Left 4 Dead 2: Forming a Family
"See ya tomorrow, Keith!" Ellis said, waving bye to Keith.
Keith took a hand off the steering wheel in his pick-up truck, and waved back to Ellis.
Keith was heading home from the guys' auto garage for the night, but Ellis and Dave thought they'd stay a little while longer.
Dave cracked open 2 beers from the mini fridge. He handed one to Ellis, and kept one for himself.
Ellis heard a car pull up outside, and peeked his head out of the garage.
A man in a white suit, with a VERY expensive car, pulled up at the gas station next to the garage.
Nick. Of course, Ellis didn't know that yet.
"Jus some rich dude gettin' gas," Ellis said.
"Oh. Okay," Dave said.
While silently sipping his drink, Ellis looked quickly over at Dave.
He looked quite pale, and he looked very nervous, and almost, sick.
"You okay, Dave? I mean, no offense or anything, but you look a lil'… uh…pale…"
"Yeah, of course. I'm fine. I mean, why wouldn't I be? I'm not, sick, or anything," Dave said, sounding very nervous.
"Now don't take this the wrong way, you know we're buddies, but, I'm kinda worried 'bout ya."
"What'd ya mean?"
"Are you infected?"
Dave looked over. He looked mad, embarrassed, and scared all at the same time.
Ellis looked down at the ground.
"Well, um, I guess I'm sorry I ask-" When Ellis looked back up, Dave had transformed into this hideous monster with huge tumors and boils growing on the left side of his head and his left arm.
A Smoker.
"Dave…" Ellis whispered.
The next thing he knew, Ellis was being choked by Dave's 10-foot long tongue. His beer was spilled on the floor, and Ellis was fighting to get free of the thing.
"HELP…ME…SOMEONE…PLEASE!" Ellis managed to choke out.
Lucky for him, Nick heard Ellis yells. Nick came in, shocked.
"What the-?"
"SHOOT THE TOUNGE! SHOOT THE...TONGUE!"
Nick looked around for something to help Ellis with, but didn't find anything.
"AXE…ON THE WALL!"
Nick looked around again, and found a fire axe leaning against the far wall.
Nick swung the axe, and killed the zombie. Ellis fell to the ground, coughing from the green smoke filling the small room, and gasping for air.
"You okay, overalls?" Nick asked.
"Just peachy," Ellis replied.
Ellis pulled the thick and slimy tongue off his torso, and stood up.
"What was that?" Nick asked.
Ellis opened his mouth to reply, but the screams of an oncoming horde interrupted him.
Both guys peered out of the garage, and saw a massive group of zombies running down the road, straight for the garage.
"Zombies!" Ellis yelled, sounding almost, happy.
"We gotta get outta here!" Nick yelled as he ran out of the garage.
Ellis followed him. Nick went over to his car, pulled the gas pump out, and climbed into the drivers seat.
Ellis stood outside.
Nick rolled his eyes, then leaned over the passenger seat, and pushed the door open.
"You comin'?"
"Hell yeah!"
Ellis jumped in, and Nick started the car.
Zombies were beginning to bang on the car and were climbing on the roof and hood.
Nick slammed his foot down on the gas, and Ellis held on for dear life.
The car slammed through the zombies, and sped down the road.
"Wahoo! Hell yeah!" Ellis yelled once the guys were free of the zombies.
"What? You're happy?" Nick asked.
Ellis nodded, smiling big.
"Look, you may not understand this kid, but those were freaking zombies! Zombies! Get that through that hat of yours!"
"Yeah! Zombies! It's like Christmas! This zombie apocalypse is prolly the best thing that's ever happened to me!"
"Okay, well, I don't know what world you're living in, but in this world, a flu that turns everyone into walking dead, is not good! Ever!"
"Whatever. Whas your name anyway?"
"Like you need to know!"
"Fine asshole! I'll jus call you suit!"
"And I'll call you overalls!"
Ellis opened his mouth, but was stopped from talking by Nick slamming on the brakes and nearly running into a news van parked in the middle of the road.
Both guys jumped outta the car, and walked to the other side of the van. There was a dark skinned woman wearing a pink Depeche mode T-shirt talking into a microphone on the other side.
Rochelle. But of course, no one knew that yet.
It was only Rochelle, and the cameraman.
No one else.
Rochelle was doing a report on the Green Flu, and it's 'zombie-ish' side affects.
She finished up her news report, and Nick stepped in front of her, to keep her from walking away.
"Okay lady, you're gonna have to move your truck 'cause there's zombies after us!" Nick said.
"Well look, jerk, would ya first back off a lil' bit?"
Nick backed up about 2 steps, and Ellis came up next to Nick.
"Sorry 'bout him ma'am. But we really do need ya to move your van, 'cause we got us a huge horde'a zombies on our asses."
"Woah woah woah. Like, zombies? Like REAL zombies?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Wow, the world really is goin' to shit..."
A low growl made the guys spin around, and Rochelle look over.
The cameraman was standing with his back to the three.
Rochelle walked over. She touched his shoulder, and, as soon as she did, his clothes began to rip apart at the seams, and his muscles grew 10x larger.
Within a 10 second span, the cameraman went from skinny and short, to tall and EXTREMLY muscular.
A Tank.
"Runnnnnn!" Ellis screamed.
The three ran from the van, and into town.
They didn't know how long they ran, but they ran long enough to get the Tank off their trail. The three didn't know where it went, but they were just glad it wasn't behind them throwing rocks anymore.
The group stopped outside of a small apartment building in the middle of the abandoned town.
Rochelle and Nick sat on a bench, and Ellis sat down against the side of the building.
Rochelle looked around, and asked, "Are we still in Savannah?"
"Yeah," Ellis replied.
"Are you sure? I mean, there isn't one person here."
"Yeah, I'm sure. I've lived here my whole life. I know my way around. But it is pretty strange that there isn't anyone 'round. I wonder where everyone went..."
Just then, a heavy-set, dark-skinned man walked out of the apartments. He was holding a white and red flyer.
Coach, but no one knew that yet.
"Well what a coincidence," Ellis said, standing up.
Coach looked over at Ellis. "Did you say somethin' boy?"
"No, but we were jus wonderin' if you wanted'a tag along with us. We're all tryin'a escape this zombie land hellhole alive," Ellis said.
"Well, uh, sure. Why not?" Coach said.
"Well, awesome. We found another person not zombie-fied. But now what do we do?" Nick asked.
Coach looked at the flyer in his hand. It read:
EVACUATION NOTICE
PLEASE PROCEED TO THE FOLLOWING DESIGNATED EVACUATION CENTER:
The Vannah Hotel
Coach folded the flyer and put it in his back pocket. "I say we go to The Vannah."
"The hotel? Why there?" Rochelle asked.
"I heard there's an evac center there," Coach said.
"Well then less go!" Ellis said.
The four continued walking together.
They found The Vannah, and fought their way to the roof, using pistols and melee weapons. It was hard to get to the top though, since most of the building was on fire.
They found the roof, empty.
"Hey where is everybody? Hellooo!" Ellis yelled.
"This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening," Rochelle said to herself.
Coach looked out at the horizon, and saw a few helicopters flying away.
Nick came up next to him, and put his hands on his knees. You could guess he was tired, they were all probably tired, from climbing 30 flights of stairs.
"Aren't they supposed to be savin' our asses?" Coach asked, somewhat angry.
Nick looked up. "Looks like there's been a change in plans."
"That chopper looks like it's headed to the evac center at the mall," Ellis said.
"Gotta agree," Coach said.
They all grabbed their weapons and health packs, and headed back down the Hotel. They had to take a different route down to the ground level, since the way they came was blocked off by burning debris. The group ended up finding a working elevator, and took it down the rest of the ways.
While in the elevator, everyone exchanged names and stories.
"Ellis, my name's Ellis. I was workin' at my garage with my buddies Dave and Keith, but then Keith went home for the night, but me and Dave stayed a little longer. Then suit here pulled up at the gas station next store and Dave turned into one of those things with the long tongues, and suit saved me, and we jumped in suit's car and we escaped a huge horde of oncomin' zombies."
"Okay, overalls, you can stop callin' me suit."
"Well you can stop callin' me overalls!"
"Okay, Ellis. Anyway, my name's Nick, but don't bother learnin' it, 'cause I'm not stayin' around much longer."
"Well let's stay together a little while longer, Nick. But, as for me, everyone calls me Coach. So, I guess y'all can do the same. I'm, or was, a health teacher at the local high school. I was teachin' a class of about 10 kids, since most were sick. I came home, and my apartment was ransacked by CEDA. My wife and 2 kids were taken by those asses. I found a CEDA flyer inside, and that's how I knew where to go. So, I walked outside, and found you three."
"Trust me, we'll make sure you get to see your wife and kids again," Rochelle said, smiling.
Coach smiled back.
"Well, I'm Rochelle. I was working as an associate producer for a news station. Then the flu hit, and nearly everyone called in sick. I finally got to produce my own segment, and then Nick and Ellis came along, and told me I needed to move my van so they could get through. We were talking when my cameraman turned into some huge zombie thing, and all three of us ran until the thing stopped chasing us. We ended up outside of your apartment building, Coach. And, now we're here."
None of the survivors had even noticed that the elevator had started to fill with smoke. The elevator stopped on the ground floor, but he doors wouldn't open. The whole group helped pry the doors open, making hordes pour into the burning building.
The four stepped out of the elevator, and picked their weapons. Some chose a silenced sub machine gun, and some chose to stick with their pistols and melees.
They walked on, ready to face whatever the zombie apocalypse tried to throw at them.
Hello! Just thought I'd make this story, since the survivors never really established how they came together. I was going to do one for the original Left 4 Dead, but I figured their backstories were already covered by The Sacrifice comic. Well hope you enjoyed it! Review!(: