Title: Hoodie of Joy
Author: C'est moi~
Characters: All L4D2 survivours, OCs and mass zombies; mentions of L4D1 survivours in later chapters.
Rating & Warnings: PG-13 for this chapter—rated for Nick's mouth and cynicism; Warnings include fail attention span on the author's part and presence of OC.
Summary: The chopper crashed, they were stranded—what they found was more than they expected.
AN: I…I honestly have no idea. There are currently three parts. [word count: 500]
By the river, a small child hides in the reeds. He watches these foreigners--these strange, vividly coloured people. One is pale, another is tan; two are dark, but still not quite to his liking. The pale one stands tall next to the tan one; the tan one seems to speak too much…both are male. The taller of the dark ones is male--he keeps an exasperated look on the tan one. The more petite of the dark pair is female and, while she is indeed smiling, she looks vaguely annoyed by the talking.
The child crawls a bit, staying low to the ground, staying hidden in the shadows. He cringes when a thick, not-quite-a-branch, twig snaps under his hand and promptly glues his body to the bank.
The four stop, looking for the source of the sound. The tan one tries to shrug it off, but his pale companion finds the source almost immediately.
"Ellis, shut the Hell up...there's a kid over there."
Three sets of eyes follow his and the child presses further to the ground, trying to blend in; it's useless though--he's been found out.
The female blinks, voice curious, "Y'know...this is kind of odd--it's the first kid we've seen since the infection broke out...."
"I heard the 'fection don't 'fect the younguns." The tan one--Ellis, yes?- offered, edging towards him and kneeling a few feet away, "Hey...c'mon, kiddo, we ain't gonna bite." He was promptly tugged back by the pale man.
"We don't know that it won't, now get back here, Overalls."
"Aw, c'mon Nick. Look, he's scared! If he was gonna attack he woulda by now, right?"
Nick gave him a look that could kill, "Ellis...I swear if you even consider picking it up--"
"He's got a gender, Nick."
"Ellis, it looks like a fucking miniature Hunter! You aren't touching it!" The man didn't bother correcting himself. Ellis tugged away and in a step much bolder than before, closed the distance and kneeled once more, holding his arms open.
The child kept flat for a moment, watching warily. He'd seen so many of his own kind killed--killed with those odd gray things attached to the tan one's back. Still, he slowly raised back to his hands and knees...and crawled into the offered arms. They immediately closed around him and initial panic turned to a feeling of warmth and security...an odd feeling, but he decided he liked it and promptly curled up. He let out a pleased purr and snuggled into the man's arms.
"See, Nick? He's totally harmless! He's kinda cute too!" Bright blue eyes turned to the group, hopeful, "Can we keep him? Please, please, pleeease?" All the while he'd never let go of the mass of purring delight in his arms.
The other three shared a look. This was going to be a long trip...more so now that they had a small, infected child to watch over on top of keeping Ellis focused for more than five minutes.
Ha. Shame? What is that? Gawd...I'm sorry PoT readers orz I swear I'll get those updated one day...most of the things I'm posting now are written on whim or by someone in an LJ comm beating me with a prod going "LOOKIE, PROMPT" orz
