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Note: First off, I would like to thank everyone for the 100 REVIEWS. That’s amazing! I’m so happy that people love this story and I will continue to work on it/write it to the best of my ability. I am aiming for more ElZo fluff in this chapter... here we go!

Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 belong to Valve and not me. Boo.

Abandon Ship
Chapter: 7

“Okay... okay...” Rochelle mumbled, not bothering to hide the panic in her voice. Normally, she was not one to go to pieces, but her concern for Nick and Ellis was driving her paranoia to the forefront. What if something happened to them? What was CEDA going to do with them?

“Calm down, Ro’. I’ll rescue the colonel and the kid and everything will be fine,” Francis said confidently, but it didn’t seem to do anything to calm her down.

“We need to find Zoey and Coach,” Rochelle muttered to nobody in particular, “Coach said to meet back at the hotel at sunset.”

Since they had no other way of contacting or finding anyone else, that seemed like as good a place as any to start. Their only other option would be to search the entire island until they found them. Louis glanced up at the sky. The sun was just starting to dip into the horizon.

“Let’s hope that CEDA’s at least moved away from the hotel,” he said with a sigh.

--

“How’s your ankle doin’, youngin’?” Coach asked as he rose to his feet.

Zoey used the shelf behind her to do the same. She carefully tested the weight she could put on her injured ankle and decided that it was okay to at least walk on. She had been resting it for awhile and the ice and bandage definitely seemed to have helped.

While she didn’t want to go back out there and face the CEDA agents and the zombies, she was worried about the others, a certain southern mechanic in particular. She had learned a lot of interesting (and embarrassing) details about him from Coach. It was a shame she promised never to repeat any of it.

Coach glanced out the window. The streets seemed pretty empty and quiet, “The sun’s startin’ to set. Told the others to regroup at the hotel at sunset. Feel up to headin’ out?”

Zoey nodded and checked the ammunition in her guns. If they took it slow she’d be okay, even though she knew the building anticipation of seeing the others would kill her. She wished she had more patience.

Coach ducked out of the store first, just to double-check that the coast was clear. They weren’t too far from the hotel. Zoey followed close behind, checking Coach’s blind spots for any enemies. The town seemed deserted though. They made their way back to the hotel as quickly as possible, jumping or ducking whenever they thought they heard someone or something.

“Where are all the CEDA agents? They were crawling all over this place before...” Zoey whispered to Coach, as they walked along the streets.

“Don’t know,” Coach shook his head, “But it looks like they took out all the zombies and left. I ain’t complainin’.”

“Me either...” Zoey agreed, “I just wonder why they did all that work and then up and left. Makes no sense.”

They were closing in on the hotel. As they approached it, Zoey realized that it too, had been abandoned. Three figures lurked around the outer entrance way. Coach and Zoey moved toward them cautiously.

“There you are!” Rochelle exclaimed and both Zoey and Coach lowered their weapons.

“We were wonderin’ if you’d show up,” Francis grumbled.

Louis frowned, “He meant when.”

“Whatever.”

Zoey’s eyes scanned the familiar faces. She was ecstatic that Francis, Louis, and Rochelle had all survived. However, two people were missing, “Where’s-”

The look on Rochelle’s face said it all. Something had happened. Her heart dropped into her stomach.

No. This was all her fault. If she had just stayed with him, they could have helped each other. She glanced over at Coach, who looked like he was trying to keep his composure.

“What happened?” Was all he asked.

“I don’t know how it happened...” Rochelle began, her eyes drifting down to the sand beneath their feet, “But both Ellis and Nick were captured by CEDA.”

“We saw them on the beach. They were loading them onto their ship,” Louis added, “But we have no ideas on how to get them out and we figured we’d need more help. We wanted to find you first.”

Zoey gnawed at her bottom lip and shifted her weight from foot to foot. Nothing was coming to her and she knew they needed to think fast. The longer they waited, the more trouble Ellis and Nick could get into. Especially with Nick’s big, fat mouth. The first step was to get onto the ship. That was a must. They had to get on board and see exactly what was being done to them. Most likely, they were being held against their will and drilled for information on the whereabouts of the others. CEDA had to at least know how many of them were present on the island.

“Okay,” Coach took a deep breath, “Any ideas how we can get on that ship, people?”

“I say we barge in, guns blazing and just take the fuckers down!” Francis growled, his finger curling around the trigger of his shotgun. Rochelle and Louis shook their heads.

“We’re too outnumbered, Francis,” Rochelle argued softly, “And we’re nearly out of ammo. We wouldn’t have enough to take all of them down.”

Francis frowned and grumbled something unintelligible in response.

“There has to be some way,” Louis murmured, his brows furrowed in deep thought.

“What if we let ourselves get captured?” Zoey suggested suddenly. Everyone simply stared at her. A few seconds of complete silence ticked by before Zoey cleared her throat, “Maybe I should’ve explained that better... Chances of us sneaking on the ship and finding them are pretty slim. We’re too outnumbered. If we let them capture us, they’ll most likely take us right to where Nick and Ellis are being held.”

“OR they could kill us on the spot,” Francis muttered, but nobody chose to acknowledge him.

Zoey tried her best to look hopeful. Her plan could work. They had to do something. She refused to let Ellis just be a sitting duck and take the fall for all of them. She knew him well enough to know that he would be doing his best to just convince CEDA to leave the island to save her and the others. Ellis would be selfless and try to sacrifice himself to save everyone else. Zoey wasn’t sure she could live through another one of her friends sacrificing themselves.

Finally, Louis spoke up, “Okay. So we let them take us aboard the ship. They lock us up with Nick and Ellis. Then what?”

Zoey could feel the sweat beginning to bead up on the back of her neck. She tried to ignore the sticky feeling and the sun on her back, “Well... I hadn’t thought that far ahead...”

“We can’t predict what exactly they want to do with us. Every time we thought they were going to save us, they ended up trying to kill us. All we know is they can’t be trusted.” Rochelle said calmly.

Louis, Francis, and Zoey exchanged glances. There was no doubt that they were each thinking of the time when the three of them and Bill had escaped CEDA’s research facility. They had a pretty good idea of what CEDA would try if they got them into a cell.

Their looks didn’t go unnoticed. Rochelle’s brows furrowed, “What was that all about?”

The three of them looked at one another once again. They had never talking about that incident with Rochelle or any of the other survivors. Zoey sometimes worried that the other group would get angry at them if they heard the story. They KNEW the full extend of CEDA’s methods and back on the bridge, Louis, Francis and herself had let the new group travel off in the Jimmy Gibbs Jr. to a rescue that would never happen. Zoey knew would be mad if the situation had been reversed.

So she decided to keep it under wraps for now.

“It was nothing. Just remembered something from our travels,” She replied as quickly as she could, ignoring the questioning glances from Francis and Louis. She’d have to talk to them later. She quickly elaborated her lie, “We read a lot of the messages from other survivors. Most of them CEDA was testing on captured survivors to find a cure. They haven’t created any sort of safe zone for people to go.”

Rochelle and Coach nodded. It was nothing they hadn’t heard or seen before.

Zoey breathed a small sigh of relief. Crisis averted, for now. She quickly remembered the original subject at hand. Talking in circles about CEDA and their shitty rescue methods wasn’t going to help Ellis and Nick, “So CEDA are a bunch of assholes. Now that we’ve established that, how the hell are we going to get out of there once we’re on the ship?”

“I think this might be a situation where we can’t make a plan. We’re just gonna’ have ta’ dive in head first,” Coach replied, shaking his head.

“I agree,” Louis said, “Once we get on the ship, maybe we can figure something out. Let’s see what they plan to do with us and then we can decide how to respond.”

“And if that fails, we just take over the ship!” Francis said, grinning from ear to ear in a way that made Zoey shudder.

“Guess that settles it then,” Coach said with a shrug. He started reloading his shotgun, “Let’s move out, people.”

--

The five of them made their way down to the shore as quickly as they possibly could. Zoey kept her hands planted tightly around her pistols, even though she knew they’d have to discard their weapons. Her stomach lurched as they approached the ship.

The sand suddenly didn’t feel so soft and comforting. It felt more like quick sand, sucking in their feet as they stomped across the beach. The sun didn’t feel so good anymore either. They each felt like they were sweating buckets. The island no longer felt like paradise or a safe haven.

As they approached the massive ship, CEDA agents started pouring out onto the beach. They all had their weapons drawn. It was clear that they were more than outnumbered.

“Here goes nothing...” Coach muttered under his breath.

“Zoe, this was your bright idea. You go first.” Francis hissed.

Zoey shot him a dirty look but took the first step towards the ship. She ignored the sounds of the agents cocking their weapons. She threw all of her own weapons onto the warm sand and held her hands up in the air.

“Don’t shoot,” She ordered, “We didn’t come for a fight. We just want our friends back.”

A few agents exchanged looks. Zoey did a quick, mental head count. Their had to be at least a dozen of them out on the beach, probably more inside the ship.

“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”

The survivors tossed their weapons onto the warm sand. They fell with a soft thud. Then they each put their hands into the air too, just to show CEDA that they were defenseless. The guards slowly approached them, and after patting each of them down, had them line up to board the ship.

Zoey’s eyes widened when some of them pulled handcuffs off their belts. This would not go over well with Francis...

“You don’t have to handcuff us. We’re going along quietly.” She protested, glaring at the silver restraints in their hands.

“Just a precaution.” One of the agents said through grit teeth. “Your friends were handcuffed as well.”

“If you think I’m lettin’ these assholes handcuff me, then you’re-” Francis stopped his rant when Rochelle glared at him. A CEDA agent had planted the barrel of their gun near Francis’ head.
“Francis, just go along with it. Please. We’ll be okay,” Ro pleaded quietly.

Francis frowned, but stuck his hands out anyway. The guards went around and handcuffed each of them.

“So now that we’re completely at your mercy,” Louis asked the nearest agent as they walked towards the ship, “Can we ask why you are here and what you want from us?”

“We are investigating the island for signs of infected individuals. We are working on trying to find shelter to set up safe havens for survivors and trying to test a cure for the infection.”

Zoey’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She wasn’t sure if she could or should believe that. She also noticed that he didn’t answer Louis’ second question. That made her nervous.

The were escorted up the ramp that led to the huge government ship. The inside of the ship seemed like one large hallway with wall-to-wall steel. It was cold too, like someone had air conditioning blasting too high. They walked down the narrow hall and entered a door on the right. It was a small stairwell. The guard led the down the short flight of steel steps.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and entered another room. There was another narrow path running down the center of this room and there were holding cells on both sides. The black, metal bars of the cell ran from the cold floors to the low ceilings of the ship’s basement. It looked like they were divided into four separate prisons.

“Great. They’re back.” A sarcastic voice grumbled from the farthest cell on the left.

“Nick!” Rochelle couldn’t hide the elation in her voice. Francis’ eyes narrowed and Rochelle blushed. Of course Nick was fine. She shouldn’t have sounded so relieved.

“Ro’? Is that you?” Another voice asked. This one sounded like it came from the far right cell, across from the first voice. It was Ellis. Zoey felt her heart flutter.

“Yes!” She replied, happy that they both seemed unharmed.

“Alright. Enough with the happy reunion.” The guard that led them down huffed. “Get into a cell. We’ll be back in a bit to chat.”

“Good. Get lost, asshole.” Nick sneered from his cell. If there was any doubt who had been in that cell, it vanished after that.

The guard ignored Nick’s comment and opened the first cell on the left. He unlocked Rochelle’s handcuffs and motioned for her to go inside. The guard then unlocked Louis and Coach and shoved them into the cell across from her. Then he moved down the aisle, to the cells in the back, the ones where Nick and Ellis were being held, and he shoved Francis into Nick’s cell. Zoey and Rochelle both groaned. That wouldn’t end well.

That left Zoey to be put in the same prison with Ellis. She gulped as the guard unlocked her handcuffs, opened the door and pushed her inside. She stumbled in, bumping into Ellis. Ellis steadied her and glared at the guard. Zoey felt her stomach flip.

Of course she had to end up in Ellis’ cell. Not that she wasn’t happy to see him. She was ecstatic that he was unharmed and that they were all together again, but seeing him made her nervous as well. Even with all the danger they were in, she still had damn butterflies.

“We’re leaving the island in a few minutes. I’ll be back to check on you in an hour. This place is locked up tight and we’ll be sailing on the water so I wouldn’t think of escaping, if I were you.” The CEDA agent explained with a creepy, grim smile on his face.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Nick waved him off, “We’re sitting ducks. Your overbearing ASSHOLES. Just leave already.”

“For once,” Francis growled, “I agree with, Colonel Sanders. We’re not stupid. Get lost.”

The guard left without replying. Nobody for a few minutes after the door had been slammed shut. They all seemed to be waiting for someone to pop back in, but nobody came.

Zoey took a quick moment to examine their surroundings. There was nothing in the room other than the cells and the huge door they came through. The walls were white and barren and the floors felt like cold concrete. In each cell, she noted that there was just a simple wooden bench chained to the wall.
Rochelle pressed her face against the bars of the cell, “I’m so relieved you two are all right.”

“I could say the same ta’ y’all,” Ellis replied with a small smile, “We weren’t sure if y’all would find us or not.”

“We saw you and Nick get captured on the beach and decided to let them capture us so we could get to you,” Louis added, taking a seat on the bench.

“What have they told you guys? Anything?” Zoey asked, glancing at Ellis and then over to Nick.

“Nothing much,” Nick muttered, “They loaded us on here and threw us in these cells. They asked where you guys were. Obviously we didn’t say anything. You’re welcome.”

Ellis shook his head, “They said they were gonna get us off the island so they could set up a camp it it was free of zombies. Didn’t say where they were gonna take us.”

“So for all we know, they could be taking us to another one of these camps,” Coach said.

“OR they could be taking us to be executed,” Nick added sarcastically.

“What do we do?” Rochelle asked, her voice laced with worry, “Do we wait it out and see? They said they would be leaving in an hour...”

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Coach sighed, letting out a puff of a breath. Zoey thought he sounded ten years older, “I hate this shit. Bein’ at their goddamn mercy. We’re just gonna have to sit tight and see where they take us. We can’t escape. It’d be foolish to try, they’d kill us. Maybe when they get us off the boat we can make a run for it, find us some weapons and try to figure out a plan from there.”

Everyone slowly looked at one another and nodded slightly. It seemed like as good a plan as any.

“But they’re still the enemy,” Rochelle added pointedly and Francis snorted in agreement.

“Damn right,” He growled, “I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them. Not after all the shit they put us through.”
“Agreed,” Louis and Zoey spat out.

After that, everyone seemed to settle down, or at least settle down as much as they possibly could. Coach plopped down on the wooden bench, it groaned under his weight, “One of us stays up to keep watch, like we did before. If someone comes in or tries to separate us, wake us up, y’all.”

“I’ll go first,” Zoey volunteered. She was too jittery and on edge to even think of sleeping now. Besides, Coach looked exhausted.

“Fine by me,” Nick grunted, “I haven’t slept since they threw us in here. Too paranoid.”

He settled down on the bench, while Francis settled onto the floor, although he didn’t look like he was going to sleep. Rochelle and Louis looked like they were going to doze off as well. Zoey carefully took a seat on the bench in her own cell. She was afraid it would snap the second she put any weight on it, so she took her time sitting down. She planned on keeping a vigilant watch on that door and to try to figure out what to do next.

“Mind if I sit next to ya’?”

Ellis’ voice sent a jolt through her body. Right. In mist of the group’s discussion, she had forgotten he was sharing a cell with her. She was suddenly hyper aware of his presence. He was hovering nearby her, waiting for her to answer his question.

Answer him! It’s been like a minute and your sitting here with your mouth open like your catching flies! She mentally smacked herself for coming off so dim.

“Sure,” She answered, clearing her throat. She quickly tried to gain control of her nerves. He sat down in the empty space beside her. Zoey felt his hip brush against hers and she took a deep breath.

“Are you going to sleep?” She asked softly to strike up conversation.

“Nah. I’m alright. I don’t think I could sleep if I tried.” He replied, and it was true. Not with her locked in the same cell as him.

“Okay.” That made her slightly happy. She missed their long night talks.

“How’s your ankle, darlin’?” Ellis murmured, his eyes drifting down to her feet.

“Oh,” Zoey had nearly forgotten about her injury. After she had patched herself up in the store on the island, she had felt much better, “Good. Better at least.”

She lifted up her leg and balanced her bad ankle on her knee. She reached over to roll up the leg of her jeans to check on her sprain but Ellis asked, “Mind if I look?”

Zoey’s hands paused midair and she blushed. Ellis chuckled, “I just wanted ta’ see for myself. I had ta’ patch up Ro’s ankle a coupla’ times. She said I did pretty good. You can say no, y’know.”

“No, it’s okay,” She insisted. What was the big deal? Louis or Francis could have done the same thing.

His hands hovered over her ankle for a moment, unsure if she was comfortable with him handling her ankle. She was biting her lip, something he noticed she did when she felt uneasy.

However, these past couple hours, being trapped in here had been horrible. Ellis hadn’t been sure if he was ever going to see his friends again. They could have been dead for all he knew. He thought that his last image of Zoey was going to be her laying on the ground, yelling at him to save himself. And even though she was now captured too, he was glad that they were all together again. At least they could face this together, rather than just him and Nick.

And right now, all Ellis really wanted to do was hold her. The closest they’d ever been was when he had carried her when they were being chased by CEDA but they had been running for their lives so that didn’t really count. He wanted to explore some kind of intimate contact with her. He knew it sounded corny, but that uncertainty he felt about not seeing her again made his apprehension disappear. He had fallen for her, and he felt like he needed to try while he still had the chance.

But her uncomfortable expression made his doubt bubble back to the surface. He didn’t want to push her or force anything on her that she didn’t want. She needed to want this as much as he did. He wasn’t going to force himself on her.

Maybe she doesn’t feel the same way about me. I thought there mighta’ been somethin’ there but maybe I was just imaginin’ things...

Ellis placed both his hands on his knees, tapping his fingers. Zoey looked a little surprised that he backed off. She felt slightly hurt. Had she done something to put him off?

Ellis saw her mouth slip into a slight pout. He smiled softly, “Don’t worry, darlin’. I ain’t gonna pressure you. I’m sure it’s fine.”

Zoey felt her cheeks turn red again. Since when did he start calling her “darling”, and why did it have to sound so damn charming in that accent?

“Pressure me?” Zoey repeated, her brows creasing, “You’re not. I don’t care if you look. It’s just a sprain and it wouldn’t hurt to have someone else look at it.”

She really did want him to look. She was tired of taking things slow. She liked him, maybe even loved him. If that was true, than she should at least be able to let him touch her ankle.

Ellis examined her face one last time before placing one hand gently on her ankle. Zoey couldn’t help but note how big his hand looked against her stick-skinny leg. He slowly rolled up the bottoms of her jeans, his fingertips lightly brushing against her bare skin. His touch sent a warm feeling dancing through her skin.

Points for remembering to shave when you could, Zoe. She mentally praised herself.

Ellis gently pressed his fingers against the bandages on her leg. He tried to remember how he treated Rochelle’s leg when she had been hurt, but the feeling of her soft skin was distracting.

“How’s it look?” She asked, watching him intently.

Ellis glanced up at her and smiled slightly, “Not too bad, from what I can tell. Don’t look too swollen or nothin’.”

She smirked, trying to seem confident, “You just wanted an excuse to touch my leg.”

“Guilty.” Ellis laughed, and he really was.

“Pervert,” She teased, but she was smiling too.

--

“Zoe, wake up,” A soft voice nudged her awake.

Zoey’s eyes fluttered open. She felt something warm pressing against the side of her face. She groggily glanced up and noticed Ellis smiling down at her. She quickly sat up.

“What happened?” She sputtered. The last thing she remembered was talking with Ellis while it was their turn to keep watch.

“You fell asleep.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She realized that the warmth on her cheek was his shoulder. She had fallen asleep against his shoulder.

“No problem,” He chuckled, “I didn’t mind one bit.”

“Did I miss anything?” Zoey yawned and stood up. She stretched her arms a bit, feeling stiff from falling asleep in a less than comfortable position.

“The boat’s movin’, but other than that nothin’ much. Everyone else is sleepin’.” Ellis answered and glanced around at all the others. They were still passed out on the benches or the floor.

“Really?” She glanced over her shoulder at him, “How long have we been moving for?”

Ellis pursed his lips in thought, “I dunno. Maybe a half hour?” 
“Shit,” Zoey cursed, “Well, they’ll probably come get us whenever they dock again, and who knows how long that could take.”

Ellis shrugged, “I dunno. Like I said before, they didn’t say anything to us about where they were going.”

Zoey turned around on her heel, “Hey, I never asked you. What did happen? How did you and Nick end up on here in the first place?”

“Well,” Ellis clicked his tongue, a nervous habit she had noticed. He didn’t want to tell her that he got captured running back to look for her when he heard gunshots. He thought that would just upset her. “I was ambushed. They took me to the beach. Guess Nick musta’ saw us and he tried to jump in and save me. He kept mumbling somethin’ about ‘Cupcake owing him’ whatever the hell that means.”

Zoey grit her teeth. She knew exactly what that meant. Figures Nick would only try to save Ellis to repay her for acting like an ass and throwing himself at her in his drunken stupor.

Nick stirred at the sound of his name, although both his neighbors across the hall didn’t seem to notice. He hadn’t really been able to fall into a deep sleep. Ellis and Zoey’s lovebird shit was making him sick. He wished that dumb hick would make a move already and save him from losing what little lunch he had. That whole ankle move was pathetic!

He snorted and shifted slightly in the corner of the cell. Francis had kicked him off the bench, insisting it was his turn to sleep on it. Nick didn’t feel like arguing with him (especially with Rochelle right next to them) so he hunkered down in the corner.

“You alright, Nick?” Rochelle asked softly. He looked up and realized she was right on the other side of the bars. She must have woken up not to long ago.

“Fine.” He grumbled in reply, “I couldn’t stand watching Overalls and Cupcake anymore over there. I had to move.”

Rochelle rolled her eyes, “Leave them alone. You know Ellis has been crazy about her since we met them. I say it has to be fate since we somehow ran into them again.”

“Yeah. Until he blows it.” Nick chuckled.

Rochelle reach over and smacked his shoulder, “You know, it’s kind of nice to have something good going on in this damn apocalypse. A little romance won’t kill you.”

“Is that a request, Rochelle?” Nick smirked, “Cause’ prefer to just skip all the romantic crap.”

“Ugh. Not if you were the last man on earth, Nicholas.”

“We already did the tunnel of love,” He said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Rochelle wanted to roll her eyes but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“I’m glad your okay, Nick,” Rochelle laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

“Me too.”

“Hey what the hell are you two going on about over there?” Francis called gruffly from the bench. He sat up, swinging his feet onto the floor. He glared over at the scene of Nick and Rochelle getting cozy in the corner.

Nick twisted around to look at him, “Just go back to sleep, Monkey.”

Francis liked Rochelle (If that wasn’t obvious). He had told her he liked her many times over and yet, she kept kind of brushing it off; Never rejecting his feelings but never accepting them either. Now he knew why she acted like that. It was staring him right in the face.

“What the hell did you say?” Francis growled.

Nick was on his feet now, “You heard me. Go. Back. To. Sleep. MONKEY.”

“Nick,” Rochelle said in a warning tone.

“Bite me,” Francis spat out.

“Come on,” Nick waved him off, “You’ve been looking to fight me since day one. What’s wrong? Do you feel threatened by me?”

“Francis,” Rochelle pleaded. Why couldn’t the two of them just get along.

Francis took a step towards him and Nick matched his step. Zoey and Ellis had stopped their conversation and were now at the front of their bars.

“Stop it. Both of you!” Rochelle shouted. She knew this wasn’t going to end well.

“This isn’t the time for fighting,” Zoey added, although she secretly wanted Francis to kick Nick’s sorry ass.

They ignored everyone’s pleas for them to stop. It was like they were on another planet.

All the shouting had woken Coach and Louis up. Coach quickly got to his feet when he realized what was going on, “Nick, cut that shit out. Now’s not the time for this bullshit. We need ta’ work as a team.”

“Team Shmeem.” Nick sneered. He was tired of Francis’ attitude, tired of looking at his ugly face, but most importantly, tired of him moving in on Rochelle.

They were inches away from each other now and everyone else was shouting, even though there was nothing they could do to stop them. Just as they were about to throw their fists, the door slammed open. Everyone froze and turned to look at the door.

A CEDA agent, the same one from before, was standing in the doorway. He was decked out in a fancy uniform that looked nearly indestructible. He carried a massive gun on his back and was carrying multiple sets of handcuffs.

“Time to go.”

Description
Note: First off, I would like to thank everyone for the 100 REVIEWS. That’s amazing! I’m so happy that people love this story and I will continue to work on it/write it to the best of my ability. I am aiming for more ElZo fluff in this chapter... here we go!

Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 belong to Valve and not me. Boo.

Abandon Ship
Chapter: 7

“Okay... okay...” Rochelle mumbled, not bothering to hide the panic in her voice. Normally, she was not one to go to pieces, but her concern for Nick and Ellis was driving her paranoia to the forefront. What if something happened to them? What was CEDA going to do with them?

“Calm down, Ro’. I’ll rescue the colonel and the kid and everything will be fine,” Francis said confidently, but it didn’t seem to do anything to calm her down.

“We need to find Zoey and Coach,” Rochelle muttered to nobody in particular, “Coach said to meet back at the hotel at sunset.”

Since they had no other way of contacting or finding anyone else, that seemed like as good a place as any to start. Their only other option would be to search the entire island until they found them. Louis glanced up at the sky. The sun was just starting to dip into the horizon.

“Let’s hope that CEDA’s at least moved away from the hotel,” he said with a sigh.

--

“How’s your ankle doin’, youngin’?” Coach asked as he rose to his feet.

Zoey used the shelf behind her to do the same. She carefully tested the weight she could put on her injured ankle and decided that it was okay to at least walk on. She had been resting it for awhile and the ice and bandage definitely seemed to have helped.

While she didn’t want to go back out there and face the CEDA agents and the zombies, she was worried about the others, a certain southern mechanic in particular. She had learned a lot of interesting (and embarrassing) details about him from Coach. It was a shame she promised never to repeat any of it.

Coach glanced out the window. The streets seemed pretty empty and quiet, “The sun’s startin’ to set. Told the others to regroup at the hotel at sunset. Feel up to headin’ out?”

Zoey nodded and checked the ammunition in her guns. If they took it slow she’d be okay, even though she knew the building anticipation of seeing the others would kill her. She wished she had more patience.

Coach ducked out of the store first, just to double-check that the coast was clear. They weren’t too far from the hotel. Zoey followed close behind, checking Coach’s blind spots for any enemies. The town seemed deserted though. They made their way back to the hotel as quickly as possible, jumping or ducking whenever they thought they heard someone or something.

“Where are all the CEDA agents? They were crawling all over this place before...” Zoey whispered to Coach, as they walked along the streets.

“Don’t know,” Coach shook his head, “But it looks like they took out all the zombies and left. I ain’t complainin’.”

“Me either...” Zoey agreed, “I just wonder why they did all that work and then up and left. Makes no sense.”

They were closing in on the hotel. As they approached it, Zoey realized that it too, had been abandoned. Three figures lurked around the outer entrance way. Coach and Zoey moved toward them cautiously.

“There you are!” Rochelle exclaimed and both Zoey and Coach lowered their weapons.

“We were wonderin’ if you’d show up,” Francis grumbled.

Louis frowned, “He meant when.”

“Whatever.”

Zoey’s eyes scanned the familiar faces. She was ecstatic that Francis, Louis, and Rochelle had all survived. However, two people were missing, “Where’s-”

The look on Rochelle’s face said it all. Something had happened. Her heart dropped into her stomach.

No. This was all her fault. If she had just stayed with him, they could have helped each other. She glanced over at Coach, who looked like he was trying to keep his composure.

“What happened?” Was all he asked.

“I don’t know how it happened...” Rochelle began, her eyes drifting down to the sand beneath their feet, “But both Ellis and Nick were captured by CEDA.”

“We saw them on the beach. They were loading them onto their ship,” Louis added, “But we have no ideas on how to get them out and we figured we’d need more help. We wanted to find you first.”

Zoey gnawed at her bottom lip and shifted her weight from foot to foot. Nothing was coming to her and she knew they needed to think fast. The longer they waited, the more trouble Ellis and Nick could get into. Especially with Nick’s big, fat mouth. The first step was to get onto the ship. That was a must. They had to get on board and see exactly what was being done to them. Most likely, they were being held against their will and drilled for information on the whereabouts of the others. CEDA had to at least know how many of them were present on the island.

“Okay,” Coach took a deep breath, “Any ideas how we can get on that ship, people?”

“I say we barge in, guns blazing and just take the fuckers down!” Francis growled, his finger curling around the trigger of his shotgun. Rochelle and Louis shook their heads.

“We’re too outnumbered, Francis,” Rochelle argued softly, “And we’re nearly out of ammo. We wouldn’t have enough to take all of them down.”

Francis frowned and grumbled something unintelligible in response.

“There has to be some way,” Louis murmured, his brows furrowed in deep thought.

“What if we let ourselves get captured?” Zoey suggested suddenly. Everyone simply stared at her. A few seconds of complete silence ticked by before Zoey cleared her throat, “Maybe I should’ve explained that better... Chances of us sneaking on the ship and finding them are pretty slim. We’re too outnumbered. If we let them capture us, they’ll most likely take us right to where Nick and Ellis are being held.”

“OR they could kill us on the spot,” Francis muttered, but nobody chose to acknowledge him.

Zoey tried her best to look hopeful. Her plan could work. They had to do something. She refused to let Ellis just be a sitting duck and take the fall for all of them. She knew him well enough to know that he would be doing his best to just convince CEDA to leave the island to save her and the others. Ellis would be selfless and try to sacrifice himself to save everyone else. Zoey wasn’t sure she could live through another one of her friends sacrificing themselves.

Finally, Louis spoke up, “Okay. So we let them take us aboard the ship. They lock us up with Nick and Ellis. Then what?”

Zoey could feel the sweat beginning to bead up on the back of her neck. She tried to ignore the sticky feeling and the sun on her back, “Well... I hadn’t thought that far ahead...”

“We can’t predict what exactly they want to do with us. Every time we thought they were going to save us, they ended up trying to kill us. All we know is they can’t be trusted.” Rochelle said calmly.

Louis, Francis, and Zoey exchanged glances. There was no doubt that they were each thinking of the time when the three of them and Bill had escaped CEDA’s research facility. They had a pretty good idea of what CEDA would try if they got them into a cell.

Their looks didn’t go unnoticed. Rochelle’s brows furrowed, “What was that all about?”

The three of them looked at one another once again. They had never talking about that incident with Rochelle or any of the other survivors. Zoey sometimes worried that the other group would get angry at them if they heard the story. They KNEW the full extend of CEDA’s methods and back on the bridge, Louis, Francis and herself had let the new group travel off in the Jimmy Gibbs Jr. to a rescue that would never happen. Zoey knew would be mad if the situation had been reversed.

So she decided to keep it under wraps for now.

“It was nothing. Just remembered something from our travels,” She replied as quickly as she could, ignoring the questioning glances from Francis and Louis. She’d have to talk to them later. She quickly elaborated her lie, “We read a lot of the messages from other survivors. Most of them CEDA was testing on captured survivors to find a cure. They haven’t created any sort of safe zone for people to go.”

Rochelle and Coach nodded. It was nothing they hadn’t heard or seen before.

Zoey breathed a small sigh of relief. Crisis averted, for now. She quickly remembered the original subject at hand. Talking in circles about CEDA and their shitty rescue methods wasn’t going to help Ellis and Nick, “So CEDA are a bunch of assholes. Now that we’ve established that, how the hell are we going to get out of there once we’re on the ship?”

“I think this might be a situation where we can’t make a plan. We’re just gonna’ have ta’ dive in head first,” Coach replied, shaking his head.

“I agree,” Louis said, “Once we get on the ship, maybe we can figure something out. Let’s see what they plan to do with us and then we can decide how to respond.”

“And if that fails, we just take over the ship!” Francis said, grinning from ear to ear in a way that made Zoey shudder.

“Guess that settles it then,” Coach said with a shrug. He started reloading his shotgun, “Let’s move out, people.”

--

The five of them made their way down to the shore as quickly as they possibly could. Zoey kept her hands planted tightly around her pistols, even though she knew they’d have to discard their weapons. Her stomach lurched as they approached the ship.

The sand suddenly didn’t feel so soft and comforting. It felt more like quick sand, sucking in their feet as they stomped across the beach. The sun didn’t feel so good anymore either. They each felt like they were sweating buckets. The island no longer felt like paradise or a safe haven.

As they approached the massive ship, CEDA agents started pouring out onto the beach. They all had their weapons drawn. It was clear that they were more than outnumbered.

“Here goes nothing...” Coach muttered under his breath.

“Zoe, this was your bright idea. You go first.” Francis hissed.

Zoey shot him a dirty look but took the first step towards the ship. She ignored the sounds of the agents cocking their weapons. She threw all of her own weapons onto the warm sand and held her hands up in the air.

“Don’t shoot,” She ordered, “We didn’t come for a fight. We just want our friends back.”

A few agents exchanged looks. Zoey did a quick, mental head count. Their had to be at least a dozen of them out on the beach, probably more inside the ship.

“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”

The survivors tossed their weapons onto the warm sand. They fell with a soft thud. Then they each put their hands into the air too, just to show CEDA that they were defenseless. The guards slowly approached them, and after patting each of them down, had them line up to board the ship.

Zoey’s eyes widened when some of them pulled handcuffs off their belts. This would not go over well with Francis...

“You don’t have to handcuff us. We’re going along quietly.” She protested, glaring at the silver restraints in their hands.

“Just a precaution.” One of the agents said through grit teeth. “Your friends were handcuffed as well.”

“If you think I’m lettin’ these assholes handcuff me, then you’re-” Francis stopped his rant when Rochelle glared at him. A CEDA agent had planted the barrel of their gun near Francis’ head.
“Francis, just go along with it. Please. We’ll be okay,” Ro pleaded quietly.

Francis frowned, but stuck his hands out anyway. The guards went around and handcuffed each of them.

“So now that we’re completely at your mercy,” Louis asked the nearest agent as they walked towards the ship, “Can we ask why you are here and what you want from us?”

“We are investigating the island for signs of infected individuals. We are working on trying to find shelter to set up safe havens for survivors and trying to test a cure for the infection.”

Zoey’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She wasn’t sure if she could or should believe that. She also noticed that he didn’t answer Louis’ second question. That made her nervous.

The were escorted up the ramp that led to the huge government ship. The inside of the ship seemed like one large hallway with wall-to-wall steel. It was cold too, like someone had air conditioning blasting too high. They walked down the narrow hall and entered a door on the right. It was a small stairwell. The guard led the down the short flight of steel steps.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and entered another room. There was another narrow path running down the center of this room and there were holding cells on both sides. The black, metal bars of the cell ran from the cold floors to the low ceilings of the ship’s basement. It looked like they were divided into four separate prisons.

“Great. They’re back.” A sarcastic voice grumbled from the farthest cell on the left.

“Nick!” Rochelle couldn’t hide the elation in her voice. Francis’ eyes narrowed and Rochelle blushed. Of course Nick was fine. She shouldn’t have sounded so relieved.

“Ro’? Is that you?” Another voice asked. This one sounded like it came from the far right cell, across from the first voice. It was Ellis. Zoey felt her heart flutter.

“Yes!” She replied, happy that they both seemed unharmed.

“Alright. Enough with the happy reunion.” The guard that led them down huffed. “Get into a cell. We’ll be back in a bit to chat.”

“Good. Get lost, asshole.” Nick sneered from his cell. If there was any doubt who had been in that cell, it vanished after that.

The guard ignored Nick’s comment and opened the first cell on the left. He unlocked Rochelle’s handcuffs and motioned for her to go inside. The guard then unlocked Louis and Coach and shoved them into the cell across from her. Then he moved down the aisle, to the cells in the back, the ones where Nick and Ellis were being held, and he shoved Francis into Nick’s cell. Zoey and Rochelle both groaned. That wouldn’t end well.

That left Zoey to be put in the same prison with Ellis. She gulped as the guard unlocked her handcuffs, opened the door and pushed her inside. She stumbled in, bumping into Ellis. Ellis steadied her and glared at the guard. Zoey felt her stomach flip.

Of course she had to end up in Ellis’ cell. Not that she wasn’t happy to see him. She was ecstatic that he was unharmed and that they were all together again, but seeing him made her nervous as well. Even with all the danger they were in, she still had damn butterflies.

“We’re leaving the island in a few minutes. I’ll be back to check on you in an hour. This place is locked up tight and we’ll be sailing on the water so I wouldn’t think of escaping, if I were you.” The CEDA agent explained with a creepy, grim smile on his face.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Nick waved him off, “We’re sitting ducks. Your overbearing ASSHOLES. Just leave already.”

“For once,” Francis growled, “I agree with, Colonel Sanders. We’re not stupid. Get lost.”

The guard left without replying. Nobody for a few minutes after the door had been slammed shut. They all seemed to be waiting for someone to pop back in, but nobody came.

Zoey took a quick moment to examine their surroundings. There was nothing in the room other than the cells and the huge door they came through. The walls were white and barren and the floors felt like cold concrete. In each cell, she noted that there was just a simple wooden bench chained to the wall.
Rochelle pressed her face against the bars of the cell, “I’m so relieved you two are all right.”

“I could say the same ta’ y’all,” Ellis replied with a small smile, “We weren’t sure if y’all would find us or not.”

“We saw you and Nick get captured on the beach and decided to let them capture us so we could get to you,” Louis added, taking a seat on the bench.

“What have they told you guys? Anything?” Zoey asked, glancing at Ellis and then over to Nick.

“Nothing much,” Nick muttered, “They loaded us on here and threw us in these cells. They asked where you guys were. Obviously we didn’t say anything. You’re welcome.”

Ellis shook his head, “They said they were gonna get us off the island so they could set up a camp it it was free of zombies. Didn’t say where they were gonna take us.”

“So for all we know, they could be taking us to another one of these camps,” Coach said.

“OR they could be taking us to be executed,” Nick added sarcastically.

“What do we do?” Rochelle asked, her voice laced with worry, “Do we wait it out and see? They said they would be leaving in an hour...”

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Coach sighed, letting out a puff of a breath. Zoey thought he sounded ten years older, “I hate this shit. Bein’ at their goddamn mercy. We’re just gonna have to sit tight and see where they take us. We can’t escape. It’d be foolish to try, they’d kill us. Maybe when they get us off the boat we can make a run for it, find us some weapons and try to figure out a plan from there.”

Everyone slowly looked at one another and nodded slightly. It seemed like as good a plan as any.

“But they’re still the enemy,” Rochelle added pointedly and Francis snorted in agreement.

“Damn right,” He growled, “I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them. Not after all the shit they put us through.”
“Agreed,” Louis and Zoey spat out.

After that, everyone seemed to settle down, or at least settle down as much as they possibly could. Coach plopped down on the wooden bench, it groaned under his weight, “One of us stays up to keep watch, like we did before. If someone comes in or tries to separate us, wake us up, y’all.”

“I’ll go first,” Zoey volunteered. She was too jittery and on edge to even think of sleeping now. Besides, Coach looked exhausted.

“Fine by me,” Nick grunted, “I haven’t slept since they threw us in here. Too paranoid.”

He settled down on the bench, while Francis settled onto the floor, although he didn’t look like he was going to sleep. Rochelle and Louis looked like they were going to doze off as well. Zoey carefully took a seat on the bench in her own cell. She was afraid it would snap the second she put any weight on it, so she took her time sitting down. She planned on keeping a vigilant watch on that door and to try to figure out what to do next.

“Mind if I sit next to ya’?”

Ellis’ voice sent a jolt through her body. Right. In mist of the group’s discussion, she had forgotten he was sharing a cell with her. She was suddenly hyper aware of his presence. He was hovering nearby her, waiting for her to answer his question.

Answer him! It’s been like a minute and your sitting here with your mouth open like your catching flies! She mentally smacked herself for coming off so dim.

“Sure,” She answered, clearing her throat. She quickly tried to gain control of her nerves. He sat down in the empty space beside her. Zoey felt his hip brush against hers and she took a deep breath.

“Are you going to sleep?” She asked softly to strike up conversation.

“Nah. I’m alright. I don’t think I could sleep if I tried.” He replied, and it was true. Not with her locked in the same cell as him.

“Okay.” That made her slightly happy. She missed their long night talks.

“How’s your ankle, darlin’?” Ellis murmured, his eyes drifting down to her feet.

“Oh,” Zoey had nearly forgotten about her injury. After she had patched herself up in the store on the island, she had felt much better, “Good. Better at least.”

She lifted up her leg and balanced her bad ankle on her knee. She reached over to roll up the leg of her jeans to check on her sprain but Ellis asked, “Mind if I look?”

Zoey’s hands paused midair and she blushed. Ellis chuckled, “I just wanted ta’ see for myself. I had ta’ patch up Ro’s ankle a coupla’ times. She said I did pretty good. You can say no, y’know.”

“No, it’s okay,” She insisted. What was the big deal? Louis or Francis could have done the same thing.

His hands hovered over her ankle for a moment, unsure if she was comfortable with him handling her ankle. She was biting her lip, something he noticed she did when she felt uneasy.

However, these past couple hours, being trapped in here had been horrible. Ellis hadn’t been sure if he was ever going to see his friends again. They could have been dead for all he knew. He thought that his last image of Zoey was going to be her laying on the ground, yelling at him to save himself. And even though she was now captured too, he was glad that they were all together again. At least they could face this together, rather than just him and Nick.

And right now, all Ellis really wanted to do was hold her. The closest they’d ever been was when he had carried her when they were being chased by CEDA but they had been running for their lives so that didn’t really count. He wanted to explore some kind of intimate contact with her. He knew it sounded corny, but that uncertainty he felt about not seeing her again made his apprehension disappear. He had fallen for her, and he felt like he needed to try while he still had the chance.

But her uncomfortable expression made his doubt bubble back to the surface. He didn’t want to push her or force anything on her that she didn’t want. She needed to want this as much as he did. He wasn’t going to force himself on her.

Maybe she doesn’t feel the same way about me. I thought there mighta’ been somethin’ there but maybe I was just imaginin’ things...

Ellis placed both his hands on his knees, tapping his fingers. Zoey looked a little surprised that he backed off. She felt slightly hurt. Had she done something to put him off?

Ellis saw her mouth slip into a slight pout. He smiled softly, “Don’t worry, darlin’. I ain’t gonna pressure you. I’m sure it’s fine.”

Zoey felt her cheeks turn red again. Since when did he start calling her “darling”, and why did it have to sound so damn charming in that accent?

“Pressure me?” Zoey repeated, her brows creasing, “You’re not. I don’t care if you look. It’s just a sprain and it wouldn’t hurt to have someone else look at it.”

She really did want him to look. She was tired of taking things slow. She liked him, maybe even loved him. If that was true, than she should at least be able to let him touch her ankle.

Ellis examined her face one last time before placing one hand gently on her ankle. Zoey couldn’t help but note how big his hand looked against her stick-skinny leg. He slowly rolled up the bottoms of her jeans, his fingertips lightly brushing against her bare skin. His touch sent a warm feeling dancing through her skin.

Points for remembering to shave when you could, Zoe. She mentally praised herself.

Ellis gently pressed his fingers against the bandages on her leg. He tried to remember how he treated Rochelle’s leg when she had been hurt, but the feeling of her soft skin was distracting.

“How’s it look?” She asked, watching him intently.

Ellis glanced up at her and smiled slightly, “Not too bad, from what I can tell. Don’t look too swollen or nothin’.”

She smirked, trying to seem confident, “You just wanted an excuse to touch my leg.”

“Guilty.” Ellis laughed, and he really was.

“Pervert,” She teased, but she was smiling too.

--

“Zoe, wake up,” A soft voice nudged her awake.

Zoey’s eyes fluttered open. She felt something warm pressing against the side of her face. She groggily glanced up and noticed Ellis smiling down at her. She quickly sat up.

“What happened?” She sputtered. The last thing she remembered was talking with Ellis while it was their turn to keep watch.

“You fell asleep.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She realized that the warmth on her cheek was his shoulder. She had fallen asleep against his shoulder.

“No problem,” He chuckled, “I didn’t mind one bit.”

“Did I miss anything?” Zoey yawned and stood up. She stretched her arms a bit, feeling stiff from falling asleep in a less than comfortable position.

“The boat’s movin’, but other than that nothin’ much. Everyone else is sleepin’.” Ellis answered and glanced around at all the others. They were still passed out on the benches or the floor.

“Really?” She glanced over her shoulder at him, “How long have we been moving for?”

Ellis pursed his lips in thought, “I dunno. Maybe a half hour?” 
“Shit,” Zoey cursed, “Well, they’ll probably come get us whenever they dock again, and who knows how long that could take.”

Ellis shrugged, “I dunno. Like I said before, they didn’t say anything to us about where they were going.”

Zoey turned around on her heel, “Hey, I never asked you. What did happen? How did you and Nick end up on here in the first place?”

“Well,” Ellis clicked his tongue, a nervous habit she had noticed. He didn’t want to tell her that he got captured running back to look for her when he heard gunshots. He thought that would just upset her. “I was ambushed. They took me to the beach. Guess Nick musta’ saw us and he tried to jump in and save me. He kept mumbling somethin’ about ‘Cupcake owing him’ whatever the hell that means.”

Zoey grit her teeth. She knew exactly what that meant. Figures Nick would only try to save Ellis to repay her for acting like an ass and throwing himself at her in his drunken stupor.

Nick stirred at the sound of his name, although both his neighbors across the hall didn’t seem to notice. He hadn’t really been able to fall into a deep sleep. Ellis and Zoey’s lovebird shit was making him sick. He wished that dumb hick would make a move already and save him from losing what little lunch he had. That whole ankle move was pathetic!

He snorted and shifted slightly in the corner of the cell. Francis had kicked him off the bench, insisting it was his turn to sleep on it. Nick didn’t feel like arguing with him (especially with Rochelle right next to them) so he hunkered down in the corner.

“You alright, Nick?” Rochelle asked softly. He looked up and realized she was right on the other side of the bars. She must have woken up not to long ago.

“Fine.” He grumbled in reply, “I couldn’t stand watching Overalls and Cupcake anymore over there. I had to move.”

Rochelle rolled her eyes, “Leave them alone. You know Ellis has been crazy about her since we met them. I say it has to be fate since we somehow ran into them again.”

“Yeah. Until he blows it.” Nick chuckled.

Rochelle reach over and smacked his shoulder, “You know, it’s kind of nice to have something good going on in this damn apocalypse. A little romance won’t kill you.”

“Is that a request, Rochelle?” Nick smirked, “Cause’ prefer to just skip all the romantic crap.”

“Ugh. Not if you were the last man on earth, Nicholas.”

“We already did the tunnel of love,” He said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Rochelle wanted to roll her eyes but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“I’m glad your okay, Nick,” Rochelle laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

“Me too.”

“Hey what the hell are you two going on about over there?” Francis called gruffly from the bench. He sat up, swinging his feet onto the floor. He glared over at the scene of Nick and Rochelle getting cozy in the corner.

Nick twisted around to look at him, “Just go back to sleep, Monkey.”

Francis liked Rochelle (If that wasn’t obvious). He had told her he liked her many times over and yet, she kept kind of brushing it off; Never rejecting his feelings but never accepting them either. Now he knew why she acted like that. It was staring him right in the face.

“What the hell did you say?” Francis growled.

Nick was on his feet now, “You heard me. Go. Back. To. Sleep. MONKEY.”

“Nick,” Rochelle said in a warning tone.

“Bite me,” Francis spat out.

“Come on,” Nick waved him off, “You’ve been looking to fight me since day one. What’s wrong? Do you feel threatened by me?”

“Francis,” Rochelle pleaded. Why couldn’t the two of them just get along.

Francis took a step towards him and Nick matched his step. Zoey and Ellis had stopped their conversation and were now at the front of their bars.

“Stop it. Both of you!” Rochelle shouted. She knew this wasn’t going to end well.

“This isn’t the time for fighting,” Zoey added, although she secretly wanted Francis to kick Nick’s sorry ass.

They ignored everyone’s pleas for them to stop. It was like they were on another planet.

All the shouting had woken Coach and Louis up. Coach quickly got to his feet when he realized what was going on, “Nick, cut that shit out. Now’s not the time for this bullshit. We need ta’ work as a team.”

“Team Shmeem.” Nick sneered. He was tired of Francis’ attitude, tired of looking at his ugly face, but most importantly, tired of him moving in on Rochelle.

They were inches away from each other now and everyone else was shouting, even though there was nothing they could do to stop them. Just as they were about to throw their fists, the door slammed open. Everyone froze and turned to look at the door.

A CEDA agent, the same one from before, was standing in the doorway. He was decked out in a fancy uniform that looked nearly indestructible. He carried a massive gun on his back and was carrying multiple sets of handcuffs.

“Time to go.”