The Collapse of Mankind

Chapter Six, TCOM Part II

Ellie's eyes squinted open due to Cisco walking around the building, waking everybody up.

Ellie: What...what time is it?
Cisco: Early. Almost dawn. Get up. We're going to find Nick.
Ellie: Who's going?
Cisco: All of us. Nova said she needed to talk to us all about something and didn't want to do it here.

Cisco quickly walked out of the bedroom. Ellie knew immediately what Nova had to talk to everybody about.

Ellie: Fuck.

She laid there for a minute or two before deciding to sit up and slowly get herself out of bed. She changed into her blood and mud stained clothes and exited the room. The smell of cooking meat filled her nostrils which made her mouth water. She would have loved to be vegetarian, but that's hard when you have no choice but to starve or eat animals. She heard talking coming from downstairs. It sounded like everyone was awake. She slowly walked down the stairs, trying to make minimal noise. Sure enough, everybody was awake, crowding around the small circular table in the centre of the kitchen. She walked up to the crowd and squeezed herself in between Cisco and Jessica.

Ellie: What's going on?

She took a bit of the cooked meat that was placed in the middle of the table as she asked her question.

Cisco: Morning.
Emmyn: We're figuring out where Nick could be.
Ellie: Oh, right.
Alexis: You said you lost him in a hoard, right?

Ellie nodded in agreement.

Alexis: He could be anywhere. He's smart. He must have made it out.
Cisco: I bet he did. He's probably just lost.
Sophia: Will we find him?

Ellie smiled at Sophia, reassuringly.

Ellie: We will.
Cisco: We have to go whilst it's still dark. No human threats to us will be out right now. We'll just have to deal with infected if we come accross any.
Emmyn: You're right.
Nova: Make sure nobody stays behind. I have some things to talk over with you all. Especially you, Alexis.

Alexis was confused. She looked over at Ellie. All Ellie could do was shrug. She could never let Nova know that Nick told her what was going on. Nova would kill Nick with her bare hands.

Cisco: Well what are we waiting for? Come on.

The group all gathered weapons, ammo and water for the journey. They had to prepare. They had no idea what could happen. Usually, they wouldn't go and search for a missing member. But Nick was important. He was brave and a real fighter. They needed him. It was about to hit six am. The sun was very slowly rising, making the sky an orange color. The group were all piled into the campervan. Cisco was driving slowly, looking around for any sign of Nick.

Cisco: If anyone sees him, say something.
Nova: How about we forget about Nick for a second and talk about the real problem here?

Alexis turned around from the front seat and looked Nova in the eyes.

Alexis: The real problem? Is Nick missing not a real problem?

Alexis turned back around and rolled her eyes at Nova.

Nova: You're already being defensive!
Alexis: What? Defensive about what?
Ellie: Nova. Quit it.
Nova: I can't, Ellie. You know I can't.

Ellie glared at Nova.

Nova: You really think I couldn't hear Nick telling you? He's not very good at keeping his fucking mouth shut.

Ellie could feel her cheeks burning up.

Alexis: Cisco!

All of a sudden, the van swerved in the road and ran over something. The vehicle came to a slow stop.