Nick awoke with a terrible start, covered in frigid sweat. He frantically patted the front of his torso checking for scratches. When he saw that there were none (apart from the few old ones on his chest) he scrambled to his feet to look for his companions, namely Ellis. Though it was still dark he could see their sleeping forms around the room, Coach in the half-destroyed armchair in the corner, Rochelle on the floor to Nick's left, and Ellis under the table with a rifle under his arm. Nick sighed heavily and leaned against the wall. A dream, he thought with mild relief, Just a terrible dream. It had been so vivid. And what had Ellis been trying to tell him before he turned? Nick slid into a sitting position. What had been so important that he had needed to tell him on his death bed? He shook his head vigorously.

"Stupid!" he hissed at himself. It was just a dream. Ellis had nothing important to say to Nick and Nick wouldn't care one way the other if he did. But if that were the case...

Why was the dream so terrifying?

Nick had always had the habit of waking up before the rest of the team, as he had with going to sleep after them, so no one was suspicious that he was up and ready by the time they dragged themselves awake. Ellis was also an early bird, always taking the job of rousing the others with that obnoxiously chipper attitude of his. But this morning he seemed...different. He was up his usual time but he moved slower, as if he had not gotten enough rest. He was unusually groggy and did not partake in his morning ritual of waking Coach and Rochelle. Nick was confused about this but did not ask questions. What did he care that Ellis wasn't acting like himself? Besides, once he had become fully alert, Ellis was being just as annoying as he normally was. Problem solved.

.

The city was clearly larger than anyone had originally thought. It would take perhaps three or four days to make it to the other side, more if the Hordes were as bad as the last one.

"Maybe we would have been better off walking around all this," Rochelle noted quietly, more than likely thinking out loud. Ellis decided to use this as a story prompt.

"Y'know, Keith and I got lost in a city once. We had to've been walkin' for about nine hours before we finally asked for directions. Turns out we'd been walkin'-"

"We don't have time for this, Ellis," Coach grumbled from the front of the pack. Easygoing as always, Ellis merely uttered an "okay" and stayed silent for awhile. By now Nick had almost completely forgotten the dream. His mind had a knack for pushing unimportant thoughts out of his head and keeping focus on what mattered to him. Though he had been shaken in the early hours of the day, he was fine now. Well, as fine as one could be trapped in an abandoned city somewhere in the Deep South surrounded by zombies and morons. At least Ellis wasn't babbling.

Having encountered very few stragglers and only one minor Horde with no Specials, the team was in good spirits by the time it reached the next safe house. Even Nick joined in on the laughter. It seemed things were getting somewhat better for them, if only for a moment.

"Y'know what I miss?" Ellis said, "Apple pie. Straight outta the oven." The others gave grunts and words of agreement.

"I'll tell you what, Ellis," Nick said, patting the boy on the shoulder, "When I get evacuated I'll leave an apple pie behind so when you guys get there you can have some." Ellis's smile fell and he stared in shock at the con man.

"What d'you mean when you get evacuated? We're all gettin' evacuated together...aren't we?" Nick chuckled at his wide-eyed, dumbstruck expression.

"I told you back when we first met I wouldn't be sticking around long. I've been staying out of circumstantial convenience. You didn't get attached to me, didja, Ayellis?" The mechanic bit the inside of his cheek and swiftly turned his head away. Nick brushed it off and looked for a comfortable spot to spend the night in. It would be a long day tomorrow, just like every day he spent with these stupid people.

.

The following day the team set out again into the lethal maze of the dead city. Nick was feeling good, confident. Soon he would be rid of these idiotic people. When he was evacuated alone he would tell the military about them to show his measly gratitude for watching his back but he wouldn't wait for them. He had always considered friendship to be a pile of horseshit and a waste of time.

Wait a second.

This seemed painfully familiar. Where had Nick felt this before? He was sure he knew this feeling from somewhere else but he couldn't quite place it. Figuring it was probably nothing he tried to shake the weirdness off and focus on what he was doing. He soon forgot why he was feeling strange in the first place and returned to a calm, almost cocky state of mind.

It was mid-afternoon when the next Horde attacked and Nick couldn't have asked for better timing. The safe house was just around the corner but it was still relatively early. Alone he could find another one further down the road and be closer to evac than the moron brigade. Everything was going great...until the Jockey decided Nick's head had gone too long without its crotch rubbing on it. He hadn't even noticed the little bugger until it was jumping onto his back. Now he was being directed straight into the heart of the Horde and he doubted the others either wanted to help or were even able to. Lived a good life, he thought as the mass amount of zombies began to swallow him, for the most part. And then the Jockey was gone. Just like that. Bewildered, Nick turned to see a very angry and very worried looking Ellis holding a shotgun and attempting to drag him out of the Horde.

"Come on!" he shouted. It was then the bizarre feeling returned. He knew something terrible was about to happen and there was nothing he could do about it but he couldn't for the life of him remember what. Suddenly, as Ellis was dragging him out of the Horde, a zombie grabbed onto the mechanic's left arm and bit down onto it. The scream of pain was definitely something Nick remembered and it chilled him to the bone. Was he reliving a nightmare? No, that would be ridiculous. Why would he have a nightmare about Ellis of all people? Even so...Nick felt terribly worried about his young companion in this moment and this compelled him to insist on wrapping the wound. Ellis refused but Nick's right arm was stronger than Ellis's left so he was able to tug the boy close enough to examine the bite. It was deep and bleeding rather badly. Nick wasted no time in wrapping it with spare gauze. Ellis grasped his sleeve just before he pulled away.

"Don't tell them," he mumbled, "Coach and Rochelle. I don't want them to know." It was then that Nick came to the realization that this was a dream, the same one as the night before in fact. But even with this realization he couldn't wake himself. He was forced by his own subconscious to endure the fear, pain, and sorrow all over again.

Everything was the same in the dream, down to the position Nick fell asleep in just before the nurse from the other group came to give them the grim news that Ellis was going to die. Every twinge of worry, every spark of fear, every single flicker of emotion Nick experienced was exactly the same. Sometimes in recurring dreams the emotion dwindles when one realizes it is in fact a dream but not this time. Not for Nick. He still felt that overwhelming sadness and terror when Ellis became a Hunter and knew him no longer, seeing him only as a new victim to tear limb from limb. He still awoke freezing and breathless, tears fresh in his eyes. Was this how he was going to spend his nights until he left the group? And would that even help? As he lay in the dark, silent tears sliding down his face, Nick wondered if he would ever taste happiness again.

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A/N: Shitastic chapter, I know. I've been forcing my creative streak and it's showing. I guess I'm trying to incorporate the blurriness of a dream that you know is a dream and the highly disturbing effect the dream has on Nick, despite his dislike of Ellis. The next chapter will be fairly short as chapter 4 willl be the plot twist. That's when my writing will get better, I promise. Reviews help me!