him, keepin’ me an’ Nick apart jus’ ‘cause he thinks what we have’s wrong.  Ah understand, but he ain’t got no right t’be doin’ this!”  Ellis sighed, the look of frustration returning to his features, which clouded over as he frowned.  “…Ah love Nick.  An’ ah mean love ‘im.  It ain’t no li’l fantasy him an’ me got.  It ain’t no dreamy li’l thing.  We ain’t no teenagers in high school no more.  An’ ‘spite what yew an’ Coach might be thinkin’, it’s ‘bout more than sex, too.  It’s… y’know, yestehday, when he nearly died, ah was this close tuh… tuh pukin’ mah guts out.  Ah felt sick with worry fer him.  Ah would’a died protectin’ him.  Hell, if’n he would’a died – really died, with no chance’a gettin’ him back – ah… ah dunno what ah would’a done.  But it weren’t gonna be a pretty sight.  Ro’… yew… yew don’t have no problem with me an’ Nick bein’ t’gether, right?”, the mechanic asked her, and Rochelle looked at him – but as she meant to reply, they heard a soft ‘boom’ and the sound of something spraying against metal.  “…Awh no…”, Ellis said, running ahead just as a loud polyphonous howl rent the air and they saw Nick being swamped with zombies, his suit spattered in blood and bile, which explained the sudden horde of Infected.  The con man kicked and elbowed them out of the way but the sheer volume of oncomers had him overwhelmed clearly.  “Yew find Coach, I’m’a help Nick!”, Ellis said, his rifle spewing bullets as he already sprinted forward, and Rochelle followed him.

“Coach?!”, she yelled, and as if the man heard her plea, she heard him cry out faintly to the right.  A small clump of zombies stood there, kicking at something – or, in this case, Rochelle knew, someone – on the ground.  With the zombies preoccupied, she just drew her pistol and shot the zombies neatly in the head before helping Coach up.

“Thanks, R’shayle… man, I told Nick he should’a come with me!  Separatin’’s a sure way t’get ambushed!”  She heard the aggravation in his words – the kind of anger that was directed at himself but aimed at others out of helplessness or refusal to admit that he’d wandered off alone of his own volition and not because Nick had abandoned him.  And she knew better than to play along with that, so she sighed and shrugged.

“Yeah, well, Nick’s doing okay, I think – Ellis went to help him-“  At the mention of the two men fighting off the zombies together, Coach’s eyes darkened – but this time, Rochelle felt something bubble in the pit of her stomach.  Not fear, not shame, but anger.  “Coach, that’s enough!  I am not going to stand here and watch you tank the mood of everyone around you!  Ellis is already in a foul mood, and Nick’s been glaring at the road nonstop because he can’t glare at you.  He’s got too much respect for you to glare at you – respect that’s going away fast, the way you’re acting.  And now you’re honestly thinking of taking it out on me too?  Enough is enough!  Deal with it, deal with them being together, or so help me God, next time you go down there won’t be anyone to pick you up again.  You’re putting all of us at risk by behaving like an overzealous moralist.”  She didn’t even spare him a glance anymore as she stalked off back to Nick and Ellis, who were standing close until she approached, at which point they practically jumped apart, causing her to sigh in her own aggravation.  “…It’s just me, you guys.  …Do me a favor?  Both of you?”, she asked after only a second’s hesitation, and Ellis nodded eagerly, while Nick did so as well with some reserve.

“Yeah, Ro’, whatever yew wan’…”, Ellis said, and Rochelle looked him in the eye as she spoke up.

“Don’t feel ashamed because of Coach.  In fact, if he catches you kissing or holding hands or whatever the hell you want to do, flip him off as you go on.”  And with that, she walked on, not looking back to see the shocked and surprised looks on her friends’ faces.  She felt a bit better having vented – and she knew Nick and Ellis would feel a bit better too now that she’d aired some of the frustration they all shared.

When she caught the demoralized look on Coach’s face, she still felt a split second of remorse – he looked utterly and thoroughly upset, as if he’d been bathed in icy water from head to toe.  But then she remembered how Coach needed to learn that now was not the time to be small-minded.  And she preferred seeing him just upset instead of wounded, or worse.


Coach was still upset when they stumbled through one of the houses, staggering slightly.  Nick and Ellis had taken the lead again – after Rochelle’s sudden outburst, he’d stayed behind, feeling lost.

He felt like he was alone, even if the others were right there.

Rochelle’s outburst had shown him how the others stood opposite him now – Ellis had avoided him all day, Nick’s incessant grumbling grew in intensity the closer he got, and Rochelle hadn’t even spared him a glance since their little exchange.  The only reason he wasn’t already gone was because no matter how down he felt, he couldn’t bring himself to leave them.  He wanted to believe that they still had a place for him by their side.

“…Y’all, ah’ve got somethin’ here…”, Ellis’ voice came from ahead of him and the others, and Nick and Rochelle walked into the room.  Coach, however, did not.  He knew they’d only ignore him, or worse, work out the anger that he knew slumbered beneath the calm and collected surface they’d painstakingly maintained ever since they’d moved on from where the horde had struck.  He didn’t want that anger to surface – not now, not when he was feeling more and more alone every step of the way.

He needed to believe they still wanted him around.

“…Coach, yew comin’?”  Ellis’ voice startled him out of his thoughts and the black man nodded, walking on into the room that Ellis disappeared into.  Apparently Nick had already jumped down out a gaping hole in the side of the house, because his voice issued from below, where a small yard led into another street with houses being constructed.

“Coast’s clear now!  Stupid Spitter… did she get you, Ell?”

“Naw…”  Ellis had also jumped down, and once she noticed Coach coming into the room, Rochelle did the same.  It hurt the man more than he let on – to him, it was a clear sign that they didn’t want to be in the same room anymore, and the worry in her eyes had been worry for the others and herself, not for him.  “…’Ey Coach, yew c’n jump ontuh this ‘ere camper… ‘s maybe easier fer yer knee…”, Ellis commented from below, and Coach looked down to see the mechanic stand there, looking up at him with his rifle in one hand and the other on the bill of his trucker cap.  “…Or if’n yeh want, y’can lower yerself an’ ah’ll help yeh down-“

“Ah’ll jump, son…”, Coach said, trying hard to keep his voice from wavering, and Ellis nodded, walking off – he looked slightly disappointed, but Coach supposed that that was his imagination.  Ellis had made it clear he didn’t want to be in the same space as him.

All of them had made it clear what they thought of him.  And now it was only a matter of time before they acted upon it, leaving him to go on alone… leaving him to die alone.

Ahead of him, Nick and Ellis entered a house, heading up the stairs, and Coach followed the vague hint of pink that was Rochelle into the ground floor of the same house, his shotgun gripped tightly and his eyes darting around to see if anything had been missed by his companion.

“…Did anyone else hear a Hunter or was that just me?”, Nick’s voice came drily from behind him, and Coach turned to find the man standing next to the doorway leading into the bathroom.  He meant to ask if he hadn’t been with Ellis, but then fell silent as he noticed the look the con man gave him.  It clearly said that he wasn’t meant to speak up.  “…Ellis!”, Nick called up through a hole in the ceiling softly, and Ellis answered the con man softly.

“…Nick, ah… ah think there’s somethin’ here, but… ‘s a mess up ‘ere… mind comin’ up tuh help me?”

“Coach, you go help Ellis, okay?  Me and Nick’ll check out the garden out back, to see if that Hunter’s anywhere near here, and to look where we need to go from here…”, Rochelle said, and Coach nodded grimly.  So they were pushing him away, to help Ellis because his fellow southerner was too kind to say he hated him?  He shrugged mentally and decided that it was no use to protest.  ‘Not like it’s gon’ change anythin’…’

“Yeah, I’ll go… you jus’…”, he said, his voice trailing off as he made his way back to the staircase, finding the room Ellis was in half barricaded by a few low cupboards.  The room itself was, as Ellis had said, ‘a mess’ – there was a mattress on the floor, and clothes strewn across the floor.  The room was somewhat shadowy, and Coach felt a sense of foreboding as he carefully climbed over the makeshift barricade.  “Son, what d’yeh see?”, he asked, lowering himself to the floor again, and Ellis motioned for one of the cupboards off to the side.

“…Ah think ah saw somethin’ in ‘ere… like, a red light?  So maybe there’s, like, laser sights in there?”  Ellis didn’t move toward him, a fact Coach duly noted and which caused his shoulders to sag again.  “But ah can’’ get this ‘ere door tuh open…”, the mechanic added, and Coach sighed, moving up to Ellis to help him out.

“…Wait there, son, lemme jus’…”, he said, motioning for Ellis to step aside, which the other Georgian did with an expression of surprise, wandering around the safe room and speaking up while Coach tried to open the door, figuring Ellis was just talking to pass time, not to make him feel any more comfortable with being sent away by the others.

“…Aw man, tha’ guy that holed up ‘ere must’a been one badass sonuvabitch, he… oh wait… ‘s this mean he shot reg’lar people?!  Naw, man, that’s not coo’…”  Coach grunted softly, both as a means of replying to Ellis’ sentiment and as a means to vent some of his growing frustration – both with the door and with the others, because suddenly it stung, the way he’d been shoved aside, and-

He froze when he heard another sound, soft but so unmistakable.  A low growl that was masked by Ellis’ next monologue.  Nick hadn’t been hearing things – there actually was a Hunter around… somewhere close by…

“Ellis…”, Coach said softly, trying to warn the mechanic, but Ellis didn’t stop speaking – and then Coach noticed movement.  The slightest bit of something shifting in the shadows, and he pushed Ellis aside even before the loud screech sounded, the Hunter landing on him instead.  Ellis was knocked down the hole in the ceiling – he landed on the floor below with a soft ‘thud’ that was punctuated by a gasp, but to Coach, that didn’t matter.  Ellis wouldn’t come up to help him.  No one would.  Why would they?  He was nothing but a burden to them.

Jim Brown closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable moment when the pain stopped, when everything stopped, and when the three others would be saved the choice of leaving him behind.

But then, he heard the sharp rattle of a rifle firing, and the Hunter fell sideways off him, its blood spattering the cupboard Coach and Ellis had been trying to open.  And then… Ellis’ voice.

“Coach!  A-are yew okay?  Want me tuh patch yeh up?  …Wait ‘ere, ah’ll get Rochelle, she’s way better ‘n me at-“

“Son… Ellis, why’d yeh save me?”, Coach asked, feeling completely thrown off by the genuine worry in the mechanic’s tone, and Ellis looked at him in surprise, the hand he’d held out to help him up frozen.

“Coach, why d’yew need tuh ask?  ‘Cause yeh’re Coach, ‘course!”  He sighed and shook his head next, sagging onto the mattress.  “…Aw hell, Coach, ‘s this ‘bout back there, when Nick an’ yew got ambushed an’ ah ran tuh help Nick?  ‘Cause Lord help meh, if’n this is ‘bout yew not wantin’ me an’ Nick tuh be t’gether-“  There was that anger that Coach knew would come – anger at him…  Coach sighed and let his head rest on the floor again, his stomach burning as if it’d been lit on fire.  However, Ellis’ next words startled him, so much that Coach actually scrambled up, disregarding the pain it caused him.  “…it don’t matter how much ah r’spect yew, ah won’t stand fer you judgin’ me an’ Nick fer somethin’ that’s righ’…”

“…Ellis, ah… aahhh man, this hurts like a-“, Coach said, gripping his sides and trying to ignore the pain in order to speak on, earning him a worried look from the mechanic – only that spurred him on to continue even more.  “…ah thought you an’ Nick an’ R’shayle… You kept ‘way from me when we were walkin’ over here… ah thought you didn’t want-“

“Coach, man, c’mon!”, Ellis interrupted him, his expression changing in the blink of an eye from frustrated to worried and somewhat sad.  “Yew can’’ really think I, or Nick or Ro’… yew can’t honestly think we don’’ want’chu with us…  ‘S jus… yeh weren’’ really thinkin’ of keepin’ us safe no more what with yeh bein’ upset ‘bout me an’ Nick, an’… aw, shee-yit, Coach, ah don’t wan’chu tuh hate me an’ Nick none, but ah don’’ wanna lie.  Nick’s good fer me, real good, an’ we love each other.  This ain’t got nothin’ t’do with yew... so please, Coach, don’t make me lose mah r’spect fer yew by bein’… ah dunno, by bein’ dumb an’ pretendin’ yew don’t see Nick’s diff’rent now ‘n he was back in S’vannah.”  He rose and shook his head, looking down at Coach – but the man now noticed the way that look still held reverence.  There was annoyance, sure, but it was clear Ellis still looked up to him.

“…’m not denyin’ Nick changed, but… how ‘bout you, Ellis?  Yeh changed too, son – used t’be a time where yeh got annoyed at Nick just ‘s much as me…”, Coach said, trying to get up but failing – and now Ellis’ eyes grew slightly sad.

“…Yeah, ah changed… thing is, none’a us ‘s the same no more, Coach.  Even yew… used tuh be a time, back in Whisp’rin’ Oaks, where yeh were scoldin’ me for not seein’ how Nick was sorry for insultin’ Savannah an’ me… an’ now yew’re scoldin’ me for seein’ how Nick really loves me…”  When Coach tried desperately to find something to answer that sentiment but found nothing sensible to say – and nothing stupid for that matter – his fellow Savannahite rolled his eyes and shook his head.  “…Jus’ sit tight, Coach, ah’ll jus’ go get Ro’ an’ Nick.  Soon as yew’re patched up, we can move on.”


“…Christ…”  Nick’s groan prompted the others to look at him – when the con man noticed three pairs of eyes showing worry, amusement and mental steeling for the inevitable, he sighed and motioned for the open manhole.  “…Another sewer?  Seriously?”

“It’s the only way, Nick…”, Rochelle said, motioning around them – the fencing around them was too high to climb, that much was obvious, and there were no gaps in it anywhere.  Almost as if they were expected to go into the sewers.  The gambler sighed again, feeling a sudden tension rise and alleviating it by pinching the bridge of his nose impatiently.

“I know it’s the only way, I’m just saying…”  However, the next moment, Nick noticed Ellis’ eyes again, and though the hick still kept a certain distance from him due to Coach – whether out of respect for the man or out of fear for what he might do to keep them apart, Nick didn’t know – he could feel the way Ellis itched to be close to him, which caused him to suddenly shrug and turn to the manhole again, speaking a bit more loudly.  “…actually, you know what?  Screw this… let’s just go.”

“…Who are you and what did you do to Nicolas the germophobe?”, Rochelle commented, though she said it with a grin and she looked relieved.

“Aw, Ro’, yew shouldn’’ ask tha’, ‘s real great tha’ Nick’s-“

“…Ellis?  Let’s just go on before I think this is a bad idea after all…”, Nick commented, crouching over the manhole and shining his flashlight down to see bodies floating around but no movement or ripples in the water to indicate anything moving in the sewer pipe.  “…Okay, it looks clear down there…”, he said, giving the others a quick glance to see whether anyone would go first – no matter how eager he knew he appeared to the others, he really wasn’t – but when even Ellis didn’t make any move whatsoever, he gave a soft sigh and lowered himself through the manhole, dropping the remaining ten feet into the sludge.  To his surprise – and infinite relief – it was relatively clean, and the smell was reasonably okay.  What he’d been hoping for when they’d previously run across a sewer – for it to be nothing but a storm drain – apparently was true there.

“How is it down there?”, Rochelle called down at him, and Nick glanced up to see her looking over the edge.

“Compared to Rayford, this is a goddamn paradise of cleanliness… now get your asses down here before I become an appetizer for the next herd of zombies…”, he said, the sarcasm in his voice more perfunctory than actually meant.  He took a few steps backward to allow the others to come down.  Ellis jumped down to join him first – and the nervous glance the mechanic gave to the others, still up at street level, told Nick that there’d be no chance whatsoever of getting even a single second of comforting closeness.  However, his frustration was short-lived, because Ellis didn’t seem to be bothered much by the fact that Coach was now trying his hardest to lower himself slowly down to them.  Ellis’ calloused fingers brushed the con man’s own briefly, loosely, but to Nick it meant so much that he couldn’t even have voiced it if he had all the time in the world.

“…Okay, so we follow the sewer?”, Rochelle asked, and Nick rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, it’s not like there’s anything else we can do.  In case you didn’t notice, doll, the ladder going up’s rusted off…”, he commented, and Rochelle gave him a look that clearly said ‘enough with the sarcasm’ – but it was Ellis’ voice that caused Nick to quiet down and fall in line again.

“Yew guys, let’s jus’ get goin’… we ain’t gettin’ no further by standin’ here.  Coach, mind takin’ the lead ‘gain?  Yeh’ve been kind’a keepin’ behind, ‘s about time yew led us some more…”  The bigger man nodded and moved ahead, with Nick and Ellis going right behind him – and now, somehow, Ellis seemed to walk just a little closer to him.  He also seemed less tense when he looked at Coach, Nick noticed – he guessed that they’d had a bit of a talk before the mechanic had come running to them, explaining about the Hunter and dragging Rochelle along, leaving Nick to trail behind them as well.  Come to think of it, Ellis had walked a little closer to him as the four of them left that one house already.  And Coach had kept any angry or snarky comments to himself, which had been clearly visible on his features as he looked at them.

“…Hey Ell…”, Nick spoke under his breath as Coach led them into a large reservoir, causing the mechanic to turn to him and nod, which in turn prompted him to speak up further in that same hushed tone: “You talked to Coach?”  Another minute nod was his answer, but this time Ellis spoke up as well, quietly but still clear to him.

“…Ah told ‘im tuh stop gittin’ on our cases, an’ he stopped…”  He gave Nick a smile, and Nick meant to reply but Coach had stopped ahead of them and he thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to let the other man see him have a whispered conversation with his lover – that’d probably break the fragile balance they’d found again since the Hunter attack.

“…Up here, ‘m guessin’…”, the black man said, and Nick nodded.

“Don’t mind if I do – anything to get out of the sewer-“

“Ahh, there’s Nick the germophobe again…”, Rochelle said, with the slightest hint of a smile in her tone as she spoke.  Nick, for once, didn’t comment on it, even though her tone was outright mocking.

It felt refreshing to get some semblance of normalcy again after the awkwardness of the rest of the day.

He set one foot on the rungs of the ladder leading up to the second manhole and started to climb swiftly, finding the manhole cover removed already and the grey concrete of an overpass visible overhead.  The silence was unsettling as he climbed – nothing but his own breathing, the sound of the soles of his shoes hitting the metal rungs of the ladder, and the occasional tap of his rifle against the concrete sewer pipe behind him.  But once he got to the top and looked around, he knew he’d be lucky if it’d remain as silent.

“…Nick, mind movin’?” Ellis said softly as he climbed up the ladder, prompting the con man to climb up the rest of the way to allow the others to exit the sewer as well.  Ellis did so first, still speaking softly to him: “Why were yew still wa- oh how-lee sheeyit…”

“Yeah, that about sums it up…”, Nick said.  Around him – around all of them, because Rochelle got to her feet slowly behind him now, having waited to get up until the big man in front of her was all the way up there – stood a genuine maze of cars, most of which had their indicators blinking to show that they had a car alarm that was still armed and ready to blare out.  By an extraordinary fortune, however, there were only a handful of Infected ambling around, none of them close to any of the cars that had armed alarms.  “…Okay, we go slowly.  Stick to this side – the van’s battery’s dead and that truck doesn’t have a car alarm anymore, it’s been broken into and it’s not howling like mad…  But don’t touch the cars to the left, okay?  All of them have alarms that are still working… oh, and whatever you do, don’t shoot the Infected.  Bash their heads in with your guns if need be, okay?”  Ellis shrugged, and though Coach and Rochelle didn’t look too pleased with the prospect, they didn’t complain.  Nick led again, walking briskly next to the van and the truck he’d mentioned, sticking close to the safer side and glancing back to make sure the others followed his example.  The last thing he wanted was for any of them to trip and fall against one of the cars with a car alarm and set it off, because that'd send every zombie that side of the city dashing madly towards them.

He was so focused that he thought one of the others had coughed before it hit him that that kind of cough was too sickly-sounding to be from one of them – but just as that realization hit him, so did the Smoker’s tongue, entangling him like garbage caught in a fisherman’s net and dragging him off to the cars that he knew were still armed with alarms.

“SHIT!”, he cursed loudly, and that proved to be his salvation.  Ellis, who had been walking ahead of him due to his second’s hesitation following the cough, turned around and saw the Smoker standing near one of the concrete pillars supporting the overpass.  He fired one quick volley of three bullets, none of which missed their target, and the Smoker let go, after which Nick, coughing and spluttering because his airways had been constricted, scrambled away from the cars and ran ahead faster, smashing the end of his rifle mercilessly into zombie heads and guts along the way to the road ahead, where there’d be no more car alarms to trigger and no more ambushes to expect.  Ellis followed at his heels, his rifle still at the ready, and for once Coach didn’t comment when the hick let his hand run up Nick’s arm when they were at the street, out of breath.

“…Yew okay ‘ere, Nick?”, he asked softly, and Nick nodded, wincing as he touched his cheek, where he’d cut it on a piece of glass when scrambling to his feet.  He cast a glance at Coach, but only for a heartbeat, and then he turned to Ellis, placing his hand over the mechanic’s as he did so.

“Yeah, I’m okay.  A few cuts and bruises but I’ll live.  …Okay, let’s get going before something else decides to try and get to us…”, the con man finished saying, and the others didn’t fault that logic as they headed on, to a metal ladder leading up to the side of the road overhead.


Ellis felt riled, enthusiastic and downright thrilled again – not anxious at all, even if the adrenaline from the Smoker attack was still pumping through his system and he’d spent the better part of ten minutes looking over his shoulder as the others climbed up, knowing he hadn’t killed the thing.  And to make things even better, Coach had swallowed the lengthy protest he’d been about to voice when the mechanic picked up a first aid kit from the back of a deserted ambulance and walked over to his lover, intending to patch up the little cuts on his hands and face.  Only when he’d done that did the southerner look around at the overpass.

“…Where is this?”, Coach said softly next to him, and he turned to Rochelle, expecting an answer, clearly.

“Wait, let me see…”, she replied, taking her cellphone out of her pocket and switching it on.  …Oh yeah, Ellis thought with a roll of his eyes, I forgot she had that…  “…Okay, I’m pretty sure this is the Northern Causeway-“

“Yeah…  That’s it, that’s the route we need!”, Nick said, looking at the road incredulously – as if their new stroke of luck was too much to believe, and Ellis had to admit that it stretched even his optimism to new levels of credulity.

“…hey now, how d’you know this’s the road we’re gon’ be needin’?”, Coach said, looking Nick over warily, clearly not having been aware that they needed to find a certain street, and the con man reacted just like Ellis knew he would.

“Read it on a poster, where else?  Look around from time to time instead of -  …Look, I know because I made it my business to know where to go once in here and how to get there.  It’s our survival we’re talkin’ about, so the less mistakes we make, the more we can stay focused on the road ahead.”, Nick explained when Coach seemed to take a step backward in surprise, and the big man relaxed, though he still looked at Nick with that wary, tense note in his eyes, causing Ellis to sigh softly.

Things were so different now, so complicated and tense, and he didn’t like it at all.

“…Ah’m gon’ run ‘head now…”, he said, turning to the others, rifle still firmly in hand, and Rochelle nodded.

“You run ahead, sweetie, and we’ll follow right behind you!  I think Nick won’t mind you taking over the lead from him, would you, Nick?”  The con man nodded, looking out in the distance with a distant frown on his face.  Ellis squinted and looked as well, seeing the burning cityscape all around them and wondering what his lover had been looking for when he heard it.  A soft but high-pitched whine, of jet engines.  And then two dark specks appeared in the sky against the backdrop of smoke and Ellis grinned.  Planes.  There were planes heading towards them.  That meant that the army had stepped up their game, and that thought alone was enough to make his heart leap up.

“Aw shit, yew guys, there’s planes!!”, he said loudly, enthuisiastically, and Coach and Rochelle turned to look at the rapidly growing specks as well – only Nick’s eyes betrayed shock and that hint of bitterness he’d had back in Savannah and in Ducatel as well…  He quickly walked up to Ellis and the others, right around the same time as it clicked for the others that the planes were nearing too fast and flying too low and-

“GET DOWN!!”, the con man shouted just as the guided mini missiles hit the overpass, and debris showered down around them as the very ground beneath them shook.  When they got up and the smoke cleared, the vision that met them was nothing short of disheartening.  “God DAMN it!!”, Nick cursed, rubbing his temples with one hand in a clear display of aggravation, something they now all felt for once.

“Wha’… w-what in th’hell does CEDA or the military think’f achievin’ with tha’?!”, Coach said, looking at the bombed bridge, slowly walking up to it as they all did.  Ellis was first to brave a look over the brittle edge of the hole in the road, and the sight that met him wasn’t encouraging at all.  For one thing, the bridge looked utterly shattered, with several of the thick steel rebars sticking out of the broken concrete.  Also, there were zombies slowly ambling up to the pile of rubble laying below him, drawn there by the noise of the explosions.

But what was even more eerie than the sight of their escape route being reduced to a pile of rocks and burning car wrecks, even more unsettling than the feeling of twenty-odd zombies watching him hungrily, was the fact that the Infected came pouring from a walled-in mass of small grey mausolea.

A graveyard.

“What now?”, Rochelle asked, looking torn between disgust and fear, and Nick was the one that answered drily.

“Well, seeing as we can’t exactly continue following this road again, we need to get off it again and follow it as closely as we can.  And apparently, that means a trip through a graveyard.”  Ellis noticed how his lover did not look forward to that trek and he gave him an encouraging smile.

“…Yeah, maybe yeh’re right… Ro’, yew an’ me ought’a clear them zombies then, awrigh’?”, the mechanic said, already crouching down and shouldering his rifle, waiting for his companion to do the same before slowly shooting all the zombies.  A Jockey that was running around laughing like a maniac drew Ellis’ attention just as it started climbing up one of the concrete pillars, which would lead it right up to them – a clean headshot later, its laughter had ceased abruptly and its brain was splattered across the debris around and below them.  “Okay, tha’ was the last’a them!”, he said as soon as he saw the last one fall headless to the broken slab of concrete it stood on.  “Let’s get down ‘ere!”  He led the way: jumping down, he landed on a slanted piece of concrete and he dived into a forward roll.  Nick didn’t repeat his move, but the con man at least didn’t land badly.  Coach winced and his knee buckled, causing him to almost fall forward if Ellis hadn’t been right next to him to hold him upright, and Rochelle stumbled backward a few steps after landing before coming to rest abruptly on her rear, her expression betraying pain.

“Everyone okay?”, Nick asked – Ellis nodded, and so did Rochelle, while Coach gave the con man a surprised and slightly questioning glance before speaking up.

“Yeah, let’s get goin’…”  He ran first, taking over the lead again and sparing Nick and Ellis no further glance, evidently deciding that the surroundings were too unsettling to do anything but focus on getting away.

Ellis, however, saw the chance for what it was and walked a bit closer to Nick as they moved into the cemetery.

“…Nick… man, how’re yew holdin’ up…”, he asked under his breath, letting one of his hands brush over Nick’s back, and Nick looked at him, sparing him a smile for a second.  The con man’s words were soft and held a weariness that came from more than their trek through the city.
“…I’m doin’ okay.  But man, I’m just so sick and goddamn tired of CEDA and the army…”  He turned to look at Ellis.  “Them bombing the road must mean they’re desperate.  But as long as they don’t start carpet-bombing the city, we should still be okay…”  His words weren’t very encouraging – Ellis heard the worry in them, and it fuelled his own – but Nick seemed to realize that as well and he put his hand on Ellis’ shoulder and looked at him, stopping for a second and prompting Ellis to do the same.  “…I don’t know what’s going to happen, Ell, but I’m not running without you and I’m not staying put without you.  Not even Coach can pull me away from you, and that’s a promise.  …Now let’s go…”, he said finally, and Ellis nodded, running behind his lover, feeling a fresh resolve take a hold of his mind.

Along with a new fear that he pushed aside until it was just a frosty thought at the horizon.


“…Jesus Christ…”, Nick gasped out as he pushed the thick red metal door shut behind them and barred it, blocking the smell and sight of the pile of zombies outside.  The horde had been relentless, and then, when the Tank had appeared from seemingly nowhere…  for some reason it had targeted Ellis, and the mechanic had run so fast and so hard back into the graveyard that it was no wonder he’d returned wheezing and staggering somewhat dazedly.  Not to mention that it hadn’t helped: the Tank had caught up to him and had smashed him into one of the graves.  Nick running after him and shooting the shit out of the Tank had been the only thing that kept the beefy zombie from mopping the floor with the mechanic.  However, that had left Coach and Rochelle with no backup to thin out the fifty or seventy zombies that came running for them, and in the end they had to resort to standing in the doorway of the safe room in order to bottleneck the Infected, to make shooting them easier.  “…if this day can turn any more shitty than it already is, shoot me.”

“Naw, Nick, don’’ go sayin’ things like that!”, Ellis said, his voice still somewhat hoarse and breathy due to his panicked run, and Rochelle nodded.

“You’re stuck with us and with the circumstances, no matter how crappy they may be.”  Nick meant to reply when suddenly, something else caught his eye.  Slowly, he walked to the wall behind Rochelle, eyes large and expression appropriate to someone having been shot in the stomach.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ…”  It came out softly, almost disbelievingly, and the others turned around to look at what Nick was shining his flashlight at.

The entire wall was covered by a graffiti conversation.  ‘There’s people out there.  HEALTHY people.’ ‘They are NOT HEALTHY they are CARRIERS they will KILL YOU’ ‘THE ARMY IS SHOOTING HEALTHY PEOPLE what the HELL?!’ ‘GOOD RIDDANCE’ ‘FUCK YOU what is wrong with you have you lost your mind?’ ‘CARRIERS = SICK PEOPLE’ ‘They’re doing you a service by shooting them’ ‘THANK YOU FOR SHOOTING CARRIERS’ ‘what happened to us?’ ‘the green flu happened just be glad you’ve lived so far’

“…Nick?”, Ellis said, his eyes equally large – and for a moment, when the con man looked at his lover, he felt a flash of pride run through him because Rochelle and Coach didn’t seem to understand what was going on, what was so horrible about that graffiti, but his lover did and-  “…W-what’s ‘carriers’?  What’re they talkin’ ‘bout?”

“…Shit…”, Nick said emphatically, turning to the others.  Rochelle had a disbelieving look on her features that showed him she understood everything completely but just was unable to speak up, and Coach looked confused at the writing on the wall.  In the end, it was Ellis’ panicked grip on his hand that prompted Nick to speak on.  “’Carrier’ is a term that’s used for what’s called an ‘asymptomatic affected person’.  In other words, it’s someone that’s sick but doesn’t show the symptoms.  Therefore you don’t know that person is sick, but he or she is spreading the germs everywhere and infecting others.  …A-and…”

“And the army’s shootin’ them.”, Ellis finished his sentence in a soft, pained tone, and Nick nodded.  For the longest time, it was completely silent in the safe room, the only sound being the distant groaning of zombies – and then Ellis spoke up again.  “Well… tha’’s jus’ bullshit.  Ah mean, they don’t need tuh shoot ‘em!  They could jus’ separate ‘em from th’rest… r-righ’? There ain’t no use fer shootin’ them… a-ain’t there?”

“…I don’t know why they don’t do that…”, Nick admitted, and Rochelle sighed and shrugged.

“…CEDA and the army are clearly thinking damage control.  I… it’s horrible to say, but… I’ve s-seen an experiment about contagious diseases once… the professor that conducted it s-said that… that they’d kill the infected animals regardless of whether they’d turned out sick or not, just because they had the disease inside them and… and there was no telling if they’d turn out sick as well, only much later…”

And then Ellis spoke up softly, voicing the thought that was hanging heavy over them.

“…So… so if’n we turn out tuh be carriers, we’ve fought all them zombies fer nothin’?!”

“No, of course we haven’t!”, Rochelle said quickly, and Nick nodded.

“Think about it, Ellis – we’ve been fighting for nearly three weeks now, and we’ve gotten bitten and scratched and bled on and puked on… all so many goddamn times it doesn’t even faze us anymore.  If we were gonna turn, we would’ve turned a damn long time ago.  And as for the guys with the guns thinking ‘damage control’…  If CEDA tries to kill us or if the army tries to shoot us, they’ll have a real hard time getting us all lined up for that, fireball.  I’m not letting anyone point a gun at you, I’d rather die.”  Coach looked up at that comment and, for a second, he clearly meant to react, but then the mechanic spoke up, drowning out any thoughts the older man might have.

“Ah know yew wouldn’t, Nick, an’ believe me if’n ah tell yeh no one’s gon’ touch yew without havin’ tuh answer t’me.  Ah ain’t leavin’ yew, no way.”  Nick grinned at Ellis – to the hick, and partially to Rochelle, too, it was clear that his grin and his eyes spoke of a deep, warm affection, while Coach just saw that predatory note and just looked away in disgust.  The silence that followed Ellis’ words was lighter, though, and the four slowly began to relax, starting to put their stuff away.

“…So… think we could rest up ‘ere?”, Ellis asked, and Nick shrugged.

“I don’t know, maybe.  It’s still light out-“

“Yeah, but there ain’t no tellin’ how far it is ‘till the nex’ safe room…”, Coach said, finally speaking up again, his eyes still carrying a vivid dislike for Nick as he glared at him, only softening slightly when his gaze turned on Ellis.  “…I say we rest up ‘ere, continue in the mornin’…”

A sharp ‘whoosh’ indicated another plane passing overhead, and Nick looked up.

“Wha’ the…”, Coach said softly.  And then the entire room shook and plaster rained down on them when the bomb hit, clearly close by.