AAHH! Sorry people I am really new at this, being my first FanFiction and all, and I deleted the other one. Here it is back up though, with spelling fixed. XD
Disclaimer: I do not own Valve, their games, or their characters. (I've never even played the gameO.o)
"Owwww……." My head throbbed as a struggled to rise from the wooden floor without falling, I could tell it was wood from the texture of it. I failed, and vertigo caused me to trip sideways into a wall. I slid to the floor and groaned. The pounding of my head put pressure on the back of my eyes, causing me to clutch my head with my hands. I froze, the hands holding my head couldn't be mine, because the fingers reached the top of my head and were rigid. I slowly opened my eyes, squinting at first until my eyes adjusted to the light streaming in from an opening to my right. The first thing that came into focus was my hair, covering my eyes in a thin russet veil. I flicked it to the side and looked down into my palms. I couldn't tell how long I'd been out, but this just wasn't possible. My fingers were elongated onto claws nearly six inches long. The thick bones jutting from them ended in razor sharp points, great for slashing. Great for a hunter, I thought, shuddering. I tore my eyes away from the blades to glance around the room. It was slightly rectangular and had a single window about half way up the wall opposite the hallway. It seemed to have been a bedroom due to the closet in the wall next to the hallway and the remains of what seemed to be a bed frame, all piled in a mound under the window with some clothes and splinters of wood. The wood had probably once been the door to the room. The image was unusual somehow, something was off, but my head ached to such a great extent that it took me a while to figure it out. The entire room was bathed in an orange glow, giving it an odd quality. My attention was immediately directed to the window, which appeared to be splattered with some sort of red paint. . I took a deep breath to clear my head and realized the stuff was blood. I could smell it, along with the smell of grime, gasoline, and a cocktail of other odors as well. I did a double take. Wait, blood?
"What's going on?" I said, or at least, tried to say. The words seemed to scrape their way up my throat before being spat out in a jumbled mess that sounded like a growl. I coughed reflexively to the feeling. I shakily got to my feet after a few tries and cautiously took a step forward. My balance seemed off somehow. Instinctively I leaned down onto all fours. I took a few practice steps toward the window, my claws gouging the wood. I got to the window and rose into the balls of my feet. That felt better, more natural. I pulled my hood down to shield my eyes from the light as I inspected the window. My eyes seemed more sensitive now. One brush on the glass with my knuckle told me the blood was on the outside. The sound like nails on a chalkboard reverberated through the room as I left four deep grooves in the window, just to see what would happen. Something shrieked from the other side, and my whole body tensed. As an object flew toward the window I ducked, and the hand that shattered the glass almost seemed to move in slow motion. I could feel energy building in my legs as I crouched down, my hands touching the ground. And then I pounced. The energy released from the jump propelled me through the remainder of the window and over the edge of the second story of the building across the street! I rolled once to get rid of momentum and came to a stop. I peered over the end of the roof down at the street, and almost fell off. I couldn't remember any specific details about almost anything, but the vague recollection of sights and sounds was nothing like this. Bodies littered the streets, demonic figures wandered around, and the blood bathed everything in red. The creature that had shattered the window was now moving on with glass protruding from its arm. The figure was humanoid, but seemed like something out of a horror movie. Their skin was a pale gray, with milk white eyes and bloody expressions. They stumbled around, seemingly without direction. And then there was the sound of car alarm going off nearby, and they sprinted! All the demons moved so fast it seemed like they had been waiting for it the whole time. Then the sound of gunfire echoed through the streets, and I decided to follow them. I leaned down into a crouch once again and felt the energy build up in my legs like they were springs. I looked at the building across the street and kicked off the I was flying through the air, and a bloodcurdling scream escaped my lips. I landed on the third floor and made a mental note to avoid making that noise again.
After a few more jumps I crouched, three stories above chilling scene. The demonic figures from earlier were charging at four individuals who were struggling to stem the tide. There was a large man who wore biker clothes blasting a shotgun, an older man who was dressed in army fatigues firing an rifle, a dark skinned guy (any other way to say this? stupid sensitive subjects) who wore a tie and stood out against the paleness of the horde firing a machinegun, and a teenage girl wearing a red sweater wielding two pistols.
"Reloading!" shouted the older man as he slapped a new clip into his weapon.
I watched with wide eyes as the demons were mown down by the hundreds of rounds screaming though the air. The four moved as a team to defend themselves and seemed to be gaining the upper hand when I smelled smoke, and heard a choking cough.
"I think I hear a-" Started the girl when suddenly a long rope shot out of the shadows and wrapped around her torso. It jerked her off her feet and away from the other three. With her arms bound to her sides she could only kick and struggle.
"ZOEY!" yelled the man wearing the tie.
The remainder of the group attempted to come to her aid, but try as they might they were now at a disadvantage against the aberrations. They were hardly able to hold off the horde, who it seemed had realized their enemy's disadvantage.
I focused on the darkness of the alleyway and came to a shocking discovery; the rope was the thing's tongue! It dragged the girl, Zoey, toward itself and raised two talon-like hands in anticipation of its prey. Impulsively I crouched low and aimed straight for the monster. My jump sent me in an arc high above the street, over the masses, to collide with the thing. A red tint seemed to engulf everything as I slammed it into the ground. Immediately I began to slash at it with my claws, tearing muscle and sinew from bone, and splattering everything within ten feet in blood. It was dead in an instant, much too fast for any fun, so I leapt to my feet, ready for more. I spun around at a noise. Right there only a few feet away was prey, struggling and helpless on the ground. I bared my fangs and pounced, landing with one foot on either side of the prey. I could smell the fear flowing from it in waves. I could see its pupils dilate and hear it scream. I raised my claws to kill.
"HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEBODY!" Her tears pierced the red veil encompassing my vision, and my claws sank into the concrete next to her head.
What was I doing? The whole point was to help her. I shook my head like a dog, trying to clear my head from the blood thirsty influence. Zoey flinched as the other bloody claw came down to steady myself.
"Ihhhsoorrah," I growled.
Her eyes widened as I stared at her. I cleared my throat and tried again.
"I'm sooory," I managed to choke out.
Zoey gasped.
"You can t-talk?" Were the only coherent words she uttered.
I pulled her to her feet with the tongue, and then tightened my grasp to slice it to pieces. I gestured with a single claw before dashing around the corner. I vaguely remembered something about Tae Kwon Do lessons as I spun through the mass of pale figures. The deadly precision was still there, but so was I. My head was clear of bloodlust as all within my range were decapitated, disemboweled, or generally maimed in a brutal fashion. Nothing stood against my weapons and escaped unscathed, and Zoey, several feet back, was gunning down everything still standing with incredibly accurate head shots. It only took a minute to reach the others, but the horde was already dispersing. The others turned toward us as we approached.
"Hunter!" Yelled the biker, while leveling his shotgun at...me?!
I prepared to jump, but then realized that Zoey was still right behind me! I put my arm over her shoulders, behind her neck, and kicked the back of her heel, falling to the ground as the shotgun spat buckshot over our heads.
"What the hell Francis!?" Zoey, from the ground, "You almost shot us!"
"What are you talking about!? That's a Hunter!" He exclaimed, jabbing an accusing finger at me.
I cleared my though, feeling I shouldn't get up yet if I wanted to keep my head on my shoulders.
"M-my name's not Huntuuuurr," I rasped.
"Did that thing just talk?" The old guy lowered his weapon slightly.
"Yes, and he also just saved me from that Smoker just now!" She got to her feet, while I just crouched. "So point that gun somewhere else Francis!"
Francis pointed the gun away, but still in my general direction. Tie man shrugged, and they all looked at the older guy in the army fatigues, who seemed to be the leader.
"Wha'd you think Bill?" asked Francis. I wondered what they were talking about.
He sized me up and scratched his beard with his free hand.
"Well, he did save Zoey, and we can use another pair of hands...," Started Bill.
Francis muttered to himself, something about hating Hunters.
"Um, guys? Sorry to break this up, but we need to get to the safehouse, like now," tie guy interjected.
"Louis is right, we need to keep going. We'll get to introductions later when we're safe," Bill concluded, "Let's move people!"
"Where?" I looked questioningly at Zoey.
"We're going to a safe house. Before all this started the government set up a bunch of them to help survivors," she said as we ran. "Look, there are our directions!" She pointed at big red arrow on a grimy wall.
A few straggling zombies lurched around, barely turning around before they were mown down by a burst of fire. Louis shot the head off one, only to have it's body, minus the head, fall over onto the car parked behind it, and setting off the alarm. The noise was deafening!
"Louis!" exclaimed everyone else, while preparing for the owners of the feet which could be heard running en masse our way.
I leapt up onto the hood of the car in a daze. All I could think about was getting rid of the horrible grating sound! I slammed my hand, fingers pointed downward through the metal to rip out the disturbance. As soon as the wires were cut, the sound vanished.
"Holy (insert something he might possibly yell at a time like this)!" yelled Francis.
We kept running anyway.
After several blocks we turned the corner to see the bright red of the safe room door.
"Almost there!" gasped Bill.
"Which almost definitely means that something's going to be waiting for us!" complained Francis.
As if on cue, a sob broke shattered the relative quiet of the darkening twilight. We all skidded to a stop, and they looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. I pointed toward the red painted door with a confused look. They all looked at me. I blinked.
"You've got to be kidding me!" hissed Louis.
The door was open, and the cries were coming from inside the room.
As we neared the door, Francis leveled his shotgun and moved ahead of the group. I leaned closer to Zoey.
"What's going on?" I half whispered, half growled. I didn't quite have the hang of speaking normally just yet.
"It's a Witch, an Infected that can take a lot of damage," she said. My look prompted her further, "We don't know why they cry."
Something felt odd. Maybe it was the crying, such a human sound, or that I had not yet encountered one, and had little reason to fear it, but I needed to see this "Witch" for myself. I leaned down onto all fours and moved into the room, ignoring the hushed protests behind me, just in time to see Francis approaching a kneeling figure facing away from us. Something that seemed to once be clothes hung in rags from her pale form, and her white hair shuddered with each of her sobs. She started to growl as Francis drew nearer.
"Wait," I hissed.
I probably shouldn't have done that.
Francis, who had been facing the other way, hadn't heard me enter the room, and as a result nearly jumped out of his skin right there. He did, however, fire the gun, which mostly missed her, but startled her all the same. She let out a piercing scream made my ears ring as she leapt to her feet. As she spun around I saw her fingers, elongated into foot long daggers, and then her eyes, glowing yellow without any pupils. She raised her claws and charged at Francis, moving incredibly fast, but not fast enough. I pounced, and instantly I was between them, with my own claws in a vice grip around her wrists. She struggled, but her wrath wasn't directed at me, but at Francis. She was extremely strong, so I had no choice but to wrap my arms around her torso and run through the house to the back room. She continued to shriek and struggle for a few seconds, but then gave a shudder and went limp with sobs. I lowered her to the floor, where she shifted into kneeling position with her head still on my shoulder. I was contemplating what to do when suddenly, something clicked, and I heard. Her sobs were words, not in English, but the meanings were still there.
"W-w-hyyyy.........m-meheh!" (sob sob) "T-theeey......sssshooot attt........meee!.......w-whhhy?" she howled. "I n-nevvvvver.......hurrrrt....a-anyone!"
"Shhhhhh." I whispered. "Don't cry, you're safe now."
She took a deep breath and looked up, her eerie gaze sweeping over me.
"I'll be right back, okay," I breathed, "Stay right here."
I slowly rose to my feet and backed away. She looked back down and her breathing was hitched, but she wasn't crying anymore.
I walked down the hall back to the other room, nearly running into the group.
"What the he-!" started Francis before he was on the floor with my hand over his face.
I hissed.
"No loud noises," I turned to the group, "She's still a Witch, and she'll still attack any of you."
"Mmmmph mm," said Francis, I moved my hand, "And how come she won't attack you?"
A low snarl rumbled in my throat.
"Because I'm like her, a.....what did you call it?"
"An infected," said Zoey.
"Yah that. They still see me as one of them, and I can sort of communicate with them as well."