Left 4 Dead - Dark Forest: 1 - The Woods(COMPLETED)

The surrounding darkness was swallowing, consuming all of Tommy's thoughts. He could remember the crash until they hit the ground. It scared Tommy to think what had happened to James, Griffen and Vincent.

The darkness had faded, and Tommy sat up. His head was spinning but he could see the flames spurting put of the crashed helicopter. It was a sort of horrible beauty, the flames dancing with the wind, trying to gasp for oxygen.

Tommy scrambled to his feet. His machine gun was sprawled in the wreckage. He scrambled over the debris to his gun. It was cold, even though flames were circling the area.

He could see Vincent in the seat, out cold. He didn't look dead. Griffen was lolling a few meters away, blood trickling down his face. James was nowhere to been seen.

Griffen rolled onto his side and coughed. His insides were killing him. It felt like his stomach was on fire, burning like the flames around him. He scampered to his knees and saw Tommy waving in a reassuring fashion. He returned the wave. Tommy pointed to Vincent, Griffen knew this meant he had to go check that he was ok. Pain shot through his legs instantly as he clambered to his feet, his legs just being able to support him. Fighting the pain, Griffen sauntered over to Vincent. The Pilot stirred as Griffen's cold hands touched him. He jerked then woke up and smiled at Griffen, the smile felt warming in the present situation.

Vincent, Griffen and Tommy searched for James for half an hour, after they had pried Vincent put of the Helicopter. They decided, that with heavy hearts, that they must keep going, it was the only option.

"Maybe he went on ahead, thinking we were all dead?" posed Griffen.
"Yea... Maybe" mumbled Tommy under his breath, supressing his sadness.

The forest clearing was a dry leave path surrounded by two parallel Walls of trees. In the mid afternoon, it almost looked idyllic. As the trio walked, they were silent, trying to remember James.

Tommy was the saddest, barely being able to keep back his tears at the thought of his friend lying in the Forrest, dead. His weapon wasn't at the crash site like the rest of theirs. Griffen thought it was because he had taken it, but Tommy knew that it had fallen out the helicopter just before the crash. His memories of him were faded, probably because of the crash, but he could remember his face, his greying hair and his thin rimmed glasses. He couldn't think of it any longer, he had to complete the task at hand.

The silence was broken by the growl of one of those Prowlers at the station. Griffen shot it before it could pounce, it's shrill shriek piercing the air. More infected rushed through the trees and were shot down before they got too close. Running now, the trio made their way through the trail. A fork in the road stopped them briefly.

"The Nature Reserve or The Forrest Trail, pick" said Tommy"
"Which one is more likely to have a safe room in it?" asked Vincent.
Whatever one you pick, hurry up about it!" pressured Griffen, who was keeping the Infected at bay with his Assault Rifle.
"The Nature Reserve, let's go" chose Vincent.

The path to the Reserve became more man-made as the trio fought through. Wooden railings were becoming more common and the trees were starting to spread out to form a sort of paddock. Then they got to the animals.

The animal paddock was a rotten carcass of it's former self, literally. The metal fence keeping the animals in had been torn through as though it was paper. Animal bodies lay on the ground. Entrails lay scattered on the ground a few feet away from the bodies. It was like something out of a horror movie thought Vincent. Then again, it hasn't been a normal week. Occasionally a few infected sauntered out onto the field. Tommy dispatched them quickly, he was too filled with grief to care what he shot at.

Getting closer to the Reserve now, it was brightly lit with searchlights. A low grumble was fading as it reached the trio. They couldn't distinguish what it was, but they were sure it wasn't good.

Grumble... It started to get louder.
Grumble... It sounded as though it was closer.
Grumble... It was too close for comfort
CRAASH!

The paddock fence moaned and tore as one of those Goliath's from the rooftop crashed through the stable to the left. The wooden building crumbled and shattered to the ground. It charged, the same relentless look in its' eye as the one on the rooftop.

Tommy ducked under a broken wooden debris and took cover behind it. He aimed his rifle and fired a long burst. The thing took the shots and continued onwards, smashing into a tree in his way. The roots crumbled into shards as it was torn out of the moist earth. Tommy made a dive to the left incase it toppled over him. The thunderous crash almost drowned out Griffen's shouts from the safe room.

Griffen was an opportunist. He saw that Tommy was handling that monstrosity, so he, pulling a slightly dazed Vincent, made a dash for the safe room. They climbed up the wooden stairs into the red door, keeping it open for Tommy. Griffen had expected the boy to run towards him, but he was wrong. He just kept looping around the paddock, firing shots until the monster was limping, and badly at that. Griffen raised his rifle and aimed down the sights. He fired shots, long bursts, that clanged against it's head, knocking it over. The thud made Tommy fall over, his eyes filled with shock and tears.

"Tommy, run!"
"Why?" Tommy was too shocked to properly reply.
"I don't want more of them coming."
"Ok?" He scrambled up and staggered to he safe room, falling up the stairs and had to be lugged in by Griffen and a still confused Vincent. Griffen took one last look and locked he door.