The Collapse of Mankind

Chapter Seven, TCOM Part II

One hour later.

Ellie: Cisco. It's been an hour of slow driving. If Nick was here, we would have found him by now.

Cisco ignored Ellie.

Ellie: Cisco?

Ellie placed her hand on Cisco's shoulder. He shrugged it off immediately.

Ellie: What the hell is wrong with you? Pull your shit together.
Cisco: We just lost FOUR of our group members. Does that not upset you?
Ellie: Of course it does. But spending time being upset over it isn't gonna help anything. It'll only make it worse. Jessica didn't deserve it but you know... shit happens. Emmyn CHOSE to stay with Jess. Nova had it coming.

Cisco sighed.

Ellie: And... I don't know about Nick. We'll find out what happened to him somehow. Okay?

Cisco nodded. Ellie sat back in the seat, next to Sophia. On the other side of Sophia was Alexis. Ellie looked over at her, rolling her eyes. The car ride was silent. The group were in too much shock to do anything or make any noise. They just stared out of the window, hoping to find Nicholas. They eventually came across a fallen tree that was annoyingly blocking the road.

Cisco: Shit.

The van slowly came to a stop.

Ellie: Come on, Cisco. Let's just turn around.
Cisco: No!

Ellie was slowly giving up on trying to help Cisco. She could see that he was breaking slowly. And she didn't want him to completely lose it. The remaining four sat in the van, in silence. Until they saw something. It was a man. He had dark brown hair, muddy clothes and a stubble beard. He was digging through an old trash can, looking for anything useful.

Cisco: Come on, guys.
Alexis: What? Where?
Cisco: We can't just let this fucker get away.
Ellie: He hasn't seen us. And he's not causing any harm.
Cisco: We can't risk it.

Cisco slowly got out of the van, leaving the door open so it didn't make a sound when he shut it. Ellie looked over at Alexis.

Ellie: He's losing his shit.
Alexis: I know. He'll be okay.

Ellie sighed. Alexis slowly leaned in, kissing Ellie on the cheek. The kiss acted almost like a mood boost to Ellie. Sophia didn't quite understand romance yet, so she assumed it was just a friendly gesture. The three girls drawed their guns and got out of the van, making minimal noise. The man had his back turned to them as he was digging through the trash.

Cisco: Drop any weapons!

The man jumped in shock and turned around. He held his hands above his head in surrender.

Cisco: Didn't you hear me? I said drop any weapons.

The man pulled a pistol from his cargo pants and dropped it to the floor. He bought his hands above his head again. Cisco slowly walked over to him and kicked the gun away from him, still holding his revolver up to the man.

Man: Let me explain myself.

Ellie and Cisco exchanged looks.