New family, New Love

Chapter Sixteen

*Ellis' POV*

I woke up to the smell of food, my stomach rumbled loudly. I walked down stairs to see the girl cooking breakfast and the child she spoke about sitting in a high chair, eating and blabbing away. The child couldn't be any older then 2. He was small, and it sounded like he was still learning to talk.

She saw me walk in and smiled softly. "Morning Ellis" I smiled and rubbed my eyes. "Morning and I'm sorry but I didn't get your name." I said and she turned. "My name is Caroline. That little cutie there his name is Henry." She said and smiled before turning back to the pan. I nodded even though she didn't see. "So how long you've been here?" I asked she shifted. "We haven't got anywhere else to go, our group was separated and the people we were with were killed. So I just decided why not settle down here? There isn't anywhere else to go and I don't think anyone of our group knows where we are so, I just thought we should just stay here. But we've been here for two months now." She replied. I nodded in an understanding way, I sighed.

"My family doesn't even know where I am. they flew away in a helicopter, I was hit by this big infected and They tried getting the pilot to wait for me but he didn't wait. He closed the doors and flew off without me." I said, sounding a little sad. Caroline hugged me. "You'll find them one way or another, I bet they'll be looking for you at the first chance they get. Don't give up okay?" She said, I nodded. "Thank you Caroline. For letting me stay and encouraging me." I said, she smiled and nodded. "I apologize for being so defensive at first, it's just the trust issues I have for other people now. Our group has lost so many people along the way and our trust was broken at least once or twice. Maybe even more, so it's hard now a days to trust just anyone. I apologize for being so defensive." She said, I nodded. "I understand, trust doesn't come easy these days because you never know if someone is a good or bad person." I replied.

She agreed and then took our dishes and washed them. "So since you're on your own, you could stay as long as you want to. If you plan to leave then I can give you some supplies and weapons to help you." She explained, I thought about it. It would be nice to have someone around and a place to stay for a couple of days, it's been lonely since Nick and the others left. I sighed and realized that staying here was for the best.

"If it's okay, I'd like to stay here. I was terrified walking alone, but I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you for letting me stay and giving me food, a bed and a roof over my head." I said. She waved her hand dismissively. "No need to pay back Ellis, it's okay. I know you're a sweetheart just by how kind you come across and I also know that you've been through a lot. Seeing the bags under your eyes from not getting a good nights sleep, all the cuts and bruises and how messy you seemed last night. Dirty clothes, messy hair. It's okay there's no need to make it up to me for staying here." She replied and hugged me, she smelled of lavender and it was pleasant. I hugged back before pulling away and I smiled at her.

"Thank you Caroline, truly it helps me so much and it's what I needed. If I can pay you back in some way for allowing me to stay here, I will do it." I said and she sighed but smiled. "Okay Ellis." She responded before picking Henry up out of his High chair and brought him into the living room, I sat at the table thinking. I wonder how Nick and the group are feeling. What they're doing or even where they are.

*Nick's POV*

We arrived to some camp. But I hated it here because they were aggressive and mean, they made Ellie cry because she kept asking about Ellis and asking to go back and get him. They yelled at her and told her to shut up and that Ellis was probably dead.

We got assigned a room, Ellie and I would stay in here and Coach and Rochelle would have their own room beside us. It was actually an apartment building, a big one at that. We had a small kitchen, the living room and two bedrooms and one bathroom. The kitchen had canned food and other rations of food, bottled water and even some cans of Soda. We were lucky to be brought to a safe place but I didn't like the attitude we were given.

Ellie was sitting on the couch, playing with some toys and humming the song I'd sing to her. I smiled sadly. She's grown quieter without Ellis around, he'd always tell her stories about his friend Keith when it was her bedtime and he would always make her laugh. But now she has a hard time to sleep and she's not so excited and happy anymore. She was just getting better when we met up with Coach and Rochelle and then Ellis was left behind. It's like she's incomplete when we're not all together. She was like this before we grouped up with coach and Ro and she's feeling this way again now that Ellis is separated from us.

I walked over to her and kissed her forehead. "I love you kid. You know that right?" I said. She smiled and hugged me. "I love you too dad." She responded before going back to playing with the toys she's been given.

I sat there and sighed. I was worried for my boyfriend, I didn't know where he was and If he was even okay. I just hoped he was okay and that we'd find him soon. I miss him so much.

There was a knock at the door, I went and opened it and it was the pilot. I sighed. "What do you want" I asked, anger clear in my tone.

"Look, I wanted to apologize for leaving your friend-" I cut him off. "He wasn't my friend, he's my boyfriend. And You left him behind." I said. He sighed sadly. "I'm sorry. I was panicking and I planned to move to the other side of the stadium and pick him up but then I was ordered to come back to base. I freaked out even more and I hadn't realized what I done until we were gone. I get super anxious sometimes and I've tired to get my boss to not make me go out and rescue because of my anxiety with this whole thing, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. I had to go out and rescue. I didn't mean to leave your boyfriend behind, believe me I am doing everything I can to find him. I remember what he looks like and I'll go out with a crew and look." He said

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Okay and by the way, His name is Ellis" I said, the pilot nodded and walked off. I closed the door and locked it before going back to the couch to see my daughter drawing and colouring in her sketch book. She drew what looked like a field and drew some flowers around it, before drawing a group of four people. Above it in the middle of the paper she wrote "My Family" when I realized it was of us. Me, Ellis, Rochelle, Ellie and Coach.

I kissed her temple and then decided to start dinner.

A/N:Hey y'all, what a twist for the story right?! But anyway, I decided to make it more interesting and have it skip to a year or so that Ellis was separated and then have them meet up again, but Nick and Ellis are confused on where they stand together, but I figured that'd make this story shorter then I want it to be. And it wouldn't make it interesting right? So I'm just going along with the story as it is right now, hopefully I could come up with something good to make it more interesting!