A/N hey all There have been some changes to this story it has gone through a bit of a rewrite, it's never quite good enough in my head so some things have been changed. The character of Kelsey is now Olivia, and there will be more drama down they way. please bear with me while at first it may not seem like im useing the valve universe I have just been trying to work it in. that being said, I do not own left 4 dead or its characters, only this group of survivors, that honor belongs to Valve. please review, constructive critisicim is always appreciated, it makes us better writers. and now without further blah from me, on to the story.

Hardware store

Charles had been traveling alone since the outbreak that is until he had met up with two others, a man and a woman who looked about like they were in their mid twenties. He had been at the Hardware store trying to find weaponry, when they had surprised him and he had yelped in protest when he heard a quiet "Hi". He spun around to find them looking particularly vicious. But fuck was he glad to see people that weren't trying to claw his brains out or eat him.

"You with anyone?" the man asked

"No." he replied.

"You should come with us for a while anyway." The man said.

He looked over at the woman she hadn't said anything she just simply nodded her agreement.

"Why are you here anyway?" Charles asked

"Supplies to reinforce my van." The woman said finally speaking. "I don't want any of those god damn miserable fuckers, getting closer than necessary."

"Where's your car?"

"Parked right inside the door." He shook his head he couldn't believe that he hadn't heard them before. She smiled briefly

"You didn't hear us cus it was in neutral and we were running quiet. Didn't want to attract any un-necessary company."

Oh he thought. No wonder doesn't make me feel any less like an idiot. You're lucky they were survivors like you and not zombies.

"We should get moving, we don't want to stick around anyplace for too long." The man said. They finished gathering some corrugated sheet metal, they even found some rebar and set to work fastening it to the van. They grabbed some other things like a chainsaw, sickles and other things that were bound to come in handy at some point. As stealth was vital to their safety they quickly left and made their way to the nearest grocery store, provided that it hadn't been completely looted and wasn't crawling with zombies they should be able to at least gather some provisions that should help until they could find a safe place. On the drive to the first store the woman barely said anything however the man was content to chatter away and ask questions like how long he had been by himself and if he had any place to go. Charles answered in vague but polite responses. The first store was a bust. It was a wreck and was crawling with zombies. They didn't venture far in, instead opting to just try another place. They only encountered a few zombies, nothing that the other two couldn't handle. He was impressed there was no hesitation from the woman, she shot always in the head and as soon as she shot she whirled around to blow another away. The man was good too not as confident as the woman, but he still dealt merciful death to the oncoming zombies their limbs and heads splattering, blood and brain matter covering the ground. The ride to the next store was uneventful except for the zombies that the woman ran over, with a distinctive slippery thud. They finally made it to the store, but they just drove through the door. They were lucky this store didn't appear to have been looted like the other, there were still zombies but not in the quantity of the last. The woman handed him one of her handguns.

"Just till we get you your own." He thanked her and they exited the van and made their way around the store throwing non perishables into the carts they were pushing. Pretty much anything and everything that would help bottles of water, lighters even. They even found an outdoor stove and enough fuel to run it. It was unlikely they would use it, since it was likely to attract the ravenous hordes, but it could come in handy eventually. Every once in a while a zombie would be stumbling around the corner, and he would get blasted by one of them. They finally had as much as they would be able to carry safely. They made their way back to the car only to be surprised by a sudden gunshot. It struck Charles, in the leg. He gasped letting a short breath escape his lips. It hurt it felt like it was on fire.

"You idiot!" the man yelled. "We aren't zombies, you should pay attention!" Charles weakly lifted his arm.

"No I'll be fine." He said before collapsing. The next thing he knew he was laying in the back seat the face of the man who shot him swimming before his eyes. He was pressing a towel against his leg trying desperately to stop the bleeding. The woman was driving and arguing with the other man.

"We need to take him to a hospital, He'll bleed to death!" He said

"Right and if we attempt it we will probably all die. Hospitals are a fucking death trap." She retorted. He lost consciousness again. When he came to again he found that he was still in the car. It had stopped and the woman was leaning over him. She was tightly wrapping his leg in gauze. Noticing that he was awake she handed him a bottle of water, and a handful of pills.

"Its vicodin and it will help with the pain, but you need stitches and we need to get the bullet out, but I feel you deserve the honest answer. If we don't fix you up you will die but the only place to get the supplies we need is a hospital." She said

"And hospitals are Death traps." He said echoing her early words. She nodded,

"It's your decision, but you should choose soon." He shook his head and grunted a little in pain as she finished her ministrations. She gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder and moved away.

Well what do we do? He thought we could try to make it to a hospital or I bleed out constantly attracting zombies to us till I eventually die, or the final choice, I shoot myself and save us all the trouble. If we go to the hospital we will be fighting hordes of infected while supporting me when I can't even shoot properly. Soon I'll become a liability. The plus side if we all make it, I'll survive and we will have supplies for any other unfortunate circumstance. But the odds aren't in our favor. He grimaced so I could just bleed to death or shoot myself. Not much of a choice. I don't want to die. But I don't want to cause these others to die either. He sighed. We should try it, if it gets to hectic, then I'll just kill myself. He looked over to see the jumpy guy who had shot him. He was sleeping fitfully against the window. He pushed himself into a seated position; he looked towards the front of the car. The woman had passed out in the front seat, the man was driving, and he quietly cleared his throat.

"Oh good your awake. So did you make your decision," he looked over at his companion, "I know she can be harsh, but she just wants what's… best." He finally said.

"Well she makes a good point. But I don't want to die." He said "I want to try it though; you guys have my permission to shoot me if I slow you down too much."

"Alright, we are about 15 miles away, and we have to drive through some serious car pileups. Why don't you get some rest I'll wake you when we get there." He nodded and laid back and fell into a doze. About a half hour later he was shaken awake, there was a woman wondering around the front of the hospital she looked dazed but she was carrying a hunting rifle. The woman he was with got out of the car, and approached her slowly her gun pointed at the dazed woman.

"Hey lady." She said waiting for an intelligible response.

The woman turned around. "…I can't find my brother."

"Are you by yourself?"

The woman nodded.

"I can't promise that you will be safe with us, but would you like to travel with us?"

Again only a nod. They walked back to the car.

"Well are you ready for this suicide mission?"

A collective nod and they made their way into the hospital.