~~
Darkness. Yes, it is dark. Obviously… but what we seem to forget as we go from child to adult is that things hide in the dark. Bad things. Evil things. Dark things. Monsters. I had forgotten this. I knew of what was there, lurking in the shadows when I was younger… but as I grew older things seemed to become lighter. There were no longer shadows, only bright lights and happiness. Middle school, high school, and finally college. It was a dream life. Everything was going as planned until half-way through my sophomore year of college at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). I was working on my business major, sitting in economics class when James, the kid who sits next to me, stumbled in late. Mr. Heidi walked over to him and told him to leave class, that coming in drunk was inappropriate. James ate his face.
Chaos ensued, you know, the usual when bad shit happens. Students piled and tried to get out of the room, some stepping and crushing others. Everyone trying to get out of the room at the same time ended up trapping them inside the room. I went out the door that led to the other class room. I'm not sure what happened to everyone in that room. Probably nothing good. I think James is still walking around somewhere.
So, going back to darkness and that bumping in the night… well… I'm not talking about that stupid vampire stuff. Really, now. Vampires? Pah. Neither am I talking about walking dead people. This is no rising of the dead. Just of a bunch of "infected individuals" according to the warning sheets posted everywhere. There are so many warnings about the… virus or whatever it is but a few things remain true: if you get bit, you get infected. Unless… you're somehow immune. Apparently it travels through the father's genes. I know my dad's holed up in a pagan sanctuary somewhere. I'm not sure how they ward off the infected… but whatever they do seems to work.
Well, I dunno really. But he's safe, as far as I'm aware. He sent me a letter through a pigeon awhile ago. I have no idea how it got to me, but it did. Which is freakin' cool.
I bet you're wondering where I'm going with this. This odd rambling of nothing at all and yet everything to me. Well, let me-
"Anita! What in the world are you doing! Why are you writing at a time like this!" The death glared I received from my friend, Winter, was enough to chill the bones of a fire lord. She grasped my wrist and yanked me from the place I had seated myself upon the ground... and what a terrible and hard ground it was, let me tell y—"Get yourself out of that head of yours and stay in the now! We're under attack!"
Turning, I gasp in sheer horror at the scene that was enfolding across my eyes. I tend to block things out while a write… or sleep… or listen to music. Well, I block things out when I do anything at all. See, we were traveling in a small group of three people. Not the standard four, I know but—"ANITA!" Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. As we were running away to get our weapons ready, Winter tripped, sending us sprawled out on the ground. I coughed and looked up to find the other member of our team. The guy who had given us drinks from his water canteen was being dragged away, slowly (he was the third member of our team). A grotesque tongue wrapped around his neck, choking the life from him as other… "infected individuals" clawed and beat at him. We locked eyes. I saw the acceptance. I saw the knowledge of his certain death mirrored in my eyes. I also saw him reach for his fanny pack. Many made fun of him because of it… but he never let it bother him. Why? He said that the level of the man was not in how many muscles he had, or how good looking he was, or even how many women he had, well… you know. He said that the true measure of a man was how well equipped he was to protect those whom he cared about around him.
I saw him mouth the words "Run" before I shut my eyes and covered Winter's face. I shut off everything. The world around us, the sounds, the smells… but there was no way for me to block it out. The explosion. The sound of the wet flesh slapping against the hard pavement. The hard, uncomfortable pavement that was digging into my back.
"Wha?" I turned at the raspy sound that came from everywhere, and yet no where at all. I heard it again, that whisper. "Run."
So, we ran.
~~
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Yes, short. But I wanted to try and get a feel for this fic, to make sure everything would work out as planned, and to make sure I didn't get evil hates on writing a L4D fic without any 4 from the first or second game. All the characters are OC and is based on an insanely detailed dream I had.
RnR please, and critiques are very much appreciated while flames are very much not. I will send my hordes of sexy blood stained hunters after you for unwarranted flames. :3
