Welcome to Gaia! ::

part one::


"Come on Ellis, we don't have time for this!" Nick barked at the Hick.

Ellis had been digging through rooms in a house they had to pass through. Mainly looking for weapons, ammunition, rations, etcetera. But he had found something more interesting. A drawer. Full of magazines. Well, you get the picture. But under those dirty magazines he found a small black book. Maybe half the size of a normal notebook with a hard cover. And all the pages were blank. That gave Ellis an idea.

"Comin comin!" he called back and got up off of the bed, running after Nick, Coach, and Rochelle.

It wasn't too far off to the safe house, but a battle to get there. They were in the swamplands so the muck caught their feet, insisting they stick to a spot. And the infected came in massive swarms. At least fifty commons, and a Spitter. The Spitter caught Nick off guard, dousing him in acidic goop and downing him. It stung!

Ellis didn't care about the acidic grossness on the ground around the con man. He cared about Nick! He ran over with a "Don' worry, I'm comin!". The acidic spit burned his feet and legs, though he helped the con man up to his feet, taking a moment to use his own health pack on the suited man, even though Nick had one for himself.

After that little fiasco, everyone but Ellis ran to the saferoom door. Ellis limped behind. That acid had corroded his feet bad. But Nick was more important. As much as Ellis wanted to live...

Once his feet were cared for by Rochelle, Ellis crawled to a corner of the silo-like safe room. He double checked to see if anyone was looking but realized he had nothing to write with. His eyes scanned the floors of the building. Spotting a red Sharpie in the far corner. He craftily made his way over and sat there, picking up the pen and pulling out the untouched black diary.


And this is what he wrote:

DATE: dunno

Headin through the swamp now. And jus picked up this fancy little diary. Well, if we die, whoever passes through migh find it. Could be useful.

Well, we lost track o time. And days. Its dark now but the sun should come up soon I think. But this night has been bad. Migh have to stay here and rest up before leavin again. Nearly lost Nick thanks t a Spitter. I won' let im die. Kinda a long story. But I like im. More than the others. They kinda keep t' themselves. But Nick is....Man I dunno what he is. But I find him amazin.

Uh...Well we're almos at the Plantation house, I think. When we get there I bet there'll be a mess of zombies waitin for us. Oh goody. Well, I know that I got Nick's back. Jus wonder if he's got mine...



Nick interrupted Ellis' writing, stepping in front of the hick and givig a small nudge with his foot. "What you writing about?" he asked.

"Nuthin!" Ellis replied, slamming the book closed. "Nuthin at all."

"Hmm. Well we've decided the Watch order. You should get some sleep. It's my turn fiirst." Nick said, walking toward the unblocked door.

Ellis sighed softly and slipped the book behind his back. He leaned back against the wall, pulling his hat over his eyes and trying to doze off.

"So how long ya think they're gunna sleep?" Ellis asked after a small silence. The only sounds had been the faint coughing of a smoker somewhere outside.

"Not sure. But they do need rest." Rochelle replied.

Ellis was itching to go again. But he didn't want to leave anyone behind. Once he made friends with someone, he had a tendency to stick to them like glue.

"Ya think anything can get in ere?" he asked, changing the subject. "I mean...I bet a tank could git at us. Man, them steroid junkies can break through anythin!"

"Ellis..."
"Sorry."
"Its fine. You should get some more sleep. It'll be at least another couple hours before we go."
"But I ain't..." pauses to yawn "...tired at all."