I own not Left 4 Dead nor any of its characters or ideas, they belong to Valve. Hope you like it, I wish I could say "It's the novel/movie version!!" But I'm not that good, enjoy!


NO MERCY

CURING THE INFECTION...ONE BULLET AT A TIME

Chapter 1- The Apartments

'To anyone who can hear this, proceed to Mercy Hospital for Evacuation. Repeat, proceed to Mercy Hospital for Evacuation.' Announced the Pilot of the News Chopper 5 helicopter as he flew over Fairfield, panning the large searchlight around to catch the attention of any Survivors. The wind from the whirring helicopter blades blew the large blue tarp shielding the Survivors off the roof.

Francis, Bill, Zoey and Louis stood on the rooftop, watching as the helicopter flew by almost in front of them. The table in front of them was covered with the guns, spare ammo and first aid kits they had put down after their most recent adventure getting to the roof.

"We can take the subway tunnels to the hospital. There's a redline station not far from here." Bill said, cigarette bobbing up and down as he spoke.

"I hate subways." Francis muttered as he grabbed a pump shotgun and first-aid kit from the table. He strapped the kit to his back and checked that the gun was loaded. Bill followed suit grabbing a pump shotgun, while Zoey and Louis each grabbed a submachine gun. There was a moment of silence while everyone checked their first aid kits and weapons.

"I'm ready, you ready?" Louis asked, raising his pistol in front of him to emphasize his point, he looked around waiting for an answer.

"Yeah." Francis replied, rubbing at his neck and shaved head.

"Yeah, ready." Zoey nodded, high pony-tail bobbing up and down, she brought up her own pistol as well.

"Okay." Bill said. Louis followed Bill around to the roof access door, Zoey came behind him and Francis brought up the rear. Holding his gun at the ready Bill opened the door. The staircase led down to the top level, the third floor, of the building. At the bottom of the stairs there were a few bodies, two of which were headless, and the floor was covered in blood. They were laying next to a doorway, where had been a door, separating the kitchen from the roof access, but it seemed as though everyone had broken it down and not made it much past that. Louis clicked on his flashlight, shining it over Bills shoulder. Bill took the lead into the kitchen, where there were blood stains and spatter all over the off-yellow walls. Towards the middle of the room, several infected were standing in a daze, a woman in a dark skirt and top spotted them entering and ran forward in a frenzy. Bill dropped her with two quick shots, the sound of which signalled several other infected. Louis and Zoey took down two and Francis took out the last one.

Pausing for a second, Louis checked the pantry next to the door. There were a few rolls of paper towel, some knick-knacks, and on the floor, a Molotov' cocktail.

"Molotov's" He said to himself, as he stuck it to his belt. Zoey shut an open fridge door and hurried up behind Bill, as Louis stepped into the living room with Francis. Old clothes littered the floor and a large blue chair had been pushed towards the center of the room. There was a TV stand opposite the chair and couch; the TV was on, but there was only static. Bill stepped forward again leading them through the living room, they stopped in front of the open door to the apartment. Looking at Bill for a moment they silently agreed to quickly check the rest of the apartment. Zoey checked in the bathroom, the light was still on and she made a face at an odd painting. Louis stopped to wait for her while she grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen pain pills from the counter, the eerie bathroom light made his black skin look like an orange-y brown, and Zoey's red sweater looked brownish. Bill and Francis continued around the next corner.

"We might need these." Louis heard her mutter as she attached them to her belt.

"Come on, this way." Louis nodded to Zoey. They turned the corner in time to hear several shots and the sound of bodies hitting the floor. Reaching the bedroom they found two more dead infected keeping Francis and Bill company. The bed was pushed over to the side and the room was littered with objects. The skylight above looked up to the same night sky they had seen from the roof. Francis popped a few more shots into his pistol, just in case.

"What?" Francis asked, noticing Louis and Zoey in the doorway. Bill shook his head.

"Let's go, people!" Bill pushed between Zoey and Louis and headed for the open third floor door. Checking to make sure everyone was behind him, he started down the stairs to the second floor.

The second floor apartment door was also open; it was the only way to go as the stairs to the left, which led down to the first floor, were blocked by three desks stacked on top of each other. Louis followed closely behind Bill as they entered the apartment. The walls were a patterned red and there was a door to the immediate left, leading to the bedroom. Louis and Bill checked inside quickly, the room was clear. There was only an old TV stuck on an error screen, and the body of a girl in her teens wearing pink pyjamas sprawled out on her bed. Showing respect, Louis shut the door behind them so that any infected would at least have a hard time getting in to eat her body. Francis checked the bathroom at the end of the hall, but came back with nothing, so they continued to the living room. An infected screamed as it saw them and like all the other infected came running full-tilt towards intent on having just one bite. Louis dropped him before Bill even raised his gun.

"Nice job." Bill muttered. The living room looked as though the family living there had had no time to prepare for the infection, and there was even a newspaper on the bluish couch just waiting to be read and the only thing out of place was a lamp someone had knocked over. The hard wood floors were stained with blood though, and there was of course the body of the infected man. In the kitchen Louis could see a woman sitting cross-legged, head leaned forward, she was of course infected and seemed to be unaware of them. Zoey took care of that with a few quick shots.

Inside the kitchen itself the walls and cupboards were covered with blood, and the back wall, opposite the living room had been broken through by something very large and it led into the next apartment. Louis thought briefly of checking the pantry, but the large trailed smears of blood leading under the door persuaded him not to. Hopping over what little bit of wall was left they entered the very destroyed small room in the next apartment.

A burping, belching noise echoed from up ahead of them, it sounded like either really bad indigestion, or extreme nausea. Louis checked into the next room, five or so infected happened to notice him at about the same time he noticed them, a few shots from Louis and Francis took care of them, but the burping odd noises continued. Behind them Zoey checked the bathroom and handed a bottle of pills to Bill. The kitchen ahead of them had a large hole broken through the floor, whatever had broken through the wall behind them had gone down to the next floor as well. Judging by the size of the hole, Louis wasn't sure if he could jump it properly and he didn't think he could shimmy along the wall to the other side, but the kitchen pantry just begged to be checked. In the end, Zoey slid herself along the wall, Louis could see a few infected on the floor beneath them, so while Zoey checked along there, he, Bill and Francis took care of them. A moment later Zoey popped out of the pantry with a pipe bomb.

"Where the hell did all these vampires come from?" Francis asked as he shot down an infected trying to jump up through the hole.

"Tell me you ain't serious." Louis rolled his eyes. He took Zoeys hand, pulling her back across faster.

"What?" Francis said as he started to climb down the hole, Bill crouched next to him, ready to provide cover fire.

"They're ZOMBIES, Francis." Louis answered, starting to climb down as soon as Francis hit the ground.

"Yeah whatever you say, Professor Monster." Francis muttered. Louis landed next to him, Zoey climbed down next, hanging from her hands for a second before dropping down next to them. Bill followed suit, landing with a thud next to Francis. There was another hole in the wall; a faint green glow could be seen just around one side of the wall. There was another door to the right, which was wide open.

They decided to split up for a second to see which way would get them out faster. Zoey and Louis went through the other door through the rest of the apartment, the kitchen and the living room. It led into the front foyer of the apartment building, where they shot three infected before they noticed the two, Louis and Zoey took a quick look around. The front door was blocked, as an army jeep had crashed in through part of the wall, blocking any way out through there, the headlights were still on, giving the eerie impression they had just missed the military. The stairway leading up to the second floor was blocked with desks; to keep the infected out, it clearly hadn't worked. Louis spotted a door on the other side of the room; he led Zoey around and through the door. Bill and Francis were waiting in there, the broken through wall had led to the same place. In the back room all the lights were out, Zoey clicked on her flashlight, scanning it around, there were bodies on the floor next to the back door, above which a green EXIT sign glowed. Faint beeping could be heard from the next room over, someone's alarm clock, which would never wake anyone up again, continued to ring.

The back door led into the alley behind the building, luckily on the other side of the fallen fire escape. It was raining outside and the back alley was crowded with infected, Louis shoved his pistol into its holster, which did not match his dress pants, and pulled his submachine gun to deal with the mini horde. That was something he couldn't get used to, infected running at full speed, screaming and moaning and hitting until you shoot them. After a minute of ear-splitting gunfire, the infected of the back alley lay in a pile around the Survivors, who quickly moved on. Bill decided to check a back room, and Zoey went with him. Louis and Francis checked some of the parked and abandoned cars that littered the alley, at the very back of the alley a van blocked the way to the streets from that side, so they turned left instead.

Zoey and Bill caught up just in time to see a grotesquely fat infected jump out of the window of a building above Louis and Francis. It landed to their left and popped, like a water balloon, spraying Louis' arm and part of his white dress shirt with green bile. Louis spluttered for a second, making a gross noise as he tried to wipe it off on his pants. A putrid stink filled the air, and the sudden sounds of infected running became louder. Moving back towards the blocked alleyway, Zoey and Francis crouched in front so Bill and Louis could shoot above them as the infected poured around the corner. They made a beeline for Louis, trying to get around the others. Francis pushed back several infected before firing off with his shotgun, Bill quickly shot an infected who had paused to hit Zoey while she tried to cover Francis. After a minute, the smell began to wear down, and the infected thinned out, Louis tried wiping the now dried bile on his pants again. Slightly shaken, they reloaded their guns.

"I can't get over how fast they all are. It's not even fair! I'm calling zombie bullshit on that, you know?" Zoey laughed nervously to herself, "They're not allowed to be so fast." Francis patted her on the shoulder on his way by. They exited the alley to the main street. A police car, its lights still flashing and headlights bright, was stopped in the middle of the street. Behind that was a car flipped completely upside down, its headlights lighting up the street as much as the few makeshift garbage can torches. The roads were fairly clear of infected, considering how many had come running, the rest of the city should have been empty in Louis' opinion.

"Subway station's just around the corner!" Louis announced. Sitting on top of the police car was a pistol, left behind by a police who didn't need it anymore.

"Two pistols, cool." Zoey said, grabbing the pistol.

"Hold up a minute!" Francis said. He and Zoey stopped for a second to check the side door of the Pay Day Loans building next to the alley they had just left. Louis waited with Bill for a minute; he fidgeted, fixed his red tie, ran his hand over his bald head and pulled up his submachine gun again. Zoey came out first, reloading her gun after a few zombie-related casualties, Francis followed a moment after, a bottle of pain pills on his belt.

"This way!" Bill waved his hand in the general direction of the Subway station. They turned the corner, the Subway station was at the end of the street. A loud coughing sound and scream cut the air and a long tongue grabbed Zoey around the middle, pulling her down the street.

"no, No, No, NO!!!!!!!!" She screamed. Bill spotted the infected first, he hurried forward to get in better range, and let off two shots with the shotgun, the first simultaneously snapping the tongue, dropping Zoey, and hitting the thing in the face. The second blast finished him off.

"Thanks." She said to Bill, picking herself up. Louis and Francis caught up quickly, checking on Zoey and helping her pull the tongue off. Louis almost laughed at the look of disgust on her face as she dropped the tongue.

"Watch it..." Francis warned motioning to an alarmed car in front of the Subway. Carefully they headed around the car, shoved any infected that attacked away from the car before shooting.

"There it is!" Louis said, leading them down the stairs, the bottom of the stairway was blocked by several cars and broken cement piled up. Next to the stairs however was a hole in the wall leading into a storage room full of boxes and files. At the other end of the room Louis could see a red C.E.D.A certified safe-room door. Louis reached the door first, holding it open for Zoey and Bill, Francis lagged for a second, and was instantly jumped by a sweatshirt wearing infected, trying to claw at him. Louis quickly took aim, shooting it off and back until it was dead.

"Thanks, dude." Francis said as Louis pulled him up. They hurried into the safe room and slammed the door, locking it behind them.

Louis: "BOOM-diah"

We're Safe...For Now

GENERAL DEFENSE

Killed the most infected

Bill 23

Francis 22

Louis 20

Zoey 18

HEADHUNTER

Total headshots

Bill 6

Francis 5

Louis 3

Zoey 4


I'm sure noticed several things, such as the conversation half-way through, I'm taking elevator conversations and putting them where they apply in the story, because there are so many you'll be seeing them in Death Toll, thanks to Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools I can see the scripts so I know what I'm working with. Anyway, it's supposed to be from Louis's perspective, but as I say I'm practicing, so it's maybe hard to tell. Hope you enjoyed, reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed. Thanks a bunch, enjoy!