These Different Times (Nick Clark FF)

22.

"You need to lift me higher."

"I'm trying. You're heavier than you look."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"Did I say that? Taylor, now really isn't the best time to be arguing over this."

"Then shut up and lift me higher."

This had been going on for the past ten minutes. In order for us to climb out of the ditch, we needed Nick to lift me up onto one of the higher ledges then I'd try, key word being try, to help him up too.

"I got it!" I finally exclaimed when I grabbed hold of a large rock embedded in the dirt.

"All right, good. Now get up!"

With a little difficulty, I managed to pull myself up onto it.

"Taylor, can you see anything?" he asked, "See what's going on?"

Letting out a small sigh, I got on my tiptoes to peer over the top of the edge, instantly ducking back down when I saw that there were dozens of infected making their way down to the beach,

"Taylor!" Nick hissed impatiently, "What do you see?"

I turned back around to speak to him, "There's tons of 'em. We're not going to make it back down to the beach again. There's no way."

Nick looked between me and the two dead infected on the ground before he held his arms up, "Okay, come on. I've got an idea."

Once I was back down beside him, he moved towards one of the bodies and pulled out his knife.

"What are you doing?" I asked, slightly disgusted as he began cutting the body open.

"We're going to cover ourselves in their blood."

"What?" I gaped, "You have got to be-Nick, that's disgusting!"

"Do you want to get out of here alive?" he snapped, "Then trust me."

"I do," I whispered, "You know I do."

He nods, "Then let's give it a shot."

I closed my eyes as he stuck his hands inside the body, jumping a few seconds later when I felt him rub the sticky substance up and down my arms.

"Hey," Nick murmured, making me open my eyes and he pecked my lips, "We can do this."

I rest my forehead against his, "In case we don't..."

"Shut up," he said, kissing me again, "And close your eyes."

**

Nick kept a tight grip on my hand as he led me through the army of the undead.

Although I was wary, I had to admit that Nick's plan was working. Of course, there was one or two that got a little bit close for comfort but yeah, overall, it was working.

My free hand gripped onto the back of his shirt as he continued to lead me and in the short distance, I could see the rest of our group.

They were all in a circle, using things from the wreckage as weapons to defend themselves.

We kept the same pace though; we didn't want to risk them realising that we weren't actually dead so reaching them took us a little longer than we would have liked but we did make it to them and I let out a quiet squeal when Alicia almost struck her weapon down on Nick's head.

"Nick?" she gasped, looking around him, "Taylor, thank god."

"Go," I said loudly over the growling, pointing down to the Zodiac.

The rest of the group rushed past the two of us and I followed, turning back when I realised that Nick was no longer following behind me.

"Nick!" Alicia yelled, making me wince, "Nick, come on!"

"Go," I instructed her again, "I'll get him."

I watched as he walked right up to one of the infected, getting right in it's face and began snarling, mimicking the sounds that they seemed to make.

Slowly, I moved down the hill to him, touching his arm gently to get his attention, "Nick?"

He looked down at me, the weird glassy look in his eyes disappearing as he seemed to come back to me and he grabbed my hand again, dragging me back down towards the others.

Back at the Zodiac, I noticed that we had acquired another member to the group.

"Who's this?" Nick asked, eying the young woman warily.

"Alex," Daniel replied, "She survived the crash."

"We need to make a stop." Alex said quietly once we were back on the dinghy.

**

Once we were back on the Abigail, Nick helped me unload the small amount of bags we had managed to bring back.

Maddie was furious and shocked at the sight of us covered in blood and she sent us below deck to get cleaned up while she and Strand tried to deal with the two people we had brought back with us.

I ducked into the bedroom before going to the bathroom, grabbing some clean clothes.

"Whatever happened to ladies first?" I asked when I spotted that Nick was already in the process of unbuttoning his bloody shirt, steam from the running shower already fogging up the mirror.

"Well," he said, turning to look at me with a smile on his face, "I was thinking that maybe we should save water by doing this together."

"Oh really?" I murmured, quickly washing my face at the sink, "Why's that then?"

He followed my lead, looking at me once his face was free of the blood. "We don't know how long we're going to be on this boat," he began, taking a step closer to me, his lips brushing mine when he continued, "Best start thinking long term."

"Look at you being all smart." I teased, fiddling with the buttons of his shirt while he placed a heavy kiss to my lips, "You really did look handsome earlier. It's a shame it got ruined."

He gave me a smile, "I'll find a way to clean it."

"Good," I whispered, letting out a shaky breath when he kissed the corner of my mouth, "We...we should get cleaned up."

"We should," he agreed, "But we'll give each other a hand."

Giving him a smile, I pulled my shirt over my head and turned to the shower.

"You're still half dressed," Nick whined from behind me, "That's not fair."

"Then you best come give me a hand."

He wiggled his eyebrows and quickly pulled his pants off before rushing forward and I let out a shriek when he pushed me under the water.

"Nick!" I exclaimed, "You're such a child sometimes, I swear."

"But you love me." he whispered, leaning against the tiles while I leant against him.

I let out a small sigh as he pushed away some of my wet hair and trace his lips with my fingertip. "Yeah," I breathed, "Yeah, I love you."