Diclaimer: Roses are Red, Violets are blue. All characters, Infected and such belong to Valve so please don't sue!

Last One In...

It was only when the safe room door finally clunked shut, did its new inhabitants release a collective sigh of relief. Nick especially.

I knew there was a reason I hated amusement parks. Zombie clowns? There just had to be Zombie clowns...

Still they had made it... just.

What usually followed next was Rochelle would head straight for the medical supplies, whilst Coach would head for the ammo. Nick on the other hand would do his usual safe room ritual of finding the nearest wall, let it take his weary weight, and complain about how many new permanent stains his suit had acquired. It was usually around this point in proceedings the youngest of their rag tag group would regale them with a glorified re-cap of the hell they had just about survived... Or at least try, because more often than not, Nick would do the rest of the group a favour, and tell the Ellis to shut the hell up.

However, on this occasion, no such over enthusiastic babble came. Not even the utterance of the infamous "Keith".

Nick's head snapped up at once.

"Hey. Any one seen Ellis?"

Coach and Ro looked at one another, eyes wide in realisation, and the conman felt his stomach drop.

They had somehow left the hick behind.

"Tits!" He snarled.

Ro shook her head rapidly and paced the floor.

"Wait a second, I thought he was with you?" She pointed at Coach.

"Hell, I thought he was behind you." He snapped back.

Nick said nothing on the matter. He merely stood up, albeit a little more shakily than usual, and let his eyes dart between the grates of the safe room door.

He couldn't see anything. There was no sign of the hillbilly anywhere. Vaguely wondering whether to go back out there or not... Would the others follow him?

Nick couldn't help but feel angry, but surprisingly not at the missing Ellis.

God damnit, how the hell did this happen? How the hell did they not realise he wasn't with us? Don't they know by now the kid has a tendency to wander off? Jesus!

Which was a perfectly acceptable argument... Because everyone knew by now, that the hick had a terrible habit of running off, head first into trouble -more often than not- far from the safety of the group. Lord knew how many times they, including Nick, had had to pull the hicks ass out of harm's way whilst almost killing them in the process. So why hadn't they been paying close attention to the young man's whereabouts? Needless to say, anger quickly turned to fury as he glared at his two remaining teammates.

Okay, so there were those three chargers and that Tank, and of course that Witch, but seriously...?

"Hey Nick, did you see him?" Rochelle quizzed the older man.

The conman suddenly felt his blood run cold, and a sick feeling ooze its way from his stomach to his mouth.

His mind frantically threw up images of dodging the various infected, reloading and throwing a barrage of Molotov cocktails. However the one image his mind did not throw up was the image of Ellis following them to safety.

Nick gripped his AK a little tighter, and solemnly shook his head.

Rochelle and Coach bowed their heads, neither suggesting going back out there. Deep down, they all knew it. It was too late.

The room went far too silent, far too quickly, causing the sickening cold feeling the conman had felt manifesting in his gut intensify. A feeling he had a hard time trying to ignore this time, guilt. Sheer and utter, unfathomable, soul wrenching guilt.

Nick couldn't recall a time he had ever felt so guilty for anything in his entire life. Not even the first time he stole from his mother's purse, or the first time he had shot someone in cold blood. Maybe it was just the situation he had found himself in, but the feeling damned near overwhelmed him to the point where he could feel his body begin to shake, and his legs begin to buckle.

His mouth began to fill with cool saliva, as he felt the contents of his stomach try to ease it's way past his gag reflex.

Nick swallowed thickly, almost wishing he could choke on his own vomit, as he slumped back down in the deafening silence.

This was not supposed to happen...

Of all the people that should've made it out of this living hell, it should've been the kid. Sure he was kind of annoying and dear God, never knew when to shut up. But fuck it, that was part of his Hick charm. Or at least Nick liked to think so.

He wasn't sure when he had noticed the hillbilly becoming less than the irritating little shit he had been lumbered with from that god awful hotel, but Nick knew he had. Ellis, young, dumb and suitably numb to all of the conman's best jibes had somehow managed the impossible feat of working his way into Nick's good books. Nick actually liked the guy, truly, he really did. There was just something about the kid...

Okay so the kid is way to cheerful and enthusiastic for his own good, but... fuck I don't even know any more. He wasn't supposed to die!

The thought suddenly occurred to Nick that maybe he shouldn't be feeling this bad, that Ellis, god rest his dumb hick soul, was not worth beating himself up over. That it was the Hicks own damned fault for getting separated from the group, and subsequently making him feel like shit.
After years of practise Nick was pretty good at denial, but not that good.

A month ago, maybe, but now...

He didn't know what it was about the zombie apocalypse, but it certainly had a way of making the Conman make him think and feel things that he hadn't felt in a long time.

He wasn't quite sure where Ellis fitted into all of that, but he was sure the hick was rooted in their somewhere. Why else would be worrying himself stupid about the kid's dumb ass otherwise?

And now he was gone, and it was most likely his fault.

Nick found himself unable to look at the others. He felt ashamed, another feeling he'd been used to ignoring, and somehow thought they knew why.

Because sooner or later they're going to start blaming me for this...

Surprisingly Nick pretty much agreed with them. Of course it was his fault Ellis hadn't made it back with them. Of course he was too busy doing his own thing to take his own advice and never let the hick out of his goddamn sights. But then Nick had caught himself watching the kid far too much to be passed off as concern for his well being. That's why he had mentally left the hick in the capable hands of Coach and Ro, because quite frankly Nick didn't think he could come up with a good enough lie to explain why he liked to watch the kid sleep sometimes or the way he actually wanted to hear the end of those Keith stories.

The conman started thinking of all the "What-if's", "Should've's" and "Why Didn't I"'s, but stopped himself fairly on.

Because I can go over the whole sorry mess over and over again, but still won't bring him back.
In that moment, Nick considered praying. He hadn't done it for a while, and was fairly sure God-if he existed of course- would probably ignore such a desperate plea from such a sinful man as himself. Maybe the devil would look kindly upon his hour of need?

Probably not, I think my soul has been re-mortgaged too many times for that.

No, there was no such hope.

Ellis was really gone, and there was no escaping that. It had only been five minutes and yet the world seemed so much darker, so much more hopeless, and so much quieter without him. Far too quiet for Nick...

God, how I'd love to hear that stupid hick voice of his right about now...

"Hey, can one of y'all lemme in?"

Nick snapped out of his funk, the sickening cold vanishing almost instantly, as he jerked his head toward the heavily bolted door.

He heard Coach give a startled yell and Ro a long winded gasp of shock.

"Holy shit!" She cired running to the door. "Ellis, you made it!"

Needless to say Nick was speechless.

Ro hastily unbolted the door, and opened it, which Ellis then gleefully stumbled through. After closing the door, the woman pulled the hick into a tight hug.

"God damn boy, what the hell happened to you? We all thought you were as good as gone!" Coach bellowed relief clearly audible in his voice.

The hick, covered in head to toe with gore, briefly ran a hand through his hair before giving a brief, shrug before opening his trap.

"Well, to tell yew the truth, I nearly was." He chuckled, whilst trying to dust himself off. "Luckily I found me one of those grenade launchers and managed ta clear me a path right back here. Though, I can't take credit for killin' all them sons of bitches on mah own, coz' most of them were pretty much dead on account of yew guys shootin' them an' all."

Coach laughed at that, but Ro looked a little confused. Nick on the other hand, well, he was just having a hard time believing what he was seeing and trying to cope with the surge of relief and joy that the hick had made it back alive, in more or less one piece.

"But how did you get separated from the group?" Ro asked, not wanting to wait. Nick was curious himself.

Ellis's smiled faltered slightly, and a shy, bashful look crept across his features.

"Well, ta cut a long story short, I kinda had ta go back for somethin', which reminds meh..."

With that said, Ellis proceeded to dig his hands into the back of his overall's, and after a few moments produced a slightly crumpled cap. Ellis's cap to be more precise.

Everyone's jaw's hit the ground.

"You mean to tell me." Ro started calmly. "You risked your life, for a hat?"

After a few adjustments, the Hick placed his prized possession back atop his head and smiled.

"Boy, you ain't right in the head!" Coach chuckled as he gave the boy a pat on the back and smiled.
Ro looked vaguely shell shocked, whilst Nick couldn't find the words.

"True." Chuckled the hick. "But man, yew should've seen the way them zombies were blowin' up when I got a hold of that there grenade launcher! Ho-lee-shit! Man, it was like the time my friend Keith and I went hunting for rabbits and he put a-load a dynamite down some of them holes. Damn man, was like the forth-O-ju-lie, only with bunnies..."

Nick choked.

Ellis is alive. Ellis is alive. The fucking hick made it!

It was like the past five minutes had never happened. The hick, Ellis, was alive and well and in their safe house, rambling on about some bullshit thing with that insane friend of his. He had never felt so relieved and overjoyed in his entire life, not even the time his ex-wife's pregnancy test came up negative. Nick felt fit to bursting with emotion; he didn't know what to do. Slowly he found himself walking toward the Hick, intent on showing him just how glad he was he had made it back, alive, to him. Intent on telling the hick just worried he had been and how much he'd guilt tripped himself into believing his death was his fault and...

Wait a minute, did he just say what I think he just said?

As Nick stalked toward the younger man, he felt the relief and joy be swallowed whole by a furious anger. The kid had risked his fucking life, for a fucking hat! Of course he should've realised the hick would go and do an asinine thing like that. Worse still, Ellis had caused great and serious psychological torment to not only his teammates, but to the conman himself. He had made Nick worry! Shit, Ellis had almost made the man vomit his guts up with guilt! Nicks free hand clenched into a tight fist.

Ellis took a brief moment from his story, to notice the conman coming to greet him.

"Hey Nick, didja miss me?" He grinned.

The older man's expression was blank, and Ellis raised an eyebrow.

"Nick?"

It was then, faster than a bat of an eyelid, that Nick struck and sent his clenched fist hurtling into the slack jaw of that no good yokel hick bastard. Needless to say the conman knocked the kid out cold.

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