aw yeah new story. sorry for anyone who liked the last two, i did not. 8( i won't be continuing them and i'm frankly kinda embaressed by them so i took 'em down. hopefully my upcoming ones with be a little better.
but anywaaaay, this is a story based off of several different songs. each chapter is going to be based off a song, kinda like a song-fic but not really lol. this particuliar chapter is, of course, based off of the song Roman's Revenge by Nicki Minaj and Eminem. :D
Left 4 Dead belongs to Valve, all lyrics belong to their rightful writers, blah blah blah.
-x-
"Ow! Quit shooting me, Jamie!" Spinning on her heel, a girl turned and glared at her comrade with a pair of brilliant robin egg blue eyes. The boy, a few years her senior and several inches taller, smirked.
"Sorry 'bout that, I thought you was a Hunter. Maybe you outta take off dat hoodie." The girl snorted in reply and continued marching forward. She was in the lead – behind her, three men followed. The tallest and oldest sported a goatee, and was very broad in the chest and shoulders. He was muscular, too, and clearly over six feet.
The one who had spoken to the girl, Jamie was his name, was dark skinned, with a short afro and dark green eyes. The third was surprisingly well kept for being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
"Come on kids, we're almost to the safe house!" The big man called, his voice bellowing deeply. However, as they neared the big red metal door, a loud banging sounded not too far away. Out of seemingly nowhere, a chunk of concrete flew overhead and smashed into the brick building above them.
"Tank!"
-x-
With a jump, a little figure in a sky blue hoodie woke up. Slowly, it sat up and opened its mouth in a drowsy yawn, revealing rows of jagged white teeth. The little figure looked around, trying to remember where it was. A rooftop, on a pile of dirty sheets it had crafted into a nest. Right.
The figure crawled out of the nest and stretched like a cat, waking up its muscles. Judging by the shape of the body, the figure was clearly female. The hoodie was zipped up half way over a black camisole, and a pair of ragged blue jean shorts covered her lower half. Dirty pale blonde hair fell out of the hood in loose waves, and if her face hadn't been hidden is shadow, one could have seen a pair of robin egg blue eyes. Where a normal human's eyes would have been white, hers were black. Her pupils had narrowed into cat like slits, and expanded to covered nearly the entire iris when in the dark.
Long, black, bear-like claws protruded from her fingers where her nails should have been. There was no doubt about it – the little figure was a Hunter.
The Infection mutated further, allowing new strains to develop and take over the host body. It started with the female Boomers, and then moved to Jockeys. Smokers were next, then male Spitters began popping up. The Hunter strain was the last to change - there still weren't any female Tanks or male Witches.
The Hunter sat on her haunches on the edge of the building, brow furrowed in thought. She looked down at a few scratch marks in the floor of the roof – six of them. Six days she had been staying up on the roof. Six days since she had changed. Dragging her claw in a line, she created the seventh line.
Her stomach rumbled. And seven days without food. She let out a disgruntled groan.
She had a name…what was it? Her claws tapped on the concrete slowly as she thought, lips pursed. A loud noise startled her out of her thoughts. She looked around, seeing something light up a few feet away. It made noise, but not a bad noise. She moved towards it and looked down, not daring to touch it.
It was a rectangle, with a lit up screen. iPod. It was her iPod. Proud she had finally remembered something, she tried to listen to the sounds the thing was making.
I am not Jasmine, I am Aladdin. So far ahead, these bums are lagging. See me in that new thing, bums is gagging. I'm startin' to feel like a dungeon dragon. Raah, raah, like a dungeon dragon. Raah, raah, like a dungeon dragon, I'm startin' to feel like a dungeon dragon.
Wait a minute – the screen said something. She was drawn to the first word of the song for some unknown reason. It just looked cool. She tried to make sense of the letters. It wasn't hard, was it? She looked at the first set of the lines, the first letter.
A weird shape, but she recognized it.
R.
The next was round, like the ball of light that lit up the sky.
O.
The next was like an upside down, unclosed triangle surrounded by two walls.
M.
The next one took longer for her to understand. It was another unclosed triangle, with a little bar in the middle of it.
A.
And the last was the easiest. An almost M.
N.
Roman. Her name was Roman.
"Rrrrr." She was surprised she remembered how it sounded. "Ohhhh." What sound did the angles make? Her stomach growled again, interrupting her thoughts. She was hungry. She lifted her nose to the wind and sniffed.
There were the faintest traces of uninfected blood on the wind, but it was impossible to find the exact source. Crawling with cat like precision and grace, she got to the ground and into the street.
Sniff, sniff. Pause. Nothing.
She turned in the other direction. Sniff, sniff. Pause. Something. On all fours, she began to move towards the source of the delicious smell as if were calling to her. It wasn't long before she abandoned the street and climbed the buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop like she had done it all her life.
After several minutes, the smell was all around, floating on the wind. She crawled to the edge of the rooftop and looked down. Three Survivors with their bangsticks fought their way through the street, crowded with mindless Infected.
She growled; an animalistic sound emitting from deep in her throat. One of them was lagging behind the others, clearly wounded. The other two were too caught up in the fight, ignorant to their comrade's struggle.
She gathered her legs up under her, preparing to pounce. The two Survivors steadily got farther and farther from the straggler – male, young, Immune to the Infection. She let out another soft growl. Something in her mind told her now was the time. The two out in front were far enough away that she could attack the wounded and they wouldn't be able to get back fast enough.
Uttering a cry, she leapt off the edge of the building. Down into the street, neatly landing atop the man. He was knocked to the ground, and as soon as she recovered from the landing, she began the assault.
Her claws tore into his flesh, removing it from muscle and bone. He screamed in terror and pain, lashing out with his arms. Her nails scratched across his wrist, opening an artery and spilling blood onto the both of them.
"Get it off! Get it off!" The man shouted, but his teammates were too far away. Seeing the man had been claimed, the Horde went off after the escaping Survivors, smart enough not to risk fighting over a kill with a Hunter.
She leaned down, teeth sinking into the man's throat. Wrenching her head back, she ripped out a chunk of skin. Not even hesitating, she swallowed it down. The man continued to fight, screaming in agony and trying to land poorly aimed punches. She raked her claws over his face, digging her fingers into his eyes.
"Oh, God! Please! Please help me!"
Quit hollering 'why God?', he ain't got shit to do with it.
He was losing blood out of numerous wounds and gashes. His face was drained of colour, covered in the crimson of his own blood. Almost. She dug her fingers farther into his eyes, and he uttered one final shriek before falling silent. His swinging arms fell limp at his sides, his kicking legs stilling. Done.
The fury and aggression inside her ceased as she realized her prey was dead. Next came the overwhelming pride. Her first kill. On the seventh day, she had made her first kill. The blood leaking on the sidewalk was getting cold. She had to eat before the body chilled.
She had just torn open her prey's stomach, pulling out guts and intestines and stuffing them in her mouth, when she heard a loud growl from behind her. Then another, and another. She turned her head and was baffled by the sight of several crouched, hooded figures.
They reminded her of herself, with long claws and sharp teeth. But as she found familiarity with them, she felt anything but safe while they were there. She bared her teeth and let out a growl. One of them stepped forward, returning the growl with one that was significantly deeper and scarier.
Still crouched over her kill, she felt the need to defend it. She snapped her jaws, teeth clipping together noisily. She wanted these strangers to go away. The Hunter took another step forward, face contorting into a snarl.
Make that face, go on, scrunch it up at me.
As the other Hunters behind the lead began to move so they surrounded her, Roman let out a loud hiss.
Show me the target so I can lunge and attack it.
With a shriek, Roman lunged forth and at the lead Hunter. It deftly sidestepped her attack, causing her to land on all fours and scramble to turn. Too late. The Hunter hit her in the side, knocked her down, and clawed her shoulder. She threw her head to the side, reached up and closed her jaws on the Hunter's wrist. It howled, lashing out with its other hand. She fought out from underneath the larger Hunter, growling and snarling like an enraged animal.
Which was, in a sense, exactly what she was.
Another Hunter leapt, knocking her back to the asphalt. She was in a position that she found to her liking, and was able to outstretch both her hands to block and scratch. The Hunter had to leap off to avoid getting his eyes clawed out. She rolled, rising back into a crouch and baring her teeth. The lead Hunter had ripped open four symmetrical claw marks running from her shoulder down to the middle of her chest, but the Infection made her ignorant to the pain.
Again, she snapped her jaws at the lead Hunter, who paced a few feet away. She moved back over to her kill, body pressed low to the ground as she watched the circle of hooded Infected. Suddenly, the lead Hunter moved towards her, head low. She bared her teeth, but he didn't return the notion or growl or attack.
He just kept moving forward. Still on high alert, Roman stilled for a moment to watch him approach. He got very close, so close she could see his nose twitch as he examined her. She hissed softly in warning and he bared his teeth. She swiped at him and he growled, lunging forward to bit her shoulder. She bent backwards out of his grasp and let out a soft yelp.
What a jerk.
Instead of a snarl, she saw a plausible grin on his face, lips parting to show his bloody teeth. She seethed silently, glaring at him from under her hood. What was he waiting for? She glanced at the other four Hunters, who seemed just as confused as she was. The lead Hunter lunged forth and bit her again, this time taking a firmer hold and tugging backwards.
Roman let out a surprised yelp as she was pulled forward by the larger Hunter, dragged off her kill by his hold on her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize he wasn't biting her, but her hoodie. She shook him off and leapt back, growling. The lead Hunter reached forward and grabbed her hoodie with his clawed hand, tugging sharply.
What did he want?
Gunshots in the distance and Roman jumped in surprise. More Survivors? The lead Hunter growled at two of the restless Hunters beside him, pointing at the kill. The two quickly hopped to, grabbing the body and dragging it into a nearby alley.
The Hunter turned to her again and grumbled softly, motioning with his head for her to follow. She didn't want to. She still didn't feel safe, but the gunshots were getting closer. Reluctantly, she began to follow the lead Hunter. The remaining two unters brought up the rear, and she realized she couldn't back out.
The lead Hunter glanced back at her periodically to ensure she was still following. They climbed buildings, leapt over rooftops, ran through alley ways. It seemed to take several minutes for them to come to their destination – an old abandoned warehouse near the waterfront.
He led them up onto the roof, into the building through a skylight and onto a catwalk. From there, it was a drop to the concrete floor below. Once on the floor, Roman lifted her head and looked around. Several Hunters emerged from the shadows, including females like her. There must have been over twenty of them.
Feeling overwhelmed and outnumbered, she backed away with a whine. She realized the lead Hunter wasn't just a lead – he was the Alpha. And this was his Pack. Her thoughts were interrupted when the Alpha began to growl at her. It wasn't threatening – it almost sounded questioning.
She blinked and let out a small noise, another whine. He snorted and turned to look pointedly at the group. They obediently backed away, going back to the dark corners of the warehouse. She noticed one of the females seemed…a little rounder than the rest.
The Alpha suddenly lunged at her and she squeaked in surprise. She landed flat on her back with the Alpha growling above her. But she noticed there was no aggression in the attack. It was just playful. He wanted to play…?
Roman paused before baring her teeth and growling. The Alpha returned the growl. She squirmed out from under him and in turn, pounced towards him. What broke out was a short wrestling match, which she was sure to lose. After a moment, the Alpha backed off with a grin on his face.
She sat and blinked absently, watching him as he moved to inspect the rest of the pack. The round female seemed to be his first priority – it suddenly dawned on Roman she was round because she was pregnant.
That was a surprise. She blinked as she lay down, crossing her arms and laying her head on them. Alpha sniffed at the pregnant female, who, judging by her size, looked close to her due date. How long had it been since the Infection started? Eight months. Maybe the Infection sped up the gestation period? That made sense – humans had been turned basically into predators. And in the wild, a predator couldn't be pregnant for nine months.
Wolves had a gestation period of what, sixty three days? Roman had always thought of Hunters as wolf like, and since she discovered they ran in packs, that seemed to make the most sense. Sixty three days.
Roman's train of thought was once again shattered when she felt a tugging at her hoodie. She looked up and saw a female Hunter a few years her senior pulling on her. She gestured for her to come, and Roman blinked before climbing to her feet. She crawled after the female to one corner, where all the females seemed to be gathered.
They had made nests out of sheets, clothing, pillows, and comforters. Roman counted – seven females. She hadn't had a chance to count all the males yet, but she guessed there were at least fifteen of them.
The females appeared to be settling in to sleep, and the young Hunter realized they must hunt during the night. She decided to curl up with them, burrowing under a sheet and resting her head on her arms again.
She had only closed her eyes for a few moments before she was nudged. She lifted her head and blinked, seeing it was the Alpha. She growled softly in question and he leaned down to sniff her hair. She snorted. That was why he woke her up? Ugh.
He surprised her by suddenly dropping down beside her, much to the other female's loathing. They hissed and growled when he curled into the nest, but one growl from his silenced their protests.
Roman rolled her eyes, lowering her head again. Her last fleeting thought before she dropped off into Dreamland was about the nature of men.