This is a teaser for a collab work between SamanthaRose and myself, Crazy Chibi Sama, portraying the two newest characters to the Left 4 Dead infected but sane community. Enjoy and review with opinions!
Disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead.
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The late morning rays of sunlight pierced through the clouds covering New Orleans and shined through the windows of a dilapidated home, run down by the infection's spread. The home had long since been abandoned, save for its current resident, with it's destroyed door and shattered windows. Some of the sun's rays shone through the remains, casting patterns on the floor and on the lone bed as the occupant tried to remain asleep, slamming a pillow over his face as a cell phone rang on the nightstand beside the bed.
Grunting in frustration, he kicked the nightstand's leg out from under it and caught the airborne phone with a clawed hand, snapping it open. Displayed on the screen was a single, solitary message: "Are you up yet?" Hissing, he quickly typed out a "No thanks to you" before slamming the phone shut and stuffing it into the pocket of his black jeans before standing up, bare feet shuffling across the wooden floor. He had gotten into the remains of the kitchen and was starting to walk out the door before another message had his pocket vibrating.
The message this time read: "Let's meet by the restaurant. Hopefully its not crowded."
Pulling on a long sleeved black and red shirt, he quickly typed a response of " Ha Ha." before going out the door, still bare foot. He never particularly cared for shoes, found them a bother. Not to mention that he was in no hurry to rush anywhere. Walking past a few slow moving infected, he sat down in front of one of the stores and rested against a chair before going inside. The store sold everything from canned goods to animal hunting traps, some of the traps having to be carefully stepped around before one could reach the other goods. Easing himself around a large bear trap, he sat himself next to the canned goods.
Deliveries had long since stopped to New Orleans, but canned foods were still available to those with enough brains to find them. Digging his sharp claws into the metal, lukewarm liquid spilled around his fingers and he brought them up to his mouth and drained the liquid before it hit the floor, feeling satisfied that the can's contents were still edible. Adding more pressure, he removed the lid of the can and started to lick at the contents, some canned soup before draining the whole thing in and moving onto the next can. He made sure to pick cans with the same labels, same labels meant same goods to even the unintelligent eye and he drained the soup in that one too, extending his tongue so he could reach the contents at the bottom.
Still feeling unsatisfied, he went through three more of the cans before wiping his mouth and standing up again, leaving the store without setting off the traps. His phone vibrated again and he yanked it out of his pocket, growling slightly.
"Hey! Where are you?!" read the message.
"Ironic that the only thing working around here is the stupid cell towers…" he grumbled as an infected came at him, receiving his foot in its face for its troubles. He started to type a message but deleted most of it when he felt a presence behind him. " I'm outside the trap store. Got company." he finally typed before closing the phone and looking behind him. "Good morning, or is it good night?" he asked the infected charging at him, swinging its large arm wildly. Narrowing his brown eyes slightly, he waited for the charging infected to get closer to him before snaking his tongue around its thinner arm and pulled it off balance, sending it crashing to the ground.
Waving his hand slightly to dissipate the cloud of dust that formed, he crushed the chair that was in front of the store and picked up one of the legs, breaking it off before walking over to the infected on the ground and shoving it into its skull. " Sorry. I can't do anything for you. But I won't just let you kill me either." he whispered to the corpse before stepping over it and continuing to walk in the direction of the restaurant.
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"I don't need this anymore…" he later murmured, casually throwing the other chair leg that he had just in case on the ground. It bounced a bit and hit a vehicle which set off the alarm on it and the moans of nearby infected. Looking at the car, he sighed and ran a hand through his short red hair before taking out his phone. " Ahh… not even noon yet. The stars are not in my favor today." he mumbled, typing out a quick message.
Almost immediately, the phone responded, bringing a small smile to his lips and he closed the phone, glancing for a minute at the rain cloud displayed on the outer screen, a forecast for rain. Looking up at the cloud filled skies, he put the phone back into his pocket as the infected rushed from all directions.
"Ahh…weatherman, you should look at your notes again. We're not scheduled for rain today." he sighed, looking back to the infected as bottles rained from the sky. "We're scheduled for a firestorm."
The bottles crashed to the ground and set the ground ablaze as he climbed up onto the car and watched the blaze, chuckling to himself as a infected in a hazmat suit lumbered toward him. It was unaffected by the flames surging around it as it stopped by the car and tilted it's head towards the Smoker sitting on its roof. " Hey there, Zipper. What made you come out all this way to find me?" laughed the Smoker, smoothing ut his short red hair.
"My name is Xipil, get it right, you empty headed dolt." grumbled the Hazmat. "I came out here because you were taking so damn long to get to the restaurant."
The Smoker slid down from the roof of the car and leapt over the dying flames, brushing himself off. "I had a few things to do. You never were one for waiting patiently, were you, Zipper?"
Xipil sighed. "Why do I even bother correcting you, Levi? Anyways, let's go. No reason to stick around for something else to show up. I'm almost out of firebombs."
Levi let out a low whistle and started to walk towards the restaurant, Xipil trailing behind him. Xipil had been his friend as long as he could remember, not that his memory ever bothered to extend past his last meal. opening the door to the restaurant, he laughed to himself. "I wonder if we can find a table, it's so crowded in here." he remarked, gesturing to all of the infected in the restaurant.
A few of the infected charged at him, mistaking his appearance for a human as he took his hands out of his pockets and ran them through his hair. " I'm gonna go get us a table. Be right back." he told Xipil.
The Hazmat crossed its arms. "Fine. But I want a window view."
Levi leaped over a table and slammed a bare foot into an infected's face before following through with a kick that swept across the floor and tripped a few others. Drawing his leg back, he kicked an infected in the jaw and then brought his foot back down onto its upturned face. After a few more kicks, he had cleared most of the room and had secured a few things before tossing a few of the bodies outside.
"The area is cleared." he announced as Xipil nudged a few of the bodies out the door. Giving the Hazmat a grin of approval, he sat in a chair and opened one of the bottles of wine and took a drink of it, relishing the taste as Xipil worked with the other bottles, placing cloth into each of the bottles before sealing them up.
"Would it kill you to enjoy the alcohol once in awhile?" Levi groaned, setting the empty bottle down. " I mean, come on, it's free!"
Xipil continued to work, sitting against the table and setting the completed bottles on the windowsill.
" I'm a common infected wearing a hazmat suit. You are a Smoker. There is a world of difference between us. This suit is the only thing that keeps me from lighting up like they do. I can use these with abandon thanks to that. No thank you to drinking them."
Levi sighed and rested his head against the chair. "Don't you get hot in that thing?"
Xipil looked away from the bottles. "No, not really. I like the heat. Find me a few more full bottles, will you?"
Levi sighed and sat up, picking through a few of the bottles behind the counter and tossing the Hazmat a few of them. Sitting back in his chair, he rubbed his hand over his foot before looking at the ceiling. "How long are we going to be in this stupid ghost town anyways?" he asked.
"We're INFECTED. Where exactly are we supposed to go?!" snapped Xipil. "In case you haven't noticed, there aren't many people running through here."
Levi winced. "No need to take it out on the only other person capable of understanding you, Zipper."
Xipil groaned in annoyance and finished working on the bottles before gathering them all up. " We're two people who somehow managed to come together in a working relationship during the infection. We're both considered things to shoot by any non infected's standards, and even possibly things to be caught and examined. How on earth do you remain so calm in this lousy turn of events?"
Levi tilted his head back on his chair and reached his hand over, picking up a deck of cards. "Life, cannot be likened to anything. One would liken it to chocolates, another to a game, a third to a bridge. But it's more than that; it's a gift that has no price. It cannot be sold, nor bought, it can be given, yet also taken away. We still have our lives, we gotta do everything in our power to keep the gift we have been given." He shuffled the cards slightly before putting them into his pocket.
Xipil finished putting away all of the bottles and walked towards the entrance of the restaurant, mumbling. "Encouraging, were it not from a stale fortune cookie."
Levi bounced off the chair, ignoring it as it fell to the ground. "Aw, come on, Zipper! I only got the first sentence from the cookie! The rest was all me!"
"Sure it was." came the reply.
Levi groaned at his friend before following him outside. "Hey, any ideas on what we're gonna do for now?" he asked, lacing his fingers behind his head.
Xipil shot him a look. " Did the infection take your attention span along with your brain? You only yesterday said that you wanted to remain in town for awhile."
Levi released his hands and let them drop at his sides. " Yeah, but yesterday I wasn't bored."
"You said that yesterday too."
Levi winced. "Zipper…. Damn, you're mean. Anyways, I've made up my mind. We're going to stay here for the moment. This was once the city of New Orleans! Something's bound to happen sooner or later, I just know that it's gonna happen and I don't want to miss it!"
"You also said that."
Both infected walked down the streets bickering as the wind rustled around them, promising them change with new scents on the wind, both stopping momentarily to watch the wind blow by before continuing.
"Hey… how about we start up a service?" Levi asked, lacing his hands behind his head again.
"What kind?" replied Xipil.
" hm… how about… a protection service or a delivery service or something like that?" Levi told Xipil.
Xipil sighed. " There really isn't anything in your head, is there?"
"Hey! It's a good idea!" Levi pouted.
"The last "good" idea almost killed me." came the harsh reply.
"I didn't see that Spitter, I'm sorry!" Levi whined.
" You didn't 'see' that Charger either."
Levi threw up his hands. "When are you gonna let that one go? I told you I was sorry, I've been sorry for the last three days!"
"Someone has to be your conscience."
Levi winced. " That's really cold, Zipper."
" IT'S XIPIL, DAMMIT!"
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And here they are, Levi and Zipper (Xipil)! I'm so looking forward to the release of Left 4 Dead 2! With the Spitter, Charger and now the Jockey, not to mention a whole new cast and crew and a new sadistic director, I look forward to a whole new set of fails!
Written during a case of writers block, so I haven't given up on the Misadventures series, just stuck with a scene.
Anyways, stay tuned for the Collab work between me and SamanthaRose!