Sei Un Disastro ~ Crystal/Nick: A Left 4 Dead 2 fanfic.

Chapter 1 - Five Strangers, One Common goal.

My name is Crystal, I'm 26, and I'm a detective. Before this stupid apocalypse, I was with my good friend and love interest, James… I was going to tell him the truth of how I felt. But before I could say anything… a huge wave of zombies came and attacked us, pushing us away. By the time I was able to fight them off… James was gone. I yelled for him for what felt like hours… and that's when I knew, he was gone. I can't say much else, since it'll take too long to explain, so for now, I'll just tell you how I got to where I am now.

I was able to survive because of my training in the force. I always carry a magnum with me, and for this long, it's been my best friend. I figured, the only way to survive this apocalypse, was to go look for survivors. I started searching by driving to all the major cities in America… and by the time I got to all of them, everyone was already gone, or infected. I constantly had to switch vehicles, and luckily there were plenty in working condition. I really had no idea what was going to happen to me, but one thing was for certain… I was not going to die, no way, no how.

Now I'm in Savannah, Georgia, the one place I would never imagine myself in a long time. When I arrived in town, it was just the same as all the other towns I've been through; empty and dead. I would have gotten out of here, if not for the fact that my car broke down. I would have to find another, but in all honesty, I was too tired to bother driving again, I decided that if I was going to travel anymore, it would be with someone else. Why it took me till I reached Savannah to realize it… I'll never know. So, I took my gun from my glove box, and started to walk around.

I heard many helicopters fly overhead. This meant… people were evacuating the area. If that's the case, perhaps I should do the same… come to think of it, I had plenty of chances to evacuate beforehand. But, I never left because… I suppose it's because I was secretly looking for James, perhaps he came this far… but in the back of my mind, this just wasn't possible. Yet a part of me still wanted to look. I watched as the helicopters flew towards what looked like a mall. As I watched them… I heard a voice, which spoke in clear sentences, not in grunts and mumbles which I had become so used to. I turned and saw not one, but 4 people together. One of them was a sharp dressed man, about 35. Another was a woman, late 20s I'd say. One was a Coach, a painfully obvious one at that. The last was some kid, a young mechanic or something. I figured, this was probably the last group standing on Earth, so I might as well take this opportunity and follow them.

I walked up to them and greeted them, "Uh, excuse me, are you four together?"

The one to notice me first, was the sharp dressed man, "Guess so, not for long of course, we're trying to catch one of those helicopters, so until we get there, I guess we'll stick together. Let's head to the evac center. We'll get friendly on the way there." He kind of winked at me while he said this.

I shrugged and said, "Alright, makes sense to me." In my head I thought, 'Perhaps he's there, maybe he's wherever those helicopters are headed.' At this point, I knew I had to go now, before my chance was lost.

I followed the four to a hotel, not an uber fancy one, but a nice one all the same. We ran inside, only to find it on fire. I heard the coach curse and say "Well, looks like we're gonna hafta move even faster now. C'mon y'all, let's get a move on!"

The sharp dressed man nodded in agreement and commented, "We can't take the elevator, whole place is probably up in smokes by now."

The girl shrugged and shook her head, "Looks like we'll have to climb the stairs, and hope that the helicopter is still there."

The kid laughed, "Shoot, I don't mind, it's probably not a long way anyhow. Let's climb some stairs y'all!"

I shrugged, and just followed them upstairs, what else could I say, everything was pretty much said. We climbed, and climbed for what felt like an eternity. My legs felt like jelly by the time we reached the second to last floor, I could hear the two older men talking. "Who puts an evac center on 30 flights of God d**** stairs?" the coach complained.

The sharp dressed guy commented, out of breath, "C'mon coach, maybe the helicopter… maybe it's made of chocolate." He laughed at the end in almost a mocking way. Jesus, what a jerk. I ran past them and was already ahead by the next flight. I waited on them though to make sure no infected got to them.

When we finally made it to the top, what felt like sweet relief, soon turned to dread. The helicopters were all flying away from where we were. I could hear mixed reactions from the group. The girl was muttering, "This isn't happening…", the kid, for once kept his mouth shut. When the older men finally caught up, they were in shock as well, the sharp dressed guy was out of breath and had his eyes glued to his feet. The coach yelled in frustration, "Aren't they supposed to be saving our a****?"

The sharp dressed man finally looked up and said with a grim face, "Looks like there's been a change of plans." He then turned to me and then sighed, standing up straight. "Alright, looks like we're going to have to leave this dump now."

"What about the helicopters?" I asked.

"You saw them! They're not coming back! They saw us and they're not even going to bother turning around!" he said annoyed.

"Any idea where they're headed?" I asked the kid. I knew he had to be a local simply by how he lead the group.

"Yeah, looks like they're headed fer the mall, why?" he responded.

"Let's head for it, there might be a way out of here." I said walking towards the door.

"Let's grab some weapons first, my gun is almost out of ammo." sharp dressed man said directing it towards everyone.

"Yeah, now that you said something, mine is too." Chickadee responded.

"Wouldn't hurt, I 'spose." The hillbilly chimed in, taking an axe.

The Coach didn't say anything and just took the nearest gun.

I noticed the first aid, and looked at the others, "Should we get some first aid?"

The others just shrugged and grabbed a first aid kit.

"Not much for talking huh?" I stated.

"We can worry about talking later, if you hadn't noticed, blondie, the building is on fire, so let's get out of here." The sharp dressed man said in a sarcastic tone.

I grunted and followed them downstairs. I'm really starting to dislike that guy. As soon as we reached the second to last floor, zombies or infected as we call them, we're flooding the whole floor.

"Jesus, how many are there?" I cried, raising my gun.

I shot as many as ten, and kept moving down the hall, there was a room to the right, which we checked for anything useful. There was a large map on the table, and another gun right next to it. The coach examined the map and shook his head in disbelief, "This map ain't good news, looks like the last place left in America is N'owlans."

The sharp dressed guy nodded and said, "Alright, New Orleans it is then, let's hope someone is still alive there."

"Let's get to the elevator, maybe we can take it down." I added.

"Technically, you're not allowed to use an elevator during a fire, but that probably doesn't apply to a zombie apocalypse." The sharp dressed man added.

"Alright then, let's get a move on," Chickadee said.

We ran out into the hallway, killing off any infected we saw and ran to the elevators. "Crap! It's down, let's try the next floor!" I said. As we turned the corner, suddenly there was an explosion. The heat engulfed the hallway. Our passage was blocked."Great, now what?"

The sharp dressed man piped up, "There might be a ledge, it's worth a shot."

"As if we're close enough to death as it is. Sheesh." I said annoyed.

The sharp dressed man smirked, "You've probably faced more dangerous situations, you seem like a dangerous kind of girl…" he winked.

I looked at him surprised, "W-what's that supposed to mean?"

He smirked with a wider grin this time, "I can tell you're a cop. I have an eye for things like that. So, I have a feeling you love dangerous things… maybe even dangerous men." He laughed.

I huffed, "If you're referring to yourself, than sadly I reject, besides I'm too young for you."

" I wouldn't say that doll, what are ya, 26?"

"I don't have to answer that! Let's keep moving!"

"That's girl talk for yes." He laughed licking his lips.

"God you're so disgusting! You smell like prostitutes."

"I can change that for ya, baby."

Great, now the jerk is hitting on me.

We turned the corner into this one room, the ledge was open and ready for us. We had to climb it now, or never. We all one by one climbed over the ledge. The coach was more reluctant than the others. I was worried about him after a while. The sleaze bag grabbed on to my arms to keep me steady. I just shrugged it off, that jerk will get his helping of fists later. I was more worried about the big guy anyway. "You ok back there, Mister Coach?" I asked.

The Coach clung to whatever he could as he moved over to our way. "Did I ever tell y'all that I was afraid of heights? Because this big man is deathly afraid." He said with a panicked look on his face.

"Don't worry now, sir, y'all be ok. We just gotta mosey on over to that end, and we'll be fine. Besides, if you lose yer balance, I'll be right behind ya!" The kid commented.

"Fo sho! Don't worry, now sweetie, you'll be safe with us." The girl piped up.

"Besides, it's just another way for you to die. So if you do fall off, it'll just be a little before us." The sleaze responded.

"Nice attitude, a**!" I snapped at him.

"What? I'm just looking at it realistically!" he defended himself.

"Whatever, let's just get moving so that DOESN'T happen!" I huffed.

As we passed by the windows, we could see infected being lit on fire as we moved. I moved a bit faster as we reached the end. "Stand back!" I said to the others, breaking in the window with the end of my gun. As the glass broke, infected started coming at us, "Everyone in, now!" I yelled, shooting at a few infected. The others followed and started shooting as well. The one with the best target was probably the sleaze.

"Nice shooting, Tex!" I smirked.

"I got a knack for it." He said calmly.

"Hm… you seem too skilled." I said curiously.

"Don't think too hard about it dear." The Sleaze said almost threateningly.

"Mood swings much?" I mumbled.

As soon as the room was clear, we entered the hallway. We went for the next flight of stairs and ran into an infected that I've never seen before, it had a hunched back and had red hair, he had a cackle like a hyena. He ran up to us and suddenly jumped on the shoulders of the kid. He pulled him down the stairs and carried him off. "Crap! After him!" I cried pulling out my gun, but the sleaze shot the thing first, "Got 'em" he said casually. "Show off." I muttered. The kid pulled to his feet and coughed, "That ain't right what he did to me. That thing was humpin' me."

"You alright kid?" I asked.

"Yeah, just, when those things come for me again, do me a favor and jump in front of it or something." He responded catching his breath.

"What should we call those things?" the chick asked.

"What, we're naming them now? How about Ginger." The sleaze remarked.

"How about head humper," the kid responded annoyed.

"Shoot, that thing looked like a Jockey on top of a horse. So I say we name it Jockey." The coach answered.

" Good idea naming them. At least we'll remember what they look like and sound like." I said.

"Well let's get a move on, shall we?" the sleaze said, "We're still kind of in a burning building, surrounded by zombies." He said in a rude way.

"Sheesh, take a chill pill there, Colonel Sanders." I said annoyed.

"I'll remember that when I do have chicken. You'll regret mocking me." He said with a smirk.

We moved on down the stairs and into the next hallway. As we reached the corner, there was a very low and sneaky growl coming from the corridor. We turned our heads to a crawling infected, that was wearing a hoodie. It lunged up in the air and tackled me to the ground. "GET IT! GET IT OFF OF ME!" I yelled. The thing was tearing at my skin and left large gashes on my stomach, he pinned me down so I couldn't fight back at all. He kept tearing at me and didn't let up at all. The others shot at it as it continued, the pain was unbearable and felt like 20 knives ripping at my stomach. Finally he was dead after 10 or so shots from the others. I was bleeding badly from that attack, "S-s***, this hurts…" I groaned in pain. The Sleaze and Kid helped me to my feet. "C'mon, we'll patch you up in the elevator!" the sleaze said dragging me into the elevator, while the others fought off infected.

As the Elevator doors closed the sleaze offered to patch me up. "Here, lift up your shirt. Jesus he had his way with you." He said hurt at first, but as soon as I was patched up, it felt so much better. The Sleaze handed me some pills and smirked, "Here, don't tell anyone else I'm treating you special." He smirked again and ruffled my hair. "Thanks Sleaze… I mean… um… what's your name?" I asked.

He stood up and ran his hands through his hair, "Name's Nicholas, call me Nick, though." He offered his hand to help me up. I gladly accepted and got up, I nodded to the others, "What are your names?"

The kid's eyes gleamed, "Ellis, nice to meet ya, miss." He said kindly.

"It's Crystal by the way, or Detective, whichever you prefer." I said humbly.

The chick was next, "Rochelle, it's a pleasure."

The big guy answered next, "My friends call me Coach, I suppose y'all can do the same." He smiled warmly.

"Great, now that we're acquainted, maybe we can cruise through this place easier now." I said with a confident smile.

"Let's hope anyway, we still ain't out of this building yet." Nick said, "As soon as we reach ground floor, we should be able to make it to the mall from here." He said calmly.

As we spoke, I could see the smoke fill the elevator, "That's not good…" I said cautiously.

"Looks like we're going to be experiencing some fire, kiddies." Nick said preparing himself.

Suddenly the elevator stopped and the lights went out. "Fantastic…" Ro said in an annoyed tone. Coach looked at us, "Alright y'all, we're gonna have to open this door up manually, we'll need to prepare for some infected." He said placing his hands on the door, "Y'all ready?" he asked. We all nodded and held our guns up. Coach with all his might, opened the elevator doors, and a loud siren rang. Coach held it open as well as flooded out, shooting at any infected coming our way, we ran through the blazing flames and looked for an exit. Coach followed behind us shooting whatever he could behind us. "Stick together!" he shouted. We ran into the kitchen and jumped over the tables, and ran out the other way, we didn't think, we just ran. Out into the fire, we could hear someone coughing.

"Is someone still out there?" Ro asked.

"It's hard to tell, c'mon we gotta go look." I said carefully.

Nick stopped me and blocked me from something, "Hang on, that's not a survivor." He said suspiciously.

"What do you mean?"

"I can see green smoke admitting from a silhouette. Stay back, that's a Smoker… I encountered one while I was downtown." Nick said in a hushed voice. He prepared his gun and aimed it at the silhouette.

"What the heck is a Smoker?" I asked.

"These gross b****** that grab you with their tongues and don't let go."

"Tongue? But wouldn't they have to be close to do that?" Ellis said curiously.

"Not these suckers, they grab you with their long tongue, they got very long ton-" Nick was interrupted by a sudden and loud slurp. We saw coming from the silhouette, a long rope like and pink substance come towards Nick. "NOOOOO!" he shouted latching onto the door frame, "Help me!" he cried. I yelled at Ellis, "Ellis, grab on to him! I'll shoot the Smoker!" I yelled.

The Smoker was tugging at Nick as Ellis held onto Nick's wrists. "AH NOT THE WRISTS YOU HICK! The arms! Grab my arms!" he screamed in pain.

I shot at the Smoker and he let go. A sudden puff of smoke emitted from where he fell, "Huh, so that's why they're called Smokers." Ro said half amused. Nick fell to the ground and pulled the tongue from his torso. " Ugh, I HATE those things!" I offered my hand to help him up. He looked at me and gave a brief smirk, "Thanks sweet cheeks." He grabbed my hand and got up. "That's detective to you, mister…" I said annoyed. "Fine, Detective Sweet cheeks." He smirked again. I rolled my eyes and just pressed foreward. "Let's go!"

We ran as fast as we could to the entrance, and shot any infected we saw in our way. The safe room was just up ahead, and we felt so relieved. We ran for it and didn't look back; we locked the door and all one by one, sighed in relief.

"We made it… thank god." Ro said quietly.

"Yeah, but we still got a long way to go…" I said out of breath.

Ellis grinned, "We can make it, shoot!"

Nick sneered, "Yeah, keep up that optimism. Hope you don't die with a smile on your face, or you're going to be stuck looking like that." He said a little annoyed.

"At least we can rest a little now. Lord knows it's gonna be a long way from here." Coach said with a serious look on his face, "Son, we just entered into Hell, and we're the riders of the apocalypse."

To be continued…

Next Chapter: Chapter 2 – Shop till you drop.