"It's quiet Ro... Too quiet." Coach whispered while peeking out the cracks of the boarded up window of a shop Rochelle and him had taken cover in.
"Any sign of him? That kerosene couldn't have finished him off. Not that quickly." Rochelle whispered back while scoping out the shop for other infected or openings.
"Agreed. It looks like we're clear for now, but we gotta stay extra quiet and extra alert. Give me a hand barricading the door would ya?" Coach asked, gesturing at the long wooden chest that was in a corner of the room. "On three." Rochelle nodded and reached for the other handle of the chest and waited for his signal. Rather than count aloud however, Coach used his free hand to count to be on the safe side.
One birch wood chest, a nightstand, and three suitcases full of books later, the door was barricaded to the best of their ability and the store had been scoped out. No other infected, and no other entrances or exits.
Coach began stretching out his back and arms, "Ooof.. I knew we should've stretched first. Damn!" He whispered in frustration. "What kinda shop is this anyhow?"
"Probably one of those old thrift shops. Now that we don't gotta worry about anyone coming in, let's look around for any supplies. Let's regroup in about fifteen minutes with what we find." Rochelle whispered back, also stretching her arms. Coach nods in agreement and begins his search on the left side of the store.
Fifteen minutes later....
Coach and Rochelle met back at the register towards the middle of the store so they didn't have to worry as much about their volume and take a break from watching the door.
"Alright little sis, whatcha got?" Coach says to Rochelle as he sits on the floor. Setting his things down next to him.
"Well, depends on how you look at it. We got a scarf we can use as a tourniquet with as much as Nick has been trampled lately, I'm sure we can find use for it. A revolver with five rounds left, three decent sized candles, and half a container of boomer bile. What about you? Anything good?" Rochelle replies while laying everything mentioned in front of them.
"Not too bad of a haul, given the circumstances. I'm sure it'll all be put to use, good job. I on the other hand found two adrenaline shots, fryin' pan, molotov, and a new pair of shoes cause it was long overdue for Coach to treat himself to a new pair of kicks. All it took was the apocalypse." Coach said sarcastically with a slight grin showing off his "new" shoes proudly.
"Alright! We made out like a couple of bandits. Now we just gotta find tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum to figure out our next move." Rochelle added while putting away the molotov for later.
"Actually Ro, now that you mention it... What are your thoughts on followin' Nick to Cali?" Coach asked.
Rochelle looked at Coach with a bittersweet expression, "I'm not sure. heh...Truthfully I forgot we had separate destinations for a hot minute there. Guess I got used to being around everyone. Before all this, I was on my own. I'm just a reporter though, I got nothing waiting for me in Louisiana and if Nick is gonna keep getting beat up as bad as he has lately, someone's gotta be able to take care of that dummy. And if you three were left together alone, you wouldn't make it to the next safe house." She reasoned with a smug grin on her face.
Coach snickered, "Oo little miss thinks she's the backbone of the team huh? Real bold statement there Ro, be careful not to let old Nicky hear ya say that." Rochelle scoffed and replied, "Ha! That idiot can't tell his left from his right, have you seen him? He's gotta do that hand thing to see which one makes the "L" shape." Coach and Rochelle both began to laugh as quietly as they could and tried to catch their breath from all the laughing.
Rochelle sighed, "In all seriousness, we're a team, and who knows how many other survivors are out there, or if there even are any, so we gotta stick together no matter what."
Coach smiled and leaned in to hug her, "Amen to that little sis. Don't you worry now, the four of us made it this far, and we're fighters. We'll push through and be okay."
Rochelle smiled and hugged him back but was quick to add, "Don't you dare go telling Nick about what I said though! Even if it is true. I don't need him giving me shit for being soft. As far as the three of you are concerned, it's because that man can't go five feet out of a safehouse while being trampled."
They both started to laugh quietly again, but it was interrupted by the sound of faint buzzing.
Coach and Rochelle stood up quickly with their melees ready and tried to make out where the buzzing was coming from, so they tread the store quietly once again towards the noise that seemed to be coming from the front of the store.
They slowly turned past an aisle of clothes and relief instantly covered their faces. They discovered that it was Nick's phone. Worry began to show on Coach's face as he quickly made his way over to the phone and picked it up to see 3 missed calls and 20+ new message notifications, all from the same contact.
"Must've dropped it while we were barricading the door." Coach opened the phone and checked the messages to make sure everything was okay with Millie on her end and that she was just checking in and worried about her dad. He took a breath he didn't realize he was holding and sighed in relief that his theory was correct. He started to get ready to respond to her messages but quickly stopped to wonder if calling would be easier.
Coach quickly dialed her number and within seconds she answered. All that can be heard is Millie yelling on the other side of the line.
Rochelle saw Coach holding the phone at least six inches from his ears.
After about two minutes of the incoherent yelling Coach put the phone back up against his ear, "You done Little Miss? Now hold on, one thing at a time first starters just breathe... slow deep breaths now. Good job, now don't worry about him, he's in good hands and is gonna be just fine. We just got separated for a bit but it's quiet enough now for us to meet up with each other again. I'll let him know to call you as soon as we meet up. Now, are you okay?"
Rochelle looked at Coach puzzled and rolled her eyes as she began to gather their supplies to be ready to head off.
"Alright, as long as you still got supplies yourself and keep staying out of trouble, miss. I promise one of us will let you know when we're all safe and together again. Deal? Alrighty, take care." Coach finished, almost hesitant to hang up, but saw Rochelle standing impatiently by their barricade, "Now don't you go getting upset with me Ro. You don't know half of this and got no right to be all huffy-puffy."
Rochelle shook her head and began to slowly disassemble the barricade, "Oh, so sorry to intrude, I just didn't realize you were still acting as Nick's secretary. I hope our planning to escape and meeting with our team in the middle of the apocalypse wasn't too selfish of me."
Coach began to help find the doorway, "Just drop it Ro. If he wants you to know, he'll tell you himself. Now are we gonna go find our team or not?" he moved the last piece of the barricade.
They continued west for what had felt like almost an hour. "Coach if you don't hurry up with the note, I will leave your ass behind! I'm almost out of ammo again!" Rochelle yelled, while trying to defend Coach as he scribbled a small note and arrow for their missing teammates to hopefully come across.
'Nick + El, keep heading west ⇐ ⇐ Safe House near parlor, -C + R'
"I'm goin' as fast as I can dammit! These expo markers weren't made for brick walls! Shit is drying up, I just hope they see the other signs..." Coach yelled back as he threw the dead marker and began to pick his gun back up to aid Rochelle.
YOU ARE READING
A Daughter?
FanfictionNick has a daughter and the others think it's some girlfriend. He makes it his mission to get to her as fast as possible, but obstacles in the form of the living dead pose a problem. Also he's pretty gay, but the other guy is pretty dumb.
