Being a long time reader of Left 4 Dead stories (both of the orginal and Left 4 Dead 2) I finally decided to throw my hat in the ring and write this. Mostly inspirted by my new favorite pairing of Nick/Rochelle, but also by the great stories writen by T'starla, I decided to write a little bit of an alternate reality story. I'm not going to say too much because I don't want to spoil it. But I think it's going to be a pretty good story. Please give it a change, I hope I wasn't too wordy or too out of charater, but I think this will be a good story. So please when you finish please don't forget to review.

Chapter 1: Hate Me Today

The highway seemed to stretch on forever, as the heat of the afternoon bore down on him, as he walked. Nick decided he hated walking; walking seemed to get him nowhere, but further away from where he wanted to be, and now, as he felt a wave of exhaustion hit him, he wanted to be done. But he couldn't give up. He had made a promise, and he needed to keep it.

Feeling something side down his face he release his hold on his shot gun and wiped his cheek only to realize it wasn't sweat that beaded his face, but instead another liquid. He was crying again. Damn it. He whipped vigorously at his face scolding himself mental, he wasn't going to do this again. He wasn't.

Returning his free hand back to his shot gun, he realize he had reached the end of the road, and upon looking up he noticed that the highway it had broken off and the rest of the road and seemed to stretched several feet above him. Cursing loudly he glanced around for someway to reach the broke part.

And that's when he noticed it.

A very large cream, and now blood covered, R.V. stood half in the dirt half on the broke part of the highway next to him. The R.V. was tall enough that if he stood on it he could just barely grab the highway and maybe pull himself up. Just maybe.

Releasing his vice like grip he held on his gun he walked over to the back of the R.V. and began to climb the latter on the back of it to the room. The rungs of the latter were wet, possibly from the rain that had occurred earlier, but he moved up them, slowly at best.

Reaching the top he began to move slowly along the top of the R.V. till he reached the front. Stepping on his tip toes he could barely, just barely, see over the top of the road. Realizing that there was nothing there waiting to attack him, Nick tossed his shot gun up onto the ledge where he heard it clattered a few times before coming to rest. Reaching up and grabbing the ledge he hoisted himself up onto it, with a bit of effort, before walking over and snatching his shot gun.

Glancing down the long high way he noticed several empty abandoned cars along the road, but he tried to push past those thoughts as he kept his shot gun erect in front of him, it was just him now, no one to save him, and if he got his ass pined by a hunter it was all over for him.

Turning his attention back to the road, he began to move fast despite the protest of his exhausted legs, until he saw it. A large road sign that seemed to appear out of nowhere, blinking at him, as if beckoning him to keep moving forwards.

Feeling a slight pain at his side he flinched slightly, possibly reopening a wounded from a hunters pounce earlier, but he didn't slow, holding the gun limply at his side he broke out into a run towards the sign.

MILATARY EVACUATION CHECK POINT

Nick staggered in his last few steps, it was almost too real that he had read this point, and when he reached the sign he stopped, using his left arm to steady himself as he gasped for breath. Standing up again, he noticed several armed men, in military dress, running towards him and Nick ready himself, if they weren't friendly, Nick wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Sir!" cried the first human voice that he had heard in days and he felt a wave of relief come over him from it. "Drop the weapon and proceed over here, slowly." The men were a few hundred feet away from him; their guns erect and pointed towards his chest. They meant business and Nick wasn't about to screw this up, this close to the safe zone.

He bent down placing the shot gun down on the highway. Missing the heavy feeling of the gun in his hand he rose back to his feet and he slowly walked towards the men before him.

"Arms above your head!" cried the second, and this caused Nick roll his eyes, but he did as he was told not wanting to end his life here because of his cocky sarcasm. He continued to walk towards them slowly. When he finally reached the two men the first one lower his weapon. But before Nick could say anything he was grabbed by the man and forced to the ground.

"What the hell!" cried Nick loudly as he went down hard on his knees. They didn't say anything to him; instead the second man held the gun to his back as the first began to pat Nick down. Coming up with nothing they force Nick back to his feet and pushed him forward. Nick stumbled a bit, but recovered, before being shoved by the second man with his gun.

"Move." Came the deep voice of the second man and Nick grumbled under his breath, he wanted nothing more then to have his shot gun right now. He would show these jackasses what it would mean if they fuck with him, but he bit at his lip as he was forced down the highway. After all he made a promise, and that promise was to survive.

--

Nick had gone though so many test and filled out so much paperwork that he swore he could see blank forms every time he closed his eyes. Rubbing at his face he shifted on his makeshift cot, which the military called his temporary bed, and started at the tent wall.

The tent, which he shared with several other sleeping people, was paper thin and let the light of the moon come streaming in, but that's not what was keeping him awake. Rolling over again his mind began to drift.

His thoughts rested on his teammates. He would have never admitted this out loud and if you were to tell them this, he would deny it, but he missed them. He missed Coach's loud booming voice and constant encouragement, Ellis' never ending stories about times that he and Keith spend together and how much he loved the Midnight Riders, and Rochelle…he missed everything about Rochelle.

He had grown a soft spot for her most of all.

Nick felt the cold tears start to sting his eyes again, and try as he might, he couldn't force them to go away. He hated that he felt this way. He hated that he had been force, by that hurricane of a storm, away from his friends. The only people he had left in this hell on earth. He tried for days to find them, and after giving up, promised himself, for his friends…and for Rochelle that he would keep going, that he wasn't going to give up and, as he lay on the cot, he knew, that for now, he had kept his promise.

So why couldn't he sleep. Why was he continuing to agonize himself over the thought that his friends were still out there somewhere, looking for him, trying to keep themselves alive, and he was temporarily safe in a military evacuation zone.

Cursing silently to himself as he rolled over on the bed again he tossed his blankets to the floor and sat up. Hanging his feet over the side of the bed he rested his elbows on his knees and his face in the palms of his hands.

"Fuck me," he replied softly "They should be here with me right now, not out there, where god knows what is waiting to attack them."

Nick groaned again lying back on the cot. His felt the tears start to fall down his face again, but this time he wasn't going to wipe them away, why should he, he deserved to feel like shit after what happened. Why was he the only one to survive and not them…why?

With that final thought going though Nick's brain, he fell into a restless sleep.

--

The rain wasn't letting up as the four survivors' trecked back to the boat, the wind was wiping so hard that Nick was having a hard time seeing. Coach had taken the lead after they passed the sugar mill, and he hoped the older man knew the way, because though the rain everything looked the same.

"This way!" came Coach's booming voice and Nick glanced up to see what Coach was pointing at. A single dull light glowed in the distance, of which he figured was the safe room, Rochelle was to his right, struggling slightly with the heavy gas tank on her back, while Ellis was to his left, one of his hands on the top of his head trying to keep his "lucky" baseball cap upon his head, while his other held a magnum. Rochelle glanced at him slightly as she held her ax tightly in her hand, Nick just hoped that she would be able to swing that thing against the wind at any infected. But it wouldn't matter, they would be there to protect her, he would.

Nick reached out and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder forcing her along with him, trying to keep her going. If she fell, he was worried a hunter would get her, and though this rain, he was worried he wouldn't hear her scream if she got pounced.

Coach called out again and Nick glanced up realizing that the red safe room door was right in front of them. Ushering them inside Nick pulled the door shut behind them. The wind was still whipping loudly outside and from what he could see the rain continued it torrential downpour.

Rochelle had taken the gas tank off her shoulders, placed it against the wall with her ax, and Nick followed suit. But along with that he tossed off his drenched jacket and placed it on a nearby chair.

"We're not too far now, and maybe once this storm lets up we can keep going and signal Virgil's and get the hell out of here."

"Sounds good to me." Replied Ellis from another room, when he returned Nick noticed the boy held several large candy bars in his hands. He began to distribute the candy bars to his friends and within seconds of being finished opened his and began to gobble it down.

"Ellis, sweetie, slow down, you're going make yourself sick."

"Or you'll choke." Replied Nick, "And when you're dead you'll be even less use to us then you are now."

Rochelle shot him a glare, but he returned it with a smug rolled of his eyes. Ellis however, unaffected by Nick's word continued to chew on his candy bar before speaking again.

"Did I ever tell you about that one time Keith nearly coke to death during a hotdog eating contest, you see we go to the county fair every year and the champion was an old high school bully of Keith, and Keith not being one to back off from a competition decided…"

However Coach stopped the man before he could continue. "Eat up Ellis; we've got a big fight ahead of us in a few hours."

"Alright." Replied Ellis, and despite Nick's teasing he did slow down to finish eating the rest of his chocolate. When he was finished he walked over to one of the corners of the safe room and was asleep before the others had known it.

"You're going to hurt his feelings you keep teasing him like that."

"Ellis can take it, he's tough."

"Still you don't need to be a jerk to him, despite what you may think he's grown attached to you, and you're words can hurt him in ways you don't know. We're a team now and we've all got to look out for one another, not break one another down."

"Have you've grown attach to me too Rochelle?" asked Nick smugly his arm coming to rest on around Rochelle's shoulders, but she quickly shrugged him off.

"In you're dreams Nick." she replied to him, however, a smile was on her face as she spoke which caused him to smiled back at her.

"If you only knew sweetheart." He replied smugly before grabbing his chocolate where he had set it and made his way to his cot. Opening it slowly he broke off a small part of it and began to chew on it as he sunk to the floor of the safe room. Leaning against the wall he broke off another piece and began to chew on it. However, after this bite he felt his eyes slowly becoming heavy and before long he drifted off into sleep.

--

"Alright people, file out, transport is here!" cried a voice and Nick woke up with a jolt. Glancing around he recognized the walls of the tent and the people that he occupied it with. He slow rose to his feet along with the other people of the room and made his way towards the exit with everyone else.

Upon leaving the tent the bright light of the morning blinded him, and he used his hand to shade his eyes while they adjusted. In the distance he noticed a large army transport truck, make that several of them, and people were getting loaded into them.

"You're going to be taken by these trucks to the safe zone, at no time shall you request for the trucks to be stop, at no time shall you try to exit the trucks unless told by military personnel to do so. When you reach the safe zone you shall be given further instructions on what to do. No let's move people."

Nick groaned rubbing at his face, trying to shake the tired from his eyes. As more and more people filed down the highway towards the truck Nick took a glance behind him, hoping in some way that he would see Rochelle, Ellis or even Coach following him, however, he was disappointed when he saw nothing but a sea of faces he had never seen before.

Getting into the truck Nick sat on one of the bench seats and held his face in his hands. He rested back against the metal of the truck, as soon as the last person filed in Nick saw his last glimpse of daylight as the doors shut and the interior lights click on emitting a soft glow and the trucks sped off to god knows where.

Also if I've got any facts wrong please let me know. I'm sure I've got pretty much everything right, but I'm sure I've gotten something wrong. To error is human right? :)