they've looked for coach and rochelle everywhere. part of nick feels desperate, since rochelle had been one of the only people nick felt he could trust completely, but now her and coach are missing. nick can only hope in some higher power that her and coach found safety somewhere else.
at least he has ellis, even with all the kid's annoying qualities in full force. it's been nonstop chatter for half a day now, though nick can hardly blame the kid. he knows ellis is just as scared as he is, and neither of them make for very good leaders. nick is too much of a lone wolf, and ellis is... well.
"-did i ever tell you 'bout me and dave, we went to this car show once and-"
"yeah i gotcha. shuttin' up man. man, it's too quiet right now." the younger man is currently fiddling with his hat, decidedly NOT shutting up as nick had hoped, but is now preparing to launch into another story about his adventures with his friends. meanwhile nick wants to imagine rochelle's voice, or coach's voice, or any other voice that doesn't belong to ellis.
"wait, ellis, actually shut up," nick says, holding a hand out. he means to hold it in front of ellis' face, but instead accidentally smacks him in the mouth. "i think i hear something."
"wait, shit, really?" ellis perks up, and obeys, for once. there's a few seconds of blissful silence, before nick whips his head around, peering out the door of their not-so-safe room. it's not the sound of zombies, or whatever the fuck creatures might be out there, but very much human voices, or human-like. nick is not holding out much hope for strictly human, at this point.
"hello?" he calls out. "please be normal people and not zombies, or an annoying chatterbox!"
"hey, that's not cool man, seriously." ellis' voice doesn't sound as hurt as he probably should, though both of them are used to casual insults thrown at each other. "but yeah hey, hello out there!" ellis huddles up against nick, practically shoving the older man out of the way. "if you ain't zombies, you're cool in our book! i got all kinds o'stories to tell you, like the time nick almost lost his jacket to a smoker-"
"ellis, shut up. let me do all the talking." nick shoots him a look, before cracking the door open a bit. "there's room in here, and supplies, just don't be fucking infected, or i'll blow your brains out myself."