The night was cold and wet, bodies lying on the streets. Zoey sat, back against the wall, with her hands over her face. The bodies of her parents lay before her, and the only thing she could feel was regret. Why couldn't she be a better kid? Why did they have to die instead of her? Why couldn't she have listened?
Zoey slowly rose wiping the tears from her face. She ruffled her fingers through her hair roughly. She knew she had to leave before any more came running in. She went into her bedroom and grabbed a backpack, stuffing in basic cosmetics, a book about a zombie apocalypse, a picture of her, her mom and her dad, and two pistols. She looked at herself in the mirror and looked back to her parents once more, who lay in a pool of blood. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and grabbed her red jacket from the edge of her bed. She stumbled down the hallway and opened a closet, shuffling around through boxes to pull out her father's old hunting rifle. She slung the rifle across her back and stuffed several cases of ammo in her backpack. She let the backpack hand off of one shoulder and stood up, giving her parents one last glance.
Zoey saw her father's eyes, still open and blank and knelt down over to him. She ran her fingers over his eyes, letting them glide closed. She then let out a couple sobs, resting her head on his bloody chest. She looked over to her mother who also lay on the floor in a bloody pool and stood up, wiping the tears and blood from her face. She looked outside the window to see a figure shuffle across, grunting and coughing. Zoey bit her lip and proceeded to creak open the front door of the house and closed it slowly and quietly.
She took careful footsteps and stepped out into the empty streets, eventually pulling out her two pistols and aiming down her sights. She stayed crouched, ready to pounce forward into a sprint at any moment. Sweat already beaded down her forehead and clung the little hairs that come out of her ponytail to her neck and face. She crept forward, aiming at every body. Some twitched and cough, staring blankly into the growing dusk. Zoey jogged onward as more bodies frightened her to a point where she sprinted down the street and onto the next lane and the next avenue until she could no longer breathe. She looked around to find herself standing at the beginning of a long lane of highway, littered with cars. Zoey's heart sunk deeper as people wandered aimlessly, bending over and vomiting blood and green bile. Well they weren't exactly people anymore.
Some seemed pale, almost grey in skin tone with scabs, tumors and missing limbs. They walked aimlessly around with no destination. Some growled and picked at themselves, and at some points, attacked each other with a blood thirsty swipe of their hands. Zoey moved along the graveyard of cars as silent as possible, finding it harder and harder to see before. Night was approaching fast, and she needed to get to cover, quickly. Zoey spotted a limo with a shattered window and approached it slowly.
Zoey climbed into the limo that stretched horizontally on the road and examined it. No bodies. She felt glad that the windows were still intact and rolled under the long seats for shelter. There was no pillows or blankets, so Zoey substituted her jacket for a pillow. One thing was for sure, she didn't suggest for anyone to wander at night during any apocalypse. She's seen too many mistakes in movies of that to happen to her. She closed her eyes, only to be awoken by a loud sound of countless voices screaming, one normal one above the rest. Then that one voice died down in a muffled end, making Zoey shiver. She stayed completely still; praying nothing would drag her out. She layed on her back, looking at the cushioning above her and closed her eyes once more, trying to hide back her tears.
Zoey crawled out stiffly from under the seat and stretched out. She peaked out of the windows to see dozens of zombies standing around. Zoey quickly threw herself on the ground and reached for both her pistols, holding them firmly, one in each hand.
"Okay, no more crying. No more fear. There's no hope for them, but there is for me. I gotta keep going…" She muttered to herself, taking a deep breath. She opened the limo door and a loud car alarm rang out. Zoey jumped, falling out. She rolled over to see the zombie's head turn her way, running to her with wailing moans and shrieks. Zoey jumped to her feet and ran, dodging cars and bodies who eventually stood up and followed her. She turned around and started shooting behind her, seeing a few out of the bunch fall. She ran even faster as the horde increased. Her heart beat banged in her head. A loud crashing noise rang in her ears from behind and as she turned, her eyes widened. A large creature roared after her, throwing cars and zombies high in the air.
It was abnormally large, with arms like a trunk of a tree. It's head seemed pea-sized, and its tongue hung loosely from its upper jaw due to the fact that it…it had no lower jaw. It stormed forward on its huge knuckles and growled and grunted with every blood thirsty step.
Zoey yelped in fear and ran onward, running so fast that she felt her body in the air. The monster quickly approached her and she threw herself to the side, hitting her arm against the concrete. The monster sped forward a bit and noticed she wasn't there and roared loudly. Zoey held her arm and she stood up and started shooting at it. The monster turned her way and ran after her. Zoey dodged a swing with sheer luck and crawled quickly under the monsters small legs and ran forward, her body aching. She knew she couldn't run forever. She ran into the streets of the city and into an alley way, jumping into a dumpster. The monster lagged behind enough so that he didn't see where she had went and presumed passed the dumpster, roaring like some dragon or dinosaur.
Zoey stayed in hiding until she heard the coast was clear and climbed out quietly. She peeked out onto the streets and saw a couple zombies standing around. Zoey shot at the couple quickly and strolled down the streets carefully. No survivors. She looked around until she saw someone come out of a large building, gripping their arm in pain. Zoey aimed, jaw tightened into a firm snarl. She knew one thing; she won't be infected.
"Hey! Hey! Don't move!" The person called out. Zoey looked up as they began walking towards her shouting,
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm not infected!"
Zoey lowered her aim, finger still by the triggers of her weapons.
"My god! You're not infected! This whole city's gone to Hell!" He exclaimed as he stood before Zoey. Zoey's heart sunk for the second time. She had hoped of more than one other survivor than her. But from the looks of it, the guy might be right. The whole city might just be in Hell. And if not the city, maybe the whole world.
"Hey, you okay?" The man asked, knocking Zoey out of her negative trance. Zoey blinked and nodded unsurely. He was a thin man with dark skin, wearing a dress shirt that was half tucked in, a red loosened tie, black dress pants and black dress shoes. The man extended his hand out with a grin.
"I'm Louis." He said. Zoey shoved one pistol in her back pocket and shook his hand
"Zoey." She said.
"So, Zoey…any idea how we're going to get out of here?" Louis asked, reloading his weapons. Zoey shrugged and reloaded her weapon as well.
"That's one thing I haven't thought about. Only thing on my mind is surviving."
"That makes two of us…" Louis said lowly. Zoey bit her lip.
"Any ideas that might have popped up in your head?" She asked, looking around.
"I think any idea I've ever thought of is dead."
"Great. We're screwed." Zoey muttered, feeling cold chills run down her back.
Louis and Zoey ran through the street, dodging the zombies that ran after them. No sign of any more survivors and after a good three days, any glimmer of hope faded slowly. Then, finally, another survivor popped up. He stood on a tall pile of boxes, shooting downwards, yelling
"Dang vampires! Stay back! I have garlic!"
Louis and Zoey watched and approached only when there were no more zombies.
"Those aren't vampires." She said, shoving her pistols in her back pockets. The man jumped.
"Whoah! Where did you come from? Heaven?" He asked, grinning deviously at her. He was a tall, broad man, with tattoos along his arms, with a goatee, and a biker vest and baggy jeans.
"No, I just came out from Hell, honestly." She said, raising her eye brow.
"Care to come down?"
The man jumped down and stood in front of Zoey with a slick smile.
"Man, you are something, let me tell you…" He said, inching closer.
"Hey man! We ain't got time for this!" Louis called out, approaching them.
"Who the hell are you?" The man asked harshly. Zoey pushed him back, with a glare.
"That's Louis. I'm Zoey. And you are?"
"Zoey, huh? Nice name, cutie. I'm Francis." He said, fixing his vest. Zoey rolled her eyes.
"Alright, playboy, let's see if that gun of yours is useful." Zoey said as she walked off with Louis.
"Which gun? I got two, honey!" He joked. Zoey just continued walking, Louis only a step behind.
Rain pelted down as the three walked forward.
"I hate the rain." Francis complained in a groan. Louis laughed.
"You're not the only one!" He said with a grin.
"You hate stuff too?" Francis asked, his eyes lighting up. Louis shrugged.
"I like working and soda-"
"Nope. You like stuff. Totally not even going to consider you as a buddy." Francis interrupted, walking forward. Zoey stared awkwardly at Louis, who seemed hurt.
"Hey, don't worry about making friends. You got me." She said, patting him in the back and walking forward. Louis sighed deeply and walked forward as well.
The three cautiously moved forward as groups of zombies grew in numbers until the point where they all knew they needed somewhere safe. The three approached a room heavily boarded up with a red steel door. Zoey opened the door carefully and flipped on the switch to find a small little room, stocked with a few supplies and sleeping bags.
"Clear." She called over her shoulder and examined the room before giving the okay to close the door.
"So who made you in charge?" Francis asked Zoey as they rummaged through supplies.
"Well, the question is, would you two even dared to open that door on your own without knowing what could be inside?" She asked smugly, brushing the hair that dangled down her face out of her eyes.
"Well, I don't think Louis could handle it, but me? I could do it with my eyes closed!" Francis said with a smirk.
"That's interesting. Next creepy place we get to, you'll lead the way." She said as she patched up her arms, which were scrapped and bruised.
"Uh, ladies first, right?" Francis said, scratching his head. Zoey rolled her eyes and looked outside to see a house in the distance with lights on.
"Hey guys, I think there might be someone still alive." Zoey said, looking back at the boys.
"Last times you said that, we almost got mauled by a family of friendly vampires. We as in, me." Francis complained. Louis stood up and looked out.
"She's right. I see gunfire. Maybe we can go help them." Louis agreed, looking at Zoey. Zoey nodded and cocked back a hunting rifle she had brought with her.
"Let's go Francis." She said, looking his way. Francis reloaded his shotgun and grunted.
"I'll go first, for the little princess." He said, opening the door and stepping out. Zoey and Louis followed suit behind as they approached the badly torn up house. Francis kicked in the front door and aimed his gun, then stiffly struck out his hand.
"Someone's in here. Louis, go!" He whispered. Louis looked at him in shock.
"Me, man, how about you?" He whined. Zoey took in a breath and took out one pistol, putting the hunting rifle slung across her back.
"So much for going in first, Francis. We'll be here all day." Zoey muttered, lightly smacking Francis in the face playfully. Francis seemed shocked at first, but smirked at her, narrowing his eyes.
"Anyone in here?" She said clearly and slowly, creeping in through a long hallway. She quickly turned to look inside the kitchen and living room to find an older man wielding a machine gun at her. Zoey fixed her aim but noticed the man lowering his. Louis and Francis came into the room seconds later and they all stared at one another oddly.
"Hey there!" Louis said in a friendly tone. The man looked at him cautiously. He wore some sort of military uniform and had a white beard and light blue eyes, a cigarette planted firmly between his lips.
"You wouldn't be infected, would you?" Louis asked. The man sighed.
"Son, do I look infected to you?" He asked gruffly.
"But you could be infected!" Louis insisted. Francis laughed.
"Maybe he's right. Better leave this old man for dead." He joked, turning to Louis and Zoey. Both stared at him, not impressed. Zoey took a breath and stepped forward, pushing Francis back.
"You can ignore them. I'm Zoey, by the way." She said with a small smile. The man smiled back, slightly bigger, and extended his hand. Zoey shook it lightly.
"Friends call me Bill." He said lightly.
"Great, Bill, glad you're a part of the R.Z.H., 'Retard Zombie Hunters'." Francis said with a grin.
"Just cut the joking for now." Bill said gruffly.
"So do you three have any idea what you're going to do with yourselves?" He asked, resting his weapon on a counter. Zoey, Louis and Francis exchanged glances and shrugged.
"Great question! If only we had an answer…" Louis said lowly. Zoey eyed Louis for another second and looked to Bill.
"My idea was trying to round up more people, I guess. Kinda hoping maybe a chopper or escape van would pop up." Zoey explained. Bill nodded.
"I see where you're getting at, kid, but sometimes you won't get as lucky as you'd think."
"So any better options?" Zoey asked. Bill reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lightning another one with a flick of the lighter. He threw the other on the ground and stomped on it, putting out the still smoldering flame.
"I say we head out of the city. Who knows if we're in the only infected region. From now on, we're a team. We stick together. No man left behind."
"Sounds good to me!" Louis exclaimed. Zoey shrugged.
"Better than nothing, right?"
"Whatever. I hate teams."
The 4 trudged onward in the daytime, finding it easier to maneuver around in the day, with more lighting and less infected. By night, they scurried to find a safe room, but rarely could. And so they fought threw hordes of the infected for survival.
The group walked down an alley way cautiously. Zoey took the rear while Louis and Francis trailed behind Bill, who lead in the front.
"Hold up." Bill said, kneeling down. He stuck his finger into some sort of green slime, examining it carefully.
"Jeez, Bill. Don't let that stop you from smearing it all over yourself." Francis grumbled. Bill stood up and wiped his hand on Francis' vest.
"They're changing."
"Aww! Come on! Man, this stinks!" Francis exclaimed, bumping into Louis. Louis chuckled lowly. Then a low, childish cry filled the air, and all attention drew to a closed door a couple steps away.
"Someone's still alive." Zoey said as Bill approached the door. Bill gestured Zoey forward and slowly opened the door. Zoey and Bill stared down into the dark room, scanning around for any figure in the darkness.
"Over there." Bill whispered, nodding his head forward. Zoey flicked on her flashlight and walked forward, Bill only steps behind.
"Hello? Hello? It's okay, we're gonna-" She called out softly as the crying became louder. A sharp flash of lightning lit the room, showing small, frail women, with long, bloody claws that covered her weeping face. Bill quickly grabbed Zoey's hand that held her gun and flashlight, and lowered it quickly.
"Lights off!" He whispered sharply, glancing at Zoey's shocked face. He patted her back lightly as they shifted around to exit.
Outside, Louis and Francis stood guard, scanning down the alley. From the corner of Louis' eye, he caught several infected racing towards them, much more behind them. Francis stayed in place, shooting down the infected with his shotgun.
"Shit…Shit! Shit! They're coming!" He said as he ran into the room where Zoey and Bill were. His flashlight lit up the room, startling the women into a frenzy of cat-like screams.
"Run like Hell!" Zoey called out in fear, quickly running out the door. Bill followed and slammed it shut as he left. There was pounding on the door, than another pound and a long claw extended out of the hole in the door. Louis began shouting as he shot his gun back at the claws. Francis, Bill and Zoey fired at the horde of infected running towards them as Louis joined them.
"Stick together!" Francis called out as he fired away. Behind them, a loud screech and cough, and in that instant, a slimy, pinkish rope wrapped around Bill, pulling him back. Francis turned around, quickly shooting the tall man, who from a high distance, was pulling Bill back and up, hovering him over the ground with a snake-like grip. Francis helped Bill up and shot at several infected that drew close.
"Merry Christmas." He said sarcastically to Bill.
A little up ahead, Zoey and Louis took on the never-ending horde as Francis and Bill joined back with them. Zoey pulled a pipe bomb from her belt and turned it on, looking down at it and back to the horde.
"Fire in the hole!" She yelled, throwing the pipe bomb with a firm over hand toss forward. The infected that charged at them turned around and followed the noise of the pipe bomb as it ticked and then exploded, blasting every bit of infected around. Zoey, Bill, and Francis had dug down behind several things, and Louis ran forward, barely escaping the blast. A helicopter hovered overhead, flying over them and the street. Louis chased after it waving his hands in the air.
"Hey! Down here! Stop! We're not infected!" He called out, stopping along the street as the helicopter sped off in the distance.
"Damn it!" He said, stomping his foot on the ground. Louis felt himself being tackled to the ground from behind and found himself pinned on the ground, face to face with a hooded man. The man began clawing at Louis' upper torso with a blood thirsty scream, leaving Louis helplessly pinned on the ground. Zoey turned around the cornered in a sprint and ran over to Louis, lifting the man off and shooting at him with her dual pistols. Louis also fired with a lone pistol, killing then man. The man's body fell flatly on the back of a car, sounding off the car's alarm.
"This doesn't sound good." Bill said as he met up with Louis and Zoey.
Waves of infected flooded the streets from all sides. The four stood back to back, sights locked onto their targets. Francis picked up on a loud growl coming from the group of infected in front of him and saw a large monster tearing through the infected. The monster lifted a car above his head and hurled it passed the 4, startling them.
"Run or shoot?" Louis asked.
"Run or shoot?" He asked again, more loudly.
"Both!" Bill replied as the 4 ran back, shooting and running in quick steps.
"Keep going!" Francis called out to them, stopping mid run.
"Come on! Come on!" He muttered, aiming his shotgun towards the monster. The monster raged forward, hurling its huge arms at Francis, knocking him over. Bill ran forward as a distraction, shooting at it. The monster roared loudly and attempted to knock over Bill, but hit a brick wall as Bill dodged the swipe narrowly. Louis began to climb up, and so did Zoey.
"Go on! I'll hold them off!" Zoey yelled out to Bill amd Francis as they climbed up, shooting down on the infected and the monster..
Bill followed as the monster threw a piece of concrete at the stairway as they climbed up. Zoey realized her chances staying there were slim, so she began climbing up quickly as she felt the stairway collapsing. Zoey could feel her body fall back as the stairway began to peel off and one of her guns flew from her hand. She made a run for the ledge, but knew she couldn't make it. Francis looked back and extended his hand as she fell calling out his name. He pulled her up, with the help of Louis, and sat back, rubbing his face. Zoey looked down at herself and sighed a sigh of relief.
"I can't believe it! We made it! We-" Louis exclaimed in a tired huff of joy, but Bill cut him off.
"Son, we just crossed the street." Bill interrupted, lighting a new cigarette.
"Let's not throw a party, 'till we're out of the city."
The 4 ran into the safe room, slamming the door on fingers, toes and even heads of the infected. The infected reached their torn hands through the bars of the door, growling and snarling loudly. Francis picked up his shot gun and began blasting back the growing horde that pounded the door until the infected were gone. Zoey sat with her back against the wall, hands covering her face. She could feel every part of her body ache and her head throb with every rapid beat her heart heaved. She could feel every opening of her skin burn constantly, with no end. She peaked through her fingers around the room, eyeing the other 3.
Francis wrapped his arms up carefully, also eyeing around. His eyes met Zoey, and he smiled a small smirk at her. He slid over a med-kit for her and focused on fixing the rest of himself up. He sat on top of a desk in the room and grabbed a piece of cloth, wiping down his shot gun with care.
Louis rummaged around selves and drawers, looking for anything valuable or useful. He pulled out canned foods, but nothing much of use. He fiddled with a microwave, trying to keep it on as it cooked canned beans and corn. He looked around as well, hoping to start up a conversation with someone, but decided now wasn't the greatest time.
Bill sat across from Zoey, relighting the cigarette in his mouth. He took off his beret and dusted it off, then placed it back on his head. It was only the first part of a long nightmare, he thought, and they were this beat up? Bill cleared his throat.
"We need a better plan. We haven't even gotten to the subway yet, and we're this torn up." He began to say. Zoey raised her head up to speak.
"Well, none of us were exactly prepared to encounter all the things we did, Bill. It wasn't in the plan."
"She's right. Who would have ever guessed that we would be fighting some huge Tank!" Louis agreed, stirring the beans and corn together.
"The least we can do is to be more careful. I don't like seeing you guys torn up in just minutes of walking out of there." Bill said, grabbing a med-kit and patching up his leg. The other 3 nodded in response as Louis served up a bowl of food.
Writer's Notes:
I really do hope you've enjoyed this piece. I would love to hear what you think, but please be nice :) I'm not some pro writer, so my detail isn't too good, and this piece specifically was rushed.
I've been a huge fan of both Left 4 Dead games. Each one has a pretty thick story line with some epic characters. I respect every character to the fullest extent of the universe :D
Speaking about characters, I hope I didn't ruin anything about the ones I wrote about. Yeah, Francis came out as a flirt :/ In my eyes, the kind of person Francis is HAS to flirt. It's just his nature. "I hate flirting." Yes, you saw that coming. This started out as a one-shot of Zoey, as you can tell by the start. I just have this connection with Zoey. She's so easy to relate to and I couldn't help but writing about her. Then, the Pills Master (Louis) popped up, and then Francis and good old Bill.
Please also note that I did not specifically name the special infected due to the fact that it was one of their first encounters, in my eyes. I also did the No Mercy dialoge weeks after when they meet up, so the Tank from the begginning will be described again. And any grammatical errors, please do let me know nicely. Microsoft Word sometimes doesn't like me. (And please don't point out pointless mistakes that i can easily see if I were to skim the story.)
I'm not even close to being finished, so hopefully I can finish it one day. Now its time to play some No Mercy :D Away to the Choppa!
-Thanks for reading! 3 XxWasabiiChopzxX-