authors note: this one-shot takes place between the Passing and Dark Carnival during the main L4D2 story I have in the works. It does have an OC, but I just had to get this out for this holidays, and to give a sort of sneak peek at the "5th" survivor, as my OC will be dubbed. I don't own anything Valve created, and only Crystal, my OC, is mine. Also, the song used is from Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas..a wonderful song I had to use..it was my inspiration for this after all! Lastly..I am a writer first and an artist 2nd..so sorry about any mistakes! Now...On with the "show"!
As Long As There's Christmas!
It was cold, and dreary, as it always was during this hell on earth known as the Zombie Apocalypse, or the Green Flu epidemic as it was once called. Even winter seemed worse than usual, even though it really wasn't. The entire situation just made it seem like it was. Somewhere down south, in what was the southern united states area, a safe room, as the red doored safe havens came to be called, was shut tight, both entrances and any windows blocked by whatever the occupants could find. The one was somewhere in the middle of nowhere it felt like, just trees and cold, silent ground surrounding it. There were no animals, for either they all died, or they went with their owners. It seemed like they weren't immune, for there was a carcass of a cow here and there amongst the trees.
Inside the safe room, which was more of a nice log cabin than you would think of for a safe haven, a group of 5 people wandered about, using a generator to keep the inside of the "cabin" nice and rather warm for the time of year it was. One was a tall, heavier set black man with a bald head, wearing a shirt with what looks like a high school football team logo on it. Another passed by, taking a look out a boarded up window through a crack in the wood briefly. He was wearing a cap on his head. A third man was a sitting on a tattered but still comfortable arm chair, playing cards with one of the two women in the house. He'd found the deck in a drawer on the upper floor, and couldn't resist challenging someone to a card game, using potato chips they'd found as money. Across from him sat a woman slightly younger then he was, her golden blond and green hair tied back into a ponytail, The green parts were created thanks to being dyed. The last occupant walked behind the woman with the ponytail, and headed up the nearby staircase. She was a young black woman, sporting a pink Depache Mode t-shirt. The two playing cards were playing a friendly heated game of poker.
"Two cards please!" The man said, and the women across from him dealt him two new cards. He picked them up, and cursed under his breath, making her laugh at him a little.
"Not any better eh Nick?" she said, between laughs. He glowered at her, with a scowl on his face.
"What gave you THAT idea Crys?" he growled, mumbling about always getting shitty cards. She snorted, then laughed again.
"Your expression tells me everything! Priceless!" she answered, grinning when she saw her own hand. A straight flush.
"yeah..laugh it up..I know I lost..." he placed his crappy hand, face-down, on the table and shoved the pile of chips right to her. "not even gonna show you this shitty hand!" Crys pulled the chips to her and put one into her mouth right away.
Nick grumbled and stood up, taking an impromptu break from getting his ass kicked, again. Crys chuckled,and stood up herself. She moved up behind him as he glanced out another of the cabins windows. She wrapped her arms around him from behind, and rested her cheek against him, right between his shoulder blades, which was how tall she stood in comparison.
"Aww...it isn't that bad...you're still a good player you know!" She said softly, squeezing with her arms a bit. One of his hands came up to touch hers as they touched him right near his chest.
"Yeah..yeah...don't get all sappy on me" he grumbled, in an out of character good natured way.
"Me?" She lifted her head to grin at him as he turned his to look at her over his shoulder. "Sappy? Never! Wherever would you get an idea like that eh?" Nick shook his head and rolled his eyes, before gently removing her arms.
"I'm going to go get some more chips...you keep eating what we need to bet with!" Nick walked passed her, and Crys only smiled after him. The youngest of the three mean moved from the window he was looking out, and came over to her.
"Can I join ya'll in the next round? I wanna do somethin' other'n look out a window all the time" he said, his accent showing he was clearly from the south somewhere. Crys looked at him, and smiled softly.
"Sure...but don't blame me if Nick gets mad at you for beating him like I have been, Ellis" she said to him.
"Shoot...I can handle that...ain't no problem" Ellis darted over to another of the ratty but comfy chairs and sat himself down, waiting for Nick to come back with more potato chips. Crys took her seat, just as Nick, in his same old white suit, came back. He saw Ellis, looked at the ceiling at mumbled "why me" before tossing each of the other players a small bags of chips.
"Alright...let's get this over with.."He said, shuffling the cards. Crys and Ellis shared a amused smile, before turning back to the table as cards were dealt. From there the game went on for hours it seemed, until they all finally got tired, and moved to the upper floor for some sleep. There were 3 bedrooms on the upper floor. Nick and Crys shared one, the two black occupants shared another, and Ellis got the last one. Each room had two beds, but as there was an uneven number of them, that's why Ellis had a room alone.
In the room she was sharing with Nick, Crys lay awake thinking, looking over at where Nick was sleeping briefly. She was all too aware of what time of year it was, even without a calender, having kept track since the day she was forced out of her home city thanks to the Green Flu among other things. She peeked out the room window, which was boarded up like the rest, and seeing no infected down below, made up her mind quickly. Sliding out of her bed and moving quietly so as not to wake Nick up, she made her wait out of the room they shared quietly. Grabbing one of the axes they'd picked up in their travels, she made her way outside into the pre-dawn air, and into the nearby trees. She'd seen what she was after as they'd headed this direction, before finding the cabin they'd turn into a 'safe room' of sorts.
In the morning, as sunlight crept into each part of the building, the remaining occupants stirred, slowly waking up one by one. Not a one could hear the sound of a tree being cut into some distance away the in the night just a few hours ago. Down on the lower floor, Crys was already preparing a breakfast of sorts. Sure it was just canned pasta and such, but it was better then some of the stuff they'd been force to eat along the way, since meeting each other some weeks ago, maybe even months ago, in the burning hotel after being left behind by the helicopters taking people to safety.
The first to come down was, to her surprise, Ellis this time, wearily rubbing at his eyes, still coming out of a surprisingly restful sleep. They'd decided to spare a week at least to try and get as much sleep as they can, before moving on again to the next supposed rescue area. They wouldn't sleep as well doing so, so they decided to take what they could get. Crys looked up from her "cooking", which was merely heating the stuff up in boiled water, and said a soft good morning, just in case the others weren't waking up yet.
"Mornin'.." Ellis said, stifling a yawn with one hand. He glanced around, sliding into one of the rickety dining chairs. The ax Crys had picked up the night before was back in it's place, looking as if it hadn't been used at all. She slid a bowl of the now hot canned stuff in front of him, along with a cleaned spoon, and he mumbled another thank you as he began to dig in. They were soon joined by Nick, and then the other two. Crys greeted all three.
"Hey Nick, Coach, Rochelle..here ya go..nice hot...canned pasta to warm you up" she slid three more bowls onto the table, one for each, before finally grabbing some for herself. All three said their thanks, although Nick's was more of a grunt, and they began to eat too. Ellis was done first, as he'd started first, and he took his bowl to the nearby sink, careful dropping it in. He gave another mighty yawn, and stretched his arms up over his head. He moved past everyone and headed back upstairs, to one of the cabins 2 bathrooms they'd found. Even in this horrible time, a good shower did wonders for a person spirits sometimes.
Down below Coach and Rochelle finished next, and went into the "den" area, leaving just Crys and Nick still eating. Crys was eating slowly because she was too busy thinking about something, and Nick because he didn't want to leave her there by herself, not that he'd ever admit it if he could help it. But they eventually finished, and they too had to put their bowls in the sink with the rest. She was anxiously awaiting nightfall, so she could go outside again to finish what she'd started the night before. She managed to convince Nick to play some more cards, this time without anything to bet with. Ironically he won after the choice was made, and there was much good natured grumbling on his part, if that was even possible. After awhile, Crys stretched, and yawned. She wearily noted that she and Nick were the last people left on the lower floor, but honestly wasn't surprised. Sliding her chair away from the table she stood, as Nick put the cards into a neat pile, soon following her up the stairs to the room they were sharing. Crys would get little sleep, but it would all be worth it in the end she hoped.
After waiting about an hour, Crys knew Nick was finally asleep when his breathing evened out. She snuck her way out of the room, and grabbed an ax again, before going outside the second night in a row. She found the tree she'd been chopping away at, and started swinging. Luckily she was almost done, and the job was soon complete. The tree was also small, so she was able to catch it so the noise it would have made was stopped, so as not to accidentally attract ANY infected. Turning so her back was to where she knew the cabin was, she started dragging the tree backwards, right for it. She'd found some stuff in a closet in the cabin, that none of the others knew about, and that's where she'd gotten her idea from. When they woke up in the morning, they'd be in for a surprise, and she hoped they liked it.
Upstairs, Ellis fidgeted in his sleep, then sat up, waking up form what was shaping up to be a bad dream, before it could get too bad. Rubbing his eyes with a hand, he caught the faint noises of something moving downstairs. Grabbing the rifle he kept near his bed as a precaution, he made his way out of the room he was using, and slowly down the stairs. He turned the corner and pointed the rifle, but stopped before pulling the trigger. Lowering the gun, he stared in shock. A pine tree sat propped against a corner, a bucket being used for a makeshift watering stand.
It was covered with fake candle shaped lights, and a bulb here and there. He blinked, doing a double take, wondering if he was still asleep or not. Turning his head, he saw what was making the noise. Crystal had her back to him, as she attempted to get an old boom box she found, complete with cd player inside, to work. She eventually succeeded, and quickly had to turn it off as music blared from the speakers. This struck Ellis as funny, and he couldn't stifle his laughter fast enough. Crystal spun around, and her cheeks went red.
"Ellis! What..what are..?" she couldn't seemed to finish, too embarrassed to really try.
"Couldn't sleep...heard a noise down here and came t' check it out...where...where did you get this stuff...?" he said, still clearly surprised but what he was seeing.
"I..found the decorations and boom box in a closet...and I saw the tree as we drove up that dirt road and found the cabin...so I..I went out the past two nights to work on cutting it down..." she scratched the top of her head. "I..I know it's a zombie apocalypse and such but...I..I wanted to do something good..even if only temporary..." Ellis couldn't help but look at her, wondering what brought about the change from someone very similar to Nick, to someone doing something like this out of nowhere. He shook himself, then turned his head to look over his shoulder at the pine tree. Crystal yawned, but kept fiddling with the boom box, stopping and turning it off again only when she got to the exact track she wanted to play later.
"I've got a bit to do yet...but I'll be okay down here on my own...I promise. So why don't you go back up to your room and try to sleep some more..okay Ellis?" she told hi, as she bent over a cardboard box nearby to dig through for something or another.
"Are..you sure..?" he said in response, and she waved a hand around without even turning around to look at him.
"I'm sure. Go on"
"Okay...well...see you later then I guess.." Ellis quietly made his way back up to his "room", and set the rifle back to where he'd had it before, before crawling back into the bed nearby. He set his hat up on the side dresser, and shut his eyes. He thought about what the lady downstairs was doing, but quickly dozed off, that light doze soon turning into real sleep.
Downstairs, Crystal had to constantly blink to stay awake, but she vowed to finished what she'd started. And she did, eventually. By then she could hear Ellis moving around again, and since he was usually the first to wake up long before the others, in order to get a shower in, she figured now was the right time to play the boom box. She hit the play button, then went to the nearby ratty, but soft couch and laid down on it.
A few minutes later, Nick came down, and stopped in his tracks, causing the other three to nearly run into his back from the sudden stop. Only Ellis knew the reason, as the other two complained. Nick glowered at them, then turned and pointed.
"Look for yourself as to why I stopped...you would have done the same!" They moved up to look over his shoulders, and their eyes widened at the sight of the tree and the lights here and there around the "den" area. The back of the couch was to them, so they couldn't see Crystal's sleeping form just yet. It was then they caught the song that had just started playing on the boom box to their right.
Don't look inside a stocking As long as there's Christmas As we all pray together As Long As there's Christmas There is more (so much more) As long as there is Christmas As Long As there's Christmas That Hope Is the Greatest gift we'll receive!
Don't look under the tree
The one thing we're looking for
Is something we can't see
Far more precious than silver
And more splendid than gold
Is something to treasure
But is something we can't hold
I truly believe
That hope is the greatest of the gifts
We'll receive (we'll receive)
It's the time to rejoice
And though we may look different
We are singing with one voice
I truly believe
That hope is the greatest of the gifts
We'll receive
To this time of year (to this time of year)
Than sleigh bells than holly
Mistletoes and snow
Those things will come and go
Come and goooo
I truly do believe that
Hope is the greatest of the gifts
We will receive (we'll receive)
I truly believe (I truly believe)
That hope is the greatest of the gifts
We'll receive
Ellis rubbed the back of his head, looking away. He could feel his eyes tear up, and his vision blurred. He had a feeling as to why she'd chosen the song, and it all had to do with the word hope. He turned back to see the other three move into the room, to check things out further. It was Nick who found Crystal, still asleep of course, on the couch. He knelt down by the side to look at her briefly.
"Did she do this...? But..why...?"
"I think she wanted to something nice..maybe..." Ellis said, without really giving away that he'd seen her at work the night before. Nick made some sort of unknown noise, then stood back up. He looked at Ellis, an eyebrow raised.
"And how do you know that?" Ellis' cheeks went pink, and he rubbed the back of his head again.
"I...couldn't sleep at first last night and I heard something down here..so I came down to check and saw her working on this..." He fidgeted in place. "She was fiddling with that there music player when I came down...I caught her by surprise...that's the only reason I know...or I'd be as surprised as you guys..."
Once they all had their backs to her, Crystal opened one sapphire blue eye, and smiled. 'My job is done...well..this one is...' she thought to herself. With luck, the "good deed" she did with this day would keep spirits up, even for a little while after they had to leave this cabin to continue on towards New Orleans. She shut the eye she'd opened and went back to dozing. Tomorrow was another new day!
THE END!