===Disclaimer: Left 4 Dead and all characters from it are copyright Valve. ...It just doesn't look the same without the tiny c in the circle.===

Chapter 1: Regroup

"Come on! Keep moving! They're gaining on us!" A shotgun was fired into the mass of bloodthirsty infected, knocking some of them down dead. A middle-aged woman scrambled to her feet after having tripped a moment before. "Do you got that thing ready yet?!" Another shotgun blast decimated the front line of the raging crowd, but many more were close behind. Jack pumped the weapon again and pulled the trigger, but nothing came out. "Dammit. I'm out of ammo!"

"Got it!" Helen stepped forward and faced the oncoming horde, a pipe bomb with a pager taped onto it in her hand. She pressed a button on the small device, and it started to beep rapidly and loudly. She then tossed the explosive as far as she could toward the zombified people. They all immediately stopped and their heads followed the noise. When it landed on the street behind them, they all turned and ran at it, pushing each other aside. Once they had all crowded around the sound, the fuse ran out and the bomb exploded, sending blood and body parts splattering all around.

"A bit close, don't you think?" Jack wiped the sweat from his brow as the older woman drew her pistol from its holster.

"Hey, don't give me that," she retorted. "It's not my fault we just happen to find the only pipe that someone hasn't already attached a noisemaker to. You should be thankful I had all the stuff I needed to put that one together."

"Alright, alright," he conceded, "now let's try to find the others. They can't have gotten too far." Helen agreed and they set out to find their comrades among the dark city.

Jack was a determined young man in his early twenties. Up until a few days ago, he had a job helping out at a music store. He didn't really have any particular interest in music, but at least he earned enough money to make all his payments. He was looking to raise enough money to finally get into college, but as it turned out, the world wasn't going to give him that opportunity anymore. People began changing around him, and soon he was among only two people left in his small town.

Helen had been a nurse at her hometown's hospital. It was a busy job and she often had to take extra shifts, but she found it enjoyable nonetheless. One afternoon, a rather large number of people came in displaying incredibly pale skin and occasionally manic expressions. Over the next few days, more and more people started to show up with similar symptoms. At that time, she began to recall the news reports about the 'Green Flu' that had been spreading in parts of the country. When doctors and other hospital staff had started not showing up, she became really concerned. And when the sick patients began to destroy the building and attack people, she knew she had to get out of there. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to get anyone else out with her.

Now the two traveled together, along with two others, Jack's old buddy Pete and a teenaged girl named Christine. They were all on their own in a world gone to hell. Not even the military had come to look for them or any others. The only sight they had ever gotten of them was a large plane bombing a burning town far in the distance as they walked down a highway one night. But they still had hope that they would some day find a place that was free of this madness. It was all they had to cling to.

"I knew I shoulda kept that pager! Christine coulda been trying to contact us." Helen would always worry that they had done something wrong. She knew she shouldn't be thinking that way, but she couldn't help it.

"Her phone died three days ago, remember? And she threw it away on the ground just yesterday." Jack adjusted the med pack on his back to be more comfortable. "Besides, -..." He was interrupted by the shouts of a young female voice. The two took off in the direction of the noise, seeing Christine tottering around with one of the small, hunched over guys clinging to the back of her head.

"Get this freak off me!!!" she shouted amongst the insane cackling of the infected person. Helen moved her way over to the afflicted girl and threw a strong punch at the creature. It fell onto the ground and stumbled back from the impact. Then it turned to flee, but the large woman quickly grabbed her pistol again and fired a whole magazine into the small zombie. The infected person's arms flailed awkwardly as it collapsed dead.

"Shit, those suckers are tough," she muttered afterward.

"I cannot stand those things," Christine said as she brushed her black hair out of her face. Jack walked up to her and took a look behind her. When he didn't see anyone, he became worried.

"Hey, where's Pete?" he asked the teenager. She looked up at him, then turned her face downward. Jack closed his eyes tight, knowing his friend wasn't coming back. "How did he go?" he asked quietly.

"Pou-... Hunter...," she reluctantly answered. Jack laughed a little inside. Pete had chosen to use that name instead of Pouncer like the rest had decided on. He would always state that he wanted to hunt one of them back, to see how it would like it. "He managed to kick it in the gut, then shoot it in the head. I tried to help him, but when I could get to him, he had already lost too much blood..." Jack opened his eyes again.

"That makes three of us down." He thought back to the others they had lost already: Zach, a football star from a high school in a town near Helen's; and Henri, a tourist from France who spoke little English.

"Well, let's not let their deaths be for nothing," Helen spoke up. "Let's find a safe house and get some rest for now." The other two agreed to the idea and set out in search of one of the red metal doors that signified safety, if only temporarily.

It wasn't long after that a shrill shriek was heard nearby. The noise echoed throughout the empty streets. Then the sound of automatic fire followed, mixed in with desperate shouts. The group of three prepared for trouble, Helen readying her pistol and Christine placing a new mag in her submachine gun. Jack glanced around quickly, then picked up a broken leg from the debris of a bench – it wasn't much, but it would have to do for the time being.

"Get away, get away, get away, get away, get away, GET AWAY!!!" A guy wearing a bright yellow vest ran from out of an alleyway into the street, holding an M16 behind him with difficulty as he tried to fire it. Then something else came from the shadows – one of the deadliest kinds of infected they had ever encountered, that Christine liked to call a Witch (though Pete had always preferred 'Shredder'.) Everyone opened fire on the screaming creature as it swiftly chased after the fleeing boy, but the weak SMG and the single firearm were having little effect on the durable infected. It closed the distance between it and its prey. Jack ran forward, causing the other two to stop shooting.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Christine yelled. Jack pushed himself to run faster, then he swung the bench leg with both hands. The impact of the wooden object hitting the zombie woman in the face sent reverberations along his arms. The Witch fell over backwards, blood gushing from between its glowing eyes. Jack dropped his weapon and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Whoa... That..." Jack lifted his head to look at the guy whose life he had just saved. "...was awesome!!"

"...What?"

"You just, like, smashed her face in! That thud was the sweetest sound I've ever heard, man!"

Is this guy for real? Jack thought incredulously. Helen and Christine walked over to the guys, Christine taking a moment to nudge the Witch's corpse with her foot.

"You alright, honey?" Helen asked the excited boy, briefly looking him over for injuries.

"Oh, yeah, I'm okay. Never better." He discarded the empty magazine of his weapon, then pulled a new one from his vest and inserted it into the gun. "Name's Tony, by the way."

"Are you traveling alone?" Jack asked, amazed at the guy's attitude during such a horrific time.

"Yep. Been on my own for about... I guess it's been 5 days now." The others were surprised that someone could last such a long time by themself.

"You ladies done chatting?" Christine butted in with an annoyed tone. "We can discuss things once we find somewhere safe."

"She's right," Jack stated. "It won't be long before those things find us again. We need to move."

"Oh! Great!" Tony exclaimed. "I actually saw a saferoom down that alley. That creepy zombie was sitting in the way of it, though. Not too easy to step over those things, you know."

"Well, what are we standing around her for? Lead the way," Helen said. The new addition complied, and the group went to find the shelter. With any luck, there would be plenty of weapons and ammunition to make use of. They would need everything they could get if they were going to survive this nightmare.

A/N: I hope this gets off to a good start, and I also hope I don't inadvertently use any combination of character names/traits or scenarios that others have used. I haven't read many Left 4 Dead stories on here, so if anything resembles something from another story, it's purely coincidental and unintentional.

As a bit of early clarification, I will use the same names as in the games for most of the Special Infected. I may use a different name for one, maybe two; but the majority will have the same names. That being said, I will not make it seem as if the Survivors all just 'know' the names. Some stories I have read make the name thing a little unbelievable, where large groups of people unconnected to the Survivors will just happen to use the same SI names.

As one final note on the infected topic, I may or may not use one or more SI of my own creation. It depends on if I can think of an idea that will work in a way unique from the official kinds, and will fit in with things. In the end, I might just stick with the existing Specials.

Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcomed. And if anyone has any questions about something in the story (be it already in an existing chapter or something that could happen in the future), feel free to ask me about it (in a PM, so answering is easier.) I hope you enjoy, and I'll try to update soon.